DIRECTV Reviews

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Charging me an extra 187.00 on top of my final bill

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Much time & frustration spent on this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Started receiving bills after returning equipment. Tried to talk to customer service rep and they hung up on me. Now collections are calling my work, home, harrassing me to pay for a service that wasn't even used for more than a week. Along with damage to the brick on my house.

Brick on house was damaged. Harassing phones calls from CBE Group and DirecTV.

so we cancelled the service and got charged a cancellation fee even though it was a default on directv part and they charged us the $50 dollars to move us even though they didn't. the technician wrote on his paperwork that he didn't do the work because we had cancelled but the records show that we didn't cancel until after the technician left.

I was also told that I had to wait 48 hours for the order to clear before they could fix the problem. I waited two days and called back and was told to call back the next day when the supervisor(Barb) could get it all resolved. After three days I was told that I had passed the 72 hour contract termination period and that I was locked in the contract now and I would have to pay hundreds of dollars for the reciever that got HD and DVR. They would not do anything for me and I should deal with it! I asked for the shift supervisors boss and was told that she was as high as I could speak with.

I contacted AT&T and a representative from AT&T and I called DIRECTV on a three way call to see if they could help me resolve the problem. After being sent from line to line (with at&t rep. on other line also) DIRECTV told myself and AT&T that I could not get out of my contract and if I sent the reciever back I still owed them $320.15 for early cancellation. We were on the phone for almost FOUR HOURS before DIRECTV told us that! I am now getting letters and calls from a collection agency in Melville, NY. They have reported the bill to the credit bureaus. I had the DIRECTV for less than two weeks and they want $320 for it! What can I do?

So I called Direct TV and they had no Idea about a service call and told me to call a different number. As I was calling that number one of the workers from Direct TV Satellite Services called and said he was calling to set up an appointment and if Friday would be ok? I told him that he was supposed to be here between 9-1pm, but he had NO IDEA about. So i called Multi band and they said that there was an appointment set up but i have an outstanding balance. I said hows that when I never got a bill? And said Im supposed to be paying Direct TV and when I talked to someone from there a few weeks ago I was told I owe 56.92 due on June 28th. Then they told me that I am supposed to paying them and that I have a past due balance of $74.92 that was due on June 5th or so. After hanging up with them I called Direct TV. Now at this time I remembered getting a bill of $74.92 2 weeks after my service was connected.

I called Direct TV at that point to ask why a bill came in so soon and he had told me why, but then said that there is a $0.00 balance. So I asked what should I do with this bill then? I don't want to pay a bill that I don't have to pay but at the same time I don't want to not pay a bill that I am supposed to pay. He told me over and over again that there was a $0.00 balance. I asked what I should do with this bill and he had told me to throw it away. And that I should be expecting my first bill within a week. (no bill has shown up yet)

When I had told this to about 14 people, someone finally told me that I am supposed to be paying this Mutli band company. I told them that I am $75 in debt now because of some Incompetent employee they have working for them. I asked what they were going to do to fix it and they told me NOTHING. They said I had already used to the service and now I have to pay them (Multi band Systems Services). During all of this someone had told me that they do record all calls and that they can go back and retrieve that call to find out what was going on. Now everyone is telling me they cant do that. So after all of this I decided to go back to Comcast and pay a little more because I was never given any rude, confused, wrong information from there customer service reps.

I canceled my service with Direct TV and now owe $200 in cancellation fees because I am leaving my 1 year contract. This is absolutely wrong and unprofessional! There is no communication between these companys. And there is nobody at Direct TV that will fix this problem. But oh just to keep me as a customer they will give me free HBO, Starz, and Showtime. (Which i am already receiving). This does not make any sense. I should be dealing with the company I am getting my service from DIRECTLY.

Because of all this I am now out $200 for canceling, in debt $74.92 because of somebody in Direct TV giving me the wrong information and someone for not informing me about who I am supposed to be paying, I had to cancel mine and my 7 month old daughters doctors appointment for a service call that no on showed up to till 6:30 that night, and 200 minutes over my cell phone plan because I talked to these people on the phone for 2 1/2 days.

so she mailed the equipment back and when they received it they mailed the box back to her (unopened) and said to return it in their box, which will be prepaid. they said they would send their own shipping box in 3-5 days to officially receive it packed in their box. they never sent the box and that was June 2, 2007. now i call direct tv myself because i am getting collection agency notices/calls. direct tv said they do not want the equipment back, i owned it now and said the bill was for not receiving a payment in a 9/07 billing. again, i told this rep that i did not use their equipment... that i was in penn during this billing cycle and using Comcast (penn).

i am going to set up my own direct tv consumer complaint site and get enough complainants together to file a class action law suit. it's time direct tv pays for its outlandish business practices.

damages to me are: harrassing bill collector calls, direct tv rep calls daily, answering direct tv emails daily regarding this mess. THIS IS A NIGHTMARE FOR ME. my credit is in jeopardy, my blood pressure is sky high. i am on long term care with full time caregivers (eight hours a day). this has become a life threatening ordeal for me. i have heart disease and am on oxygen 24/7 PLEASE TELL THEM TO STOP CALLING ME (direct tv turned my account over to: financial asset Management systems)

She has been without service now for a month. She's been told that a person will be out numerous times, but no one has showed up. I've called and spent 5 hours over 2 days now just trying to get this resolved. I'm being told that they won't be out to fix it for a week and that they are going to charge her $49 to fix it. I've talked with 10 people now and have been transferred countless times. I can't believe how frustrated she and I are dealing with DirecTV. I was so frustrated I told them to cancel the service and they said there is a cancellation charge because of the 2 year deal. So she can't cancel service that she isn't getting and they want to charge her to fix their issue. Absolutely unbelievable....

With out service for a month and won't credit cost to fix it. Will not be fixed for another week, at least.

I requested disconnection as of March 25, 2008 (two years and two days after my contract has been fulfilled), I was told that my contract isnt up until July 2008 and DirectTV will be charging me an early cancellation fee. Apparently this was the implied new two-year contract date from when the new working DVR arrived that replaced the one that never recorded. DirectTV has charged by credit card $37.47 without authorization and was able to processes this charge without the correct expiration date.

I requested a refund in writing for the early cancellation fee and their response to my written request was a message left on my answering machine that they will not be refunding my money. A month later, they sent me another bill stating erroneous movie charges totally $68.00. I now have to fight a collection agency.

Collection agency has affected credit report for $68.00.

I was upset and just dealt with the issue. I find out from a friend that Ohio law states that you have 30 days to void out of a contract (not sure if that is true). I called the other day because I am just disgusted with their service and their representatives. I talked to someone who was no help to me and told me that I signed verbally to a 2-year contract by sending in my 1st bill. I wasn't sure how you verbally sign something by paying my 1st bill. I asked to talk to a manager and he said that he could help me. I asked again and he told me that it wasn't necessary. I had to raise my voice just to convince him to let me talk to a manager.

I never talked to one because I was already on the phone for 10 minutes and I was frustrated so I hung up. They want to charge me 400 to get out of my contract!

I called on the 18th of May to see what was happening. There they told me that I was not eligilble for the rebate of the $15.00 discount after they said I was. I felt so taken advantage that I cancel. According to the contract I signed they stated I had 21 days to cancel so that's what I did. So now I got a bill for $376.00 for canceling. When I called to see what was going on they said that the 21 days was for the equipment. This is the second time they took advantage. There was no other contract that I sign.

At this point I can't trust any company. With DirecTv the representativies will say anything so that you could sign up with them. And once you did and see there is something wrong and called them all they say is sorry but you have a contract and there is nothing they could. If they did it what other company won't do the same just to get the business.

I just discovered on June 18, 2008 after upgrading to a HDTV system, that the equipment rental fee for one receiver is zero. Equipment rental only applies to additional accessories such as VCR and additional receivers. The information DIRECTV has provided varies from one supervisor to another. It seems all of the former Primestar customers are paying the $10.00 equipment rental fee or more. Unless they have discovered that the charge is unnecessary. This mistake cost to me is $1,071.68 over an eight year period. I hope this information will inform others of DIRECTV practices.

I "finally" received a return label from them to return their converter box, which I did promptly. (Couldn't WAIT to be done with them...) Fast forward to June 10. I was in a store paying for gas and was told my Visa debit had insufficient funds. I checked my online banking and sure enough, DirecTV had once again taken funds without notifying me, this time for $58.85. Due to that transaction, I had another 4 checks bounce resulting in $108 in overdraft fees from my bank. I called DirecTV the next morning and was told that since I hadn't returned the converter box, they were charging me a month of rent. I gave them my Fed Ex tracking number and after about an hour, they confirmed that they HAD received the box back.

They agreed to refund the $58.85 and said it would take 7-10 business days to do this. They stated that it was "not their problem" that I had $108 in bank fees and that it is their "policy" not to refund bank fees incurred. Once again I had to go to my bank and beg for mercy on the bank fees, and they were kind enough to refund the $108. (This time, we got smart. We changed the number on my Visa debit card, so if these crooks ever decided they want more of my money, they won't have ANY access to it at all.)

Fast forward to today, 6-24-08. Still no $58.85 credit from DirecTV. I called them and spoke with a rep named Sam. She proceeded to tell me that they would mail me a check in 6-8 weeks. I told them this was unacceptable as I had been promised a reversal to my Visa in 7-10 business days. I asked for a supervisor and after 30 minutes of hold time and 2 disconnections, I finally spoke with Paul, a "resolutions specialist". I explained the situation and he spoke with someone in Finance, then told me I would have my credit by the end of today. I told him that since I don't know what time zone they're in (how many hours off are we from India???) I would give it until tomorrow 6-25-08. Based on their history I cannot say that I'm holding my breath but we'll see. I'm just glad they will never get another thin dime out of me, and I plan to share this story with anyone who will listen in hopes that folks don't make the same mistakes I did.

I let directv know every time I didn't receive a box and they would give me a new referance # so I could receive a new tracking # as I have said this went on from June,5 and I am still unsure it is over. directv is now saying that they may charge me for unreturned equipment(through no fault of my own)if this box THAT I JUST RECEIVED 06/21/2008 and RETURNED 06/23/2008 is late. I have told most people that I spoke with at directv since this became such a hassel that I wouldn't recomend their services to anyone, and they don't trust their customers.

Is there any recourse, except filing this complaint??

Since I had been misinformed in the past, I called Customer Service and spoke with 4 different individuals, on different days to be sure the information was correct. But when the installer arrived, he said the opposite. He said I MUST get the HD package with the new machine. I asked to speak to the customer service rep,. and also her supervisor who told me I MUST get the HD package. I told them I was informed by 4 different people on their end that I could choose to have the apparatus installed now, but not get the HD channels until later. So I asked the man to reinstall my old equipment and leave.

It seemed to me there was some sort of planned missinformation with possibly a commission bonus that would make for such consistant problems. Although it didn't cost me anything this time, it was not the 1st time I couldn't get a straight answer from thier people.

Last year Direct TV caused me to loose my East Coast ABC and PBS feed through wrong information. At that time I was told I could get the local HD channels, along with my east and west coast major channels. This I later learned was not correct, but by the time I had them switch it back, I was denied the ABC Eastcoast feed, and PBS. I do miss those channels, but value having the option of Tivo-ing programs hours earlier from the Eastcoast. I am aware that the laws are such now that local stations can deny me service from the East Coast, but the way Direct TV handles things makes a consumer feel very helpless. I happen to live in a pocket where both antena and cable TV reception is unclear (Aptos alsong the coast.)

I can no longer get ABC East Coast and PBS, which I had for many years before they began their customer baiting.

Since then, credit agencies have attempt collections and we refuse to pay it. They have been so unreasonable and flat out calling us liars. They say that someone living here had to have called in these ** movie orders. I didn't do it, my husband didn't do it, nor did my 2 young children! Some orders were placed at 5AM when no one was even awake or home. Some were supposedly downloaded to our living room receiver... now, why would we download ** movies to a living receiver where our children would see them? So my credit is destroyed because of this. Can anyone explain how this could happen... could it have been a cruel joke and how did they do it? DirecTV says that their System is foolproof and un-Hackable. Why is DirecTV so unreasonable about these charges? They won't remove them.

When it rains I get intermittent, if any, signal. When I call DIRECTV they tell me that I have to wait for it to stop raining to get service back. Each time that DIRECTV has had me check the signal strength while I am on the phone with them many numbers are under their "magic" number of 70 even on a sunny day. DIRECTV sent out a Technician never disclosing to me that there would be a charge. The Technician arrives and refuses to go up on the roof to check the dish stating, when I asked, that it was too high for him. I was just told by DIRECTV the tech reported to them that the dish was located on the peak of the house. The dish is not located on a peak of the house. The DIRECTV installer discretely placed the Dish so that it would be pointed correctly but not so that it would be visible to anyone other than my next door neighbor. This is a requirement of the Covenants and Restrictions of our Homeowner Association. After accomplishing nothing that I hadn't already done with the telephone tech he hands me a bill for his "visit". I can either pay him or get a Service Plan...why was I even surprised, duped again. Guess these techs that come to your home get paid by the number of service calls they do a day, not what they actually accomplish.

Today, it is rainingLost signal. I called DIRECTV to reportagain told if it is raining then I have to wait for it to clear to get service back. I ask to be transferred to get service disconnected. The people in this department inform me that it is going to cost me between $350-$400 to cancel the contract. This is the contract I didn't know I had until after service was installed. And now they are telling me that the contract doesnt expire until 12/2009.

This DIRECTV person suggests that I get scheduled for another Tech visit since no one has actually checked the dish since installation. I am then transferred to the DIRECTV Protection Plan people who tell me they won't schedule service unless my service is out. We are in between rain showers and service is temporarily back...therefore they won't schedule a service call.

Why is there not a Class Action Suit against DIRECTV? At the least they need to be held accountable to all Consumers that have been victims of this FAILURE TO DISCLOSE? How is this any different than consumers who entered into mortgages that had not been properly disclosed to them?

No damage unless i dont receive my money back.

Now I get a response from The Office of the President? and their solution is that they will give us a HDDVR at no additional charge (provided we dont use the DVR portion) and we must commit to another 2 years or I can have a Tech Supervisor come for another service call. Those are the only two options I am given if I am not willing to work towards a solution? (accept their offer) I can get out of my contract. They are not willing to send another receiver. I am concerned about the DVR because I see the same problems reported on this forum.

I have written to Suffolk County Consumer Affairs and the NY State Attorney Generals Office both of whom are sending complaint forms. I think that this is a wide-spread issue, and after viewing the Technical Help Forum this morning, I can see that it is occurring all over the country! I would like to include some of these complaints in my paperwork to NYS Attorney General and SC Consumer Affairs.

The next morning I called again and asked to schedule the call on June 18 in the evening. Ogf course-another customer service rep said-they will call you. I will make a note of it. To make lonmg story short-nobody called me on June 17, 18, and 19. On June 19 I missed two hours of work waiting in front of my TV. And you know what? I called twice, -I was promised that case management will call be tonight, tomorrow, or right away; that I don;t have to be in front of my TV, then that I have to be in front of my TV; then that they were sorry, they were making notes, they were sorry again. I strated feeling that I am loosing my mind.

Finally I spoke to a superviser. She said that case management will call me on June 19 between 7 and 9, and that she personally will check with me whether. While I am writing these notes somebody called from Direct TV asking me whether everything is OK?

Half day missed at work, no TV for a week, for which we are paying monthly fee, and finally FRUSTRATION!

Lost between 6-8 hours of work to meet with installers who did not show up --or came unprepared. Do not owe the $105.00 early cancellation fee since Directv defaulted on their service/agreement. Directv Owe me $68.78 which are funds that Verizon paid to them after the services were cancelled.

I called my bank and inquired about this, sure enough, that amount was taken from my account on May 29 2008. I called directv and was told I never cancelled services and was being billed for April and May and since I had a debit card on file, they, according to a clause, we legally able to take the money. HELLO...I cancelled services 2 months prior to them taking a payment and my bill was paid in full. I basically am screwed out of that $138 and have no recourse.

They unknowing to us, started a 2 year contract! We were never informed or asked if this would be acceptable. If so, we would have cut the ties at that point. They are asking us to send in a dispute letter, yet they have already denied this request 3 times. Twice on the phone and once through their website. This is completely unethical behaviour!

We still have an outstanding balance of $125.00 and they are calling us trying to collect.

However, my problems began with the billing of the service. I was told that the first bill would be from DTV, and subsequent billing, and therefore savings, would be via my bundled service statement from Qwest. I expected my second bill to arrive from Qwest, which it did not, and all bills to date have been from DTV at a much higher subscription rate. For three consecutive months I have been told that all I need to do is pay my balance with DTV down to zero, and the service would roll to Qwest. I have done so for the past two months. I continue to be told by American Satellite that the error is with DTV; that they made the request in February and have over 1,000 customers affected by this same problem!

I have done my best to resolve this problem through the channels available to me (800 numbers and customer service reps who are not empowered to solve problems), and yet DTVs only reply is to pay the balance to zero and the account will roll to Qwest. Ive heard this so many times that Im beginning to doubt it was ever American Satellites or DTV intention to bundle this service with Qwest. In fact, I was told only today from DTV that I have to make the request to bundle directly to Qwest myself. Imagine my surprise when I received a letter a month ago from Qwest congratulating me and welcoming me to their bundling world! So obviously, Qwest is Page 2 of 2 expecting DTV to forward my account to them as well.

Confused? Me too. What is not confusing is the utter lack of desire by either American Satellite or DTV to help me! And I reiterate, I WANT TO KEEP THE SERVICE! Im left with my only option as a consumer, and that is to discontinue DTV programming and have all the equipment removed from my home, and take my spending elsewhere. Since I have obviously never received the service package that I agreed to, I also feel I should incur no further charges pertaining to service, fees, cancellation, etc.

I've had no recourse but to attempt to cancel the service because the billing problems don't appear to have an end in sight. As a result, they want to charge me a cancellation fee ($135), and expect me to pay a statement that I never agreed to pay ($98), and the extra fees I've incurred because they refuse to change my service to Qwest ($400)

My BIGGEST MISTAKE WAS GIVING A CREDIT CARD NUMBER, WICH WAS TO HAVE THE $19.95 CHARGE, BUT WAIVED THE FEE BEFORE THE END OF THE CONVERSATION. I IMAGINE THAT IS HOW THEY GET THE INFO SO THEY CAN CHARGE YOU, EVEN THOUGH HE STATES IT WAS WAIVED. Installation was on 5/30 and at the time the installer again repeated, do not let them tell you anything different you have 10 days to cancel. One said 10 the other said 15. Nothing was ever signed, but a few days later I received a confirmation of costs totalling much more. I immediately called and talked to Greg, ID 100141616 a representative and supervisors who would not help me and stated that my contract for the service was 18/24. I stated that that was incorrect and immediately disputed it.

On 5/7 I received the bill and again disputed by emailing Direct TV. I received a response on 5/8 from Jayson, ID 410441 agreed to cancel the service and ordered boxes for the return of the equipment. He said I would be paper billed for the prorated days, which I agreed to. As of today, no boxes have been received to return the equipment and a call from my credit card company advising of a charge they were concerned about. After talking with my credit card company, I find out it was Direct TV charging me $523.00 for the cancellaltion. I called them and told them the entire story again. All of this to no avail and insisted no one had the right to amend the 18/24 and the charge was held.

I am willing to pay, my fair share and would agree had the conversation not come up and was adamend about not committing to the time and the sales rep agreeing to amend it. Not once did I sign anything, although the suspervisor said I did. I said show me it and she said we had a verbal agreement. IF verbal agreements stand up with them then their sales rep gave me a verbal amendment to the 18/24. I will hire an attorney if needed to stop their false representations and keep them from doing this to other people.

My credit card was charge $523.oo This all started because my husband lost his job and I was trying to cut costs by going to a cheaper provider.

When I signed my contract I was receiving the full service - now that I am no longer getting what I contracted for and feel as if the contract has been broken and that I should be allow to move to a provider that can provide the services I want--I'm sure I would end up in court if I stopped paying them. What can I do legally? Please help.

I am not receiving the service (local channels) I thought I would be getting and cannot get it elsewhere due to having service with Directtv.

In jeopardy of bad credit rating if not paid.

I asked to cancel my service in February 2007 due to on going service problems. I was told that Direct TV had started a new contract with out my knowledge or consent & that they now owned the receiver in my home. I was told to write a letter about having the commitment removed. On March 6, 2007, Montoya in Direct TV customer service agreed to reduce our contract date so that it was fulfilled in August 2007. I was not at all happy that they stole my property & started an unauthorized commitment but I gave my children the new receiver (that only works so-so) and purchased myself a used R10 TiVo unit from a local Direct TV installer in June 2007. I called Direct TV 3 times to ensure that this could be done and was told yes. I then had to purchase a $20 card to register the R10 unit to me & turn on my service.

Due to very poor customer service on Direct TV's part I have called to cancel my service on May 30, 2008. Direct TV is now telling me that they started yet another commitment on my account with out knowledge or authorization, and say that I am leasing the R10 unit (which I purchased cash on my own). Further more, both Gary (Retention Department) and Julia (Disconnection Department) agreed that they there NEVER should have been a lease or contract started on used equipment bought by the customer (myself). Having admitted to Direct TV's error, I was told by both Julia and Gary that they could not fix the problem and I would be charged $150 early termination fee.

Direct TV has started not one, but two contracts on my account with out my knowledge or authorization. I have never signed anything stating I agreed to a contract or commitment and have never received a copy of a contract.

I am unable to cancel my service with out paying fees on something I never agreed to and was never informed about. Direct TV also is stating that they own the R10 unit, that I bought used from a local installer. This unit is currently worth $200! I want all contracts/commitments removed from my account & acknowledment that the R10 receiver is owned by me & will not be returned.

DirecTV monthly fees were periodically raised from $34 to $55 which exceeded my budget. The week of 09 Jun 08 I contacted DirecTV (via Qwest) to terminate DirecTV service. I was not informed of any penalties that might occur. The service was terminated. On 16 Jun 08, I received a DirecTV bill for $260 alleging I had terminated the 2 year contract early. The bill also informed me that if I fail to return the equipment, I will be charged a non-returned equipment fee. At no ime was I aware that receiving a replacement box would obligate me to a 2 year contract. As a loyal, consistently paying customer for 5+ years, this is unethical treatment and business practice.

On 16 Jun 2008, I contacted DirecTV by phone. I voiced my complaint to 3 managers at DirecTV, each of higher rank. The last,Regina could not/would not reverse the charge and would not provide me a name to whom I should address a letter of dispute; she abruptly hung up on me. Resolution Sought: I want DirecTV to 1) negate the fraudulent $260 early contract termination charge, 2) forward a 0 balance due statement to me, 3) abandon this (and all) unethical business practices and policies, 4) initiate policies that REWARD loyal customers instead of penalizing them, and 5) empower customer service managers to serve the customer. Amount in Dispute: $260.00

I've forwarded my complaint to the Better Business Bureau and FCC with plans to implant it where possible. With this type of unethical business policy/practice, I can foresee a class action suit filed against DirecTV.

So I decided to e-mail the board of directors and some ladies name you suppose to complain too. Within an hour I got an acct. management person willing to work with my complaint (or so you think). He comes back after some couple of hours (or lunch) and said that it is within their rights to steal the money out my bank even though I'm not on the contract/acct.

So $463 and multiple bank fees later and to this day I'm negative almost $800 that I can't afford to supplement back into the acct. and also most of the bills I pay online cancelled our privileges and have to pay by mail.

My wife and I decided to run down to Best Buy to replace this faulty reciever. We looked at all of the recievers Best Buy had to offer and even spoke with Kevin from Best buy about the differences of each reciever. We decided to go with a standard HD reciever, none of that fancy DVR stuff. ( we were to cheap to pay the difference ) My wife and I asked Kevin if anything had changed with Direct Tv and he said no. We looked at all the tags and offers and at no time did we come across information, policies, or contracts explaining the purchase of a reciever would create a 2 year contract with Direct Tv. We assumed we were purchasing a reciever as we did so many times before.

We took the reciever up front paid for it with a Visa Card, signed our Visa Agreement and were off to install our new HD reciever.

A few months went by and we began to restructure our bills. I called Direct Tv to have our bill reduced ( we removed a bunch of programming) I asked as a long time cusomer if they had any promos or such to help reduce our bill and the rep told me they did but for new customers only. I would later find out why.

We got a great deal offer from AT&T as an all in one plan so we decided to switch. This was only after we gave Direct TV a chance to meet AT&T's offer which they insistantly refused. The switch was made.

About a week later I got a bill for $676.80. I was in awe. i called Direct Tv and said they must be some mistake. The lady I spoke to told me there was no mistake, they was an early termination fee and a reciever fee. I told her that the reciever was purchased out right from Best Buy she said Nope, that was a lease reciever, when I explained to her I was told it was na out right purchase she laughed at me and told me " here we go again" I asked what that meant and she told me I was the 5th call she had taken with regards to this issue.

A few days later I got a call from my CC company informing me I was over my limit. Once again I was in awe and told them I did not make any more charges this month. They said there was a charge from Direct Tv for $676.80. I immedatly disputed this bill and The Visa lady told me to get a good attorney. Direct Tv was not authorized to make these charges.

It has been over 2 months now that I have been fighting with Direct Tv. I told them I assumed I was buying the reciever outright as I have so many times before. The lady even acknowledged the fact I owned the rest of my recivers. She then told me that for $100 more I would have owned the reciever but the price I paid was for lease only. I asked if she had a signature or verbal agreement on tape of any these agreements, she said she would get back to me, she took my name and number, I am still waiting for a call today.

To summerize this I am being charged an early termination fee of $420 for an agreeement which Direct Tv has no signed or verbal authorization of.

I offered to pay Direct Tv the difference between the outright buy and the lease purchase price, which I don't believe I should but was willing to as a result of Best Buy and Direct Tv's lack of explaination on agreement procedures.

Now I have been turned over to collections with the chance of a black mark on my credit rating.

I believe it is time for a class action law suit.

I still have not received the refund. I also want to know why 3 employee's all told me something different. I just don't trust them and I want my money back. The $771.24 is holding on my Mastercard at 15% interest until I receive the refund. I need to pay the monthly minimum to avoid penalty from Mastercard. In the end this is costing me about $8 per month until I get refunded.

I was not able to transfer my current cable services to Queens because they don't offer services in Queens. Once of the times that I spoke with them I was told by a representative named Gabriel (3/31/08) that if I gave him my credit card # they will install the services on April 2nd, I did so and they did not come. My sister called them on 4/7/08 and they apologized for the inconvenient and they rescheduled another appointment on 04/10/08 and they came to install the services and since them I have been paying may bills. Apparently it was too good to be true. I received a letter from them this week telling me that they are going to add the $701.73 to my new account.

They claimed that I lived at [address] and I never lived in such address. I have sufficient evidence to prove to them or anyone else that in 2006 I was living at [address] I did not know what to do till my friend told me to call [number] and they told me what to do...I was planning to go to Small claims court here in New York Queens. Please help me out because I am not paying for some thing that some one else did. I am a social worker and this is not fair..I am calling my credit card tomorrow so they don't pay them.

When I recived the notice from the lawyer's office I was going through a very hard situation. My doctor had to precribe me medication to help me sleep. I used my time and my phone minutes when I could have utilized my time more effectively than making calls to speak with cruel people..Who did play games transfering the phone call to so many departments. I feel humilated by Directv. I really need an apology letter from them.

On June 23, 2008 we were considering an alternate offer that combined video, landline phones, and internet for less money than we were paying. We called to find out what our termination fee would be. We were told $380.00 because the contract was extended to January 2010 in exchange for installation of the High Definition equipment and programming. There was in fact an installation which I agreed to pay, but no mentin was made of an agreement that was twice as long as the original purchase of the service. When I complained I was transferred to the complaints representative, who upon our request transferred us to the complaints manager. Here's why: We were told by both the complaints representative and manager that we could write a letter to the DirecTV Billing Disputes department in Greenwood, Colorado, explaining the situation.

However, the Disputes department would automatically reject our letter unless we previously discontinued our service. This automatically became a Catch 22 situation. If we simply wanted to have our complaint considered, we would have to discontinue our service, and it would be unlikely for us to retrieve any part of our money because we were on record (created by DirecTV) as authorizing a 2-year change of agreement. If we didn't want to complain, we would continue to receive the service and be billed for it. The bill for our present service totals about $75.00 a month. The termination fee is calculated at $20.00 per month, totalling $380.00 in a lump sum payout.

They did offer to bundle services in an offer similar to the one I received from a competing company. But when they cross checked my address, it turned out that it wasn't served by the company they contracted with to provide the bundled phone service. I even suggested that I might consider a negotiated solution. They rejected this. What are my options, legal or otherwise?

Either payment to DirecTV of a $380 Discontinuance Fee plus the cost of the replacement service, or remain in a customer - business service provider relationship that has become unacceptable to me.

DirecTV had a responsibility to right any wrong their broken promises have caused and they have not done that. I contacted DirecTV and was met with indifference, given the runaround, dealing with people that either have no authority or no inclination to do the right thing, mostly robotic-like customer service reps towing the company line. The great customer service that their commericials advertise are a joke. They should take the millions of dollars they spend on those commericials and use it to revamp their customer service department to actually try and do right by their customers.

I cancel my service within 24 hours and I'm assured that I won't be charged anything since I cancelled within 24 hours. Sure enough, a couple days later, my first months bill shows up as a charge on my bank account. I call DTV again, and I'm told that my account will be credited once I return my receiver. Two days later, I am charged $460! for cancelling my service! I call DTV AGAIN and I'm told that this charge was a mistake, (since I did cancel within 24 hours) but don't worry, I will be credited in 5-7 business days.

After an hour of being transferred to managers, supervisors I am told there is NO WAY that I can be credited today. I ask for a fax or email or something in writing stating that no more charges will show up from DirecTV on my bank account, but they can't do that either.

Due to DirectTV taking $460 from my bank account which they admit was their mistake, but which they cannot refund form 5-7 business days, I am in jeopardy of my mortage payment, credit card payment, and two other utility bills possibly bouncing this week.

I cancel my service within 24 hours and I'm assured that I won't be charged anything since I cancelled within 24 hours. Sure enough, a couple days later, my first months bill shows up as a charge on my bank account. I call DTV again, and I'm told that my account will be credited once I return my receiver. Two days later, I am charged $460! for cancelling my service! I call DTV AGAIN and I'm told that this charge was a mistake, (since I did cancel within 24 hours) but don't worry, I will be credited in 5-7 business days. After an hour of being transferred to managers, supervisors I am told there is NO WAY that I can be credited today. I ask for a fax or email or something in writing stating that no more charges will show up from DirecTV on my bank account, but they can't do that either.

Thgis occurred again and I eventually repeated the request on October 28, 2007 and December 28, 2007 with the same result. During this time I checked my bill and noticed dual billing. I checked earlier bills and noticed the same thing. I was told shortly after the installation in August 2006 that if I got the NFL package for 4 payments of $49.99 I would get free premium programming during that time. I was told it was promotional and would expire afterwards. I called to cancel before the 4 months were up, was still billed and the entire thing renewed in 2007 despite my earlier cancellation. I called about this and requested that the NFL package and the Premium channels be cancelled and credited. I went online to pay my bill directly after cancelling the Verizon services (I had checked online at DirecTV.com and had 2 bills due for approximately $109).

I went on the next day and saw 2 additional charges, one for approx $183 and another for approx $378. I called and asked what these were for and they stated Outstanding Billing. I reminded them about the NFL package unwanted renewal and was advised I would get a $183 credit for this. I then asked about the $378 charge. I asked if they had really gone 7-8 months with no payment from Verizon? They said it was part of the package deal. I stated that no part of the package deal involved $378 in DirecTV billable charges and Verizon's billing was being handled directly with Verizon. I called Verizon and was informed they had sent a A $383 CREDIT to DirecTV.

I called DirecTV back and was informed that they show a bill and that it must be paid. I was left on hold, transferred several times, treated rudelu and threatened with termination if this was not paid. I asked for an itemized statement showing what the $383 was for and they refused, insisting that I would have to get thet from Verizon. I informed them that Verizon insists they transferred information regarding a CREDIT, so why would I give them $383 when there was supposed to be a $383 credit against the account. I several times asked for a supervisor or manager, was transferred to other equally rude reps (i doubt any of them were supervisors). I got the same runaround, everyone refused to account for the nature of the charges and everyone threatened termination.

I advised them that if they terminated the service because of THEIR billing error, I would not only no longer utilize their services, but I would also use every outlet to relate what has happened so others won't make the mistake of trusting them for CUSTOMER SERVICE in their decision of whether or not to use their products. I told them to make sure they get their facts straight and consult with their upline management and Verizon Liaison prior to disconnection because this was their error and they have made no due dilligence effort to determine the truth or take remedial action. My service was disconnected in February 208 and I began getting calls and letters from a collection agency. I also get occassional letter from DirecTV with all charges (including the $383 CREDIT they insist I must pay).

DirecTV has been disconnected. Collection agency calls/letters with a Credit Report entry.

Direct TV continues to threaten to withdraw $180 from our bank account if we cancel- they are not able to provide service. I directed them to bill us and did not give them authorization to automatically withdraw from our account. They did withdraw May's charges. We continue to be charged $29 per month with no service.

$400

He contacted the office and noted it into the computer stating that "unable to obtain signal from customer's location, he then informed me to contact the customer service and see if they can do anything else, when i called, they automatically transferred me to Disconneciton Department, due to after the Rep read the notes of the technician, he stated that they will do an early cancellation of our account, I informed him that we are on a 18 months contract, he stated that since this was a "no signal found" case, i would not be liable for any early termination fee and that it will be waived, since this was not our fault and the technican noted it himself that there was no signal obatained. He specified that he is now disconnecting our service and that we will receive 2 boxes from Fed Ex that we will send back with our 2 receiver boxe and 2 remote controls within 7 days or we will be charged for them.

Just yesterday, While checking my bank account, i received a debt charge of $ 296.43 for early termination charge, and i called directv and stated that why are we getting billed when in fact, we didn't cancel our service with your company, but it was your own staff that decided that to cancel our service due to "no singal found" issue, and she had no other information except that her system is showing that we cancelled before the 18 months contract was up. I demanded to speak with a manager and as soon as the manager came on, she did see the notes that the pervious man i spoke with and saw that "we should not be charged for early cancellation, due to technican unable to find signal. She resubmitted the claim back to management, but was not able to reverse the charge with my bank.

Now i will be charged NSF for all the checks I issued, due to a neglection of higher authority not reading completely all the notes on there system. And what makes me very upset is that the credit card that they had on file that they should of used in this early cancellation fee, was not the card that is listed on the contact, but used our debt charge that we had previously used to pay them from last months billing statement. I am furious that they will use a credit card that is not on the service contract without any written consent by me nor any letter informing us that they will be charging us $296.43. Now they won't refund us the early cancellation charge for something that we never cancelled ourselves, but there own technican cancelled and took into there account to cancel our service with them, so why should we pay for cancelling, when they were the one who cancelled our service with them?

I asked why I was being penalized for Direct TV's inability to honor the original contract of two years and I was told by Jennie that it was the company policy. I had previously spoken to Mark who told me that the unit was under warranty and that I should be receiving a check for the $204. The next day I received an email to say that the charge was valid and I would not be receiving the check. I asked to speak to a supervisor, Charm, who also told me that the charge is valid even though Direct TV did not complete the two year agreement. She said the contract was extended because I didn't have maintenance insurance. This was the first time I had even heard of maintenance insurance from Direct TV. Charm also said that because I received the new DVR at no cost they automatically extended the contract.

Again, I was not told of any contract extension. When I terminated the service in June 0f 2008, I found that Direct TV had debited my debit card without my approval even before I received the invoice. For the entire two year period, whenever I had to make a payment I would do so online and I had to approve the transaction. Now that I was terminating the service, they took the money from my account without my approval. I explained many times to several people that I should not be charged for Direct TV's inability to fulfill their contractual obligations and that in effect, by leasing equipment with a poor Mean Time Between Failure they ensured themselves of a contract in perpertuity. Every time the equipment would fail, they could extend the contract for another two years. At the expiration I was asked to Fed EX the DVR back to them, which I did.

$204.34 has been deducted from my account without authorization.

On 6/4/08 I completed the installation of my new cable service and called to cancel with Directv. I spoke with Charlotte and was told my agreement was not complete until 12/08. Since I could have waited until then to make the change I was upset that I was given the incorrect info during my first call and told her I would not pay the fee since I was given the incorrect info. She said it didn't matter what I was told this is the way it is so I have to pay not only the cable fee but the fee for the entire month of June even though I was cancelling on the 4th.

I didn't think it was legal to charge for a service that was not being provided and would contest the charge as well as the cancellation fee. She said go ahead it doesn't matter we will take it from your credit card that is on file. And also that if I don't return my equipment in 5 days I would be charged (not sure the amount but it was over $300.) for the boxes as well.

Today is the 8th and I have not received the return boxes so they definately will not receive them in 5 days. My question is can they charge me for the entire month since I cancelled in the first four days? Also is it ethical practice to charge me for the next 7 months for a service not being provided since there customer service rep gave me the incorrect info. Had I been given the correct date my contract ended I would have waited to make the change. I have written to their billing dispute department but don't hold out any hope for a good response since Charlotte was very agressive and implied that the misinformation was not going to change the end result and my credit cards will be charged.

I write to tell you of another 'bait-and-switch' that DirectTV is attempting to pull against my mother, a San Pedro elderly resident. She switched from Dish Network almost two months ago because DirectTV offered a few more high definition channels. The original offer was for up to three TV connections at $29.00, I'm sure you've seen the many mail offers. After a long discussion with the agent over the phone we agreed the monthly charge was to be $51.00. The charges were higher because my mother needed one high definition desk-top receiver and one regular receiver, plus the high definition service. We agreed to the higher $51.00 fee. Dish Network would have charged is $49.95, but they offered a few high definition channels less. We all thought it was worth the extra $1.05 to switch.

Needless to say, my mother was very upset to receive her first bill at $73.38! I called DirectTV on her behalf to straighten the bill out. I finally told the agent that we agreed to pay $51.00 and that we refused to pay the $73.38 they demanded. The agent finally said fine, send in the $51.00 payment. This month we got another bill for $77.76! A second phone to complain got me nowhere and after a very long discussion with the agent I was finally connected with a supervisor. I told the supervisor that we would not pay that kind of money because that was not the amount we agreed on.

At this point the supervisor said no, we agreed to those higher charges and after all, DirectTV was giving us 'free' HBO for three months and that should help make-up for the higher cost! I then told DirectTV to come and get their equipment because we were not going to be cheated or coerced into paying that kind of money for their service. We told her we would only pay the original $51 we agreed to. At this point the supervisor said, That's fine with us BUT, you will be charged $400 and more because you are ending service early. She also advised that DirectTV would be charging my mothers American Express card for all charges in mid-July no matter what we said.

Needless to say, we are extremely upset and feel almost robbed by this dishonest company. How many other Los Angeles residents have been cheated by this company? Please know that we will do everything possible to help see this bait-and-switch end. If it requires a lawsuit, we will cooperate with the city in every way.

DirectTV demands $400+ because we refuse to pay $73.38. We now discover DirectTV used coax and connections provided by Dish Network. Dish Network advises there may be a charge to restore their connections!

We canceled our subscription to Direct TV because they raised their rates again. We were then told there was a cancellation fee for early termination, they made an unauthorized charge to our credit card (we were not on automatic payment) We were charged a late fee for non-payment.

I called them a couple of weeks later and spoke with a representative and supervisor badge number lc1296 who told me they understood the situation and would waive the fee. A month later I called to check my balance and the fee was still there and in collections. I have just paid the fee. It's just not right.

21May08, Contacted Employee #412951 (Steffine) who found previous, 26March2008, account-notes. However, Steffine couldn't resolve my credit reimbursement problem after approx. 30 minutes. Per Steffine, my problem information was again referred to another more appropriate department (Confirmation?) that would address my problem and then later contact me. At that time, due to my past DirecTV experiences, I also asked Steffine to enter into her notes that if I didn't hear from DirecTV by Friday, 30May08, I would begin looking for Wildblue and DirecTV replacements.

And now, after receiving no followup response to date from DirecTV, I'm looking for Wildblue and DirecTV replacements. I also informed DirecTV that I'll be notifying Consumer Affairs and the FCC of these problems, in case similar problems have, or are, occurring for other DirecTV customers.

Lost $70 for 7 months service (terminating service on 7June), if stayed with DirecTV for one year, lost would have been $120 (12 months @ $10/month). The money isn't as much of an issue, as is DirecTV's method of doing business- how many more customers have been subject to the same treatment?

The promotional package that I received was: purchase NFL ticket receive all of your other programming for free. The package was to run from 11/30/07 03/26/08 with four required payments of $69.99. On March 25, 2008 I called Directv to pick out my new package that was to start on the next billing. When I received my bill that was due in May I was charged for the promotional price AND for the new package. I spoke with Directv and they said the charge was in error and that I would be credited. The very next day the charged was reversed with a reason code that the credit was issued in error. No notification was ever sent to me.

When I get my June bill it has an outstanding balance of $69.99 plus new charges. I call Directv once again on 06/04/08 and they state that it is a valid charge. The person told me that the billing had to do with the phone company and I would have to call them. I call the phone company and they state they have nothing to do with Directv changes. The phone company bumps the call back to Directv. I ask again to receive clarification as to why there are two charges (promotional and current) on my bill. Billing department says that is an error and I should see a credit on the next bill along with a letter in the mail within two business days.

06/05/08 the phone company calls to follow-up that the billing issue was straightened out. The phone company conferences me in with Directv. I get this guy who is rude, loud, and out talking me. He says that there is no credit and I need to pay my bill. I asked for his name and company id since he was feeling great animosity towards me. The customer service agent hangs up on me. Funny thing is when I get home all of my movie channels are cutoff.

So yeah no TV for me and no one to help me.

A month later we decided that the service was spotty (particularly during any weather), the price too much and we no longer had a need for the NFL package (our reason for signing up originally some years ago) so we called to cancel the service. The representative indicated that our acceptance of new equipment locked us into a 2 year contract...and thus to cancel would cost us $460.

First of all, no one mentioned a 2 year contact at any time, particularly as regards this situation where we were given a replacement box for the defective one they originally sold us long ago. Second, I did not sign anything (the standard contract is worded weakly at best and does not mention any 2 year commitment).

I do not appreciate having been a reasonably long time customer and then being slammed with a huge bill when attempting to leave.

my bill is high. i want to cancel and they are making me feel as though my rights are now violated.

Several weeks later I receieved a bill for over $400 and according to their billing it was for early termination. They refused to discuss further since I had already cancelled my service and simply gave me an address to write to. Unacceptable what is my recourse?

They are beginning collection process which will damamge my credit and are still demanding that $400

Directv tranfers me from one associate to another when I call them making me wait for long periods of time or even hang on me, and no one can solve my problem. They are telling me that their office is in Monterrey Mexico and if I cancel they are going to charge me $360.00 or stay with them for 18 months paying the $52.00

I am a renter, and the landlord only gave approval if they set the system up completely through the back area. Then when I got my bill, it was 68.99, and they explained that I have to wait 6-8 weeks for each rebate of $23 per month. The sale rep on the phone said my first 12 months bill would only be 39.99.

They continued to bill us beyond that time and insisted there was no such thing as a seasonal 3 month hook up. I settled with them and paid $112 diusconnection fee. They have now sent me a $55 bill for using the equipment that I own or they want me to send the receiver back. I spoke ot them again but no one can do anything.

When I was on the phone with customer service wanting to cancel they informed me of a new 2 year contract that they said I agreed to when I got the new receiver. THAT NEVER HAPPENED. They can't prove it and I have emails from them that pretty much says too bad! I pay over 1200.00 a year for this service and for them to treat a loyal customer like this is crazy.

We called billing and, after being redirected on numerous occasions we finally reached someone who indicated the bill had neglected to include our perks and had actually triple charged for service. I was told the matter had been resolved. The next 3 months were generally the same with overcharges.

I finally requested to cancel service after having notified customer service verbally, and in writing, of my intent should they be unable to resolve the billing disputes. Again, directv overcharged and I cancelled. The following month I receive a bill for early termination, which I immediately disputed in writing. I received a prorated early termination, which I again disputed in writing. I have received calls and letters from a collection agency, which I have disputed in writing. Today, I received a letter that this collection information will be reported to the credit reporting agencies.

I have received overcharges on taxes, from what I can decipher on the bill, which were never corrected when billing was corrected. I am now facing damage to my credit score. I have researched and this appears to be an ongoing problem with Directv.

Your only alternate at this time is to report it to the Federal Trade Commission and if enough complaints are recorded there might be a possibility of imposing regulations on satellite providers as is now being proposed as stated on internet content: FCC may regulate cell contract early termination fees

I have been a customer for 13 years and offer the following about my experience upon discontinuing service. If they have your credit card or bank information on file you will be charged a fee without your authorization. If you disable your account be sure and get the employees name and date so the charge can be reversed. They will then bill you and after two statements you will be contacted by a bill collection agency although you may have disputed the charge. Their form letter arrived after the bill collector called my home.

Be advised about their new protection plan because they do have some problems with the new HDTV receiver. You will be charged $20.00 for a replacement if it fails and likely hundreds of dollars if you do not subscribe to their $6.00 monthly plan. The DirecTV dish antenna on your roof belongs to them but they tell you it is now yours. I recommend that you remove any dishes with their logo and discard them because they wont take them back for any credit to offset cancellation charges.

I have just received a letter from CBE Group, one of DirecTVs bill collectors giving me 40 days before they report this debt to one or more national credit bureaus. It is a shame that at the age of 80 my credit rating of excellent is in danger because of a Corporate policy to base their contract enforcement on questionable verbal agreements.

Frustation and depression at the age of near 80

On May 21, my account was hit by their bill and caused several checks to not clear. I had told her not to collect from the account due to funds being avaliable for certain outstanding items only. I have know had to pay not only fees to my bank for bounced checks but also to the companies the checks were written to. So far 300 dollars plus. I was happy with Directv before but this was uncalled for and poor judgement on their part

Directv only offered that if i returned as a customer I would be given certain discounts and that was it. No appology for the mistake or any other type of assistance.

i believe if they're not collecting the appropriate fees while you have the service you can't come to no longer existant customers and say, "by the way, we forgot to do our job but three years later someone in some department felt a little motivated and wanted to make sure all the pay-per-views were up-to-snuff? ya had four years to collect all the money you needed, no wonder you need all these extra penalties put on people...you're not collecting the money from the appropriate people that IS due to you? i even OVERPAID my final bill!

are you kidding me that this is legal? that's like if someone in my profession would be like "we forgot to go through these reports for a couple years and we're sorry, mr. s., but there was a spot on your chest x-ray that should have been addressed?"

As I was packing the receiver into the box to be returned, my wife mentioned that we had just over $500 automatically taken out of our checking account from your company. There was no notification that this was going to occur--no warning. I called and was told that the fee had been taken out because the receiver had not been returned yet. While I was upset, I understood. Customer service notified me that I would receive a refund as soon as they received the receiver. I said I would have the receiver in to FedEx that night.

I sent the package and wrote, "return to Directv" as there were no stickers in the original package per the directions. Two days later, the receiver was returned to me. I contacted customer service and they said they would send another sticker out to me. Five days later I received a box, but there was no sticker--just an empty box. I contacted customer service again and they said they would send out another sticker. Five days later, I received the box and the sticker and sent the receiver, and it was finally received by DIRECTV on May 16.

It is now 5/30, and we are still waiting 7-10 days for the $500 to be deposited back into our account. Every time I call, I get the same response: The department that handles this does not have a direct line. You have to wait 7 to 10 days for this to happen. The total amount of loss is over $900, which includes overdraft fees that were taken because we were not alerted and not refunded when we were told.

To cancel my contract it will cost me $350. The economic damage is I cannot switch to a local Dish TV provider until 10-27-09 which charges much less ($12.50 per month)

Next we were to return the DirecTV receivers we had after not receiving the boxes to send the receivers back in we called customer service and requested they send us the boxes. After about four or five days we still did not receive the boxes and called to request them again. Finally after a few days we got them and sent the receivers back as directed. Three days later a charge of $502.90 was withdrawn from our checking account.

When we called to find out what this was about we were told it was the fee for not returning the receivers within 21 days of the cancellation of the account. What added to the absurdity of this was that they had the receivers in their where house they had just not been processed yet. Next we tried to get this charge removed from our checking account after calling and escalating things several levels we got DirecTV on the phone with our bank and the woman at the bank said she would remove the charge from our account because it was still in a pending status and because DirecTV was on the phone authorizing the removal of the charge.

That night when I checked my bank account online the charge was gone the next day when I checked again there was the charge for $502.90. We called the bank they said all we could do was dispute the charge we called DirecTV they said they were going to issue a refund and that it takes 7-10days. This company is practicing unfair and unethical procedures this was my money which was stolen right out of my checking account with out my prior knowledge or permission. I have been trying to get this money back into my account finally I found a number for the accounting department 800- and after insisting that I was going to stay on the line until I spoke to a manager a woman who said she was the manager told me she could get my refund in 4-5 days I have yet to see if this is true or not.

The fact remains that this is outrageous unethical and unfair $502.90 is a lot of money to anyone. Apparently this is something that DirecTV does all the time and I can't believe they are getting away with it. This has put a major dent in my financial plans I was going to take my family on vacation this weekend but now I have to cancel plans because I don't have enough money to pay for everything.

They said no so I had them send it to my work. I returned it to them but they took $59.00 from my bank account for the equipment after saying they wouldn't, since I contacted them about the missing return kit. After confirming they received my equipment I called and asked about my money. They said it would be returned in 10-12 weeks. I asked for a supervisor and he was rude and even laughed at me when I asked if they were members of the BBB.

The BBB did get my money for me in a couple of weeks after I filed a complaint however, I received a collection notice from Driectv two days later saying I owe them for four movies in 2006. I called and they said they examined the sim card from the receiver (after my complaint) and I never paid for these movies. I was not set up for movie rental without using the 800 number.

Furthermore they have now ruined my credit by putting me into collections for movies I didn't have access to. They have retaliated against me for complaining to the BBB. I have had my credit ruined by Directv for putting me into collections for movies I never saw, and they are making unauthorized withdrawals from my checking account.

I never canceled my service, they canceled service and sent me 2 boxes for me to return my receivers which I did. I do not owe they anything, they have been harassing me for 6 months, I tried to work things out and to straighten my bill out on several occasions. They were very uncooperative on the phone and unwilling to work with me. They went into my account (illegally) on 04/29/08 and debited my account for 133. 98. I have received 2 bills after that which shows how incompetent they are as a company and their customer service is horrible.

I want my account credited for the $133.98 and I want an apology from them in writing. I do not want my credit affected by this due to their errors. Each month my bill was a different amount and they never honored the introductory agreement which is on their end not mine. Their customer service representatives do not follow up nor process information correctly which is evident I am sure if you speak with other customers and I am sure you I am not the only customer making this same kind of complaint.

I want something done about this and I want it straightened out...or I will sue them for affecting me and stressing me out! I am out $133.98 which I want credited back into my account. They did that illegally and without my consent. I never canceled service and therefore they will credit me back or I will sue them.

When we contracted with DirecTV in 2004 we got the dish and three receivers upon activation. I have had to replace two receivers since 2004. Technical Service told me that because the receivers were out of warranty that they became owned receivers instead of leased receivers. Yet according to the customer agreement that is posted online the receivers have to be returned upon deactivation of the contract or a $55.00 fee will be accessed.

Customer Service has explained to me that since 2006 that all the receivers obtained from that time forward are considered leased receivers and that any receivers obtained prior to that are considered additional receivers or customer owned receivers. Both receivers are billed @ $4.99 a month. Additionally, no where in the customer agreement or equipment addendum is there any verbage identifying the additional contract requirements. It seems underhanded that DirecTV can and does change the terms of their contract without some sort of customer notification.

A few days later Directv started taking money from my bank account. The first phone representative told me they had no record of this account and I would have to fax them the information. I did this, and told them, in writing, not to take out any more money and asking for an explanation for the charges. I never received a reply. A few days later, they took out more money, no bill, no explanation.

I was told it would take months to get a refund, if one were owed, so I filled out a form with my bank and they returned the money from the first set of charges. In January, Directv called to say they had a refund check, and I told them the amount they were sending was in error and not to send the check. They did anyway.

Two weeks later I started receiving Past Due notices stating they would disconnect my service and telling me I needed to return their receivers. Since I never had a service to begin with and did not have their receivers, I finally filed a complaint with the Attorney General in our state. I sent Directv a copy of the complaint through registered mail.

Four days after they received the complaint, they turned me over to Allied Interstate, a collections agency. I called Allied to tell them I was disputing the bill and had filed an official complaint. The woman began yelling that I owed money for an early termination fee. Another representative later told me the complaint was mis-read. After requesting account information in writing, twice, the only response I received from Directv was sent by the Allied: a copy of an unsigned letter from Directv's Billing Department stating that they found the debt to be valid. Still no explanation of the charges or any acknowledgement of my complaints.

About three days later, Allied sent a letter stating that I had ten days from the date the letter was postmarked to submit the money. I received this letter five days after the postmark. I immediately sent letters to Directv and Allied stating that they were in violation of the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act for refusing to supply me with any written documentation. So far, I haven't received a reply. Our Attorney General is swamped and it could take some time for them to reach my case. I suspect, however, that Directv and Allied will take illegal action against my credit long before that, and it will be my burden to fight it in court. Directv is the most unethical company I have ever dealt with, and I am sure that some of their actions have been blatantly illegal. I also believe that, sooner or later, they will try to stick me with this $400 early termination fee, on top of whatever they have been charging me for.

I have never had a single black mark on my credit history - until now. The stress is literally making me sick. Less than two weeks before all of this started, I had radical throat surgery to remove a cancerous tumor. I've had to spend so much time on the phone trying to resolve things and protect my bank account, the inflammation of my larynx grew so bad that it took almost two months before I could swallow without choking. I have medical documentation for this. I've informed Directv, in writing, that phone conversations are difficult for me right now, and it makes no difference to them whatsoever. Can you help??

Yesterday, 8 months later, I realized that DIRECTV started to charge my credit card again. Surprised, I called their number and after 2 transfer, I heard that I only requested a suspension of my account, and that no cancellation had been processed in July 2007. Conveniently, the suspension is only temporary and DIRECTV simply re-activated my account 7/8 months later, without notice, even though I do not live at the address, the phone number on file has been cancelled and I did not give any authorisation to resume the service...

Well after 3 transfers, 35 minutes on the phone, I managed to talk to Angela who offered reluctantly a pro-rated refund of the money charged. I had to insist another 10 minutes to get the full refund and a letter of confirmation for the complete cancellation of my account, the refund as well as deletion of all my personal and financial information from their data base. I managed to remain very calm on the phone and wanted to express how deceptive and unethical the sales practice they adopted is, but Angela hung up and did not give me the opportunity to do so. As a consequence, I thought sharing this experience and fraud (my personnal opinion) on the internet for everyone awareness. Thank you

My bellsouth bundle credit went from 10.00 to 5.00 this month as well. My bill went from 69.01 to 98.67. I can not get any resolve on the fact that I did not order HBO/Cinemax and it was there error. When I inquired about cancelling my service, I was told I was in a two year contract and I would have to pay approx. 300.00 to get out of my contract. I was also told in order to get my quoted rate of 44.99 I would have to sign up for the rebate online and wait 6-8 weeks for that the start and then my rate would be as if it were 44.99.

My bill is not affordable and I am in a contract that I did not have all of the information provided to me. I am not sure if the error is in the sales from AT&T in the bundle deal or direct tv.

We called repeatedly about this issue and were told by customer service representatives that your system could not work with Verizon FIOS and that I needed a land line. Furthermore, there wasnt any indication of when our system would be interoperable with Verizon FIOS. We disputed the early cancellation fee of $162.00 because at the time when we received the High Definition system we do not recall being told there would be a two-year commitment.

In addition, we have shown our commitment of being loyal customers with DIRECTV for over 10 years, including our current residence address and our previous address. Because of our long standing relationship and their desire to have customer satisfaction first, we requested a courtesy waiver of the cancellation fees.

During the week of April 10, we received a letter from Directv saying we still owe $162.00 because we did not meet our service commitment. We called on April 17 to request a copy of the commitment that we agreed to or to hear a recording of the commitment. We were told that we would get a returned call in a week. It is now May 13 and we still haven't received a returned call.

I contacted Directv and told the I would like to cancel and at that point I was told I had a 2 year contract with them and there would be a cancelation fee of between $12.50 per month and $480., depending on what jackass I listened to. I argued that I never had a 2 yeard contract and they have harassed me with threats of outlandish bills for cancelation of the service.

When I have told them to produce this 2 year contract they say they can't because the contract was through a 3rd party, the installer, and it was my problem. I feel that they have the problem to produce this contract since they claim I signed it. Still, I'd rather keep their service for now and warn all my friend about what they are than to stop it just yet.

I have numerous overdrafts and bills that I cannot pay because of Direct TV taking every cent I had. I am completely distraught, worried and at the end of my rope. Please help!

They forced me to deliver a death certificate in order to avoid a penalty being applied to her estate. I offered to send a copy of the obituary and nothing but a death certificate would do. Very callous and very disrepspectful in my opinion. I am hoping that people will read this and understand what type of company they are thinking about dealing with.

Mental anguish is about all the damage I received, but people need to know what I went through as I believe it was unconscionnable.

In November 2007, the system stopped working completely, so they sent technical support to repair it. About 2 months later I received a larger charge from Directv to my credit card than ususal. (I was using auto bill pay to my credit card.) I called Directv. I was told that I owned the equipment and therefore had to pay for service charges when something went wrong. I was very upset and told them as much. I asked at that time when my contract would be up so I could to another company. I was told March 2009. I continued to raise my complaints until they offered to drop the service charge if I would purchase the maintenance agreement which I did. I also dropped my auto bill pay by credit card and started to pay by check.

In March 2008 the remote stopped working, so I called again. The tech worked with me on the phone to try to get the remote to work to no avail, so they sent a new remote which would not work either, so they had to send a new receiver which I installed myself. Shortly thereafter I received notice that my bill would be going up so I called Directv on April 13, 2008 and spoke to Jason, ID#410441, to see what it would cost to have my directv disconnected early. He checked and told me it would be $137.50. As I did not think this was too high, I told him to have my service disconnected asap. He told me they would send me boxes to return my equipment. I questioned this since I thought I owned the stuff. He said no, it was leased (somebody lied).

I told him that started the whole reason for my wanting to get away from Directv as I could not trust them. I told him to bill me the $137.50 and I would return the equipment but if they wanted the dish they would have to come get it as I cannot get that off my house. They said they did not want it. I went ahead and had cable installed and then received a bill from Directv that said I owed 0.00. Looking on down the bill, it indicated $484.84 was charged to the credit card I used to use for auto pay. I never authorized this. I called Directv and spoke to 3 different individuals and all 3 gave differnt information. One told me I had 2 contracts, one that expires in 3/09 and another contract that started in 3/08 when I received the replacement receiver that would not expire until 3/10. I exploded at that point. I told them I have nothing in writing to this effect and I will not pay the $484.84. I will pay $137.50. I was told by the second person that I would pay and there was nothing I could do about it and the third told me to write a letter of complaint and he would also try to get the amount waived and I would hear from him within 7 days.

That was 4/30/08 and it is now 5/11/08 and I still have not heard from him. I had to call my credit card company and dispute the charges, cancel that card and get a new card issued. I am contacting the State Attorney General as well as the Better Business Bureau. I would love to find an attorney to take legal action against Directv. People need to know about their underhanded actions before they get in as deep as I have and these other folks listed in this forum. This company needs to be made accountable for their illegal actions.

I guess I will eventually have to pay the $484.84. I have had to cancel my credit card, file disputes on my credit card. I have not been able to sleep over how companies such as this are allowed to operate in this country.

Now I am receiving threatening e-mails that I either re-open my account, or will be billed four hundred some dollars. I write bcak and tell the what the scenario was, and they still write back and say I was obligated for one and a half years, and broke my commitment. Thus, will be billed. How can a company charge you for a service that they can absolutely not provide and say that it is my fault?

Four full days of wasted time. Distress caused by customer service trying to place blame on me, waste of time, money. Directv has broken its contract and refuses to refund me for lost time and will not pick up their equipment without laying heavy cancellation charges.

I have an only 2 weeks-old account! That was set up on April 27th, 2008. Was "mistakenly" set up with two accounts and charged for two accounts. After being on the phone for over an hour, transferred countless times, finally a credit on one of my account! Our DVR-Receiver (that comes free with the contract) does not work. I called Wednesday evening and spoke to the agent who said her computers were doing their weekly maintenance and that she would put in my request for service as soon as it was up. And that I should receive a response within 72 hours. I never did! A whole WEEK later and it seems that the call was never put in. Rescheduled for 7th of May!

I called to reschedule due to a conflict in my schedule for Saturday, May 10th between 12 and 4 pm. The technician showed up anyway on May 7th BUT without a replacement receiver!--saying he would come the next day, May 9th. Waited around for them all day on May 8th. No technician. Called 800-DIRECTV service line and asked for status. Put on hold with no reason given. Hung up after 4 minutes! May 9th - Directv technician shows up at 8:30am without an appointment again with no recplacement DVR box.

I called Directv to cancel the service because it was not working for the last 2 weeks, dissatisfactory customer service and equipment that is not working. Directtv will not let me cancel the account. They are holding me hostage saying they will charge me cancellation charges for early termination.. when I have not gotten a successful installation from them since the beginning and my account is only 2 weeks. Most businesses give you a satisfaction guaranteed but apparently NOT DIRECTV.

Called the 'customer retention' who seemed to think from their computer system that the whole problem with our account as 'installation incovenience' which is a mighty joke! This is their way to not report or acknowledging their numerous mistakes. Kept getting transferred, till the person who I was transferred to hung up on me. That was the third (convenient) hang up in the last week! The technician from May 9th left an ordinary receiver in place of the DVR-receiver per our contract with DIRECTV. Directv has broken its contract, delivered horrible service and now refuseses to acknowledge that there is any problem from their end, threatening us with cancellation charges that we shouldn't be paying. Their installation and service has not worked since the day we got it and now we cannot get our money back.

We have tried numerous times to get service from them. We were sent 3 technicians all of whom have had no replacement boxes or the incorrect boxes, technicians have not been notified of appointment reschedules, shown up when there was no appointment, left us with the wrong equipment (per contract DIRECTV. I wish to file this complaint against them. Four full days of wasted time. Distress caused by customer service trying to place blame on me, waste of time, money. Directv has broken its contract and refuses to refund me for lost time and will not pick up their equipment without laying heavy cancellation charges.

SInce I never received a bill, I consequently never received the rebate, and had to pay the $59.99 price every month, never late. I then moved, knew I could not get line of sight, had to term the contract. I called the customer resolution department, was quoted a penalty fee of $12.50 per month, for the remaining 12 months plus my final bill of $7.01. I authorized that amount to be debited from my account, I even asked jon to recheck his figures,stated I needed verification, d/t such horrid service from the company, he did, and the numbers were the same. I was then debited $351.69, sending my account into an additional $136 in o/d charges.

I contacted Direct TV and was told that yes, they indeed verify that all I had stated was correct, I was told the wrong $ amount, and I was indeed charged at the price point of $59.99 without the rebate ever being received, because they see I did not ever receive a paper bill, but that was all too bad, no refunds, no apologies, it was within their rights to debit me for any amount, the authorized rep was wrong in what was stated, and since I had no paper EVER from the company, I had no manner to verify anything from the company! I could file a written complaint and mail it to their Colorado office. They were doing nothing to correct or resolve the issue.

I have just moved--incurred multiple expense, planned ahead for the amount I was stated the final bill would be, but with the bill being over two times the amount I authorized, plus the 4 over draft charges that this incurred, I am in a dire situation. I am a single mom of 4 teenage sons, working hard to make all of this work month to month. I pay my bills, I operate in good faith with all, and I do not over extend myself. This was callous, and I feel I have been a victim, something that has never happened to me prior. We are devastated right now. I am not sure how I am going to pay my rent this month with an unexpected debit of $487.69 that is not in the budget!

They still owe me hundreds of dollars and I have no idea of how to get my money refunded. They said they issued a credit to me in April, yet their files contained info for an expired credit card. I have no idea how to get my money back.

After returning all equipment to Direct TV, there is still an outstanding bill due, which involves my bank account, that I should not be obligated to pay.

Well my bank account was just charged $472 for a early disconnection fee unbeknownst to me. Besides they charged this fee without approval ... i called to have them reverse this due to i had never agreed to any contract with them they refused to refund it and told me to send a letter to their billing dispute department and it would take over 2 weeks for a response. This is extremely exorbitant fees - and should be explained to the customer at the time of cancellation so at that time i have the right to determine what to do..they purposefully do not tell you because they will automatically charge your card and know that they will not reverse the fees. Very Shady..

Withdrew $500 out of my bank account.. which was part of my rent money...

Now, I'm having problems with some equipment again. I contacted them on Thursday the 24th of April, they told me We will have a representative contact you within 2 hours to schedule an appointment. 6 calls later I've yet to receive an appointment for the repairs. Well, I called to see what I needed to do to cancel my service and they're telling me that I have to pay $400.00 plus this months service. I looking for someone to mediate & justly correct this situation so that I may move on with my life. Thank you.

Stress,frustrated, anger, high blood pressure, high blood sugar,etc.

The following is a detailed history of the communication between Direct TV and me. All calls were in 2008. On 2/18 I called and spoke with Customer Service after viewing the Direct TV web site and spoke with a representative (Kelly) and ordered the Choice Xtra package with HD Access Tier 1. I requested an installation date of 2/29 at that time. I was given 1 year of Showtime free as a bonus incentive, and 3 months of HBO, STARZ! and Cinemax also free. I was told that I would have to call and cancel the HBO, STARZ! and Cinemax subscriptions at the end of the 3 months, otherwise I would be automatically billed for them at my next billing cycle. I was also told that I would be able to receive my local channels out of Boston, Massachusetts, and that I could have the dish installed on my deck at the rear of the house. I just had to instruct the installer where I wanted the dish.

I logged onto the Direct TV website to register my account information as suggested by the representative and printed out my Order Summary to confirm the package specifics and installation date. I received a Confirmation email from Direct TV confirming my registration. On 2/27 I received an email reminder from Direct TV on my installation date.

On 2/29 the Direct TV installer showed up at 8:00 AM and we reviewed the installation process. I requested the dish be installed on the deck at the back of the house, and I was told that he could not do that. I explained to the installer that at the time I placed the order I was told the dish could be placed there. The installer told me that he did not have the necessary equipment (pole and mounting bracket) to install the

Later that day I wanted to watch the evening news. To my surprise I could not tune in my local channels out of Boston. ( I have enclosed a copy of an email from Direct TV that shows that I would be able to receive local channels 4, 5 and 7.) I called customer service to inquire about this problem, and spent 3 hours on the telephone trying to resolve this issue with Customer Representatives. First with a person from the Philippines who said he could not help me with the problem and transferred me to a person in Montana. This Customer Representative was originally from Massachusetts and understood my problem He diligently tried to resolve the issue. He said that because I was located on the cusp of the area of reception that I was being directed to channels in Rhode Island.

I live in Massachusetts and want my local news, not news from Rhode Island. Unfortunately he could not resolve the issue. He transferred me to another Customer Representative in Tennessee (there about) and I explained (yet again) my problem to her. She said she understood the problem and also tried to resolve the issue. The end result was that there was nothing they could do to fix the problem.

Over the course of the next 3 days I continually received a "Multi switch problem Error code 503." I called the Customer Service line and was told that it an intermittent problem, and that if it continued that I could request to have a technician come and re-adjust the dish to eliminate the issue. On 3/3 I received a letter from Direct TV dated February 22, 2008 (copy enclosed) which I read from the top down to the salutation. There is nothing on this letter, which states that I had a 24-month commitment.

On 3/6 I received my first bill (statement date 3/14) from Direct TV. To my astonishment I saw the "Welcome & thank you" section on the right, which says that I agreed to pay for 24 consecutive months. I immediately called the Customer Service line and was connected to a representative named Celso who listened to my issue, and transferred me another representative named Angela. I again explained the issue to her and she apologized that I was not told about the 24-month commitment. Angela said that sometimes the new less experienced representatives fail to convey that information.

Angela transferred me to a supervisor named Robert. I again explained the issue to Robert and he said he was not disputing that the commitment was not disclosed, and that it was a common mistake. Robert transferred me to another supervisor named Alma. I had to explain (yet again) the issue to Alma, and stated that if the 24-month commitment could not be removed or changed then I wanted to cancel the service. Alma said that she sent the information "upstairs", and that I would be receiving a letter in 7-14 days to resolve the issue. I told Alma that I did not want to wait that period of time and that I should be able to talk with someone who could address and resolve the issue.

I also told Alma that if there was no one that I could talk to then I wanted to disconnect the service immediately. Alma said she would issue the disconnect for midnight on 3/6. There was no information given to me that I would be charged for the disconnect. The only information requested of me was what service provider would I be using for my television service, and that I would be receiving a RETURN KIT from Fedex within 7-10 days to return the receiver and remote. I inquired about scheduling a date to have the dish removed from the roof, and I was told that the dish is never removed or returned. It is still mounted on my roof.

Later that evening I received a call from a person named Anthony. Anthony said that he did not work for customer service but his capacity was to resolve issues that customers had with their service. He also said that he did not have time to review my problem, but knew I was a long time customer and wanted to resolve my issue. I asked Anthony for his last name and customer service ID number. Anthony said that information was not necessary to resolve the issue. Yet again I explained the whole issue to him. Anthony also apologized for the error that was made, and he said that there was nothing that he could do. What he could do was to offer me FREE HD service for 12 months, but he could not change the 24-month commitment. I thanked Anthony for his offer, but told him that if the commitment could not be removed or changed to 12 months then I wanted the service disconnected.

On 3/14 I received the RETURN KIT from Fedex. I packed the receiver, remote and access card along with the other cables and information that was left by the installer. Fedex was called and picked up the KIT that same day. I tracked the shipment through the Fedex website and saw that it was delivered to Memphis TN on 3/17. (Copy enclosed.)

Two weeks later I received a bill from Direct TV (statement date 3/14) showing a credit balance of -$20.11. I called Customer Service billing and explained that the service had been disconnected on 3/6. I was told that often the overlap in adjustments and the billing cycle conflict and that I should just ignore the bill.

Two weeks later I received another bill from Direct TV (statement date 3/30) showing the same credit balance of -$20.11, I again called Customer Service billing and explained that the service had been disconnected on 3/6, and I was told that they would put in an immediate adjustment and that I should not receive another bill.

To my surprise on 3/9 I received a bill (statement date 4/5) for the amount of $439.89. This is an "Early Cancellation Fee" for $460.00 minus the -$20.11 credit. I called Customer Service and spoke with James in the Philippines. After explaining to James my issue he transferred me to Dahlia. I explained to her the issue and she transferred me to Vicki. Vicki gave me her representative number (#100062962 in the Texas Call Center). This is the first time that a Customer Representative volunteered this information. I (yet again) explained to her the issue and she gave me the necessary information (address for addressing the dispute) to resolve my issue. I thanked Vicki for the information and immediately began this letter.

I am a 64 year old person who has had utilities and services (electric, gas, oil delivery, telephone, cable TV, internet service, VOIP digital telephone) for many years, and none of the providers had me commit to a (long) term contract. I have upgraded my cable television services in the past with a pre-disclosed specified term of a 12 month commitment. My recent change from VOIP digital telephone to a telephone company gave me a discounted price with a pre-disclosed agreement of a 12-month commitment, which I agreed to.

As I stated in the first paragraph of this letter I was never told I would have a contract agreement for 24 months and that is the reason that the service was canceled. If that information were made available to me when I placed then order then I would not have subscribed to your service. They have abandoned the dish on my roof and I have to pay to have it removed and disposed of, and have the roof repaired. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

I thought I had finally solved the problem last month, so I authorized Direct TV to automatically charge my credit card every month. Big mistake! They charged me $74.70. I am finished with TV lying providers. Same thing happened with Time Warner!

Loss of time, stress

Well this morning Direct TV went in and withdrew $343.54 without any permission or authorization to do so. This card was not placed on file by either one of us. I tried calling Direct tv several times this morninig and was hung up on 6 different times with no reslolution. I am in the midst of filing a police report as well as contacting the better business beaureu. My financial institution has tried to get resloution on this as well but Direct TV will not co-operate with them either.

My kids and I have no money now for groceries, my electricity, water and gas bills are due today and are final notices which means they will get shutt off if not paid by 5 pm today. I have been in tears here at work for the last 2 hours and feel like I am going to have an emotional breakdown. We now have no money to pay for the things that were due today and I do not know how I am going to put food on our table. I desperately need your help.

Then I suggested that they could set the dish and hand me the receiver, that I had the technical ability ti install that myself. They refused to do even that. As I type this, I am now on the phone with DirecTV. They have spoken with Ironwood Communications who is sticking with their policy It seems that Ironwood is their only local conractor. So far, no go

I am still without the service that I am paying for. I cannot receive even their standard signal without a remotey mounted dish. The parking space with our utility connections (and the only place to park on this property) is too close to a tree line. We have a rooftop dish and a D10 DirecTV receiver which I purchased at Circuit City, and installed myself. I am paying for service and they refuse to provide it according to my needs.

I'm retired and living off a small pension. I have to budget carefully so this is a total shock. No explanation for the Previous Balance, since I just signed up with them 6 weeks ago and was billed for the first month in advance.

I was assessed a $400 cancellation fee for canceling a service that did not work as promised, after many tries at fixing the problem.

Direct TV's billing dispute team has decided that this fee is legitimate. They claim that we had already had the service activated prior to installation; this is a lie. We had Comcast Cable TV when the technicians entered our apartment, and we still had Comcast Cable when they left. We did not have Direct TV for even 30 seconds. In addition, we never signed anything. We also were never informed that there would be a cancellation fee -- of $350.00!

The billing dispute team claims that we agreed to an 18 month commitment. We did, but we did not realize at the time that the technicians could not get a signal, and as I said, nothing had been signed. I do not feel that we should be charged an early cancellation fee. It was not our choice to cancel. There was no choice to make. It simply did not work in our home. This is an outrageous fee, and we cannot afford to pay it at this time. In is also very unfair.

We thought there was an understanding that the account had been immediately closed, and that there would be no further charges, as there was no further service (or no service at all). I am now getting harrassing emails from Direct TV threatening to charge my husband's debit card, which they have on file, which he also closed today. I cannot believe how ruthless this company is. I hope you can help. Thank you.

The damage is that we have NEVER had Direct TV. We are already having financial troubles and cannot afford to pay this fee, even if we thought it was legitimate. It was never disclosed that we would be charged an astronomical cancellation fee. And nothing was cancelled. Their product simply did not work in our apartment.

So I called for cancellation immediately and it was cancelled on right next day i.e. 1/29/08. Now my problem is initially I have given a deposit of $200 and [the] representative is telling me that its non-refundable because I was getting $5 discount per month for that. But as I have to cancel this account because of wrong installation from your technician I should get my money back. Moreover this connection was sold to me by telling that I will get $20 discount per month because a scheme was going on for only that week and $15 extra discount every month for my $200 deposit. But after buying this connection they said we are sorry we misinformed you and I would get only $5 discount instead of total $35 per month. This is really bad.

I was completely misguided to deposit $200 advance and to sell me the connection. Final outcome is I am paying for Directvs mistakes. After talking to [their] representative 5-6 times, finally I have to put this money under dispute and so notifying [them] also. I am very unhappy about all this. It would be great if [they] can refund the deposit back to me.

Now I see they have put me under Writeoff/NoPay and might hit my credit history. Worst is they haven't refunded $200 yet and trying to spoil my credit history also.

On Monday, February 4, 2008, I contacted Direct TV (and they claim they do not have a log of this call, of course) to cancel the appointment for 2/5/08 because I was not going to be available. On 2/5/08, a technician showed up even after I requested a cancellation. My thirteen year old son was home and showed me the work order when I arrived from work. Unfortunately, I was not contacted during the installation so there was nothing I could do as I was told that the service was installed when arrived from work. I read the work order and in the fine print it mentioned early disconnection fees in the amount of $460.00 and that the service installed was subject to a 24 month commitment.

My son was not authorized to sign any such agreements as he is only thirteen. He told me he signed this because the man in our home told him it needed to be signed in order for us have cable. In any event, I attempted to contact Direct TV on various occassions since the installation. I kept getting transferred to other parties and representatives, and not to mention being treated very unkindly, and they just would not address my concern.

Today, April 30, 2008, I requested the entire service be disconnected effective immediately and they advised me of the early termination fee in the amount of $460.00 and 24 month commitment which I specifically tried calling about for several months. I did not authorize this commitment and need your help.

The other part is that Direct TV should have never contacted them as Direct TV helped themselves to my money in my checking account without my authorization or knowledge so how did I miss a payment? Why didn't Direct TV just cut off the service. I believe I'm being harassed by Collecttech Systems and I believe they owe me 1,000 dollars for violating the Fair Credit Debit Act as I informed them in writing that I was in dispute with DirectTv and to stop contacting me which they have failed to listen one time thus far-to date.

Inconvenience, stress, annoyance which can affect my medical condition of seizures.

On Thursday April 24, 2008 Direct TV went into my checking account without my knowledge, permission, authorization, or notification and removed $223.66 from my account for early cancellation fees. Our cancellation was justified, put simply, Direct TV's $200.00 early cancellation fees are unjust and gained through deceptive and misleading marketing. Thank you for your help, I would like to prevent other from such deceptive and predatory marketing.

Poor service & product after the 4-month promo. Direct TV into my account without my knowledge, permission, authorization, or notification and removed $223.66 from my account for early cancellation fees.

They cut the signal off 3/3. I stated fine. About I month later I noticed a $460.00 charge on my credit card from Direct TV. I contacted them and they stated that was an early cancellation fee. I replied it was only installed 2 days and I was told I would only be charge for those 2 days. I sent about 5 emails talked to serveral people and still got no help. I called my credit card company to disturb the charge they honor it but then Direct TV sent the charge back thru. I sent there equipment back after recieiving their return information. I told them that $460.00 for 2 days is insane and I would only pay them for 2 days of service.

I checked all their documention on the web and the work order and there is nothing on it about early cancellation fees being $460.00, or I would not have signed up with them. This is a rip off and then I was told if I signed back up they would drop the charge. I would tell anyone who signs up with them beware of the hidden charges. There is much more to this complaint but will end it here.

None, it just the the time and effort it is taken to get them to acknowledge that $460.00 for 2 days is ridiculus and the I don't care about your complaint once you sign up, they are no better than cable.

I once again asked her why I was not informed of this when purchasing the agreement and she said I'm sorry you were misinformed Well, misinformed doesn't pay my bills, I do.. Wow, I'm only in the first month of billing and am already leery of this company. I only wish I had had internet service so I could have checked them out before calling direct tv. I have read all the other complaints from customers and apparently this is Direct TV's normal practice. Unfortunately for anyone reading this complaint, you have probably already been bitten by the Direct TV scams.

There goes my budget

Upon receipt of the first bill, we noted there were fees of $4.99 for each receiver. When we inquired about this, we were told these are mirroring fees, not lease fees. Nevertheless, regardless of their name, Mr. Cottrell failed to divulge these monthly charges to us in his presentation. We attempted to contact Mr. Cottrell on several occasions but did not receive a return call. Furthermore, the upfront charges for the equipment paid on a credit card were in fact not to purchase the receivers but are actually lease charges too.

Contrary to Mr. Cottrell's claim, the company states we DO NOT own any equipment. In our last contact with a company Resolution Specialist? today, DirecTV refused to offer a resolution, stating in effect theres nothing we can do.? We believe that, had we known the true, total monthly charges, we may well have decided to continue with our Comcast service. To address this blatant matter of deceptive business practices, we request your office to investigate our complaint and seek an amicable resolution. Our requested remedy is for the company to waive all $4.99 mirroring? or lease? fees for the duration of our contract, and to reduce our contract commitment from two years to one year.

We believe we should not be responsible for additional charges not mentioned at the sales presentation. We feel duped. A letter containing the above complaint was mailed to the Washington, DC, office of the Better Business Bureau on April 29, 2008.

$420.00 to get out of a 2 year committment we didnt know was in place, and for which we would not have agreed to had we had a (reasonable) choice.

This sounds like a total scam to me and another way of fleecing the consumer. These people have nickle and dimed me so much I dropped the premium channels in the past and if I didn't have grandkids I'd drop the whole thing. The interesting thing is when I called this company to complain I was told that I could choose not to accept the protection plan (of course there is no mention of this in the letter) but I will be billed a very high rate ($70.00 p/hr) for service and have to pay the cost of all equipment replacement should any equipment fail. I could pay the protection plan rate for years(I'm sure they will bump it up again even higher) and never need to utilize this Protection Plan (sounds like the mafia)or wait until something goes wrong and pay through the nose for something I've had all along for free.

My complaint is that the letter does not stipulate an option and should something go wrong with the equipment we already pay too much for what we get and they should fix/repalce it for free. That would be customer service. I'm hearing that soon I may have another TV option through Verizon and if that is the case it's adios to Consolidated(not so)SmartSystems. Just want to go on record in case you get additional complaints. Thank you.

Right now if I have a problem they fix it for free. I don't recall ever having a problem that required fixing but in the future if I don't pay this annual fee I will have to foot the bill for such repairs on their equipmeent and this is a economic disadvantage/hardship.

The first problem was that I was not receiving the free HBO, Cinemax, Starz, Encore, and Showtime I was promised for the first 3 months of service. I didnt notice it at first, since we dont watch many movies, but I had to call to have that turned on when I noticed it. Within the first week or so, I noticed the picture flickering on most channels, especially during commercials. This flickering was occurring when the picture changes (when you watch TV, the picture is always changing). Sometimes, it was white/opaque vertical lines, and other times these lines would resemble the image that was just on the TV screen. In either case, it would just be visible for a fraction of a second. Nonetheless, it was enough to be annoying.

So, I called DirecTech and had a technician come out. He installed some boosters on the lines. That did not work. Same problem. I was watching Family Guy the night before and it was REALLY flickering during that show, so I threw a tape in the VCR so I could show the technician the next day. I played it for him and he acknowledged there was a problem, but he said, I really dont see much of a problem? As far as I was concerned, it was blatantly obvious, but he just shrugged it off as nothing he was really interested in. Right around this time, I realized I still had not seen my $6 credit for being a Cincinnati Bell customer. I just received my third bill from DirecTV, but no $6 Cincinnati Bell discount. Hmmm. Back on the phone!

I did a 3-way call with DirecTV and Cincinnati Bell. They both reported that it takes up to 3 billing cycles for the discount to show up. Ridiculous! Back to the flickering problem Frustrated, I took one of my receivers to a friends house and hooked it up to their DirecTV dish and television. The flickering problem happened there, too! I wanted to rule out my televisions, coaxial cable lines in our condominium building, the MDU dishes, and even electrical interference in our electrical lines (including power strips and surge protectors). Consider all that stuff ruled out! I even left the receivers on all the time to see if that might make a difference. Nope, flickering still happened!

At my wits end, I called DirecTech again to request new receivers. They sent out a technician again and he installed new receivers. It was the same guy as before (the guy I played the Family Guy tape for). Again, completely uninterested in the problem, he just hooked up 2 new receivers, called to get them activated, and left. He didnt even take the old receivers. I asked him as he was on his way out the door if he wanted the old receivers, and he said DirecTV would send a prepaid FedEx box to me if they wanted them back. Unfortunately, the new receivers were doing exactly the same thing. Talk about being disappointed! Since the new receivers were doing the exact same thing, I decided that I couldnt handle this; Im canceling my service. Thats when the real fun started I called DirecTV to cancel the service and spent 45 minutes on the phone with 2 people arguing over breaching the agreement.? I explained to them that I had a signed agreement that says I can return the equipment within 14 days of downgrading or disconnecting my programming in lieu of any charges.

Here is exactly what my signed agreement says: Consequences of Your Failure to Maintain Agreement: If you fail to maintain your programming commitment, you agree that DIRECTV may charge you a prorated fee of up to one hundred fifty U.S. dollars ($150) for standard receivers and up to three hundred U.S. dollars ($300) for advanced receivers. Within 14 days of downgrading or disconnecting your programming, you have an option to send all of your DIRECTV System equipment (receiver[s] and remote control[s]) to DIRECTV in lieu of this payment. The equipment, including the Access Card inserted into each DIRECTV System Receiver unit, must be returned to DIRECTV in good working order, normal wear and tear excepted. Visit DIRECTV.com or call 1-800-DIRECTV for details. Now, what does that mean? If you ask DirecTV, it means I can cancel my service within 14 days of being installed. If you read it, it means I can cancel my service and I have 14 days to return the equipment without being charged.

Like I said, I spent 45 minutes on the phone arguing over this signed contract. Even though I was holding it in my hand and reading it to them, they denied its existence by saying, we dont have people sign anything; we have verbal agreements.? I said, but I am hold it in my hand, it has YOUR logo on it.? He replied, the installers sometimes put our logo on their paperwork.? Whose fault is this? Well, this was 45 minutes of wasted time; all they would say is if I got billed an early termination fee, I could write a letter to the Billing Disputes Department. I was offered another service call and/or $10/month off for the next 6 months. I didnt want to terminate my service, send the equipment back, abide by the agreement that I signed, and possibly get a bill in the mail for canceling early. So I kept the service on and slept on it.

Next day, I decided that I really did like the channel selection DirecTV offers, so I thought I might try one of my parents old DirecTV receivers, as theirs never presented any problems. Problem is, you need a new access card. So, I called the Access Card Department, explained the whole situation, and that I was attempting to fix a problem DirecTV or DirecTech couldnt fix. He was willing to send me out an access card at no charge, but he needed the receiver ID. I asked him if I could do a 3-way call with my mom and she could just read off the information from the receiver. Unfortunately, she was not home. So, the guy I was talking to said he would document all this (including offering me a free access card), and he would put it in the top notes? so they would see it right away for when I called back with the used receiver information.

Next day, I called mom and asked her to read me the receiver information and mail the receiver to me. I called DirecTV right after that and was told that there was NO WAY I could ever have an access card for no charge. Then I asked why I was told just the day before that I could, she said she didnt know why I was told that but access cards are $20, and that was NOT NEGOTIABLE. Before coughing up $20 to fix DirecTVs mistake, I said that I would take that $10/month off for the next 6 months that I was offered a couple of days ago. Now are you ready for a good laugh? Her response to me was, That was a time-sensitive offer, only good during the conversation with that person at that time.? After this whole thing blows over and is just a memory (more like a nightmare), one thing is for sure: DirecTV has lost a customer FOREVER.

On or about the 23rd of January I noticed a lease fee on my bill but thought this was just the monthly fee for using the extra device. I was never told that this would be a leased unit either by the seller on eBay nor the customer service agent for DirecTV nor was I told I would be locked into another 18 month commitment to DirecTV.

On April 12th I called to cancel service and was notified that I was held responsible for this agreement and would have to pay for this. I do not have nor was I provided a signed receipt showing I agreed to this nor was I ever provided any information to this effect. On April 19th, unbeknownst to myself, my American Express Card was charged the amount $317.01for what has been invoiced as an early cancellation fee. At no time did I give DirecTV authorization to debit my card for this in fact I refused this fee and told the representative on the 12th of April I would be disputing this.

I am disputing this charge for the additional 18 month commitment as I have had service with DirecTV since 2006 and have fulfilled the original service commitment. Additionally I am disputing the lease charges for the receiver that I had purchased from eBay and have been charged by DirecTV for. Youre assistance is appreciated in this matter.

Unautherized charges to my credit card caused me to cancell the card in fear of additional attempts to defraud me by DirecTV.

We moved and they came and ripped up our roof and installed the hideous satellite. Our service was once again sporadic, dropping shows etc. We decided to switch to Verizon as we have Fios for internet and phone. Upon informing DirectTV they told us we owed them about $700.oo. What? Okay so after we returned th DVR's and receivers this is lowered to about $400. Why? Because when we moved we were enrolled into another contract for two years. Why would DirectTV not let us know this until we were cancelling? We would not have agreed to two year contract if we were told it would be renewed.

This might all seem bad enough but, to top all of it off is the horrid customer serivce experiences we have had since the cancellation of our DTV service. The woman on the phone told me it was my right as an American to use free speech to tell everyone I know about the horrible service and attitude of DTV and well.. I am going to. DO NOT USE DIRECTtv do anything in your power to find another provider, they could care less about you as a customer and they will find ways to rip some more money out of your hands, legitimate or not.

Right now about $400.

On Feb. 12, 2008 I subscribed with AT&T -u-verse for TV and internet provider services. I already had AT&T internet, but wanted all my computers to be wireless and that's why I switched. My installation date was March 10, 2008. I called Directv to cancel my service and was told that I had agreed to a new contract and would be charged $225 for early cancelation. I disagreed with them and they tell me I am liable. They said had I owned the equipment, I would not have been under contract. Then they told me I had bought my original equipment and that is not true. I asked if I had owned it, why did I have to return it with the threat of a $249 charge. They said I misunderstood. Then in March 2008, I received an e-mail from them saying I had agreed to the contract and my new equipment was activated on Feb. 28, 2008. They said I agreed verbally to a 2 year contract.

At that time I had already subscribed to U-verse and had an installation date set. Why would I accept a 2 year contract knowing I was going with u-verse. I have done a lot of research and have discovered on the BBB website that this has happened to thousands of people. I have also read numerous reviews written by people on the BBB website and they have stated the same thing. Also, if you file a complaint, you can't write a review on the BBB site, so these numbers of complaints are even higher.

Also, I have discovered that equipment seems to conveniently mal-function has consumers are getting to the end of their contracts. If they can push a button at their offices to fix a problem, they can push a button to create one. Consumers will never be out from under a contract with them and then they collect hundreds of dollars from unsuspecting consumers. I also discovered that in 2005, 22 states filed suit against Directv for not making customers aware of the renewal contract. At least 4 Directv reps verbally and in e-mails to me have said I did not sign anything. They said there are no written contracts, that everything is verbal. One person, Rebecca, ID # 407561 told me that I had a contract with Directv, but they did not have one with me. I thought contracts were between 2 parties. Well, not in this case.

This week a rep from the billing department called and wanted me to give her my credit card number or my bank account number. I would not do it, she became rude, I hung up. The next day, someone called again. She said she was recording. I told her I was too. She asked for my credit card or bank numbers. I refused. As I was asking her a question, she hung up on me. When I first subscribed to directv, I was well aware of the 2 year contract, but at no time did anyone tell me that I entered a new one. I would not have agreed to it. I would have paid for 2 months early cancelation and be done with them. Also, some people have been charged as much at $600.

When I asked how they arrived at this figure, no one would tell me. Rebecca kept contradicting herself so much, that I actually laughed and asked her if she heard what she was saying. She laughed too. I really don't think any of this is funny. Please help and hold them accountable. As I delve deeper into this, there is so much that is shady.

Early cancelation fee of $225 charged deceptively.

severe emotional distress as i cannot watch the yankees. Try and read the fine print with Directv before you agree to any changes, it is confusing. Customer service is a joke and i believe they intentionally drag things out to infuriate us, hoping we will get fustrated and give up.

I never had any verbal agreement with anyone with DIRECTV. Besides I wanted to see these therms and conditions on my signed agreement not after signing an agreement. This is not a proper way of doing business.

There is a balance of 282.65 and DIRECTV complained against me to a collection agency and now the collection agency is going to report it to the credit report which will affect my credit score.

Below is a letter I sent regarding Direct TV agent giving me misinformation just to get me to sign up. I asked him to verify with his supervisor that what he told me was correct. He put me on hold and came back on the phone and stated he did verify the information and that what he told me was correct. However now I am told that instead of unlimited suspensions, I am only allow 2 suspensions per year. And if I have two accounts, I will be allowed 4 suspension? Why would I sign up for another account and another contract for 2 years, I am having too much trouble now. I requested a written copy of your DTV vacation contract/policy but have not received one yet.

I received a phone message today on my voice mail from DirectTV regarding this letter below. It gave me the pat answer everyone else gave me: that there are only two suspensions per year and if I have two accounts I could get 4 suspensions. And the person also stated that I could not get the 3 free months while the account is in suspension? Regardless of whether I used the DTV for 1 week or 2 weeks in a month, there should have not been a charged for Starz movies for Nov, Dec, or Jan. It did not address the fact the I was given misinformation just to get me to sign up with DirectTV. I would hope that DirectTV would honor what the DirectTV agent told me, or let me out of my contract without paying any penalty since it was obtained under false pretence, OR allow me unlimited suspensions as I was initially told to get me to sign up.

On November 16, 2007, I spoke with a Direct TV agent regarding getting Vacation Service to my vacation house in Many, La. He informed me the following and upon my request he confirmed this with his supervisor that the following information was correct: 1. There are UNLIMITED number of times to suspend vacation service. But it could not be suspended for more than 6 months at a time. 2. Free Starz & Showtime Movies for 3 months 3. $10 monthly reduction x 10 months 4. Only billed for the actual days of use. 5. 2 year contract The Problem: I am very disappointed because the Direct TV Vacation Program Services above that was told to me now seems not to existent. The DTV agent now tells me the following: 1. NO Unlimited # of times to suspend vacation service. Only can suspend service 2 times & for up to 6 months a year. (another DTV agent said it was 4 times). 2. There is NO $10 monthly reduction on the vacation program service. 3. There is NO FREE Starz & Showtime Movies for 3 months on the vacation program. I resent being given misinformation to just to get me to sign up to DTV! Resolution: To resolve the problem I am asking you: 1. To abide by what the original DTV agent verbally told me initially (and who said he verified it with his supervisor) when I signed up in Nov 2007. Especially the UNLIMITED # of times I can suspend and reconnect the vacation service. 2. To send me a copy of the VACATION HOME SERVICE CONTRACT.

I have never received a copy of the vacation program service contract, only the regular service contract. It would be to Direct TV benefit financially to have customers suspend and reconnect the vacation service for unlimited number of times during the year. The more reconnections to the service the more money for Direct TV. Rather than limit the number of suspensions for a Vacation Home Program, you may want to consider charging a small nominal fee to suspend service each time. According to DISH TV, their Vacation Service is a flat $5.00 fee per month with NO limit on the number of suspensions. And you pay only for the days used.

I am locked into a 2 yr contract that they claim they have a right to change after I signed up. This is totally unfair.

She also paid 43.00 for 3 movie channels that she didn't want but they told her it was free for 3 months. I was told to dispute this to get the fees waived that she had a good reason and it would take 10 business days for a decision. Mom recieved the bill for 470.00 last week but no answer on the dispute. it has been about 15 days. Mom is in her 70's and I think they took advantage of her. I think customers should be given the agreement when they first sign up, not 2 weeks later. Eveyone I have called have given me different policies and one even told me they changed it that month when I questioned him on the amount of time to terminate service without a penalty. How can anyone know in 24 hours if they like the service? thank you for your time in this matter.

We have paid for extra receivers since September of 2005 which amounts to $150 over the course of 2 years, and the fact that this money was in their pocket not ours for this long. Additionally, 2 hours and 2 disconnects when requesting to speak with a party who could make a decision to correct the situation. After holding for 40 minutes and then 20 minutes I was disconnected by the party who was supposed to be the supervisor. The stress and feeling of abuse by the customer service reps today is incredible.

This is amazing that I could be shaken up so much by this, but it is my money and they clearly feel they can keep it and when I asked for them to correct the issue they already investigated and admitted clearly, they claim they cannot do anything for me for any issue prior to the past 60 days.

I contacted DirecTV to get new equipment and they wanted to charge me over $800, I told them to cancel, and they called me back and gave me new equipment for free, except for another HD unit which I ended up paying for. Last year, they increased my bill by over $30, saying that my previous access was no longer valid and that they were now leasing me the equipment. After several heated emails, I decided to swallow that too, to avoid the hassle of changing over. Then they started charging an additional $10 for HD that was previously free, and by then I had it.

Last Monday I contacted them on their website to cancel the service as of last Wednesday. They did not do it. I contacted them three times since then and now they say that since I did not call (although I used their site to request disconnection), that I have to pay for service to today. In addition to that, they are charging me a $25 fee to disconnect because they claim that I agreed to a two year contract that I did not. As I mentioned earlier, it's not the fees, its doing what is right or wrong. Their business practices are questionable at best and I would not recommend anyone subscribing to their service.

Minor ($20 for service, $25 disconnect fee).

Bottom line is the sales associates lie to get you on the hook and leave you talking to some customer service who cares less. Shes says I'm not within the 24 hour period to cancel, although there was no meeting of the minds here. I know if I want I can get out of this but I would rather resolve it.

After being worn down and arguing with their CS reps, I finally did it so we would be able to get TV service. Now, I am being charged for MLB extra innings when I didn't order it. I had a boyfriend living with me over a year ago, we ordered it for him at that time. When he left, he called direc tv to cancel at my house and switch it to his location. So, it was automatically charged to his bill this month, so why charge me. He made it clear that he would be moving services and asked that they cancel service before it was ever billed. Well, surprise, it is billing me $40+ for the next 4 months. I called and spoke with 3 different individuals whom all said that they couldn't do anything about it. They said that that even it was pre-authorized from the prior year, even though we had canceled.

They will not remove it from my bill, so now I am stuck with paying for something I will not watch. I would suggest that nobody looking for service go to direc tv without first reading all of the personal reviews from customers like me. I never had this problem when I worked with Dish Network. They had much better customer support. I will end up paying the 200$ + to cancel my service with them so that I never have to do business with them again. I feel as though I have been taken advantage of in the worst way.

Then I was told their records are proprietary info and none of my business. Then I asked to speak to Charles' (badge 401353) manager and he said he was the highest on the food chain that I'll ever get. I asked if he was the owner? No. Hmmm...interesting. He was extremely rude! I am finding a ton of these types of complaints online. How does DirecTV get away with this. I consider this deceptive and illegal advertising. I think they are breaking laws and practicing poor business practices. The cancellation fees are ridiculous...outrageous!!!

All the time and money I have spent the last three months trying to get them to refund my money and the penalties they have incurred by sending me harrassing bills - they owe me well over $1,000. I will settle now for $1,000 and to never deal with Directv ever again.

I received my first bill for 62.00 and my rate was 53.00 per month. When I called and complained I was THEN told about a rebate form (I had to go on-line and weed through the dozens of forms on their sight) that needed to be filled out and could take up to 3 months to be processed but in that time I would have to pay the $62.00 a month and when the rebate was approved it would be credited to my account!!!!???? I argued with them but customer sevice would not back down and threatened to turn off my service.

When I said I wanted the equipment to be picked up she then told me I would be charged $240.00 for breaking MY CONTRACT!!!!!! I was shocked at this practice and the cheating ways of such a big Co. There is no guarantee my rebate will ever be approved or processed so to watch tv it will cost me $62.00 a month......I will continue my fight but everyone else please be warned of these rebates that do not exixt or can take 3-6 months to process. This was a blatant lie and very decietful practice

`

When the installer showed up, he tried to charge my $400.00 for custom installation. I insisted on the free installation that I was promised. It took 3 heated phone calls, 1 week of time, and a new installation contractor until my service was up and running on 3/10/08.

Today, I received my first bill. I expected about $75.00 plus tax. The bill is $206.11. Once again, I called to inquire, and was told that my 50% discount had not been applied yet, and if I want HD service, they were going to bill an unexpected $49.00 per month.

Now, having my over a barrel, I have 3 choices. Pay the $49.00 per month for the HD service, discontinue the HD service, and eat the $673.26 that I paid for the HD receivers that are non refundable, or cancel the service all together, eating the $673.26 plus a $300.00 early cancellation fee.

A week ago I call to cancel since I now have the option of cable. I was told that the contract was for two years but the rep said they would refer it to their review board because I had returned the HD box that made it a 2 year contract. However, they would not recend the two year contract.

It was never made clear to me that this was something I would be stuck with for two years unless I pay an unbeliveable amount of money to get out of it.

For $100/month, you're telling me I can't have the guide channel for free? The next person told me that the same charge was for a receiver we haven't had for over a year. Then when the latest teenage tech came out and he phoned the office to ask if he should bring back the old receivers from our home, they said, No, they own those. So if we own them (and they were old), why am I paying for them monthly?

I have written two different letters to the Colorado headquarters sent via Certified mail and the only satisfaction I ever get is the occasional We'd be happy to give you Showtime free for 3 months. Are ya kiddin' me? I don't need your Showtime, I don't even have any extra time because I'm usually on the phone attempting to fix DirecTV nightmares.

Who has the right to provide a customer's credit card number to a 3rd party company to bill bogus charges? This should not be allowed. Someone needs to be held accountable.

Again DirecTV told me that they cannot do anything, and it was not part of their problem. My Channels 5 , 9, and 13 plus more than 20 others channels still do not work. I have missed some of my favorite shows, Laker games and so forth. DirecTV has not been helpful and has not presented a solution to my satisfaction. My receiver was replaced with a new one, with no result. This is not acceptable in any way. I have been making payments for an incomplete and unsatisfactory service for more than 2 years. Resolution Sought: I want a full refund on all my payments made towards DirecTV for this incomplete and unsatisfactory service. I will not accept anything else, since they cannot fix my problem.

I have been ripped off by paying for an incomplete and unsatisfactory service. I have lost money.

At the time I said well since you already done it what makes you think that I did receive a letter I should have had something to send back to your company with my signature stating its ok for you to charge my account. And now 5 months later I get a bill at my job saying I need to pay them $109.92 for movies that was ordered on my remote controls. I called them and talk to Michelle id # 69402, Ilka id # 23051, Robert id # 33652, Jeff id # 173211 and Nikki Toliver would not give me her badge # but they was all suppose to be supervisors and the talk to me like I had a tail on.

I don't understand why I would have to pay such a huge cancellation fee when I notified them of my issues with their service within the three-day cancellation grace period, returned all the equipment, paid for my 18 days of service, and never got the locals I was led to believe were available. Still, Direct TV believes they are justified in charging me $340--that's the equivalent of six months of service, for 18 days of TV I did not want! The contract I agreed to was under the assumption I would receive local channels. They were misleading in getting me to agree to a contract when no locals were available to begin with. To top it off, since I refuse to pay, they are just going to charge my credit card on file from when I signed up for my Qwest service! Is there any recourse?

$340 cancellation charge plus $28 for 18 days of service. I have spent over 10 hours on the phone trying to resolve the issue and have been hung up on all but one time.

TO ME THIS IS TYPICAL OF A COMPANY THAT HOPES YOU FORGET OR GIVE UP TRYING. THEY KNOW A SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF REBATES ARE NOT ACTED ON AND HOPE YOU ARE ANOTHER FOOL..

At stake is $220 worth of rebates--with nothing but a promise so far.

Stay away from these people. They totally lie and steal. I never got the gift card either. I've complained to BBB in Georgia, where DirecTV's headquarters are. DirecTV also caused my checking account to be overdrawn at least once now. I just hate being lied to. It's so wrong.

I have been back and forth with Direct TV & Verizon, it's been two weeks and I have not been credited. Every time I call I am getting the run around, first they say an account was never set up, then they said it would take up to 60 days to get the refund. Then tonight I received a call back from a Manager and she was very nasty and told me that once I placed the order they will not refund my deposit! So basically once you place an order you cannot cancel and they keep your money? Then I called again and was told I had to write a letter to the billing dept. I have proof that Direct TV took out the $200.00 & I just want my deposit back.

I recently was laid off from my job and had to take a job making a lot less money, so I cannot afford to just toss out $200.00. I basically now live paycheck to paycheck and this is quite a hardship for me.

I called customer service and they said I had to apply the rebate on the form or online. I applied online and found out they gave me only $10 off. I called the direct TV a couple times, one of the representatives even called the rebate center asking to increase my rebate from $10 up to $20. He recommended I should applied to get $10 first, and then later after processed, I may get $10! But that is just a promise, I don't see any changes. Today, I tried to call customer service, and explain to them what happen, and ask them for help with my rebate. They gave me a phone of rebate center. I called them but they let me know I only qualify $10 rebate. I told them how come when direct TV advertise say $20 off, but the true is only $10. They said they understand but they can't help me. I am unhappy with the way the direct TV handle my problem. Now I get stuck with the contract with them!

I lost $10 off each month in 12 months.

We're still disputing the charge, trying to avoid any problems with our credit. We did have success at least getting a call back by emailing the CEO's office and the marketing chief's office.

I never entered into a lease agreement, and I have for over a year asked them to supply me a signed agreement or a voice file, that shows I actively accepted a lease agreement. They have not done so. I have been sent to three collection agencies, and to each one I have demanded they stop their unlawful collection practices. They all have. On Feb 25, I received a letter directly from DirecTV, demanding that I pay the penalty. Please help.

Hours wasted spent on the phone and writing letters, trying to correct and dispute this unlawful collection.

I have a bill that is due in March. I have sent a letter to dispute the charges.

In December, I emailed through their website. The company replied that it may take 4-6 weeks to get the refund back to me. It's almost end of February now, and I still haven't heard anything from the company. I emailed them again and got a response that they will put me on priority by getting back to me within 8 business days! Is this their sincere priority? What happened to this company? I know it not a lot of money; the only thing I care about is the way they treat the customer. How many customers were treated like this? How many customers have been giving up the follow-up and just forget to ask for refund when DirectTV plays this game?

So far I am stuck for paying for six additional months at $49.99 plus tax.

Every time I call Direct TV, I'm on hold for at least 30 minutes and then someone comes on the phone and talks to me like I'm three. I've even had supervisors hang up on me when they can't find a resolution. The last time a technician was scheduled to come out they called to confirm the appointment but never showed up. When I told one supervisor that I had to physically get up and unplug the receiver to get a signal she responded that at least I could get a picture and she didn't see a problem with me have to do that everyday and sometime 3 - 4 time a day.

After dealing with Direct TV for 4 months about the same issue, I decided to cancel my subscription. Well I got a live person in less than 2 minutes and when I refuse to continue my service the agent got really nasty with me and said they were going to bill my debit card for $482. I responded by saying, "So you're punishing me for not wanting to wait any longer to have my problem solved?" She said, no this was just the cost for canceling my membership. I asked for a supervisor and finally got one after asking for 15 minutes. The supervisor was very rude and said I hadn't given them a chance to fix the problem. So I asked how long should I wait and she said as long as it takes and then she hung up on me. I called back and got the same reply. I don't understand how they can get away with this. Plus I don't remember anyone from Direct TV telling me my contract would be extended by a year for ordering an HD receiver.

Issue #2 - Two weeks later I checked my account and noticed that DirecTV had deducted $319.01 from my account, which I had not authorized. When I called DirecTV they said they could not credit the money back because again their customer agreement requires full payment upon cancellation. I communicated if this was the case why did the representative not communicate this while I was on the phone with him? DirecTV could not answer this question. I think DirecTV is very unethical and deceptive in the practices, and I will seek to put together a class action lawsuit if someone doesn't beat me to it.

Took $319.01 out of my account that was not authorized, which resulted in a bounced checks in NSF fees.

DirecTV says they never received any letter, and I cannot talk to anyone in disputes. Allied says that DirecTV validated it, and they must collect. I am willing to pay the $12.50 that has not yet been paid per my agreement with DirecTV's representative on Sept. 17, 2007, when I canceled my service. I have copies of all the letters that were sent to DirecTV and Allied Interstate.

I have been sent to collections for a bill that is different from what their representative told me my final bill would be after cancellation. I now have this negative credit report on my record.

The cancellation department said that should I decide I want to leave DirectTV, I am forced to pay $400.00 in cancellation fees or live with this for another 19 months because of my commitment. I asked what DirectTV's commitment to me was, and they stated that they had no commitment to me. I believe they are intentionally distributing faulty equipment with the knowledge that they can bring in extra revenue, continually replacing it and extending contracts. I have been told my only recourse with them is through their legal department.

I will have to pay $400 in cancellation fees or live with faulty equipment for 18 more months.

DirecTv charged my card without my authorization for services I did not receive.

My being in debt to Direct TV for $486.00. I do not think that I should have to pay to disconnect if I don't even have service.

I check my checking account daily only to see that they had taken $144.45 out of my account. I had not given them any permission to do so.

When my husband called and asked them who gave them permission to charge the card on file they said that in April of last year they sent out a form that said if you don't want to allow Directv to charge your card that is on file, to sign and send back. We never received any paper like that and it seems that its backwards, that they should be have to require a signature for a recurring charges.

I decided to check my Directv account and it CLEARLY says: Recurring Payment: Not Enabled.

On two separate occasions I was told it would be $100, but when I got my final bill it was $250. I disputed it but they turned it over to a collection agency and now they have damaged my credit rating.

They were not willing to offer any additional programming as compensation for the $100 a month I pay for leasing all this equipment when there is very little choice in programming available on a basis package.

No economic injury, but don't take their word for anything and get it all in writing. Bail at the first sign of trouble!

I was duped into believing it would only be $29.95 which it is $51.12 a month AND they double charged me .

I am concerned about DIRECTVs policies and practices regarding termination of service requests, particularly in the circumstance where direct payment arrangements are in effect. I am concerned that the company is not effectively processing (including documenting) termination requests, which may result in an inappropriate and in some cases, lengthy continuation of billing well after the intended termination, as happened in this case. Furthermore, I am concerned about DIRECTV's complaint resolution process, on the grounds that it is cumbersome and inadequate and not sufficiently calibrated to lead to an objective resolution of valid issues.

Unauthorized billing in the total amount of $1305.20 was made against my checking account between January 2007-November 2007. I am seeking a reimbursement for the withdrawn funds.