1 Message
A former customer!
I do hope someone from your corporate reads this. It may help with retaining a customer. As a former customer of 15+ years, let me just say that it was hard for me to leave because I got used to the service but never used to your constant increase in fees. My bill went from $75 originally to $175! That is highway robbery! The fact that I had to call in every single time a promotion expired off my bill just to keep my bill low was asinine! I finally had enough after your "retention" team stated they could no longer do anything for me on the bill, even though each and every time I told them that I would switch to YouTube TV. I finally cut the cord with you all after your team could no longer offer to keep my bill close to $100. NOW, you send me an email asking for me to come back and offer me a 2 year deal around $79!?? Are you kidding me? Maybe you should direct your retention team to offer that BEFORE a customer cancels. There is no way I would ever switch back now that I have a taste of YouTube TV and see how much more they offer for just $70/mth. My only regret is not canceling directv sooner after so many friends told me to. Now I will share my experience with friends on how much better the service is with YouTube TV. Such a shame though that your retention team doesn't have the ability to make it work before you lose a customer for life. Thought I would pass that on to you because as a business owner I would want to know why I am losing customers.
GTyz
New Member
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312 Messages
8 months ago
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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22.6K Messages
8 months ago
All services (including streaming services) go up year after year. Primarily this is because the networks charge more each time for their carriage agreements. Naturally the TV provider's (DirecTV) costs go up, so do our bills.
Retention wouldn't be making blind offers, they don't decide how much money to throw at you. They can only work within the options the system gives them. What you got by email was a "winback" which would a separate department, separate pool of money. Doubtful it would put the entire bill down to $79 as probably wasn't counting all the TV fees, receiver services, etc and instead was just the programming package portion of the bill.
Regarding the balance of value between a retention offer and a winback offer, for that I would consider a BBB complaint letting them know your feedback regarding the comparison. That gets forwarded to upper management, usually resulting in contact from their Office of the President within a few days. May not change the situation for you, but would be a way for your voice to be heard at corporate.
That being said, if you have to call every time a promotion rolls off to lower your bill, then you need to evaluate your service. Those discounts are not intended to be permanent and make it so you can afford the bill. In the end these are businesses. If they offer a discount, certainly enjoy while it is there. But budget around the normal cost since those would be temporary perks. Bottom line, if you cannot afford it without discounts than the reality is you cannot afford it and is up to you to make changes to fit your budget.
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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20.8K Messages
8 months ago
This is a customer to customer forum, only the moderators and a few employees read these posts.
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CobbTotem3
New Member
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211 Messages
8 months ago
Verizon, Cable , Youtube, DTV all raise rates every year.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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22.6K Messages
8 months ago
Always annoyed by people who claim they "have" to call every time to get a discount again, as if somehow they deserve it. In the end TV is an entertainment service, not something any of us are required to have. So people should budget better to live within their means instead of expecting discount/"required charity" (as some make it sound) from companies for optional services.
That being said, if there is a huge disparity between retention and winback offers then I can see that being a bit rough. Though I still suspect that $79 wasn't going to be the entire bill. A normal bill being about $170 is not expected to come down under $100 as no business could survive with an ongoing 50% (or more) discount.
Comes down to prices have increased over time like everything else. Would you still demand gas be $0.99 a gallon or less just because that is what it used to be at some point in the past?
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teetertotter
ACE - Teacher
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1.6K Messages
8 months ago
For our TV programming/channel requirements, DTV's Satellite, Ultimate Pkg, has it covered for all our needs. Then, it is most USER FRIENDLY, too.
Yes, as Juniper stated, complain to the BBB and move on. Prices are rising everywhere in the market place. Pay or buy something else close to that need, at a lower price....or not.
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Umby13
1 Message
3 months ago
Honestly could not agree more,28 years as a customer with directv it was never the same when sold to ATT. Between the constant rate hikes yearly to the blackouts with channels always being interrupted to the most recent two week blackout with Disney. During this entire blackout the actually sent email that rates would be going up and yes the channels were still not reinstated during price change. They truly don't care and the greed between them all has to stop..
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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22.6K Messages
3 months ago
@Umby13
Price adjustment is taking into account carriage negotiations that had already happened. That adjustment is expected to have happened regardless of the Disney situation. Though I do hope this is the last time it (the adjustment) moves what month it happens.
So of course the channels were still out as this had nothing to do with them. Now that the channels are back with whatever new agreement in place, then the next adjustment will be affected.
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