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DirecTV / NFL Sunday Ticket (2019)


Shorttynaz
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Probably meant for a different forum, but this is all about me getting access to NFL Football on Sundays - I know there was a thread in here somewhere about what sort of deals everyone is getting.  I'm curious if any of you fellow Huddlers have had any luck in getting DirecTV to budge this year?  I've tried 3 times this summer and the last person I spoke to a few weeks ago pissed me off to the point where I cancelled my service for good.  We had DirecTV since 2003 - the whole reason we got it 16 years ago was for the NFL Ticket - I'm an Indianapolis Colts fan living in the Phoenix area.  It was cheaper than going to a bar every Sunday. 

 

However, like the rest of you with DirecTV, I've always been very successful in getting not only the Sunday Ticket for free, but the MAX package that offers the RedZone channel as well.  Not to mention they would always give me bill credits that would (most the time) knock my bill below $70/month.  Last year my bill was $29.99/month for 12 months.  It was fantastic!  My bill credits fell off on 7/27, so I called and asked what they can do.  Was pretty much told to go pound sand as AT&T isn't giving away free services anymore.  Before making and emotional decisions, I hung up.  About 2 hours later, my wife called.  She's the one who got our bill down to $29.99/month for 12 months last summer.  She was pretty much told to go pound sand.  At this point I was pissed. 

 

I called back and got someone else - I was polite and acted like it was the first time I called.  The kid I was speaking with told me we had some sort of promotional offer that was $60/month in bill credits due to having the Entertainment tier.  I was like well what can you do for me now?  I'm not paying you guys $93/month for service to one (1) TV, no movie channels.  Just the entertainment tier and DVR.  He was like we can give you $5/month in bill credits for 3 months.  I was like dude, that's not going to keep me with DirecTV.  I asked if they have any promotions for the Sunday Ticket.  He told me no, AT&T is not giving away any promotions this year for the Sunday Ticket.  If I want it, it's full price.  Frustrated at this point, I was like well what about the RedZone channel?  I know you guys have it and you force me to have the Sunday Ticket MAX package for channel 703.  Honestly it's the only channel I watch on Sundays.  He was like we can't give you that channel without you first having the Sunday Ticket package.  I know that Cox Communications offers the RedZone channel as part of their 'Sports tier'.  It's $10/month to add the entire tier.  I told dude that I can get this channel with my local cable provider for $10/month, a hell of a lot cheaper than what they want for the Sunday Ticket and the MAX add on.  He was like (no bs) "Well, sounds to me like you'd be better off going with your local cable provider then."

 

Wait..  What??  Did you just tell me to leave, after 16 years of being a customer - you're encouraging me to leave?  He told me that customers leave all the time, but they come back. Both with DirecTV as well as mobile service.  I laughed.  Told him to turn my service off now.  I want nothing to do with AT&T or their DirecTV service any longer.  He flagged my account for termination, but that day, July 27th was the first day of the new billing cycle.  They will not pro-rate my termination to that date, nope.  I have to pay for service through August 26th.  All $93 of it.  I didn't care.  I was like can I pay you now?  Tell me where to send this POS cable box as well. 

 

He took my payment but instructed me to hang on to the cable box.  I have to wait until after August 26th to return the box, or I will receive an additional bill of $135 for the unreturned box.  If I send it back before August 26th, I have to pay a $50 early termination / restocking fee.  WTF kind of BS is this?  Can't make this stuff up. 

 

Regardless, I called Cox Communications (local cable provider) immediately after getting off the phone.  I ended up getting not only a cable box for my living room, but we decided to get a 2nd one for our bedroom again.  I got about 150+ channels that I didn't have on DirecTV.  I got all the movie channels, HBO, Showtime, Skinemax, Starz & 'The Movie Channel' packages.  All of them.  On top of that I also got the sports package and the variety package.  Sports package includes Fox Sports AZ, NFL Network, ESPN, MLB, NBA, PAC-12, and the RedZone.  All for $10/month.  The variety package was free - that has all the kids channels for my youngins.  I also ended up getting some of their home automation at no cost.  Smart light bulb, a door sensor, and a video camera.  What am I paying?  Price Locked for 2 years..  My cable bill is $82/month.  F' you, DirecTV!!! 

 

What's even better than that, about a week ago I received a letter from DirectTV telling me to take my cable box to my nearest UPS store, and give them my account number - they would send the box back for me.  It also stated that they box must be received no later than September 1st to avoid receiving a $135 fee for not returning the box.  Took the box to the UPS store about a week ago, did what the letter said.  No where in that notice did it say anything about billing me $50 for some sort of early termination or restocking fee.  Today, I got an email from DirecTV stating that I owe them $50 for sending the box back early.  I replied back with the picture of the letter they sent asking me to send the box back via the UPS store and very unprofessionally informed them to read the notice they sent me.  It does not state anywhere that I will be billed if sent back early - it just tells me to send it back before September 1st.  Sue me. 

 

AT&T will never get another penny from me. 

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I'm calling DirecTV later today to try and get my RedZone for free. I've heard - on other boards - that it's become very difficult to do so.

 

Cancelling and starting fresh would be tough for us.  We have SO much recorded on the DVR and are set in our ways.

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21 minutes ago, darin3 said:

I'm calling DirecTV later today to try and get my RedZone for free. I've heard - on other boards - that it's become very difficult to do so.

 

Cancelling and starting fresh would be tough for us.  We have SO much recorded on the DVR and are set in our ways.

My wife was pissed that I got rid of it for that exact same reason.  We had 70+ hours of stuff on the DVR that we hadn't watched yet.  She also didn't want to learn a new channel lineup. 

 

But, the On-Demand content through our cable provider is light years better than it was with DirecTV.  It's seriously more like Netflix.  It's the voice activated remote too, so if I want to watch the 2nd half of the last season of Vikings (it was on the old recorder), I just hold down the microphone button and say "Vikings".  It will bring up a Vikings page where I can set the DVR to record upcoming episodes, or I can go back and watch any season, any episode On-Demand.  It plays instantly too.  Don't have to wait for it to download to my 'recorded' list.  We can fast forward through On-Demand content's commercials. 

 

The channel lineup sucks - nothing makes any sense like it did with DirecTV, but if that's my only complaint, I'm glad I switched.  I'm patiently waiting for the DirectTV 'winback' team to call me and offer me stuff to come back.  I swear on everything I own that I fully intent to lay into whoever that poor soul is that calls me. 

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42 minutes ago, League_Champion said:

I called up an told them that the lineup sucks, I'm tired of loosing the signal when it rains, blah, blah, blah. I said "come get your dam dish out of my yard". 5 minutes later I got a call back begging me to stay. I ended up getting free pay channels, The Ticket, Red Zone, etc. No joke 

That was pretty much my experience with them the past 7 or 8 years.  I was always polite but griped that they didn't have the PAC-12 Network, I paid for Netflix and Hulu, and I was paying too much for 'cable'.  They would always give me the ticket, HBO or Showtime, and knock $$ off my bill for 12 months.  

 

This year I tried 3 times, they told me to f' off all 3 times, so I did.  

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50 minutes ago, Shorttynaz said:

That was pretty much my experience with them the past 7 or 8 years.  I was always polite but griped that they didn't have the PAC-12 Network, I paid for Netflix and Hulu, and I was paying too much for 'cable'.  They would always give me the ticket, HBO or Showtime, and knock $$ off my bill for 12 months.  

 

This year I tried 3 times, they told me to f' off all 3 times, so I did.  

 

They are the worst. I'm out after football season. They took away our CBS so now I miss the good college games as well. 

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We considered internet TV, but it seemed like every service was missing something the others had.  I decided to go old school and call our local cable provider.  They have the RedZone channel.  Honestly, these past 10 years, that's literally the only channel my receiver is tuned to on Sundays.  The only exception is the afternoon games - two of them end, two more are on.  One ends and the other still has like 5 minutes to go.  It's not on the local channels, and the RedZone shuts down for the weekend.  That's the only time I would tune to one of the 71X channels. 

 

Sure I'm still a little bitter, only cause I had grown accustomed to being hooked up by DirecTV.   But I'm not at all disappointed I left. 

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4 minutes ago, Shorttynaz said:

We considered internet TV, but it seemed like every service was missing something the others had.  I decided to go old school and call our local cable provider.  They have the RedZone channel.  Honestly, these past 10 years, that's literally the only channel my receiver is tuned to on Sundays.  The only exception is the afternoon games - two of them end, two more are on.  One ends and the other still has like 5 minutes to go.  It's not on the local channels, and the RedZone shuts down for the weekend.  That's the only time I would tune to one of the 71X channels. 

 

Sure I'm still a little bitter, only cause I had grown accustomed to being hooked up by DirecTV.   But I'm not at all disappointed I left. 

 

I'm with ya. As soon as football season is over I'm gone. I just can't decide between internet streaming or cable either. I could live with just Red Zone if need be. 

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3 hours ago, League_Champion said:

I called up an told them that the lineup sucks, I'm tired of loosing the signal when it rains, blah, blah, blah. I said "come get your dam dish out of my yard". 5 minutes later I got a call back begging me to stay. I ended up getting free pay channels, The Ticket, Red Zone, etc. No joke 

 

On the phone with them right now.  They told me to cancel my account and re-open under my wife's name.  What the heck?


So I'm just canceling altogether and hoping to get the call begging me to stay.  If I don't get it, I'll call them back next week to see if they want me back.

 

Stupid.

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10 minutes ago, darin3 said:

 

On the phone with them right now.  They told me to cancel my account and re-open under my wife's name.  What the heck?


So I'm just canceling altogether and hoping to get the call begging me to stay.  If I don't get it, I'll call them back next week to see if they want me back.

 

Stupid.

 

:D  That is what I did when we moved into our new house a few years ago. When I cancelled last month it was because it is too expensive and I wanted to get out before the NFL package hit. All of my grown kids also now have Hulu and others I know are thinking about it. Somebody mentioned Directv going out every time it rains. That has been quite often this year. More often that the cost justifies, imo. Now if I can just get internet streaming to work constantly, I will be happy. I spend too much time watching the Red Zone channel. I can get info just as quick on my phone if I need and spend more time enjoying my team.  My Team is not out of market.

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My credits expire in a week... so will call to do the annual dance next weekend.

 

in the past I have been able to get good deals without disconnecting, but it seems like we actually gave to go through with it this year.

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1 hour ago, Bier Meister said:

My credits expire in a week... so will call to do the annual dance next weekend.

 

in the past I have been able to get good deals without disconnecting, but it seems like we actually gave to go through with it this year.

Same boat I was in.  I tried 3 times.  All 3 times they told me to pound sand, with the 3rd guy telling me to leave then - already mentioned that above. 

 

But with my situation, today my wife asked me if we owed DirectTV any more money.  I was like no, I paid them the $93 a few weeks ago.  She was like $93!?!  The lady I spoke to a few weeks ago said we had a $50 credit with them, but we would owe one full month because they can't pro-rate.  She told my wife that we'd probably owe like $40 something.  Would have been nice for her to tell me that. 

 

Today my wife called and found out that even if you had the NFL Ticket for free last year, they are billing you for it.  Whether you paid for it or not last year, and called to cancel it, they still bill you for it this year.  It's supposedly a system wide problem.  So, now that I already paid them $93 a few weeks ago, we paid $48 for the NFL ticket that we never received, and we did in fact have a $58 credit due to over payment.  They told my wife that we do have a $50 charge on our (closed) account due to sending equipment back while we still have service.  After a few choice words at an elevated volume, that fee has been waived and they are mailing us a check for $106 and some change, but it will take 3-4 weeks before we get it. 

 

AT&T really took a good thing and f'd it up. 

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I just checked my old account out. Last time I talked to someone (probably the day that I had to talk to 3 or 4 people) they said that they couldn't prorate my final month of service. That I would have to pay for the full remaining month of service. The new month started the week before. I wasn't particularly happy with all of the crapola of having to call back, getting permission from my wife to talk to me, and all of the hassles of jumping through their hoops. I just experienced canceling my Hulu ad free service because I wanted the Hulu Live channels instead. It took 10 seconds to cancel that one.

 

Fortunately for me, I had to get a  new debit  card with new numbers the same time of the DirecTv cancellation. They didn't have the new info and I didn't give it to them. I reminded them that they don't  have an active card on file. After checking the account today, I notice that they did credit back the partial month of service. I only owed $52 instead of the usual $170 after all of the equipment return.

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38 minutes ago, Shorttynaz said:

 

 

AT&T really took a good thing and f'd it up. 

 

Royally.  After 20+ years of good customer service followed by 3 that have been horrendous, I'm just about done.  And like, @darin3 we have been pretty fixed in our ways, but enough is enough.  AT&T sucks to worst extreme.

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Been with them since 2001.  I've had the Sunday Ticket every year, and probably paid for it (or a portion of it) only 2-3 times.  In the past, it was relatively easy to just call, threaten to leave, and get it for free.  RedZone included.  Now, not so much.  Last year, I got it for $75, which wasn't bad.  I'd pay double that, if that was my only complaint with them. 

 

I'm so tired of having to haggle for discounts every 6/12 months, only to later glance at a bill and notice that the discounts have expired (and monthly bill goes from <$100/month to $150-175/month).  I hate the fact that they treat brand new customers better than those of us who have been around for years (and AT&T has only made this worse).  

 

I'm seriously considering just canceling, and sticking with Netflix, Amazon, etc. for my TV viewing.  For sports, I'll either go to a bar, listen on SiriusXM radio, etc.  Heck, most of what I watch is football or golf, and with this latest fiasco with DirecTV not even carrying CBS in my area, I can't even do that.  Final straw, I'm afraid.  

 

All of that said, I know that there would be things I'd miss.  DirecTV has a great DVR setup, and for the most part, it's a user-friendly and convenient system.  But, the billing and customer service has pushed me to the ledge.  I'm somewhat afraid to take the plunge, but know that once I do, I'll be better off.  

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8 minutes ago, Gopher said:

Been with them since 2001.  I've had the Sunday Ticket every year, and probably paid for it (or a portion of it) only 2-3 times.  In the past, it was relatively easy to just call, threaten to leave, and get it for free.  RedZone included.  Now, not so much.  Last year, I got it for $75, which wasn't bad.  I'd pay double that, if that was my only complaint with them. 

 

I'm so tired of having to haggle for discounts every 6/12 months, only to later glance at a bill and notice that the discounts have expired (and monthly bill goes from <$100/month to $150-175/month).  I hate the fact that they treat brand new customers better than those of us who have been around for years (and AT&T has only made this worse).  

 

I'm seriously considering just canceling, and sticking with Netflix, Amazon, etc. for my TV viewing.  For sports, I'll either go to a bar, listen on SiriusXM radio, etc.  Heck, most of what I watch is football or golf, and with this latest fiasco with DirecTV not even carrying CBS in my area, I can't even do that.  Final straw, I'm afraid.  

 

All of that said, I know that there would be things I'd miss.  DirecTV has a great DVR setup, and for the most part, it's a user-friendly and convenient system.  But, the billing and customer service has pushed me to the ledge.  I'm somewhat afraid to take the plunge, but know that once I do, I'll be better off.  

I won't encourage you to leave, however we've been with local cable for a few weeks now.  At first it was weird with the channel lineup and different ways to access recorded content, but after 2 weeks, we honestly don't miss DirecTV at all.  Not one bit.  The call my wife had with them today to customer service just reminded me how much of a nightmare it was dealing with them. 

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2 hours ago, LordOpie said:

Doesn't DVR also record the tv commercials? I really like TV and the entertainment it provides, but we have had only Netflix for so many years (just added Hulu) with NO COMMERCIALS that I'd rather not watch TV any more if I had to go back to commercials. I bet most of those 70 hours can be found on hulu. Unless you want certain TV shows, I think Netflix is the best overall.

If hulu has most of her tv shows, she could save about 10 hours off of those 70 hours recorded

It is just as easy to speak into the remote and say fast forward 4 minutes

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