Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Customer Service Kudos... DirecTV

I've had cable forever but recently, they started cancelling channels. In the last few months, I've lost SoapNet and Oxygen, and rumor has it that Lifetime is on the chopping block. Now, you tell me, what kind of girl can live without the three major feminine networks? Don't get me wrong, I love Spike, ESPN, and Versus as much as the next girl but with all the fights and sports I watch, I have to balance it out with some chick flicks and "the stories" which is what my great grandmother called soap operas when we used to stay with her in the summers. Today, I abandoned cable and switched to DirecTV. This was a big step for me because as much as I'm not a fan of change, I'm less of a fan of change when it comes to technology. I am one of those people who can find the only bug in a system, gets the blue screen of death on her computer more often than anyone in the office, and can never remember which way the paper goes in the fax machine. Not only do I have a computer wizard on speed dial, I also do my best to keep him within shouting distance all day long for those days he stops taking my calls :-).

So today was the day to switch. I was told the installation person would be at my house sometime between 1 and 6. Geez, that means one wasted afternoon waiting for a guy who will show up at the last minute. Or so I thought...

Jay called at 1:10 and promised to be at my house by 1:30... and he was. He was polite, professional, and funny. He gave me all kinds of IDs to prove he was who he said and he made sure all the blinds were open in every room he was in, "so the neighbors could see in, for safety sake." Some people might find that odd; I found it very comforting. Jay installed all the boxes and bells and whistles and even went into the attic to look for a cable AND under the house to drill a hole. And, don't tell his manager, but he didn't charge me for it (because, he said, having to pay extra would have defeated the point of switching to a more economical system in the first place. That's logic I can totally get behind.). Jay was apparently also a little OCD and made sure all my cords and cables were neatly secured together in little bundles and tucked in so that visitors wouldn't notice them. I appreciated that about him. He left my house as neat as he found it and even took his boots off at the door so as to not track dirt in from outside.

Jay didn't leave until I showed him I knew how to work my remotes and when there was a goof up in my internet connection while he was here, he fixed that too. That Jay, he was one handy fella! And he said he'd call me in a few days to make sure everything's still working correctly. That's customer service I could get used to.

All in all, between the professionalism of my interaction a few nights ago with Hunter, the professionalism of Jay today, and the 10 dollar a month discount I will now get for referring a friend to DirecTV, I'm overwhelmingly pleased with my switch from cable to DirecTV. If anyone else is interested, let me know; I'd be happy to share a discount with you too! When all is said and done, if my math is correct, I should save about 55 dollars a month by switching. That's a lot of new shoes that I will happily wear while I'm watching Lifetime movies.

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