Why won't Direct TV honor their promise of a $100 gift card to sign up?

When you say it was "written in" was this hand written in person by someone?

@Juniper

Handwritten by a Direct TV representative while making the sales pitch.

That explains it. That would be a 3rd party retailer, as DirecTV does not have in-person sales agents (store, door-to-door, etc.). DirecTV can only honor what is on the official order, which when they receive they email a copy to you. Any additional offers made by the 3rd party are their responsibility, so you will need to dispute through them.

If you are not sure what 3rd party dealer sent the order to DirecTV, you can call them and have them check the order for the 3rd party's contact info to address the problem.

DirecTV itself is either through their Direct Sales phone number of their company owned website.

I have no idea if you're correct or not but it sounds reasonable.  What I don't understand is after hours and hours on the phone with Direct TV, no one offered that explanation.  Twice they've promised the card would be sent in the mail in three weeks so nothing happens while I wait the three weeks.  Then the ridiculous requirement that I call in on an exact date over a month from when we're talking.  It's obviously a game to them and they've chosen to lie repeatedly and make the process purposely painful hoping I'll just go away.  If what you're saying is true, why wouldn't they just tell me?  I'm not doubting what you're saying but it doesn't change my position that anyone you can reach on the phone is inept, unethical, or more likely both and they get their orders from the top.

Over the phone customer support has taken a big hit in quality for a variety of factors.

When AT&T acquired DirecTV, they seemed to throw agents into the deep end with little to no training expecting to work both sides of the 'house' and look up policy themselves. That resulted in a lot of misinformation as too many quoted how it worked for AT&T services, not understanding where DirecTV was different.

Then the pandemic happened which social distancing requirements pretty much shut down traditional call centers. Any any work-from-home options were limited and sub-standard (as many people did not have a private work space away from all the hustle and bustle at home. Following that, people didn't want to return to call center environments as they got a taste of being at home more often (and who wants to go to work and spend a good portion of the day being yelled at regardless who they work for). So short staffing that is made up by outsourcing and new agents who might be sent to floor a bit sooner than under ideal conditions have further compounded the issue.

Now a new co-owner is taking over operations for DirecTV, spinning it off to their own company once again. I can only hope this goes much smoother (and quicker) than the original acquisition by AT&T.

Yes their agent's knowledge and expertise needs to greatly improve. To verify whether the gift card is their issue or of the 3rd party, check  the order confirmation that DirecTV sent. If the gift card shows, then it is an in-house issue. But if it doesn't (likely because of being hand written), then the 3rd party dealer you ordered through needs to resolve it (or disputed through if salesman made a false offer all together).

I appreciate your insight and advice.  Thank you!

so same thing has happened to me as well as dealing with a rude installation tech that refued to install equipment as i asked, he decided he was going to install it as he saw fit and im now trying to contact a district or regional manager but cant seem to get any response from anyone. if someone here has any helpful solutions im all ears thanks

So why did you let him install it or sign the work order saying you where satisfied with the install?

I did not sign the work order saying I was satisfied with the work, he just up and left so I contacted direct tv customer service but keep getting the run around of them saying a manager will call Me back and have not heard from anyone.

@Froggy372 

Call DirecTV and request a Field Service Request (FSR) complaint on the tech, including incomplete install. That sends the info to the dispatch that they work through.

If that doesn't work, then a BBB complaint may be needed that sends the info to the corporate office.

Though this thread is about a gift card offer that was handwritten (so in person with a 3rd party dealer rep) onto the order for new service. I don't think that is quite the same thing that happened to you.