We subscribed to Direct tv on April of 09, because we had been customers of DishNetwork for awhile and saw that Direct tv had a better offer. We were promised a good package with many channels and HBO and Starz for 3 months free. Included in this offer was up to 4 recievers free. All this for 49.99. We recieved the first bill right away and they charged us 89.99. When I called back to ask why so much, I was put on hold because they said that wasn't their department. So I waited about 10min, finally when I spoke to someone they told me I had to go online and fill out a rebate in order to be billed 49.99. Then they told me it would take about 6-8 weeks for it to kick in, so we basically had to keep paying 89.99 until the rebate was processed. We were not told about going on line to fill out a rebate or that it would take that long to process. We payed bills of 49.99 for about 2 months when they started charging us 108.00. When I called to ask what was going on they said the charges were for HBO and Starz. I told them we were supposed to get them free for 3 months and we still had one month left and that anyways the person that I had spoke to told me it was ok to cancel at the end of the third month. He then told me that I was wrong that it was already the 3 months So I told him to just cancel those two channels. After that we expected out bill to go back to the 49.99 as promised for 12 months. we it didn't, we started reciveing bills of 63.50 So I called again and asked why they were charging that price. The person that I spoke to was VERY VERY RUDE!! I told him when we called to get DIrect tv, the person who I spoke to told us it was only going to be 49.99 a month for 12 months for the package and recievers. He then told me that it wasn't possible because they cannot go that low in pricing for that package. I wrote down everything that the other person had told us when we subscribed, the price and even the persons name in case of a problem. When I told him this he told me that I must of heard wrong or that the person made a mistake!! Basically he was trying to say I must of been stupid and didn't understand what the customer service rep was promising me. We argued for a while and when I told him I was just going to cancel, he told me if I did before the 2 yr contract was up we would be charged a cancellation fee of 400 dollars. So basically you either stay with them and pay what ever they feel like charging you until your contract is up or pay 400$ to cancel. We really are outraged by their lack of respect for their customers, I wasn't even raising my voice to this person and he was yelling at me over the phone telling me that I wasn't understanding him. The other problem we had was that we bought this particular package because it had the channel Versus. My brother is a MMA Fighter for WEC and that is the whole reason we switched to Direct tv. so that we could see his fights, well we did not know that there was a problem with between Direct tv and Versus. They took the channel off of Direct tv programming but they still kept charging us as if we still could see this channel. When we called to complain about this they tried to talk us into keeping it in case they brought the channel back! I told them no way! We are not about to pay for a channel that we cannot even see anymore! Besides who knows if they are even going to bring that channel back!! If anyone knows where we can go or what we can do to cancel without paying the cancellation fee? We are really unhappy with this service and do not wish to continue with them at all!!! But we cannot afford to pay 400$ just to cancel extremely bad service! Any ideas?

HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE from the very beginning! I have always had cable and have always been very happy BUT where I was moving to did not have cable to the house only satellite so I decided to try it. ONLY 23 people, more than 15 hours on the phone and 4 days off of work and 2 weeks later, 5 out of 6 of my TVs were set up...We started experiencing problems but were caught up with the bad weather and holidays, etc. AND I just couldn't imagine dealing with the terrible customer service again...But FINALLY I called because my DVR had AGAIN not recorded a show that I had set AND the TV show I was watching went off and went to "searching for Satellite". You could chalk it up to bad weather or whatever BUT other TVs in the SAME house work on that channel!!! So we would have to play musical TVs to figure out which ones were playing the channel, which ones could be reset and which ones just were not working!!! Then I called to get this fixed and they told me it would be $50 OR $5.99 a month OR $340 to cancel!!! DON't do it!!! Stick with CABLE!!!

Customer service deliberately tries to change your plan every time you talk to them. In order to get details of your bill online, you have to agree to a paperless statement. This business is slimier than the cell phone companies that I have dealt with!

Last Friday a new tenant of mine had set up an appointment for Direct T.V. installation. I was unaware of this until a couple hours before their arrival. I allowed the install providing the old dish be removed from a former tenant. The installers drilled two large holes they assured me they would cap off. When I went outside I noticed not only did they not cap off the holes they also left cable wires hanging off my house, drilled new holes in the side of the house for the dish instead of putting it where the old dish was, and left the large mounting bracket and screws on the ground. A note was made on my account of the problem and I was told by the rep that they would be back out within 5 days. This was told to me after he said Direct T.V. does not take responsibility for this, it is the contractor they hire out to do the work that is responsible. I told him I was concerned they would come out and only see part of the problem so please make sure I am here so I can point out what the issues are. He put me through to Tech support to relay this message and the woman I spoke to had no idea why he sent me on to her. She then told me the contractor had to respond back to me within 20 minutes? I asked her to repeat that. "IN TWENTY MINUTES THE CONTRACTOR MUST CALL YOU BACK." That was seven days ago. No contractor has called me back, I don't know who the contractor is to call them directly, and no contractor ever came out within the 5 days I was told they would be out in. I just called and spoke with a new rep who said he would put a note on my account but there was nothing he could do. He assured me that a rep from case management would be in touch with me within 24 hrs. The problem seems to lie with the communication between direct t.v. and their hired contractors. These contractors don't care what they do to the homeowners property during installation and Direct t.v. placing the blame back on the contractor for the shoddy installation serves as no satisfaction to the customer. If there is no resolve of this by Direct T.V. they will leave me no choice but to tell my tenants they must remove Direct T.V., I will then have to take my photos of the damage and mess they left behind and file a claim with small claims court, and I will file a complaint with the Attorney Generals office online. I have taken this route before with good results and I will do it again if necessary. Customer service has gone to hell in this country...and I use to work in Customer Service!!!

I write this while I am on hold with DirectTV - whom I have been talking with for over 2 hours solid. I have spoken to 8 people in 5 departments.

I should just hang up and not try anymore, but the principle of this drives me crazy.

I placed an order as a new customer on 2/7/10 and scheduled installation for 2/12/10. When the installer arrived (of course I had to take off work) his work order was incorrect and he didn't have the correct equipment.

When I called to correct the situation Sales told me that because the promotion that was in place on 2/7 when I placed my order had expired that I would not be eligible for the features that were originally quoted to me - even though DirectTV had made the error on my order in the first place.

When I questioned them about this Sales transferred me to Customer Services who very quickly transferred me to an Equipment dept. Equipment listened and said it sounded like a Sales issue and tranferred back to Sales. This time in Sales I was able to speak to a supervisor who essentially told me there was nothing she could do and that she would transfer me to Retention and they might be able to help me (oh yeah, the transfer disconnected and I had to call back and speak to another person in Sales before getting to Retention - so that makes 9 people).

The man in Retention took all my information and after some time told me that DirectTV would be able to honor the terms of my original order and transferred me back to Sales. Sales had no ability to enter the terms of my original order and in fact uncovered the error in my original order that led to this whole problem to begin with. Sales indicated that They could place my order and that Retention would be able to credit back the amount in question.

Now it gets good - you may want a drink, I know I do...

So I get transferred back to Retention and the man I speak to A.) has no knowledge of the first Retention Rep I spoke with and B.) tells me there is nothingRetention can do to help me since I am not a current client!

I have asked to speak to a supervisor and have been on hold waiting for this person for 20 minutes.

I realize I need to let this go and realize I'm just be screwed, but I hate when mega-companies treat customers so badly. Bottom line is that I will still save money over Comcast, but I think its wrong that DirectTV doesn't honor my original order.