Ironwood Communications
1-425-640-0226
I have had many problems with getting my HD DVR. I break it down into two basic categories: before the DVR, and after the DVR.
First, the company you contracted to do my HD DVR installation: Ironwood Communications. Their service has been completely unacceptable.
I was on the waiting list for the HD DVR. In early December DirecTV called me saying I could order one, so I called back on December 8, and did. The date was set for Dec. 22. On the evening of Dec. 21, Ironwood Communications called me, saying they would not make it out for Dec. 22, and would make me guaranteed for the morning of Dec. 23rd. I said that would be acceptable.
I waited all morning of Dec. 23, and they never arrived. I called them and -- long story short -- after four phone calls to Ironwood, being on hold for a total of about an hour, being hung up on, sitting and waiting for them to call me back as they promised three times they would (and never did), I finally found out that in fact, they never scheduled me for Dec. 23 at all. Not only was I not guaranteed as they said, I was not even scheduled, and the first three people I talked to couldn't even figure that out. And not only was I not scheduled, but if they had scheduled me, they said they never would have been able to install it at all anyway.
And then they said their next available date was January 23. A full month later. I have no idea why anyone thinks that after messing up so badly it is OK to make the customer wait a month, but that's what they did. They told me I could call back after the new year to try to reschedule, and that this was the best they could do. Disgusted, I hung up.
I spent another hour or more on the phone with DirecTV on Dec. 23. One person set up a new order for me, but before he could confirm the details, our line got cut off on his end, and he never called me back, so he put the order through, and set me up for a payment plan I didn't want (but am now stuck with, or else I'd have to cancel the order and start all over again) and didn't cancel the original order until a month later (and I am still waiting for that charge, made in early December and never fulfilled and canceled a month late, to be credited back to my account). I also asked him to pick another contractor: I did not want Ironwood again. They have been terrible. I was very clear on this point: no Ironwood.
After being cut off on that phone call, I called back, and that DirecTV rep connected me in regard to ... an Ironwood rep! Even though I explicitly requested: NO IRONWOOD. She denied that I ever was rescheduled for Dec. 23, because they never could have done it, so why would they have rescheduled me? After that blatantly false statement, she then dismissed it and said, well, no problem, we can do it on Jan. 23. She did not seem to understand that waiting a month from their promised date was a bad thing. And she repeated the line about how I could call back after the new year. I said no, that's your job. She said fine, they would call back after the new year.
Of course, I don't need to tell you the punchline this time: they didn't call back. In fact, Ironwood had through all this never followed through on a single thing they've said to me. Not the initial date, not the new guaranteed priority date, not calling me back, not having anyone else call me back, not rescheduling me for a better date. They have abjectly failed to follow through on anything at all that they have explicitly told me they would do.
So, here we are on January 23. I called them this morning to confirm they would actually be here today (they didn't call me last night to confirm). They assured me someone would be here this afternoon, sometime from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. I called back in the afternoon, at 3:30 p.m., to get an ETA. Unable to get one (she left a message on the technician's phone), I was told there is a small chance they won't arrive today. I was shocked when the technician actually showed up, since the only things Ironwood ever told me have been lies until this point.
The technician himself was fine. But the customer service rep we called to get the thing turned on told me something *no one ever said before*: that I would be required to keep DirecTV service for two years. In all my discussions with DirecTV in ordering the DVR, no one ever told me that. And after the DVR is installed is too late to tell me that, so I refuse to be bound by that, or to pay any fees or penalties if I do cancel service early. Just so you know in advance.
So, now I have the DVR. And it is a pretty terrible product.
Now, when I say it is pretty terrible, I don't mean the design. If it actually did what it was designed to do, it would be a mostly good product with some notable flaws.
For example, the way it handles two tuners is terrible compared to the TiVo: I should be able to pause one tuner, go to the other, and flip back and forth without recording on either, and without losing my spot, and without losing a buffer. On both. This is a serious design flaw. So too is the significant delays in updating the video when I am rewinding and fastforwarding.
But when I record "24" and then I go to watch it and I cannot, and get only a black screen, this is a bug.
When it happens to several other programs in the couple of weeks I've had it, this means the bug is happening far too often.
When I can't rewind or move around in the buffer, this is a bug. When the entire box freezes on the guide, and I have to reset it, this is a bug.
When ESPN HD and "101" always have the audio out of sync, this is a bug.
When programs I've scheduled simply do not record, this is a bug.
And all of these bugs are showstoppers on their own. They make the unit unusable. I can't watch concerts I record when the audio is out of sync, I can't watch programs that don't record or are unwatchable, I can't use the DVR at all if it is being reset.
There's more bugs too -- many more -- but these are the ones that come to mind most quickly, and are the most serious.
If I were DirecTV, I would cease giving any business to Ironwood, period, and I would fix these bugs in the HD DVR, which after investigating the forums, I find have existed for *months*, especially the audio sync bug, which inexcusably has made it into the manual, making me think you are literally incapable of fixing it. Continuing on these courses shows a serious lack of respect for your customers, and at some point, I may just cancel altogether (and again, no, I will not be bound by your two-year requirement that was sprung on me without prior notice). I don't know if I can keep this up for very long. Yes, I know you have all this new HD content coming, and exclusive NFL Sunday Ticket, and lots of movie channels. What good is any of that when the DVR is this buggy?
Very sincerely,
Chris Nandor