• Report: #477370

Complaint Review: DirectTV

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  • Submitted: Friday, August 07, 2009
  • Last Posting: Friday, August 07, 2009
  • Reported By: — RALEIGH North Carolina
DirectTV
2230 East Imperial Highway El Segundo California 90245 U.S.A.

DirectTV gives poor service and then charges you extra! El Segundo California


1Author 2Consumer 0Employee/Owner

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I signed up for DirectTV for the first time 3 months ago after rave reviews from my dad.I was told that my monthly bill would be $49.99 and that I would receive 3 months of Showtime and HBO at no cost.

I got my first bill and it was $85 so I called up DirectTV. They said that the $49.99 was after a online rebate that would take 6-8 weeks to process. So I was pissed but went online and signed up for the rebate.

A couple of weeks went by and no problems until the North Carolina summer storms starting rolling in. I lose the signal at the first threat of rain or the picture pixelates so bad programs are unwatchable. Then the DVR box starts shutting off when I turn on the TV and reboots which takes upwards of 10 to 15 minutes.

So once again I call DirectTV. They tell me they can replace the box at no charge but I will lose all of my recorded programs. So once again I am pissed and forgo having the box replaced until I can watch all of my recorded programs so I can then get a new box.

Then this week I get my bill and DirectTV is charging me like $30 some dollars for HBO and Showtime. I never ordered them. If my 3 months is up of free service fine but don't just start charging me for something I don't want.

At this point I am over the whole damn DirectTV bullshit and feel that not only have they not provided me with the service I was promised and expected but that they have tried to pull one over on me.

So today I call DirectTV and am very nice and professional and tell they guy I want to cancel my service. He is very polite and tries to troubleshoot the situation and save the account but I wasn't having it. Then he proceeds to tell me that DirectTV will be charging me $420 for breaking my contract.

ARE YOU SERIOUS!! DIRECTTV HAS NOT PROVIDED ME WITH THE SERVICE I WAS PAYING FOR AND NOW I HAVE TO PAY THEM $420 FOR NOTHING!!

So I politely ask to speak to his manager. The manager keeps assuring me he can rectify the situation and have a technician come out and fix everything and he would review my bill.I understand that his job is probably retention so I politely explain to him that there is nothing to rectify except the cancellation fee. After 10 minutes of him jabbering I finally say look are you going to remove the cancellation fee or what.

NO was his response.

Well DirectTV beware because if I have to pay ANY cancellation fee I will be screaming from the mountain tops. I will tell everyone I know not to do business with you. I will be filing complaints, writing letters, making phone calls, whatever it takes.Hope the money was worth it.

Dave
RALEIGH, North Carolina
U.S.A.

This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 8/7/2009 9:28:14 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/sales-people/directtv/directtv-gives-poor-service-an-4522d.htm.

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1Author 2Consumer 0Employee/Owner
Updates & Rebuttals

#1 Consumer Comment

Dave

AUTHOR: Ashley - Springfield (U.S.A.)

SUBMITTED: Friday, August 07, 2009

You signed a contract. You agreed to pay the early cancellation fee. Go over to their website and read the terms and conditions that you agreed to when you signed up for your account.

Additionally, if you cancel, they will draft the account associated with them immediately. Plus they will charge you for the equipment until you return it.

You have a long fight ahead if you cancel. First I would recommend canceling the bank account you gave them when you set up the account. If you do not, they will just take the money from you. Again, this is in their contract and you told them it was okay to do when you signed up for service.

Also, like most offers with any business, when they give you XXX months free, you have to call and cancel that service before the free period is up. This is normal.

good luck.
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#2 Consumer Suggestion

A word on opt in and opt out services...

AUTHOR: ReactorCore - Victoria (Canada)

SUBMITTED: Friday, August 07, 2009

Dave, I'm going to address the issue of you getting charged for the HBO, because it works pretty much the same with some services in my area.

When companies, such as cable or cell providers, offer you a "promotion" or a "sign up premium", such as some free channels for your dish/cable or free, unlimited web browsing on your cell phone for free on a temporary basis, these are opt in or out services.

The onus is on the account holder to cancel the additional service after the trial period, or the company will continue to provide the extra service at whatever rate the service is normally charged per month. Sometimes they are upfront about this fact and sometimes they're not.

As an example, I was offered the free unlimited cell phone web browsing by Virgin Mobile when I signed up. However, to be fair, they made it very, very clear that if I didn't want to wind up paying $7 a month extra on my bill, to make sure to call in when the month was up and cancel the feature. Same goes for our cable provider with this type of thing.

If you do NOT call in and say you don't want the service, they'll assume you're enjoying it and continue to provide it at the rate it gets normally charged at.

Do I necessarily agree with how this is done? No. I'd rather it be the other way around, where the service is canceled by the company if you don't express further interest in the feature. However, where I am, this was brought before the courts who ruled that the companies can do this as long as they make sure that you are advised upfront that you need to call and cancel at or before the end of the trial period. However, it was also decided that the companies can't just add a promotion to your account without your consent, which was the part that was causing the most ruckus here.

However, there's nothing stopping you from just saying no to the premium or canceling as early as you like.

Just as an aside to let you know that sometimes the ''little guy'' does win, when I moved from a pre-paid account with Virgin, I had agreed to the free browsing promo for a month, but I moved to a 3 year plan and that premium fell through the cracks. When I inquired, the rep thought it was odd I wasn't offered another sign up premium and so gave me back the unlimited browsing... FOR 3 YEARS... the length of my contract. Epic win.
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