# DirecTV CSRs now resort to lying



## GaryGnu (Jan 22, 2003)

For the last week or so, I've been helping a friend make the move to DirecTV and (hopefully) Tivo. She visited my house for a demo of my DirecTivo, and she decided that is what she wanted. She recently phoned DTV to sign up and asked for a DVR with Tivo. This did not seem to be a problem. She was told the equipment would be sent to her with the installer.

She starts telling me the story and tells me she is getting an R15. Whoa, stop right there! I told her she needed an R10 and she called DTV back to complain. The CSR assured her the R15 is the newest and best DVR available. Eventually, I got on the phone. The CSR fed me the same BS. In fact, she went so far as to tell me, "DirecTV purchased the software from Tivo. The R15 has Tivo on it. We did remove the Tivo logo though."  

Well, I didn't believe a word of it, and I told her so. She stuck to her story.

I tried real hard to get my friend an R10, but DTV is not passing them out anymore. My friend's only option for an R10 is to buy elsewhere. She is going to give it a go with the R15. Without using Tivo prior, she may do alright.

My subject line says "lying" but like George Costanza once said "its not a lie if YOU believe it." So maybe the CSR didn't know any better... But someone is lying.


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

GaryGnu said:


> "DirecTV purchased the software from Tivo. The R15 has Tivo on it. We did remove the Tivo logo though."
> 
> Well, I didn't believe a word of it, and I told her so. She stuck to her story.
> 
> maybe the CSR didn't know any better... But someone is lying.


Please PM one of the Tivo people with the CSR name, or at least the date, time and customer name & address.


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## andywoods (Mar 7, 2006)

why would you not want the R15 instead of the R10. The R15 has a bigger drive.


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## TeeSee (Jan 16, 2003)

DirecTV CSRs can be misinformed, poorly trained and/or thick as a brick. And I'm being polite here. Considering my experiences, and those I've read of here, lying is the least likely of any of these excuses for what you were told. 

Of course, nothing would surprise me.


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## PRMan (Jul 26, 2000)

Now?


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

Redux said:


> Please PM one of the Tivo people with the CSR name, or at least the date, time and customer name & address.


Ieeeeaaaa, very reluctantly would have to concur with Redux on that one. That is just an obvious no-no. If I were a TiVo employee/investor I don't know what I'd say.

Better yet, call DTV back and request a supervisor and relate the story and re-request the DirecTiVo that this customer wants. Politely explain...


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

Redux said:


> Please PM one of the Tivo people with the CSR name, or at least the date, time and customer name & address.


I would prefer the Tivo people spent their time getting their new DVR's ready. I can't imagine a bigger waste of their time then spending it reading what a clueless CSR said.


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

andywoods said:


> why would you not want the R15 instead of the R10. The R15 has a bigger drive.


Yes and no...

The R15 is a very DIFFERENT system... for more description on what that is... go to www.dbstalk.com

Sure, out of the box, a DTivo is at best an 80hr unit (only 20 less then the R15). but for about $30 and 2 hours of yoru time, you can have a 140hr system, and for $60 you can have a 200+ hour system.

The R15 is a good, yet flawed system.
Some people have their preferences for TiVo powered product.

-------------------
To the OP... I don't think the DirecTV CSR "lied" to you.... Told you something that was complete wrong yes, but lied... Lied would mean there was some intent. 
If you think DirecTV was crazy enough to "endorse" a statement like "we bought the software from TiVo and just took the logo off"....... not a chance in the blue moon.

I would file that right next to "they are sabotaging" the existing DTiVo units.

--------------------

If you would have called 15 seconds later or earlier, you would have gotten a different CSR, and probably got a completely different sales pitch.


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## hakamarob (May 1, 2002)

$8/hr convergys drone answering calls about a product they do not care about. what kind of service do you think you will get?


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

hakamarob said:


> $8/hr convergys drone answering calls about a product they do not care about. what kind of service do you think you will get?


There is only one place in the United States that has a minimum wage that is $8.00 or higher per hour and that is in San Francisco, California which has a minimum wage of $8.50. The next highest minimum wage exists in the state of Washington and it is $7.63, which is followed by the state of Oregon which has a minimum wage of $7.50.

Most states have a minimum wage that matches the Federal Minimum Wage of $5.15 and two states have a minimum wage that is less than the Federal minimum wage and those states are Kansas ($2.65) and Ohio ($4.25).

Five states have no Minimum Wage and they are Arizona, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and South Carolina.

So depending upon where DirecTV has their call center located, there is a very good possibility that the DirecTV CSRs make a lot less than $8.00 per hour, before any benefits.

So, it is very likely that starting DirecTV CSRs are paid between $5.15 and $7.63 per hour.

*Minimum Wage Laws in the States - January 1, 2006*


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## Redux (Oct 19, 2004)

HiDefGator said:


> I would prefer the Tivo people spent their time getting their new DVR's ready. I can't imagine a bigger waste of their time then spending it reading what a clueless CSR said.


DirecTV is on the public record with this (and quite a number of things that are being tracked).

I've not yet seen a public retraction of most of them. So they stand as DirecTV's stated positions.


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## dishrich (Jan 16, 2002)

andywoods said:


> why would you not want the R15 instead of the R10. The R15 has a bigger drive.


I have TWO stock SII D-Tivo's w/100 hrs that I bought brand new for under $150 each...   AND, it's a simple matter to upgrade to bigger drives that will make your R15 miniscule by comparision - try THAT with your R15...


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## SpacemanSpiff (Jan 31, 2004)

You can also use the entire drive vs the R15's drive that D* has reserved 60gb for Pushed PPV. Does that make it PPPV?


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## willardcpa (Feb 23, 2001)

andywoods said:


> why would you not want the R15 instead of the R10. The R15 has a bigger drive.


With that criteria in mind, I guess I am going to replace my idea of the perfect dream car. Since a Chevy Malibu has more trunk room than a Ferrari.


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

DirecTv has made a decision to move away from Tivo DVR's. That is extremely unlikely to change in the near future. If your friend is just now going to DirecTV then it would be silly to learn an interface that is already obsolete. It will just make it harder in the future when they opt for a second dvr and then have one of each to deal with.

Either don't go with D* today or admit to yourself that a non-Tivo DVR is in your future. Why make it harder on a D* newbie by going out of your way to get them a D* Tivo?


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## HogarthNH (Dec 28, 2001)

tbeckner said:


> So depending upon where DirecTV has their call center located, there is a very good possibility that the DirecTV CSRs make a lot less than $8.00 per hour, before any benefits.
> 
> So, it is very likely that starting DirecTV CSRs are paid between $5.15 and $7.63 per hour.


tbeckner:

Nope. Nice analysis, but completely offbase.
Here, in OK, (with one of the lowest costs of living in the nation) DirecTV CSR salaries start at $9 / hr, and benefits kick in after 90 days on the job. (and are, if memory serves correctly, 75% paid by DTV) Aetna PPO, Dental, and Fidelity 401k.

I would imagine salaries at the Boise call center are a wee lower, but certainly over $8 in all cases.

They're actually pretty good to their employees.

There are a LOT of call centers here, and even though none are terribly discriminating in talent levels, they all compete for the same kind of workers.

H


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## CsrLiz344 (Apr 12, 2004)

tbeckner said:


> Most states have a minimum wage that matches the Federal Minimum Wage of $5.15 and two states have a minimum wage that is less than the Federal minimum wage and those states are Kansas ($2.65) and Ohio ($4.25).


Just some FYI, Ohio is $5.15 also


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

CsrLiz344 said:


> Just some FYI, Ohio is $5.15 also


I guess those FEDERAL employees need to upgrade their records at the Department of Labor. I pulled the information from their website, which even has updates which point to changes coming in January 1, 2007.

I believe that you might mistake the Federal override of a state minimum wage as being the current state minimum wage. From what I understand, if a business in Ohio matches a specific criteria then the Federal Minimum wage applies, but if it doesn't then the state minimum wage applies.

OHIO (from Department of Labor website)

State Law
*$4.25*

Except, employers with gross annual sales from $150,000 to $500,000
*$3.35*

Except for employers with gross annual sales under $150,000
*$2.80*

OHIO (from the Ohio State website)

Companies with a gross dollar volume of sales per year:

Less than $150,000.00

Non-tipped employees $2.80; tipped employees $2.01
With no overtime required for hours over 40

More than $150,000.00, but less than $500,000.00:

Non-tipped employees $3.35; tipped employees $2.01 
With overtime at one and one-half the employee's hourly rate after 40 actual working hours

Companies with a gross dollar volume of more than $500,000.00 will need to contact the U.S. Department of Labor for the applicable minimum wage rate and governing laws.

*Ballot Issue Seeks to Raise Ohio's Minimum Wage*
by William Hershey
in the Dayton Daily News

_COLUMBUS | Supporters of a campaign to raise Ohio's minimum wage to $6.85 an hour said they gathered 45,000 signatures on Election Day in an effort to get the proposal on Nov. 7, 2006 ballot.

"It's a moral imperative to raise the minimum wage," Tim Burga, legislative director of the Ohio AFL-CIO, said at a Statehouse news conference.

Burga was joined by Senate Minority Leader C.J. Prentiss, D-Cleveland, and other representatives of Ohioans for a Fair Minimum Wage  a coalition of labor, faith-based, civil rights and community groups.

In Ohio, the federal minimum wage  $5.15 an hour  applies to employees of companies that engage in interstate commerce and have gross annual sales of more than $500,000.

Nearly 92,000 Ohio workers  about 1.9 percent of the state's employees  earn less than the federal minimum wage, according to a report last April by Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based research group.

For those who don't qualify for the federal minimum wage, the state minimum wage ranges from $2.80 per hour to $4.25 per hour, based on their employers' gross annual sales.

Only Ohio and Kansas have state minimum wages lower than the federal minimum, according to the U.S. Labor Department Web site.
...

Under the ballot proposal, the state minimum wage would go to $6.85 an hour on Jan. 1, 2007 and after that would be annually adjusted for inflation.

Also, under the proposal, the federal minimum wage would apply to employees younger than 16 and to employees of businesses with annual gross receipts of $250,000 or less._


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

HogarthNH said:


> tbeckner:
> 
> Nope. Nice analysis, but completely offbase.
> Here, in OK, (with one of the lowest costs of living in the nation) DirecTV CSR salaries start at $9 / hr, and benefits kick in after 90 days on the job. (and are, if memory serves correctly, 75% paid by DTV) Aetna PPO, Dental, and Fidelity 401k.
> ...


That is very good to know, but still places the DirecTV CSRs below the prevailing wage being paid in Central Oregon to starting call center employees, which is now over $11 per hour.

Since it appears that you either worked or knew someone who worked or is working as a CSR at DirecTV, you might know what kind of employee churn rate they have?

It appears on a whole from a customer point of view that DirecTV has a high churn rate, because even though the company is growing, there appears to be a lot of CSRs who are new, are untrained, have no idea what is happening, or simply do not care.

I know from information I have gleamed from local people who have worked at or who have known people who have worked at a call center that the work is a real pain.

In my case, I haven't experienced this first hand, because I have worked in IT for the last 33 years and the last 18 years as an independent consultant.

If you are not a current employee or do not plan on going back, if you don't mind me asking, what is the reason for the decline in the Customer Service numbers at DirecTV as registered by JD POWER & Associates the past three years?

I noticed that the Dish Network won in 2004 and a small cable/internet company won in 2005.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

HiDefGator said:


> ...then it would be silly to learn an interface that is already obsolete.
> 
> ...admit to yourself that a non-Tivo DVR is in your future.


I can't answer for the other person, but if I was recommending a DVR today to a new person, I would recommend that if they can they acquire a DirecTiVo and not the buggy OTHER DVR, and in fact I would recommend that they purchase a spare DirecTiVo or spares like I have so they can wait until a better solution has been released.

The OTHER DVR is not only a problem, but as DirecTV has so kindly pointed out in their own information, it is not "THE FUTURE", because they already plan on replacing it within a year with another SD level model.

I my case I plan on waiting until 2009 or later to make a jump to HD. At that time I will plan on either selling or junking my current DirecTiVos. And at that point I will make a decision on what provider and equipment I choose, but until I make the jump to HD I will have five DirecTiVos which I can use, upgrade, expand, or fix.

Now, if this other person was recommending an HD Tivo, well I wouldn't recommend the HR10-250 or even the HR20. I would recommend that they wait. In fact, I would recommned that they watch the Dish Network for MPEG4 plans.


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## hughvh (Apr 4, 2002)

I was fortunate when I called in. The CSR was up-front and honest with me. She told me they had no control over which DVR was sent out. They just had a generic DVR line item in the system. She recommended that I purchase an R10 directly from a retail outlet.


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

tbeckner said:


> I my case I plan on waiting until 2009 or later to make a jump to HD.


2009. Wow you must be planning on being the last person in the US to not have HD. I'm not sure you realize what you are missing.

I find it hard to believe that someone who is so into tv that they frequently contribute to this forum, is willing wait another three years before getting HD.

I guess by then it won't require much of a jump. More like a baby step.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

HiDefGator said:


> 2009. Wow you must be planning on being the last person in the US to not have HD. I'm not sure you realize what you are missing.
> 
> I find it hard to believe that someone who is so into tv that they frequently contribute to this forum, is willing wait another three years before getting HD.
> 
> I guess by then it won't require much of a jump. More like a baby step.


There are many reasons for not making the switch and CONTENT and PRICE are just a few of major one's.

If you look at the very small number of people who actually recieve and view HD today, I will still likely be in with the majority of people even in 2009.

The changes coming in display technology in the next three years is huge, OLED, 50+ inch LED, NO BACKLIGHTING, etc, and the prices of LED technology is scheduled to drop by 28% this year alone.

There is very little HD CONTENT I can receive from DirecTV (No HD LOCALS and since my area was at number 185 on the list, likely never, so I would need to dump DirecTV for cable), plus I cannot get waivers from the local stations.

The bottom-line is, the only thing I am currently missing are NFL and college football games in HD, but I can wait.

But by 2009, I will likely dump DirecTV and my SD DirecTiVos and make a jump to digital cable, which I added about two weeks ago to get some local channels back for local news and MUSIC CHOICE.

Understand, it just doesn't make sense to pay about 7K to 8K in total for two LED HD TV's and two HD DirecTiVos and the higher subscription costs for VERY LITTLE CONTENT. (Remember I cannot get any HD Broadcast Channels unless I go cable, and I hate the cable DVRs that my cable company offers with a passion (Motorola and Moxi suck bigtime))


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## 7thton (Mar 3, 2005)

tbeckner said:


> Understand, it just doesn't make sense to pay about 7K to 8K in total for two LED HD TV's and two HD DirecTiVos and the higher subscription costs for VERY LITTLE CONTENT. (Remember I cannot get any HD Broadcast Channels unless I go cable, and I hate the cable DVRs that my cable company offers with a passion (Motorola and Moxi suck bigtime))


The Moxi boxes aren't so bad. The interface is a little cluttered, but other than that, it's not bad. It even has a cool feature where you can read news stories while watching TV.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

7thton said:


> The Moxi boxes aren't so bad. The interface is a little cluttered, but other than that, it's not bad. It even has a cool feature where you can read news stories while watching TV.


But the Moxi MRV (Multi-Room Viewing) sucks and I am very use to the TiVo interface, with six TiVos and almost six years of use and all of my DirecTiVo units are currently hacked for MRV, which everyone in the house (4 people) use daily.

The jump to a Moxi box, the $20 per month rental for the Moxi, local cable at the same price as DirecTV, and dumping DirecTV and my five new and almost new DirecTiVos is just not an option at the moment.

And if you compare what I am missing (only NFL/college football) and the costs involved, then it just not make sense to kick DirecTV and the DirecTiVos to the curb until more HD CONTENT is available, PRICES of HD EQUIPMENT drop another 40% to 50%, and I can get a great interface on a new DVR with integrated MRV and far more features. Plus in a couple of years, since I already have FTTN/FTTC Fiber To The Node/Curb, FIOS or something like it could be here by 2009, so waiting for that may be well worth the wait.

In additon, beyond the cable DVRs, the cable STB (Motorola) really suck and I would rather wait until there is a great integrated DVR (like maybe a Series 3 with Multi-Stream CableCards).


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

You don't 'need' to buy two HD TV's at once. You can start with just one. Although I tried that and quickly had to replace the other too. HD is addictive.

There is a technique called 'moving' that will allow you to get ALL your broadcast channels in HD from D* today. I've heard it's very popular among people in the higher numbered markets.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

HiDefGator said:


> You don't 'need' to buy two HD TV's at once. You can start with just one. Although I tried that and quickly had to replace the other too. HD is addictive.
> 
> There is a technique called 'moving' that will allow you to get ALL your broadcast channels in HD from D* today. I've heard it's very popular among people in the higher numbered markets.


If I read your post correctly, you are saying I should spend the *$3,000 to $4,000* to watch the HD CONTENT (on one set) that I really don't care that I am missing, like ER or LAW & ORDER or just about any other series, and that I should *commit fraud* so I can.

My choice today is to not commit fraud and save the $3,000 to $4,000 for a single TV and wait until the time is right, which is what a vast majority of the American public is doing.

Its bad enough that I had to spend another $26.75 per month to get MUSIC CHOICE back, which I had since 1994, and to get access to some local news via a digital cable connection. Ill wait until TiVo or something better has been released for cable and then I will make the jump to digital cable for my HD, until then I will have to suffer (as the younger generation says NOT).

The only thing that I currently miss is NFL/college football in HD; I could care less about shows like ER or LAW & ORDER in HD, since a large part of those shows are just upconverted SD.

You will notice from the Forrester Research report excerpt I enclosed below that only 50 million homes will have HDTV by the end of 2010, which is less than a 30% penetration rate. (by the way these numbers seem to vary a lot depending upon the source, but the independent sources (not a manufacturer), appear to agree with the Forrester Research report, which if you would like you can buy it for $249.00.

February 17, 2005
*HDTV And The Coming Bandwidth Crunch*
Consumers' Appetite For Big TVs Drives Demand For Fat Content 
by Josh Bernoff  
with Chris Charron, Tenley McHarg, Sally M. Cohen 
Forrester Research

Consumers lust for the new big, flat TV sets  39% of consumers say their next TV will be a flat-panel plasma or LCD TV set. Even consumers with below average incomes are buying big TV sets. *As HDTV penetration grows past 50 million homes in the next five years (2005 through 2010)*, increasing numbers of networks will switch to HDTV, while cable and satellite providers will find half of their digital subscribers signing up for HDTV service. Result: a major bandwidth crunch in cable and satellite. Producers, networks, and advertisers should move to HD quickly for their programs. Telcos should make the breadth of HDTV choices a selling point as they roll out TV over IP.


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## Arcady (Oct 14, 2004)

HiDefGator said:


> You don't 'need' to buy two HD TV's at once. You can start with just one. Although I tried that and quickly had to replace the other too. HD is addictive.


I have HD on one room. I don't plan to upgrade the other three rooms any time soon. The thing is, 90% of what I watch is not HD content, and an HD set just makes SD look worse than it does on a good SD set. When there is more to watch than 7 or 8 network TV shows (at least that's all I can find to watch in HD - HD movies on HBO look no better to me than progressive scan DVD) I'll think about spending money to replace perfectly good Sony Trinitron monitors in the other rooms.


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## bengalfreak (Oct 20, 2002)

HiDefGator said:


> 2009. Wow you must be planning on being the last person in the US to not have HD. I'm not sure you realize what you are missing.
> 
> I find it hard to believe that someone who is so into tv that they frequently contribute to this forum, is willing wait another three years before getting HD.
> 
> I guess by then it won't require much of a jump. More like a baby step.


I'm not spending a dime on HDTV until I absolutely have to. Its just TV. My picture quality is just fine.


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## sjberra (May 16, 2005)

HiDefGator said:


> 2009. Wow you must be planning on being the last person in the US to not have HD. I'm not sure you realize what you are missing.
> 
> I find it hard to believe that someone who is so into tv that they frequently contribute to this forum, is willing wait another three years before getting HD.
> 
> I guess by then it won't require much of a jump. More like a baby step.


Exactly what is being missed? maybe I am not getting the same HD channels that you are from D*. We do not pay attention to sports so the sports channels are a waste of bandwidth to us, what else is there?


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## malloryd (Jan 24, 2003)

I currently have a 65" Mitsubishi HD TV, with an LG HD OTA Tuner w/built in DVD that up-converts the DVD output to 1080i. While I can get HD on the OTA tuner, I can't get HD from DirecTV due to the trees in my neighborhood - they block all but the main sat.

Surprisingly, the SD signal from the DirecTivo (SAT-T60) doesn't look bad at all. I don't watch sports, so I can't make any comparisons there, and while the HD shows I pick up on the OTA Tuner look nice, and the "up-converted" DVD looks great, I would not have upgraded to HD at this point if I had not had to replace my existing TV. The offer on the Mitsubishi was just too good to pass up.

Will I rush to replace the other TV's in my house with HD? No, I just haven't been that impressed with what is out there right now.

Just my 2 cents...

DCM


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## HiDefGator (Oct 12, 2004)

sjberra said:


> Exactly what is being missed? maybe I am not getting the same HD channels that you are from D*. We do not pay attention to sports so the sports channels are a waste of bandwidth to us, what else is there?


There's almost every show on nightly tv such as 24, CSI, Law & Order, etc.

There are movies on HBO and SHO.

Most surprising to me is how much my kids love watching the nature shows on the Discovery channel. Lions eating zebras in HD is quite a show. They were never that interested in them before they were HD.

My personal favorite is college football in HD. Once you start watching everything in HD, SD starts looking pretty bad.


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## HogarthNH (Dec 28, 2001)

tbeckner said:


> Since it appears that you either worked or knew someone who worked or is working as a CSR at DirecTV, you might know what kind of employee churn rate they have?


Can't speak authoritatively, but it's bad.



tbeckner said:


> It appears on a whole from a customer point of view that DirecTV has a high churn rate, because even though the company is growing, there appears to be a lot of CSRs who are new, are untrained, have no idea what is happening, or simply do not care.
> [... snip ...]
> If you are not a current employee or do not plan on going back, if you don't mind me asking, what is the reason for the decline in the Customer Service numbers at DirecTV as registered by JD POWER & Associates the past three years?


Purely my opinion -- but DirecTV has migrated a number of their call centers from outsourced to in-house. I think they focus way too much on quantity and not quality. CSRs are judged on handle time and hold times and calls per hour, and quality assurance happens on only a fraction of calls. (Usually 6 or so per CSR per month.)

This may have kept costs from skyrocketing, but it's a poor way to run a business. 
In addition, on these QAd calls, a CSR is not only penalized for poor service, but also failure to follow the script, even if they have been through it a thousand times and know exactly what the problem is. Furthermore, these scripts are in a system called DORIS which is poorly updated. For example, customers were calling to activate R15s before DORIS even acknowledged that the hardware existed.

We, Joe Consumer, can get more information from DirecTV press releases than DirecTV's CSRs will ever, ever be given by the company.

In addition, DirecTV previously had "tiers" of technical support calls -- e.g. main bank, tier 1 support, tier 2 support. They've merged the tiers together so you have your talented reps spending literally hours teaching customers how to change the channel on their TV back from channel 4 to channel 3.

El Segundo (the corporate headquarters) is doing their high-test corporate vision stuff, but the local management is so tightly controlled that they're micromanaging all semblance of quality into non-existence.

Pardon my expletive, but it's a clusterf*ck.

H


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## kiddk1 (Oct 9, 2003)

contribute it to ignorance, but whats the big deal with the R10's


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

tbeckner said:


> The OTHER DVR is not only a problem, but as DirecTV has so kindly pointed out in their own information, it is not "THE FUTURE", because they already plan on replacing it within a year with another SD level model.


When did this occur (and I'd love to see a link). I have one of those "other DVR's" and I'll be the first to say it is awful.

Nonetheless, I'd love to know your source.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

morgantown said:


> When did this occur (and I'd love to see a link). I have one of those "other DVR's" and I'll be the first to say it is awful.
> 
> Nonetheless, I'd love to know your source.


It was in their FINANCIAL conference call PowerPoint slides two or three weeks ago that Lee posted to the forum, but the whole thread was removed because someone posted some personal information, or at least that is what was released. Lee might have posted the same information on the SatelliteGuys forum.

If I remember right, the model was labeled as a R20, which was to be the replacement for the R15 in early to mid 2007.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

HogarthNH said:


> Can't speak authoritatively, but it's bad.
> 
> Purely my opinion -- but DirecTV has migrated a number of their call centers from outsourced to in-house. I think they focus way too much on quantity and not quality. CSRs are judged on handle time and hold times and calls per hour, and quality assurance happens on only a fraction of calls. (Usually 6 or so per CSR per month.)
> 
> ...


This sounds very much like how the local independent call centers are being managed and their employee churn rate is huge.

Thanks so very much for the information.

Now we know why Dish Network in 2004 and a small local Cable/Internet company in 2005 beat out DirecTV for the JD Powers and Associate Customer Service yearly award.


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

tbeckner said:


> It was in their FINANCIAL conference call PowerPoint slides two or three weeks ago that Lee posted to the forum, but the whole thread was removed because someone posted some personal information, or at least that is what was released. Lee might have posted the same information on the SatelliteGuys forum.
> 
> If I remember right, the model was labeled as a R20, which was to be the replacement for the R15 in early to mid 2007.


Actually not (and I listened to the presentation today just to be sure). BTW it was very long and more "um's" and "you know's" than I could count.

The links to the powerpoint presentation are on the DTV website (and lots of other places including SatelliteGuys, DBSTalk, etc.). No reference to the other DVR being replaced by the R20 as the R20 is just a HD version of that other DVR.

The only product replacement referred to was the HR10-250.

Really, the other DVR in its current form is certainly a steaming pile. But, like I said I was just curious if this was truly a DTV public statement, which at the current time it really is not. They're still stcking behind the other DVR (no pun intended).

Back to TiVo talk! Is there any guaranteed way to get a DirecTiVo from DirecTV? My mom just ordered "a TiVo" from DTV while moving and I have tried to explain to her that a CSR saying "yea, you will get a TiVo" is like trusting a used care salesman.


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## Dmon4u (Jul 15, 2000)

Perhaps the CSR was just another one of those anti-PTC maniacs that don't like the connection between them and TiVo. These people are, seemly, everywhere.


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

morgantown said:


> Actually not (and I listened to the presentation today just to be sure). BTW it was very long and more "um's" and "you know's" than I could count.
> 
> The links to the powerpoint presentation are on the DTV website (and lots of other places including SatelliteGuys, DBSTalk, etc.). No reference to the other DVR being replaced by the R20 as the R20 is just a HD version of that other DVR.
> 
> ...


I was unsure of where I found the reference, but maybe goggling it I will find it.

Google was no help, because far too many people are referencing the HR20 as just a R20, which really screws up goggling just a R20. By the way, you shouldn't refer to the HR20 as a R20 and in that original article, it made very clear reference to all three models, the R15 (already released), R20 (mid-2007), and the HR20 (2nd QTR 2006) (HD Model).

I usually download all references for later review as a PDF, a PowerPoint presentation, a document, web pages as a MHT (web archive, single file), and if I can't get a firm down, I usually take a screen snapshot using SnagIt 8. But since I download about 1GB of documentation each month for later review and I have not always categorized it in the past (I just started categorizing everything this last month when it is captured), it maybe hard to find.

But I likely have another problem, because since it was a DirecTV DVR, I likely never captured the information in the first place, because I have five DirecTiVos (three HDVR2s from October 2003 and two SD-DVR80s which are brand new from January and February 2006), so I very uninterested in anything that DirecTV has to offer in the form of a DVR. I am completely set with all the DVRs I will need until I go HD in 2009 or so, and at that point I will likely go to cable, because my area as of 2005 is 185th on the Neilson list (our population did grow from 50K to 65K in the last year, but even so we are far down the list), so DirecTV will likely never support my area for HD and none of the stations will allow a waiver.

In fact the history piece about Charlie (EchoStar) and Murdoch (ASkyB which was launched in America) which where going to merge, but Charlie Egren and Murdoch who where going to share power did not work out (egos) was really a neat article, but finding that information again could be time consuming.

What is a public statement? Something they want the financial guys (shareholders) to know or all of the public for marketing purposes.

I don't believe they released the R20 (not HR20) to replace the R15 because it was having major problems. The R20 appears to have more capability to tie into DirecTV's new broadband connection (internet download) and their form of a pseudo VOD. The HR20 would not be a good product for the VOD broadband connection because of bandwidth restrictions and the high cost of downloading HD material, which was covered in the article. The R20 is just that a new product that is more like some of the capability that TiVo and SA are attempting to release, which will download VOD from the internet in the background, in a better form than the PUSH VOD (aka super showcases) that exist on the R15.

Concerning a DirecTiVo from DirecTV, I agree, your best bet it to find a R10 somewhere, because I doubt that DirecTV has anymore DirecTiVos.

That is one of the reasons that I bought two brand new Hughes SD-DVR80s from ValueElectronics.com in January and February and activated and hacked them when they came in the door.

I planned ahead, to stay out front of the demise of all DirecTiVos and the LEND LEASE PLAN. If their hard drives fail I am ready to replace them and all of the DVRs are on a UPS. I currently have excess capacity and should be able to make it until 2009 or later, when I plan on replacing everything with HD equipment.

When I find the information I will post it, but please don't hold your breath, because as I said in my original post that I read far too much about DirecTV for me to retain it all.


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## hakamarob (May 1, 2002)

tbeckner said:


> So, it is very likely that starting DirecTV CSRs are paid between $5.15 and $7.63 per hour.


when i worked for convergys, we started a csr at ~7.50. but that was in texas. and for the money, there is not a lot to be gained from the extra buck


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

tbeckner said:


> I was unsure of where I found the reference, but maybe goggling it I will find it.
> 
> Google was no help, because far too many people are referencing the HR20 as just a R20, which really screws up goggling just a R20. By the way, you shouldn't refer to the HR20 as a R20 and in that original article, it made very clear reference to all three models, the R15 (already released), R20 (mid-2007), and the HR20 (2nd QTR 2006) (HD Model).
> 
> ...


Just to clarify, below is what they show on the presentation (page 28).

D10/11 SD non DVR reciever (with the "new" epg) out now
R15 SD DVR reciever ("new" epg) out now
R20 HD non DVR reciever ("new" epg) out now
HR20 HD DVR ("new" epg) Q2 06

and here is the link to the financial presentation http://media.corporate-ir.net/media_files/irol/12/127160/FINALSlidesInvestorDay2-22-06.pdf

Again, no mention of phasing out the R15. Not trying to slit hairs with you as I really wish that they did have something coming to replace the R15 with.

Feel free to PM me if you stumble across anything of note with killing the R15 as I doubt the mods care for this much NDS DVR talk (I won't hold my breath  ). I also agree with your take on the "lend lease" program and took steps to ensure I'd have TiVos for quite some time (I think 3 is enough for my needs).

Unfortunately trying to explain it to my 60 year old mom has yet to "sink in" with her  . Then again she has never used a DVR before and will probably like that other DVR  .


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## HogarthNH (Dec 28, 2001)

hakamarob said:


> when i worked for convergys, we started a csr at ~7.50. but that was in texas. and for the money, there is not a lot to be gained from the extra buck


The outsourced call centers do make a little less than the D* corporate call centers.
I would guess D* is paying the call center company $9, and they paid you $7.50


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## tbeckner (Oct 26, 2001)

morgantown said:


> Just to clarify, below is what they show on the presentation (page 28).
> 
> D10/11 SD non DVR reciever (with the "new" epg) out now
> R15 SD DVR reciever ("new" epg) out now
> ...


The R20 you listed above is actually a H20. In DirecTV speak, H=HDTV, R=DVR. So, HR20 is HDTV DVR, R15 is SDTV DVR. Far too many people mix up the model numbers in posts to make using Google useful.

BTW, the PDF that is available via your link is 5 pages shorter than the other posted PDF. Very interesting, so I wonder if either PDF is the original PDF that I saw? But, I am not sure that is where I saw the information.

When I find the information I will PM you.


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## morgantown (Mar 29, 2005)

tbeckner said:


> The R20 you listed above is actually a H20. In DirecTV speak, H=HDTV, R=DVR. So, HR20 is HDTV DVR, R15 is SDTV DVR. Far too many people mix up the model numbers in posts to make using Google useful.
> 
> BTW, the PDF that is available via your link is 5 pages shorter than the other posted PDF. Very interesting, so I wonder if either PDF is the original PDF that I saw? But, I am not sure that is where I saw the information.
> 
> When I find the information I will PM you.


Yep, my bad. The naming has gotten really screwed up when you try to Google these things (and I just added to that mess). The only thing I know for sure that was removed from the PDF was that customer information that should not have been included from the beginning.

But hey, thanks for taking to time to post back and hopefully you'll come across that other info.


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## foxthought (Oct 1, 2008)

i am a dtv agent, i would like to no your source because i was told that we do use tivo software. if this is not true, i need to inform the other agents i work with on the floor. i am so sorry for the misinformation, thank you

Fox


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## JimSpence (Sep 19, 2001)

Did you check the date of this thread? It's 2.5+ years old.

I smell a troll.


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## flatcurve (Sep 27, 2007)

JimSpence said:


> Did you check the date of this thread? It's 2.5+ years old.
> 
> I smell a troll.


If the CSR in the OP is still working in the trenches at DTV after over two years, I'd be amazed.


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## Dkerr24 (Oct 29, 2004)

And a troll with a feeble grasp on English grammar/sentence structure/punctuation.


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

flatcurve said:


> If the CSR in the OP is still working in the trenches at DTV after over two *weeks*, I'd be amazed.


FYP!!!


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## rlj5242 (Dec 20, 2000)

Dkerr24 said:


> And a troll with a feeble grasp on English grammar/sentence structure/punctuation.


 Then it is probably someone working as a CSR for D* then.

-Robert


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## eboydog (Mar 24, 2006)

Hey now.... that orginal Dtv CSR is most likely a supervisor now.


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