DirecTV Failed to honor contract Greenwood Village Colorado

I have been a relatively happy DirecTV customer for many years and have always recommended them to friends and family.

Recently, Cablevision in my area had been offering highly attractive "triple play" rates, so when my annual contract was over, I called to disconnect my service. The representative on the phone asked me what they could do to get me to stay -- was it a matter of money? Programming? I said I loved Sunday Ticket and that was the main reason I had renewed each year. For several years in a row I had re-upped for another year after being offered Sunday Ticket for free or discount.

The representative said if I would sign up for *two* years this time, he could offer me Sunday Ticket free, a Genie DVR upgrade (I already had regular DVR service) and some additional discounts.

I said sign me up. When everything was done, I was passed off to a third-party verification operator, who went over the entire list of discounts and free items I would get in return for a two-year contract. I said "yes," and thought I was good to go.

Last Sunday, when I went to watch Sunday Ticket, the TV said I had to pay for it. I called, thinking this was just an error. It wasn't. Several representatives told me there was no mention at all of Sunday Ticket on my order. I asked since they make me record a third-party verification of my order, could they please retrieve that since the operator repeated the Sunday Ticket offer? They said no, they couldn't get that recording, that it was just for "quality assurance." 

The rep then said possibly they had to remove Sunday Ticket from my contract because I had previously received it free when signing my previous one-year contract. I said then how could that be a contract, if we had both agreed to something and then DirecTV removed it?

I asked how much is the early termination fee if I broke MY side of the contract? "$450."

So DirecTV took away my leverage (through my month-to-month, non-contract status), and then lied to me to get me to sign up for two years. I'm pretty shocked, since we have never had a problem with the service before. But after speaking to a few more people, I am not the only one this happened to.

What is going on over at DirecTV? I have never been outright lied to by a company like this and am surprised.

The rep offered me 1/2 price Sunday Ticket, which I took (in order to see last week's game), but I still feel swindled and cheated. I now have two years to find some other way to get my weekly out-of-market NFL games. 

Terrible service, DirecTV. Shameful. You have lost one good customer after this joke of a contract is up.