Boot

I took advantage of that $99 DirecTivo deal and was supposed to have my Tivo installed last Saturday between 8:00 a.m. and noon. The installer called me at 9:30 to let me know that they weren't going to make it. Okay, no bigee. A bit disappointing, but those things happen. So we rescheduled for today (Friday) between 1:00 and 5:00 p.m. He promised that since he had rescheduled once, he would definitely be here Friday. Both DirecTV and the installer himself called during the week to confirm that he was coming today. So I take a half day off work, rush home to be here by noon and wait...and wait...and wait...and never see nor hear anything from him all day. 5:00 comes and goes. 6:00 comes and goes. 7:00 comes and the sun goes down. Nothing. Now mind you, I've taken time off work and have set around the house all day unable to go online in case he calls for directions (I live in the country), unable to go anywhere or do anything. And he doesn't show up or even call.

So I finally call the 800 number and talk to someone who tries to call him, and he doesn't even answer his phone. So here I am again with no Tivo and another day wasted and still no idea when I might see my freakin Tivo. How much you want to bet they've already billed my credit card? Mother flurkers.

das Monkey

Call DirecTV and complain. Installation is out-sourced, and while they do everything the can to accomodate the customer, they can't predict when one of those companies will **** up. Chances are DirecTV will be cool about it and maybe discount your bill. If not, tell them to keep the TiVo and you'll go with Comcast. They'll listen then.

While I've had an issue or two with installers, DirecTV has always treated me right.

das

mookiemeister

I thought when companies make those appointment, they are suppose to keep the appointment? It's pretty bad to miss the appointment twice. There must be something up with the company. Call them and ask what's going on.

huzefa

Is a self install totally out of the question? If not, go ahead and do that; you'll learn a lot about how satellite TV works and in case you have any problems later on, you can always troubleshoot them yourself. It's fun, and a learning experience; and you will never be without tv again.

CharlesC

When he does make it out, make sure he runs two lines to the reciever. I had to have my installer come out a second time (at my cost) because they only ran one line the first trip out.

PacMan2006

Same thing happened to me. I got a guy here who has cancelled already once on me. We'll see if he even fixes the problem today.

I've had DTV guys who come, say everything is fine, and five minutes later there's no signal. DirecTV is great, but their service is horrid.

chrisih8u

Same exact thing happened to me. First time they call and say they have a personal emergency so they have to reschedule for the following week. That was fine, shit happens. So the next week they call and say they have a personal emergency. So I hang up thinking it was too big a coincidence. I was pissed but did not yell at him or anything. I rescheduled for the following week between 1-5. 5 o'clock comes and goes. So I call and they tell me they are busy and it may be up to 8. They would call the installers and get an eta. So 15 minutes later a guy calls and says "Im calling to reschedule the appointment." They said they didnt have the equipment. I was bullshit. I really yelled and swore at the guy cause I had waited 4 hours thinking they were coming. Not to mention cleaning the apartment 3 times! So I called Directv, and cancelled. Yep, no Directivo for me. I dont need it. Screw them.

gr8fuldave

Same thing happened to me last March. I got the Directv system, and took off from work two seperate times to meet the installer at my house, and twice they didnt show. I called the 800 # and raised holy he!! and they were out there the next day and gave me a free months service.

Boot

Well, it gets better. I waited until 9:30 Saturday morning and still got no call. So I called the local rep. All operators busy. I was forwarded to an answering service, so I left another message for them to call me and let them know I wasn't happy. By 12:00, I still hadn't heard anything, so I called DTV and complained and was given a whopping $20 credit. Woo-hoo! That's about $3.00 per hour of my wasted time, not counting the time on the phone and the aggravation. Then I called the 800 number again and spoke with someone (a real life person!) who said he would find out what was going on and call me RIGHT BACK. By 2:30 (two and a half hours later), he had not called back. I called the 800 number again and was livid by this time. The guy asked me to hold while he personally called the local rep. Finally, he patched me through and I just went off on the poor girl. Especially after I was told that the installer claimed he "DIDN'T HAVE A TIVO." That was their excuse. He didn't have a Tivo. Sweet baby jesus.

I then talked to the supervisor and set up a time for next Saturday morning. She said she was putting me on priority list and that the installer should be her first thing or "he will have some explaining to do."

We'll see.

Numanoid

Although DirecTV is ultimately the ones who have to make good, you have to realize that they are at the mercy of the available installers in your area. One of the downsides of being located in "the backwoods of Arkansas", I'm afraid. I live in the Chicago 'burbs, so there are a million choices for installers. They know they have to provide quality service or DirecTV will not use them again, considering there are 50 more guys ready to take their place. Out in the boonies, there may only be one installer for 50 miles, so they don't really have have the choice of not using them.

kantonburg

I tell you I know DirecTV has a much better picture but where we live our Adelphia cable is quite fine for what we watch. Service calls are free and I just feel bad for you guys because of the troubles you've gone though. I've seriously considered going the dish route just for DirecTiVo but my SA TiVo will work just fine for that aggervation. I do know one thing. There is no way I'd let more than 1 appointment get missed without full compensation for the time I took off work to wait around on some deadbeat. I don't care what time it was or what happens. I worked several years in a similar type service and it didn't matter what time it was we never rescheduled an appointment and if someone couldn't make it by dark someone else went. What should happen is DirectTv should fine these companies for not making their appointments. I understand emergencies do arise but most of it is from the installer wasting time with the homeowner. Granted it is sort of a catch 22 because I'm sure they do rush to get done at the same time trying to make the homeowner feel comfortable with their installation. I don't know. I guess I'm happy with my cable. I've called for several things over the past couple of years and luckily haven't had any trouble with the cable company. I guess these situations are very YMMV. Good luck to those who are waiting.

rfduncan

Yes it is. With DirecTiVo, the installers actually bring the equipment with them instead of FedEx-ing it to you for the installers to handle when they arrive for the appointment. So without the installers, you have no TiVo!

huzefa

Really? I had no idea. But if you bought it from an internet website (besides getting it much cheaper), you COULD get the Tivo yourself and do the install.

Wizdar

huzefa, I believe that Boot ordered it from the DTV website for 99 bucks.

And why would you want to do the install when you can have Claude Rains [not] do it for free?

My experience is not anywhere near as harrowing, but I had the 1 to 5 appointment, took off work, and they finally showed up at 5:30. I normally get off work at 5, and I’m 10 minutes from home…

No, they don’t ship the tivo. Although their confirmation email says to be on the lookout for it to be delivered. And when I called the number in the email (the day before the install) to let them know I hadn’t received it yet, it took about 5 minutes for them to figure out that the tivo goes with the installer, and another 5 for me to get it across to them that the email says otherwise.

Good help is impossible to find any more.

Boot

Well, I finally got my Tivo on Saturday morning. The installer was at my door at 7:15 a.m. I got to play with it all day, and man, is it cool. I am psyched. Oh, and it IS a series two! Woo-hoo!

Wizdar

Still not sure what magic a Series Two has to offer.

Now that you’re Tivoed, will this change your life? Will a new world of TV open unto you? Will you start watching all those programs that Tivo will suggest? (Took a coupla days for Tivo to understand that I no hablo español.)

Cheddarmuff

I believe one of the biggest benefits is that you can schedule recordings online (i.e. you are at work and remember that you wanted to tape that story about how Kobe Bryant was going to jail...log-on, select, return home at night and watch away..). Can't do that with series I..

Chew

None of the Series 2 tasty goodness applies to the S2 DirecTiVos, however.

Heat

When I picked up DirectTV ~ 18 months ago I went through Blockbuster since I got the system for $25, plus a card good for 52 movie rentals, but I couldn't install it myself. I already had a Dish Network antenna on my roof and lines running into the house to where I wanted the receiver.

So the guy comes out (on time) and starts talking about whether I want the dish mounted to my deck or on a post in my yard. I say no, I want it on the roof, and the guy says that he can't get on the roof because of their insurance. Keep in mind that all of the DirecTV brochures show the guy installing the dish on the roof, and that I already have a dish there (thus a mount), so all that had to be done was to put the dish up there and point it in the right direction. I tell him that if he doesn't want to do it to leave enough supplies and I will do it. He changed his mind and decided that he could get on my roof. Things went smoothly after that.

Wizdar

An installer who's afraid of heights.

Boot

I don't have anything to compare it to, so it seems magical to me. I thought series twos could record more hours, though.

Will I start watching recommended programming? Probably not. I don't watch just a whole lot of TV anyway. The main thing I see me using Tivo for is to not be tied down to the airing times of the shows I do want to watch. Plus, it's super cool to be able to pause and rewind.

Wizdar

I thought Tivos (in general) would allow you to select a certain "quality" of recording, so if you don't have a Super HDTV 500" setup, you could let some quality go for extra recording time.

Oh, well.

I wonder if/when it'll let me know that I should start deleting all those Spanish language programs to make room for new episodes of Enterprise (that it won't record, anyway, and I should be ashamed to have a Season Pass for).

MEJHarrison

Mine is still sitting in my garage at home waiting to be installed, but from all the research I've done recently, I believe that DTivos don't have quality settings. Since they're taking the MPEG stream directly from the dish, you can't change the quality. You just record the exact same signal the dish picks up.

BDB

Yup Directivo's record everything at the highest quality.

I don't use the suggestions at all, even though I now have my
105 hour samsung.

And indeed none of the series 2 stuff has been enabled for Directivo's yet

Boot

Here's a question I have. Hopefully someone can answer it here so that I don't have to start another thread. I set my guide options to show only those channels I receive. Why is it still showing all the premium channels (HBO, Encore, Etc.) when I don't get those? It's not a huge problem except for the fact that Tivo apparently decided on its own to record The Ref on Encore for me (I'm still not quite figuring out why) when I don't get Encore, so it recorded a black screen with the little "To order this channel..." banner at the bottom. Is there some setting I can activate to get those channels off of my guide?

Also, what is the protocal for "Now playing on the other feed"? Does the Tivo just randomly choose the channel for the other feed, or is there some sort of method?