"The Song is Still the Same"

It's been over two years since I last had to post here. I've often considered removing the blog, but a little voice in my head kept telling me to hold off, to wait, as things could not be that smooth for that long a time.



The little voice was right!



Today is Thursday, June 10, 2010, two days after DirecTV's major, million-subscriber-wide HD-DVR debacle. Although DirecTV's recent spate of commercials in the U.S., using the old game show, "To Tell the Truth," pits them against "cable" and "DishTV," they have not tried to denigrate the technology or services of the major fiber-optic services, such as, Verizon Fi Os and AT&T's U-Verse.



However, not denigrating them in commercials is not the same as not competing with them. And on this past Monday, DirecTV made its big attempt to compete against one of these competitors' major draws, record any show on one HD DVR and view it from any other room in the house (as long as that room has another HD DVR.) DirecTV calls it the "Whole-Home DVR Service" and charge an extra $3.00 per month for it.



They ran a beta test for it about a couple of months ago. I couldn't use it, as we only have one HD TV and one HD DVR. Be that as it may overnight on Monday into Tuesday, the company performed a system-wide download of new software to every HD DVR connected to the system legitimately. The update also included the software to allow a viewer to watch (with the appropriate equipment) the new 3-D television. Now that's not the first time they did it, nor, I'm sure, will it be the last. But this one contained a bug that they didn't foresee.



For with this major download and update, almost every single HD-DVR in the country was locked up! Many you could not even turn on. Others you couldn't turn off. Others, like ours, if you could turn it on, you were unable to make any changes. It was locked to the last channel used before the update. None of the buttons on the remote control would work; none of the buttons on the front panel would work. A hard reset (unplugging the device for at least 3 minutes) did not work. Using the web site's electronic "refresh" (sends a signal to reset your receiver) did not work. Nothing worked, including DirecTV's telephone system.



I tried calling over 24 times in a two-hour period. Not only could I not get through, but the only signal I could receive was a "circuit busy" tone, instead of a normal busy signal. There were thousands of calls from angry subscribers flooding the lines.I finally had to give up.

Exasperated, I went to the web site and wrote up a tech support request. Who knew how long this would last. Heaven forbid that the company issues an advisory on Monday that there would be an important overnight update to the systems. "But nooooooo!" They had to just spring it and see what the collateral damage would be.

I received a reply to my email on Thursday morning:

I am sorry for your experience calling us yesterday. You have called during a period of unusually high call volume. Let me clarify what happened yesterday morning with some of our HD and DVR receivers.

Let me begin by assuring you that service experiences like the one you had are rare and we certainly do not take them lightly.

We are aware of the service outage you experienced which caused some of our HD and DVR receivers to experience system lock up. I know that your time is valuable and I understand how important it is for you to get your system fixed immediately. I have also forwarded your email to our management so we can keep problems like this from happening again.

We worked quickly to resolve the issue and completed a forced RESET to your receivers. This cleared the guide data and restored normal functions and services.

You may once again receive a RESET today. This will affect customers with HR20 and HR21/22/23 and R22 model receivers. Please be advise not to interrupt the RESET process.

If it happens again and you have not received the forced RESET from DIRECTV, there are two ways to reset your receiver; you can pick the option below that fits your situation.

Option 1:

On some DIRECTV receivers there is a reset button inside of the access card door. If your receiver has a reset button, you can simply press it to reset your receiver.

If there is not a button inside the access card door or pressing the button does not correct the problem, try these steps to reset your receiver:

Option 2:

1. Leave the receiver box on.
2. Unplug the receiver from the electrical outlet. (If your receiver's light is still on, you have pulled the wrong plug.) 3. Leave receiver unplugged for 15 seconds.
4. Reconnect it to the electrical outlet and return to normal viewing.

After resetting your receiver, please wait for wait for video , and if video appears, issue resolved. Otherwise, if you receive a gray screen for more than 3 minutes, complete another reset.

If problem persists, since you have the DIRECTV PROTECTION PLAN, the best way for you to get help as soon as possible is to call 1-888-667-7463 and choose the option to speak to a technical assistant. Our Technical Support agents are trained to walk you through a number of troubleshooting steps which are too difficult to try to talk through over email.

You may also find some helpful information at the DIRECTV Technical Help forums on our web site. Just visit http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp to find answers to your questions.

We apologized for the inconvenience this may have caused you.

Thanks again for writing. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

Lourdes G. - 100291688
DIRECTV Customer Service

This email was so full of it, I had to put boots on to avoid stepping in it! Once again, DirecTV proves that as the undisputed "king" of satellite television, it does what it wants to, when it wants to, and how it wants to, basically, without any oversight.

Maybe it will take a national, "take-no-prisoners" petition campaign to let them know that it's not just the number of customers they have, rather how they treat those customers.

Till next time...