Community Forums

PhilNDenise · 09-19-2016, 08:58 PM

Every time I talk to someone at Direct TV I am very frustrated. Today I tried to get local programing changed from my home site in Fort Myers FL to Cave Springs GA. AFTER 20 minutes of going around about what an RV was and that I was not moving my house and that I did not need a technician to come out and hook it up, after all that I was told that it would cost me $150 for them to change my service address and keep my billing address the same. I have looked on line and I can't find a form or anything to do that. Is there an RV division I can call?

I have a Winneguard antenna.

CJ7365 · 09-19-2016, 09:11 PM

I just use over the air for local stations

Rambeau · 09-19-2016, 09:27 PM

Actually, you are on the edge of being able to get the same locals without asking Direct. I would try it first before asking Direct to switch.

PhilNDenise · 09-20-2016, 07:11 AM

I don't know what you mean by being on the edge. There are no local channels on the antenna. We are in the Mountins, should be a way to change local channels.

mel s · 09-20-2016, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilNDenise

Every time I talk to someone at Direct TV I am very frustrated. Today I tried to get local programing changed from my home site in Fort Myers FL to Cave Springs GA. AFTER 20 minutes of going around about what an RV was and that I was not moving my house and that I did not need a technician to come out and hook it up, after all that I was told that it would cost me $150 for them to change my service address and keep my billing address the same. I have looked on line and I can't find a form or anything to do that. Is there an RV division I can call?

I have a Winneguard antenna.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilNDenise

I don't know what you mean by being on the edge. There are no local channels on the antenna. We are in the Mountins, should be a way to change local channels.

PhilNDenise
I've had DirecTV in my coach for 15 years...(at DirecTV "should be" and "is" can be 2 different things).

While some have reported that they have no problem communicating with the operators who answer the phone for DirectTV, I have found that those operators can be as dumb as a box of rocks.

Whenever I call DirecTV I ask to speak to the "retention department" and explain whatever problem or request I have.
(Apparently Direct does not want to lose your monthly $$ and the "retention dept." will transfer you to someone who knows enough to help you).

BTW I have never had local stations from DTV.
If/when no local stations are available over the air using the batwing antenna on my coach I do without local stations.

Good luck

Mel
'96 Safari

jbrv · 09-20-2016, 07:54 AM

I just changed my local stations last week with direct tv. Done it a few times. Most times it goes fine. I am very clear I am not changing billing addy, just my location to get local channels. I go back and check my billing later just in case. They have changed it.

No fee to change locations. I view it as a chance to grill the directv folks about my bill and make sure they are not slipping any extra fees or or whatever that i missed.

I also enjoy asking them about the 5 dollar and change "box lease" fee......I always get them to tell me it for the box they provided, Then i remind them they never did give me a box........most times i end up with a supervisor who then tells me it is not a box lease fee but a service fee so the programing will work on my box.....whatever. They are gonna get the 5 bucks no matter what.

I purchased my own box because they refused to install in my rv. I was already wired and ready to go, just needed the box and service turned on. it was quite the adventure getting it all done.

Betr2Trvl · 09-20-2016, 07:58 AM

Here's a suggestion for dealing with Direct TV - don't even mention "RV" if you can, and then, only as a last resort. As soon as you do, you move into a 1% out of the box situation for these people, and as with almost any company, the customer service people are seldom prepared for the 1%ers.

Just tell them you are in your temporary winter home, that already has a dish, and that you have moved your receivers from your home / billing address, and just need to get the locals set up while you are at this "temporary" location.

Just a thought........... Not even sure if it will work, but maybe....

Jim2 · 09-20-2016, 09:27 AM

when you call DTV customer service, its like buying a lottery ticket. You may get someone with an IQ higher than a box of rocks or you may get one who can only read from their standard script and there is no script for an RV. Hang up and call back and 90% of the time you'll get a completely different answer from a different CSR. Some folks claim they have no trouble changing their service address frequently, I've never had such luck and changed to DNS (distant network service) for my network shows. They're from the east or west coast network feeds, not "local", but all you miss are the local clowns reading the news & weather, which is easier to get off the internet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilNDenise

Every time I talk to someone at Direct TV I am very frustrated. Today I tried to get local programing changed from my home site in Fort Myers FL to Cave Springs GA. AFTER 20 minutes of going around about what an RV was and that I was not moving my house and that I did not need a technician to come out and hook it up, after all that I was told that it would cost me $150 for them to change my service address and keep my billing address the same. I have looked on line and I can't find a form or anything to do that. Is there an RV division I can call?

I have a Winneguard antenna.

mel s · 09-20-2016, 10:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim2

when you call DTV customer service, its like buying a lottery ticket. You may get someone with an IQ higher than a box of rocks or you may get one who can only read from their standard script and there is no script for an RV. Hang up and call back and 90% of the time you'll get a completely different answer from a different CSR. Some folks claim they have no trouble changing their service address frequently, I've never had such luck and changed to DNS (distant network service) for my network shows. They're from the east or west coast network feeds, not "local", but all you miss are the local clowns reading the news & weather, which is easier to get off the internet.

Jim2

BTW some of us "long timers" with DirecTV service in our RVs still receive BOTH the east coast and west coast DNS, (distant network station), feeds, (not one or the other).

Mel
'96 Safari

TVforMyRV · 09-20-2016, 11:07 AM

We have sold our S&B and are currently full time in the motorhome. I have been changing my service address every week or so. They finally seem to know I am in an RV, and most of the time it is a simple matter to change the service address. Normally, I don't change my service address until I move far enough to lose signal. Some spot beams are quite large especially in the western US. For example the Salt Lake City beam takes in all of Utah and a large chunk of Nevada, Colorado, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.
Sometimes I have to reset the receiver to pickup the new locals, and sometimes it just happens while you are on the phone with them. There is no fee to do this.

If you get a support person on the phone who is either stupid or stubborn, you have a couple options.

1. Hang up and call back hoping to get a more knowledgeable rep the next time. ( Repeat as often as needed. )

2. Ask to be transferred to a US support rep. Theoretically, they are required to transfer you someone in the US. If they ask to transfer you to a supervisor, say no, I need to talk to a US rep. Now, you may still run into a problem, but eventually you will get it changed at no cost.

Keep in mind that the spot beam patterns are not necessarily centered on the city your locals are provided through.... For example the Harrisburg, PA spot beam is good to the North to about the New York state line, but is good to the South into North Carolina.

BoDu · 09-20-2016, 11:09 AM

Well I have changed my service address several times, but have found a new issue since I am at a higher lattitude. Once I got as far north as Great Falls, Montana, the SD satellite no longer has the ability to provide the local stations. So for my northern Montana/Idaho time I have not been able to get local stations through satellite. Fortunately, most of the time there has been park cable. (Though not in St. Marys on the east side of Glacier NP.) My next door neighbor at Glacier NP had a Dish Tailgator and was picking up all local and sat. signals in HD.

This will probably lead me to abandon my DTV once I investigate a little further.

TVforMyRV · 09-20-2016, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BoDu

Well I have changed my service address several times, but have found a new issue since I am at a higher lattitude. Once I got as far north as Great Falls, Montana, the SD satellite no longer has the ability to provide the local stations. So for my northern Montana/Idaho time I have not been able to get local stations through satellite. Fortunately, most of the time there has been park cable. (Though not in St. Marys on the east side of Glacier NP.) My next door neighbor at Glacier NP had a Dish Tailgator and was picking up all local and sat. signals in HD.

This will probably lead me to abandon my DTV once I investigate a little further.

We were in St Marys MT a couple weeks ago. (Now in Boulder, WY and still getting Great Falls TV. Just changed service address to Salt Lake and working fine here.) The satellite locals in St. Marys are from the Great Falls stations. I got all my locals ( in HD ) but did not check to see if they were available in SD. There are a few markets which do not provide both SD and HD re-broadcast, but I do not know if Great Falls is one of them.

Bob (WA0MQE) · 09-21-2016, 03:41 AM

Just hang up and call back. You'll get a different Rep, and good chance they'll know how to do it.

Martinichuck · 09-24-2016, 10:45 PM

Try blasting them on social media (Twitter, Facebook etc.) if you are having troubles. You usually get a response pretty quick from someone stateside.

We recently upgraded to a Genie (a nightmare in itself but that story some other time) in our RV and needed to return one of our set top boxes because it was no longer needed.

We packed it up the old set top box in the box that we received our Genie in and called them asking for a "simple return label" for UPS, FedEx or what ever carrier they use. You would think that we were asking for the moon on this request. All there script, that they read from, indicated they needed to send out a new box. "No I don't need a box I just need a shipping label". You can even email it to me and I'll print it on my end. After getting nowhere, we spoke our displeasure on Twitter regarding the situation. We received a response from a rep in the U.S. who offered to work with us in getting what we need.

After trading messages back and forth a few times, again the Directv rep indicated this was an "unusual request" and they usually send out boxes with labels for returns. I indicated maybe they should look at how other companies handle this type of request, Amazon, Verizon FiOS to name a couple, and include a simple stick on return label in the box with the new Genie. They knew, at least for us, we were returning a box when we ordered the upgrade.

So we gave up. Told them to send the d!@m box and we'll throw this perfectly good box in the trash. There goes another tree.

The box showed up, same type we received our Genie in, sent the box back.

I don't think any of us are benefitting on the sale of Directv to AT&T.