DIRECTV Reviews

On September 16th the system was installed. We did not get Rochester local stations - instead we got Buffalo. When I called to explain there must be a mistake I was told no - that because I was in Genesee county, by federal law they are required to us the Nielsen Media Research to determine designated market areas and Genesee was Buffalo. Nothing they can doing about that. So I requested to cancel explaining that I certainly would never had signed up for the service had I known that I couldn't get Rochester stations. I was then told I would be charged $460 for the cancellation fee. I explained I was told I had 30 days. After several emails and phone discussions I was told by Anna by email that "in the state of New York, you have 15 days in which you can cancel without penalty. Your 15 day mark is up on 09/30/08." She then told me to call a number with a Personal ID Number and a representative will assist me with the equipment recovery. I call the number and had yet another discussion with 3 reps all of which wanted to "bully" me into either keeping the service or paying the fee.

When I explained I had it in writing - they finally agreed to waive the early cancellation fee and the first months bill. The recovery boxes were sent - I sent the equipment back on 10-7-2008. Today 10-8-2008, I find my credit card has been charged $542.52 - which is my checking account. I've called DirecTV and was hung up on once, then spoke to Debra - then Elizabeth - and Elizabeth told me that there is no way the fee can be refunded at this time. I've asked to speak to the supervisor. I've been on hold for over 75 minutes. I am getting no where with their customer service. Oh wait - they just transferred me to a supervisor - nope - disconnected. I need your help please. I have also alerted my bank to dispute the charges.

Our bank has now filed a fraud claim and we are in the process of getting this resolved. But if this happens to anyone else please file every complaint against this company you can. They are doing this way too often and it seems very intentional. And who is to stop it? They have no proof but say the day you sign up, you agree to the fee if your boxes are not returned. OR in many cases whenever they are hard up for some extra cash. This company needs to reimburse all these people who like us have been put out badly.

I told Randy that I was never informed of a contract let alone a 2-year contract. He continued to inform me that there would be a monthly fee of $20 per month for which I was canceling my service - a total of 18 months, a total fee of $360.00! I asked Randy to speak to his supervisor for which he proceeded to let me know that there was nobody that I can talk to not even a supervisor and that if I wanted to make a complaint it needed to be made in writing via standard mail or online on Directv.com.

I placed my complaint online and received a response in which they say they reviewed my account and that back in March 29th 2008. I agreed to a 2-year contract and that because of the breach of contract I would need to pay $360.00 as an early termination fee and I was referenced to directv.com/agreements website. Today, I logged onto my bank account and noticed that my account was negative over $500.00!! As I went over the transactions I noticed that DirecTV had charged my account $435.79! Since DirecTV withdrew the money without notifying me, I went through the weekend thinking I had available funds and my bank has now charged me several overdraft charges. Again, I contacted DirecTV and spoke to customer service and questioned the unauthorized withdrawal. The customer service rep said that there was nothing that he could do.

I explained what had happened with my bank account and requested to make an initial payment of $100 and asked if a payment plan could be set up. The rep said that DirecTV didn't do payment plans. Due to DirecTV’s unauthorized withdrawal we find ourselves in financial hardship without funds to pay our bills or groceries. I just don't understand how a company can keep servicing like this - without any repercussions. I feel violated and extremely upset. At this point any help would be greatly appreciated.

In late August, I decided to get rid of Direct after 3+ years of problems and called to cancel service. I was informed that when the new HD box was installed, I had committed to a new 2 year contract. I asked for documentation and was told that it was stated in their standard contract which I should have read. I've looked at the contract and can find nothing to support their position. I had the Satellite system remove September 1, 2008 and installed cable. DirecTV has charged my AMEX card $438.22 for the supposed breach of contract. I have asked AMEX to investigate, but Direct won't provide a signed document in which I agreed to these terms. The charge remains on my AMEX card after a month of discussions with them. Anything you can do will be appreciated.

The afternoon of the installation, the receiver in our living room went bad and after a call to technical support, the tech said the installer forgot to put a "B band" device on the back of the receivers in our house and he would send them. Three days later, we received the devices and installed them... still no service. Called customer service and they said the tech was wrong and the "B band devices weren't necessary. The problem was probably with a coaxial cable connection." The next week (10 days later), the technician called to say he would be 4 hours late for the appointment window. When he arrived, he announced that the brand new receiver had gone bad and replaced it.

Finally we had service on our main television in the living room after two weeks. When I called customer service to discuss a credit, for the time we didn't have service, the representative agreed to credit our account. When we received our bill... no credit. After calling to inquire about why there was no credit, and why we didn't get the premier plus stations we had ordered and agreed upon at a monthly price of $38.95, the customer service representative told me we were signed up for the premier service (basic coverage) and our monthly bill was $52 a month.

When I explained that we were to get a credit on the service we lost out on, after discussing with her manager she said since we had service on the TV in our bedroom, the best she could do was deduct $5 a month for 3 months of the $61 a month bill we received. At this juncture, I was so angry I told her we would take the adjustment for now, but that we would be cancelling our service. I am sure we will be getting a cancellation fee bill. After reading all the customer complaints on the internet, I am annoyed at myself for not researching this company more carefully. Their blatant disregard for customers and customer satisfaction is apparent.

This has gone on for a week, and the police give us the impression that the company is not allowing a proper investigation to be done. The installer lives in Buffalo, NY and he was in Albany, NY for a week doing installs, and Halsted sent him back to Buffalo before the police had a chance to talk to him. The companies are basically sending us in circles refusing to help us, after they called on the morning after the police report was filed acknowledging the situation and saying that they were going to work with us. In the end, nearly $5000 is missing and DirecTV does not want to help.

To give a quick history, we initially subscribed under an advertised deal of a free HD receiver upgrade and installation/programming for up to 4 rooms. Upfront during the 2006 installation, we indicated to the installer that we only wanted to install 2 rooms, but we wanted the ability to add a third room. His response was that it was not a problem; we could add the third receiver anytime. He gave us the third receiver at that time to hold. It was definitely not made clear or verbally communicated in any way that we held a future liability for that receiver.

That third receiver stayed in our closet until April of 2008, without any concern expressed by DirecTV. In April, we hooked the receiver up in a separate office, called DirecTV, and they had it operable within minutes. It was honestly great service, we thought at the time. However, there was never a new receiver sent in April of 2008, there was never a new agreement signed in April of 2008, and there was certainly no indication or disclaimer from the customer service representative when this third line was added in April 2008. It was done all over the phone with no mention of a required time agreement. We never would have added this third line had we known that an 18-month commitment was attached as we only intended to add DirecTV to this room on a trial basis.

We sent a letter to their dispute resolution office in Colorado asking for the $250 fee waived for our account. We never received a reply back, but we continued to get late bills requesting the payment. We called customer service, and they indicated in their system that our dispute had been denied and we still owed payment.

I have since sent back the DVR receiver that I rented, but I also sent back a HD receiver that I paid for, but of course did not see any of that credit. I also had a credit for over $120.00 that I probably will not see either. I had Directv service through Qwest, and since don't want my services affected with them, I have made full payment to Qwest. Qwest also has a log of my complaints. I have never been so mad and since I have a heart condition, it just is not worth it. Directv has contracted representatives that are rude. I did make a complaint the next day when I cancel services. All this is in the service notes each time I called. I then get a call from the Customer Care and told me that I broke my contract and charged $399.

On Friday, the 19, I call again since no one called me. I was told the same story again. I asked for a supervisor. "Mike", the supervisor comes on. I explain my problem, and since I cannot get anyone to service me, I want to cancel my service with them. He promises to check into my account and call me back on 9/20/08. Of course this never happened. I call again and all I get is a computer program and not any live help. Finally, due to frustration, I call Qwest for help on Sept. 23 and talk with Joshua **. He is on the line for over 20 mins. trying to get a supervisor at DirecTV on the phone with us.

We finally reach Rodney. I asked Rodney at least 12 times to cancel my service which he just ignored. Finally, Josh cut in and asked Rodney to honor my request. At this point, Rodney gets angry that Josh is on the line and starts a fight with him. Finally, Rodney agrees to cancel my service that I never had but informs me that there will be a charge of $360 for not keeping my commitment of 18 months of service with them. As this point, Josh points out that I am allowed to cancel my service any time within the first 2 weeks without consequence, which is the policy Qwest promotes with all new request for service per DirecTV's instructions.

Once again, Rodney get angry and starts a fight with Josh for telling me this. He said this is not true and I need to go to DirecTV to argue this charge. I have since returned the DirecTV boxes per their procedure. So I need your help to prevent this type of neglect from continuing by DirecTV. I have since heard of others who have had a similar experience with them. This seems to be their standard process and will not allow a person to cancel service even when they do not fulfill their agreement to give me service.

Immediately I phoned DIRECTTV number & was told they would have FedEx deliver boxes & labels to return the equipment to them & we would get a refund in 10 days or so. That same day I went back & had Comcast Cable turned back on. Now it's a month later & they refuse to give us our monies back because their argument is the service was turned on, even though it was only for about 5 or 10 minutes.

They got all their equipment back right away and we have been duped.

Called to activate it and was never told other wise. All i was told was I'd be paying $10.00 a month for Hi Def service. I am very angry. I purchased with my Circuit city credit card and was not told this. I have made a contract with verizon fios for all my services effective 09/27/08. I hope that with the lack of information given to me, i should not be charged. I'd been a long time customer.

I feel cheated and abused i was never informed. As a single mother currently struggling and trying to save money, i know to pay a cancellation fee for a contract i didn't even know i had. Plus the reciever i purchased $100.00 i am now told i don't even own! Now i will not be able to pay all my bills and this will be a very big hardship for me.

About 3 mos. later we received a bill for 5 ** movies. At this time I think it is up to around twenty. We have disputed these charges in writing to the company. they responded with these movies were ordered from inside your home & payment is due. They have turned us over to a collection service which may damage our credit, but this bogus bill will not be paid.

Took money from my bank account told several times when I can expect, have not received yet causing financial hardship.

he equipment was returned and I was told the equipment deposit would be immediately credited once they showed that the equipment was received. That was 3 weeks ago. I spoke with a rep 10 days ago and they showed a credit for 1 of the boxes when all 3 were returned with the same tracking #. She adjusted that and said the funds would be credited within 72 hours. Again, that was 10 days ago. I am still unable to get any help. I get the same answer and they have yet to come through.

I have several late payments and bank fees because my entire paycheck was taken to cover the negative balance.

Finally, got the bill paid but.... Direct Tv has a very frustrating system. I gave information on the phone to a voice who could never get my account number right even when it was put into the phone. I was sent to a person who helped me pay the overdue bill.

One month later, again I tried the compter first and could not find the sign-in on the web site. So, I called Direct TV again with the same results. This happened two times before I reached a person who took the new credit card information.

Installer came and went. Next day found out we could have gotten an hdtv dvr for free. Instead it would cost us $200. We then hooked up 3 other tv's. Called for access cards. Were told if we let them know prior to the first intal, which we did, we would not have had to pay for the access cards.

Instead we had to pay $60. Then called direct tv because from the start the original box was having trouble keeping a signal and 2 additional boxes never had a signal.

We were told we had to troubleshoot prior to anyone coming out so we did. None of the 3 boxes have worked for any lenght of time. Just called yesterday for service for the two additional boxes because of the loss of signal.

Was told we had to troubleshoot again and it would be a charge for them to come out. We asked to be downgraded from the hd box on the main tv to a non hd dvr. We were told it would be $100 to downgrade.

We asked to cancel and was told we were in a 2 year contract and it would be $400 to cancel. We told them we could not afford to pay the bills and they said we would end up in collections with our monthly bills continuously adding up.

We would not agree to a 2 year contract since we are only in our house for 1 year.

after calling direct tv and talking to a supervisor(daniel id#100335020) i was told that there was a mistake in charging my credit card since i did not have a account with directtv and that i could expect a refund back to my card in 3 days after the refund department processed everything. i was told that i needed to fax nothing. i followed up everyday including today and on september 19th. five days after talking to supervisor i called and now they tell me that the only thing holding refund up is me faxing copy of transaction,

no one ever called me to notify me i happened to call them, so finally i faxed them needed paper work and now i am told that it will be another 10 days but they will not give me anymore infomation. all of reps at the direct tv were very rude. i hope something can be done because my gas will be off because of this mistake. please help me

could not pay gas bill which was 410.00 as a result gas scheduled to be turned off september 18th.

On or about the 8 Aug 2008 I received a second bill that was double the first bill of 80 dollars and included late fees. When I contacted the Service representative, they tried to sell me a new premium package with the NFL Ticket. After repeatedly informing them that I was not interested in any package other then the one I had originally agreed too, I was told that the package I had originally signed up for on 22 July 2008 had expired on 17 July 2008 and that it was no longer available.

At that point I informed the service representative that I was not interested in a new package and that I wanted to cancel my service. I was then informed that I was going to be billed an additional $440 dollars for early cancellation and that there may be additional charges against me in the following months. Again I informed that representative that I would like my service canceled as of 17 Sep 2008. Reluctantly the service representative agreed. The Service representative informed me that within 7 days I would receive boxes from FEDEX in which I could return the receivers. The next day I found that my DirecTV service was discontinued.

On 9 September I placed another call to service desk that confirmed my service had indeed been disconnected. I suspect that since the company enrolled me into a program that had already expired and then reassigned a new program package without my permission and refused to honor our original agreement, the orginal contract should be null and void. I have written DirecTV and informed them that I no longer wish to do service with there Company. And that I was seeking legal advice as to the additional charges that DirecTV has levied against me. Since my service was terminated on 8 Sep 2008, I also provide a check for a total of $65.35. ($49.50 for the first month service) & ($1.65 per day for the last 8 days of service).

Two weeks later I received a third bill this one for over 500 dollars. My Response was to write the company a request to either send me a zero balance statement or I would make a formal complaint with the Maryland States Attorneys Office. I have also canceled my credit card so that no charges could be accessed against the card that I used to sign up for this service. I am currently waiting to for a responce from this company.

man came back on friday to fix other tv's still bought the wrong boxes for tv, promise to come back at 8 am saturday morning to fix other tv and go under house and install new wires and coveR up wires in front of step waited until 10;30 AM. HE NEVER RETURNED OR CALLED

My 1st bill came and it was $60. I asked for it to be corrected and I was informed that it couldn't be. So I cancelled my service and sent the receiver back via FEDEX. Now DIRECTV is charging me $400 for cancelling my service early. I have copies of all complaints sent to the Better Business Bureau!

EMOTIONAL DISTRESS!

Again my bill came incorrect. They lie about what I was going to receive and every month their bill was for a different amount. I find it aggrevating having to call, having to be on hold for long periods of time and going from one recording to another, talking to one person and another and getting no where. I asked them to stop my services and then I was told that they were going to charge me an early cancellation fee, I was given an address to write if I wanted to complain, and I did. I was told they were going to send me a box to mail back their equipment, I received the box yesterday, I work and I was planning to send back their equipment this week end.

Today I found out that they debit my bank account for $261. I was very upset and asked my bank to dispute this. Not only they didn't keep their part of the contract, they gave me horrible service and without authorization, without even billing me or sending me any notification, they debit my card, just because they had the number from when I ordered the services. I don't think that it's right for them to get away with doing this to me nor anyone else. I hope you can investigate my case and put a stop of them taking advantage of consumers like me.

I work full time and I have to make ends meet. When they debit my account it made my account overdrawn, now I have to cancel my debit card and I can't even use the little bid of money that I had left in the bank. I don't have money to pay for an attorney, if not I would. It is not fair that they get away with this, taking advange of people, I am sure I am not the only one. I hope you can help me. Thank you for your time.

The next thing we know that have taken 418.00 out of our checking account, this was money to pay our bills for the month, no one should have to paid that kind of money because you want to change providers, we would not have cancelled if we had been told when we upgraded our systems. Please help us understand why we our paying such a large fee. Should this be fair. As I state we are senior we wouldn't cancel knowing we would be charge that type of money.

After a week I called again and asked about the receivers and was told that I would have to pay for them after agueing with the service rep. he finally agreed to send the boxes, and then I asked about the discount and he stated that he did not see any note about the discount on the account and their was nothing he could do and that I had signed a contract and I had to keep the service or pay the cancellation fee. When I called to cancel the service I was told that the note was on my record about the $10.00 and that they would honor it if I stayed with Direct TV. I had already contract with another company.

After talking to people in the so called customer dispute center, I explained many times what had happened and that I felt it was a scam because they promised me things and that they had not full filled their portion of the verbal contract, which I considered a breach, so the contract that I signed should not be valid. I recieved another letter stating that I had signed a contract and had to pay. I again called the customer service and was told that a supervisor would call me back which they never happened. Next thing I knew I got a bill from Credit and collections. Is their anything I can do?

Bill for $365.00. It will go on my credit report which will give me bad credit.

Once again, DirecTV has cost me money, ruined my relationship with my bank and I am still dealing with overdraft fees as a result of their questionable business practices. Surely, there is someone who DirecTV is accountable to, whether it's the Public Utility Commission, or some such government agency. Is there any action I can take now, without having to retain an attorney (I do not have income sufficient to hire one)?

My bank account continues to be overdrawn with fees being assessed as a result. Two of my accounts will be closed as they are direct pay out of my checking account. I cannot deposit my payroll checks, or the bank will automatically cover the negative balance with it, and then I will be unable to pay my mortgage, utilities, fuel, groceries, etc... This has caused considerable stress on me and I am having a heart cath done on Wed. 9/24/2008. I do not need the addition problems that they have caused and refuse to correct.

Jump to 9/16/o8. Called to cancel service, spoke with Freddie (supervisor)to explain and was told they could not waive 18mo comment and I had a 18mo. charge if I canceled. I said if we cant resolve this, court, is my next step. Waiting for return call from Boss that has no Boss to try to resolve. Not holding much hope.

If not resolved I would owe 13mos.x 29.99$= $399.00

Because I lost my job, I am no longer able to afford the service and they're not able to reduce the services below $164.55/month.

i was tricjed and was told it was cleared from my account but sure enough it was on the bill the 9.99. they tell me its being reviewed by upper level and i would know by letter if im not commited. find that hard to imagine how a company can get away with that. not regulated by the state of Mass so they can do as they wish have been with them for over 12yrs and they treat you [badly]. you get a different answer everytime you call and the hold time on the phone is awful. cannot find a corporate number anywhere so your stuck with the same people everytime you call. the most decietful company ive ever encountered.

This year our NFL ticket was automatically renewed at the cost of $280! Then we purchased an HD TV which cost us $225 for them to install a new satellite dish plus $10 per month for the HD access. I was told by the rep on the phone and the installer that the NFL ticket had HD. However, the HD channels would not work. I called and the rep said we had to pay an additional $100 to get the NFL ticket in HD. WHAT? There should be a law against this. Is there any government agency that regulates them? Is ther any leag way to get out of this contract?

MONEY mostly. We repaired the radiant barrier in the attic ourselves.

Now I have equipment that does not work, felt ill after dealing with him, and now expected to continue paying the bill. I am afraid of who they might send if I continue on with them. In addition they are asking me to send my receivers to them that I paid for out of my pocket. They cost me $200 each and I had recently bought them. Directv says they equipment belongs to them.

Caused me to be ill and had to call in sick to work rest of day. Have sat dish and receivers that I cannot use. Afraid this tech might come back. Directv trying to charge me for rest of 2 year contract.

They claiming that they are going to ruin my credit. This is not fair I never had their services. Went I call them they were very nasty I toll me this is America I that dint have any body that speak Spanish. I havent living in the USA sinces 1970. I live in Puerto Rico. Please help. Thanks.

I have been hit with overdrafts and could not even afford to get my kids groceries or pay my car insurance.

I was never told by Verizon upon ordering this service through them that there was any type of contract with directv for 2 years. The installer had me sign a form receiving the equipment which does not state anything about being in a 2 year contract. I feel like they trapped me into their service. When speaking to them they said all of their services were explained to me in great detail and their staff wrote everything in detail.

The 1st time I spoke with Directv's office was on 8/29/08 and they were offering another service upon which I didn't realize that Verizon & Directv were separate entity's. They called to offer a football service that was 74.99 I was under the impression that it was the package deal Verizon had already offered me and kept stating that to the Directv person I only want to stick with the 74.99 package not realizing that it was 2 different things. I want out with Directv, their staff and service is totally awful. I can't afford to pay $480.00 for cancellation.

They found the 1st unit 4 months later, but we still have a problem. Be very careful when dealing with DirecTV. You are probably better of using Digital TV and a Free to Air Satellite receiver.

Please assist with repair, refund for third TV. As I explained on(call Montered) TV is is daughters room who is Stage IV Cancer. I do not feel I should have to be on hold for over 4 hrs for this issue. Very simple, one TV out, Two working, I am paying for three. Fix, and give credit for not service. Thanks for time and assistance.

Then AFTER the fact of informing them I was cacelling-that's when they offered some help, and that was already to little to late, considering the fact I had already set up service with another company. I CAN NOT afford this kind of money!! ESPECIALLY WHEN I WAS NEVER INFORMED OF THIS CHARGE!!!

The economic damage from this will be DEVESTATING!! I live on Social Security Disability, and simply CAN NOT afford this!!

I received a box via FedEx on Wed. 8/27/08 with a letter enclosed advising me that I had 7 days in which to return the equipment to avoid being charged $475.00. Okay, that's easy enough. (Box came with prepaid label for shipping) I checked my bank account on Sat. 8/30/08 to discover that they've charged me $489.35. I spent over 45 minutes being transferred from one rep. to another only to be told over and over, The system does it automatically, and we really can't do anything until you return the equipement.

If you are giving someone 7 days to return the equipment, is it not illegal to charge them for it beforehand? After all, they set the 7 day term, I didn't. I could see them doing it if I did not comply. How can they get away with this? If this complaint is made often enough, perhaps someone might consider a class action lawsuit. Until someone screams long and loud enough, they will keep repeating this type of unethical behavior.

Bank account now overdrawn. Bank charges DAILY for overdraft until such time as a deposit is made to cover the negative amount. As I don't get paid again for over another week, this will continue to accrue. Also, because my account is virtually frozen as a result, I cannot pay any bills that were due to be paid out of the funds that this tied up.

Now I have a $199 bill for the equipment which I have to return the modem to them.

Each month, because they would not agree to allow me the three to seven days to pay the bill on the 21 of each month they would cut off services and on the 28th or so they would restore services upon receipt of payment. In July I did not make a payment. But August 4 I sent in 112.00 via postal mail. I called Direct TV four times asking why the payment not being posted. They finally told me they reeived the payment that day but it had not posted. two days later my bank verfied the amount was pulled.

Direct posted the payment 08/15/08. I made a second payment of 40.00 on 08/29/08 Via Direct TV cash card (payment is wired by radio Shack for a 5.00 fee) It was my understanding that was what I needed to restore services because I was considered a level one meaning they cut off your services for the channels you ordered but leave on channel 100 (A channel that advertises what is on Pay for View) QVC andother advertising channels which they probably can turn off because the companies has paid them for advertising.

So they charge you each month 5 to 6.00 fore each receiver, 10.00 for having access to these channels, taxes and ect.. on the services, a late fee ect. Which means even though you think your bill has stopped you are in fact still racking up charges. I call them when my services was not reinstated. I was told because I was without services with no payment within 60 days I needed to pay 33.08 the new months fees and give them a valid credit card before services would be restored.

I said payments has been made twice in a 30 to 40 day period and according to you I still have services because you are charging me each month. I told them I have had services with your company 8 to ten years and my contract did not state or implied that and I they was just using that as a tool to have the ability to charge someonw whatever they wanted when they wanted to. That is not a fools proof way any how. A client could acquire services with a valid card and simply cancell the card immediately after approval and request a replacemnet card with a new number. So I told them to send me the boxes and I would mail them their equipment back to them.

On the 30the 8 27 in the morning another rep from California called saying my payemt was behind and I needed to pay the 33.00 so my services could be restored. I told him the entire story. He tried to convience me that I was wrong and agreed to again to send me boxes to ship their equipment back to them.

THey stopped my services without just cause when I was in compliance with their policy. I have paid for the services I ordered and used. and has been made to pay for someone else advertising channel that I did not order. They use hound dog tactic to harrass customers. If you call in to report a repair or something If you are transferred from on counselor to another (one night I spoke to 6) each one go through this role play of your bill is this, we need that ect.. Failing to address why you called just pouncing on you for what ever the amount now due or xpected to be due.

In July, I called to tell them I was not getting HD, and they couldn't send a tech for 16 days! In August, I cancelled the service, returned the receivers in the boxes provided. A few days later, my credit card was charged $323 for early termination of contract. I had signed no contract, and please note, the DVR upgrade was free.

I called DirecTV and talked to Jason (heavy accent) who told me in effect that I was stuck with the bill. I asked for a supervisor and waited... Jason told me his supervisor was still on the phone with another customer (I wonder why) and he would try to find another. Several minutes later, Jason tells me that the supervisor won't talk to me, and that the supervisor says that I should write the billing resolution department.

I insisted to talk to someone with authority. Several minutes later, Manny (accent), a Resolution Specialist, came on the line and essentially stated there was nothing he could do. Resolution... what? I received no satisfaction and still have to address a $323 hidden charge.

We tried to get local channels via an antennae system; we got nothing (we live out in the country and get no antennae service which is why we have cable in the first place). I called customer service. I was told by the recording on the phone that the only people that were available were technical support. I talked with someone in technical support about local channels. I was told that I had to personally ask my cable service for local channels IN WRITING and that in 45 days I could get an answer either way.

I hung up, talked with my husband and we decided to disconnect. I called again, spoke with a lady who said, "Oh no, we do that request, and you shouldn't get denied." I said ok, how long of a wait, she said a couple of days. I said ok, I have a few days to cancel, right? And she said, yes, you have SEVEN days. I said ok. We waited the weekend because "All that is available at this time is Technical Support."

I called Monday, August 18, 2008 as soon as I could. I disconnected immediately and was told that I had a valid reason to disconnect as this whole contract was based on a lie and the representative was very sorry that your company had been misrepresented. She also told me that there should be NO PROBLEM with this request for fee waiver due to the lies I had been told and the fact that I was cancelling within the correct cancellation period.

Just a few days ago, I received an email stating I had a bill. I thought, okay, they have not processed my waiver of the cancellation fee. I just got a bill today for the above mentioned amount. I called at 5:50pm on August 29, 2008 and got the rudest customer service representative. I told him how frustrated I was, I was very angry. He seemed to listen. I said, "I had SEVEN days to cancel." He said, "No, you had three days." I said, "HA! I ordered it on the 15th of August and I cancelled on the 18th of August, so why do I have a bill for 371.03?"

As soon as I was finished talking, I waited almost 30 seconds before I finally said, "Did you hang up?" I was answered by him very rudely, "Does it SOUND like I hung up?" I said, "Well, what is going on with my account?" He responded, "They said you don't have good enough excuse. Deal with it." I said, "That is unacceptable!" He said,"You can talk to escalations." Then he put me on hold.

I hung up and called back and got a WHOLE DIFFERENT agent. I was livid. I told him the same story I told the previous agent and he said, "Actually, in Idaho you have FIFTEEN DAYS to cancel your service." I said, "Oh, well I cancelled in the correct amount of time." He said, "I will document every thing and send you to escalations." I was then put on hold and got a complete different agent. She said that I had 24 HOURS to cancel. I said, "Where does it say that in my contract?" She said, "NO WHERE. We don't advertise that." I said, "Wait, I have a signed contract and NO WHERE on this thing does it say that I have a 24 hour period in which to cancel my contract." She said, "Well we denied you, you have to write a letter for a request to waive the fee." I do not feel that I should be held to a contract that even they don't know for sure. I feel that the lies are illegal and their contract policies warrant an audit by professionals.

7/28 - I called DirecTV to cancel service. They are sending a install supervisor out Weds, July 30th for a 2nd opinion. 7/30/2008 - He told Mimi that the only way he could install it is in the back yard and we'd have to pay for the cable to be buried. 7/31 - I called DirecTV and told them to cancel because the installer said that the only way that we could get a line of sight was from the yard and that we would have to pay for the cable burial. She said that they could not cancel if a line of sight was possible. She did say that we were due a $100 credit because the 2nd technician had not reported to them that he'd been out. OK.

I said fine, escalate the cancellation to account management and in the meantime install the service if she thinks that's possible, but that we were not paying for the cable burial. They are scheduled to be out August 9 from 8-12. 7/31 - 4:30pm - I got a call from the service center and the woman said that they wanted to send a supervisor out for a second opinion on the dish install. I asked her if anyone in that company talked to anyone else. I explained about the previous conversation and told her that someone had already been out, etc. She said that she didn't know anyone had been out and had no notes of that and said goodbye.

8/1 - Another woman from the service company called and wanted someone to come out to give a second opinion. I started telling her the whole story again and then stopped and told her to send someone out, but that I wouldn't be there. She said that I didn't have to be there and scheduled someone to come out Wednesday from 12-4. 8/6 - I don't know if anyone showed up for a 2nd opinion or not, I haven't heard anything. 8/9 - Someone was supposed to show up from 8-12 to do an installation. No one showed.

8/11 - I talked to a customer service person. He asked how he could help me. I asked him to tell me what the notes on my account said. He said that they said that I wanted to disconnect and that "someone" had been out and determined that our line-of-sight was in the yard, etc. He didn't know what to do and transferred me to the "Disconnect Department". Obviously, I was the only person updating these people on their own work.

I put the guy at the Disconnect Dept though the same routine. He said that he'd call the installation/service folks and see what the story was from the 2nd opinion. He came back and said that they'd called the installer and had to leave a message. He said I could call later today to find out what the latest was from the installers. I asked if he'd call me when they found out. He said that no, he couldn't call me back, but that I would need to call them. I told him that the last time I looked, I was the customer and they should be calling me to update me, but he gave me some story about them being an inbound call center and not outbound.

That's when I told him that he really wasn't Customer Service after all was he?, and he said "No, I'm Customer Service but I just can't call you back".. He did tell me that he could have the installers/service company call me. I said that that would be fine. He asked how long I had been out of service and I said almost a month. He said that he had good news and could give me a credit! I told him that I expected the credit and that he wasn't doing me any favors. So I got the credit.

8/11 - 4:00 - I still hadn't heard from the install company so I called DirecTV again. This time I got someone who conferenced me in with her and the install company. Their server was down! That's ok, I know it happens. I gave the lady my phone number and told her that I wanted to be called when she talked to a supervisor. 8/12 - No one called me. 8/13 - No one called me. 8/14 - No one called me.

8/15 - I called DirecTV and was told that there was no line-of-sight possible and there could be no installation. She said that if there's a credit showing in my account that I'll get a check within 6-8 weeks. In the meantime, they have taken $109.13 on 8/11, and $281.42 on 8/25 out of my checking account. 8/28 - Received a bill from DirecTV with a zero balance, that reflects the above payments and an "Early Cancellation Fee" of $440 !

8/29 - Called DirecTV and talked to Rachel. She said that the "Early Cancellation Fee" was charged because I refused installation. I told her the story and that the "we can install it on a pole" came from me and not their installer (at least not any installer that they'd talked to). She's filling out an "escalation form" to have this researched. It will take 7-10 business days. I don't have a problem paying the $50 moving fee as we had just gotten the service prior to moving. However, it's not our fault that there's no line-of-sight at our new home. $440 is unreasonable.

Last week there company called said we are sorry your cancelling but we want you as a customer and we will send out a tech at NO CHARGE, I said sorry i have tried to get this done for several months and you refused now you wanna because im cancelling.

When i looked at my bank acct this am someone from Direct TV has submitted a payment for 08/29/2008 DTV*DIRECTV SERVICE $396.85 . I do not have auto payment with them and i have never authorized any such amount and noone has contacted me about any such amount.I have submitted a dispute with my bank but since it is in HOLD there is nothing i can do.

I want to know who from Direct TV initiated and who gave them permission to automatically take this money since i was never contacted. Someone will be held responsible as this is going to cause a major overdraft and fees adding up and I am not responsible for them. I want this money returned immediatly and the name of the person at Direct TV held responsible for the unauthorized submission for this payment.

We have been told several differnt things by different reps. And still Directv keeps my money that they fraudulently took from my account. The Credit Dept. said we would have the money in 72 hours. Maybe Directv should realize that people spread bad service around alot faster than good service.

My husband and I have spent numerous hours on the phone trying to get this money back.

Needless to say I don't have my bills from last year since they were online (and of course being that my service is now cancelled I can't view them). I was told the charges would be escalated? and I needed to check back in 7-10 working days. Upon checking back 08/26/08, it seems there are new charges and this is from a different card. I haven't figured out how this is possible since my recievers in the bedrooms could not even access ppv movies.

Upon telling this to the supervisor he told me that the card was correct (I guess I don't know what I'm talking about) and that he looked back at my bills and there is no charge for the movie using internet access therefore I must have ordered it via remote. He then stated that as of right now if I want I can write a letter to dispute the charges however he seriously doubts that the charges would be reversed. That't real customer service for you.

During this failing economy, I like others, am trying to live life as best as possible and feel that Directv has taken advantage of people and continues to do so. The customer service representives are rude along with the supervisors and instead of listening to the customer, they continue to try and overtalk the customer. It seems as if they feel that it's no way the system could be faulty or that a mistake is made on their part. Needless to say I now have a bill (while not as huge as some others) that if left unpaid will most likely go to the credit agency and be a negative score on my credit report. A bill that if they took the time to look into what I was saying to them they may have found and corrected an error.

DirectTV is going to charge me a substantial Early termination/cancellation fee of up to $275.00. I also have to send back their receiver which will cost me shipping and valuable time.

My dealings with Direct TV were very stressful and time-consuming. I still did not receive a confirmation notice that my service had been canceled. I will gladly return the DVR in excellent condition, but I am not assured they will sent a box for me to mail it. Anyway, I was told I still owe $340.00 for the early cancellation fee.

After looking at the many Direct TV complaints on this site, I now know that fighting them on this fee will only be futile. Something needs to be done about Direct TV's shoddy and shady business practices. How can they justify charging me $340.00 when I was already paying to lease the DVR recorder. If I return it in excellent condition, the $340.00 will be money paid for no service or product.

The first installation date was cancelled one hour after the expected time of arrival. When the installers did come they were very professional. One day after the installation; the signal continued to drop, not allowing a consistent connection. Neither my husband nor I could get any work done. After several calls, no show appointments, blatant lies (emails telling us one thing and CS telling us something different) and miscommunication from DIRECTV and serious attitude problems from the Local Installers through Wildblue -we resolved that it was not worth the stress and we had missed too much time and work.

We cancelled the service through DIRECTV because they did not stand by their committment. Since my agreement with my job; was that I would work remote during medical leave (at my leisure)-so that I would not have to use up all of my sick leave - I lost out on that financially. My husband had to take the time and gas money and external fees to go somewhere else to work. This is not convenient or reasonable with the line of work that we both do. We are both losing time and money and the added stress that it caused me during the time of my supposedly recovery was unimaginable.

I then called and had my dish moved over to see if I could recieve service as I was in a 2-year contract with Directtv after the technician came he left still w/o service, (picture was constantly jumping or just a black screen) I contacted DTV again and was told to purchase a tripod to have the ability to move my dish around. I was sent the tripod and again no service.

After dealing with this issue for months DTV finally credited me for the four months of no service and it was established I could not receiver their service at my residence. I am disputing the cancellation fee of my contract due to the fact that I cannot receive service and I have had two DTV installers come out with knowledge of their equipment as well as signal strength and my issues. My fiasco with DTV has all been documented with DTV's customer service and I am also disputing these charges through their billing dispute department.

I am being billed for the amount of $200 for

In June 2008 I called Direct tv along with all my other utilities to have my service disconnected because I was moving out of state and was told by Direct Tv that I would have to pay for an early cancellation fee because when I moved I was put under an 18 month movers contract. I informed them that when I requested for my service to be hooked up at my new address no one ever told me about a new contract. I asked them how much sense would it make for me to enter a 18 month contract with them when I knew I would only need their services for 6 months.

I was told they were sorry if I was not informed because I should have been. I have been disputing this every since I found out about it. I wrote a letter to the grevance department and I called several times with no success. they still continued to say I owed them $350.00. I finally got a letter from Direct TV saying they made a mistake and gave me a $140.00 credit. I called to see what the mistake was that they claim they made only to be told that my balance with them is now 0 because they took the checking account information they had on file for me and debited my account $220.00 I was beyond shocked. They said they have the right to do this and it is in my contract.

I have requested a copy of the contract with my signature. They said they don't have a contract with my signature they only have the work release with my signature. I cannot believe this is legal. How can they take money out of my account without my authorization. If that is the case, they can continue to take money out if they decide they want to. Please tell me how this is legal.

I am working at a temp job that will end this week with no other job in site. I only have a small income to try to get my bills paid. By taking the money out of my account they have caused a legal hardship on me.

unlawful means to obtain monies by false pretense. Collusion on Market target obtaining money by false advertisment. fraud.mental stress, time off from work. inconvienced monetary credit damage monetary loss

I contacted the installer of the receiver, he guarantees that he was never aware of a contract agreement himself! I contacted the Better Business Bureau. DTV continued to argue in their responses that they tell their customers that there is a contract (I was NEVER told); that you sign an agreement with the contract attached (they could never produce this signed agreement); that the customer could look up this info on line (who is going to look up something you don't even know about); that the customer could find this info on the back of the little card that is in your receiver.

They also argued that they give such big discounts to their customers in pricing and equipment so this entitles them to a contract from customer. They told me that they would automatically deduct the $340 from my account if I cancelled (over my dead body). Therefore, I cancelled my debit card and got a new account number. Thus, they cannot deduct automatically from your account.

We need to put a stop to DirecTV (DTV). They do not inform their customers, they provide horrible customer service, etc. They need to be held responsible for their inadequacies!

Also i just found out to DTV that I am bound to them for 2 years when I stated to them that I had signed up for a year and no one wants to help me. They do not care. When I call them about my situation they give me the run around and tell me that I need to speak with verizon and Verzon tells me to speak to DTV so of course I get no answers. DTV has also told me that they are not responsible for what has happened because they do business with Verizon and Verizon takes care of it all. But yet any problems that come up Verizon they tell me vice versa to speak with DTV. I get the run around and this is just not fair. Most of time they don't even understand Engish. There is a communication problem.

Headches, stress, body aches, that is how upset I am about this.

In July 2008, I noticed a charge on my credit card from DirecTV. Then, I looked back as far as I could, and noticed that they had been billing my credit card monthly since July 2007. Apparently, suspended accounts automatically reactivate after 6 months. I never noticed the billing, since everything I buy throughout the month (and several bills) go automatically on the card, and I just pay it off.

Anyways, I contacted customer service, who directed me to write a letter to the billing disputes department, who, supposedly, can only be reached by postal mail. They responded via voicemail, telling my my claim was denied. I wrote them back (since I can't call or email them), explaining my situation further, and included the past 12 months of Verizon FIOS bills. In the letter I accused them, among other things, of fraud and unjust enrichment. That was a month ago, and I've received no response.

In the meantime, my credit card company did refund the last 3 months worth of charges -- an amount DirecTV is now billing me for. I'm preparing to write them a third letter advising them that by not responding to me, they are leaving me little recourse other than to pursue legal action.

The total sum that remains unrefunded is $600.67, and DirecTV is invoicing me for $229.35, which was refunded by my credit card provider.

In mid may 2008 I received a bill again for $47.92 which I though I was done paying what was owed from direct TV. I questioned the bill with a rep name Marlene from the state of Texas and was advised the cable box showed 4 movies ordered on 02/25/07 from one of the receivers I disagreed because this was not detected from the cable box until the box was returned so I was not billed in 2008 for something that was ordered over a year ago.

I did not want to argue with the company anymore so I paid the bill on 5/12/2008 and received on 06/07/08 a statement confirming the amount was paid in full and zero balance was due. I asked at the time are you sure that's all I owe and that I'm not going to be bill later for something else. I was advised by Marlene that should be all I owe.

So today in the mail dated 08/08/08 I again received another bill for the amount of $46.95 a different amount. I questioned the bill and spoke to Stan from the state of Alabama which he tried to explain 5 movies were ordered on 02/25/07, 02/26/07, 02/27/07, 02/28/7 again movies ordered from another cable box this again was not detected until the cable box was returned which I returned all the boxes at the same time so Im again being bill in the year 2008 for movies supposedly ordered again in year 2007. which I thought was being bill again for the same thing.

STRESS ,TIME CONSUMING ,FINANCIAL HARDSHIP

On July 1, 2008, I called Qwest to cancel the service. Qwest told me to call DirectTV. I called Direct TV and, after some discussion, I cancelled the service because it was not what I wanted or desired. Two weeks later DirectTV sent me a bill for early cancellation fee of close to $400.00.

I do not feel that I should have this charge because of the following reasons: (1) I had no agreement with Direct TV (2) The product delivered was not the product ordered (3) I raised a red flag early in the process. I have talked with DirectTV several times about this problem, and I also wrote their Billing Dispute department about this but they are refusing to drop these charges. This is a complaint about unfair billing practices. I am hoping that you have some resources or actions I can take to resolve this issue.

Currently have received several bills for $372.81

I, Kelli, have never paid Tina's bill. She contacted Directv today and told them to refund my money and she will send a check just as she always has. They will not refund my money. Isn't it illegal to charge someone for a bill that isn't even in that person's name??

I want my money back NOW. And I think they should have consequences for talking money out of someone's account who is not even listed on the bill.

I immediately cancelled the contract for service and demanded a full refund of monies. However, I also spent an additional $116 to have telephone line access at the point of service. I am also out four hours of work to make myself available for the scheduled appointment.

DirecTV should invest in its software menu parental control like Dish has done. DirecTV is being ridiculous in their software development design not giving parents the option to complete take these channels out. I did not sign up with them to have these channels there in the first place. There should be more consideration to protect young people from being exposed to this adult material. I am sure there are parents who are not aware of this and think this is the way it is. I told the agent to email his supervisor so he could then take this message to his next software development meeting. The agent said the supervisor would email me in a couple of days. Will see if anything changes. I am in the process to changing to Dish since I know from one of my relatives that one has the option to completely block out channels one has not ordered.

Thank you and hopefully you can spread the word of this concern that can lead to awareness and change to protect young people's upbringing. I think cable channels should provide in the guide only the channels one is purchasing by default and not all the channels especially the ones with ** adult content. This also goes to Dish Networks since the majority of parents do not even know that they have the option to block out channels thus leaving more children exposed. The DirecTV agent told me I was the first person he's heard of complaining about this. I told him I was surprised. The consequences of DirecTV not being more considerate by giving full parental control is damaging young adults perception of reality, desensitizing them by exposing them to sexual content before they are adults.

I called DTV thinking this was an easy fix. They installed it wrong so, they will come out and fix me right up. Nope. I was told that this is "my problem" seeing that I didn't report it for 7 months. I explained that I rarely use this feature only for my kiddos for an after bedtime show they may like to watch. She said she found it hard to believe that I didn't realize a problem after this long. She continually talked over me. They wanted $99 to fix this problem. I said no. I told them to cancel my service and she said that will be $200.

What has happened to customer service. I told her that they were losing a 7 yr customer over not doing the right thing. She said my husband signed a contract that kept us under their thumb for another 10 months. I looked back at this contract and sure enough, we are obligated until June 2009. Once this contract expires I will NEVER do business with this company again. I have paid months and months of service for a feature that never worked correctly.

Here are the reasons that I am unwilling to pay for this fee: *When we decided to add a DVR Receiver, this was a decision made on the phone with a DIRECTV representative. We asked what this addition would change to our account (as in cost or anything else pertinent). We were told there would be no changes and that in fact, we would have no extra charges on our monthly bill. We have found that we have been charged an extra amount each month, which goes against what the representative told us. But we're choosing not to fight that battle. Because DIRECTV's representative failed to provide us with all of the information necessary to make an informed decision, we should not be expected to pay this cancellation fee, which is a direct result from this transaction.

*The customer service representative told me that these details were included in our Customer Agreement from when we first began service in April 2006. I proceeded to try to find the section that specifically referred to changes in service means that the agreement starts over for another 24 months. I was not able to find it, and neither was the DIRECTV customer service representative.

How do they expect me be willing to uphold an agreement that I never technically agreed to? Even if it were buried somewhere in the Customer Agreement from April 2006, it seems unreasonable that they would expect me to run and get the Customer Agreement to read all the fine print before I make a decision about service over the phone. Any customer of DIRECTV should have faith that the representative on the phone is giving them the details they need to make the decision.

I was told on the phone that there is no one for me to take my complaint to that has the decision -making capability to waive this fee. However, I was told that the customer representative would expedite my complaint to the correct department and that I would be receiving a letter with their answer within a few weeks. I feel uncomfortable knowing that the person that is "making my case" to the decision-makers works for the very company that I am unwilling to pay. Something seems very wrong with that situation. I emailed this info through a link on the DIRECTV website-I was hoping that someone with decision-making authority would take a few minutes to see how ridiculous this is.

It's possible that if they look into this, they may find that I had access to something in fine print at some moment in my life that technically would have informed me of these details. If that's true, I am unaware of that since I have a detailed file containing any documents from DIRECTV. But the facts are that we weren't informed of the most important aspects of the decision over the phone (the price and contractual impacts) and the Customer Agreement (which is the ultimate source for our contract with DIRECTV) doesn't even address this issue.

Based on those facts, I expected DIRECTV to make a decision that reflects common sense. We have been fairly pleased with their service, except for these recent events. I am shocked that DIRECTV could be so customer unfriendly despite what the facts of the situation are.

I assume that it's important to their company to do their best to please the customer. I don't feel that I am asking for something that is unreasonable. I will be disappointed if DIRECTV doesn't look at the totality of this situation and waive the cancellation fee. If this fee is not waived, that just proves to me that it's more important to DIRECTV to rely on their "fine print" rather than respond to these types of situations in a reasonable manner.

AFTER SENDING THEM ALL OF THE PREVIOUS INFO, I RECEIVED A FORM EMAIL THAT DIDN'T EVEN ADDRESS MY PARTICULAR CONCERNS AND DENIED MY REQUEST.

This was my response: Thank you for responding. However, you did not acknowledge the fact that in this situation, DIRECTV has failed to provide me with the pertinent information when it actually mattered (at the time of decision while on the phone). I am frustrated that DIRECTV is taking the low road by not taking an "understanding" approach and is merely concerned with the fact that the fine print was slipped in under the rug to cover yourselves. It's ridiculous that you are expecting us to accept this when the details are not even included in the Customer Agreement.

You can't expect me to constantly be looking online at your website for details on some obscure link concerning this. Second, just because you mail something to me (advertisements, confirmation letters) doesn't necessarily prove that I received it. Lastly, when my husband signed the DIRECTV Equipment Lease Addendum, it was after the equipment had already been installed. Why should he assume that there are any extra decision-making factors in the paperwork when he thought all had been discussed over the phone? I believe that addresses all of your reasons for not waiving the fee. I urge you to reconsider.

I've got to hand it to DIRECTV. You have a talented team of people who figured out how to make it impossible for someone to avoid a cancellation fee. I just hope DIRECTV feels comfortable that they are choosing to hang by thin thread when they use this particular approach. You've lost my respect and business-If this fee is not waived, I will make sure my friends and family are informed of your business and customer practices.

THEIR RESPONSE WAS THAT A "SPECIALIST" WOULD BE REVIEWING MY ACCOUNT AND REQUEST. AFTER THAT, I RECEIVED YET ANOTHER FORM EMAIL, EXACTLY THE SAME AS THE FIRST ONE. OBVIOUSLY THEY AREN'T EVEN PAYING ATTENTION TO THE DETAILS AND ONLY WANT THEIR MONEY. My advice, run far far away from DIRECTV. They know exactly how to get their money from you. Forget trying to reason with them because they just don't care to work with you. Has anyone had any luck with this sort of problem? I'd love some advice.

The consequence we'll be facing is a $130 early cancellation fee. This will be taken out of our credit card automatically without my authorization (although I apparently authorized this type of action when I first became a customer). How convenient. I'm telling you, they think of everything.

A few days later I asked my neighbor if I could connect to his satellite and he told me it was not a problem. I called customer again to have the installer to come out. He made the connections required for the TV to get the signal. Last week I called Direct Tv to make a payment and found out that my balance was over $700 for the cancelation fee and the DVR. I didn't cancel my subscription and I'm still using the DVR. Customer service took off the cancelation fee and the DVR and I made the payment of $193.31. I didn't see any credit for Starz and Showtime. Why did your company tell me I would get them for free when you don't follow up with your offer?

On August 8th my checking account was deducted $214.50 for the cost of the DVR. I called customer service again and was told I would get a refund. Today I called again and was told it would take several business days and refund check would be mailed. This is unacceptable! I was told on several different occasions that the DVR was not going to be on my bill and I was still charged for it anyways. I want the refund returned the same was it was taken out of my account.

I'm writing the FCC and posting on websites about the bad business practices Direct Tv has. I'm also going to change all account numbers associated with my account with you if a refund isn't in my account by the end of the week. When I send your payment it will be in a money order. I'm afraid to let you have any of my account information! I'd like to know how this is going to be resolved in a timely manner, My account is getting overdraft charges that I can't afford. I need to pay my electric bill and don't have enought money to pay it.

$260 for service we cannot use.

This company knows that everything is getting high and we just can't afford it anymore but they still want to charge a 200.00 contract cancelation fee and I don't think that this is fair. Not only do we need to stop this service we are at risk of loosing our cars now. Is there anything that we can do to get out of this contract with out paying 200.00

Ultimately, our credit card was charged 164.18 for the remaining months on the contract. My complaint is that this is not effectively communicated to consumers and their practices are sneaky and dishonest. They do state this policy in some paperwork, but consumers do not actually sign this, so it goes unnoticed.

I spent hours on the phone trying to get this charge removed from our credit card, as we were paying off this card to close it out. It took 3 months to get the charge removed, and directv still sent us a bill. I finally paid it because I did not want a negative mark on our credit report.

I wrote letters disputing the charges to their President of Customer Service & their CEO. Got two pre-packaged responses that didn't even have a stamped signature. Nice way to treat a customer. I even had some guy call "from the office of the President" in response to my letter. It was just some other clown who's trained to not budge. I paid the bill to avoid further hassle. $150 & probably 6 hours on the phone w/ the worst customer service people in the world.

On March 24 and installer came to my home and completed the instalation at 8:00PM. I didnt watch tv because I had to go right to bed because I get up 2:00am to go to work. We did not realize we didnt get local channels until 11:00PM the next evening. We immediately called the next morning to cancel. I spoke to Yolie and she told me it was ok, we were still within grace period, which she said was 72 hours and we would not be charged an early cancellation fee. She said I will be receiving a return package within 3-5 days for the equipment. Just return the equipment. Which I did as soon as the package arrived.

Then I received a bill for $125.88 for upgrade equipment HD DVR box. I spoke to there supervisior Dave and he said I have to pay this. This is a one time charge. There is nothing we can do about it. I was in disagreement with the charge for I only had it for a day and a half but I payed it anyway. On April 4 I saw a charge on my credit card for $444.46 from Directv. I called and spoke to Rachell and explained to her I only had your service for l day and a half and cancelled because you could not meet your obligation of local channels and was still within grace period of 72 hrs. She said she would reverse the charge just give it 3-7 days.

On April 12 I received a letter from Directv stating that our account was downgraded,disconnected or terminated before commitment was met and we have charged a prorated early cancellation fee to your account. Once again called and spoke to John. He said this is just a form letter. They could not meet ther obligations of local channels so we will receive full credit. He said within 4-6 weeks you will receive a credit.

Now I am assuming this matter has all been resolved. On June 20 I received a letter from Allied Interstate to pay the amount of $570.34. I dont know how it went from 444.46 to $570.34 but it did. On June 23 I called Directv again and all of a sudden they are saying that there is only a 24hr grace period. I dont know how all of a sudden it went from 72 hrs to 24 hrs. On June 23 I called Allied Interstate and spoke to Larry he suggested that I write a letter to Directv Dispute and send them a copy. On July 3 I sent them both a return receipt letter.

I haven't received a response from Directv and Allied Interstate still keeps calling everyday which I dont appreciate since I sleep during the day cause I work night.They are still insisting that we owe this amount and if we dont pay it, it will go on our credit report which is flawless.

I truely hope that you can help me with this matter because it is becoming a real nightmare. These people have no bussiness etiquette and should be checked on the way they try to deceive and rob people. We are being charged for something we never had.

They have made their service unaffordable to me, both financially and as far as tolerance. I cannot tolerate stress like this every month. It is part of the reason that I receive federal disability. I am planning to have DISH put in on 8/12/08, and terminate their service. Then they will drive me nuts expecting the remainder of the contract to be paid. I did not agree to the price that they now want. I cannot afford it and they broke their side. I was supposed to get a portable DVD player as part of the promotion and despite 6 requests, I never received the document to send in. Yet, they expect me to comply with this same contract. I won't and can't afford to, and I never want to hear from them again after 8/12/08. This has caused me undue stress, worry and hardship. They interrupt service because their bookkeeping is wrong.

Lots of stress. Lost phone service, which caused major problems because I have terminally ill relatives, I had to pay Comcast $41 to repair their phone line, lots of anger due to their deceptive sales tactics.

I called Verizon, they said we should have waited with the DIRECTV installation untill our Verizon services (phone, internet) were set up. That is why the billing was messed up. We were told it would take several billing cycles to be straightened out. During these billing cycles we paid more for the DIRECTV service since we did not get the discount through Verizon billing. When we were finally billed through Verizon the bill was still too high. Called DIRECTV again. We were then told we had to go online to apply for some special online discount of $20/month. We did that. Of course that took another several billing cycles to show up on the bill. During this time we paid more then what we signed up for.

When, after 6 month of being on the phone 1-2 hours a month, between Verizon and DIRECTV we finally were frustrated, we cancelled our Verizon services. Naturally we assumed we were able to cancel DIRECTV as well since we signed up through Verizon. When we tried to cancel we were informed there would be a $220 early cancellation fee since we were in a 18 month contract. Nobody ever verbalized this to us. DIRECTV insisted they did when we signed up. They did not. However the day the technician came to install services we signed a work order form as he was leaving. Of course we did not read the two pages thinking it was just to prove he was here and installed service. But on that form it does, somewhere amongst all the other writting, say something about the 18 month.

Had we been verbally made aware of it we would have never signed up. We never bothered reading it since we originally signed up with Verizon. Big mistake. After 10 pages of emails back and forth with DIRECTV and a phone call they are absolutely refusing to waive the $220. I explained what I feel are unique circumstances. I feel like we were ill informed and misled. DIRECTV will not budge. They also stated they dont care which agency I report them to since I am pretty sure it has absolutely no affect on them. Nothing ever happens anyway. Well, nobody ever asked that question. However, I suffer from anxiety and have been able to manage it without medication. Since this I am not able to sleep at night and had to go on medication to manage my anxiety. Plus it will be a finacial hardship for us to pa $220.

They say I owe them the money. While I dont like writing out checks to business who intentionally are designed to deceive you, I will pay the fee just to get rid of these guys. Come on, California, jump on the band wagon with the Eastern states and run these guys out of business.

I called and cancelled and now that sent me a bill for 395.92 I only had there sorry service for 3 days and I even sent back there equipment. My neighbor Donna called them and told them she got a email and she printed it out and it does state 3 months Free programming. They never even told me about the charge for cancelling. I am on a fixed income and they are trying to take me to the cleaners. Please help.

I have high blood and they are going to cause me to have a heart attack. This it is not fair. Thank You

We contacted Customer Service of DTV who told us we could pettition the local programming to see if they would make an exception and allow us to receive it (not sure how that works but we did it) and , surprise, were refused. We contacted them again and this time asked to belet out of our contract becasue we could not control, and neither could they, the circumstances of why we couldn't use their product. We have been warned that if we cancel our contract with them that we will be fined $20 a month for the remainder of the contract, which is for 2 years. It is incredible to us that, even knowing that we canot use their productm this company uses coercive means to force people to committ.

They have been unwilling to make any fininacial adjustments based on our inability to recieve the bulk of what programming we have asked for and continue to try to explain to us that we should cut down the trees if we want their service. That is not an option, even if we were to entertain it as one as they are NOT our trees. Seems to me that their technician's responsibility is to anticipate the issues of what would block the sky and what would affect the signal. Afterall, isn't that why we, as DTV consumers are forced to have one of their tech's install their product? To depend upon their expertise? The economic impact it has had, is that we have paid, and now will be forced to pay nearly $100 a month for a service we can't use for another year and a half. This just seems unfair in the extreme.

I moved from Pennsylvania to Florida in 6/07 and moved into a rental home where I was not allowed to install the satellite dish by either the landlord or the homeowners' association. I called DirecTV about this and was told that my account was placed on "hold," so that I could resume service when I purchased my own home and could install the dish.

In 6/08, I began receiving bills from DirecTV at my address in FL for service at my former home in PA, where I hadn't lived for a year! I called customer service and asked to cancel my account and be credited for the bills, since I had not received service at that address in over a year. They then told me that to cancel my account, I would be charged a $237 "early cancellation fee." I questioned this, as I have been a customer for almost 10 years, and was confused as to why I'd be charged an "early cancellation" fee after 8+ years of service. I was told it was because I had used the "Mover's Advantage" program in 6/07 when I moved to FL, even though I never had any equipment installed at my home in FL and never had any service there! I disputed this charge with DirecTV's rep and they said they would "escalate" the claim and get back to me.

The next thing I received was yet another bill from DirecTV, on which they had charged the early cancellation fee to my MasterCard without my authorization. When I called back and spoke with another rep, "Ramus," I was told that they simply use the card they have on file to charge the fees. This seems inappropriate to me as I never authorized the charge, and "Ramus" also investigated and told me that the early cancellation fee should have only been $62.50 rather than $237, as it should have been calculated from 12/05 and not 6/07.

I called DirecTV again today and spoke with "Jim" about the unauthorized charge on my credit card. He stated that, in the service contract, DirecTV is allowed to charge early cancellation fees to the credit card if the bill is not paid. First, I don't recall ever signing any service contract with them. Second, even if I had signed such a contract, they did not send me a bill prior to charging my credit card. All I got was a statement showing that the amount had already been charged to my mastercard. "Jim" stated that it will take around 3 weeks to have the charge credited back to my card. In the meantime, I have this charge sitting on my credit card accruing interest. DirecTV seems to have a pattern of unauthorized credit card charges based on other complaints I've read on this website. This should be investigated by the government or possibly should trigger a class action lawsuit. It should not be allowed to go on unchecked.

I also asked to see anything I signed or agreed to and they could not produce it, but maintained I was under some mysterious contract. 2 of the reps hung up, and another said there was no supervisor or other recourse. So I finally canceled again and ended up paying a $125 fee, plus 6 weeks of service charges even though I already canceled in June and haven't been home for 6 weeks!

And all this is just about the cancellation process - not even the myriad of problems I had that led me to want to cancel in the 1st place - billing mistakes, papy-per-view mistakes, installation problems - a total nightmare!!! These tactics are a sign of a desperate company trying to suck dollars from folks in an attempt to stay afloat.

I called the local UPS at 5 and they of course said that the lady said between the hours of 5-6. Then she proceeded to tell me that the recording was incorrect and that the trucks don't even leave the establishment until 9 am, but the latest he would be here would be 7 pm. Everyone told me that I should just leave the boxes outside. Im not an idiot. If someone were to take the boxes off my porch I would be the one responsible for them...NOT UPS!

I was suppose to register my son in school today, we missed a doctors appointment today and I was unable to get my grocery shopping done for the next few weeks. Why do they have such a broad range of hours. Do they not expect housewives to have things to do on a day to day basis. I don't need a lawyer, I just needed to complain. This is ridiculous. The last lady Beth that I spoke to was EXPTREMELY rude. Tamika a girl that answered the 800 number was just as rude. Why are they being rude to people who are waiting for them.

Around December of 2007 I set up for my bill to be paid automatically by my credit card. Right after that my DirecTV would stop working occasionally, when I called them they told me that I would be charged a service call of $72 for them to come out, repair would be additional. I refused and we lived with it for a few more months. In February 2008, it got to where it was not working at all and my husband and I decided to cancel. I called to notify them, they sent me the Fed Ex boxes to return the receivers and remotes (we had 3). I received the boxes on February 11th. I returned them on February 12th. Boy, am I glad I saved those return label receipts. On February 26th, my credit card was charged $59.39 for non return of receivers. I called Fed Ex and discovered that the receivers had been signed for by a T. ** on February 13th at DirecTV.

I called DirecTV and they continued to tell me that they had not received the receivers. The customer service man put me on hold and went to lunch. I stayed on hold for 45 minutes and finally hung up. I called again and spoke with a woman and told her I had my receipt that showed DirecTV had received my receivers and she suddenly went, "Oh, yes we have received them, I was looking in the wrong spot." She told me she would put the paperwork through to credit my Discover card the $59.39.

Ok, so at the end of March when I received my credit card bill there was not a credit, so I called DirecTV again and the lady I spoke with this time told me it takes 6 weeks for the last time you contacted them for a credit to be issued. I said, so I should get it in a couple weeks then. She said no, that I would not be issued a credit for another 6 weeks because I spoke with her THEN. WHAT? But I was tired of talking to them, so I waited another 6 weeks. Again, no refund. I called on May 12th and they told me that they had not received my receivers and remote AGAIN. I got out my receipts and then she changed her tune again, saying yes, they have them and they will now issue me a credit. OK....

I was tired of this and I called my Discover card who promptly issued me a credit and I also got on Directv.com and removed my credit card information. You would think this would be done, but on July 2, 2008, I received a letter in the mail from DirecTV notifying me that I owed $49.39 for a balance from February 26th returned to them unpaid from Discover. OK....that's it! I called them yet again and told them that I was done, I would be sending them a check and to close my account among other things. I sent them a check for a balance I did not owe on July 3rd 2008. You would think that now I would be finally done and rid of them. I paid what they asked, I just wanted it all to go away.

On July 25, 2008, I received a letter from Allied Interstate Collection agency who represents DirecTV. It is in the amount of $130.88. I once again spent an hour calling DirecTV to ensure that, yes, they did receive my payment for $49.39. SO...why do I owe $130.88? ADULT MOVIES! $130.88 for adult movies on pay-per-view that we did not watch, back in November of 2007. UGH...First I told her that we did not watch those movies, she said yes we did. There was very little point in arguing, she did not believe me. I asked her why was it sent to a collection agency without ever sending me a bill. She said they have sent me bills for the past 3 months. I finally give up. We have worked hard for years keeping our credit clean. We are good people who never watch **. I am at a loss for what to do. I know that I absolutely refuse to pay them. They will not get another dime out of me. Ruining our credit

What the tech also told me is that I didn't have any service protection plan added on to my account, and basically said that if they have to come to my house for any reason, it was a minimal charge of $75. If the dish went bad or out of alignment, I would have to pay for the replacement and the labor for the call, ON TOP OF the visit charge.

This made me REALLY angry, as I wasn't told about this when I signed up; They told me the opposite that they would cover it. If I cancel in the next 2 years, I have to pay a "termination fee", which is supposedly to cover the cost of the equipment (which they charge my bill for rental fees). I feel with this termination fee, I'm being bound into a contract that keeps me from shopping for better service. If I had known about these service charges, I wouldn't have switched from Dish Network to Direct TV in the first place!

I have been a Directv customer since June 2004. The only reason I had to cancel was because I moved to a new community that faces the wrong direction for me to receive service. She also mentioned because my husband called in to cancel our service, this automatically gave them permission to charge my debit card, my card, my account, with my name on it. Not likely! It just goes to show what loyalty to a company will get you.

After being a huge Directv supporter for the last 4 years, I am going to do everything in my power to make sure consumers realize the lack of concern this company truly shows for its customers.

We've been loyal customers for years, and the customer service we recently received was deplorable. It was short, catty, and just ridiculous. We paid $120 to relieve ourselves of our contract, $100 for early termination, and these [people] are sending us packaging to return the receiver we bought. They will never have my business nor recommendation again. We signed with Dish Network. If that's how they treat the people who keep the money flowing into their pockets, they'll no longer get mine.

A HARDSHIP AS THE $579.02 WOULD COVER PART OF MY $600.00 RENT.

All I ask is this company to make it easier for people to tell them they don't want their service, please quit calling. I'm now so angry that if direct tv said I could have the whole package for free for life, I WOULD NOT TAKE IT! When I say QUIT CALLING ME, it doesn't mean try tomorrow. Of course, the sales reps are all machines now, so it can call and call and call until a person becomes like me, crazy!

The truly, absolutely finale last straw was when they called me on my UNLISTED cellphone. I've never bought or called any company using my cellphone and it's a pre-paid cellphone, minutes are precious.

Are you kidding, this is absolutely a case of emotional distress. I now have to check every incoming call, which they deceptively change the name and numbers to trip you up. Well, they finally drove me to the do not call list!

On Feb 2008, (7 Months later) I called them and was told that I now needed an additional 4th receiver in order the get the rebate! Although I was not happy about the News, I agreed to take the item at no charge to complete the rebate offer. I called today, in July 2008, and my one year contract expires without honoring the $100 and the contract. Now they have unwittingly lured me into a renewal that I do not want by accepting the 4th receiver! This is totally unacceptable to me.

I feel like I was deceived by the salesperson, and their business tactics are undesirable. I do not wish to be locked into another 18month contract and want to terminate this one immediately. As a consumer, I feel violated and I am also displeased with the lack of follow up regarding the rebate offer. Please let me know how to rectify this situation at my earliest convenience as I have another cable offer on standby. Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. Have a good day. lost $100 and extend an unwant 14 months contract.

Directv is dunning me with bills and auto-dialing me every few days to get me to pay the bill. Their complaints department replied to my protest with a form letter that did not address my issues. I expect soon they will turn this over to collection with consequent credit rating annoyance.

The Directv installer was totally ill-prepared. First, he was afraid to get on the roof and did not even have a ladder with him. Even though there are other rooftop dishes on same-style homes nearby, he said he needed to install the pole on the side of the house. He did not have the right tools with him to install the pole, and as such, my husband needed to run around the house finding appropriate tools and helping to cut the pole. Nor did the installer seem to know what he was doing in terms of the receivers; again, my husband aided him. In total, he was at our house for at least 6 hours. For this, he demanded I pay him $100 personally for putting the pole on the side of the house.

We had numerous problems with our bills, and every time we called and seemingly had something worked out, we would turn around to find we had no service. This had to be some internal issue, but no one wanted to listen and they insisted a technician would need to come out. In some cases, we figured out ourselves how to reboot the system.

On December 17th, our service went out altogether. We were told that no technician would be available until December 26th. Since we felt this was unacceptable, we were told that we would not be charged the $70 technician fee, nor for the ten days of non-service. We are still not being charged for both. At some point, we started to be re-charged for a HBO/Starz package that we had already cancelled a few months prior. In January, I spent at least 2 hours trying to get the right people on the phone (since one person could not solve all of the billing issues). I was assured that everything would be fixed. One hour later, we had no service. Again, this had to have been an internal problem but customer service reps were unable to help and said that another service call at $70 would be required. I cancelled service that evening.

On March 6th, I detailed all of these issues in a letter to Directv. They did not respond other than by sending another bill and placing my account with their debt collection agency. I later wrote to the company CEO; I subsequently did get a call back from the billing department who was unable/unwilling to correct any of the billing problems.

In March 2008, I began to be hounded by Directv's debt collectors (CBE Group). They have called my home, my cell phone, my place of business, my husband's cell phone, etc. I am afraid that my perfect credit history will be tarnished.

So now if I don't give them back the receiver that I paid a small fortune for, I'll have collections people after me. They wouldn't even let me return the unit to the store and obviously won't give me credit for the unit. On top of that they tried to tell me they put over $1000 into each receiver. I'm an engineer and work in Manufacturing, if that's the case, they are the biggest morons in the world. Does anyone really believe that a simple circuit board, a hard drive, and a metal case costs that much? Maybe they're factoring in engineering and who knows what else.

Out $473 if I return the receiver.

3 days later my checking account has the charges taking out of my account. I call direct tv, i was inform the bill was for early cancellation fees and the 80 dollars for the month of service. I inform that i was under a 12 month contract and year was up so why was i being charged early cancelation. it was at that moment the rep stated that since i had the dvr, the contract was changed to a 2 year, i informed her no one had ever told me this and the email i recieved stated a year contract from direct tv.

the rep also inform me that it is now direct tv practice that all customers must have credit or bank cards on file so that they can deduct charges. I ask how was this possible without having a consumer permission. this was when she inform me that all consumers agree to this when signing up for service, it is in the customer agreement. that they will use any cards showing in their systems in which the customer has made payments with in the past, she verified that i had 2 credit cards stored in their system in which they save when payments are made, also this is without having consumer permission.

so despite not having permission or even a bill, direct tv will debit your credit or bank card. BEWARE! this angers me, my account wasnt in collections, i have never been behind on their bills and pay consistently, nor was their any outstanding balance. i hadnt even gotten a bill yet, the fact they are able to go into banking account without my knowledge or permission is unethical to me. I am including the web link of their agreements so that you can see what they use but isnt verbally stated about their practices of debiting customers bank account, also a copy of their email that confirms service, no where states a dvr becomes a 2 year agreement:

"Congratulations on your recent order of a DIRECTV System. You now have access to the best entertainment value on the market today. Below is a summary of your order as well as the terms and conditions of the offer. Our web site at DIRECTV.com has a wealth of information that may help you with questions that you may have about your DIRECTV System and programming. You also may change or confirm your installation date and time by creating a user account on DIRECTV.com. Lastly, we'd like to let you know about a special opportunity to enjoy free DIRECTV service. Simply refer a friend to DIRECTV, and when they activate their service, you'll receive a special bonus credit on your DIRECTV account. There's no limit to the number of referrals you can make, so you could enjoy free DIRECTV service for a very long time.

DIRECTV ORDER RECEIPT - PLEASE RETAIN FOR YOUR RECORDS"

Two months later, I called to see where my DVR was and they told me that the original operator had neglected to order the DVR for (first red flag!) and that they'd gladly install one for me for $300 plus another install charge. So, even though they admitted their mistake, they were still going to screw me out of $200 plus installation. After much screaming at a supervisor, who basically said, Sorry, I finally agreed to pay $200 plus installation. I just wanted to enjoy my new TV!

Now, a year and a half later, I discover that DirecTV has been charging me for 3 receivers, even though they only ever installed 2 in my home. Since I have auto-pay, I never had opened my bills. I trusted that DirecTV wouldn't steal money from me. When I called them on it, they say, too bad, we only pay for the last 60 days of our mistakes. I asked them to prove they'd installed a 3rd receiver and they admitted that they never had. They seemed almost gleeful that they'd been ripping me off for a year and a half and adamant that it was my fault for trusting them.

I've never seen such arrogance from a customer service person in my life. They'd rather lose a 15 year customer than cough up restitution for a mistake they admit to. Unbelievable! I'm now going to file in small claims court. I feel I've been defrauded and I intend to win. Unfortunately, for the crime of upgrading my service, I'm stuck with them until 11/17/08. I can't wait until I can drop them forever.

Thinking I had Thirty day from installation I just wanted to cancel after Dish net was reinstalled. As soon as I mentioned cancel to a rep from Direct tv he first offered a deal that wasn't good enough and then he got real defensive and said I only had twenty-four hours to cancel after installation and my credit card was going to get charged four hundred and sixty dollars with in six days after I cancel.

So I call up a sales rep asking about deals just to see what that person would say and they told me I had Two weeks after installation to make up my mind. I read the contract agreement and it says nothing about how long or short the period is you have to make up your mind. They make up the rule as they go along and tell you what you want to here. So what's the truth how long by law does one have with out penalties to cancel a service with Direct tv.

now if I don't figure out what to do soon I'm afraid Ill be stuck with a service provider that I hate because of the lyes and poor business ethics

I have called numerous times sent numerous emails and finally they agreed to send a service tech to my house after sending me a new receiver that does not work. My problem is I want credit for lack of service and lakc of getting a service call despite I have the service plan that covers all this. Number 2 is if the service is not back and running I want to d/c service as of August 1st. My 2 year plan is up Feb 2 according to my records. According to their records its a new contract since they sent out new equiptment July 2008. I have the service contract and am due new equiptment if the old does not work, Its not an upgrade or new service.

They finally agreed to lower the d/c charge to 75 dollars if I return all equiptment which in my book they can have. My question is how can I get a refund for bad or no reception for several months and lack of providing a service call despite the fact I have the service plan?? I know this alot of information but I have been online seen what DTV has done to many people including ruining their credit!

No satellite or interupted service for many months. 89 per month to say the least. An the pain of calling and emailing to no avail.

They are trying to make me pay them additional funds amounting to $293.53 or will put me in collections. Weeks of mental anguish, stomach prolems and sleepless nights

Upon placing the dish on the roof he damaged a fence around our patio and he promply informed us and appologised. The tech continued with his work. Upon cutting some cable around our house he cut a cable on one end and left the other connected to the house. The cable was left of the ground directly underneath our AC unit. The AC sucked the cable into the fan and ceased the motor. After contacting a company to fix the issue we were told that the AC unit was non operational. We contacted Ironwood communication and informed them of the situation. Ironwood agreed they would pay for the unit to be fixed and pay for the service call.

As the company evaluated the damage and spent several days looking for parts we were told that the unit was not able to be repaired and the only option was to replace the entire system. The AC unit and Furnace (The system works as one). We again contacted Ironwood and informed them of the price would be around $4,600 and was directed to contact Frank B.. After doing so Mr. B. contacted the AC contractor and conversed about the options. The option that was given to Mr. B. is that the entire system needed to be replaced. Only replaceing the AC unit would burn out the Furnace due to the power out put and the difference in the two models. Also stateing they could not just replace one thing and not the other. Our responce then from Mr. B. is that he would only pay for half the replacement cost.

I attempted to explain to Mr. B. that we were not attempting to get the top of the line modle and that we were in fact looking at the lowest end model and have recieve several quotes to show that. I informed Mr. B. that this was not exceptable and that we should not be left with the remaining balance when they were at fault. Mr. B. then directed us to contact Lorie W.

Upon contacting Ms. W. she told us that we should turn this over to our home owners insurance and let them deal with there company. We promply informed Ms. W. that this was not realistic because we would face higher insurance rates if not being cancelled from our policy. Ms. W. then informed us that she agreed with Mr. B. and that they would only pay for half. I informed Ms. Wenyon this is not practical and asked to speak with someone above her. I was given the number to Mr. Mark M. President of Ironwood. I first contacted Mr. M. by E-mail and attaching pictures of the damage property. My E-mail went unanswered. I called Mr. M. on multible occations after that and still have yet to recieve a call.

The last few days my Wife and I have both called DirecTV attempting to work with them as well and our calls our not being returned from there claims Dept. I've recently contacted the company that we've worked with to repair our AC unit and was told that the half of the money Ironwood is willing to pay will not even cover the amout of the AC unit itself. I have stil been continuing contact both companies to resolve this matter.

As a result of not having AC in our home during the Summer months has made the living conditions unbareable for us and our two small children. This has left us with no option but to purchase 3 window AC units to attempt to cool our home causeing a rise in our electric bill. As well our Son being Autisic, he has a highten sence of hearing and the loud noise from these AC units has cause a noticable difference in his behavior. He has attempted on multible occations to turn off the AC unit in an attempt to releave himself of the painfull noise. I adviced Ironwood of this and very little concern was given.

I contacted Directv to let them know what happened all four [reps] that I talked to said that my father reopened MY account and I would have to go through the cancelation process again. 1. It is a violation to allow anyone including a relative to open or reopen an account without the initial account holder's direct permission. 2. All four Directv reps. would not address this violation and just kept repeating in robot tone that my father reopened my account. 3. I was on the phone (mostly on hold) with Directv for one entire hour. 4. I had to recancel my account which was 24 hours ago and tonight when I checked to see if I have truly been cancelled using their online website to find out, it states my next bill will be in August 2008.

My time is valuable and Directv took what was basically a simple matter and made mountain out of it. I am still not sure if my account is really cancelled. Directv's customer service department really needs an overhaul. Their managers are at great fault for training their reps. to be tunnel visioned and not able to truly listen to the customer's issue and be able to help.

When I told them I wanted to cancel if they did not live up to the offer they had confirmed to med via e-mail, the customer service person threathened me with significant amounts to be paid if I cancelled. So I am stuck in this sting operation called Directv.

He realizing my position explained to me (while I recorded the conversation with his approval) that the automated system is not a 100% problem free system. That I should not trust the automated system and the only guarantee of a suspend being completed was a confirmation email; something that is not automatic but requires a request from the customer. I am asking other recipients of extortion and theft by misrepresentation to join a class action law suit. Additionally I am asking for help in finding an attorney to represent us. The location of our Direct TV service is Texas.

$89 in overpayment charges for service from time of request to suspend service

I have mailed both of them a copy, and both say I have to the other one to settle it. Now they are threatening me for failure to pay their bill to Direct Tv. I have been paying my Verizon bill each month, and it is what they said it would be, less the 29.99 per month that they are to bill me and pay Direct tv. I have the contract, and need your help if you can do so. Would appreciate anything you can do, since I am retired, and have limited funds to work with. Thank you

The damages they say I owe for, if I do not pay their bill, including taking out my direct TV with removal charges added, totaling several hundred dollars.

After all was finished I kept losing signal. I had a supervisor come out and he said what I had was virutally a sail on a pole that was driven only about 8 inches in the ground with a pole driver. The installer didn't have equipment to do the underground drop so I trrenched it my self. They eventually had an installer put the pole in concrete. Now I live in Charlotte NC and we have been in a two year drought. Even with a very light shower of rain the signal goes out. I got used to it.

Several days ago we had a software upgrade and when it was complete I had lost most every channel and all of the locals. I went through the usual crap resetting, unplugging, checking fittings, inspecting the dish and all looks good. I love golf and the British Open is coming up so I was frantic to get it fixed. I called and was told it would be about $80 for a service call or extort me for a service contract which I finally opted for because in less then a year I have replaced one receiver and two remotes. I called back and told them I did not think I should be charged and after being on hold most of the afternoon and talking to idiots I asked him to see if other people in my area were having problems after the software upgrade. He mumbled on and on looking and telling me that he saw no incidence of this in my area.

By this time my frustration had reached the boiling point so I just hung up the phone and told myself at least tommorrow the intaller will have me up and running. He never showed. I called again and was told the service call was cancelled. This was obviously done by the rude clown I had talked to. I asked to be rescheduled and was told it would be 8 days. Long after the golf tournament. I called the cable company and they will be here tommorrow. Not all the good HD but better then no HD.

After another phone call to disconnect directv another rude clown told me there would be a $360 disconnect charge. You gotta love them. The first installer was to fat to get under my crawl space so I took my 66 year old [bodu] under there and crawled the length of the house and back to fish the cable. I am on disabilty with limited income. I sugget to you to stay away from these people.

The first bill comes and it is not for the price discussed. I start the first of many e-mails asking why. I was told to follow a procedure on line. I did, and it said I did not qualify. I called to complain, I was then given a ph. # to call. I did. This person told me to call back to the first ph. # and have them do a change in the system on my account. I did. Now I am told I don't qualify for the additional discount. Per the web page add that I received my information from read as following. new customers only ( lease required ). It said nothing about not all customers will qualify for the discount. The print out of the web page indicated an $18.00 discount from 57.99 and this is what I was expecting.

I got stonewalled several times over the pricing and decided to cancel. The equipment was retured, two receivers and the dish was mine to begin with and already on the roof. The installer was only at the house for thirty minutes and I was kind enough to do the cable install in the attic for him so there was not alot for him to do. Anyway direct charged my credit card 353.18 for cancelation. I disputed this with the credit card company and they have reversed it for now.

Then Direct charged me again this time for 412.45. I feel that the contract is void based on the fact that I have a signed contract listed as a new customer as per one of their representitives and the pricing for a new customer was not honored. Second they ask you for a credit card # for one thing and use it for something else, This part was deceiving. I would never have signed up for their service if these two items were up front and not hidden in the background. Please advise. Thank you

412.45 charge to credit card. several restless nights from anger and agrivation.

When I explaind that no one told me that I would be locked into another 2 year contract they were like you signed it and I know there telling lies. So I called and requested the contract I signed because there trying to charge me a cancellation fee of 187.00 for something I did not sign and it was never explained to me.

Charging me an extra 187.00 on top of my final bill

I could not find any way to cancel the purchase on any menu I tried. So I attempted to get in touch with their customer service but their automated phone call handler is STUPID and makes it almost impossible to speak to a real person. By the time I got through to a human being, it was too late to cancel the movie I ACCIDENTALLY rented. They refused and said there was nothing they could do about it. I said that was an unacceptable solution and mentioned that I wanted to talk to a supervisor.

I was told flatly that it would do no good to talk to a superior and that I was liable for the charged, even though their confusing system did not let me know that I had bought the wrong show time in error until it was too late. I was told that I have to buy the 10:00 PM showing if I wanted to see the film in its entirety. It was an honest, human, mistake that anybody could make, yet they have no provision for crediting me back. The purchase of DirecTV services was done through my phone company, Verizon. I intend to take up this matter with them but do not have much hope of getting it resolved.

My blood pressure went up to dangerous levels after talking with their unhelpful representative. I intend to cancel my service as soon as my time commitment is over. They should have policies in place to help people who make honest mistakes when ordering movies. They should also change their software to warn consumers that they are about to order a movie that is already in progress. That would help mitigate the problem I had tonight.

PROGRAMMING COMMITMENT. The programming package(s) must be maintained for a period of not less than (a) eighteen (18) consecutive months (for accounts with only standard receiver(s)), or (b) twenty-four (24) consecutive months (for accounts with advanced product(s)/receiver(s) digital video recorder (DVR), high definition receiver (HD) or high definition digital video recorder (HD DVR), including additional DIRECTV receiver(s)). After you have fulfilled your agreement to the required programming package(s), you are not obligated to continue your subscription to DIRECTV programming for any specific duration. Current DIRECTV customers may activate additional receivers with their existing DIRECTV programming package. THIS PROGRAMMING COMMITMENT IS SEPARATE AND DIFFERENT FROM ANY OTHER PROGRAMMING COMMITMENT YOU MAY HAVE MADE WITH DIRECTV AND IS FULLY ENFORCEABLE UNDER THESE TERMS.

I read that to say I could activate a second receiver without extending my programming commitment. I asked the agent if that was the case, and he cited this portion: After you have fulfilled your agreement to the required programming package(s), you are not obligated to continue your subscription to DIRECTV programming for any specific duration. Current DIRECTV customers may activate additional receivers with their existing DIRECTV programming package.

He said that meant that I as an existing customer could activate an additional receiver without extending the programming package that was contractually bound through Oct. 8, 2008. I then agreed to rent another receiver for $5 extra per month. When the installer finished activating my new receiver June 28, 2008, he handed me paperwork. I read it and came across the same wording. I asked if I was obligated to another 18 months and said I didnt want the service if that was the case. He said no and said that section was not applicable because I was an existing customer. He said the terms of my agreement were whatever I was told on the phone by the agent.

On a subsequent call to customer service a month later, I was told by a nice agent named Chico that I was under contract for 18 more months. He transfered me to a resolution specialist named Whitney who said there was no way to verify my claims and I was bound to pay $30 a month for 18 months. Then, she said shed get a supervisor but instead hung up on me. I called back, and an agent named Billy said I could write to the company or pay a $360 cancellation fee.

It seems to me that I should not be obligated to a commitment that I was twice told didn't apply to existing customers. I specifically asked two employees, and they both said the additional receiver did not extend the terms of my agreement with the company. Verbal agreements are also binding, and it is their responsibility to make sure their employees know and explain policies. I must either pay $360 or $30 for 18 months ($540) I am not asking for special treatment or discounts, just that the company follows the policy that I was twice told.

Much time & frustration spent on this.

Direct tv refunded me $ 221.14 for a deposit, however charged me 346.08 for cancelation fees, I strongly feel this is an unjust act, and feel I should not be responsible for something out of my control.

I am committed to a 24 month contract which is false advertising.

Our reputation and credit rating was ruined for seven years due to the filing of a bad credit report against us, thought we no longer use their service after the account was disconnected.

My problems started when I got back into town about 10 days later. I found out that NOTHING I had scheduled to record was there and the unit was locked up. No functions on the front or remote worked. I had to unplug it and when it rebooted it worked fine - for about 3-6 hours. Then it locked up again. I repeated this process 4 or 5 more times to reboot it, have it work fine for a few hours then lock up again.

To slightly summarize I went through tech support, they sent out a replacement and I ended up getting 3 different units - sometimes a HR20 and sometimes a HR21 - and all 3 replacement units had the exact same lockup problem. This took place over the course of around 3 months during which time I never had a receiver that would run for more than about 5 hours and I kept paying the full rate for service.

After a great deal of my time and quite disgusted after the 3rd unit had the same problem I called tech support yet again only to be told that since I already had 3 replacement units they would not send me another one. The rep REFUSED to help me any further, REFUSED to send me another unit and REFUSED to send out a tech to my house to examine the unit in person. I told her that I thought the unit was overheating. I have a professionally installed media room with an equipment rack in the side wall of the room. I have ventilation at the bottom of the rack that intakes air from an A/C'd space and powerful fans pulling hot air out of the rack and blowing it into the attic. All of the equipment in the rack has worked flawlessly for 5 years and a previous Direct TV receiver worked find also.

The rep told me that it was not supposed to be mounted on a shelf in a rack and that I needed to put in IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR for it to work properly. Other than that suggestion she had nothing and told me that because I had a contract that I had to keep paying whether it worked or not. At this point I told the rep that I had no option other than to switch to another satellite or cable service. Yet again she offered no alternatives or suggestions as to how I could fix my problem. A few weeks later I switched to DISH network, put the receiver on the same shelf as the DTV receiver that kept overheating and it worked perfectly. I then called to cancel my service. The rep I got this time told me that the overheating was a known issue and there was a new model of receiver that had been designed to correct this problem. He said that unfortunately Direct TV did not offer this unit directly, but that I would have to purchase it at a retail outlet.

As a courtesy he offered a $250 service credit toward the purchase of this $400 unit which as I later found out was in heavy demand and would not be actually available from any store for several months. It was too little too late--I already had activated my DISH service and I proceeded to cancel the DTV service. I returned all of the equipment which had caused me to renew my contract in the first place so at this point in time I had the exact same old equipment that I had before renewing my contract.

For some reason DTV still charged my account with a $500 early termination fee even though I had returned all of the new equipment AND it was DTV that actually broke the contract by not being able to offer me a working unit and working service. I feel that I do not owe this fee but they are still charging me for it. Given that the overheating issue with these units is such a large problem I feel that this would be a good beginning of a class action suit. If you add the fees charged for service when it did not work, cancellation fees plus the cost of the time for the hours sitting on the phone dealing with customer support each person had grounds for several thousand dollars in damages.

Since we recently upgraded to HD, our new service contract has several months on it which DirecTV says we would have to pay for if we decided to cancel service. We have been customers of DirecTV since 2000. We should not have been forced to receive the SW upgrade that obsoleted our receiver. Since the receiver is leased, DirecTV should provide functioning hardware and software.

1) cost of new receiver (variable depending on whether or not we purchase service agreement) or 2) cost to cancel service agreement plan if we decide not to use DirecTV in the future. We are in a remote area and do not receive television signals or cable.

Today when I called to disconnect, I was told by a jay who I found out also goes by john that there would be a $400.00 disconnect fee. I then asked for a supervisor and spoke with niki who has an identification # of U7382 and she confirmed what Jay/John said. She said that we were sent a contract after installation and the disconnect information was in that and that we would have had 24 hours after receiving it to disconnect. She said she is in customer service and not sales, so she can't help what the sales people are saying.

What I am disputing is the fact that I was verbally told during the ordering process that there were NO penalties at all to disconnect. Is there anything at all that you could do for us? I would like the $400 disconnect fee waived or refunded (it will probably have been paid by the time any of this is resolved)

"For the past 3 months my wife and I have been harassed by calls from your employees almost every night, this week every night, because none of your employees will take care of this account. Many over the past few months, like Andy on July 8, who said his employee number (I think they are all bogus numbers since they follow no pattern) is 112966, and who told us (as another nice young man had said and promised a month ago) he had reviewed our account and we owed no money and he would take care of it. Either he did nothing, never intended to do anything, is part of an effort to get the money out of us, defraud us, though we do not owe you anything, by constant harassment of the elderly and the powerless with the goal of defrauding us, that is, that we will give up and just pay something we do not owe. Does this work well for you?

"Let me start at the beginning. Not all the details are crystal clear and may not fit with your contact records, though I doubt you really have any such records. Andy (Employee # 112966) promised on Tuesday that he would send them to us and take care of the errors in the account. Surprise, we have not received them yet. Surprise.

"Before I begin to recount all of this, you can short cut this. You can call up our account, as your employees say they do everytime we insist on talking to the supervisor--sometimes we have to go through 5 people, the last one saying he/she has the authority to help us, and ends with, 'It is all taken care of Mrs. K.?' I really thought they were the super, now I think they just pass the call around the sweatshop and convince us we are going up, and not simply in circles. Since you can call up our account, you can stop reading here and skip to the end of this letter, because, I have been assured, much of what I am going to relate you will have on your computer screen--or so we have been very politely and authoritatively told.

"On March 30, 2008 in the morning our house burnt to the ground. Shortly thereafter we called you (you = DirecTV, as you are DirecTV) to let you know that our service would be temporarily discontinued, since our house burnt down to the ground. The nightmare started. With mouth agape I listened to my wife tell me that we would owe you 400+ dollars for the two receivers we had, unless we would send them back to you. You said you would send us a box to send them back. I said, 'They, along with everything we had, are gone, you told them that, right?' 'Yes. It does not matter. We have to find them and send them back.'

"First fiasco (Fraud on the elderly ploy): You said you would send a box for the two receivers. We had three receivers, though we only activated two of them. We received just one box from you about 6 weeks after it was to be sent. (Remember this fact, please.) Since our house was burnt to the ground, we were not living there. We had made that clear to you. We told you that the UPS person should be directed to our temporary residence, which the Windham Foundation kindly provided to us in Grafton for three weeks. This is a tiny town and we know UPS, DSL, FedEX personnel and they know us. Thus either you never sent the box, or you sent it to some unknown location.

"Over a period of ten days we (me, my wife, my daughters, friends, kindly strangers, my son who took ten days before going to basic training in the Marine Corps at MCRD San Diego) dug through all of the ashes of the home with small four-prong rakes. We found lots of remnants, our dear dog Molly, or mouser Chuck, and yes, eventually, all three boxes--yes burnt so that all that was left was metal, bent and twisted, but you wanted them. Awaiting the box, we put them in a safe place. Your box finally came. We immediately, carefully, put all three rusted, ash-filled, burnt, bent and twisted receivers in the box between the protective foam, put the mailing labels on the box and sent it to you.

"While we were waiting for you to send us the box there were several weekly conversations with you, in which it was consistently related to us: 'O, you did not get the box yet. I will note that on your account.' and 'the box is on the way.' Once the receivers were received by you, you would take the 400+ off our account. Thus after 6 weeks or so, we got a box in which to return the receivers, put them in and sent them off.

"Second Fiasco (Fraud on the elderly ploy): In the first call we received from you after you received the box you said we still owed you for receivers because you received only one receiver. We told you we sent all three on the box you sent. You said you sent one box for each receiver. Really? Why was this not said before when we had yet to receive the box. Either we were lied to by you before, or being lied to by you at this time, part of the ploy to strong arm the money out of us. This was the first occasion 'one box per receiver' was ever mentioned. How timely for you to insert this ploy into the conversation, since you had all three receivers in the only box you sent, and we were powerless to prove we sent more than one in any one box, since at this time we had no reason to think we would have to prove that the only box you sent had all three receivers. [One box per receiver is a waste. Have you, this time I mean you, Chase, have you seen the box. Six good receivers could fit in one box with all that foam surrounding them. The box would take 10 to 20 in the shape ours was in, since the foam was superfluous. Oh, and over and over we told you the receivers you wanted back in were burnt, bent, ash-filled and rusted. You wanted them in the box and sent.] Your claim to have received only one of the three was very upsetting to us.

"Now we are more than three months since our loss. You demanded delivery of the receivers for us to get our credit. We delivered the receivers. You claim: You never got them. You have looked at the account and all is fine. You call asking for the money. You, after passing us through many people and making us hang on the phone for hours [Do you, yes you Chase, personally review the 800 or 866 phone bill. We have waited on the phone for hours and hours as supervisors (probably not really supervisors, just some other peon in the cellar) are sought and the account is reviewed and they come back on the phone.] tell us: Mrs. K., I have taken care of this, you will not be bothered again.
You call asking for the money. My wife goes through the story again: the fire, the ashes, the boxes, the receivers, the nice supervisors, and can we speak to one, will you review our account, yes I will hold, do you have the authority to take care of the bill, well does someone have that authority, okay you now have the authority, can you review the history and fix this, yes I can hold, okay you can fix this, just wait on hold a little longer, okay we will hold, okay, Mrs. K. it is all fixed the bill is all current. Will you send us that in writing, yes, it is in the mail.

You call asking for the money. We go through the same scenario, passed along, waiting, and finally the super who again asks us to hold while he/she reviews the account, we say why do you not do so and call us, 'We have no way to call out, and so I cannot call you.' [Really? You can call and harass us every night, but you cannot call us after you have reviewed our file to tell us all is well, or that we need to do something?] We wait for a long time to finally hear: Okay, all is well.

"There is an alternative ploy: You call us asking for money and hang up when we ask for a Supervisor (this latter occurs about every other night, like tonight. Check the recording and the log on our file, they do exist right?]. All of the above has been going on for more than six weeks, but you know this because you have the records, which you are sending to us and you have said often that the conversation may be recorded and in the past few weeks or month, we have insisted you tape it and you said you were taping it.

Chase. Look at our account. We are current DirecTV customers (We hated Dishnetwork and are about to go without either.) Our phone number is 802 xxx xxxx, which is our DirecTV account number, in case you forgot. If you really do exist, please fix this and let us know it is done. If Chase is a pseudonym, whoever you are, please as CEO of DirecTV, fix this. Regards, William G. and Mary Ann "

complete frustration, tears, tension, anxiety, the one phone call we could get from our Marine Corps basic trainee recruit interupted and ended because we had been on hold for hours, told the story to several persons, and did not want to hang up and start all over. Possible credit effects if DirecTV continues to insist they are owed the money for the dishes or anything else when they are not, or pay them so as not to have that consequence. Out of frustration we are writing you. I apologize for the sarcasm to Chase the CEO, if it is sarcasm. We have dealt with these callers almost daily for 6+ weeks and I do not believe anything, including the name and address of the CEO, especially since he at first did not want to give it to us. Thanks. I was born in April 1942 and am therefore 66 yrs old.

I felt that I was being harassed by repetitive bills that they've been sending me for this service that I didn't use and destroying my good credit report by reporting to Nationwide Credit Inc.

I have spent 12 hours pursuing this matter when my time should be spent in my pursuit of my profession. I have been lied to, bebated, abandend on hold,and forsed to lend monies not intrest free but to lend money to a company while paying 18% intrest for the privilage. Direct TV knows exactly wheat they are doing!

So obviously I don't need a service call, and DTV won't fix the problem less I shell out huge amounts of cash. This is wrong. The problem is on their end and they know it, but they won't address it so long as they can bilk their customers. They cause the problem, and won't fix it unless you pay them too. This is extortion. I have filed a complaint with my states AGO. When you call the phone company about your phone problems they don't tell you that you need to change your phone services in order to have the problem fixed.

When your DSL goes down your ISP doesn't tell you that you need to buy a new computer (from them) in order for the problem to go away. When the power goes out, the power company doesn't tell you that your power box is out of warranty and that you'll have to pay a bazillion dollars for a service call when the problem is at one of their sub stations and not at your home. So why does DTV think that I'll pay them to fix a problem on their end? Simple, if I want it fixed, I must pay their EXTORTION fees or suffer. Again that is simply wrong.

I have paid for service that I am not receiving. I have been told that to repair the problem that is caused by DTV I will need to pay hundreds of dollars for a service call that is not needed.

I called again just before the installation and this time spoke to a supervisor in the customer relations department. She assured me that my monthly bill will be about USD 93 (including all taxes) for the first 12 months and then will increase by about USD 18/month. Even though I was paying about $93/month to Dishnetwork, I agreed to switch to DirecTV. Now I am hit with a monthly bill of about USD 108. I asked DirecTV to either cancel the service with no penalty or adjust my bill to what was promised. They refused to do either of those.

I am paying USD 15/month more that I promised to pay. After the initial 12 month this amount might increase. Cancellation of this contract will cost about USD 450.

In clear violation of the verbal contract I reached with their agent DirecTV charged my credit card for $150. DirecTV failed to rectify this despite hours of phone calls and email exchanges. DirecTV gave my name, address, and phone number to an egregiously unprofessional collection agency to harass me. I have documentation of all of the above in the form of cell phone, email, and credit card records.

A collection agency has my personal information and has been harassing me by calling me at 5am and 6am I've wasted tens of hours on email and phone conversation exchanges

My first invoice was for $84.18 which I paid immediately through on-line banking. On July 7, 2008 I received the second month statement that showed an amount due of $84.18, not $49.96 as I expected. I called customer service to inquire about the discrepancy. They said that I had failed to apply for an $18.00 rebate, which would not make the bill $49.96. I told them that there was never any mention of a rebate. They insisted they would not go below $66.18 per month for 12 months. I asked them to disconnect the service immediately. They told me they would disconnect on July 29, 2008 and bill me for the current month at $84.18.

I insisted on an immediate disconnect and I was told the service would be cancelled as of July 9, 2008, but that I would be billed $400+ for early cancellation. I told them that because they were not honoring the $49.96 rate that was quoted to me I would not pay the cancellation fee. I was informed that they have my credit card on file and will be charging my credit card.

I was told that they will not pick-up the equipment but that I am required to return them via Federal Express. It is deceptive to quote one price, charge another, base pricing on undisclosed rebates, and then charge unreasonable early cancellation fees when they do not honor their price quote.

This money is for my everyday living, food, rent, etc....I had to stop my ATM card and debit information.

I called to have the Direct TV transferred to our new address. Because it is an apartment complex they are not allowed to drill holes in any walls. So they ran the wires thru the ceiling. But to install the boxes in the rooms where we needed it meant having wires come down the side of the apartment thru the windows and down and accross inside walls. It really looked tacky. Besides that the HD tv in the living room never had the hd quality and the tv in the master bedroom never worked correct. We had a technician come out to try to fix it but was unable to do so.

Because of these problems I decided to cancel the Direct Tv and get Comcast since the apt is already wired for Comcast cable. I called them a few days before I cancelled to see if it was going to cost me anything to cancel. (Someone mentioned to me that they heard Direct TV charges early termination fees without you being aware of it) So I called before cancelling to check. The gentleman I spoke with told me No, that I had fulfulled my contract and so it would not cost me anything. So a few days later I cancelled. When I called she said I would have to pay $175.00 early termination fee. I told her that the person I spoke to a few days earlier told me that I would not be charges this fee. She said that I did have to pay it.

We discussed this for a few minutes and I realized that I was not going to get anywhere except to have to pay this fee. So I asked specifically "Will you be taking this out of my account or will you bill me for it?" She said "We will bill you, you should get a bill about the middle of July." So I said again to her "So you will NOT be taking this out of my bank account?" She again said "No, not unless it goes unpaid for 6 months." I believe this was on June 16th. A few days later on June 25th, I looked at my online banking and they had deducted $280.00 for Direct TV. I couldn't believe it, after she assured me that they wouldn't do that.

So I called and now they said that I agreed to this under their Customer Agreement. I DON'T REMEMBER ANYONE EVER TELLING ME THIS! She said she was escalate my complaint up to another level, as of today, July 5th, I have not heard from anyone. I did not receive the boxes I was supposed to get to send the equipment back. So I called. While talking to them I asked again about this agreement to early termination fees and to take money out of my account when they want to. The person I spoke to this time said that I did not sign anything, that the only paperwork I ever signed stayed with the installers for their records.

So I said to him, So you are telling me that I did not authorize money to be taken out of my account by a signature. He said, "No, it was verbal", it is in the Customer Agreement which you can find at the Direct TV website. I do NOT recall ever authorizing anyone to take money out of my account. The only exception to that would be when I paid my bill thru their website but that was for a specific monthly charge only.

The last thing that happened is when I cancelled they were supposed to send boxes for me to send back the equipment, I did'nt get the boxes, so I called to see when I could expect them. They had sent the boxes to my old address,does this make any sense! I told them I will not go get those boxes, that would be 50 miles round trip for me. So they said they would cancel that and reorder the boses to be sent to my new address.

So my complaints are: 1. Not providing customer with documention of their contract, they should be very clear in writing when you sign up or upgrade service that you are entering into a contract. 2. They should not be allowed to take money out of your account without your knowledge. Again, they should be very clear and have your permission in writing that they are going to do this and what the purpose is, just paying a bill or the early termination. 3. They also sent the boxes to return the equipment to my old address. If I hadn't called to see where the boxes were I'm sure they would be charging me for not returning the equipment. Which still might happen because I haven't gotten the boxes yet.

I feel like their practices are illegal, they should have disclose their policies in a much clearer manner and in writing. The consumer should be completly aware of what the contracts are and cancellation policies including the fact that they can rip money out of your account when they feel like it. That alone in my opinion should be against the law.

I was lied to by Direct TV on two issues. 1. They said I did not have to pay an early termination fee, and then said I did. 2. They said that the money would not come directly out of my account but then it did just a few days later. The $280.00 being taken out of my account caused me hardship as I had just spent all of the money I had saved and a good deal of our monthly income getting moved into our new place. So it put an even bigger strain on our budget to pay other bills. I was not prepared at the time to have to incur this expense.

In April I received harassing, rude, disrespectful collection calls. On May 8, 2008 I sent them email complaining about harassment and telling them I had spoken Desiree and Craig about cancelling my service and was confirming it by email.

Again on May 15 they sent me email and I replied I've told you many times I have no DTV. Last week they sent me another email saying my cable was cut off. In addition, they are ignoring my emails and now tell me that they have no notes about my cancelling service. I resent these emails and their response to me. I don't believe this.

I have FIOS and only have one TV. I even sent Verizon copies of these two emails since I don't want trouble with them and I can't pay for cable service by two companies at the same time. Now DTV tells me Iam in collection and they said they will send me to a collection agency. I asked them how my cable could be cut off when I have had no service since late March. They simply ignore me. They even spoke to my son in April. Now they simply tell me I am in collections and my cable was cut off in the last week in July. I also forwarded the emails to Verizon so that if I am held responsible for paying for two cable services for one TV. I only have one TV.

I was told that they were going to send me to a collection agency and that I still have DTV. I have the emails on my computer, sent them again and they ignore them, the dates, etc. How can they claim to cut my cable off when I haven't had their cable service and they refuse to accept ym phone callls and emails. the reason I send emails to confirm the problems is because theyy never keep good notes or have good customer service. I just end up now screaming and they just keep telling me I'm a liar and a cheat and dishonest. They just refuse to listen or answer questions and don't even mention the emails I sent them in May which just confirm the phone calls and the harassment.