The lies started on day one and just keep coming. When I first signed up, I asked multiple times how much the monthly fee would be and was assured it would be $79.99 plus tax. I asked if there were any monthly equipment fees or any additional charges of any kind and was told, 'When I say $79.99, I mean $79.99'. When I received the first bill, there were additional charges of $5 per month for each receiver - an equipment lease fee, which they specifically said would not be charged.

I also purchased a service/warranty plan and am now told that I do not have a warranty plan through Directv. Supposedly, the warranty plan I purchased is through the subcontractor. The subcontractor will not send me anything in writing to verify that I have a warranty at all, so they took my money and I have no product and no coverage if anything goes wrong.

I was told when I signed up that the contract period was for one year, that it was part of a promotion they were running. Directv now informs me that it is for two years, there was no such promotion. My service has gone out a couple times already (I only signed up for the service a few months ago). When it could not be fixed and the receiver had to be switched out, the CSR assured me there would be no charge to me since it was their crappy equipment that died. Lo and behold, the next month there was a $20 charge on my bill for shipping the receiver. I called to complain and the CSR I spoke to this time said the other CSR was wrong and I had to pay because I didn't have the warranty plan through Directv.

My neighbor has Directv also and when she signed up she was told that she was buying the equipment rather than leasing it, that at the end of the contract period, the equipment would be hers. This was the main selling point for her over DishNetwork, and it was a lie. Her equipment is on lease just like mine.

Bottom line: they say whatever they have to say to get you to sign up, then will not stand behind their words. As soon as my contract is up, I'm done with them and I'm telling everyone I know that Directv is bad news.

On 4/7/08, I called DIRECTV to cancel my account and much to my surprise, I was told that I was still under contract. The rep stated that if I canceled my account, a cancellation fee would apply. I was told that my contract was extended for 18 months, starting last December. He stated that I would have to pay $20 for each month of the contract, that was not completed. In my case, that total would be $280.00. My first issue is that last December, I called DIRECTV because one of my standard boxes was malfunctioning (through no fault of my own). The rep stated that it sounded like a manufacturing defect. She said that she would send me a replacement box in the mail. Now, I pay for the Protection Plan for all of my boxes, every month. So if anything went wrong with any of the boxes, I'm entitled to a replacement box, with no cost to me. So THAT coupled with the fact that I wasn't signing up for additional service or boxes for a different room, there was no reason to extend my contract. My second issue was that the rep NEVER informed me that she was extending my contract. Had I known, I would have continued to use the defective box, seeing as how I was considering leaving DIRECTV for Verizon anyway. Under NO circumstances would I have agreed to extend my contract. I was told that I should email DIRECTV to dispute any cancellation fee that I may incur. I sent an email to them, only to get a response saying that when I agreed to have them send me a "replacement" box, I was agreeing to an extended contract. Apparently, ethics have gone down the toilet with DIRECTV if they have to stoop to this level to maintain customers. I am disappointed at their lack of integrity. I will bite the bullet and pay the cancellation fee. For it is a small price to pay for ending my business with such an unethical company such as DIRECTV. I hope Verizon claims ALL of DIRECTV's customers.

I have been on the phone with the customer service everyday for hours. They set up to accounts for me and don't want to cancel one of them. I have a DVR and a regular receiver. One day the DVR shows that the channels have not been purchased and the other day the regular receiver shows this message. No one can help me solve this problem, they keep transferring me form one person to anther. DO NOT GET DIRECTV.

Everything is great the first year, then after your contract is up, they of course raise your rates, and when you try to cancel, they only give you seven days to get their equipment back to them. They shipped the boxes by fed ex on 3/14, I canceled on 3/12, it's 3/17 I still have not received the boxes, I just told the jerk customer service idiot that there was no way I can get the equipment back to him in seven days, and all he could say was I haven't been charged yet, of course not, it hasn't been seven days yet. I told him flat out I wasn't paying, and he said Alright, then I told him to have a nice evening A-hole.

All their customer service people are rude and have bad attitudes. Do not go with directv. Plus, they don't want their stupid dishes back, only the receivers and remote controls, what am I going to do with their stupid dish.

RE: Cover Letter NOTICE and 20 Pages attached, unresolved dispute, Violations of the Fair Debt Collection Act, Title 15 United States Code § 1692, §§ 806 Harassment. Deceptive Trade Practices, Wire Fraud, 18 U.S.C. §1343, Mail Fraud, 18 U.S.C. 1341, Racketeering, 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961 - 1964, and Failure to provide full disclosure upon entering into a contract (Baiting).


CERTIFIED MAIL # 7006 2760 0005 3681 4487, Return Receipt Requested.


NOTICE OF ATTEMPT TO RESOLVE DISPUTE PRIOR TO SUIT


General Counsel:

I am sorry to say that obtaining any customer service from your company is the most frustrating endeavor I have ever encountered. How you stay in business is beyond me. However, that is not what this letter is in regard to. This letter and/or any further action on my part, will be based on your actions to correct my dispute within ten (10) days of your receipt herein, and thereafter, leave me alone.

This letter is my formal and final notice to you that I do not intend to go through your arbitration process as set forth in your unconscionable agreement, but instead, I intend to file a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Fort Worth Division, for numerous violations of the above Federal Statutes. The aforementioned will be hereinafter explained. I so state this, because I have yet to talk with any manager or customer service representative with DIRECTV, that has enough intelligence to understand where I am coming from. I further state, that if forced to, and upon filing suit if my dispute is not immediately remedied by you, I intend to subpoena numerous customer and billing records from DIRECTV regarding what I believe constitutes DIRECTV’s fraudulent billing practices and unlawful collection of early termination fees.

1.) Please take particular note that I have attempted to resolve this dispute by numerous phone calls and by numerous letters sent FED-X return receipt. Talking to your managers is like talking to the wall, AND MY LETTERS HAVE GONE UNANSWERED. I hope that by this letter, we can resolve my issue prior to instituting suit. There are twenty (20) attachments to this letter.


2.) I will first address the fact that prior to this final letter to you, I have tried to resolve the early cancellation fee issue by phone and in writing, because you have failed to produce a contract with my bona fide signature, and have failed to produce a tape recorded consummation of my agreement to participate in your services for 2 years. Now I am receiving numerous harassing calls and bills in the mail from your people attempting to fraudulently collect a debt which not only do I not owe, but never agreed to, or contracted to. There have been at least ten recorded harassment contacts by your company in attempt to collect an amount I do not owe. Even after referring them to my letters, your agents pay no attention. This constitutes ten (10) counts of harassment in Violation of Title 15 United States Code § 1692, §§ 806. Understand that if I must bring suit against you, 15 U.S.C., §§ 813 allows for the recovery of $1,000.00 per incident. DIRECTV’s violations are now 10 and rising. This is my notice in writing, that unless you want to negate the fraudulent cancellation fee, zero balance my account, and remove me from all of your records, plus remove any derogatory credit reporting you may have made against me, you will be sued. This is my written notice pursuant to the above act, do not call me again.


3.) Upon obtaining your service, your Contract titled Customer Agreement, was not fully disclosed by your sales people, nor was the website location. Your contract is an absolutely unconscionable contract, because it does not refer to any time commitment for programming services. a.) I am of the belief that your contracts, i.e. the Customer Agreement, and Lease Addendum were purposely separated with the intent to deceive new customers regarding time commitments, as an endeavor by DIRECTV, to hide and fail to disclose the time terms that a new customer is signing up for. Moreover, the Customer Agreement only refers to the Lease Addendum in paragraph 1.(I) Loss of Equipment. There is no referral regarding time commitment in the Customer Agreement, which refers a potential Customer to the Equipment Lease Agreement. Therefore, the customer is not aware, nor do your representatives make them aware the agreement is being consummated by fraud by omission, making said agreement unconscionable. I further refer you to section 5 (b) Your Cancellation. This section totally fails under the Four (4) Corners Doctrine of Contract Law, because it fails to refer to the terms set forth in the Equipment Lease Addendum. Additionally, after printing a copy of the Customer Agreement so I could read it on paper, it prints at about a 4 to 6 point print. This alone is unconscionable in that it is hard on the eyes and hard to read. I contend that DIRECTV purposefully used this size print as a pattern, custom, practice and policy of DIRECTV with the intent to deceive and defraud its customers. More or less, your Customer Agreement fails to provide disclosures which are material to the transaction. In essence, your disclosures are not clear and conspicuous regarding early cancellation and fees and time commitments, coupled with the failure of your sales people to refer the potential customer to all of your online agreements that relate to the transactions at hand. The acts and training of your sales agents are so egregious, they may constitute WIRE FRAUD BY OMISSION. Your Customer Agreement further makes express and implied claims which are not disclosed. This constitutes deceptive trade. Just the fine print on your Customer Agreement alone, fails the test under the Clear and Conspicuous Disclosure Requirement. Then upon attempting to resolve these issues with your billing people, they only state that I am under contract. So, if I am under contract, PRODUCE THE CONTRACT WITH MY BONA FIDE SIGNATURE, or A TAPE RECORDED CONVERSATION OF MY AGREEMENT TO any YEARS of SERVICE WITH YOU. I know you can not because I made no such commitment. Additionally, all of my letters went unanswered to which I contend, you are now in default.


4.) I have taken a serious look a the Federal Racketeering and Corrupt Influence Statutes. By the aforementioned, it appears to me that should I be forced to file suit, and after discovery is completed, a valid class action RICO lawsuit will exist. All RICO violations under Title 18 entail (1.) A person who engages in (2.) A pattern of racketeering activity, (3.) connected to the acquisition, establishment, conduct, or control of an enterprise. A RICO claim requires that the defendant participated in the operation or management of the enterprise itself, and the fear of continued criminal activity. See Crow v. Henry, 43 F.3d 198 (5th Cir. 1995), and Reves v. Ernst & Young, 507 U.S. 170, 185 (1993). Just a little case law for your reading pleasure. The way I see it, DIRECTV entices customers by these deceptive good monthly deals, then if at all, only refers the customer to the customer agreement, and not the lease agreement. Therefore, the customer has no idea that he is signing up for a long term commitment. Then upon early termination, you maliciously charge an early termination fee to people, who like me, had no idea they ever contracted for this service. This constitutes the first predicate act to RICO, that being violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1343, Wire Fraud. Additionally, you then place a bill in the United States Mail in attempt to collect these fraudulent charges. This constitutes violations of 18 U.S.C. § 1341, Mail Fraud. Moreover, you then continue to call and harass your customers as you did me, in an attempt to collect a debt not owed. To me, this policy constitutes extortionistic credit practices, a further violation of Federal Law under what you claim to be color of official right. Well, you are wrong, and I have had enough.

You have ten (10) days to notify me that my account is closed, and there will be no early termination fees applied. I have sent you back all of your equipment. Furthermore, if you have placed any derogatory information on my credit, it had better be removed. Also be further advised, if you take no action and I am forced to file suit, I will also file formal complaints with the F.T.C, F.C.C. and the Attorney General of the State of Texas. You have been noticed.



Respectfully submitted,