My last bill showed$8 credit. I am randomly hit with $331 debit to an account I do not use. I am then told it would take 14 days to credit my account. It has been 14 days now I am told I need to wait 8 more days. They take my money overnight and cannot credit it overnight. They float are on our money! What a rip off. Never ever give them your debit card number they will randomly steal your money and float on it. Big time rip off!!!

DIRECTVs BBB initial response:

Company's Initial Response - Posted 05/12/2009
We regret to hear of any misunderstanding. When I contacted you by phone on May 10, 2009, you were unable to speak with me. I have not received a return call nor was I able to reach you when I called back on May 12, 2009. On July 5, 2006, you sent us an e-mail requesting one of your two accounts to be disconnected. We attempted to call you by phone in response to your request on July 11. When you called us back you mentioned wanting to keep costs low because you were going through a divorce and your daughter was leaving for college. We suggested reducing your programming instead of disconnecting the account and you stated you would consider this. We could only assume your service was satisfactory because we did not receive any further communication from you regarding this account until February 24, 2009. On February 24, you requested to disconnect the account and it was effective the following day. Due to the various ways DIRECTV makes your billing information and specific charges known (i.e. paper statements, E-billing options, directv.com, and customer support) we are unable to credit monthly charges older than 60 days. Respectfully, DIRECTV Office of the President
Initial Response Summary
Due to the various ways DIRECTV makes your billing information and specific charges known we are unable to credit monthly charges older than 60 days.



Thursday, May 14, 2009
In response to your reply above:
There is no misunderstanding, only a total failure of DIRECTV to follow my instructions, DIRECTVs claim of initiating an improper marketing call, DIRECTV fraudulently claiming to have talked to me, and DIRECTVs criminal removal of monies from my account.
When I received a call Sunday May 10, 2009, I explained to the woman who called (Lori? Loni?) that this was a bad time as we were on our way out to the veterinarians office with a sick puppy. She stated that she was off the next day but would call back. I have voice mail on both of my phones and I was NEVER left a message. I am still waiting for DIRECTV to call back. The history of DIRECTV’s attempts to contact me has been an abject failure, even after I supply correct contact information.
My July 5, 2006 E-mail order should have resulted in the service being discontinued and ceased any further removal of monies from my account. DIRECTV could have simply replied to my E-mail with the offer of reduced programming and I would have replied affirming my order to disconnect on August 1, 2006.
On July 11, 2006 DIRECTV DID NOT call MY phone and I DID NOT ever call DIRECTV back regarding this account!
I NEVER had the conversation “We suggested reducing your programming instead of disconnecting the account and you stated you would consider this.”
I DID NOT talk to DIRECTV about this account after the initial E-mail of July 5, 2006 until February 24, 2009.
DIRECTV fraudulently noted authorization to continue removal of monies from my account by claiming to have talked to me. I DO NOT have a daughter and was divorced in June 2006!
DIRECTV should have NEVER called anyone in regards to this account! DIRECTV should have followed my initial instructions, disconnected services August 1, 2006, and discontinued removal of monies from my account.
After all, DIRECTV received a hefty fine for DIRECTVs telemarketing activities and, from my experience and information obtained from the Internet; I now am beginning to see why this occurred. I am one of many who complain about DIRECTV billing after a request for service to be disconnected is ignored and DIRECTV does not want to refund any amount of the fraudulent charges.
To summarize, DIRECTV criminally removed monies from my account for approximately 30 months and DIRECTVs defense is that I did not catch DIRECTV soon enough!
I e-mailed DIRECTV asking for one of my accounts to be disconnected.
DIRECTV failed to follow my instructions and did not disconnect.
DIRECTV claims to have initiated a marketing call to someone other than me who stated they would “think about it”
DIRECTV totally failed to contact the owner of the credit card and had NO authorization to continue removal of monies from my account.
DIRECTV continued to withdraw monies from my account after specific orders to disconnect and stop removal of monies from my account.
I assumed my order to DIRECTV was followed and that no further action was required on my part.
DIRECTV made a totally unauthorized call and assumed DIRECTV could continue billing.
I am still a DIRECTV customer, as I have been for many years, and am willing to accept a credit to my account for all the monies DIRECTV fraudulently obtained over those ~ 30 months.
DIRECTVs failure to issue me a credit will result in legal action against DIRECTV for DIRECTVs criminal actions and civil damages. I expect a reply agreeing to a full credit within fourteen days of this response or legal action will be instituted.

I asked about getting the start-up cost for 2 HD DVRs and another HD receiver reduced from $298 to $198. They ran my credit and said since it was good, they could work with me and do that. I received a order confirmation later charging me the $198 price, but with two HD receivers and only one HD DVR. I called in to tell them, and they said I'd have to pay the extra $100. I explained the conversation I had with a supervisor for over an hour the day before. The rep still would not honor the amount promised.

A couple of years ago, I was disgusted by poor reception on DiiercTv, poor customer service and their failure to carry a local network channel, even though they charged me for it. Every time I would call and try to cancel, would switch the call over to someone who would try to re-sell and upsell me. Last time, they tried to do that, I just said to disconnect me and I switched to MediaCom.

They tried to send a bill for service I didn't want or receive after the switch. I called and told one of the phone drones off. I thought that ended it, but now (2 years later), I'm getting letters from a collection agency. I know better than to deal with bottom feeding collection agencies.

Calling DirecTv, all I get is phone drones, supposedly in executive customer service. They don't give intelligent answers, which is pretty much all you can expect from smug and smartassed kids and they tell me that I cannot reach anyone higher.

If I mention the possibility of suing DirecTv, they say that they have to disconnect the call for mentioning potential litigation and they will not transfer the call to a person with any real responsibility. Let's face it, real executives do not answer the phone with their first name, or work for an hourly wage. These kids are no better than the ones selling fast food with paper hats and name tags, also with their first name only.

Emails to the supposedly top execs (pres and v.p.) get routed back to the same kids as before. It would seem that the v.p. for customer service doesn't actually deal with customer service. I would think that investors would love to know that people are drawing big paychecks while avoiding doing anything job related and probably causing lawsuits which could have been easily avoided with a couple of minutes of intelligent discussion.

I have found page after page of complaints about DirecTv incompetence and arrogance, but I have yet to find anyone with a solution. Does anyone have one, or should I file a lawsuit against them? If I file a lawsuit, , would anyone like to join me in it? If not join me in the litgation, how about filing separately and then negotiating with them together for a stronger position in settlement talks?

I'm open to any and all intelligent suggestions

DIRECTV is charging me an early cancellation fee for a service I never recieved. Unbelievable but true.
I had the regular Directv service for 7 years. I ordered over the phone the DVR Service, and was not informed of any renewed or new agreement or cancellation fee or directed to one or anything.
In any case, I got the DVR and it would not work. I had two conversations with their tech support and it would not connect to the satellite (they are recorded so they have a record of them).
In any case, I cancelled the regular service and said I decided to no longer pursue trying to get the DVR service. They then told me I had a whopping $460 cancellation fee on a service I never recieved. um huh?
I tried several of their customer service representatives and finally ascertained that they claim I was bound to something they call their "Customer Agreement."
The Customer agreement however, states pretty explicity that its terms are for "receipt and payment of service" I never recieved the service or payed for it. Also, service is defined as "television and programing service" not something else.
At various times their CSRs tried out various arguments such as: "we activated it at our end therefore you are bound to the agreement, " and "you recieved the dVR device therefore you are bound to it" and "you ordered it therefore you are bound to it."
I mentioned their Customer Agreement, (the very contract they referred me to!) which directly contradicts this, and basically just got silence at the other end and a "the fee is valid." um what?h...
I sent letters to the President's Office got got no reply.
They have billed my credit card without my consent. (of course I'm disputing it).
Does anyone here any any insight into what is going on?
This behaviour seems outrageous if not illegal.
Does anyone know if have a case to sue them for harrasment and malicious intent?
At what point does such a remedy come into play?

Shawn