DIRECTV Reviews

I should have been notified by phone or email address regarding the boxes before withdrawing the money. They do not make a reasonable or timely attempt to get their equipment back because they know that they can charge you a premium price for outdated equipment that they can no longer use due to competition. They have outsourced their customer service offshore and refuse to let you speak to anyone who can comprehend English. Plus, they have closed my online account so that I cannot access past account activity which would clearly demonstrate their delays in sending return boxes. The people need to be sued out of existence, and we need to patronize businesses that employ Americans and have reasonable policies.

I canceled and told them I want my $200 and then the $340 they owe me for their failure for early disconnect because of the delinquent funds on their account. I went FiOS. If you can change, I would. I try never to deal with liars and thieves. They said they will send me a box to return the receivers and it will be 6 to 8 weeks after I received my money. I loved the guy when he said they bill me for their lack of commitment. If I didn't have FiOS, I would have gone with the internet (Netflix, YouTube...), put an antenna for free air, and wait. They will pay. If I have any issues with them after, this is when I'll check the box down below to have an attorney call me.

The representative I spoke with had informed me that a recent negotiation between the networks and DirecTV ended in a result of DirecTV paying an 8% increase to the networks. DirecTV then in turn put these charges upon their customers. I told the rep, and she agreed that I was still under the price guarantee credit explanation. This is directly from my DirecTV statement: "Because you are a new customer with a one-year price guarantee, we are honoring the original price of your base package for the remainder of your first year service. This credit keeps your price at its original amount until the date shown (7/13). If you change your base package, your price guarantee may no longer apply."

Direct TV also has a Customer Contract Agreement. As seen they have unrestricted rights as long as there is justification (mentioned above) to raise prices. DirecTV said this 8% increase demanded by Networks is an example of this stimulation. But what DirecTV did wrong with my particular case is I am still under a price guarantee Credit. So DirecTV went around this and still charged me for this 8% network increase by tagging my receiver and not my package deal. Far from my worries but DirecTV also failed to notify me of these increases as indicated that they would (mentioned above in the agreement).

There was no justification to raise my receiver. This 8% network increase has nothing to do with the quality or performance of this receiver and has everything to do with packages, i.e. networks, channel availability.

One year later, yesterday, guess who I reached again at DirecTV? You guessed it, Pete, and nothing had changed. He even said he had to have my social security number to verify my credit. After I realized that I was speaking to the same pushy, obnoxious and arrogant employee, I told him I was not interested at all and that I was going to hang up. He kept talking, but I hung up. Two minutes later, my phone rang and it was him saying we got disconnected. I told him, "No, we did not get disconnected; I hung up," and I told him to stop calling me.

Today, guess who called me again? It was Pete and he wanted to know if I had thought it over again. I told him quite directly, "Stop calling me. I do not want DirecTV." He still kept talking, trying to convince me and I hung up again. Is DirecTV that desperate? I want to file a formal complaint. Can anyone assist me?

I've spent several hours on calls with customer service, and their response was to ask me to be patient because a fix was forthcoming. I explained that was not an acceptable response; I want the equipment replaced. Changing the equipment would cost $400. My only alternative was to wait until the software fix is sent to my receiver. During this conversation with the clueless customer support representative, both of my TV's froze up twice.

In researching this problem, I've discovered that the issues with the Whole-Home Genie DVR & Client date back to last year. In its promotion, DirecTV does not disclose the technical issues associated with this product. I've been a customer for 18 years, and this is how DirecTV rewards my loyalty. If there is any legal action involving this issue, I would be interested in becoming a participant.

Recently, I paid my balance on 28 February 2013. I get paid once a month and that is when I pay my bills (which I explained to the DTV representative that took my call to establish the service and why I had to wait to have my services connected). On 3 March 2013, I rented a movie that I assumed would be on my next statement. Wrong. It was withdrawn from my checking account immediately. Since the DTV site stated that my credit card expired, who authorized them to assume the responsibility to withdraw the money from my account? I called the office and was informed that because they had a debit card for my checking account, they knew the number was still valid. I spoke with an Oscar and informed him that I was not happy with the tactic and would contact the CEO to get resolution.

I also told him that the previous two reps advised me that they had documented my account. So anyway, the billing rep said the refund would take 24-48 hours to process. Three days went by and I called again. I was told that it takes 30+ days to get a refund. I said that the bill was $42 and not $172! They said sorry, it will take 30 days to get my money back. I escalated to supervisor and they said the same thing. I disputed it with my bank and they said that because I had direct debit set up, the refund had to come from them. I wrote the BBB and DirecTV said that they had escalated a refund to my checking account. Within two days from that, I received a letter in the mail that they had escalated refund. One day later, I received a bill for the amount that they should have taken 30 days prior! How rude! I called again and said that they would not get a penny until I got my money that was due me 3 weeks prior. DirecTV still has not refunded me my money that they stole from me since their systems were verified by people and not machines that they never should have taken the money in the first place! Do not deal with DirecTV if you have a choice!

When I told them that was impossible, they threatened me. They continue to send me letters demanding money. I am completely fed up. I didn't get these movies. I had the account password-protected to prevent this very thing. I am sick of being hounded by these people, particularly since I am not making very much money on my two part-time jobs. $250 is a lot of movies and a hell of lot of money to me.

Since I began talking about this situation, I have heard from a lot of people with the same issue. This seems to be a revenue enhancement scheme from DirecTV and it seems like people with Hispanic surnames get dunned more often.

So we decided to cancel the service, but they told us to pay almost 500 bucks for cancellation fee. OMG. What the hell is going on here? Some things are never explained to you before you sign the contract and now they treat you like that. We cannot describe how angry we are when we use their service. I made the conclusion that we will never use DirecTV again. I hope somebody reads my notes before they want to use their service. I predict that DirecTV will die soon with their service.

Then we got our bill showing a $100 early cancellation fee. I called customer service and asked how they considered a customer of 12+ years cancelling an early cancellation. Apparently, when the new boxes were sent to us and activated on April 22, 2012, a new 1-year contract started. I have emailed back and forth to customer service and always get a prompt reply stating that, according to our DirecTV Customer Agreement, any "change" incurs a new contract period. I'm going to have to pay this so it doesn't go to a collection agency. I sort of wish they would automatically put it in our credit card so I could dispute it. The credit card information they have is probably on a card that doesn't exist anymore. Do not go with DirecTV.

In June 2012, I purchased cable TV service from DirecTV via telephone communication. They gave me details on several plans and I chose a plan based on the monthly payment for that plan. As we discussed the monthly payment amount due on my plan (included in that same subject context), I was informed that there would be an early cancellation fee of $20 monthly also. I agreed to the $20 monthly early cancellation fee. During our conversation on the phone for the initial setup of service and on subsequent communications with DirecTV representatives, it was consistently stated that the early cancellation fee is $20 monthly. After my service was terminated and during one of my last attempts to resolve the issue with DirecTV on Jan. 18, 2013, 10:17 am ET, telephone representative, Nova, badge ID number ** again stated, "The early cancellation fee is $20 monthly." However, that is not the truth as stated in the contract.

The contract early cancellation fee is in the middle of a document that was presented to me by the installation technician under the disguise as my responsibility to protect the DirecTV leased equipment that I accepted during installation that day. DirecTV should be held accountable for enticing Georgia consumers new business by giving us deceptive half true information. The contract states, "The early cancellation fee is $480 and DirecTV will deduct $20 for each month the service is fulfilled up to 24 months. Further that without prior notification to customer, the entire lump sum balance due will be charged to your debit or credit card account number on file (which was mandatory to set up service)."

If the company were doing business in good faith with Georgia residents, then the verbal information provided by DirecTV phone representatives should be exactly the same as the written information in the contract that is received and signed at a future installation date. Further, I informed the company that I wanted my account number removed from their files in July 2012. They assured me that my account number had been erased from their files. And that no future charges would occur as of July 2012 since my credit/debit number had been erased from their system.

I want DirecTV to reimburse me $340. I will pay that early cancellation fee at an initially, verbally, agreed upon amount of $20 monthly. The company has no reason to believe that I will not pay it because all other amounts they charged me have been paid. Buyer beware!

As if this wasn't enough, I called today inquiring about installing service in an additional room and was told that there would be a combined charge of almost $200! My plan was to get my daughter her own TV and allow her to have satellite in her room for her birthday. But wow! After being told that since I was no longer a "new customer", those "new customer offers" were no longer applicable and those charges couldn't be waived. This shows how little this company values its current customers. I expected and was prepared to pay a charge for the installer to come out and hook up another room, but never imagined having such ridiculous charges apply only after becoming a customer.

We switched from Dish Network to DirecTV in hopes that service and customer support would be held at a higher standard. So far, I have seen the worst customer support ever. I am a busy mother of two and if I have taken the time out of my day to sit down and type out this complaint, surely you can see how disappointed I must be! I will be informing all my family and friends about this horrible experience as well.

They say it’s a contract. Well, if they make changes to the original contract, isn’t that a breach of said contract? I never asked for a change in the sports program and to increase my basic package with a $2.00 sports fee! They said that customers in the region asked for it. Well, I never did! I don’t give a damn about sports channels. “Well, sir, you can choose another package.” Why do I have to choose another package that doesn’t include these sports channels that also does not include the channels I want? I don’t want the sports channels, and I don’t agree to pay an additional $2 a month for something I didn’t ask for! “Well, I’m sorry sir; there’s nothing I can do about that.” But that’s a breach of contract with you changing it! “No sir, the agreement says we can make changes to the contract if deemed necessary.” I want a la carte programming. I only want to pay for the channels I want! “I’m sorry sir, we don’t offer that at this time.”

I will be switching to Internet Streaming, Netflix or Hulu or whatever, as it will be a lot less money and I won’t have to deal with credits and adjustments and with them adding additional fees and changing the package and forcing me into a contract that they can change when they want to.

We tried to resolve every issue promptly. They are recorded in the customer notes and the last time they charged us triple and when we refused to pay for service we already paid Verizon for, they told us we can cancel. So we did. Now we are being charged for cancellation because we broke the contract. But DirecTV broke the contract every month, unreasonably turned off our TV with no reason and no answers, and admitting they were at fault. I cannot afford to be double, triple and unreasonably charged not only once, but every single month.

Since the very first two weeks of having DirecTV, we have had nothing but problems. This is outrageous and ridiculous that we are being charged to cancel when DirecTV did not hold up your end of the contract. It is illegal to charge us when we have every right to cancel due to the unpredictable and careless service. I do not expect to pay a cancellation fee. Can you help me?

I called back and sat on hold for about 15 minutes, only to be told, "I am sorry. They didn't know that the $15 discount is for the 2nd year and not the 1st year of service. That would put your order at $96.94." I told her I don't know why the guy in the bundle dept didn't know that. He was the 2nd person to quote me that price. I told her to cancel my service. I will just go back to AT&T directly. What a way to gain a new customer - not.

I called DirecTV and simply explained to them the mistake the installer had made, and that he needed to come back out and take it off the railing and put it on a tripod before I got fined again. They then began to explain that in order for this to be done, there would be a $50 charge. I spoke to five different people, whom all of them were no help, and not considerate to my situation at all. Why should I have to pay anything for something that was not my fault? I was never told there were certain ways they were allowed to be set up, and he never once asked me for a copy on dish regulations. He is the professional, not me. The lady then told me that, "All apartment complexes are different, and all have different rules." I was unaware, but if you were, then why, as a "professional," did you not make sure it was set up according to my apartment complex’s policy? If he would have asked me for a copy of it, I would have walked down to the front desk and got one, and this all could have been avoided. I finally spoke to a Manager named Josephine, who proceeded to tell me, "No amount of your words, is going to change the fact that you have to pay this."

I am disgusted that I now have to pay a company who treats new customers so horribly for the next two years. To me, loyalty is everything. If I am treated fairly, I would have been a life long customer to them. Because of their mistake, I am now $150 out of pocket for unnecessary charges. I am a 22-year old woman who is 8 months pregnant. I work full time to be able to provide the basic needs for me and my baby. $150 might not seem like anything to them, but to me that is groceries in my fridge, diapers for my child, or a minor bill paid. I am not an unreasonable person, but I feel as if in this situation, I was treated extremely unfair. I should have never cancelled with Cox. Cox never once charged me for installment fees or cancellation fees, because as a customer I was not happy. If a customer is not happy with the service, they should not have to pay. Period. I will go out of my way to make sure that I stop people from signing up with DirecTV, and I will never refer anyone to them.

I am counting down the days until my contract is up. I can't believe that I had to go as far as writing the president of the company a personal email to let him know how the people who represents his company treat their new customers. The only reason I went with DirecTV was because they were cheap. Never again will I choose cheap over better customer service (DirecTV over Cox).

Oh, and the sales rep lied to me about all of their promotions. She said I could get 4 boxes and mirror one of them to my 5th TV. Um, no, it's not possible. I was on the phone for hours to get another box. They started charging me $150 plus another installation fee. No. After speaking to several managers, they finally said, "We'll waive it; just pay $40 for the equipment." When I said okay and spoke to another representative, they said that offer didn't exist and that he noted on my account it said I was the one who refused to work with them and I was upset. I was on the phone for another after that and guess what? The line went dead. Save yourself the trouble. They are crooked as can be. I'm definitely reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

Two days later (important detail), I got a call saying that I had to set up the phone line myself and was given the information and number to call. I called the other company and was told I did not qualify for their service, because my name was still on an outstanding debt of a former friend. When I called DirecTV to clear the confusion up (because I had done a credit check and was told I was approved by both companies), they said that there was nothing they could do and I also no longer qualified for the discount I was going to receive for using their phone company. This drove my bill up to an unreasonable number and I would also be paying a higher rate from my former cable company because I would lose my 3-in-1 package discount. I told them I was sorry I would not be able to afford the change as instead of saving me money, it would actually double what I was paying.

They informed me that I had been given 24 hours to cancel, which had passed while I was waiting for them to call me with the details of the phone line. When I reminded them that they had told me I had 30 days to cancel and not 24 hours, they said the phone company allowed for 30 days but DirecTV only allowed for 24 hours. When I said I was lied to and wanted a copy of the recorded tape of my conversation with the salesperson, I was told that I would not be given the tapes and that I would need to hire a lawyer to file a motion for the tapes. Are you kidding me?! The monthly bill has doubled since then (1 year, 5 months ago). When I ask them about the increase, they tell me they have shareholder expectations, etc.

I am a young mom with 2 kids. I go to school full-time trying to earn two bachelor's degrees. My fiancee was laid off from work four months ago. Am I crying about a bunch of rich white men with nothing better to do than rip off lower and middle class people not making their profit expectations? Nope and DirecTV shouldn't be either. But their priorities are clearly making shareholders' money and not paying customers. Do not fall for DirecTV's sales pitches! They will lie to you with no problem and they will break their user service agreement knowing you can't do anything about it. You will always be talking to some 15-year-old Filipino girl, because DirecTV cares more about ensuring they make millions and millions of dollars and hoarding as much of it as possible - never put anything more than they have to back into the community like hiring American to do American jobs.

The only good thing I can say about DirecTV is that I will never be stupid enough to do business with them again. And I hope my friends and family will listen to me when I caution them against doing business with them as well.

They told them two weeks to get the service up and running (no change in bill even though my father did not have the service for two weeks). We spent hours on the phone trying to get this fixed and get the installation. I will go to my office tomorrow and pull up my records of who I spoke with. They did not credit her account for the missed time nor were they helpful in correction of the problem. I had to spend a couple of hours on the phone trying to get this corrected for her. My legislators should stop this corporate abuse of citizens. Why should they be able to tell you on the phone one-year contract then change it to a two-year contract? You can get out of it for $240, already spent on installation. Total rip off.

I will never do business with you myself or have my name on anything connected with DirecTV. Total rip off company. DirecTV has a longer contract than the teachers of Florida. Maybe the legislator can do something about that. Maybe contracts should only be a year or better yet 6 months like car insurance. You can raise rates during those two years. Maybe it should be they can't raise rates for two years. Do you treat your employees the same? Do they have two-year contracts?

I informed the sales rep that I am in retail sales and will not be pressured into giving out any personal information until I get answers to my questions. At every step, they would keep asking me for more and more personal info without giving me any answers to my questions. Finally (on 2 occasions), we actually got into a shouting match and I warned these reps that I would hang up, but they kept persisting and so I hung up.

The third time (yesterday), your sales rep was more amiable to giving out information (which I appreciated) and finally I gave him my personal information. At the end, he kept using delaying tactics in giving me exact numbers using excuses like the system was slow, etc. Funny thing was that I had just finished talking with AT&T, Comcast and Dish Network who had all used the same ** line. Finally, I got tired of this game and asked him to call me back with this information. Almost 24 hours later, I have not received a call back from him and I have now decided to go with AT&T.

As the CEO of the company, I think you should know that the practices being used by your sales team are nothing short of shameful and if you are already aware of it, then shame on you too.

Well, if I'm not getting what I ordered and end up having to pay more into what the original quote was, for how the original order was done, to what the installer was asked to do, and to the phone call in to correct it, which was not the same. Not getting what you’re paying for are good grounds to go to small claims court. Not to mention, when I went to report this with BBB, I saw that I'm not the only one with the same exact problem. DirecTV got an "F" grade from BBB, which is not good.

I asked her about some specials rates that she could provide to me and was offered a start-up package that includes a HD DVR Genie. The rate quoted for this device was $199. Staring at an offer I received in the mail, I informed her that I could receive that same receiver for free if I start up through Directv. Realizing that the better deal would be to purchase service directly through Directv, I called them and was told that they could not provide me that offer and that I was in a multi-dueling service area; it was restricted property! That Access Media obtained a contract, and they could not start up service. I would have to go through a third party! I explained that I had horrible service through them. As a new customer, it doesn’t make sense to go through a third party company that I have no intent of ever dealing with again.

For example, if groceries were delivered and were an amenity, but a contract was held by Publix, you’re restricted to purchase through Winn Dixie? That’s absolutely ridiculous! This mob style business tactic is very saddening. Cable television is a privilege and as a paying customer, we should have the freedom to make our own decisions on who to shell over hard earned currency to and not bullied.

He told me that I could still get that directly from the DirecTV website after I was a customer for 30 days. I had DirecTV installed on November 11th. Well, 30 days passed and I attempted to apply for the Visa card that I was promised and what do you know, they tell me I am not eligible for the Visa card because I did not sign up through DirecTV but signed up through Direct Sat TV. Why do I deserve to be denied the $200 Visa card that I was promised? What did I do wrong?

Next, in Jan. of 2013, I began receiving calls from CBE Collections regarding $105.98 for a receiver in which they had already charged me $300. Now my credit is affected. Upon calling DirecTV, they could not explain why and removed the charges. What actions can I take because they have affected my credit and keep charging me for services and equipment that I should not be responsible for?

This company is the biggest offender of bait and switch that I've ever seen. If you move and accept any of their free moving upgrades, not only do you get charged for them, but they extend your contract another 2 years - again, with no notification of them doing so. I was informed today that the equipment is free, not the service. Nice, huh? After posting a complaint on their Facebook page, them deleting it and me reposting it, I can no longer reply to or post anything on their page. I could go on and on but you get the point.

Please do not use your credit card information to make payments with DirecTV. I even tried to go online to their website and remove my card information. Their system will not allow you to remove the card without replacing it with another. Beware!

This year, the satellite dish is out of alignment. I want to renew free HD again and lower the package. Each year, the monthly packages increase by $3. This year, it was $2 plus a new $2 fee for local sports. They told me that they will not do anything without my mother's permission. Only if I was her spouse or had power of attorney would they allow it as an authorized user. They did not care that she is 90 years old with dementia, and 3000 miles away. As of a few months ago, the supervisor can no longer make changes. I was only able to lower the package online only. I could not do the rest.

Who is this private corporation to dictate this policy? Since when does the Privacy Act or HIPPA apply to them? They are not a bank, insurance company, a government agency, or a medical establishment. I have to get stuck with paying a higher bill with faulty reception, because of a privacy policy. They would not accept my mother's conservator, because it is not part of their policy. The conservator is not that reliable anyway. I do not even have the authority to cancel DirecTV. DirecTV gets too much involved in your personal life if the customer is not available. As a son, I might as well be a stranger. I feel like they are holding me hostage, because they make no provisions for unusual circumstances. I have to pay, or else. Because Verizon pays DirecTV, I cannot refuse to pay; otherwise, it would affect the telephone and DSL service as well.

I asked what options they had for lowering the payment to what our contract says. The answer? None. I was told very rudely that they can raise the prices as much and anytime they want to; it says so in the contract. I was told that it's not a big enough amount to worry about. I was told they raised it because it's February. Then in the next sentence, he asks if he can help me with anything else. Really? He hasn't helped me with anything yet!

As far as the viewing goes, it goes out if it rains. Seriously, and it’s not even a storm, just rain. If you tape something, it will not tell you if it's interfering with other taped shows (like TimeWarner); it still lets you record it, and it just doesn't get taped. I should've listened to others when they said don't go with DirecTV! It’s too late now. I'm stuck, but apparently, they're not. They can do anything they want. I will not renew my contract

When cancelling, the DirecTV service representative told me that they did not have the deposit, and that I would have to contact the third party. This same representative also told me that the only amount I would be charged is the $240. I was also given a letter in writing that explained all I would be charged was $240. When I contacted the third party, I realized that DirecTV had taken advantage of me. Then, when trying to receive my deposit back, they told me that I surrendered my deposit when cancelling. I have never felt more screwed over in my life. This horrid company is in the game for the “short- time-steal- as-much-as- they-can” scheme because they know they're losing vast amounts of customers each month and are not receiving nearly as many new ones.

I am a 13-year customer in good standing. When I called customer service, I was refused a 3-day grace while waiting for the check to clear to reinstate the service. The customer service agent was not friendly and remarked that they have over a million customers so one account is not that important and refused to reinstate service for just 3 days. I was also charged a reconnection fee when I made an extra payment to turn on the service over phone and a check processing fee on my next month’s bill. These people really are to full of themselves and need closer government overview. They know we are hostages if we live in areas where their service is the only one offered.

I think the US attorney general should take a close look at these companies who charge high fees, charge for payment processing, and shut off services to collect reconnection fees. They offer poor customer service and billing practices that cost the consumer extra to use these services (via automated billing that promotes additional revenue generation). If I had another option, I would dump them in a heartbeat.

In the interim, I went on various email threads to see what other people had experienced. I came across a thread that stated that a person was automatically charged for their remaining balance. They were very unhappy that they were not informed this. I called on 1/24/2013 to confirm that information. I specifically asked if I would be billed automatically so I could anticipate the bill. The customer service rep explained that I would not be automatically charged and that a bill would not even generate for me until after the 15th of February since I had been issued a bill for February and the account would have to be prorated to reflect the disconnection. She instructed me to wait for the bill and then pay it once it was generated.

Lo and behold, I was charged a whopping $292.00 on February 19th. I received no notification or last bill that stated when and how I would be charged. Not only did this cause me to incur overdraft fees on my account, but an unknown $300 charge is not considered a small fee and caused me to suffer financial distress. When I called to inquire why I was charged, the service rep was able to pull up the agenda of all my phone calls and noted that I was indeed told that a bill would not generate until after the 14th of February. Not to mention the fact that somehow my disconnection fee was actually $160. She empathized with me and filed a claim against the agent who gave me the wrong information, but even with the given circumstances she gave me the lovely answer of, "There is nothing we can do." Well sure there is nothing to be done because DirecTV was paid, so who cares about the customer and their needs.

She went on to elaborate that my disclosure stated that I would be billed for the early disconnection fee 1-3 days after disconnection (this did not happen) and that 8 days after my last bill, I would be automatically charged the remaining balance. Sure, that isn't a problem. That is if you never received the last bill, which I didn't since I had moved and all my mail was set to be forwarded. That is all great and dandy, but when I called on 1/24/2013, I was advised with completely different information. Let me emphasize, I had no problem paying what I owed. I called and inquired twice so that I would not be hit with any hidden charges. Even with all my efforts, I was still billed without consent and I am still unaware of what charges I actually paid.

But here lately, I am starting to think about FiOS. I have not had an RCA receiver for at least 10 years, but I was being charged for one, and to refund me $18.00 is an insult(!) and then not to replace their malfunctioning receiver until I pay a past due?! You owe me, DirecTV! I have heard really good things about Dish and FiOS bundle. I will be checking them out over the next several days. I just think this is really bad customer service, the way I'm being treated!

I know it does not concern DTV. You have millions of customers, but to do a loyal customer this way because of a temporary financial setback is just wrong! I am very upset with you guys ... very upset. I have called several times about this broken receiver. Furthermore, I bought a receiver from someone and they won't even let me use it until my balance is paid on my bill. I hooked it up; all they have to do is click a switch - because they owe me!

From the first week, the system was faulty so we called and the tech or rep suggested we reboot, blah, blah, blah. It didn't work. So they scheduled a tech to come to the house over the weekend and they checked and replaced the unit, then the next weekend, the other unit and then the next weekend, the cables, then the next weekend, the dish. Mind you, there were several phone calls with techs during the week days. The system was faulty and we were paying for a service that we were completely unhappy and unfulfilled with.

So I called and asked to speak with a manager and demanded some compensation. She offered $10 off for the month. When I expressed my dissatisfaction at that, she said, "How bout $10 off for 5 months?" However, our system still did not work right, and we had no idea when or if it would. I asked to be released of our contract due to complete failure of DirectTV giving us what we signed up for and she told me no. We were subject to our contract for the two years. My response to her was, "You're kidding! You mean you can be a completely substandard service but we have to suck it up and pay for it anyway," and she said, "Yes." So we gave up.

We cancelled the service and went to DISH. It has worked for us from day one and we have not had one frustrated night since. Since this harrowing two months and walking away, we have heard of many other dissatisfied DirecTV customers dealing with the same issues and the horrible customer service response. So I just wanted to log my complaint for the record.

When I called DTV customer service billing department, I was informed that when the old receiver was returned, they removed the access card and "read it" and it recorded all of the movies I had purchased since I had received the box at the beginning of my subscription in January 2012 and that as I had not paid for the movies, they were being billed now. I told the CSR that I did not owe anything for movies as I had paid for any movies rented when I ordered them online.

When you order a movie online or over the phone from DTV, you have to pay for it or you cannot order it. The only way to order without paying is via your remote control if you have a phone line attached to the receiver. I have never had a phone line attached as I do not have a land line and have not had one since 2007. The CSR insisted that movies could be ordered with the remote without a phone line although while I had him on the phone, I tried to order a movie and it gave me the standard "error" message of, "You do not have a phone line connected to your receiver. In order to order movies, you must call customer service or order online." The CSR insisted that this was not so.

I have been a DTV customer since 2002 and never had a phone line connected and have never been able to order a movie using the remote control. I paid for every movie in advance at the time of ordering as is standard procedure with DTV customers. This is the second time that this has happened when I returned their equipment. Subsequently, I had the DTV technician put a block on my equipment, so that I cannot order or receive any movies to avoid being fraudulently double charged in the future when I return their equipment.

For the second time, I was forced to pay for services that I had already paid for as I did not save DTV bills and debit card card statements from a year ago showing that the movies were purchased and paid for at time of purchase. I have spoken to numerous other DTV customers who claim that the same situation happened to them as well. This is an obvious scam to defraud customers for services already paid for and anticipating that customers do not save bills from the beginning of time. Realistically, why would a service provider allow customers to order hundreds of dollars in product for years and delay billing for over a year or more when they charge you a late fee if you pay your bill a few says late? It's ridiculous!

Secondly, I signed a two-year contract which states that DTV is providing me with equipment and installation at no charge and providing service for one year at a special reduced rate and, in return, I must keep their service for a period of two years. I was into my 11th month of my contract when I was told that my equipment was "out of date" and "incompatible" with DTV's existing installation at my new address. I was forced to pay $200 for a replacement receiver and pay $99 for installation of same. The contract states that I do not own the equipment and I must return it at the end of contract. I have to pay for insurance on the equipment as well each month as well as a monthly rental fee. The $200 is non-refundable even if the equipment is returned at end of contract.

Why am I paying $200 for used equipment that I do not own and pay rent and insurance on? No one at DTV can explain this; they state that it is a "usual charge" and if "I don't like it, I can go without TV", which brings me to my third issue: When I moved to AZ from MA, the apartment complex told me that they had a "special arrangement" with CenturyLink to install and arrange for services within the complex and that only their installers could install services. When I went to arrange for my services, I was told that although I was an existing under-contract DTV customer, all of their (DTV) conditions and terms did not apply to me as I was now in an "MDU" installation complex (multi-dwelling unit). Hence, I had to pay for / get / rent new equipment and pay installation to CenturyLink to install my DTV service. Again, If I didn't like it, "I could go without".

I was informed of this by Centurylink Sales, Installation Technician, Customer Services and Billing. I was also informed that I would have to purchase equipment insurance through CenturyLink, not DTV, cancel my DTV insurance and purchase CenturyLink's which is $2 more per month than DTV. If I am a DTV customer under contract, why am I having to pay Centurylink and why is my cost higher than other DTV customers with contracts? Isn't this a monopoly and against the law? I am not allowed to have any other service provider than CenturyLink and DTV no matter what the quality of service is or the cost. DTV claims no knowledge of this and claims they are only "partnered" with CenturyLink in order to offer "bundled" services.

We asked her why didn't the tech call and let us know he was here. The lady gave us the numbers they have for us and every number they ramble off is wrong! How they got the numbers they put in there is beyond us! The rep told us the tech can come back later this afternoon or we can reschedule for another day! So we just wasted over half of our day waiting for these people, and they did nothing to fix it but told us we could sit around and wait for them even longer. It was ridiculous how they couldn't fix or do anything or talk to anyone about the tech lying about coming to our house! We cancelled our service with them before it even started!

I sent them countless emails but never once received an apology. Instead, they told me that was standard procedure to send cancelled accounts directly to collections, which by they way is illegal. Funny, they'd so freely admit it. They purposely do this. I suppose they don't want you to ever return, which is funny, because I started getting all kinds of "We want you back" letters shortly afterward. I sent them back "return to sender" and told them that if I received any more, I would sue them for harassment. They place their sales agents in Best Buys around me and I ask them why DirecTV practices credit reporting fraud if they try to approach me. Save yourself heartache and credit issues and go with another provider!

Why did this happen? Easy. Their credit score system looks up your Social Security and tries to make a connection between your social and addresses listed in your credit report. So what happens if you just bought a house or are moving to a new house and your credit is not associated? Denied. So right after I qualified, the agent said, "I am going to transfer you to installation and just let them know that you need to change the install address from your current apartment to the new home address." Guess what Mark agent ** says? "I got to cancel your entire order and start again." Of course, he runs into the same problem, Social Security + new home address denied, Social Security and old address = accepted. Three hours later, no DirecTV, no new client. Overall, their associates are trained to the dot. But what happens when a process fails, when something illogical is clearly not working and their agents even agree to it? Nothing happens, not even management intervention. At the end of the day, no new client, wasted time for both and unsatisfied potential loyal new buyer who will not refer the company.

Apparently, my husband, who has never spoken to or had anything to do with these people, is now the primary account holder and they need his permission to let me do anything. My husband is a long haul truck driver and he's going to waste his precious time home trying to cure stupid with these people? I don't think so. I paid my bill this month, but if they don't let me cancel it next month, I'll just stop paying my bill until they take this crap out of my house! I've never been treated so poorly by a company and if it was anything else, I wouldn't have put up with it for so long which is embarrassing. Maybe its just time for no TV!

This was never disclosed to me. I informed them that I was never told that I would be issued an advanced box. I called again to reduce my package. I was told that I could not get the minimum package, which was $29.99. The lady rep I spoke to said I would lose the rebate - no good reason was provided. I requested that the company should change the box and give me a standard box, and the lady stated that they would charge me $59.99 to swap the box.

It is obvious that this is a company that lures and locks people into a two-year contract and makes it very difficult to get out of it once you discover their inconsistencies and deceptive practices. Direct is not a genuine company and they know it because a good business will ensure that customers receive what they ordered and are satisfied. They know that people will leave them - that is why they use deceptive practices to latch unto unsuspecting new customers.

They told me I have to get my money back from the account owner, but that won't happen because that person is indigent. I tried to file a claim with my bank but I have to wait until the charge moves from pending then wait even longer to ever possibly getting my money back in a claim. DirecTV says they aren't budging. I'm about to go postal! I'm calling my attorney. I want damages. This is my money for my cruise with my 2 kids (their Christmas gift and our first vacation together ever). It took me a full year as a single mother to save this kind of money.

So the lesson learned is do not use their website to make changes. Most important, read the fine print of the contract which allows them to take you to the cleaners. DirecTV prides themselves on their customer service, saying that pleasing their customers is their #1 priority. But in my experience, these are empty words. They do not honor their commitment to their customers and they have not earned nor do they deserve our patronage. Signed, thoroughly disgusted, soon to be ex-customer.

I called and advised that there must be a billing mix up on my account. I told the service representative that a technician was just at my house and could not install HD service so I had to return the box. I was told that since I activated the box before the technician came to my house, I was responsible for the early termination fee. I responded by explaining that DirecTV was unable to provide me with HD service making it impossible to terminate something that they could not offer me. I was told that the bill would be put in dispute.

Months later, I received another bill. I called and explained everything again and was told it would be disputed. I never heard anything again and thought that the matter had been taken care of. Years later, I applied for credit and was told I had an outstanding bill. After researching the issue, I found that DirecTV actually reported me to the credit bureau and this had been on my credit history for years. I was furious. I called DirecTV and was told that my account could not be accessed and I would have to write a letter to the dispute department. Soon after, I started getting harassing calls from a collections agency for $400 to settle a DirecTV debt that was originally $255. I have not been able to receive any resolution from DirecTV. They refuse to help me in any way. This has ruined my credit and I feel like I am being bullied by a company that is trying to extort money from me that I do not owe them and ruin my credit.

I had just separated from my husband and moved to this location. At that point, they also tried to make me pay for my ex-husband's service because it was past due and they had somehow linked our accounts. All this was even though he had this account for years before we married and it was in his name only, at his address, and he was the only one authorized to make any changes to the account. They refused to reconnect mine until he paid his past due balance. They also stated that although they had disconnected my service after only one week, I would be held accountable and would not be able to leave DirecTV without paying $20 a month for the next two years to get out of the contract.

Since that time, they have constantly added extra charges due to upgrading my package without my consent. They have added the NFL package without my permission, stating they do this yearly and I have to call in and cancel it months ahead of time if I don't want it, although I've never ordered it to begin with. My bill is different each month, although I refuse to order any movies from them. When I call, they always have some kind of excuse and say it will be fixed. This is after holding for what seems like an eternity to speak to someone. The next bill will be the same, if not more; it's never fixed, only leading to my frustration because I have to spend at least an hour or so on the phone waiting to get through to someone who is completely incompetent to begin with. It's a never-ending cycle.

Currently, I am awaiting service to come out and fix the power supply box that has been messed up for 2 weeks. They could do no better than getting someone here within 7 days. I am missing the Super Bowl as we speak. I'm certain i will be billed in full for the last two weeks of service that I have not had, because that's the way DirecTV operates. I have never been so dissatisfied with a company in my life. The service is lousy and trying to get through their automated system is a nightmare in itself. I would not commend this company to anyone.

Why should I have to pay for something that already worked before the tech came out? This is bad business to damage and intentionally damage my existing cabling and force me to pay again. If the tech needed to disconnect it, all they had to do is unscrew it and not cut the cable feeding in the room. This is a perfect example of a big business taking advantage of the little guy.

I feel that this information was improperly communicated and if I had known that I would have to pay $200, I would have asked for the box during sign-up and installation. I feel that DTV purposely withheld this information for their financial gain, and I was lied to by two representatives of DirecTV. I would like to receive a 3rd DVR box for free and pay the additional $6 a month like it was explained to me when I signed up

We never signed anything or were given any paperwork. They informed me that the agreement is posted on their website (What if I didn't have a computer?). Besides, how am I supposed to know that?! I was also told that if I didn't pay, it would automatically be taken out of my credit card that was on file. I have never given them permission to use my credit card. That was given for the initial setup. How could they charge for early termination if I never signed a contract? Isn't this illegal? Wouldn't a court of law require a signed contract as proof? How can they get away with this?

After going round and round about what I had ordered vs. what was on the tech's work sheet, they finally said that they would give me the rest of the movie channels but I would not get the full 3 months because a couple of weeks had already passed! Again I had to go round and round to get my full 3 months because the error was theirs, not mine. Also when the equipment was installed, they gave us a phone line to the main box which we were told was to update the system and order PPV movies. We had just moved in and did not have all our furniture, so he guessed at how long the line needed to be. Upon placing our furniture the line was too short, so I called and ask for a longer line to be dropped off. I was then informed that I didn't need the phone line. I told the customer rep about what the installer had told me and was again told that I did not need the phone line, and that I could download movies and get updates because I had the internet.

I told him I did not have the internet and he said I did, that he could tell by the movies I had ordered, so I disconnected my phone line from the box! Over the next few weeks, we ordered several movies from the Direct Cinema list, and then one night we could not get a movie that we had just ordered to play. I called customer service who tried to tell me I was watching a "pre-view" and had not ordered the movie. I had to argue with this person to convince them that I had ordered the movie, and confirmed the purchase! After several minutes of trying to figure out the problem, I mentioned about the phone line being disconnected. He said that it was the reason I was having problems and that I could not order any movies without the phone line being connected. When I told him I had already ordered and watched several movies (7 to be exact), he said it was impossible.

I ended up plugging back the phone line and was able to watch my movie (by the way, my next bill did not have the 7 movies on it; they were added to the following month's bill which made that a whopper). This leads me to my final complaint that I had mentioned at the beginning, and the one that really gets to me! Movie Money is so frustrating to deal with. When they advertise discounts, you have to wait for them to send you Movie Money in order to claim your discount, and you have to remember to look for it. For example, this past December they offered "rent 4 movies get $10 off". I rented 4 movies, and a few days ago (a month later) I contacted them because I have not gotten my Movie Money yet. They said they would forward my email to the billing department so I am still waiting. I have complained to them before about this Movie Money.

Is it right that we have to remember to look for it, call and request it if it doesn't show, then have to fill out the Movie Money form and mail it to them, and then we have to wait 'til the next billing cycle and remember to check that bill to ensure that the credit was applied. It's like they hope that we will order the movies and then forget that we were supposed to receive a credit, or be so frustrated with their procedures on claiming the credit that we would just give up! It can take a month or two from the time you order the movies to receive the credit. They tell me that this is so they can check our accounts to make sure that the credit is applied correctly - right! I asked them why we can't at least go online and fill out a form for the credit. That way, we can do it within a day or so from the time we ordered the movies and then print a confirmation so we know it is taken care of. But no, that isn't good enough. You have to wait for Movie Money to be mailed to you, fill it out, mail it in, and wait for credit. Does anyone else think this is ridiculous?

So the refund shows up a week ago and now today, I receive an email stating that I owe almost $40 in movies and that it's past due! I called and was told some story about movies being stored on the cards that I returned to them. What? We paid for movies on the next billing cycle as we watched them, so how could this be? Now, I have no way of going back the past 8 years to prove that they are paid for. And how could the bill automatically be late since I never got a bill in the first place? I feel like I am being robbed and if I don't pay them, they will ruin my credit.

Remember, I am paying $6 a month service fees. Oh, that does not cover that. It just covers anything we can fix from here. Of course. Oh, I am going to have to call someone to put in the new cables, by the way. Now I have had the DirecTV HDTV box and dish for almost a year now. But because of the bad hook up, I have never received the quality of picture I was paying for. I want the difference between the regular picture and the HDTV picture paid back to me over the year. They said no. That is a rip off and it was only caused because their workman did not do their job. Don't trust DirecTV!

On November 19th, we received a bill for $123.74 which we called about and discussed with a supervisor. On December 12th, we received a revised bill from DirecTV showing a credit balance of -$195.01. No payment due. Feeling this should have been the end of this mess and not ever expecting to see the $195.01, we were shocked to find that on December 31st, our credit card was charged for $123.74 illegally and without authorization. We immediately called on the 1st to discuss this matter and were assured a full refund was on its way. We even received an email on the 3rd confirming a credit to our account that the $123.74 was being processed. On January 14th, I called DirecTV wondering where the credit was. Since our DirecTV account was cancelled back in November, I was hopeful that the money would have been returned to the bank account it was taken from instead of crediting to a closed customer account at DirecTV but alas, they credited it to the closed account at DirecTV.

While on the phone, I received information stating that unlike the email we received declaring the $123.74 was being refunded, we were told that someone had gone back into the account and readjusted fees and credits for November (again) and now claim that $83.60 will be credited to my bank. They were keeping $40.14 they decided we owed them for usage in November to which not a single bill received up to this point has shown. Supervisor agreed that the charges placed on December 31st were done unlawfully, that any charge backs done on the account should have generated a new bill and due date, that whoever ran the card did so without authorization and that the superfluous charges and charge backs incurred on this account over the last 60 days were not done correctly.

After a two and a half hour conversation being transferred over 6 times and finally to a supervisor, he determined that the reversal of credits were unjustified, that the extra charges of $40.14 that were applied on January 10th were wrong and he spent the time correcting our account balance (which I should mention had been done 4 times since November on this issue and a whole slew of times for the past 20 years before this). This just exemplifies the type of service we received going back many years with DirecTV and has ultimately contributed to the cancellation of our service once and for all. Suffice it to say, we will never have anything positive to say about DirecTV and will advise anyone with whom we ever come in contact with to run as fast as they can away from DirecTV.

The initial amount I agreed to each month has now grown astronomically over $100 because I didn't "log on to receive my $5 rebate." I've spent hours on the phone trying to resolve it and the two supervisors I've spoken with are very rude on the phone. Most recently, I've been told they will file something and see if I can get my "Rebate" back (now, they apparently consider the whole package part of that rebate!). I can't seem to find any supervisor who can do math (count 10 business days) or go back and read the original offer, send me appropriate bills, or discuss it rationally. Again, I'd go with any company with better customer service and keeps their own promises to send you a customer agreement and your bill!

I checked my American Express account one week later and lo and behold, there was a charge of over $800 on my account! DTV had charged me for early cancellation fees as well and non-returned equipment charges! I called my credit card and was told they had no control over who placed charges on my account after assuring me on 3 different occasions this would not happen. I disputed the charges and cc had to start an investigation and replaced the money on my account. I called UPS and got a confirmation of them delivering the boxes to DTV and said they would give DirecTV a call. I went online and filed charges with the BBB, FTC and the Attorney General. I also filed charges against my credit card. The BBB answered the charge on the credit card and sent me the letter written to them from my cc. The BBB cannot offer advice but I knew what I had to do.

I closed my cc account and was told by my cc that I may still have to pay the charges from DTV depending on their findings. DTV never responded to the charges. I feel I was very fortunate because most people do not get their money back from DTV. I cringe now every time I go into a Wal-Mart or Sam's club and DTV is there selling their horrible service and lies to innocent customers. I now have Roku for streaming videos from Netflix and Amazon Prime. I kept internet service through my local cable company. I also bought an indoor antenna for my local channels. My channels are in HD and come in perfect and I watch movies anytime I want! I will never go with any kind of satellite or cable company again for TV and I save around $1,200 per year.

As of today (1/24/2012), I have not received my money. So I called, and they are only refunding $48.00, which they say is the cost of the equipment; and they’re keeping the rest of the money for payment on my account, which I cancelled long ago, but I guess they didn't even though I didn't have service. They further claimed that they had an agreement at the time of installation, which was at least 5 years ago, to deduct the amount from my bank for non-return of equipment. If this was true, then only $48.00 should have been deducted, not $214.78. I file a complaint today with my state attorney general, and I encourage everyone not to do business with this company. Streaming programs over the internet from the networks Hulu and Netflix is so much cheaper than any satellite or cable provider. Boycott DirecTV. FYI, when DirecTV stole my money, I had to call other companies I owed to make arrangements for late payments because of the theft. Clearwire, my internet provider, waived a month’s fee. Now, that is customer service.

I called to see if I could cancel at that time because I felt that I was misled and was told that I was only allowed a 24-hour review period for cancellation. It was already well past that so that wasn't an option. Cancellation would cost 20 dollars per unused month of service on the contract. So I stuck it out, thinking I would adjust. It still bugs me, but whatever.

A few months of this and I decided that I would try to at least reduce the bill so I wasn't paying $100+ for crap I couldn't really use as expected. Several hours of hard sell and transfers later, I finally reduced my bill to around 80 bucks. CSRs were always rude and did nothing to make me feel better and, in some cases, I felt as though my anger was egged on so that they could find a reason to hang up on me. Again, I soldiered on thinking I'll just wait until I get a few extra bucks and I'll just pay off my ridiculous contract.

A few months ago, we lost service to the boxes and we had to reset everything losing all DVR'd programs including some appearances by my family that we had recorded. It was sad to lose those recordings but such is the nature of hard drives sometimes. CSRs were unsympathetic and offered nothing in the way of recourse or compensation, not even a partial credit for the temporary loss of service, when asked.

My final straw came when I called last week because I called to cancel my premium channels. I didn't want to give these people any more money than I have to. When I turned my DVR on, all of the recordings that I had were now unavailable even though when I had canceled the other premium channels, those recordings remained on the DVR. I again called customer service to find out what happened and I was again essentially told, "too bad, so sad" by 3 different rude service reps. "If you want to get out of your contract, pay up, buddy." I asked to speak to a supervisor and they said they would call me back within 72 hours. Still I have heard nothing from these deadbeats. I still have 16 months on my contract but as soon as I get my taxes back, I will be more than happy to discontinue service. Do not use DirecTV!

My response: I find it deplorable and bad customer service that because of your agents' failure to notate that I never wanted the movie channels from the start of my reinstatement, that I am made to pay for your agents' failures. This clearly constitutes a marketing deception where other companies have used this tactic and has resulted in complaints and in some cases class action suits. Let me recap what I have on a record and you can collaborate it with the history of my account.

A little background: Since 2008, we typically have our account suspended for a few months a year, since this is our vacation home and we are not always at this address. In winter 2011, we were scheduled to have our account unsuspended. Unfortunately, we did not return to the US and wanted to suspend it for a longer period. We were told that we could not have it suspended for more than 6 months; hence, we had to close the account, which we did. On July 19, 2012, I called your office and said I wanted to re-open our account and basically have it reinstated the way I had it prior to closing the account, which meant I was only interested in the channels I had prior to re-opening the account. Your agent, whose name I unfortunately did not note, recapped that I would get xyz and including the movie channels. If your calls are recorded, then you can check your records. I specifically said I do not want the movie channels. He told me that it came with the promotional special and it would be cancelled after the promotion. So, I agreed but restated after the promotion that I did not want the movie channels.

On August 30, 2012, I contacted your office again. Reference # xyz, I believe it was about my confusion about the billing and he basically told me that I would be credited for the movies. Suspicious that my request would not be honored, I started writing the names and times I spoke to your agents, primarily because I got the sense they weren't listening. So on September 10, 2012, I spoke to Dorian at 12:22 pm and told him that I wanted DirecTV to be suspended until December 1 when we return and when it was to be reinstated without the promotional I did not want the movie channels. He assured me it would be taken care of.

I decided to check my bill and noticed I was charged over $90 which included the movie channels. Excuse my language but **? I was livid. How many times do you have to tell your agents I never wanted the movie channels? If there was a way to check to see if I used it, then check! I never used it. It's not about the money; it’s about the principle. I feel I was deceived. How many times do I have to tell someone I do not want the movie channels? As you can see from the above, I did my part, but lo and behold, you have no record of it, whereas I do? All you have to do is check your calls if they are recorded. I have been a customer since I believe 1995! If this is the way you treat long time customer, then it's my duty to warn other future customers.

I enjoy DirecTV when I am in the US, but I find your customer service deplorable and accusatory. If this is not resolved, I plan to blog about it as well as write a complaint to the Better Business Bureau and all the other bureaus because I truly feel I was deceived. I will not let this rest until I feel it has been satisfactorily addressed. On top of all of this, your agent sends me a note that I need to call another department to have the movie channel cancel. Don’t you all work for the same company? What horrible customer service infrastructure!

Equipment is installed and now it is having problems. DVR won't play back. It freezes. It is slow to change channels. I call and they won't help me. I'm still not on the account. My husband had called again to add me the day before. So twice he has called and added me. I am furious. Husband calls again. Now, I can get a tech out. I decide I need to reschedule appointment. It's over the holidays. We can live with the problem; DirecTV refuses. Tech is scheduled to come Christmas Eve. Tech comes and says that he can't fix it. More than likely, the receiver will need to be replaced. He will note on the account that if the problem arises again, to call in and a tech will have to come and replace receiver.

I called today. I explain the situation. There are no notes on the account. They can see a tech came out on Dec. 24. That is it. So I tell her it's still the same problem. She argues with me (for 20 minutes)! How does she know if it is the same issue! She just told me there are no notes on the account. How does she know what the problem is? I ask to speak to a manager. There are no managers in the tech department. Well, I spoke to one in December! Nope. Someone in 'case management' needs to call me back. What? Within 60 minutes, a case manager will call me. It's been well over an hour. No call. No surprise here. The equipment still does not work. I need a tech. That is it! Why do I get the runaround every time I call!

To add to that, my last bill of the year had a charge for two movies, one from 2011 and one from spring 2012. I called to tell them I paid for them already. We go through our bills together. Mine says one thing; hers says another. I ask if I can fax her or scan my bills and send it to her to prove it. She says she has no access to either option. After an hour on the phone, the bottom line is I had paid it before I complained about it. The payment had processed through my account two days before, and they wouldn't refund my payment. She said the movies showed up when they took my old receiver and replaced it (with the new piece of crap they won't fix or replace). They were on the hard drive. DirecTV makes no sense! Paying for movies twice! Bah! I hate them. And of course, we extended our contract. So in a short 2 years, I can get them out of my house. If I want to before that, I'm gonna pay a cancellation fee even though their equipment doesn't work and is an epic failure.

When I try to explain that Verizon was overcharging me and therefore, these charges are overcharges, they don't understand. They can't even tell me what dates of service the charges are for. It's ridiculous. I sent them correspondence outlining the dates and what I paid back in mid Nov. It is now almost Feb. and no response from them. I filed a complaint with the FCC as well. I am sure it will lead to nothing. Based on the amounts of money other people have lost to DirecTV, I should consider myself lucky. I do not recommend this company to anyone but if you do use them, do not bundle your bill with the phone company. They tell you that you will save money doing it but you don't. It just gives you one less bill per month. Watch out when you cancel though. They will get you somehow. Buyer beware!

From day one, we were lied to about the cost. I expected additional fees but we currently have fees for the basic service, an advanced receiver fee so the DVR box can handle DVR, the monthly DVR fee, an HD fee and a TV fee. Yes, I have a monthly charge to have a single TV on the box because this is apparently a luxury and not expected. We were also told upon installation that the DirecTV boxes have no output so it can't be viewed in other rooms, despite being promised this at the time of sale.

A month later, the Genie box (that does handle multiroom) was released for the same price we're paying and they refused to upgrade for less than $400 because we didn't ask within the strict 30 day policy. Since joining, our wonderful clear HD has been riddled with random static bars on certain HD channels, including the premium movie once we pay yet another fee for. A tech came out and even verified it's the box not our connection or TV. We were faced with losing all of our recordings so we chose to ignore it until we were ready to start from scratch.

A month later, we're now dealing with a box that freezes repeatedly and rebooting doesn't help. After 2 hours on the phone tonight and speaking with a manager, we managed to negotiate ourselves into the exact same box, no credit for lost service and recordings, several accusations that it's our 1 year old house's old wiring causing it because that's what the no phone line error means but oh, they're waiving the delivery fee for the receiver since we'll be without service while we wait.

DirecTV is a deadbeat company. They don't own up responsibility for shoddy installation. They will damage your home. They don't care if your channels are snowy and they seem to think they can barge past you in your own home. I'm much happier with internet TV and local digital channels.

On 1/8, $475.00 was taken from my account. I never gave DirecTV the permission to withdraw that money! Why would I pay that fee when I had no reception and they turned it off? I was told that they can go into my account and take out for bill and any other fees. What? Are they kidding me? I was also told by Ben at corp. office 310 535 5000, office of Michael White (CEO), "too bad, I can only get my money back if I let them come out and reconnect me; other wise, too bad, so sad for me!" Why would I pay a cancellation fee when they turned it off cause they were mad? Cause I told them, "They suck (and they do)?" I was also told that there was a low signal problem and couldn't be fixed.

I did not ever give them my permission to take out fee. ATM card was for discount and sales tax. Direct TV told me that it says on bill they can do that. Oh no! What it says is for your convenience, they can use a card on file. That's not permission! This has been a horrible experience. I want my money back!

Think about it. It costs $97 now for hundreds of channels we don't watch, and that are mostly bogus programs. That’s $1200 per year. With my local cable provider I can get the TV channels, 15 MBPS internet, whole house wireless internet, two phone lines (all charges included for unlimited calling), and whole home DVR's that allow recording 6 channels at once for $149/mo. They are extremely misleading in their sales pitches, and they specifically tell you afterward that anything any agent says will never be honored, unless it comes from the CEO. The agent who signed us specifically put in writing that prices would not rise above a certain amount, and then had me speak on the phone with their HQ, who confirmed this. It was all not true and not honored at all. You are forewarned folks. And I never write complaints like this about any company.

I did not feel our guys value us as customers by the tone and style of this type of resolve. I told them as soon as my contract is over (or before) I will leave DTV swiftly, then asked how to file a formal complaint. This is my formal complaint. Separately, I've been double billed for pay per view events which I had to call and correct. Also I've had my gf, Victoria, marked on file as an authorized account user. Only half the time when we call to address concerns, the screen they are looking at doesn't show her, so she can't handle business for us in my absence.

Several of us called the service center since 1/1/2012, ~8 calls in total and the only solution they can offer is to have a service technician come look at the wires for either $50 one time fee or a monthly service fee of $5.99 for at least duration of contract. If you cancel monthly service fee, then a $10 cancellation fee is applied and any service calls that occurred will be back billed. I tried last night one last time to reason with the technical support group again and after 3/4 hour of dealing with the service technician, she determined that it was a wiring issue and service call would be needed. I complained that I would not accept a service call for something that logically pointed to a defective box without first trying another box.

I was forwarded to the supervisor and requested that they send us a new box so we could just move on and we would return the bad box. He said they could not send another box and that all boxes were tested prior to shipping. I asked how one box could perform satisfactorily and the other not if the issue was anything other than a box. His response was he couldn't answer that without being there (not logical or customer oriented). Clearly, he was not interested in resolving the issue without receiving some remuneration even though nothing makes sense except the consistent point of failure which is the box. I then had to spell out my options with the supervisor because his only point of solution was field support for a fee. I asked if it was determined that the box was bad, would there be a charge for service and he responded that if the technician performed any work, it would constitute the full fee but the box would be replaced for free.

I then asked what constituted work and he said if the technician removed any wires, etc., it constituted work and I said then I will hand him the old box and he can leave. He replied only the field service technician can install the boxes he has in his possession. I said then it cannot be replaced for free as it will cost $50 to replace the box. He argued that the box was free; the service was a separate fee. I said the box is already free because of the 2-year contract agreement and that getting 2 functional boxes entails a $50 fee because DirecTV will not send another box.

I then stated that simply put that since it is my belief that it is the box, to get a new box, my options are: One, have the service technician install the box and refuse any other recommendations he suggests for a minimum of $50. Two, accept a $5.99 charge per month which lasts 1 year min for $66 and then refuse any additional work the service technician tries to impose. (He said he would give us the first month free. My guess is he misspoke and it lasts the duration of the new box contract 2 years but unconfirmed.). Three, cancel all service and seek a new provider. Since she accepted the new boxes, she cannot return or cancel service without facing a ~$500 cancellation fee for the 2-year agreement on both boxes. Half that for one box and a TV without an independent receiver. And four, watch TV with an intermittent signal.

His answer was simple "Those are your options. Yes." So I said it doesn't seem fair to pay money for a problem if it is your issue. Can they waive the service fee if the new box works to our satisfaction? He said no, they could not. I concluded with I needed time to think and see what other people have experienced. For DirecTV, this customer service approach is probably a good business decision in the short run because they cannot lose with these four options in the short run. Unfortunately, this site only further confirms that it will take money to fix the TV as escalation for even more ridiculous issues has not proven fruitful for many unhappy DirecTV consumers.

I encourage this site's activity and thank all those before who took time, which in turn saved me the wasted time of reasoning with a company that marginalizes their poor service down to a utilitarian focus. Unfortunately, my aging mother-in-law will have to fork over her dead husband's savings to correct an obvious issue with DirecTV's product coupled with an unempowered customer service team. Their CSR's behavior is not natural for humans or companies so this can only be a result of the CEO direction for the company to cut costs. Luckily, Capitalistic Darwinism does exist and poor decisions that lead to this many complaints will eventually make them weak and gone.

In 2002, I became a DirecTV customer. I was told their satellite was below my tree line and I would need a 10-foot tower installed on top of my house. I got that done. A few years later, I added local channels so I needed a different dish. Their technician came to my house and installed it on top of the tower. I have had probably four service calls since then for various problems, all satisfactorily handled.

Forward to the present:

On 11/26, I bought an HD TV. I called DirecTV to install it for me. They scheduled a technician for later in the week. The guy came out and after a quick look at my house, he said that he couldn't do it. The satellite for DirecTV HD was below the tree line and he said that the company wouldn't allow him to go on the roof and put the HD dish on my tower.

On 12/5, the local satellite television company came out (Elkhart Satellite, a licensed DirecTV installer). He put an HD dish on top of my house with line of sight to the HD satellite. He charged me 350 dollars. He also offered to sell me a DirecTV HD satellite receiver at a cost of 350 dollars. Since DirecTV offered to upgrade me for free, I turned that down and called the company again to schedule an installation. All I needed was the receiver to plug it in. The cables were now coming into the house. I just needed the receiver and to plug it in.

On 12/20, the DirecTV technicians came to my house and after a quick look said they couldn't help me. Someone else put the dish in so they were not allowed to hook up the receiver (even though the guy who put the dish in was a DirecTV authorized dealer and had been for close to 20 years). I was treated very poorly by one of the technicians who apparently is the Supervisor of Technicians in this area and he told the other technician they were not allowed to do anything for me. Even though he was holding a receiver in his hand, he refused to give it to me to install myself. He said I would have to have one drop shipped to my house and install it myself.

I went inside the house and ordered one by phone. The phone rep said I couldn't order one by phone, I would have to do it myself online. I ordered a receiver online. When I finished, I heard drilling. When I went outside, I saw the two DirecTV technicians doing something to the corner of my roof. When I asked what they were doing, they said they were installing the HD dish. I already paid 350 dollars to have one put on the tower because they couldn't get a line of sight. He said maybe they made a mistake and it would work. I told them to leave. I already have a dish on the tower and already have ordered a receiver.

I called their company four times in the interim. I don't have the dates but one woman told me it (the receiver) should be delivered in 10 business days. I called their billing company because they charged me for 200 dollars plus for the dish when I was promised a free upgrade when this process began. A man told me he would fix it so that I don't get charged the 200 dollars. I called twice later to confirm that had been done (200 dollars credit). I waited three weeks - no receiver.

Today, I called to ask about the receiver and when it was expected to arrive. The woman, who was very rude to me, told me there was no record of me ordering a receiver despite the three calls since the order asking about the billing. Now, I have ordered another receiver online just like the last time. If it takes another 10 business days that should be near the end of January, two months since I first contacted DirecTV about this.

The only reason I have not switched to another provider (Comcast, Dish Network, etc.) is because of NFL Sunday ticket package which I love and couldn't do without. I have been treated very rudely and badly by several of their representatives through this process.

In September 2010, my home was destroyed in a wildfire. After the shock wore off, I began canceling services, electric, phone/internet and satellite TV. When cancelling the DirecTV, I was told by customer service that they were sorry for my loss but there is a $500 charge for replacing their equipment. I was told that my insurance would cover it. I asked about the dish and receiver that was left from the previous subscription, and why they didn't collect the equipment if they were so concerned. I was told that I was renting their equipment and would have to pay to replace it, but again, my property insurance would cover it.

I emailed the CEO of DirecTV with a message expressing my disappointment with their policies. I was answered by their customer service triage department, who explained that the original customer service representative was wrong. The charge was actually only $250 but my insurance would cover the cost. If I was renting their equipment, shouldn't their insurance be covering the loss? And is it possible that they charged me $250 and they filed a loss claim with their insurance company and double dipped? I think that $250 for a dish and receiver at their cost (economy of scale suggests the price is much much lower) was a bit of a gouge as well.

I think victims of natural disasters need some protection from the likes of DirecTV. I think they are guilty of very poor customer relations, possibly overcharging for "lost" equipment, and very likely double dipping on the replacement of said equipment. Again, we need protection from these folks. If nothing else, we need to announce their practices in public venues. I hope you can help us stop these predatory practices and embarrass them into acting in a reasonable and sympathetic manner. Thank you.

Customer support gave the tech my cell number, he called me left voice mail, also called back to dispatch. He could not find street again. Only this time, I had left a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood at street entrance painted DirecTV and arrow to highlight the way, After returning the message myself to the tech, it was pried out of him that he made no attempt at finding my residence or fulfilling the contact. I am going to assume there may exist a greater monetary incentive for DirecTV techs to fulfill installs instead of accomplishing the backside of service which entails service and repair.

After my 6th call and promises of return calls from customer support and many dispatch calls to techs, it was conferred I would receive a call from the area repair rep. Two days later and there is nothing. I called customer support, and they want to start all over and set another date for alternate field tech 5 days later. I have on average paid diligently $80 to $90 a month for the last 10 years and to remain in limbo for the duration of 2 weeks now is beginning to bring on a sense of humiliation and degradation in being treated with such disrespect for my loyal patronage. I am currently in examination of Dish Network. Maybe a sense of appreciation can be extracted from them!

Unfortunately, they have not been able to fix the problem or compensate us for the trouble. I also realize that this is a "first world problem", but I also realize that I am paying for a service that we are not fully receiving. The "glitch" in the "software" which has caused us problems seems to freeze the screen to black with the audio still going. It can last from 10 seconds to 5 minutes. It happens randomly and on every channel. Apparently, after 3 years and 4 new boxes, they recognize that it is a software glitch with the particular model of DVR we have. We can pay $20 more a month for HD DVR, but we don't want to do that because the prices are already outrageous.

The last supervisor said he would send us another new box that was a different model. When I told him that all the other representatives said they couldn't guarantee a different model, he admitted that he had "no control" over which receiver the warehouse sent to us. So, that leads me to believe we would switch out another box and still have the same problem. Last month, we finally got to the "retention" representative who gave us a $50 credit. I was told today that if we cancel in the next 60 days that "credit"would revert and we would owe for it. That was never part of the "bargain" I had with the "retention" rep. In fact, I told her I would give it 30 more days and then we were done.

It is still not resolved... so I am done. I am tired of false promises, spotty service, and double talk, especially when the service is sub-par. I was even told by one rep that when the glitch is fixed, then we will be compensated for our inconvenience, but they couldn't compensate us for when the inconvenience is actually happening. If you are considering DirecTV, let the buyer beware. They have become a conglomerate who cares much more about getting that bill than about providing service.

Today is January 3 and I finally received the first bill for two months. Oh yes, I made a partial payment without knowing my balance, and no, I didn't use the account info on their website on January 1. On January 2, it was turned off. According to so many people at DirecTV, I must pay the past due so the television can be turned on before they can help me. I went to check the television last night and found out that the television was off, and that the DVD player and VHS player did not work and probably has not been connected since the initial installation in November. Before I moved, I had great service and all worked. I am not a technician, so the original install worked and has worked. Now, skip to last night. For 2 hours, I called two numbers and was informed by CSRs that until the entire bill was paid they could not or would not do anything to help.

When I asked to be transferred to a supervisor, I was transferred back to collections. Ironically, they assured me they understood about not paying when I didn't have a bill but they still refused to help me. Here it is, tonight at 10 pm CST, I have talked to five people again. Let us take names now. I asked the West Coast CSR (forgot to get his name) for a supervisor to file a complaint and I got sent to Chris (West Coast call center). Second, Chris said he understood and didn't see why there was no help and that they had a special department who handled these types of issues. He transferred me to Mike. Mike is in the South Texas call center but not a supervisor. I guess Chris thought another call center was a special department. So now we are in the third rendition of the story and tired of no one listening. My call to Mike was somehow disconnected but I have not heard back from him.

The second call back took me to Kevin in the South Carolina call center. Kevin told me that no one could call me back after I explained the situation to him. He told me that CSRs had no way to contact customers. Oh yes, lo and behold, I asked for his supervisor. He then placed me on hold and came back and said that his supervisor was calling me. Hershey (collections supervisor) called me from 843-746-1059. I talked to her. She could not help me because she was not technical support. So, she connected me to a supervisor (or so she said) but instead, I got Jayna, Jeana, (Jay-na) from the Colorado call center, who was not a supervisor but in technical support. One more time… she could not help me and found all reasons why, including the fact that I would then have to pay $49 for a technician to come out. More money they wanted and no service. So she connected me to John in Colorado tech support.

John is a supervisor but as of right now, I ended the call. One more rendition… John wanted a payment for past due after I informed him at least 8 times that there would be no payment until the service was working, all of it. It was their fault in the beginning and they refuse to take full responsibility or make restitution for their mistake. I asked for the service to be reconnected and a technician out within 24 hours. Nope! They wanted money for something they didn't do correctly in the first place. So now their names are on this Facebook comment. I hope that you leave them for another company. Until this transfer I loved them, but not now. Take care and go Dish Network or some other cable company. The only way to demonstrate is through communication, something that DirecTV customer service centers know little about.

The service isn't worth what you pay for and the customer reps, many are too stupid to even listen. They don't keep full copies of complaints or conversations so when you tell them something, they basically call you a liar. Turn all your detailed complaints over to the justice department. From what I read, don't let them into your bank account! Mike White, the president of this company, needs to be put out of business with all the investors under him and left high and dry. He has to be a real piece of ** to screw over customers the way he does or allows his company reps to do. We should all hire an attorney for the stress they put us through for this crap service. Most the shows I get, I could get over the air but I pay for. What a joke. DirecTV, put them out of business. Those smug ** that work for them wouldn't talk so smart then.

To add insult to injury, I will be charged an additional $245 for the HDR receiver that I'm unable to return due to me being in NC and the HDR receiver at my residence in IA! The representative I spoke with acknowledged that they had a record of me calling in late September 2012 inquiring as to service in my new assignment in NC, yet they're unwilling to come to the conclusion as to why I was calling. Their contention is that I was calling to start service to an unoccupied house, not that I was calling to suspend service. Rather than refund the $450, keep a loyal subscriber paying $149 a month for 10 years or that the error could be theirs, they chose to stand their ground and informed me of the additional $245.00 I will be charged. I cancelled my subscription and will be subscribing to one of DirecTV's competitors.

Well, when changing to Time Warner for their lack of service, we were charged over $400 for breaking the "new" contract we had supposedly signed up for (which perfectly made no sense being that we had been with them for what seemed forever). DirecTV claimed the installer mentioned it. Wrong! That may be their policy to have the installer mention it but no such thing occurred. So next they stated, "It's in the contract." It very well maybe; however, what about their part in all this? After all, we were loyal customers for years and only when they stopped providing the service we have had, the "Lakers games" did we switch. So then my question is, why should we have been charged over $400 for "breaking the contract" because they in essence broke theirs first, that of providing us with a service we already had?

DirecTV should be expected to display professionalism when asking customers who are switching, "Why are you leaving us," and the customers reply because they failed to provide a service (their reason for it is irrelevant) and they should undo any such, "You broke a contract" charges. For the 2 reasons already mentioned, they failed to make it perfectly clear to the customer that they were signing a new contract. And they broke their service to the customer, especially when it's a customer of many years. Shame on them! Customers aren't "always right," yet where's the professionalism? I don't buy this garbage, "If we reversed those charges then we would have to let all the other customers who break their contract do the same." How would "all those other ex-customers know?"

Honestly, what householder makes the subcontractor wait 1/2 hour or more while one reads it? And another vital question, why is it the subcontractor who comes to install the boxes who presents the contract to sign and read at the end of the installation rather than the beginning so that the individual has time to read it, should they choose to? Customers tend to trust large companies. Why should companies take advantage of their customers? I want the more than $400 they charged my Visa. They stopped (for a time) providing Lakers Games first, so we had no option at the time put to go find another provider. It isn't our fault that we acted quickly while they fiddled around trying to negotiate with Time Warner. I want the over $400 they charged our Visa.

At 4:15 pm, we called DirecTV again and spoke with a repairman in Tennessee, who was nice. He informed us he would type "urgent" and again send a message to the repairman to call us. I then spoke to his supervisor who was essentially powerless to help at all. She even had the wrong telephone number on the account despite verifying the number three different times. The repair guy never showed. The supervisor continued to tell us "I understand, sir." Really? We took an entire afternoon off work, and you understand? She could do nothing to keep us as customers. Management in this company is not empowered at all. This was an example of a company that will eventually fail if this is the norm.

The installation of the dish was to occur today, 12/29. Late last night, I received 2 emails with data regarding my contract as well as the particulars of my order for services. I called DTV this morning to confirm my interpretation of the emails as the verbiage did not appear to reflect what I had been told by phone. The person this morning told me the installation was $9.50. My first 3 months would be billed at $49.99 after which my rate would be $119.99. In addition, the cost would be deducted from my credit card automatically each month. I did not agree to any of the above. I immediately cancelled my appointment to have a dish installed and expressed my disappointment at the obvious attempt to mislead me by the company.

I am a small business person. If one of my employees treated any client of mine as I was treated (dishonestly), whether a new or existing client, that employee would be fired immediately. It is incredible to me this sort of thing is allowed to occur. I specifically asked the first person I spoke with if our phone conversation was being recorded and was assured such was the case. I can only imagine that too was a lie.

When I called, they argued with me about what county I lived in based on my address and the Nielsen Media Research. I called the FCC and filed a complaint. I also sent an email to Nielsen. I am a grown woman and know what county I live in and in which county I pay property tax. I have spoken to DirecTV at least six times in the last couple of days. The last representative basically called me a liar and laughed at me. That was the final straw. I will be checking with Dish Network to see what they can offer.

Today I received a call trying to get me back as a customer. I told them that I wouldn't deal with a company that took my money fraudulently. He said that he couldn't give me the money they took back unless I signed up again as a customer. They settled a lawsuit in 2010 for this very practice and have obviously continued in this practice.

Has anyone tried the BBB, Call for action, Attorney General's office? I did get their legal dept address: DirecTV Legal, Po Box 915, El Segundo Calif. 90245. I feel like if people made them accountable, they would change their ways. They treat their customers like crap because they can get away with it. I will do my best to change that. Anyone with me?

DirecTV are nothing more than thieves! When calling to inquire about these bogus charges, I was given a ridiculous excuse that those charges were read off the card reader in the receiver, and they hadn't charged me prior and thought they'd do that for me now! Are you ** serious? Let me send you the bounce fees charged to my account, the NFS charges when I tried to pay bills due - Why? Because there was no ** money in my account to pay them! And the great feeling I got at check out tonight when my card was denied! No Christmas this year! Thanks for nothing!

Anyway, I no longer rent because I wanted my home to myself and my mate. We don't watch a lot of TV and decided to cancel early. I found out DirecTV had been renewing my contract each time I would make the slightest alteration to my equipment. Mind you, this is equipment I would purchase from a third party reseller and then I found out the equipment was still not mine to resell on eBay. Good lord, did I want to jump up and stick someone in the neck with a fork?! So now DirecTV wants $360 for early termination and wants all the equipment back even though I paid upwards of $400 for the upgrades out of my own pocket. I said, "I do not agree." They said, "We do not care." So I used my card (the one with the 16 digits to pay DirecTV) to chip away ice from my driver side mirror tonight and wouldn't you know it? I lost my card on the interstate and called the bank to report it lost. Oh horrors!

Like I said, I own my own home. I don't need stellar credit. I have all I need and pay cash for what I want. If I need credit, my mate will step up. I don't want DirecTV any longer, especially when they are running such a sneaky racket. You can try to get that fee from me, DirecTV. You can try all you like. You'll never get it.

When we received our bill in October, my wife discovered that our bill was substantially higher than what we expected, so she called up DirecTV and cancelled the trial. What they did was cancel the movie channels and continued to bill us for the NFL Sunday ticket to the tune of $49.99/month. When we discovered this, we called DirecTV to credit our account on the erroneous charges. They informed me that this was what we agreed to based on the notes from the outside company, and that if we tried to cancel, we would be hit with a $300 cancellation penalty.

I've got to think we are not alone. We now have to go through the process of writing a letter and mailing it (yes, mail with a stamp) to the DirecTV Dispute Resolution Center in CO. They will get back to us in 14-21 days after they reviewed the case. I'm not sure if anyone else has mentioned this scam. Either that, or they haven't noticed it yet and DirecTV is reaping the benefits of these charges. I think it is very unfair that if I dispute the charges and refuse to pay, they can attack my credit rating. But if I send them a bill for all of my time they wasted disputing this issue with multiple phone calls and now a letter, and they don't pay, nothing happens. I work for a big company, and I would never treat our loyal customers in this way. I'm just throwing it out there.

They came the following week which I didn't schedule. The tech said, "Since the signal is strong, you might need a new receiver." But he didn't have the receiver that I had which he claimed was a "newer" version. After he tried to get me to downgrade, he finally said, "Oh, I have one in the truck but it's used." At this point of hearing his speech on downgrading and hearing him make calls to other techs to see if they had the receivers, I finally said, "I'll take the used receiver." At this point, I wanted him gone which by the way he used my bathroom and was on my couch as if he were home.

He finally connected it, only to call DirecTV and tell me, "Since you have a past due balance, we can't connect it." Mind you, they were a week late and I'm not getting the service that was agreed upon. They want me to pay full price for half service! After the man said whatever in his native tongue, he left but connected back the half ** box. I called DirecTV back and a lady assured me that because they missed the actual appointment, they would send someone back and bypass it.

Surprise, surprise! No one showed up, no one called, nada! A few weeks later, the problem was still occurring so I called again. Mind you, the balance was paid. The account is up to date and no tech has come to switch receivers. They now tell me "We can't send a tech out because of a past due balance" which by the way is a week late because no one has sent a tech to fix the problem, and why pay full price for messed up service?! After speaking to the machine for ten minutes because no actual human picked up, I got a really sarcastic CSR who was supposed to be the supervisor tell me "it's a policy to not send out Tech Support for a past due balance."

Cablevision, Dish and even Time Warner would never say something like that because at the end of the day, I'm a customer; I have been for a couple years and always pay my bill when the service is running like it's supposed to. I will not pay for half ** customer service or for a service which is not working properly.. If you couldn't talk on your cell phone, would you pay the bill? What type of company is this? Come fix your equipment and then you get your money which I have no problem paying, but I'm leaving this horrible company and going back to Cablevision. For what I pay for one box at DirecTV, I could have cable, phone and Internet with Cablevision, Time Warner and Verizon. DirecTV is awful, the most disgusting company, period!

A week and a half later, they received the other three, but for some reason, apparently to remain un-clarified, the fourth receiver box was never generated. When asked if they could expedite this box more promptly, I was told she'd have to talk to her supervisor. When I asked if there was somewhere I could take it and drop it off, I was told yes, but it would cost me to take it to the Post Office if I did. Now, they have to have all of the boxes to total out my account for which they owe me $13.60, as long as I don't have any unpaid PayPerView movies on my cards. Well the box I still have didn't have Payperview capability. I haven't ordered any Payperview in over a year, after they offered me a special price if we ordered three movies in the month of Dec. 2011. Afterwards when I didn't get the offer on my bill (billings are two months behind), I had to go back and prove that they had that offer in the first place.

Then I was told one of my movies wasn't Payperview; it was called something else. Bah, What? They did give me a $10 credit on my bill after I complained profusely! We never ordered another movie and my bill reflected me paying for the ones I did. So if they try to charge me for additional movies, I will rain fury upon them. They are keeping my account with AT&T from being totaled out, therefore causing me to be late on my final bill to them. This company has crappy customer relations and apparently doesn't care if you use them or not in the future. We thought Dish was bad, but Direct is far worse!

A month later, we got a bill from them saying we owed them $40+ for our last month’s service. After arguing with them about this to no avail, we finally gave up and paid the money to be rid of them. Then yesterday in the mail, we received yet another bill from them for Pay-Per-View movies they say we watched in 2008. Yes, that's right, four years ago! How can they possibly charge us for something that old and not prove to me that they hadn't already billed us when these movies were watched? I think the business practices of DirecTV stink to high heaven!

After he was finished installing the system (which he made a mess and seemed to not care one bit about it), the installer showed us how the system worked on the downstairs TV. I asked him to show me on the upstairs TV since that is the one I watch. Come to find out that on my TV I can’t pause live TV; I can only do that downstairs. I said I just paid another $99 to have the "whole home DVR". He said I would have to rent different receivers for a one-time fee of $299 for each TV and a $10 a month charge for each TV to do that.

Coming from Dish Network I thought "whole home DVR meant pausing live TV in the whole home, not one TV. Ticked off again, I asked him to move the downstairs receiver upstairs since I wanted to pause live TV up there. He said since it was already installed, he could not do that. That was just the 1st week of dealing with DirecTV and in my 1.5 years with them, I have had two correct bills and have spent several hours on the phone with them fixing their problems.

This company is the worst I have ever dealt with. Just within the last 48 hours, I have spent 4.5 hours on the phone with them. We had snow yesterday and it whacked the dish out of sync somehow (and no, it isn't full of snow, I was only asked this 21 times by customer service). After 5 phone calls for several hours of them trying to have me, their paying customer, fix their problem, I finally got them to send a tech out but then they wanted $50 for it. I told them to come get their equipment out of the snow bank then they transferred me to another person who is sending a tech out at no charge but not till the 26th. That will be 19 days with no service. It took me 48 hours to convince them a tech needed to fix it and that the dish was not just full of snow and now they are telling it will be weeks to get anyone here. This is the type of company to stay away from. Steer clear, very clear, of DirecTV. I can’t wait to dump them in 5 months.

The following day, my service got cancelled and I had to call them to find out what was going on. They did not give me any offer but reinstated my service. I received two empty boxes in the mail, so I called back to make sure I was scheduled to be cancelled on the 13th. The CS rep said it was not on there but would be happy to put it back on schedule for cancellation. All this took place between the 1st of Dec. till the 7th. Again, two different agents from the Winback dept. called me to stay with them with new customer discounts and this time they gave me the offer which totaled $51.99 per month and also included 3 months of premium services free. Again, they said they had to disconnect the service 24 hours to get the deal to which I agreed.

After 24 hours, the service was on but I did not have the premium services. They told me to wait 24 hours to get them. In the meantime, I called Dish and cancelled my installation. When I did not get the premium channels today, I called back and the CS agent worked with me for 20 min and finally said he was not able to change my service to the agreed upon price and gave me another number to call. The agents there refused to give the agreed upon price saying it was not available to me, even though they had the notes in the system. Even the supervisor tried to get me to sign for another contract with a higher price; I refused.

I called Customer Service to file a complaint to the manager but was told he was busy. It was then that I found out that they had changed my bill even higher than what I was paying up to Dec. She said because I cancelled my service, the discounts I have previously received on the bill were taken away and I have to pay full price. I tried to explain to the rep that it was not cancelled by me but the Winback dept. She refused to listen or change my bill to the previous amount. Even after an hour's wait, the supervisor did not help me with anything.

After several minutes reviewing my account information, he informed me that there is not much they can do to assist me with due to their reason of not being able to renew their contract with Jade World and that there are several other customers having the same problem as I do. He then proceeded with telling me that he could help me to cancel my account without early termination fee due to that reason (no longer able to provide those channels). I went ahead to confirm with him before letting him cancel my account. He said he would have to transfer me again to another account management regarding the cancellation. I told him it was okay and to make sure he would document our conversation before they do the transfer. He agreed to it and my call was sent to another person.

This time, a lady asked me again about my concerns today. I went ahead explained it over again to her. She informed me the same problem they experienced with Jade World as the prior account specialist. I informed her that I totally understand and she told that she could help me with the cancellation process. Again, I confirmed with her about the waiver of the early cancellation fee before I let her proceed with it. She told me that it would be no cost to cancel the account and she will document that it was due to the reason that DirecTV could not continue to provide those channels. She said the service will be discontinued at midnight and after that, an email confirmation will be sent to me about what we have talked about. So, I have confirmed twice regarding the early cancellation fee would be waived and that they would document my account.

Nonetheless, the early cancellation fee of $420 showed up on my statement. I knew I just have to call them right away to dispute this matter. So, I started callings from Saturday, Sunday and until today (Monday). Each time I called, they put me on an extended hold time and then disconnected my call in the middle of holding. I have asked to speak to manager/supervisor again and again but each time, those representatives kept asking me the information over and over. They kept telling me the manager/supervisor was not available to talk to and I would have to request a call back. I have not received a call back from a manager/supervisor as they said. I have spoken to more than five representatives and none of them was able to assist me in a professional and ethical way.

Whenever I tried to explain my situation, they would tell me lies and tried to put the blame on me. One rep would tell me that I was misinformed by them and there were no such thing as waiving the early cancellation fee because of that reason. Another rep told me that I'm bound by their contract no matter what happened to their channels. To make matters worse, they said there were no notes or record of me talking to three people on that day about the waiver but only the cancellation note was documented. After more than six times attempting to speak to a supervisor, I called another number I found online and was able to get a hold of one. Again, I explained the whole situation over again. He said he would need to review my account and let me know what could be done in helping me.

After several minutes of waiting in silence, he told me that the fee would still be valid because I cancelled the contract early. I kept telling him that his employees informed me about Jade World problem and offered me to cancel it without penalty. Again, he informed me that there were no documents on that matter and there are no such things like that. So another unsuccessful attempt to resolve this matter over the phone, I went ahead and e-mailed DirecTV about the dispute hoping that someone would have more sense and time to review my account to give me a fair and professional reply. To my surprise, just within 15 minutes of submitting my email, I received a reply from the company. The reply was just in general of telling me how my contract and agreement were and that I have to oblige by it. It wasn't helpful at all.

So, I called the corporate office and spoke to an administrator who said she can help me with the matter. However, not only was she not helpful, but she kept repeating my obligations to the contract I signed and would not able to continue to discuss my complaints any further. When I asked for the record of my call on November 26 and the content of the conversation, she denied by saying they do not have any notes/documents and were not recording it. No matter how hard I tried to resolve this matter with them, instead I received no cooperation and unprofessional treatment in return. It was like they are trying to let me know that I have my service cancelled, therefore I'm not entitled to receive their customer service anymore.

After reading all these complaints here against DirecTV, I could not agree more than enough with people here. I would never do business with DirecTV again nor refer them to anyone. They have lied and deceived me over and again so that they could collect their fees. To many people, $420 is a big amount of money to waste away just like that, especially when you were unfairly misled to it. DirecTV is just too unscrupulous in their business and how they treat their customers. I hope that those who were mistreated by DirecTV would come together and file a lawsuit or action against them.

Somehow, they "accidentally" took $139.99 off my card that they had on file 2 weeks later. They refused to refund; they would only credit my account. The rep said that I wouldn’t have a bill due until December with the credit. This wasn’t true. In October, I had to pay $34.70; in November, I paid $32.60; and in December, my bill is $101.58. I have called every month I have had this service, at least 4 times a month. I am always transferred from one rep to another until, after 2-3 hours of hold time, I hang up. The only info I have been given so far is that my contract was "changed" when they discovered no internet could be provided. I wasn’t notified of the billing change. They told me too bad.

I have been asking since late September, 2 1/2 weeks after they hooked up the cable, to disconnect service. They are going to charge me $500 for an early cancellation fee. In 4 months’ time, after I pay the December bill, I have paid almost $350 for service that was supposed to be $49.99 a month. Even with taxes applied, that’s over $100 more than I signed up for! I contacted the BBB a week ago and haven’t gotten a response. Does anyone know of anything I can do next? Or, am I just stuck paying a lot more than I signed up for? Thanks for any advice!

Upon returning, she explained to me that she could cancel our service for us and waive any early cancellation fees due to previous issues (not included here) that we had experienced. (We had problems with their service/support from day 1). I told her I would have to call back and she said she had noted our account and if I decided to cancel, I needed to speak with the cancellation department. Okay, that was fine, right? I spoke with my honey who had found a great deal on cable for our new location, so we both thought cancelling would be the best option. I called them again just to inquire about the cost of moving. This time, I was told it would be like $499 to move. The cost went up with each phone call. After speaking with the rep, I was transferred to the cancellations dept. I spoke with an agent there who agreed and confirmed that yes, we could cancel with no additional fees. She confirmed that our early cancellation fees would be waived because of the problems we had experienced.

This is what happened: Almost 4 months later, they debited my account for over $300. My billing online said my balance due was $0 when I had checked it last. I paid the last bill in the month that we moved. It turns out that they did not even disconnect our service at our old address until November, when in fact, I ordered it to be cancelled in July and was scheduled to disconnect on August 1st, no later than August 3rd. They disconnected the service in November for non-payment. Really? Non-payment, huh? Well, I guess that would be the case since they left the service connected, just as if I had never even called them.

They now want to collect over $800 from me; $300 of which they have already taken from my bank account; $400 of this is an early cancellation fee (which I was told would be waived) and the additional amounts are for service during the months after the cancellation date. They mailed the equipment boxes to the old address which made no sense because while talking to the cancellations department, I gave them our new address. Neither their agents nor their corporate office has offered me any assistance in correcting this. They say they have no record of me calling them. How can that be? So they have no record of my cancellation but they had record of me calling to inquire about moving. I will probably never see the money they have taken. Maybe $300 isn't a lot to them, but to me, it was for my electric bill and phone bill.

Knowing how many complaints this company has against them and knowing they have already gone through a class action lawsuit, I would think their corporate folks would try and work with customers instead of doing the same old thing over and over and over. I'm a customer, so I am wrong. This has got to be one of the most dishonest companies I have ever dealt with in my entire life. I personally won't be doing business with DirecTV ever again, nor will I ever refer anyone to them. Their reps are anything but helpful. They are rude and I guess they think it's okay to process unauthorized charges because of how their customer agreement is worded. That might apply in some cases but in a case whereas their reps promise something and the company doesn't deliver, it looks to me like they are the ones that should be wrong, for once. Beware of this company. Do not do business with them unless you want to be ripped off. Thanks!

I have requested they either produce a signed contract or remove the termination fee. Needless to say, I have been getting the runaround and they have charged me the termination fee with no evidence of a signed contract. I fear my only recourse is to hire a lawyer and fight the charge but DirecTV knows this would be cost-prohibitive, so they can get away with this unscrupulous practice. The sad thing is that if I decided that the home theater PC was not meeting my needs, I would have returned to DirecTV. But after this horrible customer service experience, I will never return to them. They may get my termination fee but they will never again get my business. Why companies fail to see the bigger picture that good customer service trumps unnecessary fees is beyond me. Bad customer service will destroy a company far faster than unnecessary fees will make them successful. If you are looking for a cable provider, I suggest you look elsewhere.

OMG, how can they send incompetent people to do the job?! The guy spent 8 hours installing the dish on the roof and connecting cables in the attic. He damaged our ceiling (it cracked and popped out 2 smoke detectors). At around 8 pm, he still wasn't finished. He ended up drilling a hole in the ceiling for cable, because he couldn't figure out how to install it in the wall. Finally when he thought he was, the receivers wouldn't pick up the signal because he screwed up with wires ("I probably missed something as always," he said). The whole time he was on the phone with supervisors telling him what to do. So when he said he would be back the next day, I asked him if he was going to bring help. He called his supervisor and got a yes.

The next morning he showed up alone again. He was again on the phone with Support the whole time. It is now almost 10 am and he is still here, and at this point I'm just angry. I can't again go anywhere or do anything I have planned, and who knows when the guy is going to leave? Thanks a lot, DirecTV for ruined days off, a hole in my wall and cracked ceiling and no reception for 2 days.

After an hour of arguing with the highest staff member, Clint, about how I'm being charged for their screw up and how my rent check is going to bounce because they borrowed my money, and I'll have to pay $25 per day late fees for their employees not doing their job and not knowing how to spell or type. (I remember repeating how to spell my street multiple times.), they still refuse to refund my money until 27 days give or take with the holidays. Are you kidding me! Don't buy DirecTV unless you plan to keep it for a lifetime!

I went online and found out what I had to do to fix the problem. After this was fixed, I found out my whole home DVR was not working. I called them and told them my original work order was never completed. They seemed very concerned and told me they would send my case to Case Management which is a department that handles problems that were not fixed. After speaking to Case Management, they assured me their technicians were different than DirecTV's and they were 100% certified.

I had another appointment today from 12-4. I was working but had a friend stay at my place. The technician came out and didn't even try to get into my building. He said he couldn't get in when we have a concierge service that is always available. After I called him back, he informed me he was not certified to work on my building. He didn't even know what the problem was and said he couldn't fix it. He said they would send someone out. After speaking to Case Management over an hour, no supervisor called me back like they said they would. They couldn't get a technician to call me back, and they couldn't get a technician to come out today. I would like to cancel my services, but they are telling me I will have to pay a termination fee. I want to cancel because I am not satisfied and they are not able to fix the problem I'm having.

There is no such form on their rebate site. In addition, when I called about it (again the phone # on the sheet I received in the mail), I was told that I had called the wrong # to receive the rebate card. I emailed them and asked for an explanation. I told them about the service guy, the wrong box, and the rebate. I even told them I specifically asked about the rebate when I called and placed the order, and was promised that I would receive it. Again, I get the same response - a form letter via email back and another one (same letter) in the mail saying that I did not call the correct phone number. I will warn all of my friends and family that they are the worst company out there and will be contacting every agency that I can to let them know about their fraud, from the BBB to the Utilities Commission!

Somehow, they "accidentally" took $139.00 from my account with the card they had on file the next day, even though no bill was due and I had already paid my initial fee. They refused to refund; instead, they credited my account. So, at $44.99 a month with tax, I was told not to expect a bill to be due for almost 3 months with a $139.00 credit on my account. From here it goes way downhill. I am now being charged $72.98 a month for service instead of $44.99. When I called to ask how I owe so much with a $44.99 a month package, I was informed that they changed my contract when they learned I couldn’t have the internet service they set up for me.

I asked to cancel my service and was told I will have to pay a $550.00 early cancellation fee. Is this legal? Can they change my rates after I sign the contract, and then refuse to let me cancel service? I have called them 5 times now in 2 months and am transferred from one rep to another until I just give up and hang up after 3 hours on the phone. I have had service for 3 months, and when I pay my current bill in a few days, I will have paid them $246.98 in a 3-month period! That’s twice the amount I signed up to pay, and I can’t get an explanation why I am paying so much. Who do I contact to report this bait and switch they have pulled on me? Any advice would help! Thank you!

This was the second misleading incident I experienced within 6 months. DirecTV finds anyway to mislead their customers to squeeze whatever red cent they can. If I could cancel my service, I would but I'm under contract. At least cable companies jack up their prices upfront and you know what hit to budget for each month. DirecTV will surprise you with their scams! I do not recommend DirecTV.

I was then transferred to a bundle specialist. She asked me what I had and who I would like service with for telephone and internet. I said it would depend on the options of U-Verse vs. AT&T. She told me that I could have the same service as I have now, with an increase to the fastest internet for a monthly fee of $69.99 for the first year. I agreed.

Once I had DirecTV installed, I called and cancelled my TV portion of U-Verse. That was when a U-Verse representative told me that my monthly bill would be $114 per month. I asked about the bundle that DirecTV had offered? I was told that DirecTV was not authorized to quote any prices. I then called DirecTV customer service. I asked to speak with a supervisor to cancel my service if I could not have the package we agreed upon. I was transferred to a supervisor, Andrew, at the Colorado office. He agreed with me; however, he said that he was not authorized to offer prices for U-Verse or to cancel my service. He said that I would have to speak with the person in charge. I was transferred to Robert. He was no help. He told me that the only way to cancel the contract was "if there was no line of site or military deployment."

I said that I was misled into agreeing to a contract under false pretenses. I then asked to speak with his superior and was told he was the only one. At no time did he offer any additional services, discounts, or even an apology. I have had DirecTV two times. This will be the last. I see that settling the lawsuits for poor customer service has not had an influence on improving!

My first problem: I could not add the offer to my cart. It claims that it was in my cart but upon checkout, it was not there and asked me to go back and try again. I went back and that screen claimed the item was already in my cart. I clicked on the cart, not there. So, I contacted DirecTV through their online chat assistance. The man told me that I have to call the 800 number on the screen as this deal was not eligible to be done online (though it clearly states that you can).

My second problem: None of the representatives knew anything about the Costco deal, though it is plastered on their promotions page of the website. After being transferred several times, disconnected several times and after three hours and fifty minutes on the phone, I finally had someone take the order correctly. The first guy who took the order insisted that he placed it. Then, I called a separate number to have my rebates applied. When I did that, I was told that was not how it works and they canceled the order to start over. They had not heard of the offer either and tried to "match it" as closely as they could? Um, no. I want what your website states.

I got put on hold for 18 minutes, so I gave up and hung up and called back. This person gave me an 800 number to call. Thing is, the number she gave me was the number I called that reached her! She argued with me that I did not call that number and she is only reachable at **. Lady, I called this number and you answered. It took ten minutes shy of four solid hours of phone time to get this order placed. I am not kidding.

Third problem: The technician never showed up. I called three times to see where he was at and I was told that he was not answering his cell phone, but that he would call me as soon as he got their message (from the 800 number). When I called back a fourth time, I was told the technician entered an extension to the time frame by another four hours. Who can take an entire day off of work waiting like that? I know I can't and I will not make the mistake of doing this ever again. I called, canceled and received stellar customer service. That is a sign. Don't bother with this company no matter what the offer is. I am giving up $300 in cash card rebates to cancel and that is perfectly fine by me after this horrible experience.

I understand I signed a 2-year agreement, but what gives them the right to hold my money for service that has not been provided? It's absolute garbage. And when I spoke to a supervisor, he just directed me to their legal department. Lol. Wow, I asked to speak to his supervisor and was told they don't take calls from customers! This company is money grubbing and doesn't care about their customers at all!

Today, Direct TV just put an announcement that news mix was cancelled. When I called customer service to ask about it, of course the rep had no idea but read a prepared script that just said they wanted to add different channels instead. Anyone who has DirecTV knows that they have at least 300+ channels every day - majority are inane and stupid that probably no one watches. Who really cares what Mary's cat eats for lunch? Anyway, DirecTV advertised the sports mix and news mix as one of their unique features, which is why we signed their contract. The mix were advertised as product features, not specific programs, since DirecTV adds and drops the channels in the mix as they see fit; which is probably on their 20-page detailed disclosure.

I have written them and they said, "Thanks for the input, it's important to us." I told them that since this feature was an inducement to get us to sign a contract and they arbitrarily decided to drop this product and possibly replace it with a paid programming channel to sell Chinese junk for $19.95 (but wait! They will double the offer, only pay for additional shipping and handling for $20.00), DirecTV should offer to cancel our contract with no penalty. We will go back to Comcast as they have better service and are regulated by the state. I request any readers who like mix to also complain to DirecTV. Thanks.

Sunday came and went. Monday came and went, and I never received a call back from them. I called them again to learn the status of the investigation on Tuesday, 11/27, and to my surprise, they informed me that the investigation had not been completed but that they decided to still charge me the fee. I stated that the fee was ridiculously high and I couldn't afford it. I also informed them that they need to train their sales reps better because they are misinforming customers and they would lose customers this way. The lady (Nicole) on the other end of the line was very rude and stated that it was not their problem and that DirecTV was highest in the amount of customers, so that would not change because of my situation. I informed them that perhaps not now but in the future - if there are many unsatisfied customers, they will lose them.

I told her to cancel my service and she laughed and stated that if I couldn't afford to pay the move fee, I would definitely not be able to pay the early termination fee. I informed her that I did my math and in 2 months, I would have paid the same as the cancellation fee. She argued over the phone for 30 minutes with me stating the fee will be charged to my bank account on file and that whether I chose to do it or not, it would be removed automatically. I informed her I did not authorize DirecTV to do such a thing and that I wanted a bill with my early cancellation fee. She informed me that it did not matter what I wanted - that the moment DirecTV went to my home, I automatically authorized them to charge my account for any types of fees including early termination. I asked to speak to a supervisor, which she refused to let me speak to, telling me they would not do anything regarding this matter. I told her I just wanted my service cancelled, that I did not want to deal with this type of service and that I had every right to cancel.

Eventually, she agreed to cancel and read to me a script regarding how sad they were to see me leave and how regardless of my opinion or what I wanted, they have every right to charge my account. Then she wanted me to state that I agreed to that. I stopped her and informed her that I did not agree to it and she stated that she didn't care if I agreed or not, that she was letting me know what DirecTV will do and that I had no other option but to agree. She also stated that I did not have to tell her. I told her that if my bank account got charged, I will open an investigation and that I do not agree to DirecTV automatically removing any money without my consent, and that the contract I signed never stated that they had every right to do that. I also informed her that I will continue to state it because the conversation was being recorded and that would be my proof that I never agreed to anything of that level.

She eventually gave up and stated she had cancelled my service. I called my bank, which quickly cancelled my debit card and issued me a new one, as well as blocked DirecTV so no transactions could be made without my authorization. I am extremely dissatisfied with DirecTV. Their customer service is horrible and they trick customers into believing they are receiving a great deal, only to find out later on that it is all just a scam to get them to enroll. I will never again do service with them and suggest others doing the same.

After going round and round with this moron for half an hour, I finally asked for a supervisor. She has the nerve to tell me she has "supervisor training" like I'm supposed to all of a sudden be happy with the outcome. Well, time to go back to school sweetie. After much more waiting, the supervisor comes on the line. And after hearing this ridiculous story and me threatening to cancel, she says simply "We'll be happy to replace the DVR, and they will be sending you the upgraded model. Here's $10 off per month for a year for your trouble." She knew the rep screwed up with those lame excuses and almost lost a good long-term customer. She even "waived" the $20 shipping fee so they can send me a replacement DVR to replace their broken one (let me jump up and down for your generosity DTV).

Why couldn't they just replace this known problem DVR in the 1st place? Because DTV has poor customer service, that's why. And they are trained to not replace DVRs because it costs them money. Better that you keep the crappy DVR and put up with their abuse. Also, be careful if you call to complain about a movie you ordered - you may see a $5 customer service fee for the pleasure of talking to a live person about the problem they caused.

Well, it is still not in my account and whenever I call, they keep saying "it's processing." I then find out today, the refund process takes 30 days. I am furious! I am going to keep calling every hour until the money is put back in my account. I cannot believe a company can take your money without any bill, phone call, or even an email!