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DirecTV - Billing Problems

DirecTV • Billing Problems • Installation • Maintenance • Rebates • Sales Practices • Billing for "Adult" Shows • About those "Adult" Bills ... --- News • Class Action Says DirecTV Forces Consumers to Pay for Fraudulent Accounts • Washington Sues DIRECTV For 'Unconscionable' Sales Practices • DirecTV Takes Disputed Fees Out of Customer Accounts, Suit Charges • Major League Baseball, Cable Operators Reach Agreement • Major League Baseball Extends TV Deadline • Senators Object to DirecTV Deal that Shuts Out Baseball Fans • DirecTV Settles Do Not Call Charges • DirecTV Telemarketers To Pay $75,000 Penalty • Fired DirecTV Contractors Say They Refused To Lie To Customers • Outbreak of DirecTV Porn Charges Hits Philadelphia • DirecTV Fined $5 Million for Do-Not-Call Violations • DirecTV Will Reform Ad Practices, Pay Millions in Refunds • DirecTV Abandons Satellite Internet Plans

Marc of Picayune, MS February 9, 2010

On or about 20 Jan 2010 I called to cancel my service with DirecTV due to repeated experiences with rude customer service representatives and supervisors. The person I spoke with apologized and said that I had earned a 120.00 credit since I had been a customer in good standing for so long. He explained that it was not a monetary amount that could be mailed to me, but it could be applied towards services. Since I owed a balance of about 68.00 I asked if I could apply that credit to my final bill and the representative said "Yes, you can apply the credit to your final bill, and in addition I would have about a month’s worth of service covered by that 120.00." I agreed for the time being.

On 8 February 2010 I received a bill from DirecTV in the amount of 11.26. The bill reflected the 120.00 credit spoken of back in January by the representative; however, I still was not satisfied with the service, and wanted to cancel my bill. The representative said that he was going to take back the 120.00 credit that was already applied to my bill and re-bill me for a larger amount. I asked to speak with a supervisor. The supervisor also said they were going to take the 120.00 credit back and re-bill me. I do not think this is fair, to tell a customer that due to their 10 years of loyalty that they have earned 120.00 in credit which could be applied to their bill, and then take that back because the customer is still not satisfied and wants to cancel the service anyway! Nor do I really think that is legal.

The consequences are that DirecTV was directly misleading and have now caused me additional bills above and beyond the 11.26 they said I owed after the credit was applied.

Alisha of Fort Worth, TX February 6, 2010

Direct Tv is over billing us for early cancellation. We are willing to pay the correct amount of 336.00. We will not pay a penny more 549.50. This will result in a bad mark on my credit if it is not settled. I will not pay false charges.

Ronald of Glendora, CA February 5, 2010

I signed up for Direc TV Choice Promo and was asked if I wanted to try the HD for an additional 10.00 a month. I agreed with the understanding that I could make changes to my account at anytime and there would be no charge. So I try the HD service and find that I don't really watch it all that much so I make the call to cancel it. I am told yes I can cancel the service but I would have to pay to have my box replaced with a non-HD box and the charge for that is 50.00. I asked how much to cancel the service I was told 300.00. How can companies like this exsist in this day and age.

Ronald of Spring, TX February 2, 2010

Installation was requested for 4 tv's at my residence. After multiple attempts and a home visit by supervisor, they were never able to get the service working on the tv's. They ran new cable and spent 10 days trying to get it working but still did not come in correctly. The service was disconnected on March 10th, and the hardware recieved by DirecTV on March 17th, 2009. Because the service never worked correctly, the agreement for service was never met, yet DirecTV keeps sending the account to collections, first in June of 2009, now again in January of 2010. I was assured by Dakota in June that this charge would be removed and that they had made an error in sending it to collections since the service never worked. Now I have to go thru this process with them again after they have sent the account to yet another collections agency. The bottom line is, if the service had worked we would have kept it and paid for it. The balance of 496.60 is what they are trying to charge as a cancellation fee when it is not our fault that their service does not work in our area.

Aaron of Austin, TX February 2, 2010

I upgraded a receiver from standard definition to high definition in 02/2009. Directv never told me this restarted my two year contract. When I canceled my service with them in January 2010 they told me I would owe an 80 cancellation fee. I didn't like it but it did not seem overly unfair. Then they sent me a bill for 240 and explained to me my contract restarted when I upgraded one of my three receivers. This is outrageous I told them but they will not budge. I did some research on line and have found they have pulled this same trick on literally thousands of people. There are now class action suits in California and Washington regarding this exact issue. Hopefully one will happen in Texas and I can sign up.

Jovanny of West Covina, CA February 1, 2010

We moved out of our home in January of 2009. When we were moving we called to cancel the service and we were told that we could suspend it until whenever we could re-instate service in our new place. We explained to them that we didn't know how long it would take for us to find a place to live where we would need the service because we moved in with my parents and they already have Directv in their home.

They said that as long as the suspension was in place there would be no charges incurred for a period of six months. We never got "suspension terms and conditions." When we called to cancel in January 2009 we also told them our new address and paid the remaining balance on the account otherwise it would not had been able to go into suspension.

In July/August we got a bill saying we had an outstanding balance because the account "was activated by their system automatically after six months." We told them at that moment that we would pay the "new" outstanding balance and cancel the account. Again, we were told we could have another suspension in order to continue being customers of Directv. They said that they would credit the account to get rid of those charges if we agreed to suspension. "All you need to do is" let them know when you are able to re-instate service if conditions change prior to the six months ending. We agreed to suspend and in November we got another bill (by the way all the bills only got to us because the post office forwarded them to our new address which means they never updated our address).

We called back and asked them why we were being charged for a service that was suspended "for six months." They said that because we need to let them know if we want to continue suspension "every three months" not "six months". So, they ended up giving us a credit "because their system automatically activated the account" and they wanted to keep us as customers. It is now January 2010 and we are being billed an amount due for service that is not connected but is "activated by a system."

Their automatic system needs to be investigated. How can they be charging a service that is not connected simply because a system activates an account. It is unreasonably foreseeable and unfair to those who in good faith want to continue being customers of Directv. With people loosing their homes or moving to places where they can not have a Directv dish it is unreasonable to charge for a service that is not being used. Can't this be tracked through the cards installed in their recievers? Or have a clause in their contracts that have "suspension terms and conditions" just like cancellation terms? We liked Directv and have actively been looking for a place of our own and re-instate their service, all they did was lose 3 customers; me, my parents, and my aunt in San Diego are going to get rid of Directv.

Mary of McKean, PA January 30, 2010

I cancelled my service after one year because Directv failed provide the service I was assured I would receive when I subcribed in October 2008. I was told by the customer service rep who signed me up that I would receive network television. I did not. It took several months and repeated calls to get some cooperation. I was provided with two of the networks, CBS and NBC after six months of calls. I stile had not received ABC and Fox at the tiem of cancellation; these are two networks I wanted to watch the most.

When I called to cancel my service on 10/15/09, Reginald informed me that there was cancellation fee. I stated that I didn't feel that I was responible for the charge. Had DirecTV provided that service I was promised, I would not have had to cancel it. Well I did not receive a bill, so I was under the impression that my explanation was satisfactory. Today, three months after I cancelled, I received a letter from a collection agency, Allied Interstate. Rhonda of DirecTV customer service was not able assist me in this matter nor would she connect me to a supervisor who could. She would only provide me with the address above, but no phone number.

Penny of EB, NM January 30, 2010

We were solicited by your representative to switch from dish network who we were with since 2006. The premium package solicited included the COMPLETE sports packake as a bonus for signing up which was to be free for 3 months and then cancelled if so desired. Your company is charging us for NFL package which we never ordered. Furthermore your company advertised 79 for the first year is false we were never told that this required rebates to be applied much later. Compounding this is the fact that they responded by declining the rebates.

On top of that the tech caused a construction delay that cost us about 500 dollars and left our wall completely exposed. We are seeking legal representation at this time and WILL NOT PAY ANOTHER DIME TILL THIS BILL IS ADJUSTED CORRECTLY AS SOLOICITED What is the complete sports package? We NEVER WATCHED 1 NFL GAME THAT WAS NOT ON BASIC TV. wHY WERE WE LIED TO ABOUT THE MONTHLY SERVICE FEE AND FREE SPORTS PACKAGE? YOU OWE US 500 ADD FOR CONSTRUCTION

James of lester, PA January 30, 2010

1 year ago had contracted with Verizon for 79.99 a month for (cable, Phone, and TV, ) they broke the contract. All sudden Direct TV starts telling me I own them 500.00 dollars. I Never had contract with them, verizon somehow did. verizon broke contract with me so it was void.

This Direct Tv who I never ever had a contract with has been harrassing me for a year and have given me bad credit. I can't get a credit card and these people keeping writing and calling me. They ruined dmy credit for acompany I never had a contract with.

Kim of Anna, IL January 29, 2010

I moved in October of 09. I took advantage of the Mover's Program. I was informed after our moved that with my new service I would receive Showtime for 3 months for free. I received my first bill in December of 09 and had been charged a partial month of Showtime at 1.30 and a full month of Showtime at 12.99. I called and talked to a service person who informed me that they would credit my accout. I received my bill in January and once was again charged 12.99 for Showtime and given one credit of 12.99. I contacted Direct TV again and advised them that they still owed me a 12.99 credit. The first person argued with me that I have to pay for the service first and then it would be credited on the next bill. I told her it was supposed to be free and if it wasn't free, I wanted to cancel.

She transferred me to the cancellation department where they told me that Showtime was free for three months and I could not cancel in the middle of the promotional period. I insisted that the service was free and I wanted my credit back on my account and wanted Showtime turned off. Showtime was turned off on January 19, 2010. When I received my bill in February, they had only credited my account 9.96 instead of 14.29. I contacted them once again and was advised that I had ended the program in the middle of the month and therefore only received a partial credit. I repeated once again that the programming was FREE!.

She repeated the same thing over and over again until I asked to speak with her supervisor. She then offered to give me another 3 months of Showtime for free which I declined. I then spoke with a supervisor that told me the same thing. I had ended the programming in the middle of the month and therefore only got a partial month credit even though the programming was FREE! I threatened to file a Scam report on them with the attorney general's office and she offered to waive my DVR fee for the next 6 months. We will see if that is reflected on my next statment in March. I am not holding my breath.

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