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DirecTV - Billing Problems

DirecTV • Billing Problems • Installation • Maintenance • Rebates • Sales Practices • Billing for "Adult" Shows • About those "Adult" Bills ... --- News • 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

Sandra of Temecula, CA November 6, 2009

I had a dvr receiver stop working, Direct Tv sent the wrong replacement and charged me. They sent me anothet replacememt and charged me. Total 470.00 I did not have shipping label for one and tried to get one to no avail. I did wait over a year to finally mailing back both units. They tell me that I had 228 days to return but did not inform me of that. They told me that the units are leased and cannot be returned to me. I know this is not true because my daughter has had hers in storage for a year and not been charge anything. I realize I did not return these in a timely matter but they have a brand new hd receiver still in the box that has never been used to use again, I think I have been ripped off.Do I have any options?

david of bisbee, AZ November 6, 2009

signed up for Direct TV's special rate of 29 a month. waiting for a bill I never received, service was cut off as they did not use mailing address rather physical. 1 month later, or longer, they send me my first bill of 58.68 amonth.

Infuriated over 3 months of charges on the bogus price, I called and they told me I needed to go sign up for a rebate. That was not explained and since they were enjoying the double charge they were in no hurry to tell me. They have told me I am on the hook for full ammount. They will not make the 29 a month fee I signed up for retroactive.

It is deceiving, news flash. Chalk one up for a faceless Corp. It is a formula that nets them an extra 90 by the time a consumer catches on. I spoke with a Supervisor as I write this and he is saying I signed up for 34, at this point I will take it but it is not retro. They are a horribly disrespectful Company. I will send this to Dish TV as well. They have fleeced me out of 90 and ruined my day knowing companies get away with this!

Jose of Jamaica, NY November 6, 2009

I got triple play service tv, internet and phone through verizon. I had the service from April 28, 2009 through October 31, 2009. On October 22, 2009, I called Verizon to have my service disconnected. A few days later I got a final bill from verizon. Now I am getting bills from direct TV that I owe them 719.60. I called direct TV to find out why I am getting bill for something that I already paid through verizon. I never called direct tv for service.

When I called verizon for the triple play I didn't know that they use direct tv as their tv services provider. I when I call direct tv they told me that I had to paid the money because verizon owe them and for early cancellation fee. I was never told by verizon that I would had to paid early cancellation fee.

I don't owe direct tv any money other then 200.00 for 1 dvr reciever and 1 standard reciever. I told the lady that I be happy to send the equitment back only if they remove all those improper charges. PLEASE HELP! I don't have money to pay for something that I am not responsable for. Thank you

Beryl of San Antonio, TX November 3, 2009

They lied about the installation of HD and told me I would be charged in graduated payments. After recieving my bill I discovered they were charging me close to 500 dollars due immeadiatly. They refused to admit their error and would not make any arrangements. Unfortunatly I have since discovered that these things are rampant with the public, but it's hidden by false sales information. Loss of a service that I have been with for years. An emotinal abuse of power and false information. This screams class action

Barbara of crofton, MD November 1, 2009

Direct T.V. took money out of my bank account on 10/30/09 129.00. I called today 11/01/09 to cancelled today. I was told that they could not found my name. Instead, they have removed money out and set up automatic debit every month. I do not want anything from Diret T.V. I do not have a service yet, I demand for Direct T.V. to refund or return the money back to my account immediately and I will not have installation "they say, will install Monday 02, 2009. I spoke with a person by the name of Kim, she said, I can not find your name, address or anything...it is very strange, since they asked me what bank do I use, account number and so on..but would not provide me with address after they took my bank information.

Patsy of Granada Hills , CA November 1, 2009

I purchased all my equipment since I started service with them in 2002 or 2003. I also purchased 2 dvr's 1- in 2004 the second in 2005 but did not activate thia one until 3-21-2006. I also purchased a HD /dvr from them in Dec 2006 for 299.00 original cost was 499.00 which they told me was a promotional price if I purchased then since they would put me on waiting list so I did. Now after all these years they are trying to charge me 800.00 unless I return these dvr's & HD dvr since they are claiming are leased not purchased. I have tried to resolve this with them and have told them as they have fully known none of the boxes I have are leased and just all of a sudden after 7 yrs they want to tell me my boxes are leased?? Their out of their minds! One Direct tv rep (lady) told me I was correct all my boxes are owned by me.

She transferred me to another rep who was suppsose to credit this for me. He told me as of March 2006 new policy was they no longer sell equip all equip was leased and so my HD and dvr receivers were leased. After an hour of going rounds with them another rep (lady) told me they same thing only after Oct 2006 all receivers purchased any where are considered leased. They no longer sell their boxes. I told them I will not returm any boxes that I own and I am going to cancel service with them and speak to a attorney that this was not correct and they cannot steal from people and get away with this type of practices. In the past years they had charged me for movies and additional boxes that I didn't order or boxes that weren't active. I can't handle anymore of their rudeness and refusal to make things right.

CARL of HOLLYWOOD, FL October 30, 2009

I made an agreement to pay 34.95 per month for TV service. About 4 days after installation, I got a bill for more than 60.00 per month and was told that the first 2 months would be 60.00 each. I told DirectTV that was not what I agreed to and that they could cancel the service. After a few days, I got a bill for 529.00, and they called in a penalty for not keeping the service. I have reported this to the Federal Trade Commission, BBB, Florida Public Service Commission and other agencies. They tried to debit my account for the 529.00 and it has been reported as a fraud.

Laura of Scranton, PA October 29, 2009

This isn't even my account but they had my debit card on file because I had paid my moms account when lived there. They shut off her cable because she couldn't afford it anymore and they sent her the boxes to return the receivers in. She returned all 5 the day she got them. The next day they charged my account for 510.39 When I call I get rude customer service reps who hang up on me when I ask to speak with a supervisor. I faxed them information regarding this and asked them for a refund which they told me they would have in 6-8 business days. When I call back I get different answers each time. I get nowhere with them! Today I got hung up on twice and they told me 6-8 weeks!

R of Saint Johns, AZ October 26, 2009

I ordered Direct TV, while on the phone with them I went over every item ordered. I asked for the best deal on packages, was lead through all that, selected one and asked about two additional DVR's. I was told that there would be a charge of 5/mo each for the two additional receivers. When I inquired about the additional costs for the two additional DVR's I was assured that there was not installation or equipment charges. The next day a tech shows up to install the equipment and activates each as he installs them. A couple of hours later I was leaving on a trip and decided to check my account and low and behold Direct TV had debited my checking account for 235. I immediately called direct tv. I was on the phone for 3 hrs and spoke with several people, I think 6 in all. I was advised that this was for the additional receivers, it was non-refundable and once it had been activated I could not change them out.

Then I was told I could change them out, but I would not get a refund. To make a long story short, I was specifically told there would be no installation or equipment charges, I was mislead by the sales rep., and treated rather rudely by the customer service reps. I am out 235 have no service and have been told that I am not entitled to a refund and I can send a letter tot he main office. This is in my opinion fraud! I did not authorize the deductions, I was told I had to have a credit card on file in order to open the account. I have filed my complaint with their main office, at the channel 3 news 3 on your side program, sent letters tot he editors in the local and state newspapers, filed a copy of complaint with the AZ Better Business Bureau and the County Attorney's office, along with my bank for fraud against Direct TV. I hope people read my complaint and don't sign up with Direct TV!

Helen of Baltimore, MD October 24, 2009

My husband and I have been customers of DirecTV since April of 2008, and have not had a problem until now. We decided to get service installed at my 89 year old father in laws so that he would have tv to watch when the conversion happened in June. We were paying the bill. We live in Maryland and he lives in Washington state. On August 26th, my father in law passed away.

I cancelled the account on September 4th. I wasn't able to cancel before then because I was in the hospital with my disabled son for the last month prior, and had just been dicharged on the 3rd. I was told that I had 30 days to get a certificate of death sent to them and they would waive the early cancellation fee. I was also told that they were going to send some boxes for us to send the units back to them. I told the gentleman that the boxes had to be sent to the address where service is and not the address the bill goes to. They still sent the boxes to our address.

A week and a half later we found out that DirecTV took 420.82 from our bank account for an early cancelation fee. We had no warning prior to this, not even a statement. This transaction caused 7 overdraft charges in the amount of 37.00 each. The total amount of both the charge and the overdraft charges came to 670. I called them about the situation, and the woman told me there was nothing she could do, which made me very angry. I called again later that afternoon, and the woman told me to fax the death certificate, and a copy of the charges on our bank account, and they would start a refund right away.

I faxed the information on the 18th of September, and still today we have not gotten back our money. I have been fighting with this situation for almost a month. Each time I talk to someone from DirecTv they give me a different answer. On the 25th, I called again to find out when our money is going to be refunded and the woman told me she had put in for our claim to be expedited (7-10 days), rather than the normal 6-8 weeks.

I called again today(which is the 10 day mark) and they told me that it takes 30 days from the point they recieve the death certificate. They also told me that they haven't recieved the death certificate yet (I have a fax confirmation that it was successfully sent). I don't know what else to do at this point. We are struggling right now. My husband is the only one working because my 31 month old is disabled and is constantly in and out of the hospital. we also have a four year old that just started pre-k. We are having a hard time buying diapers, and paying for her lunches because we are trying to keep the power on and ther rent paid. DirecTV has really hit us hard, and it is really sad that we have to go through all of this during our time of mourning. It is really sad that this has to happen to anyone.

It is now Oct. 24th and this situation still has not been resolved. I called the Direc TV corporate office yesterday. They told me that when any kind of documents are faxed over, they have to go through some people before they get sent to corporate. I then asked her how many people does it have to go through in a month long period of time. All she could do was apologize. she told me that I should dispute the transaction through my bank, and that they rarely fight the disputes with the bank. Also that I would probably get my money back faster that way.

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