I have the normal complaint that everyone else has, Diret TV expects me to pay for a service they did not deliver. I've had the service now for ten days and I've had minor problems poor reception and having to turn my receiver on and off to get signal again and on the eleventh day I completely lost service. I call customer support to have my service canceled do to they haven't let up to there part of the agreement. They tell me they could possibly have a tech out to fix the problem in as little as four days and due to the inconvenience they will not charge me for the days of lost service. I continue to tell them I want my service canceled. Then they tell me of course they can terminate my service, but there will be a $300 dollar cancellation fee for the two year verbal agreement I made on the phone. For one, since when did a verbal agreement over the phone from someone that barely speaks english become legally binding. Second, didn't they break the agreement first by not offering the service that I was told I was getting.

Beware!

I terminated my services with Direct TV due to bad service, once I disconnected direct tv, they charged me a termination fee of $125.00, which I sent a check to them immediately, but direct tv went into my bank account and withdrew the $125.00 three times creating a overdraft, when I called customer service, I was told it would take 6-8 weeks before I could be sent a refund check, I asked to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for almost and hour before I eventually hung up. I ended up calling my bank and having my debit card changed. The bank also canceled one of the unauthorized payments, then after direct tv debited my account three times, they tried to cash my check, this is the one the bank canceled. Horrid, Horrid, people!

I noticed that my Direct TV bill was about $50 higher than it typically is so I looked at the details of my bill and noticed that they had incorrectly billed me for an add on service (NFL Sunday Night Ticket) that I had never requested... I hate football! So I called customer service and was told that since there was a free promotion happening when I joined a year ago and that promotion included the NFL football thing (which I never watched, by the way), that they automatically signed me up for this year! They claimed that they sent me a letter in June and I had 30 days to let them know if I didn't want it! Hello? Unethical business practice anyone? I then asked if I could get a refund and they said no. Then I asked if I could at least cancel the service so I don't continue to get charged and they told me that I had to continue to pay for several months for a total of $250!!! I asked if I could cancel my service altogether because I was so appalled that they were bullying me and they said it would cost $300 to cancel!! The good news? I supposedly got it resolved... but I will believe it when I see it. Here's what I did several hours later:

- I logged onto my account and searched their site for "regulations", "FCC", "complaints", "legal" etc. to try to find out the rules and what public agency governs their regulations. I wonder if they have a record of the searches you do when you are logged in... I suspect they do.

- I called the automated customer service and said the word "complaint" when the voice-activated system prompted me. Interestingly, my call was answered right away by a VERY polite agent (unlike the ones I talked to earlier in the day).

- The agent had a record of my previous calls and said that she would talk to her supervisor. She put me on hold for a few seconds and came back and said that they would not only cancel the service but would refund me the 2 months of charges within 24 hours!!! That was about an hour ago so we'll see. It will be quite a surprise if they do fix it.

I just thought I would post this in case anyone wanted to try my tactic.

We have received equipment for more than 2 weeks, no one called nor account was set up by anyone. Whenever we have called, customer service were not able to find record. After paying additional $27 they set up a account. Requested for installation, they offered service after 30 DAYS. We need to wait for 46 days to get TV running!

Very poor service!

I am so furious and upset with direct tv... not even sure where to begin. I have waited 2 weeks for service to be installed and have talked to 15 people (2 of which claimed to be supervisors) about all my problems. I was misinformed about the receivers that I had requested, misinformed about HD local channels being available in my area. I called and ordered a promotion for new customers switching to direct tv and was told that I didn't qualify because it was for existing customers only... not according to the brochure I received! I have been told different things by 15 different people.... asked to speak to a supervisor and you get transfered to spanish, placed on eternal hold, or hung up on all together. I have been waiting for 2 and a half hours now on a supervisor to call me back. Big surprise he didn't call like he said he would. I hate this company and will never never recommend it to anyone!!! Beware you don't get a thing that is promised to you by their ads, reps, or their supervisors!!