FYI - All of Direct TV's HR-20/21 model HDTV DVR receivers are defective. Customer service will lie and deceive the user about this, but I found out the truth - ALL are unstable and contain program bugs. The company is working on a downloadable software fix but NO date. They will do what they can to keep you from knowing this and will send you a remanufactured defective receiver. While you can usually watch HD, you won't be able to record it. I called for weeks and was endlessly told to reset the box, got a replacement receiver, up converters, endless tech instructions. But it was all while DIRECT TV knew that ALL receivers were defective. They said "A new download was coming" and asked what time zone I was in and that it was coming soon. NO. There is no current download. They have NO idea when there will be one.

These idiots have mixed my account with someone else. After talking to three different reps in billing no-one could figure out what they had done. They double bill and will not correct even after I faxed my bank statements to them. Then they cancelled my service even though I had paid the bill in full. When I told them I wanted them to cancel my service they informed me that they were going to charge me $20.00 a month until 2010. To this I say try it!!! I refuse to pay for a service and then be treated like this. They can stick it where the sun doesn't shine.

The people at direct TV are horrible, sneaky crooks. First, let’s start with installation. I was at work so I had my sister stay and wait. The guy could not find my apartment building and called my sister and barked at her about this. She had me call him and give directions, and he still could not figure it out. He finally got there and yelled at me for not giving him the name of my complex. Like I said, my sister was there for the installation so I do not know much about that. I checked my bill that day and signed up for auto pay because I never remember to pay bills. The first bill was painless, not the price they promised, but I figured that much due to start up fees and the like. Now, I signed up for a promotion where I could get my service for 30 per month. This deal comes only after filling out a rebate form, and this can take some time. I checked my second bill to find that it was almost 100 dollars. I called to ask and they said they had to bill me for 2 months. I still do not know why. Was I prepaying? Was I back paying? She could not explain it to me. Then I noticed a late fee for my first bill. How could I have a late fee when I signed up for auto pay the first day I had service? The girl said that it can take a few weeks for auto pay to activate??? How could it take that long?

Then I noticed a charge for a service plan that I never agreed to. I told them to cancel and was told it would cost 10 dollars to cancel. I asked my sister about it, and if it was mentioned at installation. She said no, she was told to call a number within a week if I wanted to activate. Now I am moving and want to cancel service. Now I am informed that I have an 18 month agreement and to cancel will cost 300 dollars. I am in the process of requesting documents. I am already getting the run-around. In one email, the lady said that DirecTV is very committed to informing customers about commitments and fees. B.S.

That whole company ***. Please look elsewhere for TV needs.

When I signed up with Direct TV, I had the Dish Network for over 3 years and looking for a change. I was made to feel like Direct TV was a better fit because they advertised a better package of over 500 channels and the salesperson made you feel like you had so many channels at your fingertips. They DID NOT tell you of all the additional fees you would incur to access the additional channels.

My first bill was over 90 dollars, my dish bills never exceeded 80. I was told that my monthly bills would average roughly 68 per month. I called Direct TV and was very upset because not only was my bill much higher than Dish, I also was dissatisfied with the quality of service. There were so many channels I could not view because I did not order extra packages and the quality of the HD was not great. I decided to cancel my service and at that time was verbally told that, if I decided to cancel, I would have to pay an early termination fee of 420 dollars, I was shocked! They gave me two 6 month free additional package to pacify me.

The next month, I received a bill for over 100 dollars and it was at this time I decided to cut my losses and accept the early termination fee and cancel my service. It was at this time that they informed me that they wound be drafting the money from my account but they did not say when. When I checked my account this AM, I was in the negative because Direct TV drafted over 540 dollars from my account. No courtesy call, no working with you to find out if it would be okay for them to go ahead with the drafting of the funds from your account. That was so wrong of them to be so uncaring.

I am not upset because of the above events which unfolded and am sure that all of this was in writing in the agreement. I am hurt more because of the level of deception by this company. Just like they could tell me at the time the events were to occur, they could have also explained these to me when I placed the order or when they showed up to install service. I hope all consumers can be reached about the practices of this company, I plan to work had in getting the word out to people in my family, my neighbourhood, and my jobs. NO ONE SHOULD PATRONIZE DIRECT TV, NO ONE!

They told me my bill would be about 53.00 per month basic package. When I got my first bill it was 78.00. They had charges for receivers and misc. bullcrap. I called and told them to disconnect because they lied about price then they offered to me at 38.00 per month. I told them I was not interested because I felt they were not giving the best price from the start. Now they are saying I owe 450.00 for early cancellation because I had signed an agreement. I signed nothing when I had it hooked up and it will be a cold day in h### before they get a dime.