DirecTV review: very poor service and unacceptable contract 1397

The bottom line here is we all have had bad service with them. They do not care about us.
The only thing they care about is money and how they can make more of it. There is only one way to stop them and that is with an army. If enough people would join together and and take a united stance we could have the pwoer and control. We need to start a petion and have enough people to be willing not to pay there bill and go with out their service and then we thry are not geeting any money then they will take notice.

john

forget to mention all the sales calls I started to get daily, when I asked to be taken off their list I was hung up on... Of course the calls kept coming until I spent the next couple days complaining and was finally removed, for now anyway...

I agree with what these customers are saying about Direct TV. I too ordered a DVR that would also supply recording in my Master Bedroom but got only one DVR and two standard receivers. I called Direct TV and they told me that I was mistaken, I only ordered one DVR. I never got their rebate and I'm stuck in a 2-year contract. I'm going to discontinue my Direct TV and I'm calling my bank to make sure they can't get into my account and take funds for a broken contract with them... THEY SUCK

I had the same problems with Direct TV. They are the worst company to deal with and have very poor customer service! Direct TV. installed a DVR that would only record the channel you were watching. I explained that to the service Rep. and was givin the run around. My billing was never accurate and charges were being made for services I never received. I canceled my service after 15 months and asked them to send me my final payment. A month later they stole 200.00 out of my checking account. After calls no one would offer help to reslove my issue. If you want to contact corporate office they (customer service) will not provide you with any numbers. I do not know how a poorly performing company is still in business. I would never recommend Direct TV. to anyone ! Good luck if you ever have a issue.

UNAUTHORIZED DRAFT: FEES OF 500+! They just simply took the money out using my debit card without authorization, just as all of the aforementioned VICTIMS. Now, I am an attorney and retired police officer, and I can safely say they have broken both civil and criminal law here. I am astonished that no action has been taken...astounded. Well I can say to everyone, I am taking action...devoting some serious time to the matter. I don't care what the cost is to me personally, it's the principal; and you better believe fury is on its way! I shall begin with the Watch Dog. Good luck to everyone on the eve of battle...I look forward to their demise, and wish all of you the best of luck.

Nothing new to add to these previously posted stories. I was out of contract with Direct TV after having had their service for five years. I terminated my contract with them in May 2009. I contacted them on my May 5th, the bill date for my account, and explained that I was cancelling my account. They made no mention that they thought I was under contract. I was told that I would receive a final bill showing the balance on my account. There might be a small credit balance I was informed. On 6/11/2009, they debited my account for $466.56. No authorization to debit my account. The only way they had my bank info was because I paid on line every month. They illegally seized $466.56 with no authorization. They promised it was an error. They refunded me the money on my July statement and again on my August statement. But, they never put the money back into my account. After I inquired on 9/6/2009, they sent me a letter that they had reconsidered and that I actually owed the money and they would not return the money. I am attempting to contact the Legal Department, but having problems finding the phone number and address. Has a class action suit been launched. I would love to be a party to it.

My wife ordered Direct TV with the NFL Sunday Package and 2 Year contract for my birthday. She set an install date and even noted on the notes that we already had a 4LNB dish on the house. The install day comes and noone shows up in a 4 hour window so I call them. I get a person on the phone and it takes them several minutes to discover what is going on. They then tell me that there is a past due amount from 5 years previous. I tell them that is impossible as all bills were paid and the contract had been honored. She proceeds to tell me that the outstanding balance is $357. What? I asked if I was on candid camera... I then ask for an itemized statement of the charges and she tells me that I was sent a new DVR and I owed over $150 in service charges. I then tell her that we never recieved the DVR because we were offered a great deal with another company and they were not being competetive at the time for current customers (only new). I tell her there must be some kind of mistake and that since we did n0t receive any new equipment that I would pay the difference of equipment charge and service charge. She says that this is not possible. I get a supervisor on the phone (suppossed). I run through the above and also mention that we cancelled or previuos service with Dish and that we are having a get together for the first weekend of football and I have no TV. This lady sounded like she could care less and said that I would have to pay the entire $357 to get their service. I then tell her that she is crazy to dispute a 5 year old bill with me because I am willing to nearly split the difference and sign a two year contract with them to give them more monthly revenue at at least $80 plus dollars a month and we already had a dish on the roof. She says that is the best they can do. I tell them that it is definitely their loss and they will not ever be getting my business or anyone I can reach. What kind of company is unwilling to take a persons money after they have already completed on record a full contract of service and at the same time lie about sending equipment and that service charges were not paid when you are even willing to meet them half way to save a relationship. This kind of customer service will be the demise of them as more people discover their unethical ways. Word of advise... Get Dish Network this fall when the new 922 slingshot DVR is released. Dish has always had the best equipment and now the offer Red Zone for 5.99 per month with a $70 plan. Hope this helps someone out there. Thanks, Mark Edmond, OK USA Go Sooners!

Direct TV has lost 2 of my payments totaling $198.73, as a result my NFL ticket was cut and regular TV interrupted. Direct TV has requested that my bank send them the pertinent facts that they required which they did, official stamp was included and the fax arrived succesfully.
On Sept 06, 09, I received a call from Direct TV from a very pleasant lady who tells me my account was being credited for the lost 2 payments which pleased me very much, the following day or 2, received another call from DIRECT TV by a representative concerning my account, he tells me my account has not been paid for that total...I say "you're kidding " and explained my conversation of the 6th of this month with the former. He says, let me check, to which he does and apologizes for bothering me and that yes the funds had been transferred.
The following week more calls...I owe, I owe, I owe, and explaining more and more to them, they all sound like broken records except for a very few who of which actually seem concerned, I was told twice that a manager would call within a certain period of time. Never happened. Now after paying another $27.(Visa) my Direct TV is back. Oh yeah, I also paid $138. (Visa) on Sept 06. The nice lady tells me I am paid up until Oct 21, 09. Now I have paid over $ 360. since mid July, no movie channels, just a simple package plus NFL football ticket...so here I am sitting at home, typing this while others are watching football, Nope, not me. Thanks for nothing Direct TV
I also spent many hours this morning and afternoon trying to reach Direct TV and surprised now the automated answering can no longer connect my phone number to my account, also when given my account number they mishear it and says it does not match...oddly I have the information right in front of me.. The two times that they said that they will transfer me to a representative the line went dead.
PS. My bank has sent 3 faxes all with teller stamps, all with the required information. What am I to do? Acquire my own sports monopoly? If only! Jimmy

If this is something they keep doing, charging for the receivers that you aren't using anymore, why haven't YOU said anything to them then? They might not ask you about them but maybe it's because they automatically assume you're still using them, who knows?! Why would you let this continue? You can't put all the blame on them!

We have been Direct TV customers for over 10 years now. We recently canceled our long running subscription of the College Football package as the quality of the
broadcast is so blurry anymore we can't watch it. We canceled it about 2 months ago while on the phone with them about a different ongoing billling error. We just received our latest bill and we are still being charged for the college package. We have called Direct TV and they show no records of us canceling it, apparently because their
employee failed to log it in the system. I was standing in the room listening to my husband on the phone canceling it. With that being said, Direct TV says too bad, the season already started, it's too late to cancel. We explained to them again how we canceled it already 2 months ago. Because of their negligence it is too bad for us. We get charged anyway. What a crock of you know what. We are still working on the problem. If not rectified, that will be the end of Direct TV for us. I'd have to disagree with their JD Power ratings on customer service. Most of the time it's fairly poor, in this case quite the scam. Embarrassing for the company!

I have had Direct TV for five years, it was this year that I was unable to pay. I found out that Direct TV just debited 118.00 from my account of which I did not authorize. This led me to have overdraft charges. I was highly upset and called Direct TV and they told me that even though I was not under contract they could debit the credit card on file after permanent disconnect. They said that it was on the back of my inital contract. Who normally reads the back? I told them that I felt that I should have been at least sent a letter or something. I will definitely not go with Direct TV in the future. I will now be looking to go with a cable company. At least if I had known maybe I could have some time type of arrangements or something. I was planning to eventually pay the bill just not right now. CONSUMERS BEWARE! PLEASE DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY AND DEFINITELY NOT USE A CREDIT OR DEBIT CARD WITH THEM. I HAVE DEFINITELY LEARNED MY LESSON.

In June I called Direct Tv to inform them that I would be moving and would need to have a tech come and install my equipment at my new place. They were very helpful and sent someone out within a couple of days. When he arrived, it was found that I could not receive a "line of sight" to the satalite so I would not be able to continue my service with Direct. I called customer service, with the tech in my living room, to make sure that I wouldn't be charged an early cancelation fee. I was informed by the representative that because it wasn't my fault the account would be canceled and I wouldn't be charged. End of story right?
On September 2nd I woke up and checked my bank account on line when I quickly realized that I had NO money in my bank. Direct Tv made an unauthorized charge to my bank card for $429.20. It was 6 am and I was on the phone to Direct. After talking to the first representative and getting no where, I asked to speak to a supervisor. She told me that I would have to be put on hold for quite a while because they had other customers to work with. I was on hold for 20 minutes when she came back and asked me if I was still there - I really think she was hoping that I would just hang up. I could hear her doing something in the background and then she said "Oh my gosh! I see what WE did wrong". Not me - THEM! Needless to say, after another 40 minutes of being sent to different departments, I found out that my service was never stopped at my old address and someone input my new address incorrectly. I was charged the $429 for unreturned equipment and services received at the old place. They told me that the money would be back into my account within 12 hours.
As you can probably guess, the money wasn't there! It is now 8 days later and I still don't have the money. I called them again last night and sat on the phone for 90 minutes. At first they told me that it could take 30 to 40 working days to get my money back to me. Unexceptable. It took them only 2.5 seconds to take that money out of my acccount and I don't see why I should have to wait for them to fix their mistake.
I am a single woman who is a school teacher. I get paid once a month and I have to make my paychecks stretch. This UNAUTHORIZED payment took every dollar I have. I now sit here on the 12 of September asking myself how am I going to make it to the 1st? I am now being told that I should have my money back to me within 8 - 10 working days which is still the end of the month.
How does Direct get away with this? I can't believe this can go on!

When I ordered Direct TV they were having a free HD promo for new customers. On the phone the sales rep explained how the package price didn't come with HD it would be a little extra, but assured me I didn't need HD because there digital quality picture was just as good. So i went ahead and scheduled the install luckily the tech came out during my lunch hour and I was able to meet him and complete the install. 4 hours later when I get home from work I sit down for the first time and turn on my new Digital Satelite TV. The picture quality sucked worse than my old UHF/VHF auto tuner from the 80's. So I promptly give customer service a call to let them know that this is not what I wanted from them as a provider.. SAME DAY not even 4hrs later. There already trying to charge me for a 200.00 HD box and an additional 100.00+ for some other crap they were trying to sell me. So I ask them about there promo for the free HD DVR to new customers. Guess what 4hours into it i'm already an existing customer subject to all there great existing customer charges! 5 hours after they installed the service I was already a previous customer! Way to go puckos! I can't wait to take this nice new dish out to the desert for some skeet shooting!

They took 883 dollars out of my account. We didnt pay our bill for like 1 month and told them we would pay and still wanted service we just needed time. Well they they took my money into their own hands and took 883 dollars. Then on top of that I had 18 $28 dollar over draft fees totalling 504 dollars on top of the money they took. When did we lose the right to our money. I thought the only way people could legally take our money was with our autorization or a court order. They had neither . Just my card number. I am complaining to the BBB and the attourney general. Lets see if we get our money back. It only takes 5 people in one attourney generals office to start a class action lawsute. Lets get it started and take our hard earned money back.

I hope you are smart enough to close your credit card account. Or, if you feel that you must have the account, call the issuer and tell them you lost your card, and request a 'new card and account number'. they will comply with your request. If you are being over-billed on you debit card, close the account, reopen an account and use a different pin number. There is no charge for this manuver.DISPUTE ALL CHARGES THAT ARE UNAUTHORIZED BY YOU!READ THE WHOLE CONTRACT, AND UNDERSTAND IT BEFORE YOU SIGN YOUR NAME.BY DOING SO, YOU AGREE TO ALL THE TERMS.GOOD LUCK. WOLFGANG

In Nov. 2007 we signed up for Direct TV. They sent us the wrong box. I then called them and ask them to send the right box which they did. I had it hooked up. They also sent a box to return the old one. I boxed it up and took it to FEDeral EXpress who then sent it back. on my next bill I was charged $240.00 for non return of the box. I called them and told them I sent it to them.

They told me they didn't have it so I was responsible. I sent a copy of the Fed Ex receipt and they said it never got to them. I told them to Ask Fed Ex. They said it was not up to them to prove that. (boy am I tick now) I get a hold of Fed. Ex. They show a signed Document showing where it was delivered too. (Direct TV) I paid the bill because I was tired of fighting about it.

6 months later (may) the box goes out so they send over a tech and he replaces it. It is now September 2009 and I am no longer living at that address. I will die soon so I called to cancel my Direct TV. They tell me I have to pay and early cancellation fee of $120.00 because I started over in May 2008. I guess in order for them to fix the broken box they gave me I was forced to sign a new agreement for a new 2 years.

Let's see them collect from a DEAD MAN! I wish someone would take this to congress. What they are doing to people is criminal. I never had any problems like this with Charter...

I agree. You do not owe anything. Take them to court and fight it!

I also had problems with direct TV and cancelled the service after 2 years. They claimed I owed them $125 early termination fee and send me to collection, a compay named Focus Receivables. They harass you 5+ times a day. I would not recommend Direct TV to anyone.

PLEASE EVERYBODY SIGN UP FOR A CLASS ACTION SUIT WITH ME
AT WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/FUKDIRECTTV

Direct TV recently took 934.77 out of my account and part was leasing fees, early termination, and the bill. Since I did not cancel my service, but was unable to pay, why not just take the amount of the service? This should be illegal

Yes. I am going through My Verison ? Direct Tv problems now.. I installer put this god awful dish right on the front of my house. Wires run on the outside are mounted to the brick, looks like crap. Broke two of my landscaping brick up in order to run the cable...The price on the phone, was far more than the first bill...Plus they just took Versus off, what some crap...

I found out I had cancer moved in with boyfriend tried to cancel my service because boyfriend had they would not let me out of my contract how are you going to get money if I AM DEAD! My boyfriend grew frustarted he wants out of he contract this is complete bull

Direct TV got me good.

Equipment = 1 HD DVR, 4 standard recievers.

I bit on the promotional ad. Service was installed 6/23/2009.

For the next two weeks I had to have in home service due to equipment failure.

My third call to customer service, I requested termination of service. It was at that time I realized I was in a "gotcha". The following was DTV's response.

DTV Claim 1 = I agreed verbally to a 2 year contract when I spoke to a rep over the phone.

FACT 1 = Never once was there any mention of any contract or obligation of any kind.

DTV Claim 2 = The technician, following installation, read the LEASE ADDENDUM which includes an explanation of the 24 month commitment and a detailed explanation of penalties.

FACT 2 = While it's true that the Addendum (small yellow copy) does include the 24 month commitment in fine print, our technician read NOTHING to me, nor did he make any refernece to such. In fact, I would have been shocked had he proven himself to literate at all.

DTV Claim 3 = The 24 month contract was clearly stated in the welcome letter which I recieved from DTV by mail. This would be the one with the header "Congratulations, your Directv experience has begun.

FACT 3 = This letter is dated 6/22 and was recieved on 6/24 at my home. That would be AFTER the installation, hence the Heading.

In closing, I should have done more research before signing anything. I am paying the 400+ whatever and shipping their junk back to them. I appreciate the opportunity to vent here and I hope it may help prevent someone else from being scammed. To be honest, the programming may be fine. I just never had the pleasure of knowing, and I never will!

I echo your complaints against Direct TV. We had their service installed July 24th but the lies began a week earlier when I signed up. I explained from the beginning of the call that I wanted to bundle the Direct Tv with my current phone and internet company which was going to save me several dollars. The rep instructed me to "just call and speak with the bundling dept to get that set up" I did and they said that they did not do that and that I needed to call my phone company and they could arrange it. My phone company said that I could not bundle unless I went through them and not through Direct TV to get the installation set up. Too late.. since I had already set it up through Direct TV. But that was only the beginning of the problems.. we have 3 receivers and two don't work more than they do. They switch programs right in the middle which has happened several times. One particularly awful situation was when my 9 year old was watching a g rated movie and the program became an R rated movie and after 30 minutes on the phone with a tech it still was not fixed. The channels will stop working and say they are not purchased while watching a program. I have reset, unplugged, checked cards, pressed red buttons, turned off and on more times than I can count and nothing works for more than a few hours or minutes. I have also been told that if I cancel I will have to pay a $460.00 cancellation fee even though of course I want to cancel because their service is horrible! I will be contacting the AG's office, the BBB, the FCC, FTC and whoever else I can find to contact. I have told everyone I know not to even consider their service, posted on my Facebook, and called and emailed everyone I know.

Direct tv is the biggest crock of ### I have ever seen in my life. Poor Poor customer service. I contacted the corporate office yes thats right the corporate office and a very rude ### is what I got. I have worked in retail for 8 years and I know damn well our corporate office wouldn't act that way. DO NOT EVER GET DIRECT TV TRUST ME!

I've had no issues with DirecTV. They've been a lot better than the cable companies I've dealt with! All these providers sucks, tho.

I know what you mean, the installer used my internet cable to install the satellite and now my internet won't work and they want to charge me $50 to fix their mistake.

Direct TV does appear to be a bunch of crooks. It seems as though they hire convicts to act as csr's based in their WONDERFUL customer service skills. Here is the problem we have run into... my father in law passed away a few days ago and he had a fairly large package with D'tv. My mother in law did not sign anything or request any of the services as she absolutely does not watch tv. She also cannot afford even the smallest package that Direct tv offers. SO, she is attempting to cancel service since the actual subscriber died. Direct tv says she will still have to pay a $360.00 early termination fee since she is the spouse so therefore his contract is her contract regardless of her actual involvement with it. I assume if she just fails to pay then whatever financial informati0n Direct tv has on file will be milked dry. Anyone have any advice?

Direct TV is the worst company anyone could ever deal with. They not only once excessively charged my bank account without my permission, they've done it twice. Once for $1400. and second for $321.23. They try to cover their actions by saying it's in the contract that they can access your bank account and credit cards for the monies owed for equipment. There are even fees for breaking their contract. The reps with customer service lie and say they will not go into your bank accounts or charge your credit cards unless you give them permission, then they do it anyway. They duped me into keeping their equipment because I did not want to pay the cancellation fees. At this point I owe only $70 on the remainder of the contract. I am going to pay the $70 and be done with them. PLEASE DO NOT GET THIS SERVICE. I am so sorry I got involved with them.

took me 55 minutes, 6 people to talk to just to cancel my direct tv. had it installed june 2007, and was assuming my contract ended. but the first person I talked to said no, because of replacement receivers. I insisted it was replaced because of malfunctions, and i even have equipment insurance. Still, it took 6 people to repeat the same argument till i got it cancelled and confirmed that there will be no cancellation fee, which I am still going to find out later when the final statement arrives.

So where is the fraud and cheating on Direct TV's part here?

Yesterday I got screwed by Direct TV, yesterday I sent them to eat a load of ### by cancelling the service the same day of installation, today I filed an complaint with the FCC, Monday I am passing all the information I have onto my attorney, next week I am filing a lawsuit in District Court. These mother ###ers represent all the ### this country has endured before and after Enron, Madoff, AT&T, and all the corporate greed in America. Do you know why?, because we allow it to happen. See, they firmly believe they can scam us, and most recently the US gorvenment. They have gone to extremes to charge us for DTV (local digital TV) when it is free provided by the goverment. They don't charge a fee per se, but they will force you after the fact to get an HD converter plus $10 a month to view what is free digital TV that you can get with a $9 Walmart antenna. I got them to admit that they puporsely block the DTV transmission. Their reasoning is that they know that we are all heading out to get HD televisions, so at some point we will want to experience the wonders of these units, so they lure us into getting their services with no installation fees, not setup fees, no hassle no worries. They never tell us our $1500 HDTVs wont work with their service unless you upgrade after the fact. That's when you realize the scam and what it will cost you to do so. But wait, if you have an analog TV you picture quality will be as sharp as a mother ###er. Tha does not make any sense, does it?. So, $9 Walmart antenna+your $1500 HDTV unit=superb picture quality without Direct TV) on the other hand a $3000 (free to you) Slim Line Dish+your $1500 HDTV unit+ 3hrs installation=Analog quality, why would Direct TV do this. By now I think you know the answer. Please do not fall into this trap. If you do, know that you have 14 days to get out of it with no cost to you. By the way, they don't tell you that either. Good Luck !

Direct TV is just plain bad. Fraud is unbelievable.

Arlene Horrigan

I just received a $1, 000 + invoice from dtv for "non-returned dtv equipment" (3 dvr receivers) after I cancelled the service on last month. I called dtv to explain that I owned the equipment which I think was purchased at Best Buy a few years back. The first person was very helpful and confirmed that I had not entered into any "program commitments" which typically would have a cancellation fee. The woman then transferred me to a very rude man that went on to explain that my purchase at Best Buy was merely an up-front lease payment and that dtv actually owned the equipment and that Best Buy was acting as a leasing agent for dtv. And I am now responsible to pay the "full purchase price" of the equipment if I did not return it to dtv. However the man confirmed that dtv did not furnish the equipment to me. And dtv is unable to provide me with any signed documents...such as a lease. The rude dtv rep stated that the invoice will go to collections and will also hit my credit. This is BS! Has anybody else heard of this scam?

I cancelled my service because I am unemployed. I called 3 times to verify that I had fulfilled my agreement and was told yes. On the day that I cancelled they tried to give me a one time credit, which I declined. No one ever shared until after I decided to cancel that a new DVR box that was added extended my contract for 2 years. A friend had paid my bill a few times online so they went into his account and took the money for the final bill. I attempted to dispute, but the small print advised that his card would be used if the service was cancelled before the end of the contract. I tried speaking with DirecTv to no avail. This is a RIPOFF. Adding another DVR box was more money for them There should be a low against companies extended your contract when you add additional equipment. I am telling everyone thata will listen not to get DirecTv service. If a customer cannot afford to pay the monthly charges, how can they pay an early termination fee. I am sure this economy is making a lot of people rethink their priorities and DirecTV is a luxury.

Crooks!

If you want to take legal action look up (your state name) attorney generals office call the attorney general in your state and explain exactly what Direct TV has done... by contacting the attorney general they will take care of everything for you so you don't have to do anything except fill out the form he (or she) sends you and send any and all info he (or she) asks for

and believe me i KNOW for a fact what you guys/gals are saying is true cause they tried to pull that crap over on me but it didn't work out the way they planned cause i refused to pay it and i told the bill collectors that it was Direct TV's responsibility not mine of course they didn't take the money out of my cc like they have done others probably a good thing too lol

I paid a bill for a friend of mine because his new Visa card had not arrived yet. The contract was signed between him and Direct TV. Well, low and behold, July 4, 2009, I checked my bank account and found it to be overdrawn. Upon contacting my bank, they informed me that DTV had taken $453.87 out of my account. Now anyone who has had any dealings with DTV knows that the only person you can talk to is some service associate who cannot tell you anything except that you have to FAX your complaint to an 800 number and wait for the "Review Board" to investigate your complaint. In the meantime, my bank account is now overdrawn and is continuing to acrue overdraft fees. To make a long story short, I could not get anyone to talk to me on a corporate level except the post office box that I had to also send my correspondence to. I eventually sent my complaint to Fox4 News here in Fort Myers and finally had results. This process however, took a full month before I was refunded my $453.87 plus my overdraft fees which amounted to $264.00. My question is this. How can Direct TV go into someone account and just take their money without authorization? Is this what they call fraud?

This company should be brought up on charges. I am certainly not the only person this has happened to and surely, not the last. BEWARE OF DIRECT TV!

Donna
Fort Myers, FL

I would like to know the answer to this question also. I am having problems with the local channels also and I live in Iowa. I wish we could get broadband out in the country.

I totally agree with you. Has anyone been able to file anything against Directtv for what they have done? have you ever gotten your money back for it?