Horrible customer service: Is there a way to get compensated for wasting over 4 hours of my time????

This is in reference to a call I made on July 14, 2017 to place a Direct TV order. I tried to do 2 very basic things with your company – order Direct TV and combine it with my AT&T wireless plan. It took me over 4 and a half hours and I finally managed to order Direct TV and update my Wireless account to the unlimited plan. This 4 ½ hours was not because I didn’t know what I wanted or not because I’m an fool that doesn’t know how to order a service, it’s because your customer service representatives do not know what they are doing and because you obviously don’t have enough of them working. Out of those 4 ½ hours, I actually talked to someone at your company for about 30 minutes and the rest of the time was spent on hold or being disconnected.

Let me share with you the details. First, I called to order Direct TV. After being on hold for about 15 minutes I was connected to someone that obviously was new because she kept putting me on hold to ask questions to others to find out how to do whatever steps needed to be done to place my order. Once I thought my order was complete, she said she was going to connect me to the service department to schedule installation. She transferred me all right but she transferred me to the business customer service line. I didn’t want to hang up because I didn’t want to lose everything that she just did so I waited for over 30 minutes before someone answered and said they would transfer me back to the right place. After being transferred back to whatever department they sent me to, the next rep told me there was no record of my order and couldn't help me. I was told to call back the 1st number I started with (888-489-3591). The next rep couldn't find the new service I signed up for either and told me I would have to start all over again. He actually seemed to know what he was doing a little bit and after 20 minutes or so got the new account set up and provided me with an account and service confirmation numbers and scheduled my installation without having to try and transfer me to another department like the first girl, So after over 90 minutes or so since my first call, he said his part was done but needed to transfer me to the cell phone group so I could switch to the unlimited plan to consolidate my cell phone bill with my new Directv account to get the $25 month discount and free HBO offer they are advertising. So once again I was on hold for another 15 minutes and the rep started asking me a lot additional questions and tried to upsell me on your other packages (ie. Wireless, a tablet, and some other things). I kept telling them that all I wanted was to combine bills and get the unlimited plan that is being advertised. Finally, she says she can't do that and needs to transfer me to someone else. Here we go again, I waited for another 30 minutes on hold and the next person tells me she can't hear me as the line is breaking up. Then she said her computer froze up and asked me to call me back. At this point I had been dealing with this for over 2 and a half hours so I said absolutely not. I said do not put me on hold anymore and find me a manager. She promised that she would not put me on hold and was connecting me directly to the manager and after about 5 minutes of silence on her end she says she has the manager and is transferring me. But guess what happened? I’m sure you know that once again she put me on hold. So she lied to me but what could I do at this point but wait. I was not about to start all over and lose the 3 hours of work I had done at this point just trying to order 2 of your services. So, I waited and I waited and I waited and after 46 minutes, they HUNG UP on me. So then I had to do exactly what I was trying to avoid, and I had to call back yet again and start all over. I was on hold for about 30 minutes and my wife was getting more upset by the minute so she tried calling customer service from her phone (611) to see if she could find the right person. Remember that I had already been dealing with this for over 3 hours at this point. Once again the rep that answered her tried to upsell us with a lot of things we don’t want (and had already told at least 2 other reps NO) but that rep never actually helped us with what we needed. He at least seemed to know what he was talking about and was going to connect me directly to the right department without putting me back on hold. So since you had already hung up on me on my phone, I switched to my wife’s phone and went through the whole spiel again. They told me they were going to connect me to the right department and guess what, you hung up on me again!!!!!

So I tried one more time using the 800-331-0500 number, The lady was helpful and managed to change my plan to the unlimited plan to get the special they were offering but still couldn’t combine the bills and said I have to call a different number after the Direct TV installation. Why on earth no one could tell me that hours before!!!! None of your customer services reps know what they are doing and I shouldn’t have to go through all of these departments just to combine something that you are advertising you can do. If you are running a special to combine the cellphone services with direct TV, there should be ONE NUMBER to call and the reps at that ONE NUMBER, should do everything that you are advertising you can do without hanging up on people and without it taking 4 ½ hours!!!

I want to know how you are going to compensate me and my wife for my 4 1/2 wasted hours of our time and for all the aggravation this has caused. I tried to talk to a manager to voice my dissatisfaction with a live person, but your reps just hung up on me every time I asked to talk directly to a manager. I hope this is not a sign of how our service will be once we actually get it installed. I look forward to your contact to let me know how you are going to make this right.  

Steve Huffman