Dropped NFL Sunday Ticket

I've been a DirecTV customer since 1995. $360 is just too much to pay for this service. Last year and the season before I would have missed a grand total of 4 Eagles games that were not on network tv.

Do the math.

It infuriates me that they offer special deals to new subscribers and gouge the people who have been with them forever.

Piss on DirecTV.

 

Breeze---totally agree with you. I've been a DirecTV subscriber for about as long as you. I thought it over and last year I contacted their customer service department and said exactly what you said...I've been a long time customer, paying on average $100 per month for 20 years....call it $25k in lifetime expenditures...and you give away the package to new subscribers. I was calm and reasonable, and stated I would drop their services altogether if something wasn't done.

They came back with a free offer for the entire package, including the Red Zone channel, plus $15 off my bill per month for a year. They said to call their customer loyalty program again this year and request the same thing...and sure enough I have it again for free this year, plus they extended the $15 for two years.

Give it a try. All they can do is say no.

Saw a friend on FB mention the same thing last year, told him my story...he tried it and got the same results I did.

 

All you have to do is sign up new under a different person in your household. Literally they just come and switch out your boxes and you get the new customer promo including Sunday ticket. They use the same dish. I do this every two years so I pay for Sunday ticket the second year or just only have it during the free year depending on how I feel about it at that time.

 

I understand that these cable/satellite companies WILL work with you to keep you. However, I dropped my DirecTV because I realized how little I watched it. In fact, the ONLY thing I watched was the Reds on Fox Sports Ohio. I am sad that the MLB.TV app blacks out your local games, so I am screwed in this regard- BUT- it's not worth the cost just to watch the Reds. Other than that I just watch stuff on Netflix so I don't have to sit through commercials. I have to laugh when DISH announces its special rate of 30 dollars that gives you 50 of the "most popular channels" for those people that don't want to spend a lot of money on channels they don't watch. I'm sure 49 of those 50 are unwatchable! HAH!

 

I had sunday ticket for a couple years, what I didn't like is that there are often only 3 or 4 late games, 2 of which are already being shown. Certainly not worth $300 a year.

 

We dumped DirecTV long ago for many of the same reasons-best entertainment decision I ever made outside of Las Vegas. For sure, the Sunday Ticket was a waste on me-I got so that I could barely get through one game, much less all of them. Switching around through all the games appealed to me until I realized I really didn't care much what was going on in them. I also got peevish with DirecTV's policy of requiring a two year service commitment almost every time you got a new box or changed your service. Finally, despite DirecTV's claims of reliability, we get a lot of thunderstorms in this area and I got tired of blanks in my favorite shows.

We switched to a Verizon bundle with very fast internet and used TiVo boxes with cable cards. Verizon was nearly perfect until they sold out to Frontier Communications, so we involuntarily went from the best service in the country to the worst. Frontier is truly awful, the customer equivalent of 6:5 blackjack with crappy dealers, dirty felt and no drink service. So, I agree to piss on DirecTV, but my attitude is 'piss on all of them.' Cable/satellite customers in this country are being screwed all around, I think.

 

I haven't had DTV for a few years but when I first had DTV Sunday Ticket was $59 a year (regular price). Personally I love the Red Zone channel and I have that with Uverse. I love it when my Packers play a night game and I can spend all day Sunday on Red Zone. It's like football crack.

 

Also, doesn't the DirecTV signal go out when you need it most, during bad weather? I mean that is when you would be inside watching TV and yet that is when the signal is at its worst.

I would never pay for a service like that.

 

Yes, the signal goes out when thunderstorms, heavy rain or snow obstruct the signal to the dish. Occasionally one of the dish receiver elements (LNB) fails. DirecTV tries to tell you about 'reliability,' but the signal always seemed to go out when you least wanted it too. When we went to FIOS, we've had seven years without a TV outage (we've had internet and phone problems with the the 'new' Frontier Communications, but TV has been perfect with either Verizon or Frontier).

DirecTV is an advertising marvel, but they don't deliver, and they charge you a lot for not delivering. Breeze is FREE! Rejoice for him.

 

I had DTV for about 5 years, I think it went out 2-3 times total for a few minutes. I had a lot more trouble with Time Warner. Uverse has never gone out.

 

Same thing happened to me. DirecTv said come back for a lesser price and get the NFL for free. They said I was one of their longest subscribing customers, which I was. All of a sudden, I was important to them! No way. Screw them. Don't give in Breeze.
Good luck.

 

I hate having to play customer service roulette in order to get the best deal. Especially if I've been a long term customer. I had Geico for 10 years and never had a claim, bought a new car in April and Progressive was a lot cheaper so I went with them. When I called Geico to cancel she told me she could transfer me to someone who could give me a competitive rate. I was pissed. "I've been a customer for 10 years and I have to call to cancel in order to get a better rate?". Click.

 

We live in the boonies - satellite is our only option. (for internet, too ;-) So no streaming netflix, no highspeed broadband. Sure, directv goes out during bad storms, but I always watch stuff I've dvr'd anyway, so it's not a problem.

My BIL is a huge sports fan. Calls Directv every year threatening to cancel and gets a great deal on his umpteen packages ;-)

If you have options, weigh them. When you don't, you just make the most of it

 

Good thread timing. Just got off the phone with DTV and signed a two year commitment for their Choice package for $75.97 per month, with 4 TVs.

History: Currently on TW cable, but moving in less than a month. New area only has Charter Cable and DTV, no Uverse or FIOS. Charter only offers the capability to record two shows at once. Currently with our TW DVR, we can record 5 and watch a sixth. Not there is that much to record, but on NFL days when the broadcast runs long, we extend the record time of the other shows to make sure we get the endings.

We had DTV in WI and more than 4-5 times per year, we would have to go brush off the rooftop antenna to get rid of the snow in order to get a signal. When we lived in Vegas and with DTV, no snow problems, but we had wind problems shifting the dish off the satellite and needed a service call. Always free, but still a PITA.

I guess for Internet and phone it will be Charter Cable.

 

It truly is dumbfounding what long-standing customers are presumed to be willing to put up with when it comes to certain products and service providers. I was getting nowhere with Comcast a while back. They'd shave this price or add this (unwanted) bundle and all I needed to do was extend. I finally took all the hardware down to the storefront and said, "Here you go." The outcome was nearly a 50 percent saving. But why does it have to come to that?

I can't say enough about Verizon wireless, however. Twice now in the past 6 months the company has unilaterally dropped the price/added service.

 

Red Zone is the football lovers dream!!

 

I quit playing Fantasy football a couple of years ago and I still love RZ. I don't know how Scott Hanson does it every week (Andrew Sicillano is the host for Red Zone on DTV). No commercials just 6.5 hours straight of the best of every game live.

 

I had it for two years and didn't really enjoy it. Almost all of the games I wanted to watch were on regular TV. The big games and good matchups are usually put on as the game of the week.

 

I'm never bored lately because theres always something to call DTV about. My most used remote was getting worn out so I requested a new one. ,sure for $15 so I said forget it.
I called them back yesterday and told them that my contract was just about up and I was getting a new roof put on next month so theres no sense in putting the dish back if I can get a better deal.
They transferred me to a retention specialist who after much negotiating offered me $50 off a month if I renewed for a year.Plus a remote free.
The new remote came fed ex this morning so I spent almost two hours on the phone with them until I finally got the guy in America who could program it. Only took 3 people.

 

We enjoyed today's free preview of Sunday Ticket--but we'll be content with just the free preview.
Not enough bang for the buck. Or interest in most of the AFC.

RICHARD