Direct TV to over 13000 DirecTivo Customers "Bite Me"



The bad thing about having to complain is that it rarely does any good. Especially once someone has your money. As you may have noted in my previous posts, I seem to be a poster child for this type of Customer disSatisfaction from any number of companies. DirectTV is just the latest in a long line.

I have Tivo. In fact, one could say that I have three. My first Tivo worked so well, and was so wonderful that my wife and I invested in a second. We shopped around, read the reviews and decided on the Hughes DirectTivo HDVR2 with a 200 hour recording capability. The reasons were simple. It had not one, but two DirectTV tuners built in. So, you could record two shows while watching a third. Really a great idea when it comes to families with varied interests.

Second, DirectTV provided the Tivo Scheduling service. If you didn't have the Uber lineup you had to pay a $4.95 per month fee, but if you got their Uber Super Channel lineup - the Tivo service was free. And, they guaranteed us that all the Tivo software upgrades would happen on schedule just like if we had a stand alone (SA) Tivo.

Well, it's been some time now and despite the large number of DirectTivo subscribers who have signed a petition pleading for the recent software upgrades to be released - DirectTV has left us all in the dumper. They have stopped issuing Tivo software upgrades at about version 3.1 (current SW version is around 6.1). They have not allowed the Home Media Option upgrade and to pour salt on the wound - they have come out with their own personal video recorder (PVR) which includes some of the options which the upgraded Tivo software would provide.

What DirectTV does fail to mention in their advertisement for their DVR "advantage" which "Simply beats the competition" (see add iamge) is whether or not their DVR will include the Home Media Option, or the ability to record on one DVR and watch on another - something that IS included in the latest Tivo version. They also fail to mention where future software upgrades will come from. Tivo, on the other hand, regularly releases software upgrades and patches for their users. I guess when you add those features - their unit kinda falls flat.


On the other hand, if it does include all of these features, and they simply failed to mention it, then at a minimum DirectTV should be investigated for (1) making a promise to upgrade DirectTivo units then stopping those upgrades and (2) the appearance of forcing current users to upgrade hardware (needlessly) to get those options.

In a sense, DirecTV has said to it's customer base - "Hey, we listened to the options and features you said you wanted and, instead of allowing your Tivo units to upgrade - we designed our own box that we want you to pay a couple hundred bucks for - no need to thank us - we are just doing our jobs and that's thanks enough, especially if we get to shaft so may of you at the same time."

If DirectTV had any intestinal fortitude, and cared to any degree about their customers - after taken such a shady route, they would provide their current DirectTivo customers to upgrade to new similar hardware (multiple tuners with equal recording time) for free - not purchase a new unit for $99 which only records 70 hours.

Ever hear the phrase about pissing down my back then telling me it's raining?

Posted: Tue - April 19, 2005 at 07:32 PM   If this blog entry was of use to you, why not show your appreciation by donating to support the site? Just click on the MAKE A DONATION button on the right hand side of the page! It's all handled by PAYPAL.
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