Troubleshooter helps after DirecTV tech damages home

Diane Wilson Image
Monday, August 7, 2017
DirecTV technician damages home
During the installation a technician accidentally put a hole in a customer's siding.

CLAYTON, North Carolina (WTVD) -- When you have satellite TV service installed, you don't think there will be any problem. For Bill Berry, he was left with thousands of dollars' worth of damage.

Bill owns a home in Clayton and rents it out. His tenant was having DirecTV installed. During the installation, by accident, the technician put a hole in Bill's siding.

Bill says he didn't think it was a big deal but did want the damage taken care of.

"I took some pictures of it and started sending it to the companies," he said.

Bill says he was told to get estimates to repair the damage. When he did that, he realized the damage was bigger than he thought since the siding is asbestos siding and it's not an easy fix.

"When they came out and looked they were afraid it would bust the pieces around it and above it. Unfortunately dealing with asbestos, you can't do that," he explained.

The several estimates to safely remove all of the asbestos siding and put on new siding was in the thousands. Bills says he tried to work with DirecTV and their subtractors but said he wasn't getting anywhere.

"I just wanted to get back whole again," he said.

Berry reached out to me and I got everything off to DirecTV. It didn't take long and Bill got a resolution he was happy with.

"After you got involved, thankful for the companies they were so easy to work with," he said.

Bill just had the new siding put on his rental home.

A rep with DirecTV provided this statement: "We appreciate the customer's business and regret that they've been inconvenienced. It is always our goal to provide our customers with a positive experience. We've agreed to reimburse them for inadvertent damage caused during install."