DIRECTV, with whom I have a contract, has attempted to knowingly charge me for services that were included in my service agreement. Only because of my refusal to pay do they acknowledge that I am not required to pay. These continued attempts to force payment from customers is surely not isolated to my situation.

I am sure that I am not the only one. Don't be afraid to challenge DIRECTV if they attempt to charge you for service calls that are their fault. They must fix the problems that are their fault and restore your service.

Also, don't be afraid to challenge uneccesary charges to your account and get a full explanation from DIRECTV on why they are charging you.

Stay away from this fraudulent company. If any private citizen employed the same tactics as these crooks they would be serving time.

First off, I order a 34.99 per month service and they offer 90 day trial of showtime. I had showtime for two months and called to instruct them to remove the channels before the 90 day period ended.

A few months later the Dish quits working due to the fact it was installed on a tripod behind some bushes that were bare in winter. Spring time arrives and no signal as the bushes had leafed out. Call directv and they could not guarantee me to fix the problem without charges. I did not pay for the month without service and Directv cancels my account without a request from me to do so and imposes an early cancellation fee of $477.74. along with a fee of $89.00 for services and a 13.95 equipment fee.

At no time was I told upon install that by using the service I was giving up my right to the security of my checking/debit account. In fact when ask about auto billing I declined for exactly the reason of privacy and security. I paid my account by paper check and at one point made the mistake of giving my debit card number for the purpose of a one time monthly payment.

Directv without authorization compromised my banking account withdrawing the balance on the account, the equipment fee and early cancellation in that order. Three separate withdraws using the debit card number they had obtained through my making a one time payment. I signed no agreement ever granting permission that was stated as such.

I found that my bank account had been robbed and taken to a level of - $232.00 OVERDRAWN! In reviewing the billing, I found that even though I had no longer been receiving the premium trial period channels they had started to bill me months woorth doubling my monthly bills. At that point I was overdrawn, had received 4 overdraft charges for small checks I had made thinking I had money in my account. Still had no Directv services because of line of site issues and the cancellation.

I called Directv to ask how they could ransack my checking account and they said its part of the agreement. I never signed and agreement. They did offer to resend the signal to my dish to get my account working. I informed them about the bushes and again they said they could send a tech but could not guarantee I would not be charged. I went out the next day and cut a full two feet off of two separate bushes and it still did not work. I shut on shut off, unplugged, reset. Nothing. Called Directv the next day and they again sent the signal and the system started working. I was told since I did not cancel that the early cancellation fee would be reversed back to my account. However in their math the amount I could get back was only $405.00. Secondly I could not have the money actually back but it could be credited to my account as a surplus. Then I could request that it be reversed back to my bank but that would take 30 days. Simply trying to settle for anything I said whatever give me back the money. They said I would have it in no more then 72 hours. 72 hours later I check and no credit had been added to my account. I again call Directv and go through another hour and a half on the phone to get to the point of we agree to credit back $420.00 to your account, a transfer to your bank will take 6-8 weeks after the credit is issued. They again said I should have the money back in 72 hours or less. To me that's 144 hours because I already waited once. Three days later, no money has been credited back. I call Directv for the third time over this refund issue. I go completely over the whole scenario again. This time the amount they will credit back goes back down to $405.oo from the original 477.74 they had stolen. I informed them about the other times they promised and did not follow through. This time she said I could go to my Directv account and see the reverses after I got off the phone. Then she puts me on hold. The call drops on the Directv end. I check my account and three one hundred dollar credits had been placed totaling $300.00. Again I call Direct, another long call and the person comes back with the explanation that there is a limit how much can be credited back and I have went over that limit. He said a supervisor had approved another $75.00 that I would receive within 72 hours. I would also get $45.00 equipment fees credited back within 24 hours. Two days later no $45.00 credit was received. 72 hours later I see another $45.00 credit back to my account. Ten days later and I am getting ready to call them again about the $75.00 I have yet to receive.

About the credit back limit, Directv acts as though they are giving you their money like you are receiving some bonus instead of an apology for stealing the money in the first place. Credit back limit? ITS MY MONEY TAKEN ILLEGALLY FROM MY ACCOUNT give back what you took! Their argument is they are the company and can impose any fees they want and taken through any means available legal or not. Even a debtor gets their day in court to prove or disprove a statement of charges. Directv gives the finger to the legal system and due process. Taking the lowest business practice of theft from banking institutions.

Stay away from Directv, do your friends a favor, tell five of them Directv is a horror story waiting to unfold, hopefully they will in turn tell five.

There is a class action lawsuit here for any law firm ready to take it on. Read this complaint board and all the others on the internet. Directv and this unauthorized withdraw theme comes up tens of thousands of times. Board them up, close them down. My complaint is about access and theft.

It does not even touch on the complaints of walls being ruined. ceilings collapsed, wiring ripped out walls with long drill bits, roofs mangled, from ill trained techs. Orders inaccurately taken by low paid CS agents in order to obtain commissions on equipment not ordered, then the biggest, the undisclosed costs and lengths of contracts that customers are conned into. Outlets advertising the sale of receivers only for hundreds of dollars with customers only later finding out that they in fact purchased a receiver to lease monthly from Direct and being locked in another undisclosed contract. I have barely touched on the complaint pages and gathered these. There are probably millions of these stories involving Directv and unhappy customers.

Write your state Attorney general, the BBB and anyone else you can to stop this out of control monster. I am sending my letter to Directv legal department this week to inform them I intend to seek a legal remedy. I will be printing as many of these complaints as possible to submit as evidence.

I recently had three installers setting up a satellite system. First of all - three installers was overkill. They were tripping over each other and spent more time debating how to set up the system instead of focusing on the installation. One of the installers took it upon himself to discuss his prior incarceration with my husband. He found this disturbing and it made him very suspicious of the gentleman. The most horrifying event during this installation is that two of three installers asked to use the bathroom. I understand that we are only human, but this human need is best addressed outside of the customer's home. I found it revolting that one gentleman thought it was appropriate to use my master bedroom toilet. This was disgusting and an invasion of a home owners private space. Please coach the installers of appropriate behavior and how to better address their biological needs before arriving to a customers' home.

Do yourself a favor and do away with ALL cable and satellite companies PERIOD. I have had DirecTV dis-service for the last two years against my wishes, but had been locked in by an agreement that was never explained to me by the customer disservice misrepresentative. Finally, after my two years, I discover my contract had been extended due to an exchange in my receiver. I had unknowingly been obligated to an additional six months of overcharges and shoddy reception. I have now spent a total of 19 hours arguing my bills with incompetent people that have no ability to affect the outcome anyway. So, I am revolting against cable. I refuse to pay my disconnection fee that I should not have to pay due to their inept business and service. I am not paying for services that I had not used. They conviently have no records of the calls that I had made to cancel my service and are charging me for three months of service when the box was not even turned on. And to top it all off, I had to wait a day and a half for their service techs to come in and install this stupid system, yet I am the one that must take more of my time and box up the equipment and ship it back to them, only, I am predicting, to be receiving a notice in the mail that they never received my equipment and I will charged several hundred dollars for the unreturned equipment.
I will say, however, there was one bright spot in my dealings. I did some research and discovered the office of the president and highly recommend calling them to handle your complaints. Although my bill has not been satisfactorily decreased, Ms. Helen Rodriguez, did do a lot to talk to me calmly and kindly and reduce a few of these charges. Thank you Ms. Rodriguez for giving me hope that someone cares in this impersonal and computerized world. But please don't make me ever have to call the automated system ever again. "Yes" and "no" should not be that hard for a computer to distinguish. I spend fifteen minutes yelling at a computer before I even get to talk to a human being. No wonder all I ever want to do is yell at the first person that answers the phone.

On 4/23 I cancelled my service with Direct Tv. At that time they were authiorized to take the current balance out of my checking acct. They did not and sent me a paper bill with a late charge. I was not happy but sent in a check. They then took the balance with the late charge out of my checking acct and now owe me. They told me it would take 6-8 weeks to get my money back. Anyone ever considering direct tv should stay clear. They said they cared about me coming back to them someday but after phone cals and more calls with no resolve I am done with them. I am also tired of calling someone in a foreign country. Bring our jobs back to the USA.