Complain about a product or service

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

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.

Cynthia of Acoville, WV October 24, 2009

I recently canceled my service with direct TV. Without giving me any notice they took 111.68 out of my checking account causing me to have a negative balance in my checking account. I contacted them and they refused to give the money back because they said it was in the contract agreement. I was unaware of this and even when I called to cancel they failed to let me know this information. It is not about paying my bill that was left it is about them taking this without letting me know and now I am in the hole almost 200.00.

PAT of CLEVELAND, TN October 22, 2009

Direct TV was neglectint of taking 724.47 out of my account that wasnt supposed to be taken out,which left me with 105.00 in overdraft fees..They are taking 6 weeks to put the monies owed back on my account which they took the money off my credit card..Now I cant pay my phone bill or buy groceries because that will lead to more overdraft fees. I am on a fixed income and hafl to wait 6 weeks to get my money owed to me I feel they should deposit my money back sooner than 6 weeks I wasnt the one that tok the money out of my account and they refuse to pay my overdraft fees as well I want them investigated and have my monies owed to me back into my account sooner than 6 weeks.

Marsha of Pahrump, NV October 20, 2009

In June 2009 I referred my daughter, June, to directv as she was moving from Las Vegas, Nv to Denver, CO. We scheduled the connection date of her directv around July 2nd, 2009. June is a young woman who works alot and no longer has time to watch television and she can not afford to pay 50.00 a month. She called directv today, Oct 20, 2009 to cancel her service and was told she has a 2 year contract with directv, which she was not aware of. Directv said she would have to pay 420.00 to cancel her service, of course she doesn't have that kind of money. I spoke with directv as I was the person who referred June to them and I spoke with Belinda first who told me there was nothing they could do that she was tied into a 2 year contract. I asked for the supervisor and spoke with Mike who told me the same thing, they can not do anything about her account becasue she has a 2 year contract.

I have had directv for about 15 years and this is the first time I have heard anything about 2 year contracts. According to Mike, the supervisor, they just recently started the contract program. This is the worst thing they could have done since the economy is so poor, people can barely afford to buy food. I am concerned that directv has tied in other people who are not aware of the 2 year contract since it was never their policy in the past. June is struggling and doesn't need to pay for something she doesn't use.

Myrranda of Shelton, WA October 20, 2009

DirecTV has been charging me for services I never approved of or received. I have had several conversations via phone and email with a number of customer service representatives about these charges, and although they removed some of them, they refused to remove all of them. The total was more than 500, and they thought I should be happy with the 360 that they did remove. When I said I wouldn't pay any more to them till my billing was straightened out, they told me I would have to cancel, would have to pay early termination fees, and that they would charge my check card for those fees. That card was de-activated for exactly this kind of behavior on the part of a phone company. They have also stated that they would put it on my credit record. The closing statement was they would be glad to have me back as a customer at any time. I just laughed and hung up.

Jamiel of covington, GA October 19, 2009

I was charged without my consent on my credit card a charge of 626.56.I was told my service had been interrupted yet was still charged a full month at the same price as before my when my service was intact.i was also charged 300.00 for equipment 2 days after recieving the box to mail it back.when i call them they told me that they can charge any credit card i made a payment with on my bill.when asked to speak to someone hirer up i got hung up on.

Bart of Pensacola, FL October 16, 2009

Last month I posted my displeasure with DirecTV after finding out that the money I paid for the receivers up front was just a "lease fee" and I didn't actually purchase them. However, if I chose to keep them, I would be charged basically 250 for the 3 receivers.

Well, I sent the receivers back and I am glad I did. Apparently, I was once again 'mis-informed' by a DirecTV representative, and I would be charged the TOTAL cost of the receivers as if I had purchased them new, two years ago, with the initial lease fee not applying to the equipment whatsoever! That's right, there was a charge of 978.00 on my DirecTV bill. This is as we await the receivers to make it back to DirecTV to clear my name. It has been a week since I sent the equipment back. Once again, had I known that I could have paid 499 for the receiver to be mine, vice the 299 to "lease" it, I still would have opted to just go for the free receivers. As I explain this to DirecTV's customer service representatives and supervisors, it becomes clear that DirecTV is a numbers business. They don't care about the individual customers they lose or infuriate b/c they will make up for it with new customers every day. Just once I would like to call DirecTV and get the same story twice.

Consequently, they only offered 3 months of free Showtime if I chose to stay with DirecTV, but a week later, a rep called to offer me "5 months of our premier package free...with no contract...for starters" and was willing to negotiate to get me back.

Victoria of Westerville, OH October 15, 2009

June 2008 I called Directv to cancel, we sold our house & were moving out of state. Directv Cust. Service strongly suggested that it would be best to suspend the account so that if we choose to go with Directv in the future, we would not be charged the set up fee, I agreed. We had them on auto-pay, through our credit card, we went with another carrier. Six months later on Jan 10, 09 without our authorization we were charged 81.13, 87.87 there after threw our credit card. Unfortunately we did not notice until September of 2009. We have been charged over 800. without our approval After many phone calls Directv reluctantly refunded us 4 months. We strongly believe that the charges for no service for a property we do not own is not appropriate and Directv owes us the balance.

Megan of Orlando, FL October 14, 2009

I am extremely frustrated with their HD billing practices. In addition to paying for the HD receiver, I am also being billed for the HD signal, HD programming and HD NFL package signal. This works out to be 4 seperate charges simply for HD programming. Because I am locked into a contract, there is no way around it other than losing the HD programming I desire. The charges are in excess of 50 per month, on top of my regular programming subscription.

Back to the top |

Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use

Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the FAQ for more information.

Company Response Welcome If complaints about your company appear on our site, we welcome your response. Please see the Response Form for more information.

For more information, see the FAQ and privacy policy. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice.  ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. 

Copyright © 2003-2009 ConsumerAffairs.com Inc.  All Rights Reserved.    The contents of this site may not be republished, reprinted, rewritten or recirculated without written permission.