We received a call from a Direct TV representative that stated we MUST upgrade our existing equipment by Jan. 2009 or we would no longer receive the Direct TV channels. This was a Direct TV upgrade and the Direct TV rep stated their would be NO additional charges or fees. Guess what? The bill increased. I tried cancelling their service and was told by 5 different phone reps that there is a $480. cancellation fee. I explained that we did not request the upgrade nor did we want it but we were told it was required to continue service. The phone rep even stated that the direct tv equipment we had was 4 years old and outdated and an upgrade was required to continue getting the channels but the cancellation fee was still required. I was never given a new contract, we were never told that with this new equipment, that we didn't request or want, would require a new contract nor were we ever told that to discontinue their service their would be this fee. The reps said it is in the small print on the back of the contract you signed 4 years ago.The only offer Direct TV gave us was a discount, back to where we started before the upgrade! After numerous call and conversations to the phone reps I have emailed direct tv hopefully I will receive a phone conversation and a favorable response to my complaint. As a consumer what rights do we have not to be taken by these companies.

I just received my Oct. bill from Verizon, which includes my Direct TV bill. I'm being billed for the ESPN Gameplan 2008, which I never ordered. However I'm being told I ordered it via remote on 8/15/08, but they can't tell me which remote/reciever ordered it or the time it was ordered. So I asked very nicely to have it removed, and was told that it had to be canceled before the season started. I again stated I never ordered it, so please remove it from my bill. They refuse to do so. So I spoke to a supervisor/mananger and was told it can't be refunded or removed once ordered. I threatened to cancel service and they said OK. I told them you would rather lose a new customer, than remove a $54.00 charge, and I was told yes.
Amazing...

Falling prey to the incessant advertising of Sat deals on TV, I decided to give Direct TV a shot towards the end of August, first of September this year. It took a couple of weeks for their installer to come. Got everything up and running.

For a couple of weeks, everything was fine. Then, my picture started to pixelate (blocky patterns) and audio began to drop out about every 10-15 minutes. Called customer service. Turned the Direct TV box on and off, as they asked. Plugged and unplugged it, as they requested. Still no resolution. Phone service rep suggests it might be my TV that's the problem. No way. The TV is less than a year old... a very good, very expensive big screen that had no issues whatsoever with my previous Time Warner Cable set-up. They said they'd send out a service person. But, the service lady on the phone took time out to explain to me that, while my warranty period was still in-effect, I should think about getting their 'Warranty' for an extra $6.00/mo to cover needed repairs after the warranty period. What? I explained that my previous Time Warner service never, ever required an extended warranty. When/if I needed a repair, they were on top of it, right now... no charge. She told me I essentially was lying to her. That Time Warner charged me for each service call they made after their warranty period. I'm a liar, now. Not wanting to get into a verbal sparring match with someone who clearly doesn't know what they're talking about, I politely disagreed with her and left it at that. Service person never showed up. No phone call to explain, or reschedule... they just didn't show up.

I wait, and I wait... for about 2 weeks. Picture gets worse. Audio gets worse. No service people ever showed up. Called again. After being on the phone for about 30 minutes, and being bounced from one person to another, put on hold for long periods of time in-between, I finally hung up.

Fast forward a couple more weeks... now, the picture freezes, no audio whatsoever. Finally, after a couple of days of freezes and audio malfunctions, the screen goes blank. Call service, yet again. This service person was a bit more thorough. We go through 'signal strength' checking on my box. I'm getting no signal whatsoever, now. She has me go outside to my connection box to make certain all the connections are correct, secure and tight. This was just installed. How am I supposed to know if the installer made the connections correctly? I comply. As best I can tell, the connections are indeed correct, secure and tight.

She finally admits that there's probably a problem with either the installation or their equipment. Again, she tries to get me to buy some sort of 'extended service warranty', even though I'm in the 90-day warranty period. I repeat that I've never had such warranty issues with Time Warner, in the 12+ years I had cable. What must be their mantra, she explains that Time Warner does indeed charge for this service, even though I know better.

I tell her I want to cancel Direct TV service. She sends me to a 'customer retention' specialist as she's not able to cancel my service. After being on hold for another 20 minutes, I get to talk to someone else. That person spends another 20 minutes telling me how much of a mistake it would be to cancel, for various (and mostly untrue) 'facts' about cable providers. Finally, I'm hit with... 'it will cost $400 to cancel your Direct TV service'.

Now, I'm livid. $400 to cancel a service that never worked correctly except for 2 weeks out of the 2 months I had it? The 'retention specialist' convinces me to give them one more try and sweetens the deal by saying 'I'll give you a free month of Direct TV'. But, she says a technician can't come out for another 10 days. NO! I'm not going through this with them. I tell the Direct TV rep as much. They miraculously find a service person to be at my home the next day. Again, the service person is a no-show.

I'm past livid at this point. I call to cancel. No talking me out of it this time. Enough is enough. I made a huge mistake in leaving Time Warner. Whenever I had an issue, at most, I had service at my home within 24 hours... usually the same day.

I tell the Direct TV rep that I refuse to pay for their SAT service that was woeful, nor their cancellation fees. I'm informed that it will just be charged to the credit card on file. I inform the rep that I'll contest the charges with my credit card company. I'm then told that if I do so, my account will be sent to a collection agency. But, if I wanted to dispute any charges, I could email Direct TV with my complaints and they'll respond within 24 hours. Well, it's been 48 hours... haven't heard a word from them.

Long and short of this, it's a breech of contract. I contracted for services (SAT TV) that were never delivered. Further, no cancellation fees should be imposed since I gave them ample opportunities to remedy it.

Stay away from these people... far away. Their service is terrible. They're dishonest. And, from the tactics used on me are any indication (and it looks like there are plenty of others who feel the same way), if it isn't fraud, it's the next best thing.

I have been a Direrct tv customer for a total of 10years and my husband is retired military. We have moved from city to city and our satellite dish has moved with us also using the move feature by direct tv. Ever since we have moved to Slidell, LA. we have had problems. It all started back on August 24, 2008 when the original appointment was given. The technican called between the hours of 8-12 pm to tell us that he couldn't find the house so we had to reschedule. This is a new subdivision right off from a major interstate. We had to reschedule our appointment and the next appointment was set for October 6, 2008 so we agreed with that time. Thursday October 6, 2008 rolled around and my mother had to let the technician in because both my husband and I had to work. The technician was to show up between 8-12pm again. He did not show up but he called to say that he was running late and was coming from Bay St. Louis. The technician finally showed up around 1:30 pm. At that time my mother had to leave to pick up my daughter, on her return the two technicians had left. Another technician showed up around 4:00pm to hook up our satellite but gave us excuses on a different kind of line that was needed. The technician told us that we needed a single multi-switch line and that we had to call the main office and do a work order change. We got right on the phone while he was there and the main office told us that the local office had to change the work order. This scenario went on for sometime going back and forth on who was to order the switch. On Saturday I woke up early that morning to get back in touch with direct tv. The first person I got was really rude but the next lady was very pleasant. She informed me that she was going to cancel the original order and put in a whole new order with the switch on it. I immediately called the local office and told the supervisor that the matter was taken care of and I had given him the new work order number supposedly with the multi-switch on it. He told me that he would come out and install just one of our televisions so that we could have service. The pleasant lady at the main office lied to me because on the work order there was no order for a single multi-switch. It is now October 13, 2008 and we still do not have satellite. The next available date is November 12th, 2008 for installation and once again the technician will tell us that he is unable to hook up the dish because of this line.

From: [email protected]
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To: Direct T.V.
Cc: Mississippi BBB Mississippi Dept.of Public Service
Subject: I want my money
Date: Saturday, October 11, 2008 4:58:26 PM [View Source]




I have a credit of $276.32, I was told the check was issued 8-6-2008, and it would take 6-8 weeks for me to receive my money.As of today 10-11-2008 I just received a statement still showing me with a credit. We both know I have a credit I want my money. I tried to call your company again today and could not get through this time even though everyitme before someone would always let me know about my credit. What happen, do you think if you ignorge my calls I'll give up, not in this life time. If I had not paid my account on time my television service would have been turned off, yet company's can hold customers money for months and it is approved by law apparently. I am tired of waiting on my money. It really is not much to you but it is a lot to me and I need it. I always paid for my service several months in advance and I would think you would appreciate that and not want everyone I can tell and show how your company is really operated. By the way my name is Kathe not Cathy Daugherty