I finally won my DirecTV battle last month so I'm sticking with them, but it was the first time I'd ever been frustrated to the point of leaving over their customer service.
In case it helps someone else here's the story - we've been customers for 10+ years and pay the monthly fee for coverage plus the "every 2 years you can switch to any new equipment available." We had the oldest Genie HD DVR, which is a massive relic. As DirecTV added more features to their software, our receiver became slow and then unbearably slow. A new one came out but they wouldn't replace it. Then yet another even newer one came out and they still wouldn't replace it. Then ours died, wouldn't boot, and they said they'd send us a new one finally... Sure enough, they shipped an old beat-up identical version that took 15-20 seconds to bring up the guide, screwed up recordings, and simply froze for minutes at a time. DirecTV insists that they only have "one" HD DVR, and that all the models are the same because they have the same features. Of course the issue is all over the internet, with lots of theories that AT&T is not willing to take the hit to upgrade hardware.
I finally got a "new" (3 years old now, not even the newest) version by threatening to leave and having a knowledgeable CSR suggest strongly that I complain about my imaginary new TV cabinet and how the old receiver won't fit. There's some special form that needs that type of justification to intervene. They also cut $40/month off our bill for a year to keep us. Helped that the X1 DVR from Comcast is actually a solid alternative now.