Brothers W/ DirecTV

[mwilson788]

Have DirecTV but not DVR? Sucks doesn't it? I was off the other day and started randomly calling all of my misc. providers to see if I could get better deals; (ie DirecTV, insurance company, etc. I mean it's more money for cigars and golf right?) Anyway, I called DirecTV and told them I had noticed they were giving away a free DVR to new subscribers. I mentioned I had been a loyal customer for 7 years and I didn't have a DVR; where is mine? They gave me the standard "Those deals are to entice new subscribers" line to which I replied "Maybe I should go with cable or Dish since they would be willing to give me a FREE DVR. I was promptly transferred to the "Customer Retention Department". Most all companies have this department now and it's one to keep in mind as they can cough up the freebies. I explained what I wanted to this department and told them I was thinking of going to cable, etc. They immediately agreed to ship out my new, free, DVR and include free installation.

Granted this DVR isn't of the Tivo variety but usually sells to subscribers for $99. I spent 10 minutes on the phone and got this unit for free.

Take advantage of the customer rentention department! Cell companies, cable, Direct, insurance, etc. all have these departments and they are usually extremely accomodating.

So do I feel bad about getting the DVR for free even though I had no intention of switching to another provider? Well, have you looked at your DirecTV bill lately? Nuff said!


Hope this helps someone else.

 

[Kimyounil]

Nicely done, my friend does that all the time with all his stuff. If anything breaks, he tells his current provider he knows of a provider that provides free repairs/replacement and they usually stop the BS and give him what he wants. I might have to do what you did with my cox cable, it costs so damn much.

 

[TexaSmoke]

Very nice, I'll have to try this with my cable internet provider. I keep having issues with their damn modem. Maybe I can get a wireless one out of it. :grin:

 

[jwintosh]

they do suck! they charged me for the MLB package,,, actually 'renewed it' w/o my permission. when i found the first $50 extra, i notified them and told them to cancel it. "season already started (two games into...) and we can't cancel it." of course, they'll continue to charge me $50 extra for the next three months. threatened to cancel, and asked if i would be responsible for the last three payments. that was last week and i'm still waiting for a call back....

 

[aleam_38]

Sometimes they help out sometimes they dont. I think since you were with them for so long they are willing to bend over backwards for you. Congrats, and dont feel bad about taking advantage of them, shit they take advantage of all of us all year long its nice to hear someone stick it to them once in a while.

 

[Jwrussell]

All depends on the company. As much as I like Verizon Wireless, I left them once about three years ago after being with them 4 or 5 years because they weren't interested in giving me the same kind of deal I could get as a new subscriber, even though I didn't have a contract at the time. Most cell companies have come around on this and so long as you are signing a contract all is well, but not all.

Same deal with cable. If there is truly competition in your market be sure to keep track of what your cable company is currently charging new people. I managed to let that slide and was pretty pissed when I saw what they offered me when I was closing my account to switch to another cable provider.

 

[David]

I do stuff like that quite frequenty. I had my MBNA credit card company call me last month to tell me that wanted to increase me credit limit from 25,000 to 30,000. I said, "that's strange you called cuz I was gonna call you to cancel this account after 12 years." They transferred me and I told them another competitor was offering me 7.9% and within 2 minutes, they matched it to keep me as a customer.

When they asked who the other company was, I said, "that doesn't matter."

Good thing since the other company didn't exist.

 

[tubaman]

I'm currently checking out all of the providers I have access to for their HD packages. You can bet I'll call up DirecTV and squeeze out of them as much as possible. And I won't feel bad about it at all. They still make money even with free DVR's etc.

 

[mwilson788]

It all comes down to making money. Companies are finally starting to realize it's cheaper to keep existing customers than to attract new ones. I actually did this same thing a few years ago when we bought a new house. I needed two extra receivers and the service moved to a new address. At the time they were charging 59.95 for each receiver and 29.95 to move the service. Needless to say I didn't pay a dime for either receiver or the installation. I like to consider myself crafty but truth be told they are likely getting their money from me each month in profit from service anyway.

 

[avid toker]

Dish won't help you out. Have had them for 10 years and they won't match the new subscriber offer of a free HD DVR.......all depends on the company.

 

[mwilson788]

Lousy commies! heh

Sorry Bro.

 

[CWS]

:waving: Yep. Did the same thing to get the dual DVR, (cant live without it). Customer rentention please.

 

[Jwrussell]

David...MBNA? You mean Bank of America now right? Just curious as I had MBNA cards, but they recently were bought out by BoA...

 

[Clinton]

I get a better picture on OTA HD channels than DirecTV's compressed feed. I'd recommend an amplified antenna for anyone who wants HD.