DirecTV review: very poor service and unacceptable contract 1397

The contract between customer and Direct TV is one sided. The contract agreed upon is a one sided binding contract which is illegal. If you have a contract that stats they have the right to increase fees for service over the two year contract then they have no right to charge you deactivation fee. The only way to make it a legal contract and not one sided is to offer to you that if they raise there fees you have the right to cancel with no deactivation fee. This complaint you have is a classic case of CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT. They say in contract that if you continue to pay your bill you then agree to the new terms. So don't over look your monthly charges on your bill. They have this in the contract so they do not need to have verbal or written confirmation. One more thing they have in contract which is they use the words MAY BE. Just because they have got you signed up with them on a contract does not mean it is a legal contract if it's a one sided contract PERIOD. Anyone interested in CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT?

FYI dish network does not have the NFL ticket. Direct TV has a Monopoly exclusive right to have NFL ticket. Another class action lawsuit. But very unlikely you would win in court regarding NFL ticket monopoly.

Same deal with me, but better yet the account was not under my name. I paid for a Direct TV bill once for my friend that was in financial problem and bam his balance was deducted from my checking account a couple months later. WTF is that! Is there no Law? I called my bank to file a fraudulant charge on my account and filed a report to BBB and other reporting agency and I hope you all do the same.

To hell with Direct TV! ADD me to the Class Action. Even if Direct Tv/Banks credit your money back, dont back down. Theres other innocent people out there that dont know what to do when this hits them, its our duty to make a stand and watch each other backs!

I had to cancel the Direct TV service because I was not satisfied with the service as the agents misrepresented me. I am giving the details of what actually happened. I called up Direct TV with a promotion number around last week of August and scheduled an appointment for installation. They took my order and credit card details and the price that was quoted to me was under $50. The installation folks came in on September 4th 2007. Instead of installing the order they have on the file, they started asking my wife what we wanted. The installation guy had no clue what I ordered nor did my wife. So they finally had to contact me. I questioned them why they were asking me as I have given those details earlier and told him to check my order as i was in a meeting. So the guy said he would contact the customer service and find it out by himself but it turned out they redid the order again to my surprise. I didn’t bother about it too much and I considered it as a process glitch.

On September 7th 2007 Friday evening, we got a call from the Direct Tv customer satisfaction team and were inquiring about how the service was. I told them exactly what happened and gave them positive feedback about the quality of the channels. But I was taken by surprise when they told me that my monthly charge was $80.77, when inquired. Since the monthly statement cost wasn’t the same what i agreed when I called them first time, I called up direct TV same day on September 07th 2007 Friday and found out that they were some extra’s that were added at the time of installation. And when I inquired about my promotion, the agent told that I didn’t qualify for it.

So I asked him why they didn’t let me know when I called up on the day one with the promotion number and charged my account everything at the regular price. I told them that I was motivated to call them because of the promotion and if I didn’t qualify for what I ordered, they should have made it clear to me at the time of the order so that I can make an informed decision on the day one itself. The agent agreed but said he couldn’t help it.

Since I couldn’t change what happened, I asked them what package I should go for to get that promotion. To my utter disbelief the agent told me that he can’t change anything for me. I had to be a new customer and didn’t consider me as a new customer and told me I was already a customer for them (5 days). Since the agent wasn’t cooperative, I asked him about the grace period for cancellation and found out it was 10 days. I canceled the order immediately hoping that I was in the grace limit.

Then later, I found out about the charge $299.46 on Sept 14th and called them up immediately. To my surprise, the agent told me that the grace period is 4 days. This case was a total misrepresentation from Direct TV. I was getting different answers form different agents every time I call them.

I wrote a complaint to Credit company and they got the money refunded back. And after few weeks, i got a statement from Direct TV asking me to pay the money directly. I am not going to pay it and wrote a complaint to Direct TV. Any suggestions where i should go from here!

Please file your complaints with your state Attorney Generals Office, FTC and BBB. Also make sure you dispute any "unauthorized" charges with your bank.

Everytime DirecTV received a billing dispute (chargeback) they are charged $20-$40 per dispute by their bank. If 5% of their transactions result in chargebacks, their bank will have serious problems with DirecTV's billing practices.

Start sending your disputes, file your complaints and get a class action lawsuit going!

I'm sticking with DishNetwork, much cheaper n better service.

The same thing happened to me,but I was charged for someone else's account. My name is not on the acct.They took $377.79 out of my bank acct.I caught it the first time before it cleared.I didn't know they would turn around and do this again.Here I am four days before christmas without $377.79 that I desperately need to pay my bills. Thank God! I already bought my kids presents. This is wrong and I dont see how this can be legal.I had used my debit card to purchase a ppv,thats how they recieved my acct#.Direct TV told me that the person should have told me that I would be responsible for they're past due balance,effective april,may.2007. and anyone's card # on file can be held responsible. This is WRONG! I will NEVER use direct TV and STRONGLY recomend KNOWONE use direct tV or pay anyone's bill buy credit card. This is still unresolved!

I Think Everyone should take LEGAL ACTION!

My husband and I are discusted with Direct TV! We had decided to switch from our previous carrier to Direct TV because of the good HD service we had heard about. My husband called them and had them come out and hook everything up. My husband even removed a huge tree limb so we would have a signal. The installer was here for three hours or better. Well, after everything was hooked up, the installer calls in to get the service and they tell us they cannot hook it up because of a woman that lived here before that has an outstanding balance of 138.00. It just so happens that she used to be married to my husbands brother, therefore they think that we are decieving them. Because we will not pay someone elses bill they will not give us service. Well after this we have decided to not use Direct TV! Simple, Right? Nope! I called to see if we could have somebody come pick up their equiptment and the Direct TV rep told me that unless I had the personal phone number for the guy that came out to install, that she couldn't have anyone else come out and pick it up! I am so furious with customer service! She tells us that we are stuck with the equiptment for 28 days before somebody will come pick it up and that we would have to get out previous carrier out here to hook back up what they unhooked to hook their epuiptment up! To add to this, they will not refund the money that we paid previous to hooking up all of equiptment totalling 299.00! We were told that we should get in touch with our financial institution about a refund! Oh my gosh never in my 15 yrs of being an adult have i ever been treated like this by any customer service! Unreal!

Right now i have to be neutral i haven't so far had a problem but i'm sure i will after hearing all of this i've only had direct 2 months if i had of known all of this i wouldn't have gotten directtv. I don't need no more problems in my life one thing i will do is tell anyone that's interested to check into it first.

If all of this is true something needs to done to people like this ripping people off. Yes i agree a lawyer needs to get in on this something needs to done you just can't take people money. One thing you can take to the bank "GOD SEES ALL AND HEARS ALL HE WILL TAKE CARE OF THE WRONG DEVILS" PRAY FOR THE WRONG THEY GET FAR .

I was called by Directv to do a swap on my receivers due to a change in their upgraded HDTV lineup. I bought my receiver from Circuit City for $350.00. The technician took my receiver and left one of theirs. I told the tech that the receiver was one I purchased from a retailer. He told me that I own the new receiver. I was told to call and activate the box. When I called I was told that I am now leasing a receiver from Directv. I explained the discussion I had with the technician. I was informed that the technician was mistaken and the new receivers belong to Directv. Now they have told me that I have to return their receiver if I discontinue my service with them. So now they've absconded with my $350.00 receiver and are ALLOWING me to lease their receiver. I have repeatedly asked for my box back but have been told that I am out of luck. I asked for some type of compensatin for my receiver and was told that I could have Cinemax free for 3 months. Hardly fair compensation for a receiver that I initially paid $350.00 for. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was repeatedly rebuffed with the explanation that this was the highest level of support I could expect. I asked for a name and was given only a first name and no employee number. I asked for a Corporate Office phone or address and was not given any information. I was called back by a 'Supervisor' the next day and was told the same things (too bad). I advised that I was going to start recording the conversation so I could have something for my records and he refused to talk anymore and pretended that he couldn't hear me anymore. This was more comical considering the fact that I only picked up and put down another handset in the house to simulate that I was really recording the conversation.The level of service I received from them is nothing short of reprehensible. They are thieves.

If you cancel direct cancel your bank card Too! We were customers of direct tv for years, but when our hd receiver went we went and bought a replacement. We paid full price so there would be no contract. now when we canceled because verizon fiberoptics was here which we had waited for and that is why we thought we were doing everything possible to not be under contract. We had even considered staying with direct, but they said they couldn't install the dish on our home unless my husband wanted to build a platform? So we told them we didn't want to go under contract if the new purchase made from a separate company put us under contract without our knowledge then we would take it back! The day I canceled there was no balance due and no contract according to direct. because I didn't trust them I canceled my bank card. Granted I am dealing with getting there collector to understand but They didn't get my money!

They did try to run it!

Did you return their equipment? Sometimes they will charge for their equipment which is not good but that is what they may be charging you. Did you receive the bill? What were the charges for? It's kind of hard to say you don't owe the charges without finding what they are for, but I do agree with you to cancel your card if you think they were going to charge without your permission.

Pablo

My directtv/HD service disappointed me very much. I have a $29.95 family plan and a $9.95 HD access plan for over 1 year. I was able to view about 10 HD channels between channel 70 and 90, but channel 70 to 78 are no longer available since December 2007.

DirectTV customer service explained my HD access plan only gave me 6 channels (three of them are 231, 276, 284, I don’t remember the rest) which are HD channels broadcasted in regular TV signal, so DIRECTTV had the right to cut off and “preview” HD channels between 70 and 90. If I want these channels back, I shall upgrade my plan and pay something like extra $76 a month.

Well, I was told I would get Discovery in HD (channel 76) when I signed the contract. Now DirectTV broke its promise but the two-year contract still holds. Guess what? I would rather paying the early termination fee and switching to another HDTV service provider than throwing $76 a month to DirectTV.

Junjun

OH MY GO_!
I can't believe it! I have had all the same type of problems with DTV. I switched from a plain receiver to DVR. My daughter is working on getting into acting. She did several shows that I taped. One day the dtv completely wiped it out! I was stunned. This was a recording that can never be replaced as it was the first show that my daughter had been in.

After much complaining, I found out that there was a known "bug" in their receivers that they hoped would have been fixed by last summer. (They never told their customers that when you order). Similar to everyone else, they also offered me many " programming" credits because they wanted me to be satisfied. They also offered me a 2nd receiver at no charge so that I could have a back up of my recordings. Well, needless to say, they have continually charged me for a 2nd leased reciever fee of $4.99. Everytime I called to take the fee off, I was told that it wasn't really a lease fee but a mirror fee. Excuse me but my bill specifically says lease fee. The receiver that I had in my bedroom was one that I owned prior to them installing this "free" back-up. I also find it incredulous that you buy an advertised package for a fixed price and then they had on "lease fee" of 4.99, "service fee" of 5.99 and "protection plan" for 5.99. I believe their advertising is very misleading. When you see the ads for their service, the print on those fees is so tiny you can't even see it with glasses. I didn't want the protection plan by my machine was breaking down all the time and they said they would charge me to fix it. In the meantim, that are so generous to credit me $10 here and there for programming credit to make me happy, etc.

I also have had incredulous experiences with their customer service. I have had representatives from India (they told me that is where they were) where I could not understand them. I have been transferred to so called "supervisors" consistently, I have spoken to people who say they are the supervisor and they can help me only to find that they can't. When pressed, they finally admit that they aren't a supervisor but a "resolution specialist." I got so angry that I confronted the man about flat out lying to me. I dealt with them enough to know there are supervisors but I am consistently told there isn't anyone there to help me. When this guy said he was a supervisor with the power and he wasn't I confronted him about flat out lying to me. He tried to get around it but I just said to him "Did you or did you not tell me you are a supervisor?" Of course, when I wanted a supervisor I got the same run around but finally got one when I pushed. However, I can not tell you how many times I too am mysterially disconnected after spending hours on the phone. My phone has a timer on it and I can tell you that my call to them have ran as long as 3 hours!

They still haven't stopped my leasing fee. Then, I asked when my contract is up so that I could change services without a termination fee and they gave me a date that was 6 months past what I saw it was supposed to be. Well, not only did their machines breakdown all the time (and they still are as I just had someone out last week) but they extended my contract when they replaced my broken receiver!
I was furious.

Of course, the supervisor couldn't do anything about it so I asked where am I supposed to mail a letter to. There was an address on the bill. I wrote a letter outlining my complaints. After being a paralegal for Legal Aid for many years I am well aware of documenting. Although I am disabled and not able to do paperwork like I used to I have records of almost all my contacts including dates, who I talked to and what transpired and believe me there are many.

Anyway, to make matters worse, I wrote up my complaint history and sent it to where I was told and to the address on the bill. GUESS WHAT? I got a call from DTV by a "so-called supervisor" who proceeded to tell me once again that there is nothing they can do and I am still locked in to the extended contract they made when they needed to replace my broken receiver!

In the meantime, I am trying to send the letter to another address I got (right now I can't find it) to try and get some satisfaction.

Although I feel bad for other people this happens to, I am glad to see that this is a pattern for them and I am not alone. Frankly, I have gotten so tired sitting on the phone for hours only to get people who claim they can do what they can't, to then get disconnected when they try to transfer to the supervisor they had just told wasn't there (changed their mind when I pushed). The stress has put me in tears many times and I haven't resent the letter yet because I am just feeling defeated and have to ask myself whether it is worth the stress and my health to keep doing it. If I were healthy, I would never, ever give up. As I said, I fought "city hall" for a living. One of the reasons I still try fighting is because I know that I am not the only one that these things are happening to and if I can get them to change a bad practice and let them know that we know, perhaps things would change. Wishful thinking, I guess.

By the way, one post said to send your complaint to Greenwood, CO address. That is the address I sent it to and got a call from someone who wasn't able to do anything. I wonder if you had better luck?

I really wonder how many of us are out there?

Same damn thing happened to me, except they took even more! I was told about the 3 days also and that was the only reason we did it. We even asked them when we called to cancel and they said we were all set, except for the $199 deposit for the HD box which at that point we were ticked off about because the rep never told us we wouldn't get the deposit back- later they said we didnt ask... This company is disgusting and I don't know how they get away with this- DO NOT EVER TRY DIRECT TV UNLESS YOU WANT CRAPPY SERVICE AND HAVE YOUR MONEY STOLEN! TRUST US!

GOOD GRIEF THERE SEEMS TO BE A PARADE OF US WITH A VARIETY OF PROBLEMS.

THEIR ENTIRE SYSTEM IS A CONVOLUTED MESS. THE PEOP-LE WE HAVE DEALT WITH HAVE BEEN ILL TRAINED, INCOMPETENT OR BOTH. THEY PROMISE THINGS THAT DON'T HAPPEN THEN TELL YOU SORRY TOUGH LUCK. IT WOULD REQUIRE FAR TOO MUCH TIME DETAIL THIS DISASTER.

I WAS WITH AN INTERNATIONAL CORPORATION FOR ALMOST THIRTY YEARS AND HAVE SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS COMPANY.

Direct Tv specifically instructs their reps to lie and misrepresent. They will not provide written proof of their quote. I wrote every detail down and reviewed my final price repeatedly. I scheduled installation. i called back 2 hours later and my monthly price had doubled. I was told that I had misunderstood. I cancelled installation. A manager did not attempt to disagree that we are being lied to in order to get us to hand over the credit card number.

I was referred to Direct TV by my co-worker because of nuggin channel that they have for /babies/children. that was the worst decision I ever made, the technician who came to my home was very rude, he kicked my things around, broke my baby picture frame. went to the basement and open something in the wall and never closed them back. went to the guest bedroom and drop more picture frame on the floor, he didn't care, he just dropp something on the floor which was on my dresser. when i mention to him if her need anything to be moved just let me know, he ignored me. and sat on my couch taking off his jacket without asking me if if was k for him to sit there(this is my house, you are not my guess, you came to do a job) at that point i started to feel very uncomfortable and just wanted him to leave. so i told him to install the 3 boxes on the first floor because i didnt want himto go upstair in my bedroom. he bought to my house his friend and a 12 -13years old(the boy told me he was 16, but doesn't look ) who was installing the box. the day after which was october 8th, I went away and came back home on the 14th and one of the receiver was not working. so i called direct tv and told them that i needed the receiver to be move upstairs in my bedroom and want someone else to install it. (and I did complain the same way about the service that i received and the told me to call the consulting company which i didn't call in the first place to install my service, direct TV called them and they should be the one calling them back and telling them what had happen) anyway I called them , telling them the reason why I didn't want that box because of the way the installer was behaving i didn't want him in my house for much longer. they told that i have to pay $99 I told them that I want to cancel the services and mail them back their boxes, they said there will a charge of $350. that was 7 days ago that order the services. they had me on the phone for about 2 hours spoke to supervisors. and she told me that they can not do anything it was not their fault, i said the installer who came to my house reprensented direct tv if it was not for Direct tv they wouldnt be at my home. I keep going on so nothing was done. I WOULD ADVICE ANYONE THINKING ABOUT GETTING DIRECT TV DO NOT GET ITS A SCAM AND HEAD ACHE THEY JUST HIRED ANYONE FROM THE STREET AS CONTRACTORS.

WE had no service on 2 TV's for half a month. WE called and emailed countless times. Finally a customer service representative said that they had one of our satellites pointed to Puaerto Rico, he fixed that and our service was back on. However, they will not adjust our statement to reflect a credit for the time we were without their services, when it was clearly a mistake on the part of Direct TV.

Direct TV needs to be put in their place. I don't have a clue how they get rated number 1 in customer service. I think it is time that former customers start sending chain e-mails out letting people know what is going on with Direct TV.

I have been trying to resolve a dispute with directtv but cannot find anyone to communicate with. I am going to file a complaint with the FCC and suggest that anyone with a complaint do the same. It has been helpful in getting disputes resolved with Sprint on a number of occasions. Don't give up!

DIRECTV is still the best provider, with their awesome HD channels and friendly customer service, I cant say anything againts them. I've been a DIRECTV subscriber for 10 years and I want to keep their service as long as i live. I'm very particular when it comes to programming and I can't live without watching TV.

please stop posting untrue and unjustified messages here.. i know some of you guys are employees of DISH network.

DIRECTV FOREVER!

I have been trying to get a refund check for $213.00 for six months. I canceled my service because it was so bad . Apparently the accounting department is no different. I have been promised a refund by at least 10 of their customer service reps during the six months. Still no check. I am going to take out a full page ad in our city newspaper describing the terrible experience I have had with all facets of this band of theives. I am considering assembling a class action suit with several other people in my area against this so-called "company".
I have Dish TV now and I can at least call someone when I have a problem. Direct TV average call time for me was 45 minutes.
Radio is better than dealing with them!

Everything everyone says is true. We to have dealt with new recievers, poor customer service and everything else. They are the biggest rip off company ever and all they want is your money. I could type a big long story but everyone here has covered every problem I have had with them. If anyone gets a class action law suit going I will be the first to sign up!

My subcription with direct has expired. I have had alot of trouble with thier upgrading system. I have cancelled my account, I have a bill due and they told me that they were going to take it directly out of my bank account. I asked them not to, that I would pay it myself but they will not allow it. I do not reccomend direct tv to anyone.

Get a lawyer and sue there butts off. Remember to document everything, even copies off all these complaints.
I'm starting a e-mail boycott.

I have had Direct Tv service for over five years. I had my service moved and upgraded to my new home on Dec,7th.2007. The installation was very messy, they left wires hanging everywhere inside and outside the house, never connected the ground cable outside for electrical safety, and we lost signal every few minutes. I called and complained and Direct TV sent another tech out almost two weeks later. He stated the first tech was fired and he “fixed the service”. Within 15 minutes we began to lose signal again.

I called and e-mail Direct TV about this, offering pictures to prove the service was installed sloppy and didn’t work.
I e-mailed them several times, it’s easier because their call centers have people that can’t speak clear English and are very hard to deal with and understand. Finally I told them to cancel my service because they couldn’t meet there commitment to me and provide a working service. I also asked for a return autho# to send their receiver back to them.

Around a week later Jan 11th.2008 I received a disconnect e-mail and bill for 93.00 .I e-mailed them saying I had no service for that month so how do I owe them.

On Jan 18th.2008 a box with return instructions was delivered to my house for the receiver.

On Jan 22nd. 2008 I saw Direct TV was pulling $562.83 from my checking account. I took of work and went to my bank to stop this from happening, I signed a stop pay but my bank had to investigate it first. I was told to contact Direct TV and ask them to stop the transaction.

I called Direct TV several times, I was told the charges were for an early termination of service. I told them again I never had a working service to begin with. I got nowhere with the call center, the language problem was just to much, I asked for some one that could speak better English and I was repeated the same thing again. Direct TV used a check card I had used before to pay my bill on-line and charged my account without my authorization $562.38.

When I got home that evening I received a bill from them stating what the charges were and it was due immediately.
No one that speaks good English will talk to me from Direct TV, THEY broke the law pulling money from my account without authorization, caused my account to bounce checks, left me unable to buy groceries this week for my family, I’ve lost two hours work as of today trying to clear this up. Tommorrow I have to go to my bank again and to an attorney.

What a nightmare, please pass this on to everyone to warn them about direct tv’s practices
Richard C. Morrison
Boatdoc1963@yahoo.com

With DirecTV you have a $199.00 up front fee for HD DVR (with nothing to show for the money) plus 2 year contract with threat of charging up to an additional $480.00 if you break the contract early. You still won't own the DVR after paying that $679.00. And then at the end of the 2 year contract you still don't own anything. I discussed these things at length with 2 DirecTV customer service reps. This, in my opinion, has got to be the stupidest business model, from the customers point of view, that I have ever seen. Even with a 2 year cell phone contract, you own the phone after the contract period. But not with DirecTV. You own nothing. You're still leasing! Because of this I went with cable. They charged me nothing up front for their HD DVR , except a small installation charge, and did not lock me into any kind of contract. Of course I still don't own the DVR, but this is a much more sensible deal than the DirecTV deal.

I have had Direct TV for approximately eight years and have been somewhat satisfied with them. I figured all companies have some quirks. There are more quacks than quirks at Direct TV. We began having serious reception issues about three weeks ago. We called Direct TV to send out a technician. They sent someone out and he spent about two hours here. He fixed the reception issue, but he couldn't tell me why he was changing all of the cables on my audio visual components, which had nothing to do with the television reception. When he left the only thing working was the television. I lost the dvd/vhs player and my surround sound system. I thought these technicians needed to be qualified on the systems they were working on? I called back for a second service call. The technician that came out only fixed part of my problem. I managed to get the surround sound working again, but I couldn't get the rest of it fixed. I called a third time. Now I have been given a case manager who is as incompetent as the rest of these people. I spoke with him and we decided that it would be best if the technician came out on Saturday, Feb. 2nd so I could be home. I get a call at work on Friday, the day before, that they were here to conduct their service and no one is home. I then called the sub contractor, Ironwood Communications. They told me they couldn't possibly get anyone out on Saturday because they were booked solid for the Super Bowl. I told them that it sounds like you don't want to give service when it doesn't have to be paid for. They only want their money. Therefore, I have to wait another week before I can get this problem rectified. This is unacceptable behavior for these two companies. They need to fix the service end of their business. They do a great job of taking your money, but when it comes to the follow up, they are horrible. When Verizon finishes putting in the Fios TV lines in my area, which will be in a few weeks, I will be dropping Direct TV like a hot rock. What a terrible company with even worse service.

This company Illegally took $113.16 out of my checking account 1 year after I had my service transferred to another person’s name. I called Direct TV customer service and after 1hour and 36 minutes on the phone with them nothing had been resolved. They acknowledged they had "forgotten" to take my credit card information off the account and asked me to fax them even more personal information about myself, and wait 8 day’s to receive a refund. CSR Violet ([protected]) was not one bit of help. She had a very hard time getting supervisor to speak with me and could not understand that I did not have an account with Direct TV; I also spoke to Kai ([protected]) and Ann ([protected]) both who could not provide me with a corporate address, a finical department phone number, or Direct TV fraud department number.

I can personally tell you they lie, steal and cheat. Treat their cusomers poorly. The absolute worst cutomer service I have ever had. To those of you who think they are so great...wait until you have a problem. Do not try to tell those of us, which are many how wonderful they are, you are very wrong.I had the local number to the Presidents office in Greenwood Village Co. They have since closed that line down. Jill, at Corporate if you are reading this my problem is still not resolved. You made some promises that still need to be made. You know the situation, I am sure your offices monitor these sites. My next step is to the PUC, not that that would bother you as so many before me have filed complaints. Then to the AG of Colorado and the Governors office. Losers!

We have a similar problem and I agree that this company has the worst customer service I have ever seen. After getting completely fed up with their lousy service and junk equipment, I canceled our service, agreed to buy out the balance of our contract so we could switch to Dish (who we are very happy with by the way), then our bank account was also charged without authorization! They claimed we did not return two of the four receivers. Luckily, we saved the tracking #'s which they used to confirm that we had returned the receivers. The problem now is getting a refund credit issued for the $126 they STOLE from our bank account. After being assured that the money would be refunded, I've had to make a second call today because we still haven't received it. Considering all the problems we've had out of this company, I would love to see a class action against them as no company would deserve it more! I once told one of their service reps (when they were trying to convince me that because one of our receiver was defective and replaced under warranty that constituted renewing the contract for another two years!) that the mafia had better business ethics than their company, and that's the God's honest truth! This company does not deserve to have charter for a corporation and it should be revoked!

We have a similar problem and I agree that this company has the worst customer service I have ever seen. After getting completely fed up with their lousy service and junk equipment, I canceled our service, agreed to buy out the balance of our contract so we could switch to Dish (who we are very happy with by the way), then our bank account was also charged without authorization! They claimed we did not return two of the four receivers. Luckily, we saved the tracking #'s which they used to confirm that we had returned the receivers. The problem now is getting a refund credit issued for the $126 they STOLE from our bank account. After being assured that the money would be refunded, I've had to make a second call today because we still haven't received it. Considering all the problems we've had out of this company, I would love to see a class action against them as no company would deserve it more! I once told one of their service reps (when they were trying to convince me that because one of our receiver was defective and replaced under warranty that constituted renewing the contract for another two years!) that the mafia had better business ethics than their company, and that's the God's honest truth! This company does not deserve to have charter for a corporation and it should be revoked!

I will send a copy of the attached letter to Direct TV, their board of directors, the better business bureau, and Qwest which sold me their services.February 10, 2008

Account Services
Direct TV inc.
Billing Disputes Department
P.O. Box 6550
Greenwood Village Co. [protected]

Dear Sirs or Madams:

January 21, 2008 I called Qwest to inquire about combining my telephone, and Internet services to save money. I spoke with a nice customer service representative named Jeff. Jeff spent a good deal of time with me comparing different packages and told me I would realize the best savings and most streamlined service if I dropped the Dish service I have been using for the last four years and went with the bundled billing package they offer which includes Direct TV. He said Direct TV offers the same programming options as Dish, and works the same way. He told me that I would have 30 days to evaluate the service and could cancel if I was not satisfied.

I agreed to let Jeff sign me up for the two-year package, which was the least expensive option, because I expected reasonable service and I am the type of customer that doesn’t make changes often. I kept one line of telephone service at the [protected] number, long distance service, and DLS service, which I purchased a $99.00 modem for instead of renting it at $9.00 per month, and a custom ring for my fax machine. I had the custom ring removed on 1/25/08 when I called quest to have additional filters sent to me for other phones in my home. My order # for these services is C04185295

On January 24, 2008, the Quest service representative came to my home and made the necessary changes to my telephone and fax line to install the DSL Service. The modem Qwest promised to send arrived on the exact date they told me it would. The telephone and DSL services have worked flawlessly after my son spent approximately 20 minutes with Quest’s courteous and knowledgeable technical services support line the evening it was installed.

My experience with Direct TV has been extremely disappointing:

On January 28th I cancelled my Dish service and made arrangements for them to send me boxes to return their equipment.

On January 28th Direct TV sent a service technician to install their service. He connected a DVR downstairs in the family room and put three black receiver boxes in the kitchen, bedroom, and upstairs family room televisions. I had arranged to work from home that day in order to meet him. When he left he asked me sign a work order that confirmed he had been there and I did so. He did not give me a copy so I presumed it was something for internal company record keeping. I askrd him about the remote controls and he said they worked just like my old Dish remotes. At that time we were standing in the upstairs family room and the TV volume was turned down, but the picture was clear. He left, and I went back to work. When my son came home 10 minutes later, he turned up the volume on the television and said the sound was full of static. The downstairs DVR TV worked fine, but the bedroom and kitchen TVs didn’t work at all.

My son called your technical support and after 15 minutes of phone menus and wait time he spoke to a tech who had him unplug the set, reset the receiver and other problem solving techniques which he had already tried. Your tech support said he could not help us further and that we would need to set up an appointment to have a technician come to our home. Keep in mind that this is the very evening of the day the system was supposedly installed.

On January 29, 2008, the next morning I called Direct TV, spoke to LaVar ,and he set up an appointment for service on 2/4/08. I asked him if I would be able to record on the upstairs TV when it was working (just like I could do with Dish) He said no, it doesn’t work like that and that I would need an additional DVR, which would cost me $99.00. I told him to connect me with the department that could cancel my service and he connected me to Faith.

When I spoke to Faith I asked her to cancel my service. Faith said La Var was incorrect that she could have one of the receivers removed and an additional DVR added for a one-time $19.95 fee. This would supposedly get my service working like my Dish service had worked in the past. I agreed to let them install the new DVR and get my service working correctly. This was order # [protected]. She said she would be mailing a box for me to return the receiver that would be replaced by the new DVR. I have not yet received that box.

On February 1, 2008, the one TV in four that had been working quit working. I called your customer service and spoke to Illene; she said I needed to speak with Ironwood at [protected]. She transferred me to Cindy. Cindy asked me to please hold while she looked into my account and then promptly dropped my call. At this time I had spent over an hour trying to reach your customer service, while listening to disgusting phone menus designed to sell me more services. I was also late for work.

On February, 2, 2008 I tried resetting the DVR and it worked for about three hours. The other three TV’s didn’t work, so I decided to be patient and wait for the appointment on Monday to get the service working properly.

On February 3, 2008 Super Bowl Sunday I tried resetting (unplugging DVR waiting 15 seconds and plugging in again) to see if I could get at least one of the TVs working, but this time it didn’t work, so I called Tech support to see if they had any suggestions. They could not help. The second Tech I spoke with, Andra suggested I wait for the appointment I had scheduled for the next day so the on-site technician would get every- thing up and running. My husband and son were disappointed that they could not watch the Super Bowl on our Direct TV at all. We had to set up an old rabbit ear antenna.

On February 4th, 2008 I came home from work at noon in order to be available for my appointment which was scheduled between noon until 5:00. My answering machine had a computer-generated message saying my appointment was not going to be on February 4th after all, but had been changed to February 7th, between noon and 5:00. I was not pleased. I called direct TV again and spoke to Linda. After that discussion I asked again to have my service cancelled. Linda transferred me to Angie. Angie checked the account, noted the problems and said if I would give them one more chance to get this service installed correctly she would credit me $10.00 per month for 12 months and credit my account from January 28th until it was fixed and working satisfactorily. I agreed to this one last chance.

On February 7th, 2008 I came home from work at noon for the tech appointment. The technician arrived at my home at 4:55. His name is Marlon Calero. He had the new DVR, but no orders to do any other installation work. He checked the DVR downstairs and said it had one component that was broken. He called his supervisor to see if there was some work order that had been lost. He did not have the equipment, work order, or time to take care of the install. He wanted to know if I was paying for the install directly and I told him no.

I called Direct TV again, waited, through those annoying phone menus, and cancelled my service. I cancelled my non-existent service and told him to send me the boxes to return your junk equipment. The representative informed that I would be charged an early cancellation charge. I asked to speak with his supervisor or your disputes department and he told me he didn’t have a telephone contact for anyone that could resolve this problem. I told him to note my account, and I would call my lawyer.

I then called Dish network and reactivated my services. They charged me a re-install fee of $99.00, and will re-install my original equipment February 11th between 8:00 and noon.

I keep detailed notes, but this letter will provide you with a brief summary of the events.

I will copy Qwest with this correspondence. I will continue to use their telephone, long distance and DSL service.

From Direct TV I expect to receive no later than March 30th, a letter of apology, stating that I owe you nothing, and a check for $99.00 to cover my re-installation fee for my Dish services.

If the letter and refund is not received my March 30th I will ask my husband, wh is a trial lawyer to take this matter to the next level.

Sincerely,

Catherine E. Bullock
Cc; Qwest, Better Business Bureau, Direct TV Board of Directors Neil R. Austrian, Ralph F Boyd Jr., Chase Carey Peter Chernim, James M. Cornelius, David F. DeVoe, Charles R. Lee Peter A. Lund, Rupert Murdoch

Direct TV charged my father, who does not have Direct TV, a charge for $110.00. He disputed the charged so Direct TV turned it into a credit card payment reversal on my account and told me that I'm not allowed to make a credit card payment for 6 months. But one early Sunday morning I received a phone call from an outside Collections Agency telling me that I CAN make a credit card payment, so I used my debit card and I paid $354.00. After they took the payment, and after they removed the money from my checking account they said they couldn't turn my Direct TV on again because I had already been told that I wasn't allowed to make a credit card payment. So (1) they refused to turn my services back on, and (2) they also refused to give me my money back so I could make what they call a "valid" payment. So they said "it's not a valid payment", but yet they're keeping my money. They told me that the only way I could get my services back on now is I can do one of two things. I can either go to the bank and send them an additional $354.00 OR I can wait two months for the original payment to post.

Now, when I call Direct TV I get transferred to a call center in the Phillipines and all they do is apologize to me for this but they tell me that they can't help me and that no one can. I'm told that I can't contact the Corporate Office to file a complaint and my bank tells me that I can fill out a form and have them investigate but it would take up to 10 days for them to do this, so they stole my money!

I called Direct TV after having a negative experience with a few other companies. The sales guy rushed me through the call, didn't tell me about any packages. He automatically signed me up for the most expensive package. He talked me into a DVR I didn't want, and didn't tell me there would later be a monthly fee of 5.99. He didn't tell me there would be a charge for each receiver, which was also 5.99 each. What was supposed to be a package deal for $47 a month turned into an $85+ a month bill. Then they kept screwing up when they were coming out to install. Have I mentioned that both the sales place and the installers do not work for Direct TV? They are separate companies. I learned that when the guy came to install everything. I've only had the service for a week and I wanted to turn it off. I spent hours on the phone with people trying to disconnect the service when they told me I signed a 2 year contract with them and that if I wanted out I had to pay $480! I was never told this was a long term deal. And if I want to dispute it I have to submit a letter to this unknown billing place that has no phone. As of now this has not been resolved. How is this fair to any consumer? If anyone knows of any class action lawsuits I can join, please comment back.

This is absolutely the WORST company in the United States. They are a bunch of liars and there customer service is grade AA dog @#*%.
I called direct tv to recieve service since i kept hearing how they are #1 provider with the lowest price (no wonder they have the lowest price...they are a bunch of thieves). My first service call was "rained out" and had to be rescheduled (allthough it never rained here). At that time the tech CONFIRMED MY ADDRESS and rescheduled. The day came of the next appointment and after taking off work to wait for direct tv ..they never showed. I called direct tv and after an 11/2 hours they finally found me in the system and offered me a $15.00 credit for my loss (allthough i make 15.00 an hour X 8) and "promised me" that I would get service 2 days later on a Saturday. Saturday morning came and i was so excited to hear from a tech. However this is how the conversation went.
Tech: Hey this is so&so from direct tv. I was calling to find out how to get to your house.
Me: Ok. You go here and here and so on.
Tech: Well I am in Roanoak and it is sixty miles from your house.
Me: Ok well what time do you think you will be here?
Tech: Let me call dispatch and i will call you back.
That is the last time I heard from the "professional installer" as they say.
The tech had called a couple hours before my actual appointment so when i called direct tv they said I had to wait til after the missed appointment to call.
So...I call direct tv after the missed appointment to explain my problem with the faith of SURELY they would come out right away to fix it. But once again here comes the runaround. But this time i have to say was a pretty good BIG FAT LIE. She sais oh the tech went to the wrong city. "YOU" gave us the wrong zip code. Ok...I have two words..BULL ###. I have lived here for 2 1/2 years and payed my 12-15 bills a month , gived my address countless times. Never have I given the wrong "zip code" before.

So at this point I want to cancel. I dont want anything else from this JOKE of a co. and I am pissed. She informes me i can't cancel because i will be charged a cancelation fee. I HAVE NEVER FELT SO HELPLESS BEFORE. Usually you can get high enough in the company that someone can satisfy "the customer". That is what customer satisfaction is all about right? WRONG.
So I have to swallow my pride and reschedule.

Super Bowl Sunday! They are supposed to be there between 8-12am. Once again they never showed. I don't think i have to tell you my feelings around this event.

This letter can only begin to tell you of the NIGHTMARE I encountered with this company. Not including the hours of time i spent on the phone with them, the promises they made, the money they really owe me for all the credits they gave me before the service ever had a chance of being installed, the I'm sorry's , the I understand your frustration, Bull ### if you understood you would make it right. No wonder there is a lack of communication, you can't ever understand these people.
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU GET THE CHEAPEST SERVICE...YOU REALLY DO!

Not only did direct tv access my account unauthorized, they did it twice ! Instead of my account currently being at $554.00, It is now at $111.00 because of direct tv's neglegence. They are a fraudulent company with horrible reviews. What's even sadder, I never even had service from them. Very sad, but true.

I have very bad experience with Direct TV. Their customer service is so terrible. Direct TV is cheating to customers. When I opened the account, the agent told me that there will be $10 credit in my account in the 2nd month of bill after sent the form back. I have sent the form back and I have never gotten the credit from my account. I called and the customer said they didn't get the form. So I sent it 2nd time, but the credit has never came to my account. Finally, the term for one year contract arrived, I canceled it at once. I have sent the receiver back to Direct TV in January 2008. Now I receive the letter from his collection company asking me to pay them $119 for two receiver. I called the customer service today, the lady is very bad. The customer service she provides is terribe. I said I am going to file a complain against your Direct TV. She said go ahead. My friend told me I should go to small court to file a small claim against Direct TV because it sent my acct to collection company for no reason. Does anybody have any good idea to file a lawsuit agaist Direct TV together? There are so many people like me feeling so upset and angry with Direct TV. Please provide good suggestion if anyone has. Thanks.

We are being billed for two adult pay per views for two days when we were both at work all day. They claim that they are not mistakes... mmm kinda funny the 6 month [censored]zu gets out of her kennel during the day and orders movies. In November we were billed for a auto renew sports package that we received the first year free... never watched it, never knew we really had it the first year, and definately didn't authorize it to be billed to us.

WE NEED MORE COMPETITION IN THIS AREA OF SERVICE!

Direct TV offers no service. With out most HD channels for months. Now no tv at all. Keeps searching for a non existent signal. Have Verizon for home phone, internet and the tv. you can't even file a complaint against them as they lead you down one rabbit trail after another. They don't want to hear it or fix it. The worst service of any company I have ever dealt with. Will give them the boot as soon as I can get another service. No one else can be this bad. Some government agency needs to get involved and go after this company.

I too fell victim to Direct TV. When I ordered this service, I was told my installation was free. I had to pay a UPS shipping charge and could get a reduced price on a service agreement if I gave them a credit card number. When the installer got here, He said it would be a $200.00 charge. I immediately got on the phone for an hour and a half, being transferred around until I was finally told my UPS charge would be refunded to my acct to help offset the cost. I never was refunded my money.

I have spent countless hours on the phone trying to get resolution and voicing my opinion of how unhappy I am with their service. I finally got fed up with the whole thing and called to cancel my service. I was told they would send boxes for me to send my equipment in and I told her to send me a final bill and I would pay it. Not once did she mention hey don't worry, we are going to steal the money out of your account, but guess what...they took $501 out of my acct 4 days later. Imagine my surprise, when I was overdrawn the day after payday!

I talked to my bank who said this was the third time in two days, they had this problem. I have spent countless hours on the phone over the past three days (on hold, being transferred, listening to robots talk in circles) finally being told that the contract I signed gave them permission to do this: however they cannot produce a contract I signed!
I can write a bill dispute dept in CO, but they don't have a phone. How ridiculous is that?

The last witch I talked to told me boxes had not even been sent yet for me to return my equipment and that they took the banking info from my payments to deduct this money.

Since I was never given the chance to pay this bill, and they took it upon themselves to take whatever they wanted out of my acct, I am furious. This is robbery and it is no different than me using my card somewhere and them turning around and stealing money out of my acct.

This is wrong and it has left me feeling lied to, cheated, stole from raped, and hung out to dry! Is there any justice left in this world?

I want to do something to expose them as the crooks they are but I don't know where to go from here...Can someone please help? I'm thinking class-action lawsuit.