DirecTV
Reviews and Complaints

I have had direct TV for over 6-7 years. Will about 4 weeks ago one of my receivers gave out and I had to go to Best Buy to get a new one, I told the sale person that I just needed a cheap box; he did sell me one for $65.00. (The sale person did not point out there is a 2 year contract with the box). Now I get home, open the box all that is inside the box is the receiver, a remote and the manual about the receiver, no paper about the 2 year contract. I call DTV to activate the card. I talk to a customer service person for 15minutes and she never said that, by activating the card I would start a 2 year contract that comes with the box with DTV. So now my wife wanted to get FIOS. And she did. So I call DTV to cancel my service with DTV, and I was told I would have to return the receiver that I really leased. I was mad that the sale person never told me it’s a lease. And this customer service person did not say anything about the 2 year contract being broken by canceling the service. So I returned the receiver. Will I just get a statement saying I would have to pay Direct TV $300.00 for breaking a contract? I call DTV and was told that no paper work is need for this contract. It’s just there. This contract just came out of the blue sky above. I told DTV that no one said a word about the contract, not the sale person at best buy, not the two customer service rep’s at DTV. I will not pay the $300.00. Any other parts of the Statement I got from DTV I have no problem with. Just the $300.00/ 2 year contract BS

Been with DirectTV over a year. At first my somewhat sight-impaired wife could not tune TV herself: the remote furnished had such tiny buttons, she couldn't see them properly. The furnished remote turned on their blackbox and our TV simultaneously, a plus; however when I demaned a big-button remote, the one sent didn't do that, causing enough confusion for her that she couldn't use it, and then the so-called big buttons weren't a visual improvement. The other critical fault was in their box, which responded to a button press - on any kind of a remote, not just their own - by duplicating the number ("7" easily became "777"), so for my wife who had to be more deliberate about tuning channel numbers, most times the tuning effort was a disaster. Pointed out to DirectTV many times, they have done nothing to correct this sequence of simple problems.

Same boat as most everyone else, disagreement over a contract I never knew existed until I tried to cancel. In fact, a customer service rep explicitly TOLD me there was NO contract when I joined. Blatant lie, but it caused me to join, so I guess he accomplished his mission. I joined through a general satellite provider of both Dish Network and DirecTV, they also told me there was no contract with DirecTV when signing up. Now that I've cancelled 8 months in, they hit me with a $200 early cancellation fee. Just wondering if anybody has taken their issues to small claims court, and if so, what was the outcome?

My 86 year old dad signed up for services with direct tv and they helped themselves to his credit card for 500.00 he was so frusated with their service he cancelled in 2 weeks. Not knowing the yet of 500.00 overcharge. N29.99 a month is almost 600.00

Date: friday, july 24, 2009 1:30 pm
From: directv customer service

To: [protected]@fuse.Net

Subject: rip off [reference #: [protected]]

Subject
Rip off

Discussion thread
Response (Mabel lyn v. - [protected]) - 07/24/2009 10:30 am
Dear ms. Kathy,

Thanks for writing. I understand your concern about the charges on your father's
Directv account. I just want you to know that the your father agreed to sign up
For the service but then disconnected it within the agreement period so an early
Cancellation fee was billed.

Please know that directv significantly discounts the price of equipment and
Installation so we ask customers to agree to a programming commitment of 12-24
Months effective when they accept and activate service. I see that you activated
Equipment on 05/04/09 and at that time your father agreed to a 24 months of
Programming agreement. Since the account was cancelled the fee was charged.

For more information on programming agreements please visit our web site at
Directv.com/agreements.

Moving forward, under the terms of the directv customer agreement, when the
Directv service is cancelled all outstanding charges are billed to the method of
Payment we currently have on file. The customer agreement is available online at
Directv.com/agreements. Please see the “payment upon cancellation” section for
More information.

We have found that the fees we have billed are correct and valid. Directv is
Unable to honor your credit request.

Thanks again for writing.

Sincerely,

Mabel lyn v.
Employee id #[protected]
Directv customer service

Catch up to 14 games every week this fall with nfl sunday ticket, now available
At directv.com/nfl.

Customer (Kathy kathy) - 07/23/2009 06:50 am
My 87 year old father ordered your services, and didnt like it, do to being
Unfamiliar with the new stations and all the computeized programing.He had
Service for maybe a week, i just went through his bills and you charged him
Almost 500.00. This has to be incorrect they didnt even give him a disk they
Used his neiobors old one.The bill is on 5/26/09 can you please bring your
Attention to this account and reimburst him...Frank lear 8473 monroe ave
Cincinnati ohio 45236...513-793=1003

[---001:001815:33124---]

Legal notice | privacy policy | do not call policy | corporate information | contact us

©[protected] cincinnati bell inc. All rights reserved.

I canceled the service on 5/26/09 to switch to AT&T UVerse that has the capability to record 4 shows at a time and with one DVR you can watch recorded shows on any TV in your house. At that time we had prepaid through 6/15/09 and we therefore were due a credit of $68.31. On 6/19/09 Direct TV mistakenly charged us an additional $371.69 as a cancellation fee. When I called to complain on 6/22/09, the customer service representative said she would credit our account for $440.00 and said it would take 5-7 business days to process. We finally received a statement from Direct TV dated 7/17/09 that we have a credit balance of $440.00. The trouble is that it has not been credited on our VISA card. On 7/24/09 I talked to Joseph (wouldn't give his last name) and he refused to expedite our VISA credit even though it was their mistake. He said it would take 8 weeks to credit our VISA account. I have filed a dispute of the charge with VISA.

Lied about everything from the very beginning from the original sales rep who told me that my contract was for 12 months and after install I'm sent a piece of paper stating that its for 12 months at the promo rate and an additional 6 months at full rate. Was never told by sales rep about this. When I tried to cancel after 12 months I was told that I owed about 14 dollars by 2 different reps on the phone for early cancellation and now I just received a bill for over $100 for early cancellation. Customer service no help what so ever. DO YOURSELF A FAVOR DON'T GET DIRECT TV. HORRIBLE COSTUMER SERVICE AND THEY LOST THIS COSTUMER FOR LIFE.

Directtv's policy of automatically renewing the nfl sunday package, even to customers, who never requested the service in the first place is misleading & fraudulent. For the past three years, I have called to say that I do not want the service after noticing it on my bill, and every year it has been automatically added anyway. I have been billed more than $250/season. The money is nonrefundable once the season begins, even if you are calling to say you never requested it.
They do not consider your calls enough to take your household off the "don not want" list.
If you are a customer who had the nfl package automatically added and were forced to call, yell and get it cancelled. The company still counts you as a household who ordered the service that year and you are automatically "renewed" the following year.
Why should I have to scrutinize my bill to look for additional services that I didn't add in the first place? And then, if I don't notice the nfl season begins, the fees are not refundable.
The "renewal notice" on the bill is not enough to warn customers of this deceit. The burden should be on the company and the customer who wants the service to call to renew and add the service, not the customers who never request the service in the first place. Is there a class action lawsuit here? I want to join.
Directtv knows this practice is misleading, as even the customer service guy I got on the phone told me "we have been getting a lot of complaints about this. "
Please help me to change this practice for millions of other hardworking americans who are tired of corporations ripping us off!

DirecTV is a complete waste of time and extremely unprofessional I had my date set up for installation on Wednesday after work…instead I get a call well I’m at work asking if I can meet the technicians’ at noon, so I say okay I can go home on my lunch break. I go home three guys show up and hang around for about an hour and then end up telling me they do not have the correct equipment for the job! And I will have to re-schedule, so at this point after missing 2 hours of work. I call DirecTV customer service, as I end up having a conference call with two representatives, to set up a manger to come in fix the problem the next day. I agree thinking I will have someone you are professional and know the correct equipment to bring.
While the next day…about 9 O clock I start to receive random phone calls from the DirecTV tech guys, let me remind you that I’m at work and my service appointment is not scheduled till 4pm/8 after work…I will not waste time away from work for TV. So anyways I continue to receive these harassing phone calls asking when I will be home and then the tech guys start to get mad that I’m not being generous with my time and they get insulted that I will not leave work at that moment, so that they can hook up my TV at their convenience! I ignore the phone calls…and later speak with a DirecTV scheduler who conforms that I will have someone at my house at the original scheduled time
Long story short…The manger GREG [protected] shows up 2 hours late walks into my home stares at my floor and then says he can’t do it! And then tries to charge me $50 dollars! In it’s close to nine O clock at this point! I’m completely discussed and infuriated with their lack of professional ism! Thank you for wasting my TIME!

I guess they do not believe in customer service as there is NONE! They are a bunch of crooks who don't care about the customer. I would advise you not to use them and go with a local cable company as Direct TV is a bunch of people who don't care about the customer.

Direct TV was charging us $89.99 per month for the exact same services that they were offering new customers for $44.99 per month. We called to cancel and they offered us only $10 off to keep us as loyal, long-term customers. After I cancelled our service, I decided to phone them about re-connecting our service. Both agents in the "Win-Back Department" told me that 1.) they could not extend the New Customer deal to me at this time and 2.) those deals were only for New Customers and when I became a New Customer, I was offered "My Deal" at that time. The deal I was offered (when the economy was good) was still available to me, however blah blah blah ... well, I hung up the phone before that conversation could be continued...

Called on June 26th to make a payment on my bill was told Ok sir no problem charge to the same card as last month? Yeah sure Mr. non english speaking customer service rep. Ohh ok sir . I need to speak to a supervisor as well about some services that I cancelled over 5 months ago that I keep getting billed for. Ohh ok sir I have him call you . Wake up the following monday and pow bank account over drawn some 1700 dollars because ol pedro totally cancelled my service and they decided that 2 days was more than enough time for me to return the equipment. Call them and get placed on hold waiting for a stupervisor, finally get the pleasure of listening to Suzette rant and rave at me and be told if I acted like an adult and paid my bill this would have never happened. Ok thanks for the oral disertation on how to be an adult and thanks for the wonderful skills you displayed, but I'm sorry I do not speak ebonics, and please do not yell at me this time. I am nicely hung up on, called back and low and behold I get the pleasure of speaking to suzette yet again who does everything but call me a cracker. Tells me the full amount will continue to be withdrawn from my account until the total of 2900.00 has been paid to them or until I return the equipment at which time I will receive my money back in 6-10 weeks after the receivers have been verified which normally takes about 6-8 weeks after they are returned, so basically it will take me about 4 months to get my money back that was stolen in the first place, but ohh no sir you authorized us the first time you piad by debit card, ohh really wheres teh signed contract that I understand that ? Its apparently on this non existant contract that the non existant installer had me sign, sorry got tired of waiting and did the hard work myself, just can pay for a service i cant use for 3 weeks from now because they only have 1 installer in my area. Call the office of the VP same day get told oops we are sorry here let me fast track your refund you should have it in 3 days . 3 days later no money and call back told whoops that request didnt get handled here let me do it it will be there by July 10th, opps July 14th arrives tired of the run around and told by the office of the President wow it was never processed and oh man our system just went down I can't reveiw your account, sorry but i will get that handled, hmm amazing doesnt have my account number phone number or name but going to handle that. Its cool filed a complaint with att general office, and seeing a lawyer at 3 today to file a lawsuit against them

I can't even begin to explain about one terrible experiance it's been being a directv www.Directv.com customer. It's been a total nightmare, i mean it. I have never been pushed so over the edge. It seems like me that there is management problem with directv company all together. Before i share what has actually happened, i must share that when there is an issue, i could not only get any rep to resolve a problem, i could not even get a manager in billing to help. Instead, i felt i was being bullied by a billing manager himself.
I don't know what to do! I can't anyone at that company to help me thus far. All i wanted was some cable tv at a price that was promised to me but that is not what i got!
And person after person after person at directv could not do anything right to resolve customer issue. It's not a big deal when a company makes mistake, but it's about how company addresses a mistake. Well that's not how i was treated by directv!
Here is the horror story that i am still dealing with!
So i look for cable company and see ad from directv in the mail. I open it up and see an ad about cable service at $ 30 something dollars. I thought great, i am calling. I call them and talk to a rep, telling him that i am looking at an ad and this is what i would like. He didn't know what i was talking about, had no idea! Said they don't have anythink like that!
Okay, not a big deal. That's nothing. So i ask him to share with me about different plans that directv has available so i could see if i want to sign up. He tells me about different plans. We talk for a long time. I double check and ask questions over and over again to make sure we are on the same page. So anyways, so he tells me about a service at $ 50 something dollars and about channels including - and that's all he tells me (Nothing is told about rebate or any hidden fees, nothing) i thought why not sign up, it's only $ 50 something. Not just that, he tells me about the free equipment that i will get. I thought wow this is cool, tv service at a good price and free equipment. I was really happy so i signed up.
Then comes the nightmare!
Guy comes to bring me my equipment, to set it up at my condo. Then tells me that it will cost like $ 200 something dollars. I said wait, i was told it's free. So he calls customer service when at my condo and puts it on a speaker. By the way, on the sheet that he had with him, it said free!
Anyways, he calls directv customer service and the rep basically said no it's not free!Buttt... If i sign up for hbo and la la la then it will be. Other than that, it was not free. Anyways, after an an hour of nerves, she gets attitute with me and says i can keep the equipment since i upgraded with the hbo channels.
Okay, that's nothing. This was just a start.
So time passes by and i get my bill. Guess what? What i was promised over the phone when rep sold me the service was nowhere to be found on the bill!That's right! Nothing even close to $ 50 something service that he signed me up for! Not a word!
So i call directv customer service - asking what the deal with this bill? Rep said my service cost $ 75! And if i want the $ 50 service, i need to send in some rebate online! And then i need to wait a month or two to see it take effect on my account. Wait a minute i said! When the service was sold to me, there was not one word about rebate!Sending it in, waiting for it... Word rebate was not part of the sales presentation as he was signing me up! I said that's not right! Why would you tell me to go thru some steps to get some rebate so i can get what i was promised? Anyways, rep was being totally unprofessional and basically said it is what it is! This was a rebate program and if i want that deal, i need to go thru the rebate process!
I was so pissed so i called directpath. Rep there heared me out, said i will get credit and that a manager will call me. Never happened. No manager or anyone called me.
Then i fly in to europe for a month and come back this month, in june. I told myself, once and for all i need to get this taken care of!
So i call, ask the rep to put me on the phone with manager. I wait for nearly 30 minutes on hold and then get dropped by directv. Didn't get to speak to anyone after nearly 30 minute hold:)
Okay, so i tell myself next day i have to get this resolved. I call, rep tells me to tell her what happened? I told her about my bill being wrong and that i am not supposed to have $ 75 on it, that rebate was never mentioned. She said" ohhh, i understand your frustration" then tells me " you still have 10 days to file a rebate". I ask for a manager. I see it is not going anywhere. I get a billing manager on the phone who could see i just about had it. So what does directv billing manager tells me? Well' basically that we would not be having this conversation if i would have done rebate! I said sir when your company sold me this service, your rep didn't say a word about rebate, why would you make a customer jump thru hoops to get $ 50 that was promised by your sales rep when he signed me up? This manager was not hearing it! He basically that i don't have another choice that i have to do rebate - ohhh and even if i will, it will take about 2 billing statements before i see it apply.
That's just wrong. It's not the $ 25 that i keep paying extra each month for something i didn't sign up for, it's the fact that sales rep at directv can say whatever he wants when he sells and not mention a word about some rebate and then directv pushes a customer to have to apply for rebate or be punished with extra fees!
I don't know what to do! When i wanted to cancel the service, they told me to pay hundreds of dollars in cancelation fees! So they won't correct their mistake, they won't cancel my service for free - instead they try to bully me into going online, signing up for a rebate and then wait about 2 month before it takes place. Basically everything i have been paying so far has been the wrong price, all reps and management thus far has not done anything to correct their mistake. I don't know what to do! This has been one terrible experiance doing business with directv!

This is company really rips people off. I do not understand how so many people have been ripped off & directv gets away with that. I have been reading the complaints and it just amazes me. They want to charge me a trmanition fee, when I never was told that I had a contract. Before I cancelled I asked & they told me no. I cancelled & then received a bill for early termanation.
I called & again was told I had no contract. I had to wait 1 hour on the phone for a manager & was told because I had a dvr that put me in a contract of course they won't send me proof. I am fighting them to the end. I have made thousands of flyers about them & will start putting them up everywhere with this website.

They charged us six hundred some dollars on my husband's card for the "cost" of the equipment when we were late on monthly payment and they initiated canceling service. We got the service back and asked for our money back. They said it would take a few weeks. We said why when they were able to charge our card right away? Why couldn't they credit it back just as fast? They said they would send the refund by check. So we waited and waited. Nothing. We called their useless customer service and were repeatedly lied to. They either said the money was on its way or they said it was being reviewed and would be sent soon. Months passed and meanwhile, they are, without our consent or permission, deducted our monthly charges from the money they took! When we complained and called customer service, they said the refund was on its way and it would be "escalated"--whatever the hell that means. Every time we called we got the same BS except when we threatened to cancel services. Then, they sent us to smarter guys in "retention." One retention rep said he was told our refund was escalated and we'd get it soon. We waiting. Again, no refund in the mail. Finally, we were so fed up, we terminated our service on November 1, 2008. This was after waiting over 3 months for a refund that they had told us we'd get in 12 days or so! Once we canceled, they were obligated by their own terms to send us any credit back within whatever many weeks it says on their agreement once we return the equipment. They said they sent us the boxes for the equipment. We waited. NOTHING. We called again and the rep said she would order the box be sent to us because there was no prior request listed. So we lost a few weeks. Then, we sent the equipment back and still no refund. Every time we called they said it was escalated and we'd get in any day now. Finally, the time listed on their terms passed and still no check. In fact, their customer service lied and did nothing for us. I finally got our refund back and I want all of you to know how. I somehow stumbled on a comment form that goes directly to the office of the president. By the way, don't waste your time trying to email Chase Carey. His listed email (in someone's prior complaint) doesn't work. So, I filled out this comment form (It's not on the directtv web site so I don't know how it still works). Within a few days, a rep for the president called me personally. I explained the situation. He was very apologetic, looked into it and said we should've gotten our refund a long time ago. Within a few days he refunded our money by CREDITING IT back to our card! Something they had said they couldn't do. Anyway, I forgot his name but here's the link to the comment form that goes directly to the Office of the President: http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/global/contentPageIF.jsp?assetId=P4580012#h:699.154

Good luck!

My wife and I called to cancel our direct tv account. We called in may and now in june we are getting past due bills. When we called about these bills, we were told, first-that our account was cancelled and they did not understand why we were getting bills. They gave us to another department where a jerk by the name of benjamin informed us that because of a disagreement with my wife when she called in may, that our cancellation was not complete and that now we owe $117.00. After going rounds with benjamin he turned us over to robin, who was at least a little calmer about the situation. Robin proceeded to try to explain to us why one of their employees told us that our account was closed and yet another told us that we owe them money. Well to say the least i'm pissed with the whole thing and want to warn anyone who uses them to really cross your t's and dot your i's when cancelling their services. Sincerely unhappy.

I have a problem with direct tv. I hooked on to their package only because of sentante sports because at that time they called me and informed me that I could get the sports program that I wanted. They do not have my sports now. I am not allowed to cancel as I am told that I am liable for the monthly subs... Is this true. What happens in the future...

Concerned citizen

In june of 09 my account was hit by direct tv for the amount of 907.50 for a service I never had. I have a son who attends college in nacogdoches tx who ordered direct tv over the telephone at his apartment. My son was authorized by me to make a payment for his bill in dec.08 and mar. 09. When school was out he came home for a month and returned back to nacogdoches for summer school. Upon his arrival back o school his cabel was turned off and they said he did a early disconnection, which is not ture. Direct tv never had the mailing address correct or the telephone number correct so they could not ever pull up the information when I inquired about this matter. The way we had to get the information was from the card in the cabel box which is #[protected]. I made several attempts to get my money put back into my account I spoke with some on on june 16, which was girly, june 17 megan, june 25 jessica and july 3 which was india and lisa. I was old by customer service india that since I didn't dispute the payment in december and march then I was not going to get a refund back. I nor my son ever gave authorization t o direct tv to take 907.50 out of my account. I am the primary account holder of this account. He has never gave direct tv any account when he called for the service. I am still trying to get my money refunded back to my account. I will try to seek legal service to try to retrieve my money back.

Ok, so I really like to watch this show so you think you can dance, since I am a dancer and I really like to watch it. I always get excited on wednesdays and thursdays because those are the days that the show airs. I scheduled my directv dvr to record wednesday's show and when I get in front of the tv to watch my favorite show, it doesn't record. At the top it says it is recording but it wasn't!

I just wanted to complaining about directv... Don't be their customers!

Let me share about my experience with direct tv. I heard, from a few friends that recentrly switched to direct tv, that direct tv was cheaper than cable. (The same friends are as frustrated with direct tv as I am) so I looked into it and gave direct tv a call. The lady to whom I spoke to was very kind and pleasant. She went through all the packages. Towards the end of our conversation, I thought I had all the information I needed and as I was ready to hang up the lady starting to push about the service. It made me a bit concerned but at the moment I was convinced that direct tv was the way to go. I asked the lady to repeat the service as I compared it to what I had with cable. I told her that I paid $58 for my digital cable with hd, dvr and all those neet things with time warner. She said that with direct tv I would get over 200 hd channels, dvr and few extra things for $65.00 a month with a 2 year contract. I was, $7 bucks more for that much stuff... I am sold... Then she offered a $75 gift card if I singed up today. I was like... I am in. So I said yes and the guy came within a few days to install the unit. He came and told me I could not get any signal due to the trees surrounding my home. I was disapointed but oh well. So I called in customer service and shared what the tech said in which they asked if they can send another tech for a second opinion and they will give me an additional $50 gift card. I thought it was a good deal and I accepted. The tech came, got the channels (So I thought) and I was a happy camper unitl my first month bill. $89.97! So I called customer service to fix the mistake and that is when my whole perseption of direct tv got distorded. Lets start with the fact that what the lady told me about the monthly payment being $68 for 2 years is not true, it was only for 12 month and then it will go up to $89. Why couldnt they tell me that, why would they lie about such thing? Then I had to sign up for the discount which will reflect my following bill but for now I had to pay the $89. At the same time, the lady said that when I signed up that I was only promised a $50 gift card and a $25 gift card for the re attempt of installation. I was like, what the heck? These people lied to me about the amounts and now they say I am bound to a contract that I do not even have (At the time of the conversation) and if I wanted to cancel (This happended 2 days after I got the actual satelite service) I had to pay $480.

Do not fall into the lie. Time warener cable is way less expensive and is way better. Custoemr service is 100% a disasater with direct tv. They do not hear the concerns like mine and told be I was not telling the truth. Now, I am going to pay about $500 more for direct tv for a less quality and service product than the one I had with time warner. And when it came to the gift cards, I am still waiting... It is so sad.

It is sad that there is businesses out there that lure individuals with lies and deception and then claim you are being disnhonest and try to get you with their lies.

Do not buy direct tv>>>> if you do< you will get deceived!

Donald Mitchellwas lied to by direct tv.About a free reciever and a free upgrade.he was called out because my hd reciever wasn't working and i have inc.This 2 weeks would be creited to my account it wasn't.. They told me it would be 2 weeks because they was behind on work orders.when the tech arrived he told us we was in the distrect for a free upgrade, for which they charged us.I ask them how much another reciever cost i couldn't afford one right now but wanted to know the cost so JODY the tech number 5233 called direct and they told him to let us have it for free.Well $100.00 was on my bill along with $300.00 worth of movies they said i bought and i had them to put a block on all my tv's so the childern couldn't buy movies themselves.Now they turned my tv off because of this.They said they would give me a convinence fee of $50.00 and take $60.00 a month off my bill and charge me $39.99 for the reciever and take the charged movies off .Then called and said the was charging my account over $900.00 then turned the tv off.They shouldn't be able to rip people off like this and lie, each manger and rep has something different excuse and apoligies and will note the account the never do its all lies.How can i get help with this i have plenty wittinesses on this fraudulant lies this breaks our binding contract.Donald contact me at [protected]@aol.com asap. thank you