I recently returned from another deployment to Iraq with the Marine Corps. When I returned home my wife and I wanted to hook up one additional satellite receiver in our bedroom. Until the spring of 2007 we have always only had a single receiver in our living room. Prior to this installation, I called Direct TV to see what needed to be done to install an additional receiver. I was told at that time that there was no additional charge; I could hook up as many as I wanted to. I went to a local Best Buy retail store and purchased a new satellite receiver off the shelf. There was no contract signed, no additional paperwork or stipulation given to me at the check out with regards to purchasing this receiver. The only thing the young man at the register tried to do was get us to sign up for some "free magazine subscriptions" that would really be charged to a credit card. This receiver was paid for with cash and I received only a paid receipt with the purchase, no other paperwork, contract or verbal warnings about it being "leased equipment".

When I called Direct TV to activate the new receiver, the assistant told me that we already had two active receivers from their company. I explained to him that we have always only had a single receiver, the current one was again replaced in Aug. or 2006 when I was home on leave before deploying to Iraq and the satellite receiver was knocked out from a lightning strike. At that time we went to a local retail store and purchased a replacement receiver off the shelf. Just as this most recent time, there was no contract signed, no additional paperwork given to us or any indication that the equipment that we purchased was for a lease. It was paid for at the register and we received a paid receipt only.

After verifying the serial number on the only operational receiver in our house, it was determined that Direct TV had not removed the previously damaged equipment from our account. The service rep. said that if I checked our bill it should show that we were being charged for a leased receiver. When the bill was checked, it in fact did show a charge for a leased receiver. When I called Direct TV to dispute this charge I was told that I should have checked the bill and it was my responsibility to raise the issue last year in Aug. when the error was made. I explained to the customer service representative that I was in Iraq involved in combat operations until recently and that I did not receive any bills there nor did I have any indication there was a problem until I returned home and again began dealing with bills. My wife had been paying all of our bills in my absence. The representative said that it was my wife's fault if we were overcharged and that company policy was to not do anything about it if it was over 60 days old. I was told that on the bill a charge was noted as leased equipment but it was only a charge for having an additional receiver hooked up, not that I had rented the equipment. Then to add insult to injury, they wanted to refer me to another representative to get us to expand our service and pay even more money out on some promotional package.

After a couple of days I again called Direct TV trying to get the issue of being over charged for a receiver that was not operational taken care of and I received the same lack of understanding as before and again had someone try to sell us something else.

A couple of days later, I again called the company trying to get this issue taken care of and received the same story that it was our fault for not catching it sooner and Direct TV would not refund any overcharge. At that time I told the representative I wanted to disconnect our service immediately. Again the representative tried to sell me an additional service package if I didn't disconnect. I was eventually transferred to an older gentleman named John who said he would help me disconnect the service. He wanted to know why we were dissatisfied and I explained it all to him again. He was the first person from the company to say anything could be done about the overcharge after everyone else said nothing could be done. He did say he thought it was his companies fault for the overcharge and said he would have our bill adjusted to show a refund. If anyone at Direct TV would have shown an interest in dealing with us previously, the issue would have been settled at this point. Then John also tried to sell us an upgraded service package. I told him that the last thing I was interested in was spending more money when I was trying to recoup an overcharge.

Last week we received two empty boxes from Fed Ex with return addresses to the company. A couple of days later we received a recorded message from Them explaining that we were to return leased equipment to Direct TV. I called Them to explain again that we do not have any leased equipment, that all equipment we possess has been purchased at a retail store. I was transferred to 3 different people who each said basically the same thing. All they say is that the equipment is leased and that I have a one year service contact with Direct TV just because I used the service. One of the customer service representatives went so far as to say I wasn't telling the truth when I said I never received any additional paperwork, contracts or cautions when I purchased the equipment. The next man I was transferred to said he would connect me with the department that would remove the 1 year service contract from my account and when I spoke with them they said they knew nothing about it.

It seems every time I have some contact with Direct TV, I receive some previously undisclosed information about some charge for one thing or another that is not mentioned by anyone else but I'm supposed to know about it because it’s in my contract.

Many of their representatives have given erroneous and at times conflicting information which has aggravated this issue. Most recently we received a call from 2 more reps., one eventually after about 45 minutes of saying we owed all the previous charges and trying to sell us additional service packages confessed that she had no authority to deal with our dispute, that her only purpose in calling was to get us to continue our service with Direct TV and that she had no authority to deal with disputes. The last week of July another service rep. calls the house under the veil of dealing with our dispute only to find that she also has no authority to deal with it and actually never even read my pervious letters to their company. She did say that the charges have increased now to nearly $200 and that they would send it to collections.

Direct TV continues to attempt to sell upgraded service packages, not deal at all with the complaint issues and have people contact us with no authority or knowledge of our complaints. But they always end the conversation with a big thanks for choosing Direct TV. We feel that they are being purposefully deceptive, stalling and leaving us with no choice but to seek legal action.

We agreed to a direct tv offer with $150 cash back in february, 2007. We were supposed to be charged $19.99/mo x 6 months. About 1 week after connection we received a monthly bill for $49.99/month.

I called to alert them of the billing error only to be told that the cash back offer was not valid and that the $49.99 was my monthly charge.

I told them to cancel this service as i had not agreed to the $49.99/month. I was told that an early cancellation fee may apply. Prior to disconnecting i asked to speak to the cancellation department to discuss this and was told that they had no phones (odd for the year 2007) and that i must contact them in writing. I sent a letter immediately (february 2007) and am being told in july that they still did not receive this letter.

They refuse to budge on the fee. I have had marks on my credit, countless bills and calls from their collection agency. They will not pull the telephone call from when the sales department signed me up, refuse to let me speak to sales and will not reveal the name of the salesperson (odd that they don't want to find out who is offering fraudulent contracts to consumers).

I contacted the attorney generals office and the plymouth consumer aid division and have had no success yet--direct tv (angela wolf from the presidents office) sent a letter to the consumer aid division stating that the offer they made to me was out of date and so not valid and i must pay over $150 in cancellation fees.

I called the colorado police department to pursue charges of fraud and was surprised to find out that they had had many other calls regarding direct tv. An internet search brought up hundreds of other victims.

I have wasted countless hours trying to resolve this issue. The contract was fraudulent and the company tries to suck every penny from victimized consumers. They have absolutely no ethics and i would strongly recommend anyone from using their services!

Aside from complaining about this company, this write-up should also be considered a serious word of caution for those of you who are thinking of signing up with Direct TV. I have used their services for about a year and nine months and decided to switch to a different company. Direct TV however told me that it would cost me an early disconnection fee of $300 to cancel the service. I was stunned as I thought I could cancel anytime. A customer service took me through a grueling process of explaining and citing where this policy is located. The fact that it was grueling is an indication that it couldn't have been easy for me to decipher this rule on acquiring the service. Sure, I should have gone through that long Terms & Condition thesis with all its fine prints, but the cancellation policy is certainly one of those basic rules that Direct TV could have mentioned among the number of issues that it mentioned verbally. If, for instance, the company would inform you of extra services like maintenance coverage (for profit purposes obviously) then why wouldn't it inform about something as important as cancellation? When I asked Direct TV how long it would take before I could cancel my service, I was informed April 2009. Think about it. From December 2005 till April 2009 I am held hostage by Direct TV except I cough up $300. Please don't make the same mistake that I made!!!

I signed up for direct tv a year and a half ago I thought that I was signing a 1 year contract. Then I found out that because I got a dvr from them I found out that I actually signed on for a 2 year contract, well the dvr took a crap a couple of times and they said that they were aware of the problem and were working on it, I waited for about a month and called them back they said they had to reset the dvr so they did it did not fix the problem another month went by and I called back and they said they could send me out a new one, and when I got it I was to send the old one back, which I did. then I got my bill in and there is a charge on there for them to ship it to me, I called customer service again, and after arguing with them, they finally agreed to take the shipping charge off but I would be responsible for shipping the old one back, I told them that I wanted to pay my way out of my contract, I was told it was going to be around 100 dollars well when i got my bill it was more like 324 dollars, they said that when they shipped out the new dvr that i automatically signed up for 2 more years, I told them that I would pay until the end of the first contract but I was not going to pay for a contract that I did not authorize, so they took it out of my bank account with out my consent, I should be able to prosecute them for theft, but once again the little guy gets the short end of the stick.

Having Direct TV for eight years at the same address, and the bill automatically deducted from my checking account each month. I awoke to find my service off and when I contacted Direct TV as to the reason I was informed that the service was disconnected due to a bill owed in 2006. I said how could this be when you take the payment from my checking account each month. I was given no answer, only that you owed a bill from another address and we were not able to provide you with new service at another new address. I informed that I know nothing of a bill at that address nor have I made application at neither address for service other than the one I reside at.

Direct TV did no verifying or validating of identity (i.e.SS#) they just turned off the service.