I love it. You RENT the equipment from them, but they won't make it work unless you pay extra if it fails?
This was the reason I canceled with them. One of my receivers stopped working. Spent hours on the phone with inept CS. They finally said they would have to send someone out and that I would be charged, unless I signed up for the insurance (which I did not have.) I refused. They said they would not make the receiver work and I could not just cancel that receiver. They refursed to even send me a new unit for me to install myself.
So I canceled, well I checked into FIOS, liked the deal and signed up. When I called the cancellation department of Direct, the lady was very friendly and professional. She cancelled me, but added that had I called her fist, she would have easily gotten me new equipment, either sent to me or brought out with support for free.
Oh, and after the final lady gave me the final bill amount that was what I expected with 5 months left on my contract, Direct sent me a final bill for like $600. Told me I had signed a new contract on the day I called support and a bunch of other BS. So I had to spend another hour or two on the phone fighting with them on that, threatening legal action (since I KNEW there was no way they had my signature or verbal recording of agreeing to any new contract.) It was a joke. Most of that time was going up the chain, with everyone claiming ignorance and helplessness on fixing it unless I agreed to resign, in which case they would waive the fee. Finally had to find some unlisted Direct tv corporate number. That person was able to figure things out and fix them.
So for whatever it is worth, with a business as inconsistent on customer service as Sat/cable providers, you can probably skip it and threaten to cancel to get things repaired. But your mileage may vary.
One of the main things I liked about resigning with FIOS, while I don't believe for a second Verizon CS is any better, is that they did not make me sign any kind of contract and still gave me a competitive deal.
