Direct TV and new hassles !!!!

[Gary.Jones]

Most of our coaches come with Direct-TV antennas installed in the roof. One would think that Entegra and Direct-TV would understand motor coaches and satellite TV reception at this point, however, that is not the case.

I am not exaggerating here.... this is the truth. I have had periodic problems getting local channels in the communities in which I travel. I had several maddening initial phone conversations with technical service trying to get the reps who answer to know the difference between a mobile home and a motorhome. However, that has recently been better. However, that situation has become incredibly much worse. Today I drove from Quartzsite, AZ to Desert Hot Springs, CA and wanted to get California local channels. Called customer service and (this is not an exaggeration) then spent a total of 3 hours on the cell phone trying to get this resolved. I talked to 13 different reps (doesn't seem possible, does it, but in 3 hours, that is easy....). One of them was the supervisor of the normal supervisors who supervise the general reps. I talked to three total supervisors. Direct - TV now says they can no longer change local channels to where a motor coach is currently residing. They say that the FCC no longer permits it and that any rep that agrees to do it is risking getting fired from their job. "No More" they say!!

They say that my service was a "regular" service account even though it was installed into a motorhome by Direct reps directly into my motorhome (the Genie etc.) and everyone obviously knew it (and it has worked just fine for 11 months at this point). They now say that I have to be defined as a "mobile account" (which is fine). However, I have to provide my certificate of title to prove I have a coach), and swear that I am telling the truth and that none of this equipment is ever taken out of my coach (that is the case), under penalty of blah blah blah. In addition, I think that all that then permits me to do is pay them $15.00 more a month for the east coast or west coast DNS "feed" even though I am supposed to get my local channels "free" with the package that I pay for. I had a splitting headache after 3 hours of angry, frustrating interactions and assertions from me that this made no sense, but all I accomplished was that one second level supervisor triggered the reset to get me the locals this one last time, while I mail in all the document to the company to prove that this is a motorhome and I use my satellite equipment in my motorhome. AMAZING !!!!! How can companies (or the FCC) be so damn stupid?

I bought Direct-TV although I have Dish in my S&B as I was told that Direct was easier to deal with on changing locations, but I am now being told that after 11 months of no problems, that the company has changed its policy on this situation, and what I described is my only choice.

An industry lobbiest needs to get this silliness resolved!


Gary

[raineman]

That is customer service for most large companies. Today's customer service rep's, for the majority, couldn't care less about you, the issue(s) you are having or much of anything else. To make it worse, the companies introduce chaos with confusing procedures and rules that seem to defy logic. In recent months I have had similar experiences with Amex, Dish, and Wellsfsrgo. Sure wish an exec with these companies would try calling their own customer service to see how bad they are.

BTW I have dish for home and rv. But I only get my own local channels when on the road. Not sure if they allow local channels to change everytime we are somewhere new. I rely on an HD antenna for the local channels when away from my home market

[DebbieMH]

I don't bother calling them and use either the parks cable or our antenna for local channels. If they eventually can figure it out without having an act of congress, then I will. I would think they will eventually get it as lots of people are going RVing now. Wonder if we all talk to Traveler (dish mfg) if they could put some pressure on Direct and Dish to "get it together"???/

[MRUSA14]

Don't hold your breath. In satellite TV as well as tow cars, the RV sector is so amall as to be not worth the trouble for the manufacteres to give a damn about us. To compound that, Congress has passed laws that forbid the TV providers from making local stations available to travelers without loads of red tape. This was done to protect copyright holders, and our rights were not consideed. Legislators and big corporations don't care about protecting us because numerically, we are insignificant.

[777 Driver]

When calling DirecTV, I've had good luck simply asking, "would you please change my SERVICE address to: (give the street address for your current location)." Nothing good for you will come from mentioning anything about a RV. They may ask if you've moved. Simply answer, "Yes." They may ask about equipment, simply explain that the equipment is all installed. They may ask about your BILLING address, just ask the the billing address remain unchanged. Engaging in other conversations about your RV lifestyle, etc. will result in a frustrating experience for you.

It might be better if you don't make the request for a SERVICE address change on a frequent basis.

YMMV.

Take care,
Stu

[brobox]

DISH is no better. I tried Dish Pay as you go and I didn't have much better luck. Dish knows that pay as you go is in a RV, but trying to locals switched is a joke. I then took the advise of others here and tried chat, twice Dish turned my service off instead of switching locals. From now on it will be antenna or park cable for locals.

[edatlanta]

Change your DirecTV account to an RV account and cancel your home account. Move your receiver to your home from your RV when you are at home. You will have network channels with DNS so your DVR won't miss your network programs and you can get your locals with a separate antenna permanently mounted at your home.

No more calling DirecTV.

[smlranger]

We also decided on our current 3 month trek to just relay on either park cable or OTA for locals.

Direct customer service varies so much. I've had conversations where they were helpful and some where you think they are just trying to wear you out hoping you will just go away.

We recently purchased a new HD/DVR genie for the coach from Amazon. When I called Direct to activate it, they advised the HD receiver it was replacing was on lease and needed to be returned. I said fine, I have the box from the receiver I just got so give me the shipping address and I will send it. They said they were not allowed to give that address and would have to send a label and box. I told them my mail was being forwarded to me so just send the label and not a box and label. They finally agreed.

A few days later I got an automated call from Direct saying they were following up on my request to send a box to return the receiver . So, I suspect there is a box sitting by the door of our stick house back in Virginia.

[Triker56]

OP sign up for the DNS $15 service. And not have all your 3 hour talks anymore with DTV service people.
Your Genie will be happy and can record all preset programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PS, and CW.

If you want local news then your Batwing will give you those. If you want to record local OTA then get a DirecTV AM21 and add it to your Genie.

[tnteacherguy]

777 driver, I do exactly what you do. Every time I relocate. Works perfectly.
I just emphasize and repeat "change my service address, not my billing address" at least 3 times during the conversation.
Shortly after the conversation I check on the Directv app to confirm they haven't changed the billing address.

Ps. I pay for dns as well. It's easier to record network tv on those channels.

[JMonroe]

This is an old story, since over the air TV providers forced some legislation through congress, presumably expecting to diminish satellite TV growth and popularity.

We've had those same frustrating conversations in the past and I'm fairly convinced it all comes back to the FCC and how "tight" the sat provider wants to be in enforcing those regulations. That seems to change with the wind. When written I'm sure there was no thought or consideration given to those of us that live on wheels.

A couple of years ago I came to the realization that I no longer received anything in the mail from Direct TV so I'd just give them what the government wanted, an address that matched our service area. They now have our two "home bases" in their archive data base and I simply call to let them know we've changed to one or the other. When we travel away from either of these we just make use of OTA signals for local information (weather, mainly). We subscribe to the DNS service so we always have a reliable signal for the networks. Anything we set to record is taking advantage of one of those feeds.

[TXBart]

I have Dish in the MH and S&B. The only problem I ever have changing service address is when the tech doesn't speak English, doesn't know what an RV is and wants to change billing address also. The second and third issue has only happened a couple times. We are pleased with how Dish works for us while on the road.


Vance & Robin
Dexter and Winston - Old English Sheepdog Security Service
2014 Entegra Anthem 42DEQ

[loisjop]

I've done the same as Stu for several years and only had a problem a couple of times. If I do have a problem I hang up and call back. I had one of direct tv personnel tell me it's not against the fcc rules for us to get local channels. They put in our file and not another problem.
Only thing I tell them is change my service address. Noel

[Jim2]

Nothing new in your story, its been the "official" policy for many years that mobile users were not permitted to change service address repeatedly. As always, which answer/response you get from DTV, depends on which customer service rep you get.
Distant Network Service (DNS) has always been the FCC approved method for mobile users to get network channels.