[StBernard] Bell South back in Violet

[Westley Annis]

Janet,

I did not know about the antenna thing but I am having no trouble getting a
signal from the window sill. I can log on in a matter of seconds. It is so
great to have internet again! Anyway, another problem arose last week
involving DirectTV. As my house is almost complete and Cox won't tell me
when we will have cable, I decided to bite the bullet and get DirectTV. When
the installers came out, they said that the only way they could hookup the
DirectTV is if they went into my attic and charged me $70 for the
installation. I immediately balked at the idea because I assumed
installation was free. My husband, however, told them that if that was what
it would take to get DirectTV then just go ahead and do it. I had dinner
guests at the house that night and when I went to pay them the $70, I was
writing the check out to DirectTV. That's when he told me to make it out to
him. I thought this extremely odd but did as requested instead of arguing in
front of my guests. A few hours later I called DirectTV & questioned this
practice. I was told that they had performed a "custom installation" instead
of the normal free professional installation which is usually done on
request of the customer. The installer is supposed to tell you that this is
an option, put it in writing, and negotiate a price. This was not done. I
was told that I had to pay the $70 for the installation or I could not get
DirectTV. I immediately stopped payment on the check and told DirectTV to
come and take all of their equipment because I did not want to deal with
people I felt were scamming me. The installers showed up the very next
afternoon very irate that the check did not clear and claim they are still
not through with me yet. I am scared to death of them & couldn't sleep that
night afraid that they might try something. The 1-800 DirectTV are no help.
They say they are independents who are authorized to sell their equipment
and any installation problems I may have had with them would have to be
dealt with with them because they are taking no responsibility. I just
wanted everyone to be aware that you do not need to have a "custom
installation" unless you want one. Installation should be free. Just a heads
up so noone else gets taken advantage of. I threatened the company that I
would go to the media to show that their company is scamming Hurricane
Katrina victims but they could care less. Anyway, thinking about maybe
getting Dish or just waiting around for Cox cable to come back. Does anyone
have Dish or any opinions about that company or maybe an inkling when Cox
will be back? Every time I ask them they say they have no clue.

Thanks,

Karen