First Choice Communications

We were approached by what I now know to be sales people from this company at the Arizona Home and Garden Fair.
Before I go on, let me make one thing clear. I had been prior to meeting these folks contemplating switching to Directv for quite some time because a) I was curious, b) I disliked by current provider (Cox) and c) I had friends who were long time customers of Directv and highly recommended it. Also, I am now still a Directv customer and really happy and would highly recommend Directv.
A big part of what we discussed with these people were important deciding factors for us in deciding to jump on and do the change. But much of it turned out to be false promises:
— they could not handle a simple task of working with us to schedule an install date, they lied about how soon they could install
— they lied about the equipment we would get
— they lied about how much of an early termination fee they would pay (even though I had it in writing from their own staff)
— they did not respond to phone calls well and when you did get them on the phone they were extremely rude and dismissive and were very clear that they did not want to bother with me and tried multiple times to get me to hang up.
— they lied about the services that the tech would do when he came to the house
These people introduced themselves as being employees of Directv which only after the fact I learned they were not. They basically will say anything to get you to switch.
I did call Directv on two occasions when I was trying to resolve things and the person I spoke to was extremely professional and was a big part in including other higher ups who apologized for the bad service we had gotten and made up for it. Huge kudos to them (this kind of customer service is what I expected after hearing my friends talk about their experiences). The person I spoke to at Directv also did file a complaint and mentioned to me that this was not the first time people had complained about this company.
One of the things Directv asked me to do was to call the number for First Choice and try and get them to resolve these issues. If that would not work, I was to call Directv again. When I confronted a person from First Choice on the phone (who claimed she was the manager), and said that I had two witnesses that could testify to the fact that her salespeople (whom I had named and described) had promised us things they were now saying they would not own up to, she responded by saying that they would just come up with other witnesses to counter and basically call me a liar even though I had these things in writing.
These people will lie through their teeth and say anything to get you to do business with them. This is unfortunate for Directv as it gives them bad rep and they seem to be a decent company (at least we’ve been very happy with them so far).

Sales Rep Lied to me about covering my disconnection fee from COX if I switched. Hope he comes to San Diego again so we can have a nice discussion

I’ve had the same experience others have had. The sales rep lied about install fees, who he worked for (claimed to be a corporate Directtv employee, what package I was going to receive, promised a discount on my AT&T service which was never delivered, offered to bundle billing for my Internet when it’s not possible to do with the provider I had. This was after trying to sign me up with a different Internet provider that only offered 10mbps when I already had 50 and told him that wasn’t enough. He did not care about what service was right for our family, only cared about the sale.
When I became aware of all the lies, they promised the moon to make up for it but only delivered on part of the promises and now claim that they never said any such thing.

Signed up for Directv service through these jokers at the Alameda County Fair. They gave us a great deal but the sales guys weren’t able to answer simple questions about internet speeds included in their bundle and didn’t know what a HOA was. This should have been my first clue that they didn’t know what they were doing.
I took the time to look up my HOA rules for dishes, made multiple phone calls and ensured that yes, they could strap the dish to my chimney and the installer would be ok with painting the straps assuming I could provide paint and rollers. I also asked what would be needed to be done to move from my existing service to the new service and got the run around.
The day of the install rolls around and (pleasant surprise) the installer shows up right on time. I let him in, and hung up on my conference call and then had to wait for him to finish playing with his phone before we could talk about what was going to be done. Once he was done on his phone, we started talking about the install and checked to make sure he understood that he would need to install the dish using straps on the chimney. According to him, he wasn’t told anything about needing straps and that no one had strapped a dish in 8+ years despite having gotten confirmation that they could do it the day before and I have multiple neighbors with dishes in my complex. He said he didn’t have straps and that someone else would have to come out to install since he didn’t have straps and then just left. No goodbye, or call xxx to reschedule and appointment. Nothing.
I called First Choice and asked what the next steps were. They put me on hold, called the installer and said the only way they could do the install was to screw the dish into my chimney which I had already explained was 100% not allowed by the HOA and if they couldn’t do that they wouldn’t be able to perform the install. I told them to cancel the order and I would keep my current service.
I decided to follow-​up directly with Directv and received confirmation that they could 100% strap the dish and they asked a whole bunch of other questions regarding the installation that the people at First Choice never considered. Lesson learned, from now on I’ll deal directly with the company than using a reseller.

DON’T DO IT!!! Unfortunately, I went with this company before checking them out on the Internet. I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt, but when I was told she would call me to set up the Internet account, I waited 45 minutes and no call. So I called Direct TV directly and set it up myself, and then CenturyLink and canceled my order with First Communications. She did finally call me… an hour and 45 minutes late. I figured if my first experience with them was like that, I might never get the Internet installed — like some of the other reviewers.
They lost my trust when the salesman told me they were a member of the Better Business Bureau — «Yeah — I have the sign hanging right here on the wall!» Not true, per the BBB’s website!

We have been given the run around since we signed up with First Choice Communications at our state fair! They took our $ 100.00 and we have not received anything since! We continuously call the rep James Marlnee leaving numerous messages for the past two weeks and he never returns our calls!
Called the company directly and spoke with a guy named Sung who also PROMISED he would help, also does not return calls!
They are crooks and Direct TV is getting a bad name by using them as a retailer!
THEY DESERVE 0 STARS!
BUYER BEWARE!!!

They are lucky to even get one star. Promised to come between 8 – 12. No one showed. When I called to see what happened, they had no record of it. Horrible customer service! Previously had Cox for years with no issues. Going to cancel direct tv and go back to cox.

They lie to you! They tell you that you can bundle Direct TV with CenturyLink, get you to sign a 2 year contract. They get the Direct TV hooked up immediately, but nothing from CenturyLink. After getting jerked around for a couple of weeks they finally tell you that CenturyLink is not available in your area! They knew this all along and even try to blame CenturyLInk for not telling you! The owner won’t return phone calls and pushes everything off to his uniformed secretary. HORRIBLE! The Direct TV works great, but get it anywhere else. I HATE being lied to!!!