Letter of Complaint sent to DirecTV via PlanetFeedback

I know DirecTV is pretty much a monopoly here in Albuquerque - so I thought I'd post the letter I just sent them - shame on them for being so shoddy:

We ordered service to start at our new home at the end of August 2009, when we moved in. We had specialized tech people come the same day as DirecTV to coordinate installation and set up our home theater/surround sound system.

When the DirecTV representative came, they brought us HR 20s. Our tech people knew right away, as we would have not, that these were older models, and asked for the newer models, HR 23s. The DirecTV tech said they were out of the HR 23s and would call us and let us know when they were in so we could swap them out.

He never called. A few days later, my husband called DirecTV to inquire about the new receivers. He was told someone would call him back. Nobody did.

He made another inquiry with the same results a week later.

Finally, after almost a month of getting shunted over the phone, my husband spoke to a supervisor concerning this issue. She told us there is no difference between the models (which is not true) and you get whatever is on the truck, and the DirecTV shouldn't have told us he could get the other ones.

This made me angry and suspicious. Why shouldn't the tech tell us this? Is DirecTV trying to unload older technology surplus on customers they feel won't know any better? "You get whatever is on the truck" is a very flippant and trite answer. Is DirecTV more like a flea market than a trusted business?

We were also told if we wanted the other receivers, which we should have gotten in the first place, we would have to pay to upgrade. This smells a bit like fraudulent business practice.

If I go to buy a cell phone, pay for the latest equipment, and the person hands me a cup and string and says - sorry, we're out of your model, but use this instead...and never follows up, you'd be annoyed, too.

Here's what I'd like for you to do: I want you to put in a work order to switch out the refurbished HR 20s that we currently have, and give us the HR 23s as we should have had in the beginning. And at your expense.

I have to be honest with you, DirecTV has been gaining a bad reputation here in Albuquerque for their somewhat gorilla-like business style. I was warned before working with your company.

I plan to post this letter in my public blog, and also contact the Better Business Bureau concerning your branch in Albuquerque.