DirecTV review: contract 33

This is the interaction with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB is useless as well. They are not out for the small person, they are out for big business. Do not do business with Direct TV. They practice deceptive business practices. And the people at Direct TV, including Bobby Vernon, are completely useless.

DirecTV, Inc.

2230 East Imperial Highway El Segundo, CA 90245
Contact: Bobby Vernon
Phone: [protected]

I'm writing regarding my acct that I opened on 8/11/07. I purchased the NFL package, which is a 4 month deal at about $70 per month. I called Nick on 12/20/07 at the 1-800 # & he said that you had charged me $394.45. Under my impression, I should only be charged roughly $270 for the package. Nick went on to tell me that I had the HD receiver & that I signed a 2yr contract. I was a bit surprised with this because nowhere in the process of ordering verbally or contractually was I notified of this. He directed me online to the small print page that described this & sure enough it said this. He told me to write a letter to this address & ask to be taken out of the contract. I beg you, please remove me from this contract. I can't afford a two year contract & didn't realize I was getting 2yrs for that receiver. I don't even have an HD TV. All I have is a small 19 inch TV. I saved up all year & was so excited to get my NFL package & then this was dropped on me. Please, don't ruin my impression of DIRECTV. I can't afford the 2yr contract & certainly can't afford the cancellation fee. Please, have a kind heart. I don't have a lot of money& only saved up enough for the $270 for the package. I normally don't have any extra cable or satellite to my apt & thought it would be exciting to have the NFL package. If I had known that I was going into a 2yr commitment, I would've not got into this program.

Response from Direct TV
We are sorry for any misunderstanding. Upon review of the account we that you activated your account with a new customer promotion giving you our best package, Premier, at no charge for 4 months, when you subscribe to the NFL SUNDAY TICKET. Under this offer, you were charged $69.99 each month for 4 months for the NFL SUNDAY TICKET. At the end of the 4 months, the Premier began charging at its regular price of $99.99 a month. We show that you activated on 8/11/07, therefore the promotional offer ran until 12/10/07. The Premier began charging on 12/11/07 and was reflected on the 12/12/07 billing statement. You contacted us on 1/11/08 and your account was suspended at your request for 6 months with a reactivation date scheduled for 7/31/08. We have reviewed the charges, payments, and credits as they appear on your account, and consider them to be accurate. At the time you placed your order, we advised you there would be a commitment associated with the equipment you were acquiring and activating. We also noted the commitment on the order confirmation we mailed to you. We significantly discount the price of equipment and installations and we pass this savings on to our customers. In exchange we ask you to keep your programming for a specified amount of time. The length of the commitment is based on the equipment ordered (12 months for standard equipment and 24 months for advanced equipment such as the DVR). We have reviewed your account and unfortunately we are unable to waive your commitment.

Response from me.

These are deceptive business practices. The person I talked to never warned me about the 2 year contract. That makes no sense. All I wanted was the football package. Why would I have agreed to 2 years? If you had warned me, I would have said no. It is that simple. You are roping me into this contract by giving me equipment I did not ask for and then saying I was told. That is not true. You did not mail me an invoice, you emailed me one. And if you are at all interested, I can provide the proof that nowhere in the invoice and included links does it lead to the fact that I signed up for 2 years. You also lost my $100 dollar refund money because you were late twice to my house. How is this? Because these are deceptive business practices.

Response from Direct TV

Our records show you ordered your system online at directv.com. Prior to completing the order online, you must have agreed to the terms and conditions of the offer by checking a box stating you agree. We also advised you of the commitment on your first statement, which was viewed by someone that has access to your online account. All prospective customers are able to view detailed commitment information online at directv.com/agreements prior to acquiring equipment and services. We have reviewed your account and unfortunately we are unable to waive your commitment. We have applied a $100 credit to your account because of a missed installation in August ‘07. We apologize for the delay.

Trent you hit the nail right on the head.DTV is a horrible company. Go to the other links and read what all their customers are going through.Just what their almost customers went through but unlike us missed all the deceptive buisness practices. Wait until you cancel your account completly and have to send their equipment back. Their going to hit with cancellation fees for contracts you never signed-try to charge you up to 470.00 dollars a box if you don't get the equipment back.They post the shipping before you even get the boxes then give you exprss save shipping which takes 2-3 days so by the time they get it it past 7 days. You should call the 800 # the lines are recorded ask for employee names and i.d. numbers write down time and date you called. Copy any e-mails you send and any e-mails you get back.Always check your billing staement they never get it right. Their trying to charge me a cancellation fee of 274.00 for a contract I never signed-Their reps are very rude disrespectful and bullies. Before you cancel your service talk to your credit cards and bank to let them know what is going on with this company. You have to protect yourself this company know nothing about good customer service. Contact your local news station, attorney generals office, better buisness bureau, consumer protection bureau-anybody who will listen if this is how they treat 20-40 year olds just imagine how they must treat 60-80 year olds.

Direct TV & the NFL are running a monopoly.
It may be a monopoly that protects the major networks (which is why they get away with it) but it's a monopoly. DirectTV gains most of their subscribers because of NFL Sunday Ticket, and this is viewed as the main reason they bid so generously for the rights. The NFL indicated that one reason they accepted DirecTV's bid was to limit the availability of the product so that the television networks and local stations would be protected. In particular, Sunday Ticket viewers do not count towards local Nielsen Ratings, thus offering Sunday Ticket on cable might cost CBS and FOX affiliates millions of dollars in lost revenue from local commercial breaks (as opposed to national ads sold by the networks). So when DirectTV offers new customers their "best offer of the year" with 265 digital channels & Sunday ticket for only 74.99, it kind of makes you wonder what the ratio is for current customers to cancel and just go watch the game at the bar!

I completely agree. As a matter of fact, I'm on hold with DirecTV as I write this. They have been horrible to deal with. When I initially signed up with them they told me it would be no trouble to transfer my account to my roommate if I decided to move. This was an outright lie. They won't just transfer an account. You have to create a new account and spend money to order new "account cards". Long story short, my roomomate and I spent over three hours on hold and on the phone with DirecTV. They sent 2 cards (1 short) and then couldn't get them to work. After all of this she didn't want to take over the account because the customer service experience was so awful. (After sitting on hold, they love to "transfer" you to different departments and inadvertantly drop the call, so you have to call back and sit on hold again). So, because she didn't want to take it over, I ended up eating the cancellation fee of $350.00, even though it was their own fault they couldn't complete the account transfer successfully. When I asked if there was anything they could do for me, I was directed to write a letter to their General Counsel. Honestly I'd rather not waste anymore time with them when I know it will get me NOTHING

Has anyone got any resolution... Im being screwed over also and i have only had them for 4 months. Im ready to buy out my contract... It puts my wife in tears when we have to deal with them. I so sorry i left cable.

They are really good and hiding the fine print. I tried to cancel my service since I was moving to house that already had cable. They told me I couldn't because I had a 2 year agreement. I like you did not recall siging an agreement and was never told about any sort of fine print. My sister was thinking about changing to direct tv so I asked how to transfer. Her condo complex has certain rules about how it is installed so that it does not ruin the look of the building. So they could not accomadate they still charge me all the fees to terminate my contract. A year later I was looking through some old papers and found the paparwork from when they installed the dish. They had to do a lot of drilling which was sloppy and they wanted to charge me like $100 bucks to add another phone jack for the DVR or I could by a wireless jack for $50 bucks. So I bought the wireless jack and signed the bill for it turns out on the back of that install order was my contract and I was not told that by signing the front that I would be agreeing to faint print on the back.

My husband and I live in a very small town in Ohio. We wanted Direct TV because we thought we could get more stations, HD, and eventually we were going to get NFL sunday ticket. we soon found out after installlation we did not get approved for our regualr channels we get anyways. CBS, NBS, PBS, and FOX in our area. We had to apply for and pay for these stations separately to come from CA. We cancelled believing that we would not get the cancellation fee because the service was not explained to us. We were told to write in and they would make a judgement on it. 5 months later we got a call from a collection agency, Direct TV did not tell us that they didn't except our complaint. We tried again and in 5 more months we got called form a collection agency again. So we called Direct TV and settled. This was 6 months ago and I just got a calll from another collection agency this morning saying I own Direct TV $80.00. Why are these practices not being dealt with?

I forgot to add because we couldn't get local channels we couldn't even watch the buckeyes anymore.

I was blindly signed into a year contract unfortunately, I moved and I had my services re-installed. The leasing office sent me a letter that I had to remove the satellite. I called Direc TV and the technician who said I could not receive any services. I cancelled my services as it was the only option. Now the are charging me $ 135.00 for no reason. They will not waive it. I have filled a complaint with Better Business Bereau am waiting for their feedback. One thing I know this is a reap off.

I order DTV in Aug '07 because I was having trouble with my other provider. I opted to get the NFL Sunday Ticket plan with my order at the rate of $70 per month, everything else free. I understood the terms and conditions of my argreement. 2 yr contract, fee for canceling early, the whole yada yada from the heartless theives. The quality of signal and realiability was never an issue with DTV, i will give them that from my experience. The customer service was terrible. You see, I ordered an HD upgrade on Jan 1, 2009 and was scheduled on Jan 5 for the upgrade. I have a line of site issue at my residence so to get the service they have to supply the mounting pole at no cost to me. I leave work early on Jan 5 only to be called at 5:45 pm and told they could not come out and do it, it was too dark. They would have been late, but they could have called before that time. Get rescheduled for the following Saturday. DIRECTV van pulls into my driveway and tells me I have a line of site issue and that he does not have one of the poles to do the install. I was furious as they knew i have this issue, oh, btw I received a $100 credit to my account for the first missed appt. So i tell dude to get out of my house, call DTV explain to the the deal, they reschedule for that Wednesday. They also give me a $5 credit on my bill per month for a year cause they missed again. That wednesday comes, dude calls said he couldn't make it! I call 800 # back explain again, they give me free HD Programming for a year and free movie channels for 6 months and reschedule for that Saturday. 2 weeks in at this point. They come out that Saturday, guy doesn't have pole...again. This time I tell him to get the F*&K out of my house or go buy a F*$#ING pole at Home Depot or Lowes. Said he couldn't, I call 800# they refund my account for the $210.94 HD receiver and reschedule. The canceled the next install date because they still didn't have a pole to mount, reshedule again, by this time it is Feb. 9th, they have given me all kinds of freebies to keep me. They cancelled the next install (5th one) due to a sick worker, I simply asked if they could come out the next day, they said the couldn't, because they would have to "inconvience another customer and cancel their appt to come and do mine" i said, "so it is fine to cancel on one customer 6 times, but GOD FORBID you cancel on another customer once, so you can get the 6 timer taken care of". She said there was nothing she could do, but reschedule me for FEB 25th. I told her to send me a box so i could pack up there s&#t and send it back. Called Dish Network, they were there the next day and had it installed in 30 min.

DIRECT TV are nothing but theives, liars, and cheats. There is a cold spot in the afterlife for people like that!

Looks like it is time for all of us to come together and start a Class acation case against Direct TV!
any one willing to start one?
Time for this company to stop ripping of people.
Does any one know how to go about starting a class acction case?

Please somebody do somenthing with this company (direct tv ) they offer me a good deal $23.00 dollar rebate each month for one year
"not true " I recieved my first bill high, I called to cancel and they said I will pay early termination why if they did not what they agreed now they said I did not qualify for the rebate. and that's it . stay whit us or pay high fees.

Serriously you guys are ###s. Directv has 17.6 million educated customers who read their information that directv sends them, including me. This includes Order confrimation information, customer agreements, and holy crap they even send you the rebate forms that you have to mail in, only if you are qualified.
Only about 300, 000 of their customers are not happy (because I know that you are most like either A. LAZY or B. A ### that is .017 of the customers that are not happy) and less then 20 percent of those customers are mad enough to complain, just as you are doing right now. So really doing the math most of the customers are way happy with the services because they are actually educated enough to do what they are supposed to do to get discounts or whatever.
But hey I understand that you are idiots, and you just go by the feedback. But let me just ask you one thing, how many of you have got bad service at a restraunt or perhaps the wrong order at a fast food place and you complained? I have even sent food back so I cant blame you. Now lets turn that around How many of you got GREAT service at a restraunt and asked for a manager to complement this or went back to the fast food place to tell them how wonderfull it was? I have only because I work in a restraunt and I know how wonderfull it is to actually get a compliment. So just keep this in mind when you are weighing your options, Directv is really a great company, you just have to be compitent.

Ok, where I can go to take some reap off classes to be educated .
Maybe DIRECT TV REAP OFF COLLEGE .
I don't think the cheater are educated !
Please people don't deal with DIRECT TV don't sign the realstupid contract

Your Direct TV programing is the worst! You show the same content (Movies) Over and over and over again...MONTH AFTER MONTH!

I WILL CANCEL VERY SOON.

CHANGE YOU MOVIE'S

I cancelled Direct TV in November 08. I had actually not been under the same roof with the service for about a year but had continued it for my parents. They got a bundle deal through their IPS and decided to go with that. I was given what I thought was the OPTION to start service again after a 6 month suspension. Well, turns out it was automatic. I started receiving collection calls from DTV with NO bill having evern been sent to either my parent's address in Alabama or mine in California. I had been very clear with the rep that I was in transit and renting a room and likely would not have my own cable or internet service since my roommate already had a service established with another provider. So now I am in a battle not to get sent to collections for $145 that I never received a bill nor service for!

Oh, and for the record, I never received ANYTHING in writing explaining that the renewal was automatic!

We had a two year contract with direct tv in 10/06. In April of this year after many problems they replaced a HD receiver which the old one blew up and now I had cancelled service and switched to charter in June of 09. they told me when you replace a receiver you go back to the orginal contract. They are charging me $420 early cancellation fees. I sent the receiver back as told. I am very upset and hate this company. i have made many phone calls and had sleepless nights over this. What can I do ? They said they will turn it over to an collection agency and our credit has been the best anyone could have.

Bait and Switch. Direct TV appears to offer a good deal but fails to tell you of the 24 month contract, despite the promise of telling you to "try it and see if you like it." Moreover, try to cancel it--impossible to get a representative. Terrible. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

You're just an idiot if you didn't know that. I don't have DirectTV and know that they have a contract. Cell Phones have contracts, Satellite Radio has a contract. Many things now-a-days have contracts. Learn to read before you sign the dotted line.

Direct TV--big loser in my book--bad in installation, bad in ethics, bad in customer service-- Picture is great though!
I called customer service in regard to a rental property =a question only. The customer rep, looked up my personal address, placed a service call on my home, a charge of $85.00. The technical call was canceled by me when the technician called. Yes, I got a bill for service I never received.

Calling direct TV--the response was, that was our contractor not us.. Call the contractor--number provided--contractor never answers and yes the bill come direct from Direct TV.. What a Scam outfit.

I am so mad at DTV. The DVR sound quality sucks. Its like on Auto tune. My dish is all screwed up. I called for an adjustment and they were gonna charge me! They lied and said they bundled with my local phone company. They dont. I have called numerous times. I hate Direct Tv.

Realist. It's funny, how you're trying to sound so educated yet, you did nothing but prove that you have no manners or proper education by insulting people you don't even know. Feel sorry for you.

realist..I often give compliments to my waiter/waitress by leaving generous tips.
as far as DirectTV goes they are simply after your money. If you have not had any problems with them consider yourself lucky It will only be a matter of time just let there be a problem with your bill, let them lose a payment, or you need to upgrade/replace their equipment(that no longer works) that adds another 2 years to your contract! I had Direct for 5 months (a living nightmare!) Thank God I got rid of them and got my money back I had to do a lot of work. By your stating that others are maybe not as smart or educated as youself can I ask you why you work in a restaurant? and better yet why can't you spell it?

IF DRTV was a good company, with good customer service, then they would let a customer out of a contract if they where not satisfied. That is only good business, and customer service. I ordered up DRTV cause ATT was not available. DRTV, installed the crap and left.. no instructions on how to use the remote.. etc. When I had a problem then I keep getting put on hold for a long period of time, then when I email a letter I keep getting the same ( copy n paste ) bull crap. They can not thing for themselves. When they say they will call back then they don't. THEY ARE THE WORST PEOPLE TO DO BUSINESS WITH ! . I now have problems with my connection. and I will keep calling for a tech. to come out every week if I have to. In the long run, this will cost them sooo much more in employee fees then it would to just let a customer go.
Justin, Megan, Pacho, and Trisha.. are supervisors there.. and they have no skills what so ever. I work for a company that is in the top 100 best companies to work for in the US. and the only company of its type of business on the list. Why.. because we thrive on customer service..
Just yesterday, I was at Tacobell.. and waited a while for my mill.. because the manager has great customer service.. she gave me a free drink.. and a side item.. and what did it cost them.. 50. in food. but also gained a customer.. They will gain more money from me, for their cost of .50 cents. Now that is good customer service..
DRTV sucks..
I use to have ATT Uverse.. and now that it is in my area.. I will have it again.. as soon as DRTV contract is up. in 6 months. They are nice.. polite and fast.. and make sure I understand the package I have and I know how to use the remote..
Piss off DRTV.
cowboy up.

You know for all those people being rude on here, Get a life.
I realize there may have been some ambiguous contract, that they never tell you about when you sign up, but it is still bad business practice. But if you pay attention to what is actually happening to our economy and all the people loosing jobs, you will realize that this can be a serious matter. I lost my job for several months, and was living in my car, I SIMPLY could not afford it this service, or to cancel out of it. It was put on hold. Now that I am recovering from unemployment, I still can not afford it. I also find TV to be a complete waste of time, and I wouldn't want it even if I could afford it. So for the haters, who have nothing else to do but be negative, have some compassion. Its tough out there right now. When your lucky to even eat some nights, and you are not sure when you will be able to again, paying for Direct TV is the last thing on your mind...

You know for all those people being rude on here, Get a life.
I realize there may have been some ambiguous contract, that they never tell you about when you sign up, it is still bad business practice. But if you pay attention to what is actually happening to our economy and all the people loosing jobs, you will realize that this can be a serious matter. I lost my job for several months, and was living in my car, I SIMPLY could not afford it this service, or to cancel out of it. It was put on hold. Now that I am recovering from unemployment, I still can not afford it-but I have to finish out my contract. I also find TV to be a complete waste of time, and I wouldn't want it even if I could afford it. So for the haters, who have nothing else to do but be negative, have some compassion. Its tough out there right now. When your lucky to even eat some nights, and you are not sure when you will be able to again, paying for Direct TV is the last thing on your mind...

when i signed up for the nfl package i was a new costumer...and was suppose to get the premier package for free for a time period...it never happened because an over zealous installation person installed my direct tv a week before the promo began...and two weeks before my sheduled installation date. when i reviewed my first bill and attempted to correct the mistake, i was told in so many words...Nothing We Can Do Now Because I Hadn't Called Right Away...Welcome To Direct TV

I have been a custmer of direct tv for three years. Im switching to a new service and when i called i was told i would be paying for breaking my contract early. I asked why i would be paying for breaking my contract when i signed up for a two year service in 2008 and it is now 2011. They told me last year when there DVR broke and they sent me a new one. They renewed my contract for a year without telling me. So beware when there stuff breaks and they fix they renew your contract for another year.

Direct TV and AT&T have been jerking us around for about 2 weeks now. Been a customer for about 18 years. Got tired of over paying they said they'd make it right. Bottem line they sold me a bundle for TV and AT&T high speed internet. They installed the Satellite on Feb. 16th I told the installer I would not honor a two year contract if they did not do everything their suppose to. He said that was up to me but I only had 24 hours to cancel. Four hours later called them up with a problem already and let them know then I did not except the agreement pull it out if they had to, or no contract. Well its Feb. 21st still have no internet thanks to AT&T, which it a whole nother complaint. As of today direct TV says they don't bundle internet with AT&T. Of coarse now direct TV says I am locked into a two year contract which if I break their going to charge me for boxes and install. When they set this all up there wanted a credit card for a one time charge of 10.00, which was ok but I check my online account alittle while ago and they have my card on file. I did not authorize this and when I ask them to remove it they refused. Been off work with surgery so I bet I've spent at least 20 hours or more on the phone in the last 2 weeks. Between direct TV and AT&T their selling bundles of services together but one does'nt know what the other is doing. What attorney do you call?

Go to your state attorney general. I just had the same problem and found out that Directv has been sued over many issues. They took $850.00 out of my account on Feb 13th, throwing my account into the negative. I filed a complaint with the MI AG, and also my bank. First thing you need to do is call your bank and tell them to NOT honor any charges Directv makes. I was charged for the boxes that I returned, early termination fees, Novembers bill that I had already paid, and a whole bunch of NSF charges now from my bank.

Never Agreed To any contract with this company! Never was told about a contract! I told direct tv this was a temporary move from ny to md due to aging ill parents that need my attention.when i attemted to disconnect service with them after one yr of paying bill in full I asked repeatedly about not wanting bank information stored was told for one yr from direct tv that is was not and when i set up to disconnect my service with them i was then told about a two yr contract and that direct tv did store my banking information and that they will be debiting my account for early termantion fees i knew nothing about. Corporate offices stated there was nothing i could do and that they have my banking information and will be accessing my account for fees. Please Help Very Concerned Consumer! I will never return for services to this company ever after this horrifying experience!

I just went through the same deal...only they want $400.00 from me for early termination fee of a contract I didn't even know I signed...Complete BS!