DirecTV
Reviews and Complaints

Life Shield was part of a bundle with DirecTV. The alarm would not set because sensors kept coming disconnected. We used the tablet to disconnect those sensors so the alarm would set. On two occasions the alarm went off and we received no call or emergency services.
We decided to cancel services and called customer service to inform them and return the equipment. I was told by customer service that they would continue to charge my bank despite me withdrawing my permission because of the contract, and they would not accept the return of my equipment until I paid a $430 early cancellation fee. And if you don't send the equipment back AFTER paying your account in full, they will charge you for the equipment! crazy!

We also cancelled DirecTV. They took the equipment back but are also charging an early termination fee. Some bundle!

Both companies take your money after providing poor service. They don't consider their service poor unless you tell them about everything that is wrong when it happens, so that they can try to make you happy. Who has time for this with a full-time job and a family?! I should call companies everyday to complain about what THEY do wrong OR it is my fault!

Never do business with Life Shield or DirecTV. They are both just hiding behind contracts to make easy money. And Life Shield if even worse by refusing to lower your cost by letting you return the equipment. I spoke to customer service and the "most senior management" personnel available.

They have no soul.

It's BS...they need to strong arm everyone they can to pay every ones salaries especially C.E.O.'s, Good old days are gone when you could mount your top of the line antenna to the fireplace on the roof, that you purchased ex: Sears & Roebuck, depending on your budget what type antenna you would buy, didn't have to pay for it day in & day out.So seriously not worth the headache they cause. Sorry Direct TV. I can see them charging a deposit, non refundable, if equipment is broken or missing something, but to force you into their service fine print. My son is a soldier and was in active duty, excuse me I'm out defending our country, sorry I got called out on a days notice, & wont be back for 16months or more, his roomate couldn't pay for the service. Same bull...

I signed up for directv's basic package for only 30 a month, first bill comes in the mail stating i owe 70 somehow. i called them and stated over and over again that i only wanted the cheap basic package, and never agreed to their "plus" package. After 3 phone calls they reduced my bill to 50 which was still 20 higher than i ever intended on paying. 6 months pass and i decide i have had enough of giving them my money for service that was spotty at best so i cancel. The lady said cancellation fee was a total of 340, then i agree to cancel with the fee of 340. Next thing i know it says i owe 420 because they added on cancellation fees to their cancellation fee. Unfortunately, disputing it gets you nowhere because they just state they are sorry for the misunderstanding and make excuses for the first price being told to me. And if i would not pay the fee they will just turn it over to a collection agency and fuc* my credit royally. All in all, just an awful company who does not deliver what they say they will, overcharges, uses their corporate power and leverage against the "little guy", and preys on consumers with their "legal contract" that you sign up for with extremely small fine print. Avoid them and their contracts at all cost!

I contacted the Cali Att'y. Gen'l.'s office, the BBB, and the local county Consumer Fraud Division. They withdrew their claim within a week. DirecTV just settled a multi-million dollar consumer fraud case with the A.G. here in Cali. To reiterate, a contract that gives one party the right to unilaterally raise rates is no contract at all and is unenforceable. If more consumers stood up to these thieves they wouldn't be so brazen.

We are goping thru the same thing. 10 yrs with Directv. Kept getting special offers in the mail (weekly). Called several times. Reps said that was only for new customer & THEY suggested we go to AT&T & maybe they could bundle a better price with Directv. Well AT&T gave us a better price with Uverse. We called Directv to cancel & you guessed it, a 140 early cancellation fee. They said the DVR box we bought 18 months ago started a new 24 month contact. Funny thing is they raised our rates a couple of months ago. When I brought this to the C/S reps attention, he stated the conttract allows them to raise rates & only is to keep the customer from leaving. I asked what was in it for the customer, he said we get a list of programming with the contract? What? Got the standard email saying they have to have the 24 month contact to cover the cost of the box, what the one I paid for?

Failure to perform constitutes a breach of contract, as would unilaterally increasing your rate. Consequently, you are entirely within your rights to revoke the balance of the contract, which, by their own actions, is null and void. These other comments about how you have to pay and be nice to them are written by company shills. Don't buy it. Take them to small claims court. The filing fee is nominal.

Stay away from Direct TV! They are scam artists and they did the same thing to us. They quoted us one price over the phone and our first bill was triple (3X) the price they quoted over the phone! When I called them they told me I should have read the contract. When I asked "what contract", they said the one I signed after the installer completed the installation. I told them I thought it was a work-order they said I should have read the fine type on the back. I was then charged $450.00 for early termination. That was over 2 years ago and I am still receiving phone calls and letters from Collection Agencies. My credit was over 800 points before this incident and it has since dropped over 100 points because of this one issue with Direct TV. Stay away fom them unless you have extyra money to burn.

Yea, Well, they just got me for $380.00 but the good news is they can't bill my credit card because I switched banks a year ago. So they will have to bill me and they will only get $10.00 a month. But sooner or later they will go under or the FCC will start looking into them.

I tried to cancel my directv service after 14 years of service and at first the person tried to overtalk me and try for me to stay. I told them I just called and want to cancel and to please tell me how to send the equip back. after a yelling match back and forth because they wouldn't allow me to cancel, they switched me to another dept. was put on hold for 20 min because they said I needed to talk to a supervisor to cancel...got another cust serv rep. he told me he was a supervisor and could help me then he tried to charge me an enormous amt for cancellation fees $400. I told him I was not going to pay then he says he has to transfer me to a supervisor because he really wasnt a supervisor (so he lied) another person tells me oh no now I also have to pay for a 2 yr contract early cancellation fee I told them hey I had your svce for 14 yrs so that doesn't make sense then he tried to tell me that I also had to pay additional fees because when their service was down I had to call and complain and that is now going to be charged for their cust serv person to tell me to plug and unplug an will charge me additional chg for 14 yrs total chgs. Then they wanted to chg me for a receiver their cust svce dept sent because their equipment didn't work and couldn't upgrade their update system so to make a long story short. I would NOT recommend DirecTV to anyone. They must be hurting because it seems they try to rip off their customers. Sad to say because I thought that when economic times got better I might go back to them down the road but NO WAY after the way I was treated I would not have this SLIMY company back!

I have had service for 3 years. At the beginning of my service, I had a standard HD box. In march of 2008, that box went bad. So I called and asked for a replacement. I have the protection plan, so I thought it wasn't an issue. The problem cam in when they said that I could upgrade my HD box to an HD-DRV. I thought what the heck, why not. I asked if there would be an extention to my service. The person helping me said, no since this would be a replacemejnt piece of equipment, not adding another box. I thought that was cool.

Now, here we are in June of 2009 and I want to cancel my service. I am now being told that adding the HD-DVR to my account, DID in fact extend my service for 2 years until March 2010.

I am trying to dispute this. I have a case in with Directv, contacted the Better Business Bureau, and I will be contacing my Attouney General's office, as per some posters have suggested doing.

Here is the response I received: (I had another receiver go bad two weeks ago and they admit the mistake they made to that problem, and that they should not have extened my contract then).

Thanks for writing. I understand your concern with your programming agreement and I'm sorry to hear that you will be canceling your service. 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.

Your DIRECTV equipment was activated on 03/04/08 and, per the terms of the offer you accepted, you agreed to a 24 month programming agreement which ends on 03/04/10. When you activated a replacement receiver on 06/10/09, the programming agreement on our computer screen was updated in error to 06/10/11.

Based on that, I just wanted to let you know that we received your email and I have forwarded it for special handling. A specialist will respond as soon as an agent is available (likely within 48 hours). For immediate assistance, please call us at [protected].

We take great care to ensure that the terms and conditions of our service, including programming agreements and early cancellation fees, are disclosed to each customer. Details about programming agreements and early cancellation fees are included in our advertising and point-of-sale materials. This information is also included in the confirmation letters sent by DIRECTV after you place an order for equipment and in the DIRECTV Equipment Lease Addendum, which is signed at the time of installation. For more information on programming agreements, please visit our website at directv.com/agreements Thanks again for writing and for allowing us to respond to you today.

Sincerely, Rudilyn J. - [protected]
DIRECTV Customer Service

I have been a Direrct tv customer for a total of 10years and my husband is retired military. We have moved from city to city and our satellite dish has moved with us also using the move feature by direct tv. Ever since we have moved to Slidell, LA. we have had problems. It all started back on August 24, 2008 when the original appointment was given. The technican called between the hours of 8-12 pm to tell us that he couldn't find the house so we had to reschedule. This is a new subdivision right off from a major interstate. We had to reschedule our appointment and the next appointment was set for October 6, 2008 so we agreed with that time. Thursday October 6, 2008 rolled around and my mother had to let the technician in because both my husband and I had to work. The technician was to show up between 8-12pm again. He did not show up but he called to say that he was running late and was coming from Bay St. Louis. The technician finally showed up around 1:30 pm. At that time my mother had to leave to pick up my daughter, on her return the two technicians had left. Another technician showed up around 4:00pm to hook up our satellite but gave us excuses on a different kind of line that was needed. The technician told us that we needed a single multi-switch line and that we had to call the main office and do a work order change. We got right on the phone while he was there and the main office told us that the local office had to change the work order. This scenario went on for sometime going back and forth on who was to order the switch. On Saturday I woke up early that morning to get back in touch with direct tv. The first person I got was really rude but the next lady was very pleasant. She informed me that she was going to cancel the original order and put in a whole new order with the switch on it. I immediately called the local office and told the supervisor that the matter was taken care of and I had given him the new work order number supposedly with the multi-switch on it. He told me that he would come out and install just one of our televisions so that we could have service. The pleasant lady at the main office lied to me because on the work order there was no order for a single multi-switch. It is now October 13, 2008 and we still do not have satellite. The next available date is November 12th, 2008 for installation and once again the technician will tell us that he is unable to hook up the dish because of this line.

I have been having problems with the direct t.v I have on;y had it for 1 month and they can not get a tech. to come to my apartment to fix the problem I have called them and they have scheuld me appointment and never show up are they had say that they will be 2 hours late and you don't hear from them and when you call direct tv they say that thaey can not talk to the people that they have doing there direct tv so you just wait until it have been 3 week and I still dont have anyone out hear so I dont recommended any one to get direct tv stick with cable.

Direct TV and Direct Path need to be shut down!

You will never resolve a problem in under 30 minutes. They never accept responsibility for non-service and will not refund your account to do problems even if they are a 'direct' result of their fault.

Unless they completely retool their business model, I see them going out of business in a few years or being shut down by the FCC.

My DirectTV Nightmare!

My name is Dave Conaway and I signed up for DirectTV for the first time 3 months ago after rave reviews from my dad.I was told that my monthly bill would be $49.99 and that I would receive 3 months of Showtime and HBO at no cost.

I got my first bill and it was $85 so I called up DirectTV. They said that the $49.99 was after a online rebate that would take 6-8 weeks to process. So I was pissed but went online and signed up for the rebate.

A couple of weeks went by and no problems until the North Carolina summer storms starting rolling in. I lose the signal at the first threat of rain or the picture pixelates so bad programs are unwatchable. Then the DVR box starts shutting off when I turn on the TV and reboots which takes upwards of 10 to 15 minutes.

So once again I call DirectTV. They tell me they can replace the box at no charge but I will lose all of my recorded programs. So once again I am pissed and forgo having the box replaced until I can watch all of my recorded programs so I can then get a new box.

Then this week I get my bill and DirectTV is charging me like $30 some dollars for HBO and Showtime. I never ordered them. If my 3 months is up of free service fine but don't just start charging me for something I don't want.

At this point I am over the whole damn DirectTV ### and feel that not only have they not provided me with the service I was promised and expected but that they have tried to pull one over on me.

So today I call DirectTV and am very nice and professional and tell they guy I want to cancel my service. He is very polite and tries to troubleshoot the situation and save the account but I wasn't having it. Then he proceeds to tell me that DirectTV will be charging me $420 for breaking my contract.

ARE YOU SERIOUS! DIRECTTV HAS NOT PROVIDED ME WITH THE SERVICE I WAS PAYING FOR AND NOW I HAVE TO PAY THEM $420 FOR NOTHING!

So I politely ask to speak to his manager. The manager keeps assuring me he can rectify the situation and have a technician come out and fix everything and he would review my bill.I understand that his job is probably retention so I politely explain to him that there is nothing to rectify except the cancellation fee. After 10 minutes of him jabbering I finally say look are you going to remove the cancellation fee or what.

NO was his response.

Well DirectTV beware because if I have to pay ANY cancellation fee I will be screaming from the mountain tops. I will tell everyone I know not to do business with you. I will be filing complaints, writing letters, making phone calls, whatever it takes.Hope the money was worth it.

I am never going to use or recommend Direct TV to anyone ever again. I have had nothing but bad experiences with these people. Out of countless calls to try and get my problems rectified, I only spoke with one customer service rep who was the least bit helpful and polite. Come to find out later unfortunately, that she outright lied to me. This company is a joke. I can't understand how they are still in business. I guess P T Barnum was right, there is a sucker born every minute. I just hope people will read these messages before they do business with Direct TV.

It started with lies and ended with lies. Promises not kept and probably never intended to do so. It took them over 2 weeks to get my service started which should have been a clue as to what was to come. I told them originally that I would be moving to a new location in about 2-3 months and was told that I could move my service without a problem and no charges incurred...wrong. I canceled my service and had to pay the "contract" agreement for remaining months. It was a wash for the extra charges that were to be incurred to move my service to the new house. I just had the charges billed to my credit card but I will dispute the charges and delay this as long as possible. I only hope I can make them as miserable as they have made me.

The only way to force these crooks to clean up their act is to hurt them financially. Please tell everyone you know to stay away from Direct TV.

What a racket! I signed up for Direct TV a year ago and I have had nothing but problems. Unfortunately, I can't do anything about it because they bind you a 2 year contract that is a few hundred dollars to cancel! I have had poor reception and needed to pay $50 for a technician to come out and check it. Why would I have to pay extra to receive good reception from a service that I am paying for? The next round of frustration came when I bought a new TV (HD) and had to agree to another year added to the "agreement" just to have a box that is compatible with a new TV. What do you do? You can't cancel because of the fee and you can't return the TV. Then we decided to add TV in another room of our home! Simple enough...After 4 cancellations from our local installers MASTECH we are still waiting for someone to come. 2 missed days of work and no apology or compensation from either Direct TV or mastech. Call Directtv and at least they stand behind their installers because they DO NOT stand behind their customers. I can't wait until I can cancel this service and urge everyone shopping for a television service provider to stay away from Direct TV!

Direct TV has had so many complaints in the state of Washington for poor customer service, and other complaints that they have failed to address, that the Washington State Attorney General's Office has filed suit against them. The Attorney General stated that they failed to work with the state regarding consumer complaints, therefore, they will work it out in court.
This is FYI. Perhaps some other state's Attorney Generals should address this issue as well.

Direct TV has been aweful to work with. We recently moved locations and called and set up an appointment to have our direct tv installed at the new home. We waited noon to 4 and no one ever showed up or called. Then when we called to see what happened we were told, the tv man called and no one answered. So he just didn't show! They called our old number which was still on file. If it is your business to call before you show up then the company should make sure they have the updated number! Why does the coustomer have to work around the provider. I'm paying for the service! I should not be given a 4 hour window I can understand 2 hours at most.

On 10/4/2010 i was told that i would have service on the next day.In which hand i had gotten a confirmation e-mail saying that i would have serrvice between 8 - 12 on [protected].So me and my wife took off work to be here when the install was done so we could be here to learn about the dvr and everything else...

Now it is 1:20 on [protected] and still no dvr or sattelite tv.so in which hand we are not only out on the watching tv we are also out on 2 days of pay with a figure of 1200 dollars. Who is gonna pay for that?. I feel sure direct tv wont. I am fitting to cancel this whole thing because some employee does'nt know how do there job...

I called Direct TV on 4/15/11 (Friday) because I had NO service. They responded to me saying they cannot send tech support to my house until 4/18/11. I told them when I had Dish Network and I had a problem they sent someone out within hours..NOT DAYS! Now we have to do without TV until Monday. They responded to me that the technicians don't "work" on weekend..They offered me a refund of 92 cents. I asked them what it would cost me to discontinue my service and they told me $400.00 since I'm a "new customer"..LOOKS LIKE I'M STUCK WITH THIS NITEMARE FOR A FEW MORE YEARS! SOOO WRONG! I HATE DIRECT TV!

You, yourself, said it all. You got the receivers at best buy HEY ### IT SAYS THAT THE RECEIVERS ARE LEASED ON THE BOX THEY CAME IN, and to top it all off you said you called to have them activated, HEY IDIOT LOOK AT THE ACCESS CARD THAT YOU, YOURSELF ACTIVATED it says by you agree to the directv terms and conditions by activating the equipment. WHAT THE HELL, REALLY WHAT RIGHT DO YOU HAVE TO COMPLAIN, YOU FAILED TO READ THE ITEMS IN WHICH YOU ARE ACTIVATING, and now you are blaming the company FOR YOUR STUPIDITY?

I created my account with DirectTV since January 2008 and am considering cancelling because charges are too high...and I want to switch BACK TO CABLE! I reviewed my account online trying to see if I had a 12 or 18 month contract...I couldn't find anything online in "my account." I'm trying to avoid as much "cancellation fees" as possible. I have read many posts/complaints about nightmares people have gone through their cancellations. I have no patience and hate to be bombarded with questions from rude and nasty CSRs. Also last year I subscribed to the "NFL season pass" also paying for HD channels for those games...and paid $482. I thought it was for the season and it will be cancelled after the season was over. Well, I reviewed my account last month and was surprised to know that the additional program required that I call to drop that package...otherwise it would have automatically renew..and I would have been charged another $482.

From what I've read it seems like DirectTV has a second line of business, a profitable "practice"...in making $$ from customers who choose to cancel. Not sure if there are any laws in the works to prevent DirectTV from charging these horrendous cancellation fees...?

Just to be safe I am waiting to at least after 18 months to cancel..so I won't be charged "early termination" fees. I'm still nervous and don't look forward to calling to cancel.

TO DIRECT TV WE ONLY HAD SERVICE FOR A FEW MONTHS AND NOW THE DISH ITSELF IS NOT LETTING US GET CLEAR SERVICE WHY SHOULD I HAVE TO PAY EXTRA MONEY TO HAVE SOMEONE COME OUT TO RESET MY DISH WHEN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN SET RIGHT IN THE FIRST PLACE. PS I WELL CLIMB UP AND DO YOUR JOB MYSELF SINCE I HAVE TO PAY. DISH NOT SET RIGHT FROM THE THE BEGINNING.

First of all the only way you can 'own' a directv receiver is to purchase it from them. ANY receivers sold at retail are leased, it says so on the freaking box, dont believe me go check it out yourself its on the botton of the box highlighted in red. So you failed to return their receivers, they have every right to charge you the non return fees
And Second of all, you are required to have a credit card on file with directv in order to have the services, a lot of companies are doing this by the way, its part of the customer agreements. This is regardless of the fact if you decide to use that credit card as a method of payment for your monthly bill or not, you dont have to pay with it automatically at all. And as part of the directv customer agreement you have to update them with any changes on your credit or debit accounts, if you fail to do so it is fraud, because you have the services you are agreeing to directvs terms, you could be charged for fraud for not updating information like that. It was perfectly leagle for directv to take the money out of your account, here is the part of the agreement that you may like to know, section 5 cancellation row e
(e) Payment Upon Cancellation. You acknowledge that you have provided your credit or debit card account information to us. You understand that you will incur fees and charges as a result of your receipt and use of Service and/or Receiving Equipment, and may incur early cancellation fees and/or equipment non-return fees (as specified in any lease, programming or other service commitment agreement you entered into in connection with obtaining Receiving Equipment). By giving us your credit or debit card account information, you authorize us to apply this method of payment, in accordance with applicable law, to satisfy any and all amounts due upon cancellation. You further acknowledge that you are required to maintain current credit or debit card information with us and agree to notify us whenever there is a change in such information, such as a change in the card number or the expiration date.

Thus meaning you are broke and they took the money they had rights to LEAGALLY and because you obtained the services you yourself agree to directvs terms and agreements. Maybe next time you should inform yourself as a consumer before you point fingers and blame it on the company. They dont keep anything hiden from you, you just have to have a little bit of brains.

they do have a point there sir, someone was home for the install that agreed to where the dish was first placed, if you had a certin place that you wanted to have the dish, why didn't you yourself make sure that it was put there? Or is it that you were home and the installer told you there would be custom charges or something? Sounds like the company was not in the wrong there, except perhaps the missed appointments, which by the way companies such as directv subcontract install companies out.
Sounds like the BBB is going to back them up on this one to and that is someoene who is out for the customers, of course if the customers are in the right. You pretty much just made yourself look like a petty loser.

As I was reading this, I had to double read it as it sounded like an exact email I made almost a year ago but I did not remember doing it in here.
I can't agree more with coachie.
The exact same thing happened to me. I am also a NY Yankee fan transplant from central Jersey, I asked the same questions and got the same answers...wow

My mom used my name and social number to get direct tv for my grandparents at their house. I have never signed anything and the only way they can get me out of a 2 yr contract is to file a police report against my family, or pay the cancelation fee. My grandparents are talking about paying the ridiculous fee of $460 cancelation fee. This is cheaper that the thousands they would need to pay the next 24 months. I cant understand how they can still hold me to a contract I never even signed!

My name is Douglas Ross, I am currently working in Kosovo for Kellogg Brown Root in support of the US Army. I recently found out that my SSN has been used in Dallas, Texas to get Direct TV.

I am originally from Dallas, but I have not lived there in over 30 years. I contacted the Direct TV office and they gave me a number [protected] for fill a complaint all I receive is a recording and no one has answered the phone. Someone please help getting this problem resolved.

My ex-wife ordered Direct TV for her apartment, put it in my name, gave them my SS#, and her son forged my name. They installed the equipment without checking any identification. Then she never paid the bill. They called me in May of 07 saying I owed them $488. I told them it was not my bill, and they said it was because they had my signature on a contract. I told them it couldn't be my signature, and they told me I would have to prove it. I followed all the procedures for reporting fraud, sent letters everytime I was asked, explaining the situation. I spent an exorbitant amount of time on hold on the telephone, and was even hung up on once. I asked them for a copy of the signed contract. I was given a number to call to get it. The number was a recording at a text messaging service, and for a ten dollar fee, they would tell me information about the number I was calling. At this point, I was so disgusted I said to hell with it. Let them come after me. Well, here it is, two years later, and they are. I recieved a call from the law firm of Riddel and Wood, and given 48 hours to pay it or fax them a police report, and an affidavit of fraud. It will be faxed to them tomorrow. I have never in my life dealt with a more cold hearted, rude staffed, and outright lying company. I will not let this go at this point.

I Helen Williams would like to make a complaint on who ever lives at 1153 south 53 street. Because they have used my personl information to obtain a direct Tv bill in my name without my permission. An addition I have seen this address on my credit report and I have never lived at this address and I dont know who lives here at all. My home address is 6508 Elmwood ave Philadelphia pa 19142. i would like to press charges and have this bogus charged given to whoever lives at the house where they ran up this bill and used fraud to retrive this account.

Hah this is clearly illegal on your husband's part and on the part of Direct tv. Your husband is not allowed to forge your signature, and Direct tv can't hold you responsible for the charges. You may have to prosecute your husband for forgery, but at the same time, you should be able to have an attorney explain to the thieves at Direct tv that they don't have a legal document/contract because YOUR signature is not on it.

I'd go after both of them with both legal barrels. If my husband ever did anything like that to me he'd be toast and he knows it. He'd better hope the cops got to him first so he'd be safe in jail ha ha ha.

Good luck and hope it works out for you.

Did you file a police report when it first happened? That would have been the FIRST thing I would have done. Sitting on your butt for two years while letting your ex wife get away with it is asinine. Who knows how many credit cards or other things she's used your SS# on.

On Wed 4-8 someone from Direct TV called my husband's cell phone and the conversation got no further than verifying my husband's name, saying it was direct TV, and my husband asking that they never call him again. Today we looked at our accounts online and saw a $200.00 charge for Direct TV hardware from California on my husband's check card. We have PNC bank and they basically took care of it for us, but we wanted to investigate the ### further - something wasn't adding up and still isn't. PNC gave us Direct TV's phone number. Took forever to get a real person. When we finally did, my husband was treated like a criminal. They wouldn't give us any information until my husband verified our address. They said that someone had called claiming to be my husband on Mon 4-6 with his name, cell phone number, address, and credit card number. Apparently, even though my husband hung up on them, they were still coming to OUR address on Monday 4-13 to install the hardware? If we had not caught this on Friday 4-10, we would have had Direct TV knocking at our door on Monday. After verifying that we are not idiots, we have never given our credit card out to anyone else, we NEVER called Direct TV - they called us, that we have NEVER had an account with Direct TV, the "customer service rep" got very defensive and basically said this was not their fault. We kept mentioning that "PNC" had already "launched an investigation" into these "fraudulent charges" and that this was not going away and that they would also be hearing from the State Attorney General. That finally got us somewhere. We did end up getting our money back and getting the account cancelled, but it's frustrating that Direct TV was so uncooperative. Again - SOMETHING IS NOT ADDING UP! If someone wanted to use our account to get Direct TV, why would they have it installed at OUR house? And how was that date and time set up? And why was Direct TV still planning on coming to our house, even though their attempts to use the contact number all failed? It does seem like an inside job. The "customer service rep" apparently ended the conversation by saying "I hope you find out who did this to you, " which I'm sure was just for show. DIRECT TV IS C-R-O-O-K-E-D!

i have ID theft on my account now, ppv movies showing being ordered from my phone, and im being billed, i have had Id theft accrossed the board since 2005. Had to pay Direct Tv $200.00 even though i have police report (prior to this) and fbi complaint number. After several calls and complaints i find out they have an ID theft dept, can not contact them, just a recording. They are being included in the investigation with the FBI. They say the company can also be investigated if they knowingly do not help me and pass the "fraud" onto me. Horrible customer service, they are crooked! Im begining to think it may be an inside job!

A few years back I purchased the brand new high definition TIVO Direct TV receiver - state of the art for around $1, 200.00. Worked perfectly and then late last year started getting automated messages to upgrade my receiver. Called them and told them it worked fine and I had no need to upgrade. After discussing a bit more they talked me into "swapping" my expensive working reciever with a new one that they told me would provide many additional features. I asked about TIVO and told them the reason I wouldnt switch to Cable is because they have their own DVR and the call center rep assured me TIVO would be on the new received. Also said I was swapping the box so I would not do this if I had to purchase another unit or sign up for any extended plan

1. Problem one - i get the thing and guess what no TIVO - Absolute lie from the person on the phone

2. After the box is installed I go to sign the papers and what do you know there is a paper in their signing me up for a 2 year committment. After an argument with the installer where I told him to swap the box back and leave, he finally walked out without my signature

3. It has been 5 months and the new receiver is ok although I hate the DVR and done use any of the "new" features. This weekend the box freezes up. After multilpe calls to tech support they finally send out a guy to replace. The ### shows up without the box (another lie from the rep) tells me the box is fried (no kidding) and he has to ship me a new one. Charges my account $49 for the visit and $20 to ship me a new box. Also tells me that I need to sign up for two years to get it for free

So now I am upset and call the ###S that answer the phone there. After 30 minutes of not being able to explain why I am upset and giving them a $1200 unit I paid for in exchange for a unit that I didnt own without a committment she transfers me to a supervisor. Had to fight with her to remove the $49 and the $20 and get a new box without a committment.

Best part is everyone who answered the phone started with "wow you are a longtime and loyal customer"

PLEASE FIOS COME TO MY AREA

I signed up in sept for a 24.95 special, ( i'm on a fixed income) about 1 month later, I was called about the NFL Sunday sports package, I told her I don't watch sports and she it didn't matter I would save another $2.oo a month if I took the special. I asked her twice my payment is only 24.95 or you sure it will drop to $22.95 for 5 months, she said yes just to cancel it at the end of 5 months, Well instead of going down it went up to 39.95 a month, I called and was told they couldn't do anything because the NFL package could not be canceled, I paid the 39.95 the last four monthes even though it meant less propane and food each month. Today I got a bill for $68.44 I called and was told if I try to cancel now my bill will go up even more, I have to wait and cancel on March 17th, It has to be that day. I think it is terribe the way DIRECT TV gouges it customers, I rarely watch anything for the local chanels, but you can't even get them for free anymore.

direct TV will charge for service unrendered. They will take money without providing service. In 7/09 & 88/09 charged me while on was vacation. I did suspend service 6/09-9/09 the also did it 2010 6/01/10 direct debited my checking acct. $400.00 (I had 12 overdrafts) I was on vacation and suspended service 3/3/10 oh no rembursement on the overdrafts. 10/10 took $36 after terminating sevice 9/01/10.

URGENT, I make a one time payment for 57.14 for my directTV bill and it told me that it didn't go through and I hit the button 4 times because it keeps telling me that it didn't go through, but it went through 4 times and I don't have the money to pay for this bill 4 times. Can you please reissue my card back the three $57.14 payments ASAP, I have to pay my mortgage, I JUST DON'T HAVE IT. The online said that it didn't go through so that's why I kept sending it through. PLEASE, PLEASE reissue my money back to my account, please.

Sounds like you got a bad hd dvr, that sucks. I got the hd tivo too, it took me a long time to get used to the hd dvr when I switched over, and there are still some tivo features I miss. HOWEVER, its sad that no one told you the reason that you needed an upgrade was because the hd tivo was not combatable for you to be able to receive the new hd channels that directv sent out, thus the reason the upgrade was in fact needed, I HAD fios in my vacation home, and it sucks bad! I now have directv there as well.

Got direct tv on july 30, was told my bill would be till the end of August, I was charged already on the 7th of August and was told I would be charged again at the end of the month... I had my apprehensions about going with direct tv and I should have listened to my gut ! When you call customer service you can tell there reading from a prewritten card. I guess they get so, any complaints that they have cue cards! !

Yes, the very same thing happened to me. Only it was directly done by Direct TV. When I canceled their service (after 2 years, no where did I read that you start a new contract every time you add a new reciever, I added 2 this summer). So therefore I had an early cancelation fee along with my last bill of over $300. I had never signed up for auto payments BUT they had my credit card on file for my one-time payments I made on time. That is a big mistake. within the 1st week after my cancelation they started trying to take the money out of my account. 1st it was $54. then the next day it was $48. These amounts made no since to me so when I called they said they were taking out what my bank would allow of everything they said I owed in fees. One caused my bank account to overdraw and I got a charge from them! When I got paid that Friday, you guessed it, out came the balanced of $184. I had talked to them several times prior to tell them to set up payments with me on my paydays but evidently they can't stop the process. So I changed over to DISH Network and understand me, they are way more legit and upfront about their services and charges. DO NOT EVER give Direct TV your bank account info even for one transaction. Go to Bill Pay through your bank. That way only you control how much they get.

I was set to receive my direct tv on saturday when the technician arrived and said he could not install due to the weather and lack of proper ladder. no problem. On day two they arrived and said that they could not install due to lack of proper ladder and cables. Customer service relayed this to the technician supervisor who would be contacting me within the hour to hopefully, install our cable. An hour goes by and no phone call from the supervisor. I then called direct tv again and they assured me that a supervisor would be contacting me to take care of the issue. Again, no phone call. It is quite pathetic how direct tv sub-contracts all of their installations instead of taking control of their own installations. I was excited to become a direct tv customer but now I will never be a customer due to lack of service. I will now place an order with verizon fios who actually have verizon people do their installations. As for the direct tv installation supervisor for the far rockaway, ny area, man up or enjoy unemployment because you should be fired for the lack of any service. Anyway, I hate complaining but I have now become an advocate against direct tv. No one should have to deal with such a lousy television company. All the best on your downward spiral out of the game. Rest in peace direct tv...

I had Direct TV (which I had stupidly agreed to sign up for as a replacement for Time Waner. The initial lies should have alerted me that I was dealing with a less than reputable company (I should have stayed with Time Warner. We moved and I called
DTV to ask what I should do. I was told to take the equipment with me, and when I moved into my new house to call them and they would come out and install the service. Because the move was imminent, I had called all of my utilities on the same day. So, picture that: I asked what I should do to postpone the service; I was told to take the equipment and tell them when I settled in my new house. I did as I was told, and today, DTV took $1130 out of my checking account, causing it to be overdrawn. I talked to everyone who works for DTV (shunted around from idiot to idiot), and I was told that I should have kept them informed as to what was going on. Why would I do that? Due to issues beyond my control I am still unable to move into the new house. But I am still in compliance with what I was told initially. And yet DTV said they had every right to take the money, for services I did not receive (actually had no way of receiving) as well as the equipment, which I still have in my possession as I was told to do. I believe that others have had similar fraudulent transactions with DTV. We need to start a nationwide boycott of the company. They will either change their evil ways, or go out of business.

I would like to know how to disconect the Sports and Movie chanels I now have in my bundle I do not want to disconect the service I am happy with it Please give me a phone number I can call to do this. Thank you

I signed up for Direct Tv about 2 weeks ago, and it is fine until I noticed that at the store they signed me up for HD programing. I did not want this because I have no HD tv yet. I called and disputed and wanted it all changed and they said I had to pay some fees to change equipment and they cannot refund the first month HD fees. I called my Law Firm and Direct TV got a letter, and magically they changed their mind and I got what I wanted. The letter from my Law Firm was free. I have a Pre Paid Legal Membership. IT can help all you with these problems. Contact me for more info. I would love to get you what I got for my family in our ongoing efforts to FIGHT THE MAN. Adam in Michigan. [protected]

I subscribed to Direct Tv- what a mistake- it was presented (on the phone) as a 1 year committment. I subscribed- during the year- the picture quality was poor and there were intermittent signal problems. I contacted them report and they did not resolve them. After my year commitment - I discontinued the service . At this time, and only at this time, I was notified that I would be charged an early disconnect fee of $252.65 . I asked what this was for and they stated it was early disconnect on a 24 month contract. This was the first time I had heard this. I stated my case with bad quality and misrepresentation, etc. and they charged my card for the fee. When I received my credit card bill, I disputed the charge- it was denied by the credit card because Direct TV could not produce a contract. I appealed- and stated that if Direct Tv could not produce a contract - there was NO CONTRACT! I was credited the charges. Months went by and I get a call from a collection company- Direct Tv turned me over to collections for $252.65. I was directed to write to their Corporate Office @ Greenwood Village, Co., of which I did. I stated my case= requesting a copy of the signed contract sent to me immediately in order to resolve this issue. In the interim, I received another call from another collection company- That did it. I searched for Direct TV-corp phone # and could only get to their Customer Service Dept. I then found a number out of California of which I called. This was the office of the President of Direct Tv- Bingo- I again stated my case to a very nice gentleman- Ed-. Ed told me that the agreement was verbal and I had been notified that this was a 2 yr agreement. I asked when? - he stated at the time of disconnect and you still went ahead and discontinued service! I stated of course I did - your company misrepresented the product and service from the beginning.Why would I continue paying for something I was not getting with the faulty service problems and technical issues. Anyway, we bantered back and forth and Ed stated that the agreement even though it was verbal, still stands. I asked for my contract and he said he would "try" to get it-however he could not promise anything, and once again the contract still stands. I said fine product a hard copy of the contract- Ed stated Direct Tv has verbal agreements. I stated, I had legal background and if Direct Tv could not produce a hardcopy, signed agreement, and were standing on the laurels of a "verbal" agreement, this would not fly in a court of law.
The collection company used the words "contract" and that I breached the "contract".
I told Ed that if Direct Tv harmed my credit rating by their action- I would take legal action against them. I was trying to resolve an issue, they created .
Direct Tv cannot have it both ways- produce the written contract or drop your early disconnect fees. This is a ploy to EXTORT money from consumers while delivering faulty service.
My recommendation: DO NOT DO BUSINESSS WITH DIRECT TV

Pfft is 100% correct. Like I said in one of my previous posts, You are given 3 days that you can decide to cancel without incurring a termination fee, I think the customer misunderstood and heard 30 instead of 3. You're actually lucky that you didn't go through a retailer, you would have been charged a termination fee from both Directv and the retailer as typically there is a contract with them also, and if the retailer installed it, they would have charged you for the installation also.

well i dont know why anyone in this day and age would think a company would send a skilled tech worker to their home to hook up equipment and set up services and not charge anything for it.

I'm with DirectTv on this one, either you misunderstood what you were agreeing too or you confused the rep with your question. But in either case, that doesn't mean you don't have to pay up or that you are being cheated.

I have filed a dispute, USAA put the funds back into my account. Like I said before, if the charge was legit they remove the money from my account, if they find that I am right I keep my money and they get it back from the company that originally took it. What do you mean so you could just withdrawl it? Really he's pissed about owing the money to Directv, don't you think he would be just as stressed that he owed the bank?

the bank will put it in 'dispute'. they certainly won't just 'refund' it so you can just withdraw it to avoid paying if they find out you do owe it.. which bank is this?

geesh its expensive enough without yahoos calling and expecting setup, install, with a tech just for a 'free trial'

they need to keep that money -- after all, they performed services for you and that costs them money.

Banks will refund the funds until they have looked into the problem, if they find that the withdrawl is legit theywill withdrawl the funds again. And being that a contract was signed with Directv they are going to get your money.

Just so that it is not for nothing, if you reactivate your service they will refund the money. The "trial" period is 72 hours (3 days)

Please stand up together we can make a right thing
We will open a campaign to force Direct TV to provide their services to consumers rightful and Direct T V should obey the fed or/and state regulation that should protect consumers. Direct TV, They are running a big scam right now by giving out misleading information and flyers all over Medias. By many and many scams from Direct TV’ false advertisement, wrong billing, poor and incompetent customer service, Unauthorized over charge, cancelation fee and 24 hours only policy for cancelation, Harassing calls, scam selling, property and roof damage and more to notice. It is ridiculous for consumers that are allowed only 24 hours to cancel the services from the first day installation if consumers are not satisfied.
We need stand up together to ask our Congress representatives, our senators, our local force law force, our State General Attorney to sent a clear and strong message to Direct TV. We want State and Federal open investigation on all over Direct TV misleading services to our consumers for many years. We should not allow this happen in our society today.
We will collect all the problems you have, are facing with Direct TV and we will sent letters to all official agencies and Congress. Please have your name and address if applicable.
Best Regards
Kent Phh
[protected]
Student6991@yahoo.com

I too had my cable cut, possibly by direct tv and under a different circumstance. We recently ended our contract with direct tv. We ended it on good terms not owing any money, and promptly returned all there boxes and remotes for full end of contract and fees. After getting Verizion hooked up (myself) and working using other existing cable we already had run through the house everything was fine. Today I noticed, when in the back yard, by the cable boxes on our house that the direct tv dish still on the house had the end cut off of the cable. Also one other cable that was connected to the dish line via a splitter had also been cut. Hmm, is this a coincidence that some random vandal came in our yard and cut only the direct tv related lines? And left the other cable lines were using intact. Maybe Santa cut them, because they were in his way getting down the chimney.

We lost our new LG 47" tv to a lightning strike last spring because Direct tvs tech. did not install our new dish correctly. They say that it was an act of god! God did not hook up our tv wrong their tech. did! You cannot blame that on God! We have proof, pictures and a signed affidavid by one of their techs but they still say it was a act of God. I don't beleive he singled us out and hurt our tv do you? Our next step is the lawyer no matter what it costs. It is now the principle of the whole mess. Mr. Chase if you read this I t is in my opion that you are a very dishonest person!

I work for a retailer of Directv and would first like to apologize for your appointment being cancelled after you took the entire day off and then having to wait two weeks for another appointment. Dealing with Directv directly is very time consuming sometimes, not all the time, but most and that is why Directv has retailers. A retailer for Directv is able to pay closer attention to each customer they sign up, I'm not taking up for all retailers, but most do all that they can to fix situations such as this. The only thing that I will call BS on is your statement "All of there Customer Service Positions are Outsourced to India." This is completely FALSE. Directv prides itself on being an "American" company and all of Directv's call centers are located in the United States. This is one reason I was attracted to Directv in the first place. Prior to working with Directv I had Dish Network in my home and the numerous times I had a problem with their service I would call and get "Tim" whom I could never understand to fix my problem. About your contract, when your service was installed you signed a contract, you should have read it, if you did not agree with it, it was at that point and 72 hours after that you could have called Directv to have the service cancelled and a technician would come out and remove the system from your home without assessing any penalties. Which is a prorated amount of 20.00 a month for the length of the contract unfulfilled. The contract that you signed is the typical complaint that Directv receives whether it be that the customer complains about not knowing they were in a 2 year contract (not 4) or they were dissatisfied with the service, but neglected to cancel within the allotted timeframe. -- This last comment is not only for you, but for others also: Consumers need to educate themselves by reading contracts and finding out all info prior to entering into an agreement with any company not just Directv. If the consumer neglects to do this when all information is handed to them, in what way is this Directv's fault? As I stated before I do apologize for the mistakes on Directv's behalf, but in the future for your own protection read any contracts before entering in to it.