Hello there, same problem here. I have been a customer for about 3 yrs. In march 08, i decided i wanted all my 4 boxes to work in the house so i called to have them activated. All were activated but one, because it was faulty. Easy fix right, customer service told me, he could easily send me a replacement but would charge me shipping and handling and he would further charge me $49.99 if the old box was not returned. I convinced him not to charge me the shipping fee, he too that off. Took a week to get the replacement, notice i did not say anything about signing up for a new contract because it was never part of the discussion.
When the replacement came in, it had a letter DTV thanking me for choosing them and accepting the replacement. IT also mentioned that i should send the faulty box back to avoid a charge. And i did.
I called again to activate the service, again nothing was mentioned to me that activating the box would mean 2 year s in the contract and an early termination fee of $300 would apply.
2 months later i get a call from customer service telling that they had not received apayment from me and apayment was required right away. Ok, i wooped out my check book feeling all ashamed for not having made the payment, i also appologized for it. While reading the checknumbers, customer service also started thanking me for making the payment because my service would have cancelled and that would mean a breach in contract. Red flag right there!!!. Like any customer who is mindfull about contracts, i politely wanted customer service to confirm that i was in a contract, when i signed up for one and when i was ever going to be notified of me having signed a contract. She answered the last question first. "Oh now you know, you are in contract". She told me by accepting and activating the replacement receiver, i also signed up for a 2-year contract and an early termination fee of $300 would apply. I told her, i have 5 boxes in my house, if they had told me about that contract i would not have chosen that route. I asked for a manager, the manager told me, the fee was correct and would stand if i cancelled the service. She however advised me to dispute the contract. I wrote the letter, and sent it in.
Because i got really heated up about he contract, i never made the payment that i owed.And i admit, that's my problem and am will to pay all the late fees. Anyways next day, they cancelled service. Before they could receive my complait in writing as advised, they had already denied my complaint. Aweek later i get a letter from collection claiming i owe $700.
I called DTV, they are saying they would waive the cancellation fee and the box fees if i reisntate the service but i would have waived my right to have some one review evidence of not having known about the contract and thus reverse the contract. In essense i would be accepting the contract and would be liable to full filling the entire contract, and this time a round, they are letting me know that i would owe the $300 if i cancelled.
They have told me not to pay any money and wait for some one to review my evidence and call collection and let them know that the amounts are in dispute.
I have told them, am not signing up for this contract that i was never supposed to be in.
Any advise! Am thinking about calling a lawyer on this, has anybody called one.
Like everybody has said, stay away from DTV. |
177 days ago by Cleopatra [