Whoa. Great customer service and an awesome picture to boot. What more could I ask for?

Maybe a satellite receiver that pops it's own popcorn...? Ok - all kidding aside, I've been a customer of DirecTv (Or is it pronounced Direct TV?) ever since I purchased my Panasonic Plasma HDTV a couple of years ago. Before switching to DirecTv we were using an analog TV and had yet to experience HDTV in all its glory. When we finally broke down and decided to buy an HDTV TV we also wanted to get a new satellite system to go with it.

We headed over to Best Buy to make our TV purchase and actually scored a really good deal with DirecTv where we got the receivers for next to nothing and free installation. It took about 2 days for the installation technician to arrive to set everything up. We had already hung the TV on the wall and run some of the cables, but he made sure to check everything to be sure we connected everything right. Unfortunately the only place he could mount the satellite dish was on our patio cover, which sucked because he apparently didn't have the right bolts to secure it and we found that he left the ends of the huge screws exposed through the underside of our patio cover without placing any nuts on them or anything. I was aware that he did this and even though it did kind of irk me, I was too excited about having HDTV to give a crap at the time. (My husband could tell you how impatient I am, especially when it comes to new tech gadgets).

After about an hour of installation work and setting up receivers, it was time to flip the switch. (Maybe it was just me that heard chariots of fire playing in the background).

The DirecTv installation guy knew his stuff. As soon as he turned the equipment on, he switched the channel to one of my favorites - The Discovery Channel. And even though I am not into the animal shows so much, I still remember the moment he turned it on - I swore a damn antelope was going to jump out of the TV. Now, I wasn't around when color TV's were first introduced, but it must have been a similar experience to growing up with black and white TV and finally owning a color set. The picture quality was pretty awe inspiring to say the least.

We had our dish for about 2 weeks when we started seeing some picture quality issues on the HDTV channels. We called the customer service number late one night and got a real, English speaking customer service rep. She walked us through some menu items and made sure it wasn't a hardware issue. When I mentioned the fact that we live in an area prone to wind gusts, I was told that one of the downfalls with the new HDTV dishes is that they are pretty sensitive. I was a bit bummed out to hear that because I had our HD DVR set up to record several shows in HD -- So guess what? That meant the recordings were all jacked-up too.I did some searching on the internet and realized that I wasn't alone and there wasn't much I could do about it, so I decided that life goes on. When the wind picks up, I switch to the non-HD version of the channel. If I want to record something important, I also record the non HD version just to be safe.

We lived in the same house using the same DirecTv setup for about a year and a half when we needed to move to another city about 30 minutes away (Still in a windy area - unfortunately). We called DirecTv to tell them we were moving and they offered us something called the movers connection - Sweet!

Moving was ridiculously effortless with the Movers Connection program - seriously.

The movers connection program lets you leave your Direct TV dish at your old house and get a new one installed at your new place free, plus they hook you up with 3 months of HBO, Showtime and Starz for free (No Skinamax -- er I mean Cinemax though). Sounded too good to be true, but we we scheduled an install for the first few days after we moved anyway. The installation guy showed up at our new place on time and got to work surveying the house. It wasn't long before he told us that he had to drill through our roof because they were no longer able to place the satellite dish on the eave of houses. Right away I pictured huge bolts sticking out in the attic for someone to seriously hurt themselves on and wasn't too happy. The installation tech assured me he would make sure it was safe and so he did. He literally spent about 3 hours in the attic running wires and dropping cables through the walls for us (for free no less!).

When the install was finished, we signed off on it and were good to go - until about a week later.

About a week after having everything installed at the new place we started having some major problems - well major for me because none of the HD channels were coming in. I couldn't see How it's made in Hi Def - it was a major catastrophe! We got on the phone with DirecTv's customer service, once again late at night and once again got a real live, English speaking technician on the phone. She walked us through a bunch of menu commands and finally came to the conclusion that our year and a half old B Band converter had bit the dust. She got our address and assured us that she would get us a new one pronto. The next day (YES - I'm serious, the NEXT DAY) the fed-ex man was at our door with not one, but two new B Band converters (one for good measure I guess).

Right at that moment was when I decided that I must write this review...

I have been really happy with DirecTv over the past couple of years and have always been surprised at how good their customer service has been. I have called them on occasion for other minor issues not mentioned in the review, such as ordering a PPV movie or figuring out a billing quirk and they have always been willing to make things more than right. In fact the time I called about a billing quirk on their end, they admitted they goofed and sent me like 10 free PPV movie coupons!

There are definitely some companies who could learn from DirecTv in the customer service department - I'm just sayin'.

DirecTv Review:

Purchased: A little over 2 years ago

DirecTv Benefits:

• Great customer service
• Special offers that kick ass
• Really good picture quality (I would say great, but I live in a windy area which buffers the dish causing signal issues)
• Easy to navigate menus that are able to be scrolled through quickly without a huge lag in between menu screens
• Easy to program menus (in other words, lazy people like me don't have to read the instructions)

DirecTv Drawbacks:

• Signal loss in windy areas
• Package prices are a tad bit higher than the competition (maybe that's how they pay for good CSR's?)
• Remote is a little confusing (I still don't get the 4 color buttons with no label)

The Mrs. gives DirecTv 4/5
Great companies know that the customer is always right - DirecTv gets it. Any nit-picky issues I've had with them dissipate when I am taken care of as their customer. They are quick to resolve issues that arise and that's just good business. I would have given them a full 5/5 if it weren't for the the 1st installation tech leaving exposed bolts in my patio cover and the picture quality on windy days. The wind causing picture problems isn't something people with cable TV deal with, but it's something I live with as a satellite customer. Heck maybe they will have a way to fix this soon and I won't have anything at all to complain about

If you are in the market to purchase a DirecTv setup, don't forget to check for their current specials.

You can save a heap of money through one of their sign-up offers (at least I know I sure did!). Sometimes you can get even better specials with equipment through stores like Best Buy too, so check and compare before signing up!