Pls Help! - Ready to Cancel Uverse TV Service - Can't "Provision" DVR

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

Hi,

A tech just spent nearly 6 hours at my house to install a new DVR (old one had a bad hard drive and would drop recordings). To make a long story short, the new DVR won't "provision", and thus now I not only do not have recordings, but no TV at all. I love the Uverse internet and don't want to cancel, but I have had nothing but problems with the TV service. Now they need to send an "asset" tech to check all of the outside lines, which seems unnecessary because the TV service worked fine before they replaced the DVR. The tech, while nice, seemed completely stumped. Does anyone have an idea what the issue might be? I'm nearly ready to throw in towel and give Comcast a call (also scary). Please help!

Thanks!

mibrnsurg · ‎07-15-2008

I'd contact David's tier 2 guys following his directions below:

TROUBLES w/UVerse or install problems
Please note- Please be sure you call the 1-800-ATT-2020 number first and engage them. If they have not resolved the issue to your satisfaction.
Via email send the following to this address:

helprequest@sbcglobal.net or uversecare@att.com

In the subject line put the following: [Trouble-Uverse]
When you send the email, be sure to include as much of the following information:

Account Number
Link to your uverse topic
Notes on the attempt to contact the 1-800-288-2020 please include case numbers!
posting ID or username
Address or location
Who the tech or support person would be contacting
Main contact number
Alternate contact number
A detailed description of the problem.

Provide what info you can, hopefully they will solve your problem, let us know what happens. Good luck.

Chris

Please NO SD stretch-o-vision or 480 SD HD Channels
Need Help? 1-800-288-2020, After he gets acct info, press # a bunch of times, get a menu from Mr. Voice recognition
Your Results May Vary, In My Humble Opinion
I Call It Like I See It, Simply a U-verse user, nothing more

RCSMG · ‎12-10-2007

A few months ago I got a new 2250 DVR and all it would do is play live tv. No rew, ff, or record because the stb hadn't been provisioned. I called tech support and told the CSR what was happening. I finally got to a CSR who had to do a "Rip and Rebuild, or Rip and Restore" in order to get the DVR to provision. Contacting David is a good idea, but in the mean time call TS using the phone number in my sig.

roadcycling · ‎06-05-2012

I am with you. I ordered the new wireless Cisco Set top box (which came last saturday 6/2/2012) and have been working with Level II support for over two days. Spent 3 hours and still not provisioned. I too am going to cancel the wireless service. The rest of my service works ok, but its so frustrating that I am probably switching back to Time Warner.

ANYONE From ATT out there understand how on of their services work? The sad part is that I get no follow up or anyone that calls back to see if the probelm is resolved. The last two techs told me to wait until the next morning and it should work.....well still not working. I think they dont want to deal with the issue and then pass you on to the next person.

The last level II support person told me this is common, but didnt resolve the issue. My understanding is that the provisioning issue is on ATT's end, and not customer end.

If I get something to work before I cancel I will post back.....sure hope someone from ATT reads any of these posts!

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

I have called AT&T tech support and have spoken with a number of "Level 2" tech who assured me they could fix the problem only to sheepishly admit that they couldn't after wasting an hour of my time (each). Now it appears that Uverse TV service has been removed from my account. Does anyone know of a way to reach a tech who can actually fix the problem in a reasonable amount of time. In addition, field technical services was supposed to call me yesterday to schedule further investigation and of course did not.

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

jdmba2008 - Connect the DVR directly to the RG with a cat5 cable. Plug it in. If it does not provision you need a new one.

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

If only it were that simple The tech must have tried that approach 3 times with 3 different DVRs. I tried it myself with a level 2 tech on the phone with another DVR, with the same lack of results. I do appreciate the thoughts - please keep them coming.

As a side note, the folks that the AT&T field tech spoke with on the phone were suggesting that outside line problems, etc might be causing the problem. This seems extremely unlikely to me because my initial DVR received TV service just fine (it just had a bum hard drive). Do ya'll agree?

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

jdmba2008 - I am thinking it is unlikely that it is a line problem. What do your stats look like from the RG?

If iy is not the DVR there are only two things left - the RG (did they replace that?) or the record at the servers. If it is not the RG they should do the rip and rebuild.

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

aviewer - The RG functions as it shoud, all the correct lights are on and internet works properly.

They did replace my RG just in case, and it didn't solve the problem. My guess is that it's the record at the servers, and I think they tried to fix this by taking Uverse service off of my account and readding. Now, for some reason, Uverse TV service has once again disappeared.

Should I ask them to rip and rebuild the entire account, including internet service? I've had a terrible time getting all of my discounts, etc processed but I can fight that battle (again, unfortunately) later if necessary. Probably easier than switching to the devil that is comcast.

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

jdmba2008 - It does sound like the only thing left. The key is you need to find someone that knows what they are doing.

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

Any idea how exactly to do that? I've followed the directions to contact David's team. All of the tier 2 techs I've spoken with on the phone sound competent at first but then can't fix the problem. Is there such a thing as tier 3 support?

aviewer · ‎03-11-2010

jdmba2008 - No, I do not have any more contacts. Davids team was supposed to be the best & Alex has greased the wheels for a lot of solutions. One of them will have to make it work.

gamegurou · ‎06-03-2012

That must be some intriguing ordering issue that they're dealing with. If you'd like, send me a PM and I'll get back to you with some more information.

jdmba2008 · ‎06-03-2012

I'm pleased to report that the problem appears resolved. A young lady on the "Frequent Dispatch" team (whatever that is) was able to troubleshoot and get my system up and running. She noted that there were many conflicting issues in my order, potentially caused by techs and phone support who didn't know what they were doing. In addition, AT&T "may" have had back end issues over past few days. Whatever the cause, I'm at least temporarily up and running.

Now we'll see if all my discounts and rebates remain in the system

In case anyone needs it, the "Frequent Dispatch" number is{Inappropriate content removed}. This may also be the number for reaching tier 2 support, but I was told that the "Frequent Dispatch" techs are better than tier 2.

dhascall · ‎04-21-2008

These provision problems crop up, once in a while. I had a tech out two years ago because I was having all kinds of line noise. They got it fixed and he decided to tighten all of the coax connections. in doing so, he dropped the power supply for upstairs bedroom STB. It wouldn't work after that, so he replaced the STB. Guess what? It wouldn't provision. Then nothing worked. He eventually replaced the DVR, another STB, the RG and spent 45 minutes on the phone with someone in Dallas to get the account / service back to normal. He had no idea why. He tried to blame it on me having a media player plugged into the ethernet port on the DVR and "stealing his port"- but Dallas told him that would not affect it.

JBAXTER426 · ‎06-18-2012

Can you send me the Frequent Dispatch # directly? It has been removed from your post and I am having what I think is the same problem as you. Tech came out last Thursday to install at my new house and I still don't have TV service Monday morning due to an AT&T "system error" and my STBs unable to provision to their system. Spent countless hours on the phone with Tier II support over the past four days and no one can help me. Thanks!

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

JBAXTER426 wrote:

Can you send me the Frequent Dispatch # directly? It has been removed from your post and I am having what I think is the same problem as you. Tech came out last Thursday to install at my new house and I still don't have TV service Monday morning due to an AT&T "system error" and my STBs unable to provision to their system. Spent countless hours on the phone with Tier II support over the past four days and no one can help me. Thanks!

Send a PM to Alex who is an AT&T Community Manager on this forum.

Also, check the settings on your account to make sure that you will receive email notification when a PM is received on this forum.

JBAXTER426 · ‎06-18-2012

Thanks for the info. I sent a PM to Alex but have not heard back. Also had another tech out to my house today that thought for sure he could fix the problem...only to leave 2.5 hours later with still no solution. Any truth to the rumor of a system outage that has prevented my system from provisioning for 5 days?

texasguy37 · ‎05-18-2009

JBAXTER426 wrote:

Thanks for the info. I sent a PM to Alex but have not heard back. Also had another tech out to my house today that thought for sure he could fix the problem...only to leave 2.5 hours later with still no solution. Any truth to the rumor of a system outage that has prevented my system from provisioning for 5 days?

Give him a chance to respond.