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Help me understand how DirecTV handles installations

  • Could you help me understand the structure and entities involved in DirecTV installation? This information I need pertains specifically to DirecTV, not to any other company. I'd like to know about the relationships between DirecTV and the companies and people who do the installations, and how the money flows between the various people and entities. Take a situation in which a company (let's call them Acme) is somehow involved in DirecTV installation. Now, Acme is NOT a subdivision of the DirecTV, but appears to be a small company with eight or ten people who work in its office. Acme installs DirecTV equipment ... or, maybe it just finds individuals to work as subcontractors to do installations. Acme enters into contracts with individual installers, and ships DirecTV equipment to these installers, and has contracts with the individual installers (let's call them the Joe Installers). The Joe Installers then go out and install the equipment in consumers' homes. My questions: (1) Is Acme a "contractor" for the installation of DirecTV equipment? Or is there some other designation for what Acme does? (2) Are the Joe Installers considered "subcontractors"? (3) Does the equipment being shipped to the Joe Installers belong to DirecTV until it is sold to the consumers? Or has it been purchased by Acme to re-sell to individual consumers who subscribe to DirecTV services? (4) Let's say some of the equipment sent to Joe Installer goes unused; under what circumstances does it get sent back to Acme or DirecTV? Specifically, let's say Joe Installer terminates his contract with Acme (or vice versa), what does Joe Installer do with any uninstalled equipment that he still has? (5) How does the payment "flow" for installations work? Does DirecTV pay Acme only after a successful installation in a subscriber's home? And does Acme pay Joe Installer after it is paid by DirecTV? Or something else altogether? What mechanisms are in place to make sure Joe Installer gets paid? (6) Any other interesting information about the way DirecTV installations are organized, assigned, farmed out, whatever? I'm trying to understand it from an insider perspective, so any firsthand information you can provide will be appreciated. I would appreciate anyone with insider knowledge helping me out here. Throwaway e-mail account: [email protected]

  • Answer:

    DirecTV doesn't sell its equipment. Even if you "buy" a receiver outright from e.g. Amazon, the service contract you agree to stipulates that the receivers and other equipment actually belong to DirecTV and you are merely renting them. If you're not paying for your receiver, because you signed up under one of their many specials or paid full price for a receiver from a retailer, there is still an equipment rental line item on your bill (with an offsetting credit). So the answer to your #3 appears to be that all DirecTV equipment belongs to DirecTV always.

anonymous at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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You should post this question (or search) on DBStalk.com, but here's some high level info. DIRECTV sells service and equipment through a few different channels: - direct sales (online or phone sales) - dealers (Acme) - partners (Verizon) - retailers Acme is its own independent company that is basically a sales agent for DIRECTV and often Dish network as well. Acme makes money on the commission on the sale (there's some bonus for retention as well). I believe Acme also receives a fee for installation and that's how they pay their installers. Some of these companies are one Joe Installer and some employ hundreds of people and have call centers. Each company probably pays Joe totally differently. It's like a franchise model where there are standards of marketing and sales that every company is supposed to adhere to, but they basically operate independently. DIRECTV also has installers that work for the company, and those installers would have a direct employment relationship with the company. I'm not sure if they are contractors or full employees. DIRECTV both sells and leases the equipment to customers (and probably Acme as a middleman) so that varies as well. Joe Installer never owns the equipment, so should return it to whichever entity he got it from.

rainydayfilms

One source of in depth information about DirecTV's relationship with its contractors and subcontractors could be from lawsuits filed against them. There are a few published cases where DirecTV is a party. The opinions themselves might tell you some of what you want to know, and if you were ambitious you could always see if there were any other filings in those cases that are part of the public record, or perhaps even contact the plaintiffs' counsel and see if they'll talk to you about the case. You could start with this case: http://dockets.justia.com/docket/louisiana/laedce/2:2010cv01085/140375/, 735 F.Supp.2d 421 (E.D. La. 2010).

MoonOrb

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