A few years ago, I had a run-in with Direct TV. They supplied me with a defective receiver and then tried to charge me for a new one because by the time they traced the ongoing problems to the receiver (after several troubleshooting sessions over the phone and TWO technicians visiting my home), my warranty had expired. After considerable negotiations, they graciously offered to send me a new receiver for free if I would pay the $25 shipping. I refused, didn’t pay my final bill (for the month I lived without TV service), and ended up having to deal with a tenacious collection agency until I was finally able to convice the collectors to back off. Direct TV now sends me regular offers to win me back as a customer, all of which end up in the trash.
I have been using DISH Network for satellite TV service and Wildblue for broadband Internet service ever since. (DISH has some sort of relationship with Wildblue – I have one account through DISH Network that covers both my satellite TV and Internet.)
The other day, I lost my Internet connection, so I called DISH/Wildblue to have the problem resolved. The company sent a couple technicians to troubleshoot and repair the connection, which they did. Apparently, a power surge had damaged a component of the dish.
While they were at my house, I asked the technicians whether they would look at my TV service or if I would have to make a separate call for that. They said, “Sure, what’s happening with your TV?” I explained the problem and, after a bit of troubleshooting, they traced the problem back to the receiver. One of the guys ran out to the truck and grabbed a new receiver. They installed it, got everything up and running, and thanked me. Now THAT’S customer service!
