AT&T says DIRECTV Now had more than 200,000 paying customers at the end of December, one month after its debut.
However, due to the live streaming service’s recurring technical issues, it’s possible a significant number of them have canceled by now. DIRECTV Now users have blasted the service on message forums and social media sites, and given it low ratings at the Apple iTunes store.
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AT&T is not blissfully unaware that DIRECTV Now has a perception problem, as well as a technical one. In an e-mail sent this week to former DIRECTV Now customers, the telco asks them to give the service another try, saying, “our second impression will be twice as nice.”
“Live Streaming. Take Two,” the e-mail continues. “Take a second look at TV that lets you stream like a dream.”
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While DIRECTV Now users continue to complain loudly on social media, it’s this reporter’s observation that the technical hiccups have become less frequent than they were in December and most of January. (Relatively speaking, of course.)
Perhaps AT&T feels it’s a wise time to re-pitch customers who bolted earlier due to an inability to log on or watch a single show without buffering, picture freezing or a dark screen accompanied by the display of an obscure error code.
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To sweeten the pot, DIRECTV Now’s e-mail says that if you subscribe now, you can get the Starz channel for $8 a month, which is $1 cheaper than what Starz normally charges for its online edition.
— Phillip Swann
The price keeps going up and the programing keeps going down. They have fees on each bill that are questionable……as to legality.
Well I cancelled.
Their so called On Demand is super limited and most shows are over 3-4 weeks old.
The 72 hour rewind is non existence.
OK if you just want to watch live. That’s it.
I will check back in 6 months, but if Hulu’s upcoming service (with dvr) is any good, I won’t even bother. For now Sling Tv will suffice.
I was one of those paying customers but I will not pay again to try a service that would not even contemplate a refund due to the problems they had. There is no way I”m throwing more money after bad Service both from Customer service and from service support. I seriously thought it was a spoof when I saw give us a try a second time. Then I realized they were serious and shook my head that they simply don’t get customer interaction. People will not deal with this level of ignorance. This is the way they encourage us to come back? Who do they have for their marketing team in the first place, because they really need to get someone better! Give us more money and try again, are they insane to think anyone is going to do that after the first time? NOPE… not a chance. I might for a free month or others 3 months for the time that they ALREADY paid for but never got due to NO service and NO product delivered. Oh if they do it had better not be a requirement that I sign up or give my credit card to try the service for at least the first month. I already don’t trust you to refund or have my credit card account information again because I know you won’t refund. This is where the bad customer service kicks in. This was my experience and my opinion only. I for one would rather watch a marathon of 10 hour youtube videos of annoying sounds than subscribe again it would be far less painful and more meaningful in the end. So with that I bid you adieu.
We were early adopters of DirecTV back in the ’95 – remember when you could get channels a la carte? Those were the days…
Ever since we heard DirecTV had merged with AT&T (possibly the worst wireless carrier in the world), we wrote them off for good.
No wonder they’re having problems. No surprise.
I only got for the fire stick and now not working on the fire stick so I may be canceling soon if not fixed.
We were there in the beginning. Even sold and installed about 1000 units. Now retired, due to price increases we had to cut back the service many times. They just raised the monthly service by $40. So We hooked up time warner. They ignored our disconnect order. We tried email and phone. They sent us mail threats, doubled the bill. Finally the called and a very nice lady said they would lower the price by $50.00 to keep us. I said what part of we are with TW don’t you understand? Then she said I would have to return the Equipment. They would send the boxes with prepaid shipping. Add 220.00 to the bill. I said I had the ready to go. That’s three weeks ago. I have 1 week left before they are to bill me for the equipment. No sign of the boxes.
I have 200 channels with TW, picture great, no weather problems. Direct TV is trying to look as bad as Dish and Charlie.
@Dave Amundsen: You may want to send a complaint to the FCC. When Comcast continued to charge an equipment fee after contacting them multiple times after I had switched to using my own router, I sent a complaint about it to the FCC. The next day I heard from Comcast that not only was the charge being removed from my bill, but they were refunding the equipment fees that had been charged since I had switched to my own router. It’s possible that DirecTV will treat you right only after you complain to the FCC.