DIRECTV Social Media Rescue ... or not

I recently moved to Brooklyn, where I am in the process of unpacking and arranging the above apartment. One of the most important things to get settled, of course, is the TV service. I decided to try DIRECTV.

The representative who sold me my DIRECTV package told me the latest installation window for during the week is 4-8pm.

What? How do people with jobs do this? I wonder this every time I need utility help.

I told the rep that I could not make it home until 6pm, which would still require me to leave work earlier than usual. He said they would be able to put that in the notes of my appointment and it shouldn't be a problem. I gave him my credit card number and signed up for DIRECTV.

The appointed day rolled around and at around 3pm (note: not even 4pm yet), I got a call on my cell phone asking me if I was home. "No," I said, "I'm at work. And my appointment is for after 6pm." The person who called said "Oh... oh, I see that. Ok." "See you later, right?" I said. "Yes," said the representative. I looked at my officemate and she laughed, saying "I thought you were going to have to fight him."

Everyone hates installations.

After leaving work early and arriving home at 5:45, I called DIRECTV to make sure the technician was still coming. They said yes.

6pm.

7pm.

7:30pm.

By 7:45pm I was assuring my husband that they were coming, but doubting myself.

Finally, at 7:55pm (8pm is the end of the window, so fine, but I shouldn't have had to leave work early! So frustrating) the guy arrived. It was one kid, by himself, who walked into our little two story building, of which we have the top floor, and asked if we had roof access.

Of course not. It's a little two story building.

He informed us that he didn't have a ladder and would not be able to perform the installation. Could he come back tomorrow during the day?

Can you imagine our rage?

After telling him to go GET a ladder several times, he put us on the phone with his DIRECTV supervisor. We told the supervisor to get the heck over to our house with the supplies his technician needed to perform an installation in Brooklyn (there are plenty of buildings just like ours; it's not like we have some freaky anomaly building). The supervisor informed us that he stops working at 6 and wouldn't be able to make it until tomorrow. Could we be there during the day?

At this point, there was some yelling. Neither of us wanted to leave work early AGAIN on account of their incompetence. Finally, we had a new appointment set up -- for the first Saturday we were available, which was unfortunately three weeks later.

I was and am really, REALLY mad about this. How can they make you leave work early, send a technician with no ladder, and then refuse to complete the installation? How can they do that to people?

SO, I took to Twitter, which I do sometimes when a big brand lets me down (or does something awesome):

"Left work early yesterday for @DIRECTV installation. Guy shows up @7:55pm - no ladder. Can't do it. Now I have to wait 3 weeks for TV. #SMH"

Not demanding assistance. Just putting my frustration out there. A little while later, I got this from @DirectTVService:

"@AnnieScott We would like to see what we can do to help, Annie. Give us a call at (800) 531-5000."

Yeah right. Like I'm gonna call their 800 number and say "Someone on Twitter said they wanted to help me." I bet that would confuse the "Please say: 'Billing'..." autobot quite a bit.  I said:

"@directvservice Unless you can send someone in the evening/early AM, WITH A DARN LADDER, there's no point in me calling. "REPRESENTATIVE.""

Then they asked me to direct message them so they could call me. Ok, I thought. But, they weren't following me, so I couldn't. A couple of hours and a tweet later, they figured it out and followed me, so I DM'd them my information.

Then, the oddest thing happened. They had someone call me ... and do nothing. Just to talk, I guess. Remember how I had said "no point in me calling"? Now, perhaps if I had ASKED for a month of free service or something I could have gotten it, but I didn't. In fact, I specifically said "I'm not asking for special treatment or anything; but it's wrong to send a technician to a Brooklyn apartment with no ladder and refuse to make it right. It's wrong to inconvenience working people that way."

It's not my job to beg for justice. They screwed up, and by reaching out, aren't they making a commitment of some kind to help me? Is it wrong to expect them to offer?

The representative was classically sympathetic. "Yeah, I know. Yeah, they should have had a ladder." But he offered nothing. What the heck was the point of calling me? I'm a big girl. I don't need a shoulder to cry on at DIRECTV. In fact, they wasted another portion of my workday by calling.

Then, after hanging up with absolutely no resolution or satisfaction, I looked at my computer screen and realized what the point may have been: to shut me up. I wasn't planning to tweet about it again after the first tweet to begin with, but after talking to them, there was certainly no sense in it ... and perhaps that was just what they wanted.

They had someone call me. On the phone. At work. To not resolve anything. As a social media professional, I find this interesting. 

If someone reaches out to us in such a personal way, are they obligated to go an extra mile for us? Does reaching out count as the extra mile? (It certainly shouldn't; it was a waste of my time and theirs.) If a big brand's social media rep reaches out to you personally and calls you on the phone, should you expect special treatment? My gut-reaction answer to that is "No," but it's also "But big brands are not entitled to waste my time," which is exactly what DIRECTV's social media represenatives did.

So, I still don't have TV service and look forward to welcoming the technician a week from tomorrow... but dangit, he'd better have a ladder. And if he doesn't, and I tweet about it, don't bother calling me, DIRECTV, not unless you actually plan to offer me a resolution.