DirecTV Deceptive Advertising, Unauthorized Addition of Services, Refusal to Remove Charges: 6 months free, NFL ticket El Segundo, California

call customer service back and tell them you want the address for "the office of the president".  directv doesn't provide a phone number so that people can contact them directly for complaints. (trust me on this, i used to work for the company)

put your complaint in writing to directv and then file a complaint with your state.  this company has made it so impossibly hard for customers to resolve any issues.  this is why i'm an "ex" employee.  i believe that people should be treated fairly and not cheated.

ignore shayna....if she is not a well paid employee of directv then obviously she has made herself an advocate. (which only embarrasses me)

don't let the cst ser rep engage you in an argument.  it will only frustrate you and they WILL NOT resolve your issue.

good luck to you!

Author,

Please, please, please post any contact information, (mailing address, phone number, etc.) you can provide for the individuals mentioned in your original complaint.

I had the same experience.  My husband and I had Directv for several years, and decided to terminate service about a year ago, going to Dish.  In a nutshell, none of our recievers worked, and somehow it was always our fault, resulting in a $50 service call.  We got fed up.

They kept calling begging us to come back.  Finally on 8/23, my husband spoke with a Tarique, (ID 173023) who offered him 2010-2011 free NFL Ticket, along with 6 months Showtime and Military Channel, and 3 months of Starz.

He discussed with me, and we arranged to terminate Dish and reinstate our account.  So on 8/26 we spoke with Kristen, (ID 100470764) and Kassie (ID 440390) who verified the aforementioned offers.  We were told our monthly charges would be $61.98, and the first month would also be free.  As you can tell, we keep meticulous notes, because this wasn't our first rodeo with Directv.

So the first bill comes, and it's $52.  Sounds about right... So I didn't think much of it.  Then the next time I log in online, it says I owe $140.  I'm thinking I missed a payment, so I just pay it.  Now it's a month later, and the bill is $219!!!  So I started going through the bills, and it's just a joke.

None of my charges match from month to month.  One month my basic package is 69.99, another it's 70.99, and another it's 63.99.  There's also a 5.99 charge for some "Protection Plan".  This is when it gets comical.  So after speaking with 7 reps today, I finally land a Supervisor named Michael.  I insist I never authorized this charge.  He tells me, (and I quote) "You wouldn't have authorized it over the phone, the tech that did the install would have discussed it with you, and you'd have authorized it then."  The irony is that I knew the tech, and I still have his business card.  I can guarantee you we definitely never discussed protection plans!!!  This was such a crock!  So what happened?  The tech left our house, called Directv and said, "Hey, the folks I just did an install for want you to add the protection plan to their bill!"  I think not.

So Michael said he'd remove it from further bills, but wouldn't back-date any credits.  Why?  Because Directv doesn't do that.  I found that so hilarious, I made him repeat it so I could hit the 'record' button on my cell phone. ( I can't wait to toss that out there to the "higher-ups". )  I also made him repeat that Direct won't fix erroneous charges, and makes the consumer liable.  He then told me, "I'm not an Attorney, and I never wanted to be one, so contact our legal council."  And then... he hung up on me.

So I called back.  Talked to Tony, Ronnie, Michelle and then Sherry.  Sherry was another Supervisor, who was more interested in the fact it was 10pm and her shift was over than speaking with me.  Rude is an understatement.  She insisted that Directv doesn't offer any discounts on the NFL Ticket, and that no one ever offered it free.  (Only 3 employees did though, right?)  And ironically, earlier that evening I spoke with Tony, out of their South Carolina, Columbia office, who verified this was all in the notes of my account.  She tried to say that they were only offering a $20/month credit.  I don't think so!!!  And if this WAS the case, why wasn't that $20 credit showing?  Even better, how are they "not offering any promos for NFL Ticket", yet multiple complaints on here validate that they in fact DO offer this promo?

Sherry told me I needed to contact my Attorney, and then hung-up on me.

I'm being charged about $180/month.  For television?  That's absurd!  Who pays the equivalent of a car payment for tv?  I would have NEVER authorized this!

And before "Shayna" or one of their other disguised employees rebuts this, I'm not some ignorant person who doesn't 'read' contracts.  I deal with contract law on a daily basis and am not your average goon.  I think we all  know that based on the insane amount of similiar complaints and lawsuits that we can't all be wrong.

Any information you can provide to assist me in my efforts would be greatly appreciated!  This needs to stop! 

it's on your bill a couple of months before the charges start so you know to cancel before it's charged, the charges actually start being billed to your account in july. the agent was right, once the season starts you can't remove it, but how could you not notice your bill going up for  2 months prior to the season starting?

A few days after I submitted an email complaint and mailed a hard copy to the DirecTV corporate office, a Customer Advocate called me to discuss the situation. She also tried to put the responsibility back on me for not reading all the fine print, not reading notices my online statement every month. I responded that once I made a change to account, I did not expect the old package to be added back into my account without me requesting or authorizing it. So, she told me DirecTV would remove the NFL ticket, but would not refund my money. They would credit my account. They did do this. However, as a result of their actions and attitude, along with what I have read online about other customers' complaints and class action suits, I do not trust DirecTV. As a customer I do not like having to constantly police the companies I do business with.