DirecTV
reviews and complaints

After closing and canceling our directv service in july, we were sent a box by fedex ground which contained a prepaid usps return label. Our directv equipment was carefully packed and dropped off in july at our local post office and returned using directv's usps return label. On august 6, 2011, our account was charged $401.74 by directv.

Upon calling directv, they claimed that our equipment was never returned and they refused to refund our account or try to locate the returned equipment. Since the usps return label was created on directv's account, we are unable to file a claim with usps. Directv refused to file a claim with usps. After researching online, we found that this is very common with customers who close their accounts with directv. There are numerous complaints to be found online about this scam by searching for the phrase "directv equipment return scam".

Since the burden of proof is upon the customer to prove that the equipment was returned, customers are essentially helpless against these charges. Directv's business practices are unethical and should be considered mail fraud since the united states postal service is used to scam customers. We will not stop until this is resolved.

I have been a direc tv subscriber for twenty years or more.

My majore complaint is:

Why the hell am I paying for direct tv every month?

For old programs that I have seen over and over again.

Don't you have any newprograming? Are you going to get new programing for 2012.

I might as well just rent movies at least they are currant issues.

You need to update your programs or lose customers

****************************************** please reply to this message*********************************************

I have had directv since 2004. I recently cancelled their service and was told I owed $125 for early cancellation. I originally signed up for 2 years of service. I asked why I owed this fee since I have had their service for 7 years and this is the answer I got... Last year I deactivated an hd received and reactivated another receiver I already had but was not using. They said because I changed receivers, I renewed my contract for another 2 years. I was never informed of this until I tried to cancel. No one came out to my house. I did not receive a new piece of equipment. I have never felt so ripped off and frustrated by a company in my life.

Con artists. Do not trust them!

Here are some of my other complaints with them.

-harassing phone calls. When I was cancelling my service, they called me 4 x the next day trying to get me to switch back.

-difficult to cancel. I spent several hours on the phone explaining to several people why I was cancelling and no longer wanted their service.

- service not cheap. Approx $75 for 3 tvs and no premium channels. Sunday ticket was an additional $300 a year or something like that.

- charge for service calls when their equipment breaks.

-had signed up for direct bill pay. They overcharged my account causing my other transactions to overdraw my account and my bank to charge me $90 in fees for which directv took no responsibility.

When I signed up to 1tvpc.com formally known as 1tvpc.com, watch2. Tv, 88.80.17.89, and now directv. To. I signed up with a lifetime membership at no extra cost. Though they claim ilive. To, formally known as boxlive. Tv was a third party video hosting site, not run by watch2. Tv. The more people complained, , the more services they took away. It became obvious that they also controlled video hosting site. The site is now officially shutdown, and if you were a lifetime member, it would cost $99.99 to sign up to the new site (Directv. To) , and if you are a new customer, it costs $34.99. What a scam artist this guy is. I can't waite for the government seizes his domain. That would just make my day. He operates out of germany. Feel free to give your comments a complaints below.

Incident 1) Two dishes were improperly installed on the roof of a duplex. I contacted the company who refused to remove the dishes or repair the damage.

Incident 2) A dish was installed on the property line of a rental property. The neighbor came out and told the installer it was on the property line, but he refused to move and left. This dish was ordered by someone who did not even live in the house and was not a legal tenant. No permission was obtained from the owner. I spoke with four representatives from Customer Service and Technical and they refuse to remove the equipment. The tenant abandoned the house and I have no way to find her, let alone whoever ordered the dish. The company says they have no way of knowing who ordered it unless I supply the name. I had no idea the dish was placed, much less who ordered it. The work orders have the address on them and the account name is known to the company, yet they deny any knowledge. They say I must pay to remove the dish, which has to be done as the neighbor demands its removal.

This is an irresponsible company who wants to keep these dishes on the property hoping to garner more customers. They are liars who have no regard for property laws and are costing a fortune to those they damage.

In the beginning of the yr (2011), I was interested in checking out other tv providers because t. W. I really wish that co. Had worked with me. At any rate, I called up directv and started speaking to an agent of directv. This lady tells me all I need is one dollar from checking acct' to start getting services. I tried to tell her I didn't have checking acct'. Her persistence was truly discouraging, she was asking about all my friends and family to see if I could use their acct'. I kept telling her no, finally I gave in an said maybe my mother. From that point on she kept saying that she would give me a $50 visa card sent to me. And during the course of three way calling she told my mother to give directv a one dollar check from her acct' and they would give her a $50 visa card also. My mother has this proof. We were told we would have the visa's cards within two weeks, which would have brought it to approx. February 9th.

Let me tell you it has been a bloody nightmare trying to get directv to honor their word. There are literally over a hundred hours of me fighting them to stop using these deceptive business practices. But they refuse, the phone records are abundant in my demand to be compensated accordingly. They told me now five months after the fact that they did away with those promotions. But the fact is they don't get to con me, scam me, or deceive me to get me to come to their company and then spit in my face with an arrogance I have never seen in a company! And I helped my brother run his business for about 25yrs. Now they want to give me a 100.00 credit, and I say no, no, no.

Then a few mo. Ago, approx. March, another agent of directv offered me a $250 visa card. I just can't fathom how many other 10's of thousands of unsuspecting customers have been told one of these lies, especially the elderly, and disabled like myself. We need to send big corparate a message that we the innocent consumer will not be run roughshod with there corporate greed fraud and deceptions. I will take as many lie detectors as is allowed by law. They seem to think that because their agents use deceptive practices that they aren't responsible for their (Representatives or agents) actions, I beg to differ. The law doesn't allow for business to make up rules as they go along to profit from the unsuspecting. I would bet my only dollar that this has happened untold times. The proof lies within dozens and dozens and dozens of phone calls from me to directv during january 2011 and may 3rd.

Where does it end? Can you or someone hold them accountable. We need the ny state attorney general, and or the us attorney generals office to put a stop to these types of practices inficted upon the unsuspecting. Thank you and godspeed.

Direct TV billed us for two movies that we did not order. We cancelled Direct TV service and returned the box and access card in March 2011 after having suspended the service for six months in August 2010. Less then a month later in April 2011 Direct TV billed us for two movies we didn't order. The movies were allegedly ordered one and one half years earlier in September 20, 2009 and October 4, 2009.

Per Erving (in Denver, CO) Direct TV wasn't able to bill us earlier because we didn't have a phone line hooked up to the Direct TV box. Erving wouldn't listen to what we had to say. He kept stating the Direct TV box doesn't lie and repeatedly insinuated that we were not telling the truth.We did not order the movies, nor are the movies anything we would even be remotely interested in viewing. No one in the household ordered the movies (there are only two of us in the household).We suspect "Erving" gave us a bogus name as he wouldn't let us talk to his supervisor, nor would he give us his supervisors name, even after repeated requests.Erving said he was billing our credit card and there was nothing we could do about it. Apparently Direct TV can bill for movies not ordered and get away with it.

Hello, my name is montiel Allen. I am sending this e-mail because I was told that this would be the only way to get my situation handled w/ direct tv. About 4 or 5 months ago I used my debit card to help a friend pay their cable bill. I have never lived with her but used her address for school information, such as my debit card and other important mail. I have not seen her in months and on (Friday January, 20 2012) direct tv had made an unauthorize transaction on my card of 377.00, which it was never added to her account or for any transactions in the future. I called direct tv and notified them of my situation. They told me that my money would be put back on my card but when I called on the day I was told to call back and when I called they said they would not refund my money. I have my own home and own bills and I would like to have my money refunded back on my card so I can pay my own bills... Thanks

I signed up for Direct TV and authorized the company to take out the programming costs on a monthly basis in lieu of getting HD free with the programming. When I got my credit card statement I see other miscellaneous charges to my credit card by Direct TV. When calling the customer service, they first did not have any record of charging the account, later to have them call me back and make up an excuse that these were shipping and handling charges for the equipment they installed. There was no mention of this charge either when signing up or when the service was installed. It only amounted to 20.00 but look at all the folks that just pay the billing. No wonder they can pay their CEO a 4 million dollar bonus. When I contacted the credit card company to report the unauthorized charges, the credit card company they said I was not the only one unhappy with Direct TV. They have many accounts with the same issues. Do not let Direct TV have your credit card number and if your were scammed by them for charges not authorized charged to your account --- file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.gov to report their fraudulent practices.

As a Direct TV customer for five years every time I called with a question or problem I got a different story. So when we were planning a move in Nov 2010 I contacted Dish, but found the same customer service problems. So I called DirectTV and said I was considering swithing to DISH because they were offering "HD FREE FOR LIFE". I was told by a "supervisor" "I can do that for you." After choosing all of the services and features, I reviwed everything in detail with him THREE TIMES before ending the conversation. They claim to have no way to confirm in writing to you what was agreeded to. you find out when you get yor first bill, and that's when I learned that I would only get it free for "12 months". No amount of appeals would get anything. Even the "office of the president" claimed "there is no way we can give that to you." Another lie as the previous person had said it is only given to new customers. This despite the fact that they had records showing that for the past year at the old address I had not been receiving their HD signal, but they had continued to charge me for it EVERY MONTH.

Direct tv took over $870 out or my account without cause and i am disabled and on social security with 2 kids and had my electric and water disconnected because they stole my money and we r without food and almost got thrown out of our apartment due to not having enough to pay the rent.

Directv called us in the previous football season and offered us a package including nfl sunday ticket and the premium cable package including all the movie channels for only the cost of the nfl sunday ticket package, $54.99/mo for 5 months which was a $5 savings from what we were paying and included movie channels so we accepted. When we called to cancel the premium package, they did not mention anything to us about this being a 'self-renewing' package nor did they mention it when they called with the offer.
Since I utilize my bank's online bill pay system, I never actually reviewed the directv bill each month. They would send me an email saying my bill was due and I would set up the payment, which was the same to the penny every month, through my bank system. It was not until I received an email from directv stating my account was past due that I realized they put a 'disclaimer' on my bill stating unless I called to refuse, they were going to renew the nfl sunday ticket package on my account and start billing me. Once I realized this, I called them to explain the situation and obtain a refund for the 2 months of special programming added. They stated that someone called on my account in may 2011 stating we wanted the nfl sunday ticket renewed (Which is entirely untrue) and that the statements were on the bill for 3 months prior to billing so they would not remove the charges.
At that time, I cancelled my account of over 10 years and told them I would not do business with people who treat their customers that way. They are now sending collections notices for the erroneous charges and causing a lot of headache for me and my husband.
Two days later, after we had signed up for a contract with dish network, they called back offering us a bill credit to come back, but too little too late if you ask me. I was very dissatisfied with the way I was treated and although as a cable service, I loved it, I will never go back.

Directv is being very tricky about their advertisements. I have just signed up with the services with them that was supposedly $35 per month for a full year and as soon as I get my bill, I find out that I got charged the full price of $65. So I called them to find out what happened. Apparently I was supposed to fill out a rebate order in order to get the discount - - that part I have no problem with. What I have the problem with is the fact that if you don't submit the rebate form after your first bill has already been issued, the rebate will take 6-8 weeks to take an effect and my discount may not even apply for another 2 or even 3 month statements! Directv, of course conveniently doesn't mention this fine print statement to the first time customers until their accounts get activated so that they will get charged the full price until the rebate takes effect. I feel like this is an unfair business tactic to trick customers into overpaying them.

This company deducted 1040.88 from my account AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE AN ACCOUNT WITH THEM. Back in August a friend of mine needed me to pay a bill with my credit/debit card. I don't believe that it is fair that I am penalized for the equipment/bill not being returned when I am not on the account. I was only trying to help a friend that was in need . She called DirectTV to come a pick up the equipment, which is boxed up and ready to go, but was told to hold it because a technician has to come out and remove the satellite, for it is expensive equipment. Checks are bouncing and I have loads of overdraft fees. I never thought that I would have to endure something like this, this is one of the worse days of my life. I asked them to return my money and take up this matter with the person who is actually on the account.

We called direct tv for information. Since we live in a semi-rural area we asked them would they be able to provide Internet service if we got direct tv. We were assured they could provide it. They were installing the tv dish and all equipment within a couple of days
We kept waiting for the Internet to be connected. Finally we called
THEM. We were told that they could NOT get us Internet service. We informed them that we did not want their services if they could not give us what was promised. We returned all tv equipment. They are now charging us a 400$ early deactivation fee. We do not feel this is right since they did not meet all their contract promises. We are refusing to pay the fee. We will do whatever it takes to not let them bully us into paying.

In July 2011, I called directv to cancel my tv services (after being a customer since 2004) because I wish to switch my tv services to AT&T uverse. The person I spoke with at directv offer me all new equipments and free installation to keep my business (so that I can have whole house DVR). They also offer me 3 months of Free movie or sport package ($12.99 / month value) to continue service with Directv. (In the past Directv has offer me the 3 months free movie/sport package during my contract renewal and each time, they told me when the 3 months is up, the programming will automatically dropped off without additional charge and if I wish to continue, I would need to call or go online to sign up for pay services). During this promotion they offer me, they said the same thing about the programming will automatically dropped off in 3 months..etc etc.. In Nov. 2011, I received my Directv bill and notice there are two new charges: $12.99 and $5.00 HD package fee. I called and the CSR told me that my free promotion has ended; therefore, they began charging me the fee. I told them that I was told the programming should automatically be dropped off and I should not be charged any fee.. but they said they could stop the programming moving forward; however, they will not issue any credit toward the fee that already incurred. I then ask them about the $5 fee they claim that that fee was started billing me from 9/28/11 which the CSR said it is strange because their record indicate I didn't even call in Sept to add any additional service. The CSR has escalated the issue, but after 5 days of waiting no one from DirecTV contacted me, and I followed up with Directv to find out that their escalation dept. has refused to issue any credit. I am being duped into this and when I demand canceling my services due to breach of contract at their part, they want me to pay $350 cancellation fee.

I called Direct TV to find out information about their services in my area and what type of packages they offer. In the beginning, the lady on the phone was so nice and she was so happy, occasionally confusing, but she tried to provide information and all of sudden out of no where asked me for my social security number and ran a credit check (on the premise of finding good deal). as soon as the credit was run she asked me to pay $1 so that the "system" can send me information about the available packages. When i said, i dont have the card she said that when i call back again, there will be a charge to run the credit check and from that point the service and the attitude went south. She would not listen and the started adding charges for all the things that she said were free. I spoke to her supervisor, who was not paying attention to my request and continued to sell me packages and there was lot of back ground noise. Eventually i felt cheated by direct tv because they took my soc number and my credit card number on the premise of giving me better deal. I wish there are better cable/internet/dish provider out there who are not just after your money.

On August 21st, DirecTV through its contractor MasTec Advanced Technologies burst a pipe in my attic resulting in flooded attic, bathroom, and laundry room. The technician advised me to turn off the water to the house and LEFT. 10 weeks later, payment has not been made to the plumber or water damage restoration guy.

DirecTV / MasTec requires a release of liability despite continuing mold issues to pay anyone. They further require that the damaged party (me) not to disclose any information to third parties of the terms of the release. Specifically, the release states, "As a material part of this consideration for this Release, you and your attorneys, if any, agree to keep completely confidential and not to disclose to any person or entity the terms and/or conditions of any provisions of this Release"

Does DirecTV / Mastec provide any "consideration" for this non-disclosure? Of course not.

DO NOT ALLOW DIRECTV or MASTEC INTO YOUR HOUSE - THEY WILL DESTROY IT AND NOT FIX IT.

Direct tv charged my credit card for someone else's account. I had used the card to pay the person's account online, but I only did it as a favor, I did not live at the address nor did I ever watch his tv nor am I related to the person. I had my credit card company reverse the charges, but direct tv refuted saying their user agreement says they can charge the credit card on file if the account gets larger than $500 or so. I redispluted the ruling, and my credit card tried again to reverse the charges, and again direct tv refuted the claim for the same reason. I filed a complaint with the georgia governor's office of consumer protection because there is no way that direct tv can make an agreement with someone (Their customer) that binds a 3rd party (Me) without their knowledge and consent. Any first year law student knows this. Direct tvs stand is unbelievable, and even shows a comical ignorance of the law, but like a desperate person, they are clinging to their customer agreement because they can't win a logical or legal argument. Their stand would be similar to me and my wife going to a bank and getting a loan and signing an agreement that says her mother will pay make our payment if we can't. Me and my wife can no more bind her mother than direct tv and its customer can bind me, but they can't see this. The natural conclusion is if they are this ignorant when they write their agreements, how competent can they be in other areas. There are other satellite cable providers. I would seriously consider someone other than directtv.

I have never been a customer of Direct TV. However in 2010, I assisted a friend by using my credit card to pay for his Direct TV bill for a couple of months pending his disability approval. We called Direct TV and had them remove my card and placed his card on the account.

A year later, July 18, 2011, I am billed $638.00 on my credit card by Direct TV. I called them to have the charges removed. They proceeded to tell me that because I had originally used my credit card that I had obligated myself to pay any fees that my friend failed to pay on his account, and that I was stuck with the bill. Supposedly this information was explained to me which is a lie. I certainly never signed such a stipulation.

I was able to convince my bank to reverse charges. I thought everything was taken care of until three months later, October 18, 2011, when I discovered that the reversal had been cancelled and that the charges were taken out of my account again. I called my bank and they told me that I would have to take the matter up with Direct TV.

Isn't it ironic that consumers have such a difficult time getting justice when dealing with such terrible companies like Direct TV.

Does anyone know of any attempts to find a lawyer to initiate a class action lawsuit against Direct TV? If so, please call me at [protected]