Well, nobody ever showed up, so I called customer service and spoke to a woman who told me it was in the computer for 1/22/11, which is next Saturday. I told her I was informed it would be THIS Saturday, and that I had cleared my morning and had cancelled my DirectTV service so everything would be ready. She said sorry but nothing she could do. I spoke to her supervisor, Marcus (employee id LMO), who said sorry, nothing we can do. I told them that this was a terrible way for them to begin a business relationship, and I suggested they pay an installer the overtime so I could have my service set up when I had been told it would start. He said they couldn't do that. I then asked what Dishnetwork was going to do to make up for this. Marcus offered a discount on my first bill. Not even a free month, but a discount! When I mentioned this, he then said "Oh, well we can give you a free month." I said "Great, but I want my service set up today as I was promised."

I then spoke to his supervisor, Zach Santiago, who said too bad, nothing we can do, so sorry. Zach said "I understand Marcus offered you a $50 credit, correct?" I said "No, he offered a free month but I want my service set up today." Zach then said "Look, you're a new customer. We don't do this for new customers, you're lucky we're offering a $50 credit." LUCKY???I was so shocked I didn't know what to say.Zach asked me again "So, what are you going to do? Are you taking the $50 credit or not?" I felt very pressured and dismissed. I said fine but I'm about 95% sure that I'm going to cancel this service and return to DirectTV.

Granted, DirectTV costs more, but I have NEVER EVER had a problem like this, and their customer service was STELLAR. I guess you get what you pay for.