The DirecTV steals from customers with their unethical practices Greenwood Village Colorado

DirecTV's installation tactics have us dearly! They hacked into Comcast's line and left us loving our dish and hating Comcast and blaming the latter for all our internet problems. Come to find out, it was DirecTV all along. Who would have ever guessed?

This is my letter to DirecTV CEO, Chase Carey in an effort to put an end to corporate mistreatment of comsumers. Companies must be held accountable!

January 8, 2009

Mr. Chase Carey, President and CEO
The DirecTV, Inc.
PO Box 6550
Greenwood Village, CO 80155

Dear Mr. Carey,

I am writing you today as a near last resort to find an equitable resolution to problems resulting from what is or should be considered an unethical installation practice on the part of DirecTV (or contracting technician).

Originally I contacted DirecTV on 12/13/08 to cancel our service when I found out that after a long period of poor and infrequent internet connection (which also affects my home phone and fax line), it is all due to an installation approach by DirecTV almost 1 year ago. Though Charles B ID X3133 (DirecTV) said because we were not notified for an entire year does not constitute a failure on our part to resolve an issue (12/19/2008 05:33 AM), I disagree. It is unreasonable for me to suspect DirecTV as the culprit for my internet and phone issues which are supplied by Comcast and Vonage. How would I have ever known that there were any link between our lack of internet connectivity and DirecTV? Even so, I did bring the problem to your company's attention and have received no resolution except that they understand [my] frustration with the installation issue [I] have described. [DirecTV] will be happy to send a technician to [my] home to determine whether the problems [I] have had are due to [DirecTV] installation, and if so, make the necessary repairs. However, [DirecTV is] unable to waive the DIRECTV Customer Agreement and associated Early Cancellation Fee (Christie G ID 400240 - 12/21/2008 12:13 PM). I've inquired about other compensations besides waiving the cancellation fee so that we could continue being loyal DirecTV customers, but I continue to get this same response.

Through numerous emails to DirecTV (6 at the time of this letter) and 2-3 phone calls, I have been told nearly the same thing as if being read to from a script I am sorry, but DIRECTV is unable to waive your early cancellation fee if you choose to cancel your service. We significantly discount the price of equipment and installations, and because of these significant discounts we ask you to keep your programming for 18 months for standard receivers / 24 months for DVR, HD, and HD-DVR receivers. For more information on our agreement, please visit the following links (Rachel V ID 400806 - 12/18/2008 11:34 AM).

As I am sure you can understand, my husband and I were very upset to find out that the DirecTV technician installed a splitter on our Comcast Internet line out at the box and then in our home. Since I was the one home when the installation took place, had a small child, and was getting ready to have a baby, I paid little to no attention to the actual installation process other than him telling me it was complete. Never did he tell me that he took this approach nor that we might have internet connectivity issues as a result of this installation tactic.

We have been having major internet and phone issues for almost a year and have been increasingly frustrated with our inconsistent internet service provided by Comcast. My husband is in the midst of getting his Masters degree and this service is crucial to the completion of his courses, yet time after time we had no connection or had it for 10 minute spurts. Additionally, our Vonage home phone and fax service have also been unreliable leaving us to use other people's fax machines and our cell phones to make calls. These are just a few of the problems we've encountered because of the installation of our dish. The unpredictability of it all has been the most frustrating part of the situation.

We entered into a service agreement with DirecTV in good faith, but instead we've received good television reception at the cost of other services for which we've paid and what I'd like to get is a fair resolution to this situation. I've offered some suggestions: If DirecTV wants to do one of the following my husband and I will stay loyal customers of DirecTV because we have been happy with our DirecTV reception. What we are not happy with is the practice the technician used to set us up which has subsequently had a very major negative impact on our family both in our time, money, aggravation, and other services we pay a lot of money for but which we have not been able to receive on a regular basis. OPTIONS: 1. Reimburse us for our Comcast Internet services, Vonage phone services, and Vonage fax services beginning from DirecTV installation till now. OR 2. Credit our account for $240 (which really only gives us 6 months free TV. and is much less than what we deserve). OR 3. Something else that is reasonable and equitable for all the reasons I mentioned above (St. Amour, 12/19/2008 01:55 PM).

We just want to be heard, empathized with, treated well, and be compensated fairly for a practice that is clearly wrong. So far, we have had none of these. Researching the practices of DirecTV since we've been going through this customer service nightmare, I find we are not alone by any stretch of the imagination in our experience with DirecTV. Not only do we want a SPEEDY resolution to our problem, but we will push for a change in this company and their service practices that currently seem designed to rob customers of their time, money, and peace of mind which is why I've copied those listed below.

Sincerely,

XXXX

Cc: ABC7 News
Attorney General, California
Better Business Bureau
BusinessReporter.net
California Department of Consumer Affairs
Comcast
Ethics Resource Center
FCC
RipoffReport.com
Verizon
Vonage Holdings Corporation

Kate
Sunnyvale, California
U.S.A.

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