[NJblue]

On other threads there has been some complaints about Comcast with people recommending DirecTV. I'm afraid that I need to take the other side of this.

After talking with their sales people and being assured that if I subscribed to their sports package that I would be able to get the YES network for Yankees games and also with the possibility of watching Giants football games with the NFL Sunday Ticket, I decided to go with DirectTV. Big mistake.

First, they lied to (or charitably, misinformed) me regarding what was covered by their optional monthly service fee - resulting in hours and hours of escalation through there billing department trying to recoup installation fees which should never had been assessed according to what I was told by the sales person. After 4 months I'm still not sure that I have this resolved.

Secondly, when a second DVR was to be installed, we had to wait 5 days, with each day being told with 100% certainty that the installers would show up on that day - only to have them not show up after waiting for them all day long. Toward the end of this fiasco, the contact person from the installation subcontractor assured me that he was going to credit our account for our inconvenience. Naturally, when later not seeing any such credit and bringing it to the attention of their customer service department they disavowed any knowledge of such a promise.

Finally, after all the installation issues were worked out I thought I was home free. However, yesterday when I called to subscribe to the sports package that is advertised and I was told that would offer the YES network, I was then informed that I would have to live in the NY area to get the YES network; the sports package only has select regional sports network available in any area of the country. So, being in Florida, I would have to be content with watching Florida sports if I subscribed to this package. This was in direct contradiction to what I was told as a result of a specific question that I asked of the sales person.

However, they did offer the MLB Extra Innings package which they claimed would offer most Yankee games. Of course this cost a lot more money than the sports package that had the YES network that I originally wanted. Reluctantly I decided that I would subscribe to this package. However, when I went to subscribe, I was informed that any sports package required a land-line telephone connection! Since we use only cell phones, this means that not only will I not be able to get the MLB games, but in the fall I will not be able to get the NFL games that I want to see.

Hence, my entire rationale for going with DirecTV is out the window and I'm stuck with them for 2 years. The topper is that today we have lost satellite connectivity twice. The first time they walked me through an extensive reset process which took about 20 minutes and restored service for about 45 minutes. Now we have lost it again and are trying to do the reset thing again - so far to no avail.

We have had Comcast for years and have never had such poor service and deception.