Direct TV is the Devil. Let’s start this off by giving you a timeline.

Note- I am in the Military and was being stationed outside the U.S….thus, Direct TV would not have service where I was moving to. I was to be exempt from any type of Early Termination Fee, just as their contract stated, and was confirmed by customer service before I arranged for installation, and again upon cancellation.

Sept. 18, 2009- I arranged for my service to be cancelled on the 28th.

Sept. 28, 2009- My service is cancelled as per request.

Sept 30, 2009- My bank account which was used to automatically pay my monthly bill was charged $350 for an Early Termination fee. I called to remind them of the situation and that I was not to be charged these fees. They apologized for the inconvenience and guaranteed that I would be refunded in full in 14-21 days.

Oct 20, 2009- Still no refund. I call again. “Oh we are sorry Sir, it looks like the waiver was not sent up and authorized, we’ll get that done right away. It should only take 14-21 days”.

Nov 15, 2009- Still no refund. I call again. “Oh we are sorry, for some reason it appears that no waiver has been made, I am making one right now that will be sent up and signed off, this will only take 14-21 days”

Dec, 10, 2009- STILL NO REFUND. “Sorry, we are getting it authorized right now. Guaranteed you will receive it in 14-21 days. I personally apologize for this, this is not usually our standard of customer service.”

Jan 15, 2010- STILL NO REFUND. Yada yada yada.. “14-21 days”

What I put in quotes was only the end of each conversation, but every single time I called I had to go through this every time….(by the way, never once did I call and yell, which I am actually very proud of, I don’t think many people could have done that)


“Thank your for calling Direct TV Customer Service the service that goes above and beyond for you, how may I assist you with the setup or adding of account features today?”

-“actually I’m calling to discuss the status of a refund I was supposed to receive a long time ago, can you please just transfer me to your billing department”

“Oh well I’m sorry Sir, let me see if I can take a look at it first and help”

“you won’t be able to, please just transfer me, I have done this dance before. I’m not made at YOU, but this needs to get taken care of”

“Well Sir, I’m very appreciative of your patience and I promise to get to the bottom of all this, please just bare with me for a few moments while I access your account information”

“sure”

“I see that you were billed for $350 dollars as a result of an Early Termination Fee, in which case that would be a valid charge and thus you would not be refunded that amount”

“yep, that’s the problem. I’m wasn’t supposed to be charged a termination fee”

“We cannot exempt you from that fee Sir, it is mentioned in detail in your contract that was signed”

“yea well, I was already told that I was to be refunded the money since the cancellation was due to Military Deployment, and that I was to receive it no later than 14-21 days….that was 4 ½ months ago.”

“Oh I see….let me transfer you to the Billing Department”

“thanks”

And after I have the exact conversation with the next person, I will get transferred again to Account Management. Where I will then be told that after 4 months of being told a refund was on the way, it turns out, no report has even been started. This whole process takes about 45 minutes every time, there is a lot of small talk that I left out, but you get the gist of it. So once again I am told that it is being escalated to the next level to be “signed off” and thus I will receive a refund in (take a guess) 14-21 days.

To this day, I am still waiting……

Direct TV has done more damage to the American public/consumer than Bin Ladin, the Taliban and Al-Qeda combined! I am on hold again about the same damn upgrade appt. for the FIFTH TIME! How does the FCC, Attorney General's and/or any governing authority let this company operate?

If Direct TV was a 3rd world country, the military would have obliterated them and hung thier leader, Chase Carey just like we eliminated Sadaam.

The next time I am on hold for 45 minutes to hear the same old, same old is the last... I may show up at thier corporate office with Michael Moore just to slap them around a bit...

News flash to the Risk Managers at Direct TV - Your service provider for installations is the biggest risk to your ability to continue as a viable competitive company. I waited six weeks for this mornings appointment to upgrade my equipment for the new HD compatible channels. When I made the appointment I called the service provider and asked to be called if an earlier appointment opened up. They did call two weeks before this mornings appointment and left a brief message asking me to call them. I did call them back, but after waiting over 30 minutes for an agent to talk to I hung up and resigned myself to the fact that I would have to wait until my original appointment. Appointment day comes and no Halstead Communications, so when I called, they told me because they called me three times (a big lie) and I didn't get back to them (because it takes them 30 minutes+ to answer the phone) that they canceled my appointment. Their message contained to indication of cancellation and I received no notice of the cancellation. After a lengthy call with Direct TV, the best they could do was give an appointment another six weeks later. This company does not deserve to be in business and better wake up and fire Halstead Communications.

I place an order with Direct Tv, and they some how manage to totally screw up my order, and take $538.11 from my account with consent.
After being on the phone for litterally 3 hours with a direct tv consultant, which claimed to have processed my order, and being transferred to from person to person, to my disappointment, they had not completed the whole order.
I originally explained to them what i wanted to ordered, which was the bundling package deal, internate, television, and satalite service. The guy said everything was a go. So i then wanted to followed up on the order only to find out that no one at direct tv couldn't seem to locate the order that they said was processed. So once again they begain to transfer me from different reps. Very frustrating. I then decided to check my acct only then to find out that Direct tv had charged my card $538.11. Furious at this point. I called Direct tv on this problem and they tell me basically that there isn't anything they can do. There has got to be something done to improve the services that Direct tv is offering, after all, this is a reflection on the company.
I definately will be taking this complaint further, because something needs to done from customers being robbed.

i also got bagged by Direct TV. and after months of trying to get a fair resolution for this problem i finially have to take my claim to small claims. so if you have to sue also, then this is who you need to serve at direct tv.
Saul Dardashti
660 Baker street Suite 250
Cosat Mesa Ca. 92626
he is Direct tv legal procees reciever. i got this info from the California Secretary of State. all direct tv summons by law have to go to him. Good luck