/ Rob Beschizza / 8:37 am Wed Jan 25, 2012

DirecTV: click to add channels, call to remove them

JWZ reports some of the sleazy things that DirecTV does to squeeze money out of its customers, of which he is one. In addition to the predictable stuff, like market-obscuring channel bundles and below-the-radar billing extras, there are weird cramming strategies designed to make customer service as inconvenient as possible.

I receive 626 channels, and watch shows from about 14 of them ever.

So here's how evil DirecTV is: The DirecTV web site lets you add programming packages online, but never, ever lets you delete one. If you click the "X" box next to any of them, it just tells you to call the 800 number and waste time in voice jail before talking to a human.

Making content available only as part of a contractual screwing doesn't legitimize piracy, but it does make it a problem largely of the industry's own creation. Everyone understands this: it's why politicians only care about piracy when they're paid to. The naked fact is now so obvious that Hollywood has no qualms about ripping up the checks in public.

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  1. The number of channels you receive compared to those you actually watch is the exact reason we got rid of Dish Network. I do miss a few shows (Spongebob, House Hunters International), but not $60/month worth.

    Broadband isn’t available in our area so we’re pretty much SOL on the whole “streaming from the internet” thing. I’ll join Dish again when I can pick the channels I want to watch and that’s it. I anticipate a long wait.

  2. Well to be fair DirectTV is getting screwed by the channels, and they pass the screwing onto you.  The entire system is flawed and really needs to be reworked.

  3. DirecTV is now undergoing ANOTHER threat – they’re moving Sprout (the PBS/child-centric) channel to a “premium package”. This is the ONLY channel being moved.

    LET THE MOMMYBLOGGERS ATTACK!

  4. Rogers in Canada (or at least Ontario) does the same thing. You can add channels either directly via your remote or online within seconds, but must call to remove.

    I get a sports package that includes 4-5 sports, but I only get for football and hockey and so I cancel once the regular season is over, and average call time (including hold time) to cancel is around 25 minutes. Highest was 45 minutes, lowest was about 15 minutes. All times they delay with service questions, etc.

  5. I’ve been with Directv since 1997.  I’ve added and removed programming without a problem for years. Typically takes 2 minutes on the phone. “Voice mail jail” is overstating it.  When the computer answers you say, “Change programming” – you get to a CSR within a minute or two, tell them what you want to do and you’re done. If you’re a customer in good standing they may even offer you billing credits or something just in case you’re on the fence, but otherwise it’s easy-peesy. Sounds like the original article writer just has an axe to grind.

    1. Axe to grind? Since you’re so experienced, is there anything in the CSR process that you think could not be replicated in customer-side functionality? That is, in your estimation is there anything preventing them from allowing you to remove channels through the TV, the same way that they’re added?

      1. Get your google on, he’s the kind of DTV subscriber who has a reason to memorize all the voicejail prompts.

  6. They do this to do customer retention.  When you call you usually get a very nice discount on keeping the channels.   Funny how this is not mentioned in the above rant.  

    While this is somewhat annoying it the same as nearly every other subscription based company, not sure why Direct TV is being singled out here.  Sirius radio is the same and I had that service for free for 2 years because they wanted to keep customers on the books even though none of them were actually paying.

  7. JWZ reports some of the sleazy things that DirecTV does to squeeze money out of its customers, of which he is one.

    Think I’ve figured out your problem right there, son.

  8. @google-958587fe31fad6d28e73343aa532ce5e:disqus — I’ve had both experiences.  My only use for Directv is access to nationwide NFL game coverage on Sundays, over which they have a stranglehold.  For the last few years I would suspend service after the season ended, then re-up again in the Fall when the season starts.  Sometimes it’s a quick call like what you describe; more often it’s a 30+ minute grind.  

  9. Call-to-cancel is a very typical strategy for many companies. It’s very annoying, yes, and presumable very easy to implement online, but it gives a hardworking customer service rep a chance to talk you out of it by offering discounts, an extra free month, etc.

  11. This is all pretty standard.  AT&T and Microsoft are the same way.  Even worse, Microsoft USED to have that option on their website and pro-actively removed it.

  12. I really wish we could all distinguish between, and agree on definitions for the following words:

    “copyright”
    “copying”
    “stealing”
    “piracy”
    “illegal”
    “wrong”

    Zounds, I sound like a pedantic jerk! Well, here are a few examples.

    When someone says, “We all agree that piracy should be illegal,” it begs the question: “what is ‘piracy’?”

    The other one that drives me crazy is the use of the word “stealing”. No one’s stealing anything. The injury caused in stealing is that it deprives an owner of their property. In the case of digital copying, the owner still has the property, as is reflected by iTunes record earnings.

    I’m not saying that IP should not exist without rights, either. I just believe the world is sorting this out, and trying to shoehorn policies that worked for atoms into an ecosystem made out of bits is the answer. And I know for sure it won’t work.

    It’s not as simple as “piracy is wrong.”

    1. Honest, I’m only saying this because you said you sound like a pedantic jerk, but your use of “begs the question” is incorrect.  There!  I out pedantic you.

  13. “So here’s how evil DirecTV is: The DirecTV web site lets you add programming packages online, but never, ever lets you delete one.”

    Some people have different definitions of “evil,” I suppose. 

  14. The reason it’s so hard most times to change programming is or was when I was CSR Service Tech is that only Customer Retention Group (CRG) phone reps can downgrade services. They have a whole lengthy script to have all reps read off to pissed off customers to beg them not to downgrade or disconnect services. When I first started we actually could do this in the RIO interface the CSR has on their computer with your account, but they changed that over time to remove downgrade function, but either way if you aren’t CRG, they would punish you. You were always under pressure to up-sell premium service which I as a tech refused to do which always counted against me when they graded calls. Everything is about reading from scripts on the computer screen. No fair using your judgment as an adult employee.

    I tried to focus on helping people, the worst it’s for are the older people who the systems and remotes with so many buttons and options were byzantine to. The most common scenario was grandpa who was king of the remote for 50yrs has passed away and grandma is lost, uses the wrong remote to get her tv off Ch 3/4 and now has a snowy screen and has no one to turn to. Please check on your elderly family & neighbors because so many are just too proud or embarrassed to ask for your help and would really benefit knowing someone cares and would be willing to come over and help them. So many of the kids under 30 in those call center hellholes tend to hate talking to the elderly sadly and will give up and just send a truck which means grandma sits home alone with no tv for days until the tech comes.

    More odious than that are the 2-year contracts with heavy penalties you are hit with if thru no fault of your own you have some life circumstance where lose your job or some such and beg to bail out early. They are quite inflexible about that. If you get a receiver upgrade they start the 2yr contract clock all over again even though mostly the things are used or pieces of crap made by the lowest bidder in China.

    I got into quite a few dustups fighting for elderly customers with supervisors who wouldn’t let grandma for instance out of their contract because grandpa died and now grandma  who has to move in with her children even though they were Loyal Customers for more than a decade. That scenario happened a LOT more than you’d think. Management is just conditioned not to care ever. If you have a state service commission [Google it!] you can always report cable, satellite, utilities & the phone company to them when they try to screw you like that. It doesn’t cost you a thing and often gets the company to relent.

    A lot of CSR’s you talk to on the phone hate their jobs and wish they could do more for you, but they are as screwed as you are. For me it was $9.25hr tethered to a headset with 2 15 minute breaks a day, a phone that never stops ringing  and being yelled at a lot. Be kind to those poor souls whose town is so retched job-wise that this is actually a ‘good job’.

    I recommend a good outdoor HDTV antenna like a Channel Master, easy to put up if you are handy and a Netflix account and you will save a LOT of money. If you have broadband, buy a computer with a HDMI out spigot and you will be able to watch a lot of stuff to an HDTV and save on receiver and DVR fees as well from the web online from the  networks for free. Comedy Central gives you the Daily Show and Colbert Report free the next day.

  15. DirecTV also produces a DVR with a limit of 50 shows. If you have enough people in the household to need to record 51 show, too damn bad. Or you can dive down Boolean logic hell and see how much programming you can squeeze in 24 characters. OR you can buy a SECOND DVR and increase your limit to 100 shows. Ta da!

  16. This article is unreal.  Of course this is how they do it.  It’s also how TimeWarner Cable in NYC does it. I used to have a boss who only wanted HBO when Dexter was on — guess who got to call and cancel it?  

    This isn’t shocking or horrifying or anything.  It’s the way the world works: make it convenient to pay, make it inconvenient to cancel.  Make it invisible when you raise the price (like the NYTimes did).

    Tl;dr: So?

  17. I was stuck in JFK for something like 10 hours once, so I signed up for Boingo wifi – $10 a month – because I would have reason to use it once or twice more that month, planning to cancel it before the month is up.

    If you try to cancel, there appears to be a way to do it through their website once you log in. It takes you through a couple of screens (are you sure?) and then gives an error message saying the online account management system is down, and to please call this number. Yeah, right.

    The credit card I used to pay for it was cloned when I was in NYC and so Boingo doesn’t get any more of my money. That helped me cancel a couple of other subscriptions I didn’t want anymore, too. I hate using the phone and I’ll admit I went a couple months paying subscriptions I no longer wanted before my credit card was canceled so I wouldn’t have to call.

  18. The only channels you absolutely need Directv or Dish for are exclusive channels like LinkTV and Free Speech TV (can you think of any others?) Most other channels can be accessed on cable, Fios, etc.

    If those exclusive channels ever start a subscription streaming service, goodbye Satellite TV!

  19. Yousee in Denmark has the same “feature”. A phone call to service desk is necessary to change your current package, if you want to degrade. Their website lets you upgrade, even without authentication :)

  20. I’m outraged! I cannot believe that a company expects you to speak to a human being if you want to change your service with them. I simply cannot be bothered to make human contact for any reason.

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