Open Letter to Direct TV – Warning to Consumers

1^st off, I work a lot. My wife takes care of all our bills and unless something is seriously different than what it was last week, she just pays and goes about being a mom.

I am not making any excuses for my not knowing some of this. Maybe if I were not so trusting, I would know some of it. Either way, it’s ridiculous.

That said, here is my problem with DirectTV.

Update: I sent a letter to the CEO of Direct TV and got a call from someone from his office. What I learned is at the bottom of the story…

Back in late 2005, I chose to give Direct TV a whirl against the advice of others. I had heard about the issues that are inherent to satellite. Well, I answered an ad that offered a TiVo receiver and 3 additional rooms and installation free. This went down fine. I was pleased with the service and didn?t really have any of the issues that friends told me about. I was aware that I was locking in to a 2 year contract. More than a year of happy service goes by and I bought a big HD TV so I decided to give Direct TV HD a try.

November 2006, I answered another ad in a circular that offered ?Free HD Receiver? with installation. I don?t remember if this was to ?bump? my contract to a new 2 year deal, but since have learned that it had. No biggie, I got a free receiver, so I accept that a contract is in order. Still, I am almost 100% happy at this point. We have started seeing some nasty signals sometimes with wind and definitely with rain. I keep trying to get around to finding out how to get someone out to readjust the dish since that is most likely what the problem is.

October 2007, I decide I want a DVR for HD. ( the receivers were out of stock when I got HD in 2006 or I would have ?PAID? for the receiver then) I went down to Circuit City and plopped down $299 of my own dollars to get an HD DVR. I take it home and install it. Called to activate it. Now my kids are happy to record hours and hours of crap, even better, I can record what I want to watch. J Everything seemed fine.

Last month, I received a box from Direct TV. I didn?t order anything so I called and asked what the heck this was. ?It?s an empty box to return the receiver?, I was told. HUH? The free receiver I got when I signed up for HD? ?Yes?. What the heck? How can I be asked to return something I was led to believe I OWNED. Anyhow, I am quite busy and didn?t get around to sending it back against my belief that it is my receiver.

Fast forward to last week. I mentioned that my wife only questions bills when they are different. Well, this one went from $100 to $337.80. That threw me off the deep end. I said, give it here and I will see what?s up. The cost was $240.00 for this HD Receiver I was supposed to own. That bothers me terribly, but that was only bomb #1. Bomb #2 was the fact that I had been charged $4.99/mo to lease this receiver that the ad told me was free. Hmmm? Fishy.

I call the 1-800 number, find out that I was misled and asked to have my service canceled. I was more than willing to a) pay a year of cancellation (11 months) and sell my HD DVR that I purchased for $299 at circuit city on ebay to recover the difference. I was going to mail the HD receiver I thought I owned back and go with Comcast or Charter. Well, a couple more bombs hit me even harder than the 1^st two.

The 3^rd bomb was that a new 2 year contract was slapped onto my account when ?I? purchased my own receiver. Re read that? when I PURCHASED MY OWN RECEVIER. WHAT THE HELL?

Oh, don?t laugh, it gets better. I figure, ok? I can take my receiver and pay the $275 early contract termination fee with whatever I can get on ebay for a 2 month old HD DVR. That?s when bomb #4 hits. Sir, you don?t own that receiver. Huh? The receiver I dropped $299 for at Circuit City. I don?t own it? Nope. I don?t. You paid for the right to lease the receiver to use on Direct TV. That?s kind of funny. I go buy myself a Nokia N95 (an unlocked GSM Cellphone) to use on Cingular/AT&T network, they don?t up my contract and tell me that they own my phone do they?

So, to sum it up. I owe $337 to Direct TV. I can reduce this by $240 for sending a $99 market value HD Receiver than I BELIEVE I own based on the ad I accepted to get HD service. No Problem. I guess I can send this thing back againt my will. (not that I am using it anyway) Then, I cancel my account and pay them $275. Instead of recovering some of the cost of this fee by selling the HD DVR I paid for outright, I will have to send that receiver to them too. Yes, send the receiver I paid $299 cash for to DIRECT TV. No refund for my $299, no nothing.

What a load of crap. Who governs this companies tariffed rates? The PSC, FCC, who? Think it?s the FCC?

Update: The guy that called me a few hours after my letter was sent to the CEO was very thorough in explaining how I was screwed. Here are the bullet points.

The “Free” with install HD Receiver apparently came with small print about leasing that I didn’t read. So I have agreed to return the HD receiver. (not like I was using it anyhow, it’s got a dust wrapper already.
MY HD DVR isn’t mine. Once again, I didn’t read. Before I explain, let me just ask. How many of you would expect to pay $299 for this thing and expect it not to be yours without reading the “box”. I expected it to be like any other piece of A/V equipment I have bought. I am going to be severely pissed if Onkyo comes back asking for their $900 receiver if I stop using it. Anyhow, the $299 is a subsidized price. Similar to buying an AT&T Tilt for $299 instead of $600. Only you know this walking into the AT&T store.

I am going to let them come out and fix my reception issues and give them another chance. I might as well since I would have to pay $275 to quit since I was screwed into another 2 year contract when I bought a $299 subsidized receiver. What crap. Anyhow, since it’s subsidized, I can’t even sell the damn thing to recover the $299.

Yes, I am happy for a great explanation, but I am still unhappy that companies can get away with screwing consumers over with contracts. The FCC needs to step in and throw some regulation on this. Subsidized or not, I am adding over $12 a month to their pocket by getting this DVR before they rope me in with an extra 11 months from when my contract was to expire.

Moral of the Story… READ THE FREAKING BOX (or paperwork) My advice, stay away from companies that take advantage of those that don’t read the FREAKING BOX.

I will not enter into any other contract with this company. I don’t care if they give me a 52″ LCD, no go! (not to mention, they would give it to me, then charge a lease fee and ask for it back if I don’t use it for 2 years.)

Thanks for explaining this Chris, but I have to agree to disagree on the business ethics of these moves. (my lack of reading or not)

sammyjod

Direct TV is conning elderly people by telling them they are offering free specials on movie channels then they throw in NFL or NHL or whatever ball is played at the time then charging them $60 a month for 5 months without telling them. When they go to disconnect the trial offer, they are told they can't disconnect it because they still have 2 to 3 more months they have to pay on these ball programs! It's sad when an elderly woman who raised four sons is roped into this kind of predatory sales practices then it takes a daughter-in-law calling a half a dozen to a dozen calls (all with supervisors hanging up on me) to find out what the heck happened and demanding to get it taken off even under threat of the class action lawsuit that's going on now. The supervisors don't care about the class-action lawsuits. They claim the customers knew then they argue the point of, "Well, were YOU on the PHONE when the customer agreed to the terms?" I asked her if SHE was on the phone when the offer was pawned off on the customer...' this pissed her off to the point where she hung up on me.

It finally took a kind service rep to remove the charges on the bill to get it back to where it was before. It is difficult to believe I ended up with countless robots then countless a$$holes only to finally get to the likely ONLY decent person with the company to get this straightened out. All I can think of now is that I hope this poor guy doesn't get into any trouble for his taking these services off the bill.

I did have them add a "do not call with special offers" on the account. If they do call, I will make an appointment with my state's Attorney General to discuss this problem over tea, coffee, or a couple of stiff drinks to find out how we can stop practices like this because in the end, it ruins all companies, not just Direct TV. It makes everyone suspect of a business whether that business is on the up and up or down and dirty as Direct TV has become. That's sad...

BTW, my husband & I have been customers since PrimeStar some 14+ years ago. His mother's been a customer for about 4 +/- years now. We get no respect from DTV when I call on my MIL's acct or on our acct at times. I even threatened tonight to cancel both services, her acct & ours if this wasn't handled properly. It didn't seem to bother the a-holes I dealt with but it did concern the one decent fellow I got. I wish I could send a kudos to this man b/c he was polite. In fact, he was the most polite person out of everyone I spoke with over a 2+hour series of conversations after call-backs after being hung up on by SUPERVISORS no less.

Casey

Hi, I am having problems with dish network. I have had them now for 9 months and if not every month then every other month I have had to call and go round and round with this co. I think I have everyone's ID# that works at dish network. In the nine months I have not received a bill with the same amount on it and on almost every bill has an ID# on it that belongs to someone who tells me they work for dish network, I also have not paid the amount that the bill reflected either, so go figure. When I first signed on with dish network someone contacted me and said they were from dish network and I have to pay $50 for a processing fee I thought it was a little fishy but they made it sound pretty good at the time. Well when i was contacted for the install, I asked about the $50 and they said they don't charge a fee and I had been contacted by a third party co. for dish network. They said to call the third party co. and request they return my money, well that didn't happen. I also had to pay $168 for the install. Anyway the third party told me when I first signed on with dish network that my bill would be $32.99 for the first 6 months and that included some premium stations free for 3 months. After the 6 months it was to go up to $62.95 per month. That never happen and I have been fighting with dish network every since. On 11/15/09 I called because as you can guess my bill was wrong still, I talked to ID# 56w first and then to Noah ID#KD6 and after going round and round for about what seemed longer then 30 min's he finally gave me an reasonable offer of $44.99 until 3/2010, I said to him now my bill will reflect this amount on my next bill right, he said with confidence yes it will I am entering it into the computer as we speak. Well, as you can guess by now that didn't happen either, the following month my bill reflects still another amount lower then then I was told and I paid it. then comes Jan.2010 bill and it was much more then I was told And whats worse Noah ID#KD6 was not entering in the computer what he said he was entering. My bill this month reflected 80 something dollars last week and this week it is $76.86 I think, no matter it's a far cry from $44.99. Here we go again, I called and talked to a Jean ID#V2G she said my bill was 76 something and I told her about Noah and that the info should be in the computer but it wasn't. I also told her I was recording our conversation she was ok with that, I told her that I would pay the 44.99 and if that was a problem she needed to take it up with Noah, so she switched me to the corp. office so she said, I talked to Aliene we went round I also told her she was being recorded she wasn't happy about that and it was not ok. with her. By the time we finished I said I wanted to cancel my service and she came back at me saying I would have to pay $225 fee to cancel, but when I first signed on I was told it would be $150 to cancel. I told her that's just another lie I've been told by dish network. I truly do not understand why the FCC or whoever governs these co.'s why they do not do something about this type of business. What are we to do now, are we to just sit back and submit to the bad business ethics of these co.'s who not only lie to us but who feel that they are well with in there rights to take any amount they see fit out of your bank account and or out of your pocket. So please stay clear of dish network too they are just as bad as direct tv just different names that's all. I think it's time we started fighting back.

madashell

I hear you Direct tv SUCKS with a capitol F'n all they do is screw people over. I have been a customer for over three years and they offer nothing other than to take my money. I tell you I called talk to three different guys and they were all rude and were no help at all. If you call and have a few questions I seems to be a bother for them. Well excuse me for making them work while they are at work. All I wish is that they would remember that without us they don't have a check. Why not make some good offers to customers like us who have been loyal and pay our bill on time. What I see is that they make great offers to get people to switch over and once they have then they don't care afer that your money is theirs at least for two years and like you said even if you try to get out of it early they will take as much as they can before you switch to someone else.

jj

1. Written by j. Jones, on 23-12-2009 13:06

:cry I just got off the phone with these people who were no help at all!I moved in to a place for 3 months and had direct tv,was supposed to get a 100 $ visa card i never got and was charged 200$ of the bat for installation. All that was ok but now I paid my account up to date and wanted to cancel and they would not let me the women told me to suspend the account and not to send in the receivers.I did not want to do this but I did because she talked me into freezing my account.Anyway here it is 2 days before Christmas and they took $346.00 out of my account which put me $86 in the negative.(They Have no Heart at All)CLARKHOWARD.COM please is there anything we can do? this is the corperate phone# (310)964-500(310)535-5000 at least call and bug them.They wanted to know how I got the phone #

namejohnsmith

Direct TV stinks. Every once in a while they charge me for two months instead of one. This happened twice. I'm switching to FIOS.

Robert

Interesting, I am/was considering directv but this is one of many stories of unethical business practices (yes unethical fine print or not) ... Its similar to the fine print in credit card contracts that hit you when you try to leave or they adjust their rates/policies ... seems business people don't get it that word spreads and reputations matter. For Direct TV Inc folks ... go back to your business professors and ask them about ethics and reputations over the long term. If customers suspect your unethical (even if you think your not) we won't be inclined to take any deal. No we can't all be bought give us and the Internet word of mouth some credit.

As a guy from Detroit I know how much corporate reputations and quality count .. believe me everyone in Michigan gets it. Sorry that Direct TV doesn't get it, guess I'm glad they aren't in Michigan too.

I also think you missed Circut City's responsiblity here ... oh that's right they went out of business and had lots of customer reputation issues.

Thanks for you note online here, you can count me in as taking your advice and ignoring this customer and telling my friends. That just cost them more than your lease costs.

ElSegundo

No, You read the contract.

wayneruple

I was screwed by Direct TV when they pulled several hundred dollars from my bank account after telling me the number would only be used to check my credit. They then claimed my 1 year contract was really for two years. In the end they won and I lost money but what the FCC needs to check on is how Direct TV's independent retailers can install you a dish and give you a receiver and then will actually give you local channels outside your local area. They told me if I would give them a false address where the dish was located then they could give me the local channels I wanted. I know a lot of other people they were able to do as well. Wonder if this is really legal? I think Dish Network got into problems doing this? So how can Direct get away with it? My dish was on my house in one county but the "location" address they showed up to the main office was in another county so I was able to get different local channels than all my neighbors!!!!! I'll never have cable or dish except Free To Air satellite or the old fashioned antenna.

Jack

Did you READ your contract? This equipment costs millions to develop. If you believe you get anything for free, what planet do you come from, I'd like to live there! Did who you purchased it from not tell you? It is really up to them to inform you that you were renting the box. And, yes I have got a phone that I didn't know wasn't mine from some cell providers. READ the contract, it would really help if they wrote it in English, but it is a contract. There would have been the possibility that you could have drawn a line through the 2 year extension, but buying the box was totally up to you and that's why DirecTV is out of them! You paid the company that sold you that box, you should be partially PO'd at them for that anyway, I hope you don't do business with them anymore either.. Better luck on your next High tech device, chances are it will be just like all the satellite dealers because of the billions of dollars they have to invest to get this stuff up, can't just run up a hill and stick up a satellite, not to mention sending someone to fix it! You won't get any Hi Tech devices that use equipment that cost billions to put into service for cheap or free! Try some common sense next time!

Chris Leckness

Did you read my post? When I paid hundreds for something, it doesn't feel much like renting. At no point was I told by circuit city that the eqpt I purchased entered me into a new contract. When I called to activate it, I said I have my "own" equipment now. I was not corrected nor told my contract was extended by this purchase and activation.

Kjirstin

I'm with James. I can NOT believe how arrogant and slimy these creeps continue to be as they suck in their minions with out-and-out lies!
Forget about contacting their CEO or corporate office. It took me forever to find it, (none of their employees even knew his NAME!) and then once I did, sending a registered letter, I was called by a secretary who basically told me they aren't responsible for what their employees promise customers. (In the state of Utah, this is NOT TRUE, and they KNOW it!!!) A collection agency is now calling me EVERY DAY for a bill I do not owe, and REFUSE to pay. I guess it is fortunate my bank account is empty, so they can't drain it.

James

It's time to start taking Directv to small claims court for overdraft fees and breach of contract. They are not providing a service they are contracted to provide. After having to pay up because they won't show in court it might make them wake up and take notice. I was just informed that I will have to pay 20 bucks to replace a refurbished DVR that is out of warranty. This is going to be fun. I love it when companies tell me no.

ray

direct tv has got me too. I've been with them since 1995 and have had same pkg. now their taking channels from me and still charging me the same price. was told "Direct tv reserves the right to change or do what they like with our programing pkgs" and customer relation dept. started their email reply with JUST SO YOU KNOW. I will be switch to either dish network or fios if it ever comes to town

Jack

Let us know when you get your money! Of all the tech stuff, we always by the warranty extention, Dish and others charge 50 bucks or more to just show up at your house. They all are pretty much the same over the long run, you migh get a better deal for a year, but then you will be paying the premium price without the ability to go back to the other as a 'new user'. We are now in the 'information era' not the 'manufacturing era', we will all be paying big dollars for this stuff. I'm sure many have not had this explained like they should have, but I know of none that don't give you at least 24 hours to cancel, which is plenty of time to read what you are getting. On top of that, Directv even sent me, on my statement, that I only had so long to register to get my benifit, which they didn't have to do. Face it, learn to read and don't trust anyone you have to sign a contract with without reading and understanding it. Sorry to all who's had these problems, but High Tech also means high dollar. I don't remember who it was, but they paid like 10 billion for access to NFL! That's a lot of 20 fixes! Best of luck, let us know what you win.

umoja spaulding

I need to know how to get in contact with the coporate office. if anyone can tellme please send the info to my email.

cathysti1958

Bank acct just got drained by dtv for early cancellation My Ex ordered upgrade now they say I had 2 yr contract cost 400 dollars plus boxes 400 for gran total of 800.00 which they took 700.00 in one day.Anyone can go to yur acct long as they give yur phone and add can make changes,Just want jump ff bridge now no bill money for anything.GO TO HELL DTV

cathysti1958

Bank acct just got drained by dtv for early cancellation My Ex ordered upgrade now they say I had 2 yr contract cost 400 dollars plus boxes 400 for gran total of 800.00 which they took 700.00 in one day.Anyone can go to yur acct long as they give yur phone and add can make changes,Just want jump ff bridge now no bill money for anything.GO TO HELL DTV

NameJim

Direct TV has canceled or lost their contract with Versus. I had taken the package that included Versus as I watch numerous programs there. I cancled with Direct TV as they no longer provied the the service I contracted for. This was a bundled package through Qwest.
I got a bill showing $0.00 balance from Direct TV. But they billed west for $440 for early termination. When I called Direct TV they advised it was not their problem.

NameJim

Direct TV has canceled or lost their contract with Versus. I had taken the package that included Versus as I watch numerous programs there. I cancled with Direct TV as they no longer provied the the service I contracted for. This was a bundled package through Qwest.
I got a bill showing $0.00 balance from Direct TV. But they billed west for $440 for early termination. When I called Direct TV they advised it was not their problem.

cjvines

Love your letter...having my own "I can't believe they can get away with this" problem. Wow where else can you be required to uphold an unsigned contract (oh, it is on the back of your first bill) and yet the other party is allowed to not guarantee their price guarantee in the original signed contract!

Who did you send the letter to at Direct TV?

Thanks for the devil laugh!

cjvines

Love your letter...having my own "I can't believe they can get away with this" problem. Wow where else can you be required to uphold an unsigned contract (oh, it is on the back of your first bill) and yet the other party is allowed to not guarantee their price guarantee in the original signed contract!

Who did you send the letter to at Direct TV?

Thanks for the devil laugh!

Julie Anderson

I have used the links from people to contact the Board of Directors this afternoon and am in the process of filing a complaint with the FTC as well. On 8/8 DIRECTV took over $350 out of my account for not returning their boxes in time. I called, said I would return on 8/10 and they said I would have my money back in 3 days. Still no money as of 8/17 and was shocked to find ANOTHER charge on my card for $330. After calling them, they said they only received ONE box instead of 2- hmm...sent same day from same carrier, etc. On 8/20 spend almost an hour fighting on the phone with CSRs and finally talked to a "supervisor" who assured me that I would have my money back in 5 days. Eight days later 8/28 I call and they say 8 days. 9/9 I called and now its 15 days. Today, 9/18, spent another 40 minutes on the phone- after being hung up on, not connected, I spoke with another "supervisor" who said that it has now gone to the "Finance" dept and will be at least another 8-15 days. I tried to be calm but got pretty pissy with him. I said that I wanted to speak with the finance dept and he said "sorry, i've done all I can to help you." That's it. I have had checks bounce left and right- it is absolutely ridiculous. I have been with DIRECTV over 10 years off and on and have never had anything like this ever happen- I have always been very satisfied. But I can see from reading everybody's posts that I am not the only one and I can take some comfort in that. Please let me know if anybody files a lawsuit, because I will be first in line to join it!! Julie in Texas

Debbie

I used to think DTV was great, but they recently screwed me over, too. You'd think they'd take better care of their long-time customers, since we're the ones giving (or NOT giving) referrals. But they lied to me, ripped me off, and as soon as my contract with them expires, I'm dumping them.

I no longer talk highly of these scammers anymore because they're just as low and slimy as every other scammer out there.

tidbit09

Thank you for this :) I'm so glad my husband and I are not alone in this predicament. Direct TV is a menace and if something is not done soon, I fear they will only get worse in their whoredoms of satellite tv. Stay away from Gold's Gym and Qwest as well. Getting anything done is like pulling teeth. The simplest customer service is such a problem for them.

Debra

Im telling every one i know im having problems with DIRECT TV i was suppose to get the $29.99 pkg but never saw it and went to Attorney general and they said that Direct tv is being uncooperative. I FOUND OUT THAT YOU HAVE TO FILE A COMPLAINT WITH THE FTC THEY TOLD ME IF ENOUGH PEOPLE COMPLAIN IN THEIR STATE THEY WOULD FILE A SUIT AGAINST THEM AND YOU WOULD BE PUT ON THE SUIT TO GE YOUR COMPENSATION YOU HAVE COMING SO EVERY ONE SHOULD CALL THE FTC PLEASE

Debra

Hello I just wanted to tell you i had similiar experience with them it has never been resolved charging me more than what i was quoted and they lie thru their teeth , Just to let you know I talked with the FTC and filed a complaint it was fast easy and took 5 MIN you need to call your FTC in your state anf file a complaint I was told if enough people complain they will file a suit against them and you will automaticly put in the suit to get compensated for what they ripped you off for I encourage you to do this please.

lynn72

Direct TV are criminals. Looking for a class action suit for someone that lives in FL if anyone knows of one that would be great.

I "bought" a HD reciever back in October 2006 when I purchased my HD TV and was never told by Best Buy that I was "leasing" it. I had this thing in the box lost in a closet until recently. In September 2007 decided to get HD on that TV I bought but could not find the HD that I bought so I had them send me one which I paid $99 for but figured that was my bad since I seemed to have misplaced the one I had bought. After doing some construction in one of my rooms that had a regular box from 2005 I found the darn thing. So since the old regular box was inactive because it was unplugged for a week or so I called Direct TV to have it reactivated. I don't have a HD TV in this room at all but since I had this box that was newer asked the Customer Service person if I could just use this one in it's place without connecting it as a HD box since it seemed newer than the old 2005 regular box that I had. She said nothing to me about it renewing a 2 year contract or I would have just reactivated the old box cause it really did not make any difference at all, this was July 2009.

My area finally got High Speed internet which I really need for work so I decided that I would disconnect the Direct TV and DSL that I was now using and paying around $150 a month for and connect as a package deal with more channels and high speed internet for $80 a month. So I called to disconnect and they tell me that I have to pay a $400 disconnect fee and I had to return the HD box to them or have to pay an additional $200+ because it is leased. "It's not leased, I bought it" I tell the lady on the phone. She said "oh, then if you can supply a copy of the receipt we can get this taken care of." So I went to Best Buy and had them print me a duplicate receipt so I could send it in. I called the number back and used that special number and PIN and the guy "Andrew" tells me that after March 2006 any box that was purchased was actually a "Lease" and said that he was looking at a copy of a receipt from Best Buy and it tells you right there on the receipt that it is a "Lease". Looking at this receipt it states no where on there that it is a "lease" which is what I told him and then offered to fax it to him. He then gives me the run around and puts me on hold several times and then comes back on and says that they sent me an email and a letter in the mail regarding the lease of this box. For one thing, I never got an email or a letter in the mail nor did anyone tell me that the HD box that I bought with my own money at Best Buy was a lease and that activating the freaking box would have renewed my contract for another 2 years. Which means now that I am trying to cancel my Direct TV service that it would now cost me $400 + me returning a box to them that I "Bought" or they were going to charge me an additional fee of $200+. I had to go pick up my kid so did not have time to argue any further.

I called them back later today and spoke to yet another person and explained the whole thing back to her about the fact that if I had known that activating the box would have renewed my contract for another 2 years I would have just used the old box since it made no difference to me because this room did not have a HD TV. Why would I hook up a box and renew a contract for HD service to this box if I did not have an HD TV in there? I told her time and time again that I purposely asked if this was going to do anything to my contract back then because I know how they are and the Customer Service person told me "no" since I owned the box already. This person was of no help at all either and she went on that when I got the bill that I could send a dispute letter to them and gave me an address, like this is going to help at all.

It is now all about the principal and not the money, I want justice on this corporation that rips off the innocent and think they can get away with it. I see that there is a class action for MN, CA, and IL. Does anyone know if there is class action suit in FL?

tlbrit1

I have had some of the same things happen to me. Direct tv had a ad in the paper for a dvr and up to 3 rooms for 49.99 I called about getting this package. When i was talking to the guy on the phone he was explaining the package to me when he was done he asked if i had any questions i told him that i wanted him to be honest with me i asked him point blank if there were going to be any hidden charges that i dont know about or any other charges i dont know about he said no so i asked what my bill was going to run every month he said it would be 52.00 a month with tax i said are you sure that this is what it is going to be every month he said yes so i got direct tv the guy came out to install it but when he got here to install it he would not go under the house to run the cable i had to go under the house and run the cable to him and then he drillled a hole through my brick wall and through the drywall right in the middle of the bed room. i was recovering from a heart attack i had on march the 16th of 2008 6 months prior from when he came out and then i had to hand him the cables through the entertainment center.when my wife got home i told her what i had to do and she was mad she called direct tv and filed a complaint on the installer all they did was give us a 10.00 discount off every months bill for 6 months and then we had to have another installer to come out and fix the cable cause he had it hooked up wrong. well after all of that my bill was susppose to be 42.00 a month for 6 months every month when i got my bill it was running 72.00 a month and there was one month that it was 139.OO where they had charged me for a pay per view that i nor my wife ordered and i would have to call them every month aout my bill they would not do anything about the bill. SO i agree that direct tv is nothing but liers and a big rip off . I hope that there will be class action suit filed against them and i want to be included in.

bradford23a

WARNING: DIRECT TV will destroy your credit. I had direct tv 2 years ago. And had a dispute with them. They lied and kept billing me. Then 2 years later they put a charge off in my credit file. If anyone is thinking of buying a car or a house in the future dont get direct tv. I had them for 3 years, was not in contract, they continued to bill me. They are not nice to deal with even if you go to the BBB. So my advice stay away from this company. If you want to keep good credit.

glenmaldonado

I used to have direct tv and i was already subscribed for a long time and I did own their equipment until one day I needed their service and they came out and fix the problem with the receiver by replacing it with one that I now had to rent after all the years I just paid for the signal not a rental box.They didnt mention that I now had a rental boxinstead .They also took my old box that was mine.After my bill came was when I noticed the change had been made . I despise their sneaky ways. It is alot more than just the deceipt.I just dont have the time to waste about all my complaints.Let me know if their will be a class action lawsuit .Where do I sign?

snikysnake

Join my Facebook Group
I HATE DIRECT TV
And keep all informed if a class action suit starts. This company is ridiculous

donn pozan

I signed up for Verizon Triple Play 15 mths ago for a 12 myh contract. They sent out Direct TV to install the TV service portion (no vios service yet in area). The TV portion of my Verizon bill kept creeping up a few dollars each month and this past month went up an extra $25. With the good deals out there for triple play (TV-Phone-Internet) I decided to change services. I was told that the Verizon portion was a 12 mth contract and Direct TV is a 18 mth contract and I had to talk with Direct TV. I tried to explain no one from Verizon or Direct ever said anything that they had diferent contract lengths, When finally (30 minuite wait) DTV said that there terms and I should have read contract. I explained the paper work I was showed a 12 mth contract. I asked to see the signed contract for Direct TV for 18mth service and they could not provide. After reading all the complaints, I believe the way Direct TV makes money is by not telling there customers the truth and just billing them what Direct TV headquarters says. I think it is time to fight this fraud that Direct TV is perpetrating on us. Is there any class action lawers out there? I certainly are willing to pay some money to finally get Direct TV to step up to the table and be honest. Let me know.

rcasteel

THANKS FOR THIS SITE> I WAS LOOKING AT GETTING DIRCT TV< BUT NO WAY NOW> NOT WITH THIS KIND OF BUSINESS GOING ON>

THANKS TO ALL THAT COMMENTED HERE< YOU SAVED MY ASS

arix547

I reported them to the Better Business Bureau yesterday and spoke to someone in the customer advocacy group or whatever. They refunded my money to a closed card and until that card declines the transaction, they will not send me a check.

I am not even a customer with direct TV. I have spammed all of my networking sites (myspace, facebook, etc) and told everyone I know (even the check cashing lady at Wal-Mart) to not get DirectTV. My cable service is crappy, but NO THANKS, I would rather have my crappy service than direcTV.

cutter99

I have a refund issue with these crooks! They took $275.40 out of my account on 8/13/09. I called them to discuss what the charges were for and they said they were charging me because they did not get there equipment back. They sent me the box to return the equipment 13 days after I cancelled them. By the time we put the equipment in the box and brought it to Fedex 3 days had past we did not know there was an immediate time frame. Now they have the boxes and I called to see when I would be receiving the money back. They said it will take 3-5 days to process the equipment and then another 4-8 weeks to receive payment. I asked to speak with a supervisor. Oh great Mr.Dustin comes on the phone. Now, I have already spoken with a "Supervisor" last week and she said I would get my money no later than 8/23/09. It starts, Dustin states that he could "expedite" the processing fee and it will take 5-8 days to receive the payment. Will I get payment? UGH! How is it that a company can still be in business with this type of customer service. I understand the company covers themselves by small print and back pages but come on!! As soon as someone searches Direct TV a SCAM Warning should apply. It should state "WARNING: Service may not be to your satisfaction, you may suffer from the following: Loss of service, increase in payments, non valid equipment charges, reception will decrease with yearly membership and REFUNDS will not be submitted until processing is complete this may take 4-8 weeks...

Lee

After over five years of being a satisfied customer with DirectTV, I discovered that I was being charged for their Sunday Ticket, a service I never requested nor have use for. I think this is nothing short of theft and I choose not to do business with thieves. When I called to cancel my account, their rep tried to mollify me by offering a free HD DVR, installation, and 6 months of HD upgrade. I told him I was impressed by his support for longtime customers. So you can imagine how I felt to discover that, in fact, I was being charged $240, after all. Yes, he lied to me. They offer great deals for new
customers, yet treat old customers, the people who have kept them in business in an unconscionable fashion. Their plan seems to be to lock you into a contract, then fleece you with hidden charges. They should be ashamed of themselves. They are swindlers. Their business practices are despicable.

Kevin

My story is kinda different. My dad has DirecTV and I paid the down payment with my card because he didn't have one. The lady who took my information told me my card would be wiped from the system. My dad let his bills go, his contract was cancelled and they charged ME $398.42 which is like, two student loan payments. It has been two weeks today that I have fought them trying to get my money back, especially since I didn't sign any contracts and owe no obligations to them whatsoever. I sent the president (larry.hunter@directv.com) some emails trying to get my money back and he forwarded them to the finance dept. They want me to jump through a million hoops to get my money back, so I sent them another email saying that I didn't care what their accounting books look like because they certainly didn't care what mine looked like. I will never have their service and have blasted their name on myspace, facebook, at work, to my family, friends and the little lady at the wal-mart check cashing counter. They are swindlers and need to be put back in their place. I have spoken to an attorney and he told me they they have committed theft against me. I don't want to have a lawyer, so I hope they just give me my money!

Good luck to everyone out there fighting the good fight against direcTV. Tell everyone you know about them and see how many stories other people have to tell about them as well.

lyni

is there a way to cancel the contracr with out payment penallties? I was told to put the service on "vacation" until the contract time is up?

wkf

Ya so my debit card magnetic strip is not working so good at the stores. I go to the bank and they send me a new card in the mail. The new card comes, every thing is fine. about a month later the service stops. It says call customer service with the code 729. Ok I call and they tell me I'm behind payments. Ok how much is it. $540, WTF! I tell them that $540 is not happening this month and further more I'm one month behind, not five. they can't give me an explanation of the bill over the phone. Talking to them is a waste of my time, hours on hold. So not I'm trying to use the email feature. That they seem to not respond to email with anything other that call customer service.
I'm happy with the service, I would like to continue, I explained that to them, so they send a box for the receivers and not want an $1066. I'm thinking of sending them a bill for storing the receivers and leasing the dish space on my house.

Their so WHACKED!

rachelclark

Like others I 'purchased'a HD DVR from Best Buy and had it installed a couple days later. I was not advised or aware that I didn't own the equipment OR that by installing the DVR I was somehow agreeing to a new 2 year service agreement on our existing Direct TV Agreement. When I found this out I called Direct TV who were rude and arrogant and basically said I was screwed and had signed up for the agreement and they would hold me to it, tough luck, I should have read the box. I emailed their Corporate Office Customer Service office and complained (go to http://investor.directv.com/officers.cfm - contact Ellen Filipiak, Sr. VP of Customer Care - email link on that webpage.)' They called and emailed me back, and I demanded to communicate in writing by email. First thing I did was cancel the AMEX card that automatically billed the DirectTV monthly charges so they couldn't grab my money. Then I called them to cancel service and was told I'd have to pay $460 early cancellation fees. I filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau in California and in Illinois where I live along with complaints to the Attorney General's office. I demanded Direct TV send me the signature pages of the agreement authorizing an additional 2 year service agreement. I also sent the corporate customer service folks the following link and told them I would be instigating a similar class action lawsuit: www.consumerwatchdog.org/courts/articles/?story.... This morning I had another email back from Direct TV Corporate advising that they couldn't provide the signed authorizations and - quote - "After additional review of your account and emails, we removed the two year agreement and cancelled the recovery kit for the HD DVR receiver only. This decision was based on the unique circumstances regarding your account. "

I guess they figured I'd cost them more money and trouble than they stood to gain by ripping me off. Give em hell, they must make millions off folks who don't fight them back.

Open Letter to Direct TV – Warning to Consumers

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