JeffTheAlpaca

I wish they would bring back the Audience Channel or something similar.

DJariya

So I just called DirecTV today. I had a 1 year $70 off per month promo that was about to expire next month, I called their retention department about what discounts they had available for me to keep my premiere plan without dropping anything.

They gave me $50 off per month for 1 year. They said that was the best they could do at this time. I accepted. When you do these kind of calls, I always believe you should be nice and not "threaten" cancellation. The lady I spoke to was nice and gave me the discount. If I was a dick, she could have easily said we got nothing. So all good. $50 discount is better than 0.

I'm working enough where I can still afford it. And it lets me keep all my premium channels including HBO Max.

Josh-da-man

They refused to honor the $70 off per month promo you had?

DJariya

It expires next month and they weren't able to continue it. $50 per month was all they had in their system.

whotony

That’s what I was wondering
Now I see you meant that it wasn’t a promo to add to a new sub but one you already had on your account for the previous year.

DJariya

Correct. I had it since last year and it ends on January 11. Which will be my next billing cycle. So I had to call now to get some kind of credit.

Throwing Copper

I’m amazed you keep getting all these deals. Good for you. DIRECTV has outrageous prices.

emanon

Thanks for the annual reminder that I need to call - I think my discount falls off first week of January.

Toddarino

Just got a letter in the mail telling me my rate is gonna go up. I need to finally cancel. I’ve been clinging to it for some reason and it’s just not worth it. I’ll probably switch to Hulu live for like half the price.

DJariya

Yes, it's really expensive. If you don't watch a lot of TV, it's probably not worth it. But, otherwise if I left DirecTV, I would have no access to the Lakers and Dodgers as their networks aren't available on any Live TV streaming service.

I know I can watch network TV shows on Hulu, Paramount + and Peacock and can just subscribe to premium services like HBO Max, Showtime and Starz separately and it would probably be much cheaper than DirecTV. But, until one of those services adds Spectrum SportsNet and SportsNet LA, I just have to negotiate yearly promo discounts. I've had them since 2003 and for the most part, I've been happy with them. It just keeps getting more and more expensive every year, which does suck.

Toddarino

I totally get that. Luckily I quit watching sports about five years ago, so it’s a much easier decision for me. The hard part is that I’ve had it for 12 years at least. I was firmly in the habit of coming home, turning it on and doing shit around the house while it played in the background.
I began to break myself of that a year ago. It’s just hard to let it go. Hard to understand I know.

emanon

Well, that was a big fail.

For the past year, I had a $10 discount and a $50 discount. Chatted with them, asking what was available to me now. First, they offered $10 a month for a year, which would have put my rate up north of $140/mo. I said no thanks, how do I cancel? They put me on hold, then came back and extended another $25/mo, discount, putting me a $116/mo. Once again, I declined, and asked to cancel my service. They put me on hold again, and said ok, and gave me instructions on returning my equipment.

Things might get interesting here, as I had a receiver die a couple of years back, and purchased a DTV Genie receiver on (I believe) FB Marketplace. They say that this receiver now needs to be returned. I'm not going to do so without raising a stink, as I paid for it through a third party. If they wanted it back, they should've pursued things with that individual when the discontinued service.

I'm also curious if I'll receive any follow-up communication to try and get my to stay. I'd be content to continue paying what I have been - or, frankly, anything

DJariya

So I just spent the last hour talking to DirecTV to renegotiate my bill. With the price increase, it was getting pricey and pushing $200/month.

With some back and forth chatting, I managed to go from almost $200/month, down to $137. That still includes my $50 off loyalty credit and also I got some premium channel credits as well. The premium channel credits are for 3 months. I had to downgrade from Premier, which was simply too expensive to Xtra, which is a grandfathered plan, but cheaper and still has the majority of the channels I want. I saved almost $70/month just for contacting them and telling them it was getting too expensive and they worked with me.

Just an FYI, they cannot offer premium channel credits if you're on the Premier plan. It can only be added on the lowe tier like Xtra, which I now have.

Bill Needle

Pretty much my experience from a few months ago. I really was only on still on Premier because they kept basically giving it to me for free, but that dried up. I don't miss it, and it was a large price drop.

JeffTheAlpaca

The RT Network is gone

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv...rt-1235101912/

DJariya

So I had to make some changes to my DirecTV account today. The promos I had for HBO, Showtime, Cinemax and Starz were all expiring tomorrow. I also had a promo expiring for the Sports Pack which I never used. It's basically a bunch of RSNs I never watched. Waste of money. I talked to a CS person and asked if there were any new promos available.

He looked it up and there was only a $5 off/per month promo for 3 months on HBO and another discount for the Sports Pack.

So I took the HBO promo and passed on the Sports Pack deal. I had them cancel Showtime, Starz and Cinemax. I managed to get Showtime and Starz through direct deals with their website. Starz has a $40 for 12 months promo and Showtime has a 30 day free trial with $4 per month for 4 months.

I can live without Cinemax since they don't have original shows anymore.

So I think I saved a little money on my DirecTV bill and got better deals for some of the premiums elsewhere.

JeffTheAlpaca

I wonder whey they don't update those photos they use for their programs on their dvrs or are they getting lazy?

Drew Barrymore show is probably 3 years old and it still has no photo when you see it in the program guide?

Robin WIlliams is still alive when you look up the cast and crew info?

DJariya

So I made a change on my DirecTV account last week that I'm not sure I like.

I had a 1-year, $50 off loyalty promo that was expiring. I tried calling to see if I could get another one. No dice. The CSR rep and retention rep had nothing. So my bill was set to go up from around $126 per month to around $170+

I decided to downgrade to the lowest tier "Entertainment" which has the locals and the main cable channels I watch. But, it takes away some. And I later realized this package also takes away the RSNs and the $11.99 fee. So I lose my local Bally Sports and also lose my 2 Spectrum channels, which televise Dodgers and Lakers. I'm not sure I'm good with that as I am a Dodgers and Lakers fan and there is no other service that has them.

Ughh, sucks. I may have to suck it up and upgrade 1 tier. But, I was hoping to save a few bucks, but this kinda backfired. I know some of you can live without your RSNs to save money, but I don't think I can make it until May with only national TNT and ESPN games for the Lakers. And 95% of Dodgers games are on Spectrum LA. Fuck, I hate the stupid RSN fee.

fujishig

Yeah, sports are one of the main reasons to me for getting satellite or cable so I can completely understand. The one saving grace is that even when they stink, the Lakers are on national tv a bunch especially with Lebron chasing records, so you're not as bad off as some other fans, and you lived without the Dodgers for a while back when DirecTV didn't have them.

dvd-4-life

Same here.

I could have gotten a downgraded package then lose most of stuff exclusive to DirecTV.

I also get all of the pro sports leagues packages(but at least the NBA/NHL have lowered their prices).

It's a shame that the NBA app(that comes with NBA League Pass) has sucked this year(making watching games with their app pointless).

Bill Needle

My current slate of discounts/promos roll off next summer. The discounts are the only thing that keeps DirecTV competitive. Based on my recent experience trying to get NFL Sunday Ticket (no dice) and your experience, it may be that the screws have been permanently tightened and my long relationship with DirecTV will soon be coming to an end.

philo

I switched to DirecTV Stream from DISH a year ago and it's been a huge win for me. The price did go up recently to $105 but still cheaper than DISH would be costing me right now at around $150 plus I needed NESN for Bruins and Red Sox which DISH dropped. There's also MSG for NY teams. I bought the refurbed Osprey box from their site for $50 and it's no different from a new one. Their remote has channel numbers for those used to changing channels that way but also Google Voice assistant. I like not having to clean off the dish when it snows or losing signal during thunderstorms. I also like the unlimited cloud recording. Like all streaming TV you do need reliable internet. If it goes down you're out of luck.

JeffTheAlpaca

Directv dropped Newsmax

I think they dropped OAN last year



https://www.thedailybeast.com/direct...hannel-newsmax

Throwing Copper

For those who have the newer DirecTV Stream thing, is it basically all the same channels, you just don’t have the physical dish?

DJariya

No dish. But they send you a box that has to connect to the internet. I haven't looked too much into it though as I still have the Dish.