Complaint Rating:

Company information:
Direct TV
4504 N Macarthur
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
United States
directtv.com

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

DirecTV, Inc.

2230 East Imperial Highway El Segundo, CA 90245
Contact: Bobby Vernon
Phone: (310) 535-5000

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

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

Response from me.

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

Response from Direct TV

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