Calling DirecTV's customer service offers some positives and some negatives, with the positives coming from the human interaction and the negatives from the automated system. The automated system is really a mess if you're trying to get a hold of someone, as it doesn't seem to recognize when you're trying to ask.
When I dialed, I was asked why I was calling, and I said I wanted information about the types of plans that DirecTV offered. The system decided that I was asking for information about my account and asked for me to provide my account number. I didn't have one and asked to speak to someone. After three tries, to its credit, the system had me connected to a representative without trying to delay me any further.
When I got connected to a representative, I explained that I wasn't a customer; I simply wanted to get information about DirecTV's available plans and what I could expect to pay. She said that she would give me the full pricing information without any discounts, and I could further check what channels were available in each package on DirecTV's website. She said I could also check which discounts were available on the website when I researched which package I might want.
After that introduction, she started by explaining that DirecTV streaming offered four different packages, with the highest tier being the Premier package. She said that the Premier package included premium movie channels such as Cinemax and Showtime, as well as several other premium channels, with a cost of $139.99 per month.
At the next tier, the Ultimate package, I would get around 140 channels, including all of DirecTV's non-premium offerings. This would cost $119.99 per month. She then mentioned the Choice package, which would give me some of the more niche channels for a total of around 105 channels at $108.99 per month. Finally, she said that I could get the Entertainment package, which would give me the most basic services available of 75 channels, at $79.99 per month.
She then told me that this was a prepaid service, so I would have to make my first payment immediately in order to get services. She also said that automatic payments are the only payments accepted by DirecTV. At that point, she asked if I had any questions about the packages, and I told her I did not, as she had explained everything well. She thanked me for calling and wished me a nice day.
Overall, I thought she did a great job explaining to me what was available with each service DirecTV offered. I felt like I came away with a clear picture of the value of each package and would be able to make an informed decision. The automated system left something to be desired, as it wasn't very responsive to my inquiries.
Were I a legitimate customer of DirecTV, I would definitely use this number despite the annoyances with the automated system.