NFL Sunday Ticket - For Free?

[LuvTheNats]

Does anyone know the details of the Sunday Ticket for free promotion? I have been a longtime DirecTV customer and am a bit perturbed that it appears (on the surface) that they are offering Sunday Ticket for free to new customers. I really could use some insight.

[Cola]

For new customers only and it renews at full price next season. Client of mine just switched to DirecTV for it. I think it's a good option if you live in a different city than the team you pull for. Other than that, I can see my local team over the air for free and some other games to make it through Sunday as well.

It isn't enough for me to give up Verizon.

[BlueSky]

I was offered this promotion by a woman working a DirecTV table in Wal-Mart. Said no thanks since it'll be a cold day in hell that we do business with those clowns again after all the problems we had with them before we dumped 'em and went with Dish.

I told her, half-jokingly, that she should be glad it wasn't my wife she approached. She gave me her card and said she'd be glad to convince my wife to try DirecTV again. I said if she was brave enough to talk to my wife about DirecTV, she should be an Army Ranger. She thought I was kidding.

[NJTank]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

[ElwoodCuse]

Dang, did DirecTV come yank the dish off your house and kick the TV over? Because NJTank is spot on, if you are any kind of sports fan I cannot fathom switching to Dish.

Promo isn't really anything special, just different wording. When I signed up a couple years ago, it was "buy Sunday Ticket and get X months of programming for free". Now it's reversed, that's all.

[BlueSky]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

Uh, I didn't blame DirecTV for anything but their own incompetence. Had DirecTV for years, it sucked beyond belief, constant problems with their crap-ass receivers and their customer service made the post office look world-class, so we switched to Dish.

Dish has been relatively golden up to now...ironically enough. Last night they showed the scheduled Packers-Browns game but on their SD feed only. The HD channel had the Ravens-Eagles replay. Still trying to figure that one out.

Bottom line, they both suck, but in our experience at least, Dish sucks less.

[JQK]

Dish blows. I miss DirecTV, but they are simply too expensive. I had to move back to cable because Dish's service and customer service were by far the worst i have ever had to deal with. Never, EVER get Dish. EVER.

[pmoehrin]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

Uh, I didn't blame DirecTV for anything but their own incompetence. Had DirecTV for years, it sucked beyond belief, constant problems with their crap-ass receivers and their customer service made the post office look world-class, so we switched to Dish.

They've been slapped with lawsuits left and right relating to bad customer service and hidden fees. (Good luck cancelling them is all I have to say.)

Got hit by a $5.3 million fine by the FTC a few years ago for selling customer information to telemarketers.

Been sued by the Attorney General of two different states.

If they aren't the worst company in the world they are certainly in the running. Them Bank of America, Ticketmaster, Cash4Gold.com, Comcast, Gamestop. If you wanted to actually go after companies for breaking fair business practice laws and whatnot, I'd start with those guys.

[Don]

Dish blows. I miss DirecTV, but they are simply too expensive. I had to move back to cable because Dish's service and customer service were by far the worst i have ever had to deal with. Never, EVER get Dish. EVER.

I concur with this, as a former Dish CSR.

[CS85]

I concur that DISH is the worst tv service I've ever had. Never had DirecTV but if it wasn't for NFLST I would have 0 interest.

[pmoehrin]

Dish blows. I miss DirecTV, but they are simply too expensive. I had to move back to cable because Dish's service and customer service were by far the worst i have ever had to deal with. Never, EVER get Dish. EVER.

I concur with this, as a former Dish CSR.

Used to have Dish as well but recently switched to Cablevision.

To be honest all of the cable/dish companies kinda suck. Its just a matter of finding the one that sucks the least.

[BlueSky]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

Uh, I didn't blame DirecTV for anything but their own incompetence. Had DirecTV for years, it sucked beyond belief, constant problems with their crap-ass receivers and their customer service made the post office look world-class, so we switched to Dish.

They've been slapped with lawsuits left and right relating to bad customer service and hidden fees. (Good luck cancelling them is all I have to say.)

Got hit by a $5.3 million fine by the FTC a few years ago for selling customer information to telemarketers.

Been sued by the Attorney General of two different states.

If they aren't the worst company in the world they are certainly in the running. Them Bank of America, Ticketmaster, Cash4Gold.com, Comcast, Gamestop. If you wanted to actually go after companies for breaking fair business practice laws and whatnot, I'd start with those guys.

"They" being which one, DirecTV or Dish?

The service level from either of these companies just seems like a crapshoot. About 10 years ago, I had DirecTV for several years and it was great. A friend had Dish and their experience was awful. Then I lived somewhere for a couple of years where I couldn't have a satellite dish. When I moved again and could have one, we got DirecTV based on my previous good experience. Don't know what happened in the meantime but they were absolutely horrible. Very reluctantly tried Dish and they've been fine for going on three years now.

[Don]

Dish blows. I miss DirecTV, but they are simply too expensive. I had to move back to cable because Dish's service and customer service were by far the worst i have ever had to deal with. Never, EVER get Dish. EVER.

I concur with this, as a former Dish CSR.

Used to have Dish as well but recently switched to Cablevision.

To be honest all of the cable/dish companies kinda suck. Its just a matter of finding the one that sucks the least.

Unfortunately I dont have a choice, my townhomes dont allow dishes and theres only 1 cable provider in my area, Metrocast, and they suck.

[pmoehrin]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

Uh, I didn't blame DirecTV for anything but their own incompetence. Had DirecTV for years, it sucked beyond belief, constant problems with their crap-ass receivers and their customer service made the post office look world-class, so we switched to Dish.

They've been slapped with lawsuits left and right relating to bad customer service and hidden fees. (Good luck cancelling them is all I have to say.)

Got hit by a $5.3 million fine by the FTC a few years ago for selling customer information to telemarketers.

Been sued by the Attorney General of two different states.

If they aren't the worst company in the world they are certainly in the running. Them Bank of America, Ticketmaster, Cash4Gold.com, Comcast, Gamestop. If you wanted to actually go after companies for breaking fair business practice laws and whatnot, I'd start with those guys.

"They" being which one, DirecTV or Dish?

The service level from either of these companies just seems like a crapshoot. About 10 years ago, I had DirecTV for several years and it was great. A friend had Dish and their experience was awful. Then I lived somewhere for a couple of years where I couldn't have a satellite dish. When I moved again and could have one, we got DirecTV based on my previous good experience. Don't know what happened in the meantime but they were absolutely horrible. Very reluctantly tried Dish and they've been fine for going on three years now.

I was referring to DirecTV. I'm not a big fan of Dish either, but I'd say DirecTV wins pretty easily in the battle for who sucks more in terms of criminal offenses.

The reason why customer service is such a crapshoot is because the dish networks hire third party companies to handle their customer service, and each area has a different one. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they aren't. Usually they're not.

[Don]

Blue Sky blaming Direct TV for Dish's service is like blaming Pepsi for the wretched taste of Coke.

Dish Network is a true cut rate organization and if you are sports fan don't bother they cant get anything not even local regional sports nets and they routinely drop popular channels over contract disputes. Then they have a 5 day wait for service meantime you are without TV during the wait.

Uh, I didn't blame DirecTV for anything but their own incompetence. Had DirecTV for years, it sucked beyond belief, constant problems with their crap-ass receivers and their customer service made the post office look world-class, so we switched to Dish.

They've been slapped with lawsuits left and right relating to bad customer service and hidden fees. (Good luck cancelling them is all I have to say.)

Got hit by a $5.3 million fine by the FTC a few years ago for selling customer information to telemarketers.

Been sued by the Attorney General of two different states.

If they aren't the worst company in the world they are certainly in the running. Them Bank of America, Ticketmaster, Cash4Gold.com, Comcast, Gamestop. If you wanted to actually go after companies for breaking fair business practice laws and whatnot, I'd start with those guys.

"They" being which one, DirecTV or Dish?

The service level from either of these companies just seems like a crapshoot. About 10 years ago, I had DirecTV for several years and it was great. A friend had Dish and their experience was awful. Then I lived somewhere for a couple of years where I couldn't have a satellite dish. When I moved again and could have one, we got DirecTV based on my previous good experience. Don't know what happened in the meantime but they were absolutely horrible. Very reluctantly tried Dish and they've been fine for going on three years now.

I was referring to DirecTV. I'm not a big fan of Dish either, but I'd say DirecTV wins pretty easily in the battle for who sucks more in terms of criminal offenses.

The reason why customer service is such a crapshoot is because the dish networks hire third party companies to handle their customer service, and each area has a different one. Sometimes they're good, sometimes they aren't. Usually they're not.

Actually aside from their call center in the Phillipines Dish Network owns and operates all their call centers, they just dont pay very well so their people dont care.

[pmoehrin]

Actually aside from their call center in the Phillipines Dish Network owns and operates all their call centers, they just dont pay very well so their people dont care.

Okay so DirecTV hires out their customer service to third party companies that may or may not be reliable.

Neither one is very good.

I know in the NY metro area Dish just dropped SNY and the MSG network from their lineup and I don't believe they have ever carried YES, so if you live in the NY metro area and you have Dish Network your basically saying I hate sports but really like what else is on tv.

I know for me if was not a sports fan I wouldn't even have cable or dish. Just give the basic CBS, NBC, Fox and ABC package, and I'll Netflix any TV show I want to see. The cable companies know this is that case as well. That's why you see them invest so much money into sports. They lose that, they're basically out of an industry. They're already losing the people that don't watch sports. Why do they need a dish or cable?