Directv Customer Service Nightmare El Segundo, California

On 2-6-13 I called Directv to sign up for their satellite dish service, bundled with internet. The first call supposedly went well, the Rep assured me my total bill would be approx $60/month, and installation for internet and satellite tv was scheduled for Sunday, 2-10-13, from 12-4 PM. On Sunday, I received at call at 3:50 PM from the installation tech, he couldn't come because of an emergency, and said the installation was rescheduled for next Saturday. I tried to call customer service immediately, but was left on hold for 30 minutes, so I called back the following day.

The Rep told me the installation was not rescheduled, the tech submitted a report stating he came to install, but there was no "line of sight" to the satellite, and he was forced to cancel. I became upset and told the tech this information is incorrect. I attempted to re-comfirm the installation for the following Saturday, and she said I did not have internet service bundled. Of course, I was completely confused, and becoming more irate. She transfered me to the "bundling dept" where I was informed my internet service would be $44/month, and after much complaining, they lowered my satellite service to $30/month. She also informed me that Verizon would be providing my internet service, which was never mentioned in the first call.

During the week, I received a box from Verizon, which I did not open, I would just wait for the tech to take care of it on Saturday. The tech arrived on time, performed the satellite installation, then told me he does not install internet, that I had to perform a "self install" and if there were issues, a tech would come. Once again, confusion and omitting information from the customer service reps. I asked the tech why the picture was not in HD, he said it was because of the channel, and the HD would "correct itself" after awhile.

An hour later, customer service called to survey my opinion on the installation tech, where I gave him a perfect score, and then complained about the "self install" for the internet service. Of course, the rep could not "do anything" because it is Verizon's issue now.

Three weeks later, the HD had not "corrected itself," and I called customer service to once again complain, then receive the run-around. I was told that I requested a "standard" receiver, which I absolutely did not, why would I request a standard receiver when I have a large HD television? I was then told an HD receiver would cost $166 to install, and would be an extra $10/month on my bill.

I have never had such a horrible customer service experience in my life. I have never told a company, "I want to purchase your services" and then the company decides to omit important details, create their own conflicts, and fail so miserably on delivering those services. I was already sold on the Directv product, I am not sure why the decision to lie and mislead the customer was made, but clearly there are serious training issues in their customer service and installation contractors.

I advised the final rep I spoke to that I changed from Comcast to Directv because it was cheaper, but clearly, you get what you pay for. Lesson learned.