DIRECTV Reviews

A month later, DirecTV went back on my card on August 25th and they debited $731.16 from my card without my approval. When I called them about this matter, I was hung up on by 2 customer service reps and one supervisor. I then called back and got another lady on the phone. She told me that it was my responsibility to get the money back from the account holder. I advised her that I asked these questions and that I was assured that I would not be liable for the bill. When I asked for a number to the president of the company, she told me that she didn't have one. I asked for the finance department. She said that she only had an email for them.

She also told me that the sales rep has lied that they keep the cards on file. I explained to her that I had no need to pay for someone else’s services and by law that should have been disclosed to me that they would be able to go back in my account in the beginning. I have always had Charter and no one else. I wanted my money back in my account. The account is listed under Brenda ** her address is **. Because of this action, DirecTV has cost me $272.00 in overdraft fees. They also took a total of $731.16 which together totals $1,003.16.

After 3 months of "free", they turned off the free and started charging me again. I called and demanded they turn it off. Three months later, I come home and I got 3 bills from DirecTV. They have cut off my TV for non-payment of services and demanding the money and late charges I owe. I sit down and wrote them a threatening letter. They finally cut off the TV but they want 3 months of payments. Three free then 3 to pay. Coincidence? I refused and the snotty nosed female brat that was their customer service talked to me like a cop that just caught me speeding.

Now, I get calls from some bottom feeding debt vulture every day wanting payment. My credit has a default on it and I have repeatedly been denied refi and interest lowering loans and credit. Thanks DirecTV for being such an outstanding citizen. My family served this nation with its blood so you could rape our children with your predatory practices.

After calling the company that DIRECTV sent out to do the install, I told them I was not signing any two year contract. However, I did sign the work order for the Ironwood Communications Company that DIRECTV had sent out to do the install, acknowledging only the labor done by Ironwood Communications employees. We had problems with sound and picture (note: clear skies). After DIRECTV sent out another technician, everything was fine for about 3-4 weeks and then we had the same problems.

Then my bill went up $ 10.00 monthly for HD Access and $ 6.00 monthly for DIRECTV DVR Service. Wait, this happened to free? I was lied to more than once. I was paying $ 58.89 per month, the bill jumped to $ 79.99. The first call, I was told I was stuck with the bill. I told them to shut off my service. The second call, I talked to a supervisor. I found I was being billed for 3 receivers. They did not take the old receiver or ask for its return. I only needed two receivers. If I did not check my bill, how long would DIRECTV have charged me for 3 receivers? They took one of the receivers off the bill. The supervisor took off the $ 10.00 and the $ 6.00 per month charge for one year. With some negotiation, they dropped the bill to just over $ 60.00 per month for one year and they volunteered 3 months free HBO, Showtime & Starz. I had also told DIRECTV we could be moving. I was told at that time about June 2009 that if I moved, there would be no Early Termination Fee and just return the HD/DVR. I sent it off today 8-15-2009.

I was lied to again. I have been sent a bill for $357.38 early cancellation fee. I had a balance of $22.62. DIRECTV owes me $ 22.62. I would like DIRECTV to cancel the Early Cancellation Fee and refund my $22.62. DIRECTV also sent me e-mail inviting me to open an online account. This was misleading. Because if I did not read first, signing up for an account said I would agree to all terms and conditions. I saved the e-mail but did not open an account. I had to call DishTV, thought I would give them a try. (We now have COX Cable. No Contract.)

The technician did not have the correct work order or account numbers. He had the order incorrect. He was attempting to install multiple receivers. He refused to explain the difference between the various dish designs (SWM versus other). He then tried to run multiple coaxial lines throughout the house. At that point, I told him to cease work and leave. He then acquiesced and said that he would install the SWM dish. I asked him to confirm pricing, and he refused. Nonetheless, I was assured by a representative on the phone that the rates as agreed would be valid. I let him resume work. He spent 5 minutes with me at the conclusion, explaining the features. However, I was not able to thoroughly test the system. I couldn't investigate any further due to the fact that my family was leaving town for the weekend. I was not prepared for the installation on this Friday.

On 2009-08-04, after a weekend away from the house, I realized that the On-Demand doesn't work, my UHF/VHF doesn't work, and the internet doesn't work. Also, the bill was now at $65, not the $39. I reported this to Qwest and DirecTV. On 2009-08-04-08, over the next several days, I would spend hours on the phone and tech support lines troubleshooting the situations. I logged onto their websites, filed for rebates, and requested help to fix these issues. I was told by DirecTV that I should take up the issues with Qwest, and Qwest said they were powerless to fix the issue with DirecTV pricing. They never fixed the pricing or technical issues.

On 2009-08-07, DirecTV claimed that the service was activated. Then on 2009-08-08, I notified Qwest and DirecTV that I was totally dissatisfied and wanted to cancel all service. I was on business travel to Austin, TX, and it was becoming increasingly difficult to spend hours on the phone working through the issues. Also, my family was going on vacation. On 2009-08-11-26, it's family vacation. I informed DirecTV and Qwest that we would be on vacation and would not be able to ship anything back. On 2009-08-13, DirecTV stated that they are going to charge me a cancellation fee. Then on 2009-08-13, I reported the issue to the Better Business Bureau and the FCC. But on 2009-08-18, DirecTV still insisted on cancellation fees.

On 2009-08-24, DirecTV refused to remove the dish from my house. I received this email: “I understand that this may not be the answers you were expecting. Since this response has been reviewed for accuracy, DirecTV considers this matter to be closed and any additional emails on this topic will not receive a response. Thanks again for writing.” On 2009-08-26, I returned from vacation. I shipped back the DVR as directed. I discovered a bill for $460 from DirecTV for an early cancellation fee. The account number does not match the agreed account number. On 2009-08-28, I attempted to discuss a resolution with DirecTV. They refused. They told me to write them a letter. Evidently, DirecTV has a history of deceptive advertising and bogus cancellation charges.

Fast forward to August 2009, I am again moving and my new place doesn't allow satellite dishes so I have to cancel my account. The first person I talked to informed me that I would be charged a $380 early termination fee since I had a voluntary upgrade completed three months prior. When I agreed to this upgrade, I was never informed that this was the case and emphasized that point with the person I talked to. I asked to speak to a manager and after being on hold for 10 more minutes, I was hung up on. Forty-five minutes on the phone and nothing was resolved. So I called back and got a gentleman who I again explained the problem to. He immediately agreed that I shouldn't be charged the fee. He was very helpful and apologized numerous times about the issue. He then mailed out a box for me to ship my receivers back in. I had one month left on my original contract that he offered to waive for my inconvenience. I was on the phone with him for 22 minutes and was pleased this was over.

A week later, I logged into my old bank's online site and found a charge was placed on my check card for almost $400. I called DirecTV back and the person I talked to said that the fee was my responsibility. I spent time again telling her the story and how the last guy I talked to said I wasn't responsible for those fees. Around and around we went again before finally I asked to speak to a supervisor. The supervisor again emphasized that the fee was my responsibility but then offered to research it further. After another long wait, she came back on the line and said I was right and they would issue a refund. I asked for the credit to be placed back on my check card and she agreed to do so. She said that she will have the people who handle situations like this, process it within six business days. Incidentally, there are people at DirecTV who no one can talk to and all they have access to is computers and fax machines. These are the people who handle the credits and there is zero possibility of talking with them, awful customer service.

So after 45 minutes on the phone, it seems this is again resolved. Wrong, three weeks after this discussion, I have received no credit, no check in the mail and my old bank is still charging an NSF fee every week. I also sent a letter demanding compensation for my lost time and a refund on my NSF fees and have yet to hear back. So back to the phone, I called DirecTV again and explained the situation again and got transferred again to a manager who explained he can't help me. I emphasized the point that this was an unauthorized charge on my check card and it needs to be taken care of today and he stated there's no one that can help me. I asked for his supervisor and he stated that his supervisor will not come to the phone. I asked to be transferred to the people who can issue me a refund right now, and he said those people do not accept phone calls and I can only send them a letter.

Around and around we went again before finally he hung up on me. Another 45 minutes on the phone and no resolution. Consequences: $380 unauthorized charge on my credit card; four $30 NSF fees charged to my credit card; 160 minutes on the phone wasting time; potential credit issues if NSF fees get submitted to credit bureaus; and increased stress and pressure as a result of working with an incompetent company.

No problem they disconnected my service within 2 days and I again complained that all I had wanted was to stop HBO and again telling them why I did not want to work this problem out over the phone because of hearing problems. They returned stating they had discontinued my service and because I stopped it before the current 2 years of service they were going to take $320.00 out of my bank account. I had been using auto pay and they had the card number I sent them another email stating, do not use the auto pay card as of that date 8-27-09 and they said they had stopped the auto pay but reserved the right to extract the monies from that account.

I explained that I lived day to day and for them to do that would cause me to face returned auto pay from other suppliers I use and I was willing to pay them, but not that way. So, all I wanted was for them to stop HBO and I did this every year just before the NBA kick off because I wanted to purchase the NBA league pass from them and could not afford both at the same time and once the NBA was over, I would buy a channel like HBO, Cinemax, Showtime etc. They said that I could not stop it via email yet they were able to stop the complete service via Email and charge me an early disconnect fee after their communications clearly stated the customers could change programming 24/7 online.

Because of their actions of billing me an early disconnect fee of $320.00, I will suffer return check/payment charges that will most likely result in my bank closing my account as the bank fees will cause me great damage, and all because they violated the contract and used truth in advertising as a guise of good customer service 24/7 online programming changes, when in fact they denied me the very service they taut 24/7 online programming changes. Now, I have no TV service and because of their actions, I will have trouble getting another provider without high upfront fees of which I have never in my 68 years on this earth had to face.

On Saturday, Milton spoke with him and after their discussion, I talked a little more with him and was to give him a credit card number to put a deposit on of $21.15. He stated that the DirecTV package came with free HBO, Starz, Cinemax, etc. channels for a specified period of time. We stated that we needed the HD. The only package that supplied that was DirecTV PLUS HD DVR package with 2009 NFL Sunday ticket at $59.99 for 12 months and comes with 5 months free HBO, SHOWTIME, Starz and CINEMAX, a $220 value (rolls to pay in month 6) and free HD DVR receiver upgrade after instant online rebate ($199 value).

We were not told that we would have to call DirecTV and upgrade. We were told that this would be a part of our package. Our modem for Internet service was due to arrive on August 31, 2009, and we were given a confirmation/order number and a phone number to Tech Support of (877) 459-1754 and this is to come with free Security Suite for the Internet. We scheduled the appointment for DirecTV installation on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 between 12 noon - 4:00 pm.

The technician arrived around 1:30 pm. Upon his completion, I signed the installation contract, assuming that we were getting what we had discussed. After flipping through the channels the following morning and none of the movie channels coming in, I called DirecTV. I called them about that and for our account number. They told me that we didn't have the package that included free movie channels, that it was an old package, and that the AT&T rep had made a mistake and was misinformed.

I stated that it was what was discussed and that the 2-year agreement was signed contingent on getting what we discussed over the phone. They took my information and transferred me to another rep. More of the same with him, and I told him I would discuss it all with my husband and call back. I called back and spoke with another rep which explained the same things and said that it was my fault because I didn't grill the tech about what he put in my house. I assured her that I didn't feel like I had to oversee the tech, but that I thought I was getting what was discussed with the AT&T rep. She didn't say that the rep was wrong, she didn't say she would take responsibility, but made it out that I was the one in the wrong.

I made it clear that I did not have any paperwork that explained exactly what it was that I was getting, but I did know that free movie channels and HD was discussed. She said she could not go in and change the order even though the rep incorrectly input it, but that I could upgrade to the package and pay approximately $268 that would be credited right back to the DirecTV account. I told her that was not discussed when I decided on the bundle and that I didn't feel like I wanted to tie my money up with them, even if it was going to be credited back to the account. She transferred me to the cancellation department and when I asked how long I have to cancel, he abruptly stated 24 hours with an arrogant attitude and by that time, my 24 hours was up. I called AT&T and talked with another rep. He called DirecTV. Nothing came of the discussion, but that I would have to pay the $268 in order to upgrade the package.

After I got off the phone with all these people who know nothing about customer service, I checked my mail and guess what, a "Congratulations, your DirecTV experience has begun!" letter arrived. Now, of course, I had no way of checking my order, confirming installation or reviewing the customer agreement ahead of time. The AT&T rep didn't give me a number to DirecTV or tell me that I needed to cancel within 24 hours. I thought I had three days to cancel a contract.

Somehow, DirecTV charged me about $161 for service in June when I didn't even have a satellite dish to get service. Now, they've sent me to collections for a termination fee and two unreturned boxes. I thought the boxes were my property. I had four boxes in total but they want two of them back. My final bill was paid before I moved and I had already had the service since 2005. I disputed the charges with the collection agency then DirecTV and I was told that the charges are valid and that I didn't call to cancel service until May.

I canceled the same day that the installer was rejected. Why would I call to cancel months later for service that I didn't have? I was told by three DirecTV representatives (CSR, resolution rep, and account supervisor) that landlord refusal wasn't a valid reason to waive an early termination fee even though I was required to have a letter of permission from my landlord before I initially began service in 2005. They told me that it's illegal for a landlord to not allow tenants their choice of service. DirecTV told me to dispute the termination fee with the collection agency and vice versa. I was told that if I further wanted to dispute the matter, I would need to write to their collection department (DirecTV Collection Department P.O. Box 6550 Greenwood Village, CO 80155-6550).

Today was the first time I heard of the collection agency and a termination fee. They already got undeserved money from me in June for service I didn't have so now, why should I have to pay for a termination fee? I signed up in January 2005 and had a one-year contract but they're telling me that the fourth box I received in November 2008 at no charge extended my contract for 24 months.

DirecTV is unfairly charging termination fees. There isn't any rental that you could move into and demand that they allow you to have any TV service that you wish. It's a utility and choosing any water/electric company isn't optional. So, why should I be penalized? I want to try to resolve this matter before it's reported on my credit report.

I called the day after and spoke to a representative on 8/10/09 & told him I wanted to go ahead and cancel my service as I was not happy with their services anyway. He told me DirecTV would be happy to work with me as they valued me as a customer. I told him, "no, thanks, I would just like to disconnect please." I was told that I would be receiving boxes by FedEx to return the receivers and I would receive my final bill in 7 days, at which time I told him I would be sending in my payment in partial payments. That was the best I could do at this point. He stated that he understood and that would be fine. Well, I didn't receive the bill in 7 days.

Ten days later, I called my bank's automated line to check my checking balance and discovered it was in the negative! I knew there wasn't much in there, but it wasn't in the negative! So, the next morning, I called the bank to find out why and was told DirecTV had made a withdrawal against my debit card! I told the bank representative I had not authorized it and was told I needed to contact DirecTV, which I did immediately. I didn't get the first rep's name but was told the funds were taken for my past due amount. I told her, first of all, I had never received my final bill that I had been told I would receive in 7 days! And second, I never authorized them to take any money from my account!

She said they didn't have to send me the final bill, that my contract with them states that all final monies owed is due immediately upon cancellation! I told her I do not remember such a statement and that I wanted my money returned and that they had caused my account to go into the negative and have overdraft fees. She stated that is not their responsibility, it is mine. I called my bank's automated line approx. 30 to 40 minutes later to get a total of what was in the negative and was in total shock to find out it was another $378.08 more in the negative!

Another call to the bank revealed DirecTV had just taken out more money since my phone call a few minutes earlier! I called back to DirecTV & spoke to Alisha to find out from her that the money was for an early cancellation fee! I told her I had been with them 25 months; my contract was for 24 and I wanted them to contact my bank & get it straightened out! She said in Sept. '08 I received another DVR and that reinstated my contract for another 24 months! I explained to her that I was contacted by their representative telling me that I had "earned" the DVR as an incentive as a customer reward!

She said that was true, but it also extended my contract! I told her I was never told this & it was never ever mentioned at all! She apologized, said it should have been but sometimes it isn't! I was furious! I told her they cannot just do this to people, to just rob them blind on a whim! I got nowhere with her & ended the call. The next afternoon (Saturday), when I checked my mail, lo & behold, there is my final bill in the mail.

So, I called DirecTV again & told them I wanted a supervisor. After 20 minutes on hold, I got Charlie. I went over everything with Charlie & he told me the early cancellation fee is for the "earned" DVR that supposedly extended my contract without my knowledge and he stated that "sometimes the reps don't always make all of the conditions clear that the incentive is earned but it does extend the customers commitment to DirecTV!" So I told him they need to retrain their reps. I have honored my contract, put the money back in my bank!

He stated they couldn't do that. After he & I went back and forth for approx. 20 minutes, he told me that he would refund me $260 if I would reinstate my services with DirecTV! Can you say blackmail? I explained to him again that they have caused my account to be overdrawn, incur overdraft fees, not to mention the stress it has caused, and he thinks I want to stay with the company! He told me it's the only way I would get any of the money put back in my bank! So I agreed, but with a very basic package. He said the money would show up in 24 hours & bring my account out of the negative $260.

That was Saturday. Today is Wednesday and no money! I called back and talked to Chris (supervisor) & was told the amount has been credited to my account! I told him, "No, it was supposed to be put back in the bank so it would bring it back out of the negative at least $260!" He said that is not what is noted by Charlie. He agreed that he would get a refund started but it would take 30 days for it to process! After thinking it over approx. 30 minutes, I called back & told them to forget it. I would be filing complaints every way possible and God willing, a lawsuit against them!

So if anyone out here from North Carolina (or wherever we possibly can) is willing to put a stop to this thieving and blackmailing, please let's get something done! Large corporations like this should not be allowed to just take advantage of people and steal from them like this!

All of this can be seen and read, even though it stated channel blocked in the corner of the screen. I do not want my children or their friends to be able to read this kind of thing. If this is their idea of blocking channels, it isn't sufficient for me. Had I known, I would never have purchased the product. When I called on August 10, 11, 12, and 13 to correct this situation, I was told I wasn't utilizing parental controls properly. (A technician from AT&T named Brian was here on August 13. He called a Dorothy and found I had completed the parental controls properly. I was still able to get the PPV titles and synopsis.)

It is impossible to delete the PPV channels from the TV. I could block channels with R rating from the office, but it would still show the PPV options. I could change to a Family Plan, but it would still show PPV options. I canceled service, and they were going to issue a $450 cancellation fee. I wrote a letter to their "Office of Dispute" and the president, and I received notice that they only have a 24-hour cancellation and that the charges would still be issued. I also feel AT&T has a responsibility, because they connected me with DirecTV. I thought it was part of their bundle service and their company. They were very covert in their dealings with me and led me to believe I was getting the $30-$30-$30 bundle. I found out later that DirecTV alone cost $90.

The installer came out and we told him that per our rental agreement, we needed to have the dish in the backyard in a bucket. He didn't have supplies so we gave him $20 and he went to Lowe's and returned several hours later with a big plastic container and concrete. He then went and checked the backyard and realized there was no line of sight from our yard. He decided he would put the bucket in the front yard. I didn't think that was a good idea and he had my husband drive around with him and look at other dishes.

There was one dish and it was installed in front so he decided to put the satellite in the front without the bucket. We tried calling the rental office, but it was closed. He installed the dish and ran the cable. The cable was run down my front hall and into my living room and through my garage into my kitchen. It was run without any slack so that we could hide it or run it along the baseboards. There were areas where the cable was run in front of interior doors that made it very difficult to open those doors. There was dirt/mud all over our carpet and dirty handprints on our doors and walls. We were floored by the total lack of care the installation was handled with. Since the dish had been installed without the bucket and only one bag of concrete, we obviously due money back from our Lowe's purchase that we had given the installer $20 for. He did not have change for us so he left with the concrete and the bucket and we were left with no change for our $20.

During the next week, our rental office contacted us and said that we were not allowed to have the dish in the front yard. The one dish the installer had seen had been placed before new guidelines had been set forth and we were only allowed to have the dish in the back. Meanwhile, while we thought we could keep the dish, we had ordered the early bird special for NFL Sunday ticket for $279.95. We went back and forth with the rental office for about a week and then called DirecTV to come out and re-check the line of sight from the backyard. My husband specifically asked that the previous installer not come to the house. They scheduled a time for when my husband would be at work.

The day came and the original installer shows up at the house. I opened the door and he says, "I know your husband doesn't want me here." It made me very uncomfortable and scared since I was at home alone with my three kids. He tells me that his supervisor will be there soon. I told him to hold on and I called my husband and asked him what he wanted me to do. He asked me to please have the supervisor call him when he gets there. I told the installer that we would wait for the supervisor and when the supervisor got there, my husband wanted to talk to him about the service and line of sight. The installer asked if he could wait in my house. I told him no. Not too much longer after that, I noticed there were two DirecTV installers in my backyard and they were walking around to the front of my building. I called my husband, thinking that they were coming to the front door to talk to him as we had requested, and then no one ever came. My husband said they were probably checking something and would be right back, but the supervisor never made it back nor did he ever make contact with us.

On 07/07/2009 (posted 07/08/2009), we were auto-debited $71.81 out of our checking account for our June service. At this point, we called and set up service with Time Warner Cable. We called and cancelled with DirecTV and scheduled to have them remove the dish. I believe the first time they were scheduled, they never showed up and then the second time they were scheduled on 07/14/2009, they were due to come at 8 or 9 o'clock am and showed up several hours after that. Thankfully, they sent a different installer on 07/14/2009 and when he showed up, he wasn't sure why he was at my home. I told him we had no line of sight where the dish needed to be placed and it had to be removed and tried to give him my receiver boxes and cable. He said he could not take the receiver boxes and that DirecTV would be sending me return boxes within the week.

On 7/22/2009, we were issued a bill for $367.16 for monthly service from 7/21/2009-8/20/2009 and NFL Sunday Ticket. Our service had been cancelled and our dish removed a week prior to the bill. My husband called and talked to customer service who assured him that charges would be reversed and not to worry. My husband then called back again somewhere around 08/01/2009 to verify that the charges had been reversed and let DirecTV know they had not sent out our return boxes for the receivers and was told that they were taking care of the situation and that the account would be resolved within 10 days.

On 08/04/2009, another bill was issued for $429.03 for early cancellation fees and on 08/06/2009 (posted 08/07/2009) another charge of $367.16 was taken out of our checking account by DirecTV. On 08/06/09, I called my bank which was unable to do anything about the charge because it was through our debit card. I then called DirecTV and spoke to a customer service rep (Debbie) that told me that on all the (many) notes on our account, it said we were specifically not to be charged an early cancellation fee due to the fact we had no line of sight where the dish needed to be placed and then she spent quite a while typing up a refund request to DirecTV finance in order to have the $367.16 refunded to us, since we obviously didn't have these services. She told me she was elevating my refund and to expect it to be credited by 08/21/2009. She also mentioned that we could check the status at anytime.

Meanwhile, the $429.03 bill that was generated 08/04/2009 arrived. My husband then called again to check the status somewhere around 08/13/2009 and was told by Claudia there had been an error in the disconnect submission and it had failed to mention that we disconnected due to no line of sight and that they would resubmit our refund request and also allow for an additional $120 to cover overdraft fees that had been caused as a direct result of the $367.16. We were told to expect our refund within 10 days. On August 24th, my husband called to check the status of our refund and was told he would not be getting a refund for the $367.16; he was disconnected from the call two times. He was told to write a letter if he had a problem with it. He was told that it was his fault and his misinformation that caused the charges. He asked to speak to the manager of the person he was speaking to and she flatly refused.

On 08/25/2009, $679.58 was taken out of our checking account by DirecTV (initiated on the date of my husband's phone call 08/24/2009). I immediately called my bank, which could not do anything since DirecTV was using our debit card number and cancelled our debit cards. So far, we have paid $1,138.55 to DirecTV; $1046.74 of which was stolen without authorization by DirecTV.

I stayed with them, though there's no signal. All that good stuff we as customers do. Then because I canceled my account with them 6 months before the contract ended, they charged my bank account for $642.24. They said it's in the contract. My bank now is overdrawn. I did not give them the right to take money out of my account. They said that as soon as you sign up, you give them the right. So my question was, why didn't they just automatically take the money for my bill then, since I don't have the right over my bank account and whom I decided to pay.

My agreement with them was for a service for $24.99 month. At this point, it is $69.99 a month if I choose to watch TV. I have spoken with many different individuals each giving me a different story each time. I have spent a total of 36 hours on the phone with them and today, I was told if I want to watch TV, I have to pay this amount. This is the biggest rip off I have encountered in a while. They are the best scam artists and the government needs to check in on their billing and sales practices.

I telephoned DirecTV on 6/22, 7/3, 7/17, 7/27, 8/7 and 8/22/09. Each rep stated that the box had been received by DirecTV on 7/16/09 and that due to DirecTV's transmission causing the damaged box and since we had been with DirecTV for years, the early cancellation fee was invalid. Each rep stated they did not know why full credit had not been issued, but that they would make sure full credit was issued by them (rep names, badge/employee numbers, dates and times all recorded). Then today, 8/22/09, I learned that on 8/16/09 at 11:09PM Eastern time, my Chase credit card had received a charge for $379.81 from DirecTV, but they did not honor the charge. For years, we had only used this card for balance transfers and DirecTV did not have my new expiration date, etc.

After learning of this unauthorized attempt, I telephoned DirecTV and the rep once again stated that no credits had been issued and that they were perfectly authorized to charge the card number, which they obtained when we first signed up for DirecTV. How could they do that? Many years ago, I may have provided them a number to secure delivery and installation of the satellite, but I did not authorize any person at DirecTV to use my card number after that time. Please help!

I spoke with about 6 different representatives, two of whom were rude, and one was a "Supervisor" who hung up on me. Their way of fixing the situation was to credit me $50 for the missed appointment and $5 off the next 6 months(!) which in comparison to what I would have made that day had I gone to work is no comparison. It's not even half of what I would have made. The issue is still not resolved and they are adamant about making me wait another week for my services.

In my opinion, this is a breach of contract. They are not fulfilling their end of the contract by providing a "certain level of service". I have only been with DirecTV for a month and have already encountered such a huge issue! This is ridiculous.

Today, I was told that I do not qualify for the special because the package is one that qualifies me for the rebate. Before the dish was installed, I was told that the package qualified and was also told that the rebate will kick in after two months. It has been several months since then. Almost a year now. For DirecTV to turn around and say my package is not qualified should relieve me of any contract. If I'm not qualified for rebate, why then are they placing me on contract? Contract for what? Now when I asked them to disconnect, I was told that I would pay a termination fee of $240.00. My disabled daughter, who is suffering a malignant MS can't afford that. She is on monthly disability checks and we have to be responsible. However, we can't afford the regular and the early termination.

I then asked why no one at Best Buy told me that and why they didn't tell me that when I register the new DVR. They gave no answer. They then told me that there would be a charge of $280.00 for early termination. I then told them that I was a customer for over 4 years, and they then told me that when I purchased the DVR (that I didn't own), I agreed to a 2-year contract, which again I was not aware of nor did anyone with Best Buy or DirecTV told me when I did purchase the DVR (that I did not own). After I was told that I would have to pay an early termination fee, I flat out refused to pay. I had been taken already for $250.00 for the DVR. I wasn't about to pay another $280.00 for a contract that I did not know about nor did I sign anything to that effect. I tried to work this out with DirecTV with no response.

Needless to say, they put me in collections. This now has been going on for over a year. I get calls from the collection agency, which I informed that until DirecTV contacts me, I will not pay. I also have filed a dispute with the credit reporting agency. DirecTV is by far the worst company I have ever dealt with, and I feel that the FCC should look into them. I also feel that DirecTV scams a lot of their customers. I would never recommend DirecTV to anyone. I feel a class action suit is in order.

I soon ran into problems with the new account I had been forced to open because the satellites continued to be turned off at random, and I would call and have them turned back on and a week later, they would be turned off again. I grew tired of this annoyance and decided to go all cable in MN and keep DirecTV only in FL, so I called and closed the new account I had been forced to open. A year later, I found that I have an outstanding balance with DirecTV due to being charged an early cancellation fee because I had broken my contract agreement. I had opened a new account because I was told I had to. I never had any new equipment or special discount for being a new customer because I am not a new customer. I am still a loyal customer with an active account.

According to DirecTV's records, I am on their A-list, one of their most valued customers. I do not feel I was treated fairly in this matter and want other consumers to be aware of DirecTV's practices. My account was turned over to collections and I paid $352.10 in early cancellation fees.

When I accepted the DirecTV service, I was told that I could get Las Vegas local channels living in Bullhead. I go to Vegas 90 miles, but I will not go to Phoenix 300 miles away. I know every news bit about Phoenix - every chicken stand giving away free food, all the deals on furniture, all at a place I never go! But nothing about Vegas and that one fact alone was why I changed to DirecTV. The sales guy said after I got hooked up, just order the Vegas local channel pack for $5-8 a month. When I called to do this, the truth of it was that I could not get this after I already had DirecTV service installed in my home. Shady sales, not to mention, the introductory offer of $14.99 a month for 6 months is an intro to the end of a not one, but two year contract.

When I had an HD\DVR exchanged to fix a video problem that did not fix the problem, I was told by the repair guy that the 4G signal was what made moving objects slice up horizontally. That and many audio mis-sync movies. People's lips move after the sounds. Program guide says "auto race" tune in and it is "tennis," boxing is Texas hold'em. Disappointing, but not a deal breaker. Then as of the date, I have had my share of problems with the Direct billing either it not being paid or it being double billed that Ka-chuging is not good for either party. Again, I thought I had this working. Then, I saw a bill for double again for August.

I had direct billing removed from my account on 8-11-09. I then received a box to return the receiver after I had mailed it. I was looking at my bank account and seen that without notice, they had charged me $340.00 for early termination, all at one time and taken it even after I had removed this method of payment to them. My bank, US Bank, has filed a dispute on my behalf but without more push. I feel the fact that the bad TV service that I had will not be the issue nor the inappropriate grab at my money, they will just stand on the contract that I had TV service. I live on a fixed income. This $340.00 will hurt me greatly as that is my food and bills money for the month. In a nut, lies, bad service and lack of communication of the true intent to take more money and give excuses of not HDTV is what DirecTV is guilty of. I called to talk to a supervisor and was told that lying about the channels and getting a poor picture were not sufficient to let me out of the contract.

For the misrepresented ability to get me Vegas channels and the inability to fix HD signal issues, I would like to terminate the service with no penalty. I will pay for the final month of use and will send the equipment back, in boxes you'll send to me.

A 4 or 5 months later, I fell behind on I think one payment and they called me to make the payment. I was fine with that so I did a check over the phone for the past due amount ($41). I told them that was all I could afford to pay at that time because that was all I had in the bank. Everything was fine till I went to check my bank account; they took over $150 which had overdrawn my account. Like a lot of people anymore, my family is living paycheck to paycheck. That was July 14th. As soon as I found that, I called them and they told me that it had already been sent to a different department and I should receive a refund and they would take care of any charges to my account that they had caused and it will take no longer than 8 days.

To make a long story short, I had called them several times just for them to tell me sometime in the middle of August that the charge to my account was right because that is what I owed and it did not matter what I had authorized them to take when I did the check by phone, and that I would have to contact my bank to deal with the charges to my account. So, I disconnected my account and they sent me the boxes that they send to get the receivers back and sent me another bill for $360 expecting me to pay that and return the receivers when they had already stolen so much money from my family. I have to think long and hard about returning the receivers. If there is any type of lawsuit against them, I am 100% on board with that.

My mother also had DirecTV. They came out and installed it, and a couple of days later, there was a big storm and the dish got struck. It took them 2 weeks to come out and fix it. It worked for, I think, 2 or 3 days and it quit again (no storm this time). She called them and told them that she did not want their service any longer because the 3 weeks to a month she had it, she only had service for maybe a week. They charged her account $460 for early termination when they were the ones that messed up.

All in all, the service was really bad for both of us and they will just steal your money. Someone needs to do something about them.

When I called Quest, their rep. laughed and stated, "I don't know how or why DirecTV continues to tell their customers that because we don't have any agreement with them nor do we offer high speed internet for $19.95. Our lowest plan starts at $34.95 per mo. and we have no ties to DirecTV." I've spent over 23 hours on the phone trying to resolve these and billing issues with DirecTV, to no avail. I wrote numerous emails trying to resolve these issues. I finally called on 7-18-09 to terminate my service with DirecTV and was told "Oregon is a special state and our agreement only allows customers to opt out of service within 15 days and you happen to be one day past this."

I wrote the corp. office on July 28th and explained the above unresolved issues to them "seeking resolution or termination without charge to my credit card." On Aug. 7th, I called when I found I had no satellite service and was told I had been terminated. When I asked why, they said they couldn't tell me. When I asked who could tell me, they said they didn't know. When I asked if I was being charged for termination, they said they didn't know. I asked for a contact to apprise me when they did know and never heard from anybody. I never received any form of notification of termination of service.

When I received an empty box this week from them to send their equipment back, I called and was told my account had been billed $415.93 for early termination penalties. When I questioned why, they, again, said they couldn't answer that and they couldn't offer me any further numbers or contact names to find my answer. I have read over and over testimonies that cite these same issues. Are your offices pursuing or considering legal ramifications for these many same complaints? Please let me know asap, so I can make my own decisions in what legal direction to pursue. Thanks.

Please, some lawyer, start a class action lawsuit against this company. You would win hands down. No one ever signs a contract. They are just modern day pirates, getting rich by taking money out of people's accounts without permission.

1. I received your service for the first time on March 29th of this year. My initial installation was free. I told the technician that I wanted service in my living room (downstairs) and in my bedroom (upstairs). The technician told me that he was not allowed to install upstairs. I was very disappointed. At that moment, I would have sent him away and ordered cable. However, my building is not wired for cable. A couple of months later, some neighbors moved in and they also ordered DirecTV. A different technician performed their installations and had no problems connecting services to the second-floor rooms. Upon hearing the news, I called DirecTV and was told that since it was not done during my initial installation, that I have to pay for it. I explained that the technician told me he could not. Again, they insisted that I am going to have to pay if I want it. My neighbors didn't have to, but I do? Even if it was because DirecTV's employee did not do his job?

2. I received a coupon in the mail from DirecTV for a Free Movie that expired two days before it was postmarked.

3. After receiving no signal, I reset my receiver on Friday, August 14. It froze. After troubleshooting over the telephone with a DirecTV representative for 30 minutes, she tells me that my receiver must be bad and that I need a new one. In order to receive it, I have to pay for shipping and handling. I was floored. The receiver has been untouched since I got it in March. The problem is not a result of anything I have done. I requested the representative to make notes in my account and I would call back in the morning with a confirmation to ship a new receiver if I still could not get it to work.

The next morning, I called back. The rep sees the notes, but says she must troubleshoot anyway. I have to do the same things all over again to get the same exact result. But this time, the outcome on her end is different. The system tells her I need a technician to come out. I have to pay $49.99 to go without television from August 14 until August 26.

I am asking you to rectify the situation regarding service in my bedroom. It is a service that was included but not performed. I anticipate a response within 30 days upon receipt of this letter or I will be forced to file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

The consequences have been large. Because they charged my debit card $482, I cannot pay my child's medical bills and I am being charged a late fee for those. I am also being charged interest as DirecTV (which makes millions a year) will not refund my money until they receive the receivers, which they are making me mail at my cost. I have also gone over my cellphone minutes trying to fix this which is an additional cost. I cannot urge you enough to not get DirecTV!

When I explained to the CSR that I wanted to cancel service, she then informed me that I would be charged a $150 fee because my fiancé had ordered an additional receiver in April over the phone and agreed to a 1 year service agreement on the receiver. Richard got on the phone with the CSR and stated that he had not at any time agreed to a year contract nor was anything conveyed to him in that conversation that he was bound by a 1 year agreement. He did not sign anything agreeing to be bound by a one year agreement.

Richard got on the phone to a supervisor at this point, who stated that she had listened to the conversation that he had with the CSR in April and was there at no time anything said about a 1 year agreement or contract. Nothing was said about it, and he certainly did not agree to anything of that nature either vocally or by signature. The supervisor then stated that we were not obligated to pay the fee and the fee was waived.

Here is where it gets tricky. My fiancé, Richard **, had been paying the bill for five months. It had been transferred in his name for five months. I had called and asked to have my information removed from the account, including my credit card info, and was told that while Richard was now responsible for the bill, they could not take my name off of the account as my card was no longer active. I un-enrolled in automatic bill pay in March as well.

When I checked my account this morning, Sunday, August 16, 2009, I noticed that your company debited my card illegally for the amount of $146.97. There are two reasons that this was unwarranted and perhaps legally actionable on my part. First, my fiancé already spoke to a supervisor regarding this charge that they stated he was responsible for and she reviewed the audio tapes of his conversation in April and had declared that he was not liable for this charge. Secondly, you charged my account without authorization.

I spoke with Erin, a supervisor working for you. She was rude and very unhelpful and even hung up on me. I called your 800 number back 800-347-3288, and then spoke to Jerry, who was extremely helpful and patient. I conveyed this entire story to him and he explained that he was powerless to refund my account, that I had the option of contacting the billing dispute department. I sincerely hope that we can resolve this matter quickly and without legal intervention.

As a result of your debiting my account, I was overdrawn and incurred fees from my institution. I look forward to hearing from you in regard to this matter within the week. If I do not hear from you after 10 days, I will assume that you have no interest in resolving this matter, and will contact a lawyer and my local news team. Thank you.

I called DirecTV when I got off work to see what had happened. I asked to speak to a supervisor, for whom I waited for 45 minutes to speak to. When the supervisor got on the phone and looked over the order, she said that the tech came and "claimed" he should have left a service tag. No tag was left on the door, and so I asked for someone to give me a call to reschedule. I asked for the technician to call me on my cell this time in order to speak to me! The next available date was on Tuesday, 08/11/09.

The tech came to the house and said he was told, according to the work order, that he was to install 2 receivers. I told him no and that was wrong and that he was just supposed to install the cable wiring and hook the two rooms to the satellite dish. He said I would have to pay by credit card and that if he had to go through the walls to install the cable, then it would cost me more money. I told him he could leave and that I would reschedule something else. I called back and talked to another idiot, who told me I would have to have the receivers before I could have the cable wiring installed. She told me that if the tech had to go through the walls, then the charges would go up.

Right now, I'm done with DirecTV regarding this project and have been a loyal customer since 2005. This is how "loyal" customers get treated, which is a real tragedy! I looked at my bill and noticed there was a $53.04 charge on the bill, which I don't know what for. I will not be paying this bill for services that were not performed. I will also be writing the Office of the Attorney-General of Texas and the BBB.

I never signed a 2-year contract and would never have done so if I knew. Everything has been screwed up with DirecTV from the start. I do not wish anyone to have this headache. This is absurd and they should not be allowed to conduct business in this manner. I have to pay $20 a month for the remaining ''months on my contract'' that I never signed up for to begin with.

So I thought even after 3-4 days of installation I will get enough time to get a clear picture to stay in or not. Aug 4, 2009 I got the service box installed at my house (Dish was already there from the last owner). The installation guy only had black cable so I got him white cable as it was getting laid in light color wall. But I wasn’t satisfied with the service, I am not sure rain was the problem or the connection. So, I called on August 06, 2009 to cancel my service. The customer service representative this time was in different node it wasn’t no questions asked anymore. He was rude and argued to keep the service. When I completely dismissed the idea, he told me I will be charged the cancellation fee.

I explained to him I was sold with the commitment that I can cancel my service within 15 days and I am way before that. After a long discussion, he ended that we will just cancel the service. I forgot to ask him how to return the box so I called again and another customer service rep explained me how to return the box. Also, I confirmed with him about the billing so he told me that as being in NJ, I do get 15 day time to cancel therefore I won’t have to pay any cancellation or charges. I got the cable activated, FedEx empty box came and box, remote, card sent back, all set.

But the night mare wasn’t over yet, on Aug 15, 2009. I was checking my card account and there were charges of $463 on my account from DirecTV so I went to their website. They charged me cancellation fee. I called the customer service again for the correction. But this time to my surprise they had a different story for me, that though you can cancel your connection within 15 days only till your box is not installed, once the service is installed you have 24 hours only. Since I called 2nd day, I am going to be charged with the cancellation fee. I explained them all the previous conversations but they had deaf ears for me and were repeating the same thing again and again. I even talked to the supervisor, who was not even hearing me, even after finishing my sentence he will not respond back to me.

Anyway, he told me that the cancellation information is provided on all the different location as flyer, advertisement, customer agreement and so on. I haven’t found it at any place yet, that within 24 hours of installation you need to cancel the service if you don’t like it. Also provided me an address of their legal dispute department that I can take my issue.

Can anyone explain why I have been penalized, was trusting the DirecTV company sales rep was my fault? I don’t know about the rest of the people but $463 was not a small amount for me to let it go to waste. I feel I have been robbed by a big company with such a huge amount. First, they fooled me into it and then they charged me with even letting me know. If I am no more than a helpless common man, then what I am?

All I can do is by letting everyone else like me to know that don’t fall for their prey. Once you will give your card or account number, they will charge you whatever they want and all you can do is see yourself being robbed by your hard eared money. I have not only lost $463.73, but also feeling like being fooled, and being mistreated by the company customer service rep when they hear about cancellation.

Direct TV uses deceptive business practices by telling you that when you sign for the equipment the contract is on the back. I challenged that and said to fax me, the said contract, that shows my signature and of course they could not come up with it. There was never any mention of cancellation fee or contract at the beginning of sale or even at installation. This proves they do not communicate their business practices honorable. Each of us knows how important service is in business. One of my favorite quotes helps put it all in perspective:

"There is only one boss in the company: the customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman on down simply by spending his money somewhere else." - Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart. He is right on the money with his assessment, and I want the President of Direct TV to know without us they will have no reason to be in business. It is just a matter of time before they will lose! Please add this to the pending lawsuit, so that we may help all of those who have been taken by this snaky company. That is a quote from my bank!

When they took the money out of my bank account, it caused an overdraft as I had already written a check for rent which hadn't hit my account before them. I was charged overdraft charges which I have not been able to recover. The embarrassment it caused between my new landlord and I was horrible. It was my first rent check. You know it will always be in the back of his mind that I may have written a bad check. Then, I had to ask a family member in another country to cover the amount he took out as well as the overdraft fees. So, there were fees from the bank for an international deposit I had to pay. They have caused stress and anguish. And to this day, I am frustrated as they have put me in collections, which means they will hound me by calling my phone and wanting payment.

I sent an email to customer service (again) and I was just told 'sorry'. I told them to cancel the account and they told me to call back again. I corresponded with them several times about canceling and even told them I was having new service connected and to cancel the account on a certain date. I was not sure if the account was closed. So, I called in again and when I canceled, I was told (for the very first time) that there was an early cancellation fee. I told them they should waive it and they refused. Why did they offer me a deal to stay if I was in a contract and I would be breaking the contract to leave? I also told them they no longer had permission to charge the credit card on file and they charged next month’s service and tell me they will be charging the cancellation fee on it.

I am tired of dealing with these people. They are terribly rude and incompetent. I have wasted several hours by email and phone and have not gotten anything but grief. I want something done about this so if anyone can help me that would be great. I am also out $240 (early termination) plus a month's charge of $76 (that they just charged and it would be for next month). I can go into more details if needed.

Later, at the time of cancellation of my services, I was told that I had entered into a new agreement when I received the new Receiver box at the time of the repairs. I explained that I had no knowledge of even receiving a new box. All I knew was my service was restored by the Service man. How he fixed the problem I didn't know. He only stated, "your problem is fixed." I was not asked to sign anything.

Today, 8/14/09, I spoke with about 4 different DirecTV representatives, all giving me a different story. I have never been so confused in my life. I am extremely sorry I ever got involved with DirecTV and their deceptive tactics. My account also shows a previous balance after paying my bill monthly, even if sometimes late, I still pay to keep my services on. June payment was credited to my account on July 1, 2009 in the amount of $38.19. I also cancelled on this same day. So, I really honestly cannot figure out this final bill. Before this issue, I was receiving phone calls that my shipped receivers had not been received by their company. This did not bother me at all, because I was confident that I had followed instructions carefully, and had recorded and dated all shipping information. So, it looks like that situation took care of itself.

On July 30, I checked my bank statement and was billed for $171.26 plus an insufficient amount of $35, because DirecTV charged my account. I immediately called and spoke with Ryan, who explained plus he verified it in their system and said I would be receiving my money back. He said it would take up to 8-10 business days. I expressed to him the urgency of my getting my money back and now. He also said I needed to fax my bank information in order to obtain my insufficient funds back. The fax was sent, and there's no refund.

On July 31, I called back and spoke with Mary, who said the supervisor was not available and someone would call me back in a couple of hours. No one called. I called back spoke with Amanda. I had her to transfer me to her supervisor Tonda, then I requested her boss Randall. Randall said the same as the others did that my refund would be in 8-10 business days. Each time, I have expressed the urgency of my getting my money back. The only action given was them saying it would be refunded.

Each time I called DirecTV, I got a different part of the country. The customer service was horrible. I have already faxed my information, and there's no solution. On August 7, I called back spoke with manager Brent who said the same as the others. On August 12, Jennifer called from someone's office who claimed she is the highest and that there is no one else to speak with. As of today's date, my bill has been due; but at the time the unauthorized transaction was done, it was not due. I had till August 4 and needed my money back into my account. She would not pull or try to see if my call was recorded, so I can prove to her I did not authorize DirecTV to take money out of my account.

I had the services during the date, and payment would have been paid; but when I had the money which would have been before August 4, DirecTV's action caused my account to be overdraft for insufficient funds. I want DirecTV to admit they were wrong and give me back my $35 fee along with 1 month of service for the hell they have put me through for the past few days.

I can't express how I didn't speak nor authorized a transaction. This is ridiculous and unacceptable for a company to do such a thing and didn't resolve my problem when I first called. So of course now, since the 4th has passed, my bill was due and I used the services. When I first got the services, I have had nothing but problems on 2-6; for instance, your company added NFL ticket to my bill and I didn't authorize it. This is just one of many problems I have had with this company.

Month 1: They tried to bill me for a $460.00 early cancellation fee (which I finally got them to drop, by playing my recorded conversation back to them).

Month 2: Qwest had already paid them one month, but now said that since they'd paid, and the account was canceled with DirecTV, it was my job to get my money refunded, and I would still need to pay Qwest, which I did.

7/20 (six weeks after canceling): I still don't have my refund from DirecTV (which they acknowledge is due me). They say it will be mailed in five to seven business days.

7/31: Still no refund. I call again. They tell me it was mailed on 7/29, and I will have it Monday, 8/3.

8/4: Still no refund. I call again. The supervisor affirms again that it was mailed 7/29. If I don't have it "in a couple of days," I should call back.

8/12: Still no refund. I call again. This time, the agent says it will be six to eight weeks. I tell her that I was promised it on the 3rd, and told that it had been mailed on the 29th. She checks and no, it was mailed on 8/5. I ask for supervisor. He says it was mailed on 8/5. I play him back the recording of the others telling me it was mailed 7/29. He verbally shrugs.

8/14: Still no refund. Still no help. DirecTV is still a horrible, dishonest business entity.

Do not do business with them under any circumstances.

I became a DirecTV subscriber back in March 2004. A customer agreement contract be viewed at directv.com/legal. In June 2007, Qwest communications contacted me and offered to provide bundled services and billing to me, which included phone services, DSL Internet, and DirecTV services at a savings, because I was already a Qwest and DirecTV customer. I accepted Qwest's offer and began paying Qwest for bundled services in that month. There was never any contact between DirecTV and I about my DirecTV service or modifications made to our customer agreement contract.

In March 2008, I had installed a new DirecTV receiver in my newly finished basement by a DirecTV installer and signed a DirecTV Equipment Lease Addendum. In June 2008, Qwest sent me my usual monthly bill; but it included double the normal charges I'd been paying for DirecTV services. There was no warning of this or explanation for it on the bill from Qwest. I contacted Qwest to inquire about the double charges and was told that DirecTV had billed for that amount. I contacted DirecTV, and DirecTV's customer service representatives refused to speak with me about my account, because I was on bundled services and billing with Qwest. I went back and forth between Qwest and DirecTV several times, trying to figure out the billing problem or change to no avail.

In complete frustration with the two companies, I began looking over my customer agreement contract with DirecTV. I discovered violations to that agreement made by DirecTV. Referencing the customer agreement, 2. Payment (d) Billing Statements: we will send you a statement for each billing cycle. DirecTV did not send me a statement for 11 straight months and then refused to discuss my account with me. Due to this, I was unable to determine what I was being billed for from Qwest. There is no provision in the agreement for them not to send me a statement. It says other companies may bill me but that I still need a statement from DirecTV as stated in the agreement.

4. Changes in Contract Terms. DirecTV failed to provide me with a new customer agreement contract outlining bundled billing and services from Qwest. After repeated attempts to resolve these problems with Qwest and DirecTV's unwillingness to cooperate, I cancelled my bundled services by calling Qwest on August 20, 2008. At that time, Qwest told me that I would need to call DirecTV to cancel my TV service, which I found strange since DirecTV had previously told me that I needed to deal with Qwest?

I called DirecTV and canceled my service on the same day right after my call with Qwest. The DirecTV representative I talked to tried to convince me otherwise and said I may have to pay an early cancellation fee for the Equipment Lease and Programming agreement made back in March. I told the representative that I was canceling, because our Customer Agreement Contract (also referred to in the Equipment Lease and Programming agreement) had been violated by them and that they had no further legal grounds to pursue me. The disagreement became heated, and I ended the call.

DirecTV then further violated the agreement by not canceling my service on the day I called to cancel. Referencing the customer agreement again, 5. Cancellation (b) Your Cancellation: Your notice is effective on the day we receive it. It took numerous phones calls on several different dates to get DirecTV to finally cancel my service sometime at the beginning of October 2008. On October 15, 2008, DirecTV used the credit card information I'd given them for my installation back in March of that year and charged my Chase Visa account for an early termination fee in the amount of $282.57.

I called DirecTV and informed them that they had no right to do this, since they had violated their own Customer Agreement Contract, which allowed me to terminate my service and the Equipment Lease and Programming contract, which clearly states that it must be read together with the Customer Agreement. DirecTV refused to reverse the charge. I then wrote a letter to Chase Bank, outlining the situation as I've done here and disputed DirecTV's $282.57 charge to my account. After reviewing my dispute, Chase Bank agreed with me. Chase Bank reversed DirecTV's $282.57 charge, credited me any related finance charges, and gave me an apology. After several letters and much arguing between DirecTV and me, they (DirecTV) have now sent my account to a collection agency (CBA Group, phone number 319-274-1904). I've informed CBA Group in detail why I dispute this billing, but I'm not sure if they'll stop calling or pursuing me for the amount DirecTV alleges I owe.

I believe Qwest and DirecTV's partnership and bundled billing program clearly violate DirecTV's Customer Agreement contract it has with all its customers. Furthermore, DirecTV's enforcement of Equipment Lease and Programming agreements per the use of customers' credit cards under that contract now constitutes consumer fraud, and I believe, DirecTV is very aware of this. If this is true, and considering Qwest's offering of these services in many states, DirecTV may have unfairly taken early termination fees from thousands of consumers in multiple states.

I believe further investigation is warranted and may need to be done by offices in several states. In looking up DirecTV at the California Attorney-General's website, I noticed that DirecTV has over 10,000 complaints against them concerning breach of contract.

When I got the final bill showing that I owed $700+, I called DirecTV to find out why. They advised me that it was my last monthly payment, the cancellation fee, and a transfer balance. I asked the customer service rep where the transfer balance came from, and they told me it was from a previously opened account at the same address. I asked if they could give me the name on the previous account, which they did. They verified the name and the Social Security Number that were linked to that account; neither of which belonged to me.

They withdrew the amount of $700+ from my bank account twice. I stopped payment on both attempts and changed my debit card number, so they could no longer access that account. I spent several months contacting DirecTV, attempting to straighten out my account; and finally, it seemed to have been taken care of. They sent me an updated bill, which stated "no payment due" and an account balance of "$0.00." I was later contacted by a collection agency regarding the charge of $700+, to which I advised them I would contact DirecTV again.

We went round and round again with the transfer balance, and finally, they sent me another updated bill showing "no payment due" and an account balance of "$0.00." Now, I again have been contacted by another collection agency for the same $700+. This debt that belongs to someone else has been placed on my credit record, and all I am being told is that no one can help me.

I have no unpaid Verizon bills. They are not the debt police. They are not entitled to the $69.38 and I have gotten various different explanations as to why they are keeping my money - one less plausible than the next. I sent back their converter because they are a despicable thieving company that I don't want to do business with. I am sure that they will try something else now that the converter is returned.

I have all emails, all the paperwork, proof of converter return and receipt. I hot listed my debit card so they can't just take my money without my permission. My credit rating is over 800. I never leave a bill unpaid. They don't have a leg to stand on but still, they kept my money. They should be investigated, sued and shut down.

The next guy who came out said that he couldn't do anything because it was an install and not a fix. I said okay, so what? He said he would not get paid unless if the paperwork said install. So, I had to call back and argue with another rep so they would fix the paperwork to read install and not fix. The next guy came out and said that since it said install, he didn't have the right stuff to fix it. I called back and got another rep. I wasted about 10 hours on the phone over a period of 2 months and missed the beginning of football season with no TV. I finally got service. I had it okay for about 7 months. Then all of a sudden, it stopped working. I called and reported the problem.

I was on my cell for 40 minutes while the guy walked me through unplugging stuff and checking to see if little wires were bent. After he realized that nothing was wrong, he transferred me to the troubleshooting department. It took him 10 minutes to get the call to go through. When I got to troubleshooting, the girl said that the first rep didn't describe the problem correctly. After talking to her for 5 minutes, we got cut off. No one ever called me back. At this point, after not having service for 2 more months and several phone calls, I decided to switch to Comcast. I called to cancel and told the guy that I would not be paying the last month's bill since I haven't had service in 2 months. He warned me that they would be doing a debit from my card automatically if I didn't pay it in 45 days.

As far as I'm concerned, they owe me money for the beautiful tree that I had to take down. The guy who finally got me hooked up and working told me that the tree didn't need to come down. He said the first guy didn't know what he was talking about (from the same company, how funny is that?). And we had to seal the holes in the side of the house ourselves because he left it unfinished. I will be filing a claim if they do the automatic debit. When I called Comcast, it was so much easier already.

It's hard to believe that the company can remain in business. I heard that DISH Network is the same. So where does that leave us for satellite? I left Cable TV due to outage problems. What can be done about such poor shoddy service practices in our community?

It had become impossible to deal with them because every time you need to address a problem, you have to deal with another person whom you can either not understand or winds up making the problem worse. You get the standard line, "Oh, we really appreciate your loyalty" and proceed to stick it to you. What should have been a simple change in service has developed into a nightmare of incomprehensible customer service, almost a dozen emails that achieve nothing, and a website that takes forever to navigate. I have wasted days on trying to deal with them. I want to cancel service - but I want reimbursement for the standard receiver. This whole process has cost more than I could have saved in a year and I believe that's the whole idea.

Then Susan checked the number that the message gave to call and said it was a number to special ops. She asked If I knew a Corey or Milessa ** to which I told her that I didn't, and she told me that I needed to call 1-800-880-8695 and that they were closed at that time and were only open from Monday-Friday, 8am to 5pm. I asked why would they call and give a 24-hour time period to return the call if they weren't open. She agreed that was strange and she said not to worry, that she would put a notation on my account that I had called and would try to call in the morning because I had fasting blood work in the morning. I called special ops at 1-800-880-8695 and spoke to a customer service rep and they asked me if I knew a Corey or Milessa **, that there were outstanding charges owed to your company. At which time I informed her that I was Robert **, and verified my address and my phone number. And she said that there was billing to my address for the other 2 persons.

At which time I asked to speak to her supervisor to hopefully get the problem resolved. I was told her supervisor was off for the day. Well, let's just shut down DirecTV because one person has the day off. I then asked for her supervisor’s supervisor and I was connected to a Mr. Stanley, who informed me that you people have special government software that connected my account at ** to other accounts past due. I told him that I had paid my account through my Visa and it was in good standing. He informed me that there was a balance in excess of $200.00 owed and that I had to pay it either by check or charge. I asked him for proof. What account number, what Social Security number; all to which he responded, “I can't give out that information to you.” I told him that was a bunch of crap, that I had lived here from 1984.

In 1985, I bought a Paraclipse commercial dish from John McDougall (better known as Captain Midnight). My services were through Cox Satellite in Atlanta, GA and from 1985 to 2003, my dish was up and running, then I went to the local cable company till I went to Hughes for my DSL service at which time I subscribed to DirecTV. He again asked if I wanted to pay the charges by check or charge, and informed me that I had to write a letter to you to dispute this problem. I asked to be transferred to your department by phone and he replied that you did not have a phone and that the matter had to be handled by letter. At which time, he told me to look at my TV and watch it shut off and then hung up.

I tried to call the customer service number and the caller ID service would give me a message to call the special ops number. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that they weren't available. I was told that FedEx was bringing out boxes to pick up my receivers. I asked about the charges to my Visa for service that you charged for 6/11/09 to 7/10/09 and you people shut my service down on the 7/6/09. Your rep, Rex, told me a check was to be mailed to me for the amount of $16.16 and I would receive it in 6 to 8 weeks. I told him that you charged my Visa credit, my Visa. I am paying interest on my card purchases and you people feel that you can do what you want, when you want. Well, I would like to have a phone call from someone with the brains, gonads and authority to answer both mine and my attorney’s questions.

I got a hold of the phone number for the VP of DirecTV, and called and spoke to his secretary, Susan. She advised me that Mr. Stanley was incorrect in his statements that my service was only interrupted, to which I said that he said it was terminated. She transferred me back to the special ops department and I spoke to a Danielle, who was another piece of work. She wanted me to submit copies of my driver’s license (front and back), social security card (front and back), and a copy of my lease or mortgage, to which I answered, “I don't have one.” She replied, “How can you live somewhere and not have a mortgage or a lease?” I told her, “It’s simple. You own it!” She then said for me to send copies of my utilities. I said, “Phone, electricity?” To which she replied, “No, we won't accept phone bill because you can have a cell phone bill sent anywhere.”

She then said that she wanted water, gas and electric. I told her that I don’t have water or gas bills. She replied, “How are you gonna live in a house without water and gas?” I replied, “I have a pipe in the ground; it’s called a well. Maybe you city slicker haven’t heard of it yet. And I get my propane tanks filled at Wally World.” I faxed the info to them in order to clear my name. When they called me to say they had removed the charges and would turn on my services, I told them to forget it, that I had gone to the other guys. They replied, “Well, you will have to pay an early cancellation charge.” I said, “I don't think so. You shut me off, so you broke my contract with me and I deserve something.” They said they would credit me for the time I paid and did not receive service and would send out a box to pick up my receivers.

I received a bill in the mail that stated I was to receive a $16.16 refund. I received one box with the instructions to pack one receiver and it gave the serial number for the unit on the label. So that is what I did. Next, I received another bill showing a zero balance (lost my credit some place) and then another bill showing a charge for $15.00 for service cancellation. I called them and they are so screwed up they don't know what they are doing.

The fourth month rolled around and still no bill, so I called them. I was told (after the fact) that I had to call in after the satellite was installed (a month, I believe) and have my special activated and that now, it was too late. The rep I talked to said she lowered it as best she could now but our special couldn't be used now. I tried explaining to her that we hadn't been informed of this "rule" and that we had also not given our permission for it to come directly out of our bank account each month. I told her their company was fortunate the money had been in there. She was able to reduce the bill some but nowhere near what was promised when we signed up.

We are now paying more for the new satellite than we were for the old satellite. Also, I do not want them in my bank account each month taking only God knows how much out. We cannot afford the higher bill each month and I cannot afford an overdraft from my bank account. We were lied to and misinformed and another year of this contract, or whatever it is, is unendurable. Thank you.

A few days later, a technician came to our home to install our dish. This is when all of the problems began. We didn’t receive the package we thought we were getting, and the price was different. Then soon after having the dish installed, it began pixelating and cutting out nearly constantly in about 10-30 second increments. This became upsetting, to the point that we were no longer watching TV within 2 weeks of ordering the service. The final 2 weeks of having DirecTV we had only a blank grey screen with no picture at all. We called and 2 technicians came to the home. They said that there was no line of sight, and that our dish never should have been installed where it was. They said we should call DirecTV and get a free HD upgrade which could get us a better picture, or have service cancelled without a fee.

The next night I spoke with Irma. I spoke to her about canceling our service because we hadn’t received a good picture, and were told by technicians that there was no good place for the dish. She asked my husband and me to give DirecTV a chance and that DirecTV would make everything right by us. She offered us a free HD upgrade. A few days later, the technicians came out to our home without any HD equipment, saying they were sent to our home on a service call. The 2 technicians confirmed what the 2 previous technicians stated, that there was no direct line of sight. I called again and spoke with Wanita who told me that there was no notation of the upgrade and that there was no way that we were told that we should receive an HD upgrade for a discounted price.

I called DirecTV again on June 24, 2009 to cancel our service due to having poor signal for the first 2 weeks, not having any signal for the last 2 weeks, receiving a different package from what we had ordered, our bill being incorrect, and having poor experiences in customer service. I spoke with several different representatives that night including Rebecca, Crystal, Immanuel, Adriana, Setna and Edgar. I was on the phone for over an hour. All of these representatives told me that we should have to pay a cancellation fee of over $400. Finally, I was transferred to Edgar in the cancellation department at 9:35pm. He said that he saw the notes in the system that there was no line of sight and that we would not be charged the cancellation fee.

On July 9, 2009 we received a bill for over $360 for canceling our service. I was transferred again and again. I spoke with Nicole, Adriana, and Tenise that night. Each representative told me that we did owe the cancellation fee. I told each of them that Edgar in the cancellation department already told us that we won’t be charged a cancellation fee, that 4 technicians had told us there was no line of sight, and that we had never received a good picture on our TV. Then, I finally I spoke with Tenise at 7:30pm who said that we can disregard the bill, and that no cancellation fee would be applied. He said that he saw in the notes that there was no line of sight. He said this was the final word, and not to worry about it again in the future, and to officially disregard our bill.

The night of July 24, 2009 I was balancing our checking account and saw that $576.22 had been deducted from our account! I was shocked, confused and very angry. I had never received a bill from DirecTV even explaining why this was taken out of our account, or even that we were being asked to pay any amount of money (which I believe is illegal). I called DirecTV that night and spoke with Eric, Christine and Steven. I was on the phone again for over an hour. Eric told us that we should in fact be charged the cancellation fee because there was no documentation of “no line of sight” in the notes, even after I had been told by several other representatives it was documented. He said the rest of the money was due to not receiving our receiver back yet.

I reminded Eric that on July 22, 2009, I spoke with Bill at DirecTV informing him that we still had not received our recovery kit, and that it wasn’t even shipped to us according to FedEx.com. We should not be charged if Direct TV didn’t follow through with their end of sending the recovery package. Eric agreed. I was then transferred to Christine. Christine told me that we had to pay the cancellation fee because we waited too long to ask for the cancellation fee to be waived after canceling service. This was a lie and I told her so, as we had cancelled our service and was told the cancellation fee was waived in the same conversation! She looked through the notes and said that she saw that there was no line of sight documented, and that she would transfer me and I would get our money back. That night I finally spoke with Steven.

Steven told me that we did have to pay the cancellation fee and that the people who told us that we didn’t have to pay it were incorrect. He put me on hold several times and spoke with his supervisor Mark. Steven and Mark both tried to tell me that even after being told by 2 people in the cancellation department that no fee would be applied, that we should have to pay the $576.22 because he saw no documentation of no line of sight. He also thought that the dish should have been moved, and cited many other reasons for us having to pay the fee. Steven put me on hold again several times. His supervisor Mark then gave him authorization that we should be reimbursed all of our money. I am still unclear even why he even changed his mind. This was posted to our DirecTV online account in writing.

Steven then told me that we would receive our money in 6-8 weeks. I asked for our money (which was taken from us without our authorization) to be given back sooner. Steven thought that at the soonest we could get our money back in 15 days. To my husband and me, $576.22 is a lot of money. We are lucky that we have enough money in our account to cover our bills during that time. My husband called 3 more times during that week after speaking with Steven. Each time he called, he was told different things about when our money would be returned to us. To be honest, after all that happened, I didn’t even trust DirecTV to get our money back to us, and we were in the process of seeking legal advice. I am happy to report that our money now has been returned, although DirecTV still owes us $18.

I would not be shocked to look at my account tomorrow and see that they had taken out funds for a different reason. I also have to admit that I hesitate in even writing this letter as a representative may try to find a loophole in what I am saying to trick us into paying the cancellation fee. All in all, my husband and I were unable to watch the service that we were paying for, and therefore wanted to cancel DirecTV. I thought that a satellite company would want their customer to be able to actually receive the service they were paying for, but I was wrong. In our experience Direct TV only cared about getting our money, and did not care about us, or the quality of service they were providing. Over the course of 2 months, I spoke with 24 representatives. I have documented all of their names, the dates and the times that I spoke with each of them, and what I was told by each of them.

Literally every single one of these representatives gave me different information regarding my account. This was the worst experience I have had with a company in my life. I have never had issues with any other provider companies of any sort, and this is the first letter that I have ever written in grievance for anything. The experiences that my husband had with DirecTV were inexcusable. I can’t even communicate accurately the amount of time, energy, and emotional exhaustion that has been expended working with Direct TV. I know that Direct TV advertises a 99% satisfaction rating. I have to mention, that not one of these 24 representatives ever asked me how satisfied I was with DirecTV. I think that it is because they all knew that the way that we were being treated was unjust, unfair, and completely unacceptable. I give DirecTV a 0% customer satisfaction rating.

Well here comes the first problem. We weren't told at the time we placed the order that we need to give the account number or to call a different number to place the order for the Refer A Friend credit of $100.00 (which will be $10.00 off my bill for the next 10 months). The young lady at the time continued to take our order after asking us how did we hear about the service and we told her that a friend referred us. She never mentioned that credit or that we needed to call another number. We come to find out after the service guy hooked up our account on the June 30th. I noticed that on the TV guide that they give out to you, you're supposed to give the account number of the friend who referred you in order to receive the credit. So, I asked the service guy about the Refer A Friend credit and he stated to call the customer service center center.

I called the customer service center to give my friend's account number in order to receive my $100.00 credit and was told that I wasn't eligible due to the fact that I didn't give the account number of my friend at the time the order was placed. The customer service rep didn't mention to us that we had to give that information after knowing that someone referred us. The rep then stated that there was nothing he could do, so I then asked to speak with his supervisor regarding the matter and explained to him what happened and that it wasn't our fault. We did our part by letting her know that a friend referred us. He then too stated that there was nothing he could do. I stated that they were both lying and that I've worked in customer service for 15 years and there is something that they could do, they just didn't want to.

So after going back and forth with the supervisor, he suggested that I call the Refer A Friend 866 number and speak with one of there reps (now here's the funny part), the 866 number that he was referring to was the same exact number I called to speak with him. Once telling him this, he couldn't understand as to how that happened, so I took his advice and called the 866 number again. Lo and behold, I ended up right back in his same department, speaking with the same customer rep I was speaking with before he got on the phone.

Again, we go back and forth about my credit. I got so frustrated with them both (the rep and supervisor) that I hung up the phone and called the 800 number back and spoke with another rep, who seemed to be a lot more helpful than they were (so I thought). I explained to her my situation about the Refer A Friend credit and she stated that she would take care of it, being that we just placed the order two days ago and it wasn't activated until yesterday. She assured me that the credit would show on my first bill and my friend's first bill and that she notated my account explaining what had happened. I asked if she was sure about this, she stated that she was sure, not to worry, that it was all taken care of. I asked her why couldn't they do the same thing that she did to fix my problem. She stated that she wasn't sure and that she apologized on their behalf. So, I was fine and felt that the problem was solved, up until I received my first bill.

Upon receiving my first bill, I noticed that my bill was $119.40, so now I'm pissed beyond pissed off. I noticed that on my bill, instead of billing me for $39.99 for the package offer, they were billing me $60.99 for the service and only part of my $21.00 rebate had been processed for only $5.00, and there was no sign of the Refer A Friend credit anywhere. So yes, I was hot! I called DirecTV and asked as to why my Refer A Friend credit was not showing up on my account and why only a partial of my rebate is showing up as a credit of $5.00. Here we go again. They stated that I needed to call the rebate department to speak with them about my credits.

I called the 866 number a third time and honestly, I think I was speaking with the same guy whom I spoke with before because he gave me the same answer, "There was nothing they could do about it and that I was supposed to have given my friend account number at the time of the order." I then asked him about why is it that only $5.00 of my rebate is showing up. Then he went to tell me that I would have to call the other rebate department for that information. I then asked him to take a look at the notes on my account from the last rep who stated that she took care of the issue. He stated that he read the notes, but he's not sure why she told me that she could fix the issue because there's nothing that could be done after the order was activated.

He then went to tell me that he would escalate my issue to a higher department and I should hear something back in 10-14 business days. I told him that was unacceptable and that I just wanted to cancel my service, that their customer service sucks and that they need to pull that commercial about them having excellent customer service because they don't. They are mean and they tell lies.

So, I called the cancellation department to have my service cancelled. The guy I spoke with was Jeff, was very nice, up until this point when he stated that he really wish there was something he could do to give me a credit and he would love to keep me as a customer, and that if I cancelled my service, I would have to pay $440.45 to cancel. What the hell! I told them that they were crazy and that I haven't even had the service for 30 days, more less 20. He then told me that I could contact their corporate office by email from their website, explaining in details about what happened and that maybe they could apply the credits on their end because he was very limited to what he could do for me.

I called the corporate office, which took me a while after researching the internet to find out where it was located. And by the way, this is the corporate office/headquarters' phone number and address: DirecTV (310) 535-5000, 2230 East Imperial Highway, El Segundo, California 90245. I called there and asked to be transferred to their complaint/dispute department. There I spoke with a Debbie, who wouldn't give me her last name, only her ID #**. I explained to her the situation for the sixth time. She then read the notes on my account and saw that I'd been calling numerous times. I thought that she would be of some help, but she told me the same thing that the guy told me. That there was nothing they could do about giving me the Refer A Friend credit, but what she could do is go ahead and activate and apply my remaining $16.00 credit from my $21.00 rebate that was never fully applied and that she could also give me an extra $5.00 off my bill for the next 12 months.

Now this totals up to be $26.00 worth of credit altogether, to include that partial $5.00 credit. My original credit should have been $31.00 off my first bill. Now don't this seem kind of strange that she could give me the extra $5.00 off my bill each month, but not the full $10.00 for the Refer A Friend credit? DirecTV is full of you know what. But you better believe once my husband gets home from work, we will seriously talk about cancelling this service today and going back to cable. I'd rather pay the $440.45 than to spend any more time fooling with them.

When I called to inquire, they told me that my account had never been closed and I did owe the equipment back, a total of $728.63 after taxes? It wasn't until June 3rd that my account was closed. I spoke to 2 really nice reps, Courtney then her supervisor Steven, who backdated most of the fees and supposedly corrected this error. I had to explain my story in detail and they said I didn't owe the equipment back and I would be cleared from owing due to the documentation made by the rep in April. They agreed DirecTV had made the mistake and they agreed I have made an honest attempt to return the said receivers. By the way, I got rid of the equipment after my first call in April. Supervisor Steven was very kind and "cleared my account", or so I thought.

Approximately 2 weeks later, I started receiving demand notices from DirectTV. This time, the bill is now almost $900. After several calls (hours), I reached a supervisor (Kendall), who in my opinion needs to be fired for the way she spoke down to me. She was rude and lied about seeing any previous notes on my account made by the previous supervisor. She also refused to contact supervisor to clear the matter. She was rude, arrogant and demeaning. I then wrote a certified letter as requested to the company in Colorado requesting that the matter be resolved. I received the most offensive, poorly written response telling me that someone, referring to themselves, as "I am writing in response to your recent correspondence".

No name was ever associated to this letter or was there and extension or direct line to call, just the mass 1-800 number. It also stated that this individual tried to contact me, but the number was no longer in service. There was no one there or was busy so they were unable to reach me? What kind of a Mickey Mouse operation is this? I listed a home number, which has an answering machine (the same number associated to my account) on my letter of request. Then, I was sent another bill in the amount of $728.63.

I called the number 1-800-355-7530, got a recording, and pressed in what I was calling for (The New Plan). A young woman answered, and I told her also. I held and she connected me to Support. A young man answered, and I asked several questions. He explained everything in a nice manner to make sure I understood everything. We talked for approximately half an hour.

When I was connected to him, I wasn't sure if I was speaking to AT&T or DirecTV; but at that time, it didn't matter to me. It should have, as I found out later. I wrote down everything he said, asked more questions, and read back to him what he said. We spoke for approximately half an hour. First, he told me it was a wonderful plan and it would save me much money to bundle what I already have with AT&T, which was my telephone and internet at approximately $60 a month. Now AT&T will lower their price to add DirecTV and I will be billed on one bill from AT&T for $61.47 for everything, including tax in that amount. So my bill for everything was $61.47 every month, not a penny more, as he said.

I was so happy that it was so low and he was so easy to talk to. The amount was not too surprising, as the other companies offered even less for everything. But I wanted to go with AT&T. I never had problems with them. He set my installation for the next morning, May 21, between 8-12am. The installer arrived around 8:30am. The company called me twice the night before he arrived and also called me that morning before he arrived. He called me also in the morning. What nice service, I thought! I've never dealt with this kind of company before. All my apartments before had cable ready.

I forgot to mention that at the end of signing me up, he asked how many TV's I have. I said one that is new and given to me in March as a gift for my 75th birthday. It's a Sony HDTV, but I have a very small TV in my kitchen area that the cable company hooked up also. He replied it doesn't matter and that there would be no additional cost even if I had 10 TV's; that is, if I want the same channel, they are all on one cable. I said that's great because I only watch the same program as what's on in the bedroom, so I don't miss anything.

The setting up was very quick, and the installer seemed to be in a rush. He put the dish on my terrace and tied the pole to my terrace gate. I live on the ground level of a two-story building. This is a huge complex with only two and three floors in each building and very small rooms. He put the cable under my window, slammed the window over the cable, and placed all the cable in front of two huge mirror closets. He never tacked or taped the cable to the very bottom of the closets, which is blank and doesn't interfere with the doors; brought the cable through the doorway; put it under a small rug; and a few feet away, attached it to the small set sitting on a chest. He put a black box on both sets, programmed both sets for me, made a call to DirecTV, and was done.

I gave him my debit card, as I was told by the company? There was not supposed to be any charge, but the man who took my order said there was a slight charge but couldn't explain what it was for. I believe he didn't even know what it was for, so I paid $21.15 to the installer. He then presented a sheet on a clipboard, and I asked him to just hand me the sheet. He really looked rushed, moving from one leg to another. I wanted to read the back or see if there was anything written on the back. I just about turned it over and saw lots of very small light-colored words on I think a blue sheet. They're very, very tiny. He got annoyed and said it's only a delivery slip that said he installed properly. I don't even remember signing it.

Prior to this unauthorized withdrawal, I contacted a DirecTV rep on 7/13/2009 informing her that I was in the process of relocating to another state and hadn't decided if I would continue services upon contacting the leasing office to ensure that I am able to continue services. She said that she would note this and said that if I were to terminate, that I would have a termination fee, and I was under contract; however, I never signed a contract and the last contract with DirecTV ended in 2006 to my knowledge. This was found out when I called to switch companies.

When I initially upgraded to HD, I asked the rep if I would be in a contract; he said no. However, it was different when I inquired on this date in July. She ended the conversation by stating again if I choose to terminate, it would be a charge. I never terminated services; however, I had a past due balance on the account and agreed to pay that, but never said that I would terminate services.

The first person of contact on 8/4/09 was Amanda; she pulled my account and informed me of the fees accrued due to early termination of services and failure to return equipment. I explained to Amanda that I was in the process of moving and hadn't made a decision to terminate my service and she said that it was noted in my account. She also informed me that it was well within their customer service agreements that the money could be withdrawn. I again explained that I never signed a contract with DirecTV. She said that the terms of agreement comes after your equipment is installed on your next bill and more information can be obtained on the Internet. She also shared with me that I must return equipment. I told her that I was only leasing one receiver from them and she again dropped a hidden bombshell stating that the receiver that I purchased from Circuit City in 2/09 was, in fact, their property and if I cancel, I must return the property that I purchased.

She laughed and said it was an "upfront" lease. I shared with her that my receipt didn't state these agreements. Amanda said the only way that I would be reimbursed would be to continue services with DirecTV. I later asked for a supervisor, and was placed with Heather. She only reiterated what Amanda said and shared with me that my signature wasn't needed to bind me to their contract. She told me that I could fight this if I choose, but DirecTV would win and humorously gave me contact information to the Office President and Legal Department.

I am basically complaining about four things: 1) I never signed a new contract to renew a contract or to be entered into one. And when I signed my signature in 2004, it was to allow DirecTV to run a credit check, not a contract. I was verbally told by representatives that I was in a contract. 2) I never authorized payment on the $1097.35 and have been suffering financially due to their insensitivity to contact me prior. 3) How is it that I can purchase merchandise from a retailer and it still be in "leasing" stage. This was not explained to me by the initial rep when I upgraded. 4) I never terminated, why did I get charged? And if you are a DirecTV customer that moves into an apartment/dorm that doesn't allow service, should you be accountable?

It is funny how they said it was for my convenience, yet it has inconvenienced me!

Our house is a rental and now has a big hole drilled in the wall that we have to repair. We have to rerun the wiring plus the installation guy used cheap parts. My husband has terminal cancer and draws social security disability check. He has to balance bills evenly. He is not getting what he signed up for and the price per month. He thought he was getting a good deal. This is a scam! The DirecTV people said too bad for us. It will cost us $480.00 to get out of the contract!

So, on April 4th, I sent certified mail (and I have the signed receipt in my records), a letter explaining the above. I received no response. So, on May 12, 2008, I called the Federal Trade Commission and spoke to Liz (reference #** ). Liz told me that the only thing I could do was send DirecTV another certified letter. I mailed two certified letters to DirecTV and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. DirecTV responded to the BBB and said that they left a message on my answering machine on April 7th. This was not true. They went on to say that they advised me when I placed the DVR order that I would be charged a late fee. This was also not true. After being told by DirecTV that they would turn me over to a collection agency if I did not pay the cancellation charge, I went ahead and paid the bill. Please let me know if I can be reimbursed. Thank you!

I could call back and check the status of the refund to see where the process is at for the refund. I called back today, August 4. I asked the status and was told I was not getting my refund. The woman who took my call was trying very hard to fix the situation, but did not do so. She said she would put in $470.00 for the amount of the equipment to be refunded. I asked if the rest of the money would be refunded and she said no. CJ told me explicitly that I would get the full amount back since I have been with DirecTV for years. I would start out with a clean slate with them and would receive my next bill in the middle of August 2009 and payment of $83.00 would be due the beginning of September. I want DirecTV to honor their word on fixing the situation as of the conversation per July 23, 2009.

I called DirecTV up to activate their service, which was where I first got confused. I had already hooked up the receiver in my motorhome and just needed to set up an account. Whoever I had on the phone to activate the account took care of everything. We received the signal, and everything was cool. A couple of days later, I received a call from them saying they wanted to schedule the installation. I informed them that I had installed everything myself and that everything was working fine. They could not understand how that was possible, but they ultimately accepted that it was true and cancelled the installation, graciously waiving the installation fee (at least that's how I remember it).

We used the unit for 6 months while we were out West, testing life in both Montana and Arizona. Our decision to return to Tampa had nothing to do with DirecTV, but once we returned, the fun really started. When I called up to cancel the account, I was informed that I would have to pay a cancellation fee and return the receiver that I had bought at Camping World. After a 1-hour back and forth discussion about the situation, they informed me that although I thought I had purchased the unit, I had actually only leased it for that price and I would have to keep it until the lease expired (something like 2 more years) and that if I wanted to buy it, it would cost much more (On top of the cancellation fee, so if I bought the silly thing, I would not have been able to use it anyway!).

Since I was very busy with a lot of stuff having to do with relocating my business back to my house in Tampa and I could not find a better solution, I suspended my service with DirecTV. Six months later, DirecTV automatically reactivated the service, since that was the maximum duration they allowed for a suspension. When I received the bill, which was for the services which I was not using, I went online and reduced the service to the minimum ($29/month) thinking that I could pay that amount until my lease expired and pay less for the device. The next month, we received the bill for around $50, which included a home service charge (Who knows what that means.). My wife then called, and, after spending another hour on the phone with their customer service, she finally got them to agree to cancel the service (with a $120 cancellation fee) as long as we sent the unit we leased back.

I called and asked why and was told that it could take up to 2 months to cancel the bank account authorization. I was also told that the hold hadn’t been put on the account. So, I said just cancel it and send me a paper bill. I had the bank reverse the charges. No bill ever came. And then last night, 3 months later, our account is debited for $275. No bill, no warning! We called and were told that since we didn’t send back the receivers (they were supposedly free when we originally signed up), we were charged the $275. We said, “If you wanted them back, why didn’t you ask for them?!” They told us that because we charged back the $69 to them, they removed the hold from our account and billed us, even though they were not authorized to use our debit card! And they also said they sent a recovery kit to the old address they moved us from! We are cancelling our bank cards first thing tomorrow and asking the bank to reverse this charge, too. DirecTV is committing theft and fraud in my opinion.

My suggestion was to remove the charge from my current statement and I would be happy to send them a check. This was unacceptable to DirecTV and they insisted I pay the full amount including the service charge for the service that never occurred. I then told the rep that I no longer wish to do business with a provider of such questionable ethics, and that I would no longer require their services.

The rep then informed me that I would be charged a fee of $400.00 to cancel my contract. I told that rep that the only documentation I was required to sign was a work order provided by the service tech that installed the service originally. I was led to believe that the work order was simply a document required by the installer to provide the proof that his services were indeed rendered. And that as a contractor, he would need a signed work in order to collect his wages. I was never informed that the work order was actually a 2 year contract.

I changed providers and am currently paying both Comcast and DirecTV. I no longer use DirecTV but am paying them approximately $35.00 per month for the next 2 years.

I was nicely told they will gladly reverse the charges and send me a check in 6 to 8 weeks! I am outraged! My checking account became overdrawn and I have to wait 2 months to get the money they stole from me. What kind of ** is this? How can they be allowed to do this without notifying me first? It's amazing how companies will shut your service off in the blink of an eye, but cannot make up for their mistake in a timely fashion. So much for being a loyal customer. Thieves!

This was totally unacceptable to me, so I told them to disconnect and have someone come out to remove the dish and pick up the boxes. I was told that I would have to send back the boxes and remotes with boxes they would be sending me, and as for the dish, they don't want it back. I advised them that my association wanted it moved and they told me that it was no longer their problem that I would have to move it. I was now furious. I asked for the CEO's name so that I could contact him/her and the woman I spoke with (Ciniqua) didn't know his name. She asked her supervisor and all they could come up with was Larry. The hold time was outrageous. I held from 2 minutes to 10 minutes per call while they transferred me from DirecTV to Verizon, and Verizon to DirecTV. Of course, each one said it was the fault of the other.

I called their Consumer Advocacy Team at 866-785-5537, spoke with Milana about their CSR informing me that the standard receiver was not to be returned, but refused to provide any verifiable communication, so if I'm going to be billed $470 for something I was told not to return, I have some documentation that it was not to be returned. She told me that both the DVR receiver and other receiver are leased so both need to be returned, just place both in the box and send them back. I informed her the box they sent is only big enough for one of the receivers (i.e. as packed per enclosed instructions). When I told her what their previous CSR told me about it not having to be returned, again she emphasized both had to be returned and requested to confirm my address to send another box. I asked her to send a confirming email, which she refused and said they couldn't. Then, I asked she escalate this and she stated there's no one else to escalate it to; she's a supervisor and stated she couldn't escalate this further, and couldn't send any email as verifiable communication. I told her their CSR told me the exact opposite of what she is now telling me and I don't want to be responsible for $470 due to their mistake.

My wife then got on the phone with her, confirmed our address and put it on the speaker when Milana now told her that it didn't have to be returned, just the DVR receiver. My wife then asked the supervisor if she would send an email to confirm a return box was just now being sent to our home for this receiver. Milana stated she couldn't. When my wife then asked Milana to identify herself, she was told, "Milana #** President's office," and told Milana since they couldn't send anything to verify this, then my husband will do what he has to do.

I called a month later as instructed. There was another service call involved during which an HDDVR box was installed. I was also charged a $199 upgrade fee and $19 service charge, for something that was supposed to be part of my original order. Again, after complaining, those charges were credited back to me. However, this technician couldn’t get the HDDVR box to work. He informed me that I would need to cut down trees in my yard in order to get a clear HD signal in order for the HDDVR box to work. He went on to state the only good location I had was in my neighbor’s yard.

A couple of weeks later, I had trouble with the HD box. The customer service department determined that I had a bad box, and mailed me a new one. When I received the new box, I could not get any HD channels and had to schedule yet another technician visit. This technician informed me that if he had done the original install, he never would have installed it, because I did not have a good location anywhere that would receive a good signal.

Keep in mind that I had to arrange to have someone at my house for each of these service calls. Between me, my grandfather and my father, we spent many hours waiting and working with these people. That does not even include the many hours I spend on the phone with your customer service people.

Today, I have a standard box in my bedroom which cannot receive local channels, an HD box in the living room which does not receive any HD channels, and I am unable to hook up an HDDVR box. I have a $1,000 TV and would like to utilize its features. I should have been told from the beginning that DirecTV would not work for me. I wrote a letter to "billing disputes" with all of the above information and asked for instructions on how to discontinue the service. I also stated that I will not pay an early termination fee as I never even received the service that I ordered.

I received a box in which to return my receiver. Then, I got a bill for over $400 for an early termination fee. Then, I got a letter from the collections department. The dish is still attached to my roof. I was never contacted as to how to return that. Tell everyone you know, do not get DirecTV!

After sending emails, calling several times and getting no satisfaction, I wrote a letter to the Office of the President - supposedly the highest you can escalate to. After speaking with Elaine and Christy, I was informed this is a change in service and they will not waive the $220.00 cancellation fee. I told them I would not offer any good words about their company and I totally disagree with this charge. She said, "We appreciate your opinion." I said, "No, you don't and I will be filing complaints against your company." I had their service for 4 years and I would not recommend them to others.

I informed them that my mother has given me the authority to switch her to Dish Network. The CS rep informs me that there was a commitment on the account. I replied that there should not be and to please look into it. I am placed on hold and the CS rep returns and says, "You are correct. There is no commitment on the account. It appears to be an error and I will take care of it." I said, "Please do because I want to be sure there is nothing more owed to you than the $49.99+ service call." She assured me that was all that was due and that my mother would need to call in the actual cancellation since the service was in her name. She did so and they (DirecTV) mentioned the commitment to her and said they were removing it since it was an error.

Fast forward to today (7/29/09). My mother calls me to inform me of the $266.10 that is now owed to DirecTV for early cancellation. I call DirecTV and spoke to Casey. There is no note stating the commitment was an error. He also informed me that the commitment started when one of my mom's receivers broke and they brought her out a new one. That automatically renews her contract for two years. This blows my mind because you do not have to sign anything for them to do this. It is in your original contract in some very tiny print that is not brought to your attention. I got this information from Mark, supervisor of Casey. He looks over everything and says there is nothing that can be done by him since it is a valid commitment.

My only recourse now is to send a letter to their billing disputes department in Colorado. No other phone numbers available and no names to contact. Also, I asked to have the auto draft taken off my account (I pay my mom's bills from my account) since the account is closed. I was informed that they could not take the account off and they had a right to bill me. I told Mark, "Let me get this, there is no way for you to take the account number off and it just stays on your system forever and a day?” The reply was yes. There is definitely something wrong with not only the lies that the CS reps obviously tell but with the billing practices of this company.

When we called AT&T to explain the DirecTV charge, they said it wasn't correct and connected us to DirecTV. When we explained the bundled services, they told us that AT&T misinformed us and that we were under a 2-year agreement and the 1st year had to be drawn on an automatic credit card charge. We told them that's not what we signed up for and we wanted to cancel the service. DirecTV told us we only had 24 hours to cancel with no penalties. (Mind you, this was only 7 days from installation to all the phone call runarounds to find out what happened and to cancel. Stall tactics?)

We told DirecTV that they were not authorized to charge our card, and they blatantly stated that since they had our number, whether we kept their service or not, they were submitting monthly payments for the next year and then charging us $409.69 for early termination of contract. Needless to say, we canceled the card and submitted their name as fraudulent charges to our bank. I have called DirecTV numerous times and still get the runaround. Even though they admitted to me on the phone that since I live in the state of Kansas I legally had 15 days to cancel, they were not dropping the fees. (Even though I did return all equipment.) By the way, her name was Joy.

Last week, we received a bill with penalties, because the card they charged is no longer active. Even after I told them I was submitting them as fraudulent, they still tried! Talk about audacity and to think they are above the law! Now they say we owe $479.00 and some odd change. I again called DirecTV, and they said they would have someone from the corporate office call me back in 3-5 days. Do you think my call was returned? Of course not! By the way, I am not dealing with these modern-day pirates anymore!

After receiving the box, I had several weeks that personal problem at home (I am engaged to an alcoholic). I received a bill for $170.52, which I thought would be directly taken out of my checking account as it stated in the bill. Today, I found that DirecTV has debited my account for $426.12, the $170.52 plus $255.60 for the "unreturned" receiver. After calling and speaking to a customer service representative and a supervisor, they said they would not refund the money for the receiver until I send it in. I was never given any written notice that the $255.60 would be taken out.

This company is out for nothing but the money, and cares nothing about the customers. I have read the complaints on this website and the list is even longer than I would have imagined. I would hope a class action lawsuit against DirecTV stops them from ripping other unsuspecting individuals from their greedy practices. I am out $713.64 for service I never received from a contract that was mentioned, little alone explained in the initial phone contact nor upon the technician installing the system.

Two weeks later, we got a bill that says $500. I called and they said we were in another 2 year contract because we had gotten HD. I said show me were I signed. They said it’s verbal. No one ever said that to me on phone. Then, I could not speak to a supervisor. I had to write a letter to corporate and I did. They never responded but now it’s on my credit. Please help!

It has caused such emotional hardship this past year and a half. My husband is military and away a lot so I have to handle this on my own and take care of the kids. It is so stressful.

Now, I have Direct for more than 60 days so I cannot resubmit for the rebate. I think that they may be doing this to a lot of people for now they can charge me full price. And the rebate is just an enticement for people to switch. My computer know how is not too good. They also offered me another $5.00 off if I did it online. So much for customer satisfaction. Good old American way. I will not be saving my $21.00 a month for a year. My confidence in companies is very low. Customer satisfaction is at an all time low.

I left for a few hours and when I returned home, I turned the TV on, no sound again. I had to go through the process of rebooting the box and unplugging it. I contacted DirecTV and requested a new box be sent to me. I was informed that since I do not have the maintenance plan, there will be a $49.00 charge for someone to come out and check the cable and box. I refused to pay for someone to come out and service your products. So, I asked for a replacement box. I was also informed that I will have to pay $19.99 for shipping and handling of the box to be FedEx to me. I find this the most appalling thing.

I placed the order for a new box against my better judgment. I then called and spoke to Brian ID # **, Supervisor in Tech Support. He went through the process of trying to troubleshoot the box which resulted to nothing. I complained to him that I was not pleased with their service or with the idea of having to pay for someone to service their product, or pay for shipping and handling for a replacement box. He then transferred me to Manny ID # **, Retention Department. He told me the same thing as Brian and I express my dissatisfaction against the company and their services and products. I informed Manny that their reps failed to mention of any service plans when I upgraded to the HD Box. I ended up taking out his service plan, which is $5.99 a month. And I have to have this plan for 1 year or there will be a $10.00 cancellation fee, or if I cancel this plan after the service call, they will charge me the full price for the service call. I asked Manny was there a grace period if I choose not to keep this plan and I was informed no.

I feel this is a rip-off and how unhappy I am with this type of service. I have never encountered such rip-offs in all my life. I informed him that I will be filing a complaint against the company with the FCC, BBB, Rip Off.com and Consumer Complaints.com. This is ridiculous. I am bound in a contract with this company until 10/31/2010, which when I signed up with DirecTV, had no idea I would be under contract. I also informed Manny and Brian that I would never recommend anyone to go with DirecTV. And anyone asked me how the service was and thought about using DirecTV, don’t go with them because they have terrible service and a rip-off company!

We waited a week, but due to the notice from the landlord. we took down the dish. We received our next month bill, which we thought was a final bill. No one came to pick up the equipment. Several months later when we were buying a house, we found out that DirecTV was reporting our account as delinquent plus charged us over $500 for equipment that they said we never returned, early termination fee, and monthly service! We have not been able to get any resolution.

None of this was a problem until I sent back the HD/DVR box because our HD TV broke. At that time, I attempted to cancel DirecTV and was told that because we chose the HD/DVR box, we entered into a two-year contract. But that was easy because I sent that box back so the contract ends, right? And the answer to that is no. Currently, we have a two-year contract with DirecTV because of a box that we don't have anymore. And since that is crap, I told them to send the box back to me so that I can at least use the DVR feature. I was then told that if I wanted the box back, I have to pay an additional $200 fee. Awesome customer slavery DirecTV! If you are thinking about DirecTV, reconsider. HULU is free.

I returned the equipment they requested on time. And they said because I canceled my contract early, they were charging me $400. I said they broke the contract first with the poor service, and they said I refused having a repairman come out. I said they didn't offer until after my equipment had been sent back. And they still broke the contract as I had never been given the introductory price of $29.95 a month. They said it took a while for those discounts to show up on the bill. I canceled too soon. I told them I could not afford the $68.13 a month. That was not the agreement and not in my budget.

They took the credit card number I had to give to them on the day of delivery and charged the balance of the $400 which was $329.78 to my credit card. It was not my understanding that my card would be used to do this with. I have written to tell them that I have paid them a total of $246.52 instead of the agreed upon $29.95 monthly charge that I was told I would get. That is a difference of $156.67 I paid them. I feel they broke the contract by service that was not provided and by overcharging me on a monthly basis. I have tried writing and calling and they said too bad, it was in the contract I signed about the $400 early cancellation fee. And I said yes but the service was not provided and I have been overcharged which means they broke their part of the contract too. I have been told one man here in Charlotte was charged $800 and there was nothing he could do about it. I can't do anything about him but I think DirecTV should live up to their contract if the consumer has to.

Finally, we decided to replace the box with a DVR. We ordered the installation, the installer was late and rushed through. He called us later to retrieve some of his tools and didn't sign any docs. Fast forward one year, I cancelled my service because FIOS is installed in my neighborhood and it's half the price of DirecTV. I was charged $280 cancellation fee due to early termination of my two year contract. I wrote to BBB and DirecTV's response was it is my responsibility to know what I upped for. They said it is on their website. I was informed by the CSR when I ordered and in the docs I signed. First, what if I didn't have access to internet? Two, I wasn't informed by the CSR and three, I didn't sign anything. Never again DirecTV! Several neighbors on my street have encountered the same problem. Once their contract is up, they will be switching to FIOS too! Too bad DirecTV!

Again, I was never told this; neither did I see this in writing. DirecTV never presented this to me until I tried to cancel them. This is unfair to the consumer. You are always talking to different people who work there and everyone has their own idea of how to help, but to no avail. It's going to cost more money. I also explained that I live on a fixed income and I was laid off with the job I had in May. I needed to cancel and they said I would have to pay to cancel. I explained again that I didn’t have the money. This situation has bothered me mentally and physically. I have high blood pressure. When I have to confront DirecTV, it causes my pressure to go up. I become nervous and it results to an upset stomach and thus vomiting. They are very threatening. DirecTV has caused an economic hardship because I am not working. Having to pay this bill, there are things that I can do without. And this is one of them during these trying times.

I thought all was fine, until I received an "early termination fee." I didn't think this was right, since they were the ones who would not transfer the service and had told me on the phone that there wouldn't be any penalty. I called DirecTV and asked them why they charged me the fee. They told me that they would "escalate" the request to higher-ups. I did not hear anything, and within a week, I received a bill for the early termination and previous services. I sent a check for the previous services but held the early termination fee, hoping to come to an agreement first.

I called again and was told that my request had been denied. I then asked to speak to a supervisor and was told that I had to write to Colorado to the complaint division. I did such and received a letter back telling me that I needed to read the contract I signed with them. I could not find anywhere that said "if they terminated me, then I owed them an early termination fee." I wrote back, asking them to either reinstall my service or send a person to my apartment to explain why they couldn't install the service or show me in the contract where I was at fault. I received another letter telling me that if I didn't pay the bill, they would forward my account to a collection agency.

I am used to people being surprised at how high my credit rating is, and I could tell I was not going to win this one. So, I paid the bill and considered it a learning experience. I didn't think about it again, until I wanted to have a telephone service installed. I was told that I needed to put down a substantial deposit due to my credit rating!

Now, I'm very angry. First, I think I was in the right about not paying a termination fee! Second, I think DirecTV should have waited until the issue was resolved before "dinging" my credit rating. I was continuing to correspond with the company and not just ignoring them. I guess that I have lost the money. But how do I restore my previously outstanding credit score?

3 or 4 days later, the installer came out to install everything. Not 2 weeks later, I got a bill for $74.00. So, I called the 1 800 number and explained the deal, and the person on the phone said that yes, I was supposed to get the rebate and that he would take care of the problem. He told me to send in $46.25 for that month and that that was what my bill would be for one year. So, I did as he said. I thought that was the end of the problems, but boy, was I wrong.

The next month, I got a bill again for $74.00. So, I called again to explain it all over again. The person told me that I was not signed up for a rebate and that there was nothing she could do and that I would have to call the rebate department. I got the number from her and called them. Well, they said that I was not signed up for the rebate (By the way, I got an e-mail from them that says that I am approved.) and that there was nothing that she could do either.

I called the 1800 number back and got another person. After explaining everything again, she said that the rebate could take 8 weeks to process and that if I didn't pay the $74.00 payment, I was subject to get cut off. Well, I am now 4 months down the road at $74.00 a month, and still, I got no rebate. There's no "I am sorry" or anything else. I feel that if they cannot hold up their end, then I shouldn't have to hold up to my end! I am supposed to pay $46.00 for a year, not $74.00 for a year. I am being screwed!

The most recent event happened on April 6, 2009, when I spoke with John (I have his customer number at home) who, after a long phone call, finally offered me one free year of HBO, Starz, Showtime and Cinemax even though it wasn't an offer they were currently giving to anyone else. I agreed to this resolution and then he mentioned that his system is unable to process the full year at once so he can activate 3 months for me of HBO and Cinemax and 6 months of Showtime and Starz at that time and then gave me dates of when they would turn off so I can call back and have them reactivated. He said he would note all this on my account so when I called back I would have no problems.

Well, they turned off on July 5th as he mentioned and when I called back, they tell me that my notes read nothing of this and that there's nothing they can do. I have spoken with a lot of different people about this issue and they just keep saying my notes don't indicate anything about this and they won't do anything about it. Then, when I give them the name and employee number of John and ask to speak with him, they say they can't do that either because there are so many service centers that it means nothing to them. So, my question then becomes, why even give me that information if it's useless to me. Obviously these agents get tired of talking to a client, so they tell them what they want to hear and then adjust the notes to read whatever doesn't get them in trouble later on.

At this point, I would love to cancel my service and just be done with them but they also want to charge me $20 for each month I have left on my contract which is 15 months ($300). I know this is listed in my contract but if they won't give me the programming they promised, I would think they should just let me cancel without the fee just so we can have a resolution here.

My account with them is in very good standing, all payments are up to date and 99% of the time they are in before the due date. I have made upgrades throughout my almost 3 years with them as well as paying monthly for a protection policy. I would love for Consumer Affairs to do something to assist me with the very poor customer service DirecTV has continued to give me over the years. I have plenty of back up correspondence between us that I can provide if needed.

When I called on July 20, 2009 to have HD discontinued, I was told that since I had HD equipment leased, I had to keep receiving the HD signal at the additional $10 each month. I am 69 years old and living on quite a small income and $10 for me is a significant amount of money. But more than that, I feel abused and lied to by the customer service people. When I said as much to her, all she said was, "I'm sorry" with no feeling at all and asked if there was anything else I needed. I asked how much it would cost to terminate my contract. To my disbelief she said $340.00! How can this kind of "customer service" be justified?

I received the forms more than a week later on May 20, 2009. The rebate form let me know that applying for the rebate online would be instant and that applying for it by mail would take 2 to 3 months! So, I tried again online, and again, the site didn't work correctly. I called and spoke with a customer rep again, and she tried to "walk me through it." Of course, we got nowhere, and she told me that I would have to mail in the rebate forms.

Now, more than 2 months later, I called to find out when my bill would be $34.99 instead of the $61.39 that I am currently being charged. I was told by Joshua in the rebates department that there is no record of my rebate forms being received and that my next bill would be even more, because I had Showtime for 3 months free and that after that, I would be charged $12.99 per month. I let him know that I do not currently have Showtime, I don't want Showtime, and I've never wanted Showtime. I then let him know that I felt that I was being actively scammed by DirecTV and that if I didn't have a resolution today, I would cancel my account. He immediately told me that he would be happy to just connect me with the cancellation department, which he did.

Then, I asked to speak with a supervisor. After a 17-minute wait, I was connected with Yvette. She was nice enough, but again, no solutions. She told me that she would make sure to research to see if, in fact, they do not have my rebate forms. I asked what good that would do, as I'm pretty sure that they will not "have been received." I let her know that while I was on hold, I did some searching around the internet and found several sites with consumer complaint after consumer complaint regarding DirecTV's rebate scam. She then told me that she would make sure that my next bill is adjusted correctly and that if it's not, I could call back and discuss it again.

I'm pretty sure that my next bill is going to be for $61.39 (or more if they charge me for the Showtime channel that I don't have and don't want). I have never felt so blatantly scammed by a company.

I have not bought a new TV since, but DirecTV put me on collection notice, indicating I owe them $101.48 as balance due from March to July. I have spoken and emailed them to explain that a request to suspend the account was made on 02-21 (as per my notes) along with the request for credit (which was made). I told them that they were free to check the busted TV, which has been non-operational since 12-08. They refused to reverse the collection amount of $101.48 and also refused to acknowledge that a request to suspend the account was made on 02-21. My argument is why are they making me pay for a cable fee or service, as I have not used the TV and watched TV availing of their service since December 2008?

The charges would appear on my next bill and were paid. They never once alerted me that the attempts would be charged to my account once the box was turned in. When I called to complain, the CSR admitted that the attempts would not show up on any bill, because they were never viewed. They would only show up once the receiver was turned in and the card could be read. There is nothing in the Terms and Conditions that explains this billing practice.

In trying to resolve this, I have written to a Billing Dispute department twice. They returned one form letter, stating that they viewed each charge and payment to the account and they considered the last charges valid. They advised me to pay to avoid collection. The form letter was dated May 18, 2009. Too late though. On May 26, I received a call from a collection agency out of Waterloo, Iowa with the number 319-274-1904, which demanded payment.

I lodged a complaint with the BBB. DirecTV replied that they have no idea whether or not the PPVs were ever viewed. But according to them, even if they weren't viewed, it would not matter. I would still owe the charges as the movies were attempted and on the card located in the box. It looks like this will be reported to the credit bureaus. I feel I don't owe it. DirecTV did nothing but secretly hide a way of charging for services it knows the customer not only didn't receive but has no idea could result in charges either.

My issue is when I went to collect all of my Dish equipment, the main switch box that I need to send back to Dish is missing. I spoke to two other DirecTV CS reps, who said they would have the people they contract with get in touch and try to resolve the issues. I must send back my Dish equipment this week or I am going to be penalized. The main piece of the equipment is missing and I will still be penalized. When I spoke to one of the CS and to the gentleman who came out and fixed the DirecTV on July 15th, 2009, they both said this first guy probably took the part. I am so frustrated and so sorry I switched to DirecTV because I have had nothing but issues from the day it was set up.

Now, I am going to owe Dish and who knows how much for the missing part because I cannot get anyone from DirecTV to help me resolve this issue. The last call I made was last Friday, July 17th and the CS rep promised my issue would be escalated to the people who set up my DirecTV and that I would hear something within a couple of days. So I waited until today, Monday, July 20th to call again and now I am being referred to the Damaged Property part of the company, and I can not even talk to a live person. Please help because I am so frustrated on what to do next. Thank you for any help you can give me. Sorry, I just re-read this and noticed I am not talking to DirecTV, but what I said is what I would express to anyone else who will listen.

When our installation was done, the appointment was on a Thursday afternoon between 12 pm and 4 pm. I would hope that would be enough of a window for the technician. So, my husband took 4 hours vacation time from work to be here (He works 8 am to 4 pm.). The unkempt technician showed up somewhere between 5 and 5:30 pm. He was at our home about three hours and obviously did not shower on a regular basis. He smelled the house up; it was so bad. Of course, he installed the equipment improperly, and 3/4 of the HD channels that we were paying for were not coming in.

So, my husband called to spend more time on the phone to get someone back to fix it. They said they would come on Sunday. Again, we all waited around all day on Sunday for a tech who never showed up or called. My husband was back on the phone again. For about an hour and a half on Monday, he waited, trying to get a confirmation that they were coming on Tuesday. He was disconnected four times during that phone call. Finally, the appointment was confirmed, and he asked that the technician contact him via phone an hour prior to coming. He did not want to take any more time off from work.

On Tuesday, the technician arrived; however, he did not call like he was instructed. He called once he arrived and left a message in his cellphone. My husband immediately called him back to tell him that he was on his way. He called the technician seven times and left messages, but no one returned his call. Then we cancelled the services.

Since then, we have been arguing with DirecTV, because they wanted to charge us an early cancellation fee for the amount of $500.00. Why should we pay for a service, which was never provided to us. They said that we breached the contract by cancelling early. However, we feel that the breach of contract was on their part, because the service, which was agreed upon, was not fulfilled by DirecTV. DirecTV only covers the part of the contract that is most favorable to them and could care less of the treatment of their customers. Now, we are forced to contact our attorney and the local news station to force them to do what is right.

I called DirecTV and they informed me they would send a service person to remedy the problem. When the service person arrived at the home in Florida, he spent about an hour checking the dish, the receiver and my TV. He concluded that the receiver was not operating properly and he replaced the old receiver with a new receiver. The problem was then resolved. When I moved back to Lakewood, I decided to cancel DirecTV and go with Dish TV. Upon making the call to cancel, I was informed that I was under contract through the first of January 2009. I had never signed a contract or been told this information.

They stated because I got (unsolicited) new equipment, (I never asked for it), that my contract restarted for a period of 2 years. Now, they are telling me that I will be charged $20.00 a month until January 2010. When my final bill came, I was charged $279.00 that was required to be paid immediately. I paid the usual monthly fee, but not the remaining balance as I don't feel I should be required to do so as I was not informed I was under a new contract.

Stated below is the reply I got from Direct TV customer service after I told them I was not going to pay the remaining balance: "Thank you for the recent inquiry in regards to your account. I appreciate the opportunity to respond to your concerns. Unfortunately, your DirecTV account was downgraded, disconnected and terminated before your DirecTV commitment was met. Therefore, following the terms of the offer you are currently under, we have charged a prorated early cancellation fee to your DirecTV account. You have been charged only a prorated portion of that total fee, based on the number of full months that remained on your original commitment at the time your minimum required programming service was changed. If the service update happened mid-month, the fee calculation began at the start of the next month. At DirecTV, we strive to provide the finest in satellite television entertainment and outstanding customer service. If you have any further questions regarding your account, please contact us at 1-800-531-5000 or visit us online at directv.com."

As you can see, this is a standard form letter. It does not address any of my complaints as far as the service I received which was the initial cause of my cancellation. I understand that a class action suit for several millions of dollars was just settled and Wisconsin's portion of this lawsuit was included in the lawsuit. My fear is that my credit will be compromised if I do not pay this.

I called in, and the rep said it was due to partial month's billing, etc. and that next month, the billing would be clean. I received the next bill, and the price was much higher than I was quoted. I called DirecTV and was told to fill out a rebate and my price would be adjusted. (First, I heard of the rebate.) I followed the rep's instructions, and the website said I was not eligible.

I called DirecTV back, and they said it was too late to sign up. Needless to say, I was extremely upset. The first time I was able to determine my bill was wrong, I called in and followed the instructions. It seems like a bait and switch; that is very deceptive for a company that prides itself on customer service. The only reason I switched to DirecTV was because of the price I was quoted. In addition, I feel like I should get some consideration due to the multiple issues I had with Verizon between the account setup and billing confusion. The customer service reps were extremely unhelpful.

After my experience with DirecTV, I am planning on canceling my service and switching back to Comcast. Funny thing was I was about to call in to DirecTV and add another box and the football package. I guess they would rather have a cancellation fee than 2 years of service and $300 on a sports package.

Well since that day, they added on another 12 months. They agreed that it was their mistake, since the box was under warranty and as of 7/17/09, I only had 10 months left. I explained to them that the package I committed to was the 18 month and not the 24 months and they still continue with their scam that I had 10 months. And, if I want to cancel it will cost me $20 a day for a total of $200 and that they will take it out of my credit card they have on file. I finally spoke to another telemarketer and she told me that I was correct and that I only had 4 months left in my commitment. She said that she would put a note into the system and transfer me over to someone that can fix. So the next two people I spoke to started the story with 12 more months commitment left in my contract. Since, DRTV is allowed to scam its customers, I told them to cancel me as of 7/24/09.

That is when they told me that I would have a $260 cancellation fee. I had been a customer with DirecTV since November of 2001. They told me that I had changed equipment in Jan/Feb and that renewed my "contract". I was not told at that time that my contract would be renewed or I wouldn't have okayed the equipment change which was due to my paying for a service called "game lounge" and I could not receive it on one of my three receivers and the person on the phone stated, "well, we'll take care of that". Nothing was said about it changing my contract.

I mailed a letter stating these facts to them and they received it on June 1, 2009 and they have not replied in any way, shape or form. Of course, they got their money through my credit card and even the credit card won't help me get my money back.

To let you know how good they are with billing, once in a while, I lose cable TV and have called them on it - they take off on my bill for one day service. Also, now and then, I have called them up asking for a "deal" being a good customer all these years and they have discounted either my cable or Internet for a up to one year - can't beat that. Having the broadband Internet, I got rid of AT&T (the bill was killing me) and got Vonage - best move I ever made.

Second point, they tell you the contract is for a year on the phone and online, but it's only when you get the statement that the pricing lasts for a year, but you're committed to two years of programming. Maybe I missed the fine print and maybe this is standard practice for the industry and if that's the case, take my cable and I'll invest in DVDs and internet for my news. Finally, don't ** me about the five extra channels of Wimbledon, you only get four as one of the channels is a repeat. Moreover, they only broadcast those channels during the live play, which is typically in the wee hours of the morning for most US. Why not rebroadcast during normal television viewing hours?

I plan to write a letter to the president and CEO of not only the shameful business tactics, but of the poor customer service process. I do not fault the people on the phone who are just doing their job and feel sorry for them when they get irate customers like myself. In my opinion, DirecTV only cares about thievery, misrepresentation and not about integrity. I would not recommend this company to anyone and hope that Dish and the cable companies don't have the same business practices.

Emailing their service department was useless, because I kept getting the same scripted answer: "We gave you a great rate and saving, so we expect you to honor the agreement." When I called their service line, their answer is pretty much the same. I'm going to write a letter to the CEO to explain my situation, but I'm not holding my breath. All I know is that I will never ever use them again and will pass my experience to all my friends. They might get that extra year from me, but no more.

In the meantime, I was getting several phone calls, it was borderline harassment. When I spoke to one representative, she explained that they were for movies from April and May 2008 that were ordered on pay per view using the phone line connection, which is impossible since a password is needed and I never set one up. I spoke to another representative and his story was that I ordered the movies by using the remote control. It’s not possible since I never ordered any movies using the remote. If this were the case, the charges for these movies would have appeared on my monthly statement. This representative also stated that charges up to a $1,000 could be on the chip without the customer's knowledge. He asked me if I knew anyone by the name of Jamil. I don't know nor ever heard of anyone by this name.

I wrote a letter requesting a breakdown of these charges, dates and amounts. DirecTV responded and said I was responsible for these charges. I did not incur these charges and requested the charges be removed from my bill. DirecTV responded with a letter saying the account balance of $161.54 was accurate. In the meantime, they sent this information to a collection agency. I contacted the collection agency stating I was disputing the charge. A letter was sent to DirecTV dated July 14, 2009 that I was filing a complaint with Consumer Affairs. The complaint was filed July 14th with the Better Business Bureau.

I called the company on July 2nd to find out that not me, but my husband had an outstanding balance and they stopped my connection. I had to pay the outstanding balance in order to get service and I did, so the representative said I can have someone back in the house the following day. I said that I didn’t think that would be fair being that if they would have informed me the customer of the problem, I would have had service already. So she said that she would have someone call me in 15 minutes.

More than an hour had gone by, so I called them. I called them for about 5 hours before I got in contact with anyone. This representative couldn't give me an appointment until Saturday the 4th of July, which no one was going to be home that day. But the other rep had said I can have someone in my house the following day, but he never put the appointment in the system. So, of course, I am very frustrated by now by having no other choice but to try and arrange for someone to be in the house on a holiday.

I come home from vacation on the 6th of July to find that everyone in the house is not satisfied with the service. There is a delay in the view of the channel when you change channels and I had ordered 2 DVR boxes and 2 regular boxes and received 1 DVR and 3 regulars. I figured I will deal with the delay, but to have the DVR box that I had originally ordered would be much better. Now I called for not 5 hours this time, but for 3 days - morning, noon, and night - all different times of the day. But the systems were down and you can’t get through to anyone. Very frustrating. I would like to cancel at this point.

Finally, after a couple of days, I get through and I want to receive the DVR box I had originally ordered. But DirecTV charges $100 for these boxes. Outrageous. I will not pay for an additional box. So I tried again to deal with the service for what it is worth. I hate it. I called to cancel and they say if I didn’t like the service, I would have had to cancel within 24 hours. I don’t believe it is a fair grace period for cancellation. I hate the service so much both television service and customer service I want to cancel, but I have a $480 cancellation fee which I think is ridiculous. Instead, I had to downgrade my service and went and got another cable service that I am much happier with. Because my cancellation was on such short notice, I should be able to cancel with no fee. I am not happy with the performance or the customer service of the company.

At that point, I decided to switch to another service. The other service was installed at the end of June 2009 and the blue screen problem was gone, obviously not my TV. On 7/1 or 2, I called DirecTV to cancel service and asked the lady for my final charges. She said I owed $140 for cancelling early and that my contract expired in 12/2009. A few days later, I received an email bill that I owed $290 because my contract expired in 12/2010. I called and spoke to Sam and Knight who said I owed $290 because it was a three-year contact for the HD service. When I asked for proof that I authorized this, they said it was based on my installing the HD equipment in 2007, but they can't provide proof of this, and they explained that the lady made a mistake for the $140.

I don't believe I owe anything, since I completed the first year and they have no proof of an additional 1- or 2-year contract with my authorization. Please help, this is unfair business practice.

I worry what they could do when the next payment comes up. I will not pay. I've disconnected the box and informed them by emails and many calls, but they will not tell me they have disconnected me from their services! They should respond to customer request to stop service. They may want to bill me again and collect money on the box that's supposed to be returned after cancellation of services. Box about $175.00. I did not mail the box to them because they did not send me the mailing envelope with the proper address. The last payment I sent for $48.99 on July 2, 2009 should cover services until July 26, 2009. I've used their service since 09/26/06, never late, never missed a payment. They kept giving me Spanish channels I did not want, but not important now.