DirecTv I worked for DirecTv and they don't care about their customers! Internet

to the rebuttal about going to dish...read the rip off reports on here about dish!! they are awful. they charge you to talk to a live person ($5) and they charge more than directv after the special 6 months promo time ends. good luck with that!

thnk u for this information i was just about to go to direct tv but hearing these practices that this company is doing, ill stay away from it i dnt wanan be a victim of this so thnks again ill stay whr i am rite nw which is dish network they r pretty reasonable i gues

In these hard times, it's sad that a company like Directv treats people the way they do.
I used to be an advocate of Directv having been with them since there inception except for a 2 year period when I moved in with my parents to take care of them.

If you ever upgrade a receiver, purchase a receiver part, replace a receiver, purchase a receiver from a store, etc, you are unknowingly entering into a lengthy service contract with them.
If you come into hard times and need to cancel your service, hey - Directv's number 1 customer service will help you out by taking the full amount of the remainder of your contract from any source possible (your credit card, your bank account) without any authorization from you. That can be anywhere from a hundred to a thousand dollars!

The only information regarding this is in VERY fine print buried with a bunch of other stuff on the back of your initial install contract - even if it was YEARS ago.
First, how many actually read all that fine print (At my age, I have difficulty reading ANY print!), second, would you remember it from YEARS ago?

Isn't it convenient that customer service reps, installers, or even their advertisements don't mention this tidbit of information. Of course not! That would be bad business to advertise their deceptive practices!

Take a spin around the internet and see all the class action lawsuits against them for their fallacious procedures.

Be wary of all these Directv "kudos" in rebuttals - these are people working for Directv trying to save face for them - some of them don't even hide it well - check out their screen name!

DIRECTVs BBB initial response:

Company's Initial Response - Posted 05/12/2009
We regret to hear of any misunderstanding. When I contacted you by phone on May 10, 2009, you were unable to speak with me. I have not received a return call nor was I able to reach you when I called back on May 12, 2009. On July 5, 2006, you sent us an e-mail requesting one of your two accounts to be disconnected. We attempted to call you by phone in response to your request on July 11. When you called us back you mentioned wanting to keep costs low because you were going through a divorce and your daughter was leaving for college. We suggested reducing your programming instead of disconnecting the account and you stated you would consider this. We could only assume your service was satisfactory because we did not receive any further communication from you regarding this account until February 24, 2009. On February 24, you requested to disconnect the account and it was effective the following day. Due to the various ways DIRECTV makes your billing information and specific charges known (i.e. paper statements, E-billing options, directv.com, and customer support) we are unable to credit monthly charges older than 60 days. Respectfully, DIRECTV Office of the President
Initial Response Summary
Due to the various ways DIRECTV makes your billing information and specific charges known we are unable to credit monthly charges older than 60 days.



Thursday, May 14, 2009
In response to your reply above:
There is no misunderstanding, only a total failure of DIRECTV to follow my instructions, DIRECTVs claim of initiating an improper marketing call, DIRECTV fraudulently claiming to have talked to me, and DIRECTVs criminal removal of monies from my account.
When I received a call Sunday May 10, 2009, I explained to the woman who called (Lori? Loni?) that this was a bad time as we were on our way out to the veterinarians office with a sick puppy. She stated that she was off the next day but would call back. I have voice mail on both of my phones and I was NEVER left a message. I am still waiting for DIRECTV to call back. The history of DIRECTV's attempts to contact me has been an abject failure, even after I supply correct contact information.
My July 5, 2006 E-mail order should have resulted in the service being discontinued and ceased any further removal of monies from my account. DIRECTV could have simply replied to my E-mail with the offer of reduced programming and I would have replied affirming my order to disconnect on August 1, 2006.
On July 11, 2006 DIRECTV DID NOT call MY phone and I DID NOT ever call DIRECTV back regarding this account!
I NEVER had the conversation We suggested reducing your programming instead of disconnecting the account and you stated you would consider this.
I DID NOT talk to DIRECTV about this account after the initial E-mail of July 5, 2006 until February 24, 2009.
DIRECTV fraudulently noted authorization to continue removal of monies from my account by claiming to have talked to me. I DO NOT have a daughter and was divorced in June 2006!
DIRECTV should have NEVER called anyone in regards to this account! DIRECTV should have followed my initial instructions, disconnected services August 1, 2006, and discontinued removal of monies from my account.
After all, DIRECTV received a hefty fine for DIRECTVs telemarketing activities and, from my experience and information obtained from the Internet; I now am beginning to see why this occurred. I am one of many who complain about DIRECTV billing after a request for service to be disconnected is ignored and DIRECTV does not want to refund any amount of the fraudulent charges.
To summarize, DIRECTV criminally removed monies from my account for approximately 30 months and DIRECTVs defense is that I did not catch DIRECTV soon enough!
I e-mailed DIRECTV asking for one of my accounts to be disconnected.
DIRECTV failed to follow my instructions and did not disconnect.
DIRECTV claims to have initiated a marketing call to someone other than me who stated they would think about it
DIRECTV totally failed to contact the owner of the credit card and had NO authorization to continue removal of monies from my account.
DIRECTV continued to withdraw monies from my account after specific orders to disconnect and stop removal of monies from my account.
I assumed my order to DIRECTV was followed and that no further action was required on my part.
DIRECTV made a totally unauthorized call and assumed DIRECTV could continue billing.
I am still a DIRECTV customer, as I have been for many years, and am willing to accept a credit to my account for all the monies DIRECTV fraudulently obtained over those ~ 30 months.
DIRECTVs failure to issue me a credit will result in legal action against DIRECTV for DIRECTVs criminal actions and civil damages. I expect a reply agreeing to a full credit within fourteen days of this response or legal action will be instituted.

"So you really think that it's the customer's perrogative to read every little line of their bill to make sure that they aren't getting screwed by the company they are with? Does that sound moral to you?"

Yes. It isn't a prerogative, either- it's a responsibility. Anyone entering into a contract should know what they are agreeing to and anyone paying a bill should read the fine print to ensure what they are paying and why they are paying it is correct. Contract law isn't about morals, it's about clear, valid terms and agreement on terms by both parties. It's not any company's fault if their customers/clients don't educate and protect themselves and simply pencil-whip anything placed in front of them.

"So you really think that it's the customer's perrogative to read every little line of their bill to make sure that they aren't getting screwed by the company they are with? Does that sound moral to you?"

Yes. It isn't a prerogative, either- it's a responsibility. Anyone entering into a contract should know what they are agreeing to and anyone paying a bill should read the fine print to ensure what they are paying and why they are paying it is correct. Contract law isn't about morals, it's about clear, valid terms and agreement on terms by both parties. It's not any company's fault if their customers/clients don't educate and protect themselves and simply pencil-whip anything placed in front of them.

"So you really think that it's the customer's perrogative to read every little line of their bill to make sure that they aren't getting screwed by the company they are with? Does that sound moral to you?"

Yes. It isn't a prerogative, either- it's a responsibility. Anyone entering into a contract should know what they are agreeing to and anyone paying a bill should read the fine print to ensure what they are paying and why they are paying it is correct. Contract law isn't about morals, it's about clear, valid terms and agreement on terms by both parties. It's not any company's fault if their customers/clients don't educate and protect themselves and simply pencil-whip anything placed in front of them.

"So you really think that it's the customer's perrogative to read every little line of their bill to make sure that they aren't getting screwed by the company they are with? Does that sound moral to you?"

Yes. It isn't a prerogative, either- it's a responsibility. Anyone entering into a contract should know what they are agreeing to and anyone paying a bill should read the fine print to ensure what they are paying and why they are paying it is correct. Contract law isn't about morals, it's about clear, valid terms and agreement on terms by both parties. It's not any company's fault if their customers/clients don't educate and protect themselves and simply pencil-whip anything placed in front of them.

these so called "employees" of Direct TV talking about how good Direct TV is (that alone is the biggest joke i've heard yet) and how good the CSR's are but yet there even on here being RUDE to customers that have had BAD experience due to lies from Direct TV CSR's they claim u get a certain pkg for free and never deliver and even fail to tell you that u have to have a specific plan AFTER u get ur bill (they don't tell u this when u first call to ask ?s before signing up) they give u ONE price and charge u another then they tell you "it was a mistake" and not correct it like there supposed too the rep... that said maybe it was because YOU were rude to them..... well let me tell YOU right here and right now there's NO excuse to be rude to a customer that YOUR company lied (yes LIED) too to begin with for being unhappy about being LIED too if you think for ONE minute that it's ok to be RUDE to a customer for being rude to YOU cause they were lied too and YOUR not helping them correct the problem then let me tell you you are SORELY mistaken... furthermore when I had issues with them i was told if i canceled early there would be a $200 cancellation fee and i'd get the FIRST month free when i got the bill was charged $150 for the 2nd month and a prorated charge for the FIRST MONTH because they FAILED to tell me i had to have the plus plan i even said right when she told me that since the first month is free i'll sign up for the premium plan she didn't say oh sorry sir you have to have the plus plan in order to receive the free month she said that's fine after all these charges they kept adding on to my bill i finally canceled THIS lady also tells me $200 cancellation fee they THEN charge me $250 after i had it canceled then when i called about that i calmly explained the situation to the rep she tells me it was a mistake when i asked her that since it wasn't MY mistake can it be fixed she then gets rude with me and tells me that it is a legitamite charge so THAT was when i got rude back and said NO it's not a legitimate charge you said so yourself it was a MISTAKE YOUR ALLS MISTAKE NOT MINE.... she continued to get rude so i asked to speak with a supervisor she tells me none is in and that 1 will call me back so i waited for like 3 hr and called back which the supervisor tells me this is a legitimate charge and i had to pay it even tho THERE employees made a mistake

these so called "employees" of Direct TV talking about how good Direct TV is (that alone is the biggest joke i've heard yet) and how good the CSR's are but yet there even on here being RUDE to customers that have had BAD experience due to lies from Direct TV CSR's they claim u get a certain pkg for free and never deliver and even fail to tell you that u have to have a specific plan AFTER u get ur bill (they don't tell u this when u first call to ask ?s before signing up) they give u ONE price and charge u another then they tell you "it was a mistake" and not correct it like there supposed too the rep... that said maybe it was because YOU were rude to them..... well let me tell YOU right here and right now there's NO excuse to be rude to a customer that YOUR company lied (yes LIED) too to begin with for being unhappy about being LIED too if you think for ONE minute that it's ok to be RUDE to a customer for being rude to YOU cause they were lied too and YOUR not helping them correct the problem then let me tell you you are SORELY mistaken... furthermore when I had issues with them i was told if i canceled early there would be a $200 cancellation fee and i'd get the FIRST month free when i got the bill was charged $150 for the 2nd month and a prorated charge for the FIRST MONTH because they FAILED to tell me i had to have the plus plan i even said right when she told me that since the first month is free i'll sign up for the premium plan she didn't say oh sorry sir you have to have the plus plan in order to receive the free month she said that's fine after all these charges they kept adding on to my bill i finally canceled THIS lady also tells me $200 cancellation fee they THEN charge me $250 after i had it canceled then when i called about that i calmly explained the situation to the rep she tells me it was a mistake when i asked her that since it wasn't MY mistake can it be fixed she then gets rude with me and tells me that it is a legitamite charge so THAT was when i got rude back and said NO it's not a legitimate charge you said so yourself it was a MISTAKE YOUR ALLS MISTAKE NOT MINE.... she continued to get rude so i asked to speak with a supervisor she tells me none is in and that 1 will call me back so i waited for like 3 hr and called back which the supervisor tells me this is a legitimate charge and i had to pay it even tho THERE employees made a mistake

these so called "employees" of Direct TV talking about how good Direct TV is (that alone is the biggest joke i've heard yet) and how good the CSR's are but yet there even on here being RUDE to customers that have had BAD experience due to lies from Direct TV CSR's they claim u get a certain pkg for free and never deliver and even fail to tell you that u have to have a specific plan AFTER u get ur bill (they don't tell u this when u first call to ask ?s before signing up) they give u ONE price and charge u another then they tell you "it was a mistake" and not correct it like there supposed too the rep... that said maybe it was because YOU were rude to them..... well let me tell YOU right here and right now there's NO excuse to be rude to a customer that YOUR company lied (yes LIED) too to begin with for being unhappy about being LIED too if you think for ONE minute that it's ok to be RUDE to a customer for being rude to YOU cause they were lied too and YOUR not helping them correct the problem then let me tell you you are SORELY mistaken... furthermore when I had issues with them i was told if i canceled early there would be a $200 cancellation fee and i'd get the FIRST month free when i got the bill was charged $150 for the 2nd month and a prorated charge for the FIRST MONTH because they FAILED to tell me i had to have the plus plan i even said right when she told me that since the first month is free i'll sign up for the premium plan she didn't say oh sorry sir you have to have the plus plan in order to receive the free month she said that's fine after all these charges they kept adding on to my bill i finally canceled THIS lady also tells me $200 cancellation fee they THEN charge me $250 after i had it canceled then when i called about that i calmly explained the situation to the rep she tells me it was a mistake when i asked her that since it wasn't MY mistake can it be fixed she then gets rude with me and tells me that it is a legitamite charge so THAT was when i got rude back and said NO it's not a legitimate charge you said so yourself it was a MISTAKE YOUR ALLS MISTAKE NOT MINE.... she continued to get rude so i asked to speak with a supervisor she tells me none is in and that 1 will call me back so i waited for like 3 hr and called back which the supervisor tells me this is a legitimate charge and i had to pay it even tho THERE employees made a mistake

these so called "employees" of Direct TV talking about how good Direct TV is (that alone is the biggest joke i've heard yet) and how good the CSR's are but yet there even on here being RUDE to customers that have had BAD experience due to lies from Direct TV CSR's they claim u get a certain pkg for free and never deliver and even fail to tell you that u have to have a specific plan AFTER u get ur bill (they don't tell u this when u first call to ask ?s before signing up) they give u ONE price and charge u another then they tell you "it was a mistake" and not correct it like there supposed too the rep... that said maybe it was because YOU were rude to them..... well let me tell YOU right here and right now there's NO excuse to be rude to a customer that YOUR company lied (yes LIED) too to begin with for being unhappy about being LIED too if you think for ONE minute that it's ok to be RUDE to a customer for being rude to YOU cause they were lied too and YOUR not helping them correct the problem then let me tell you you are SORELY mistaken... furthermore when I had issues with them i was told if i canceled early there would be a $200 cancellation fee and i'd get the FIRST month free when i got the bill was charged $150 for the 2nd month and a prorated charge for the FIRST MONTH because they FAILED to tell me i had to have the plus plan i even said right when she told me that since the first month is free i'll sign up for the premium plan she didn't say oh sorry sir you have to have the plus plan in order to receive the free month she said that's fine after all these charges they kept adding on to my bill i finally canceled THIS lady also tells me $200 cancellation fee they THEN charge me $250 after i had it canceled then when i called about that i calmly explained the situation to the rep she tells me it was a mistake when i asked her that since it wasn't MY mistake can it be fixed she then gets rude with me and tells me that it is a legitamite charge so THAT was when i got rude back and said NO it's not a legitimate charge you said so yourself it was a MISTAKE YOUR ALLS MISTAKE NOT MINE.... she continued to get rude so i asked to speak with a supervisor she tells me none is in and that 1 will call me back so i waited for like 3 hr and called back which the supervisor tells me this is a legitimate charge and i had to pay it even tho THERE employees made a mistake

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why you feel that DirecTV treats their customer's so badly is because thats the way that YOU were treating them. Almost everything you said is off base.

DirecTV did in fact notify their customers of the policy change in question. The reason that I know that is because I myself got a notice in regards to my personal account as did every person that I know who has the service. Yes the service can possibly go out, just like any other tv service can. I'm also sure that 50% of your calls were people who's service had gone out. Who calls up their tv service company just to tell them that everything is working fine? Nobody does.
In regards to the cost of sports subscriptions, I will agree that they are expensive. However the leagues (NFL, ect.) also set the price of those packages and are profitting from those fees as well.

I could continue and provide examples of your flawed thinking however I honestly don't think you have the capacity to comprehend what I'm saying. I'll just say that I am very happy you no longer work for the company. You weren't capable of reading the information that was given to you and so you then gave out incorrect info and blamed it on us having "immoral" policies.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why you feel that DirecTV treats their customer's so badly is because thats the way that YOU were treating them. Almost everything you said is off base. DirecTV did in fact notify their customers of the policy change in question. The reason that I know that is because I myself got a notice in regards to my personal account as did every person that I know who has the service.
Yes the service can possibly go out, just like any other tv service can. I'm also sure that 50% of your calls were people who's service had gone out. Who calls up their tv service company just to tell them that everything is working fine? Nobody does.
In regards to the cost of sports subscriptions, I will agree that they are expensive. However the leagues (NFL, ect.) also set the price of those packages and are profitting from those fees as well.

I could continue and provide examples of your flawed thinking however I honestly don't think you have the capacity to comprehend what I'm saying. I'll just say that I am very happy you no longer work for the company. You weren't capable of reading the information that was given to you and so you then gave out incorrect info and blamed it on us having "immoral" policies.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why you feel that DirecTV treats their customer's so badly is because thats the way that YOU were treating them. Almost everything you said is off base. DirecTV did in fact notify their customers of the policy change in question. The reason that I know that is because I myself got a notice in regards to my personal account as did every person that I know who has the service.
Yes the service can possibly go out, just like any other tv service can. I'm also sure that 50% of your calls were people who's service had gone out. Who calls up their tv service company just to tell them that everything is working fine? Nobody does.
In regards to the cost of sports subscriptions, I will agree that they are expensive. However the leagues (NFL, ect.) also set the price of those packages and are profitting from those fees as well.

I could continue and provide examples of your flawed thinking however I honestly don't think you have the capacity to comprehend what I'm saying. I'll just say that I am very happy you no longer work for the company. You weren't capable of reading the information that was given to you and so you then gave out incorrect info and blamed it on us having "immoral" policies.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why you feel that DirecTV treats their customer's so badly is because thats the way that YOU were treating them. Almost everything you said is off base. DirecTV did in fact notify their customers of the policy change in question. The reason that I know that is because I myself got a notice in regards to my personal account as did every person that I know who has the service.
Yes the service can possibly go out, just like any other tv service can. I'm also sure that 50% of your calls were people who's service had gone out. Who calls up their tv service company just to tell them that everything is working fine? Nobody does.
In regards to the cost of sports subscriptions, I will agree that they are expensive. However the leagues (NFL, ect.) also set the price of those packages and are profitting from those fees as well.

I could continue and provide examples of your flawed thinking however I honestly don't think you have the capacity to comprehend what I'm saying. I'll just say that I am very happy you no longer work for the company. You weren't capable of reading the information that was given to you and so you then gave out incorrect info and blamed it on us having "immoral" policies.

Have you ever stopped to think that maybe the reason why you feel that DirecTV treats their customer's so badly is because thats the way that YOU were treating them. Almost everything you said is off base. DirecTV did in fact notify their customers of the policy change in question. The reason that I know that is because I myself got a notice in regards to my personal account as did every person that I know who has the service.
Yes the service can possibly go out, just like any other tv service can. I'm also sure that 50% of your calls were people who's service had gone out. Who calls up their tv service company just to tell them that everything is working fine? Nobody does.
In regards to the cost of sports subscriptions, I will agree that they are expensive. However the leagues (NFL, ect.) also set the price of those packages and are profitting from those fees as well.

I could continue and provide examples of your flawed thinking however I honestly don't think you have the capacity to comprehend what I'm saying. I'll just say that I am very happy you no longer work for the company. You weren't capable of reading the information that was given to you and so you then gave out incorrect info and blamed it on us having "immoral" policies.

My wife and I had DTV installed, but unfortunately could not receive a satisfactory signal due to trees. The local technician was very helpful in trying to get our problem solved, but in the end it just wasn't possible. He noted this on our invoice and signed it. Not good enough for DTV.

We went around and around about them billing us $300 for cancellation. We fought it, but our complaints fell on deaf ears. We finally went to the state of SC (where we live) and took our complaint to the state (I forget which department specifically, but obviously something to do with business practices).

Within two weeks, we received no fewer than THREE letters from DTV saying we owed them nothing. Actually, two letters and a final "bill" with a zero balance.

So don't back down...there IS hope. Good luck!

i work at a company owned sight and i love my job. it's obvious that you are a bitter person towards the company. directv is the best company i have ever worked for. i got the job to have extra christmas money and loved it so much i never left. yes, i get unhappy customers from time to time, but i deal with it and move on. i also had directv for a couple of years before i worked there and never had it go out and never had any issues with it. i'm happy you no longer work for directv. i would hate that the company i work for would have someone like you as an employee.

i work at a company owned sight and i love my job. it's obvious that you are a bitter person towards the company. directv is the best company i have ever worked for. i got the job to have extra christmas money and loved it so much i never left. yes, i get unhappy customers from time to time, but i deal with it and move on. i also had directv for a couple of years before i worked there and never had it go out and never had any issues with it. i'm happy you no longer work for directv. i would hate that the company i work for would have someone like you as an employee.

i work at a company owned sight and i love my job. it's obvious that you are a bitter person towards the company. directv is the best company i have ever worked for. i got the job to have extra christmas money and loved it so much i never left. yes, i get unhappy customers from time to time, but i deal with it and move on. i also had directv for a couple of years before i worked there and never had it go out and never had any issues with it. i'm happy you no longer work for directv. i would hate that the company i work for would have someone like you as an employee.

this is a multi million dollars company. millions of people never gonna have a problem and will be satisified with directv while some other millions will do and as hmans , we will feel upset about it.
Unfortunately I was caught with the millions of people who suffered damages for their bad bussines practices. I can said I was victim of a scam and fraud, and sadly, a multimillion dollars company has lawyers and a propaganda machine. really hard to make your rights prevail against an almost a multinational monopoly, and media power.

I've read all the back and forth about Directv and as a consumer, can say, I would never recommend Directv to anyone, except maybe my worst enemy.

From day one, Directv has been nothing but a problem. We moved into a new home in April and because of some 'deal' that the builder signed, our development has to use a satallite dish company until 2013, which to my knowledge, is either Directv or Dish Network.

So, in April, we contacted Directv in which we were verbally told we were entering into a two year contract. Fine. So, the installation guy shows up. He pulls up in a dishevled looking carpet cleaning van. No Directv anywhere on the van. When I answered the door, I was surprised to hear that he was here to install our directv service. It's unprofessional to show up in a completely unmarked vehicle, especially one that looks like it was borrowed from the junk yard. So, I reluctantly let him in and told him that we just had the carpets cleaned not two days ago and politely asked him if he would make sure and either take off his shoes or wear footies at all times. He agreed. Over the course of 4.5 hours, this installation guy managed to 'forget' to put on his footies at some point with the 40 times he went in and out of the door, so needless to say, our carpets where muddy upon his departure. When we pointed it out, expecting him to do something, he just shrugged his shoulders and told us he did some 'extra installation' so we were even. He also stunk to high heaven. It was April (spring), as I said, but not warm out yet and even given the fact that I naturally freeze, I was forced to open all the windows in our family room to air it out because he wreaked of BO and I don't know what else. He wreaked so bad, I was gagging and I'm not normally sensitive.

He then needed to put a cable in our kitchen, but to reach, needed a latter. Well, since this was our first day of occupancy, we had nothing to speak of in the house yet, so we didn't have one and, of course, he didn't either. His solution was to stand on our granite counter tops with his muddy shoes on, which we refused to let him do. So my husband and I had to get up on our counters and do his job for him. He also had to go in the crawl space several times and at one point needed a flashlight. Well, of course his didn't have batteries and again, we didn't have one to lend, so he had to leave in the middle of the appointment and go get batteries. At one point, he asked to use the bathroom. So he walked by me in the direction of the bathroom and while he was in the bathroom, I heard him belch while he peed. Classy! Then, to top it all off, he walked out of the bathroom without washing his hands and continued with the installation. I still don't want to touch my receiver or any cables connected to it. He also left our crawl space wide open and the outside electrical door wide open. Nice finishing touches! The man was a complete pig and a total idiot.

I made a complaint to Directv. They sent me to the local whatever that sent this guy out and ended up paying to have our carpets re-cleaned, but the cable in the kitchen is still hanging sloppily exposed and our service has been shotty at best. I'm sure it's because of the horrible installation, but like many other customers have complained, whenever I've called in to get some help with the shotty service, it's been nothing but a series of customer service agents who don't know the first thing about customer service.

We've had the signal go out several times, even with the slightest puff of breeze outside (which I've been told shouldn't happen unless we're having a tornado). Within our first 3 months, I called Directv about this a few times (no, not every time) and their solution to me was to reset the receiver, which was all fine and good during the summer months when it didn't happen that often due to the weather being calm. But now that we're entering the winter months, it's considerably more windy/breezy on a consistent basis, so our service goes out constantly. I've called Directv to complain about this several times and finally today, was lucky enough (I guess) to get a tech agent on the phone that actually had some customer service ability and agreed to send a technitian out at no charge, given all my calls, I guess. All the agents before him, were basically telling me I was out of luck unless I paid a $79.99 fee for a tech visit or add the $5.99 to my service to cover these kinds of problems. I refused either one, as I'm a paying customer and haven't had any luck with Directv all along, which can be attested to, given all the comments they have on my account from my multiple phone calls. I've even had agents tell me that they'd rather see me leave as a customer then send a technitian out to fix the problem. Wow! That's great customer service! I'm sure the reason they'd be so happy to see me go is because they know that the early termination fee would 'get me' in the end.

Listen Directv customer service agents, I own my own company in which I know a thing or two about customer service. If Directv is going to have customers lease their crappy equipment, then they should ensure it works and not further charge the customer to make it work, unless of couse, the customer did something to the equipment to make it NOT work. I would be out of business if I didn't deliver to my customers exactly what they are paying for and ensure they don't have to pay for any mistakes that are not their's. And I even deliver this kind of service to my 'difficult' customers.

I'm a very honest person/customer by all accounts. I pay for good service and pay all bills on time (which can be attested to by my 844 credit score, 850 is the highest a person can have). I have better things to do than sit around making constant phone calls to complain about a service (Directv) that just shouldn't be that difficult to deliver. I'm fine with a 2 year contract, but Directv needs to step up and start taking care of customers the right way. I would pay twice as much to a company that has good service and stands by their supposed agreements to customers.

Even though, I've FINALLY gotten Directv to come through on sending a technician out free of charge to fix faulty equipment of THEIRS and clean up the idiot installation guy's mess, the time it took and the implication that I was a liar during one of the calls has settled it for me. AS SOON AS 2013 comes around, I will be switching to Comcast (had them prior, and not one single problem in the 4 years I had service). I will not support a company that lies (and yes, I too was lied to about what our monthly amount would be during the first setup call), treats customer's like second class citizens and just simply takes advantage every way they see fit.

To all the customer service agents, if I call in, I sure hope I'm lucky enough to get one of you that claims to know how to treat customers, but from my experience you are few and far between. Believe me, if I'm wasting my time to call in, it's important. As I said, I've got better things to do.

And one last thing. If I get fed up enough, which I'm really close (it depends on the results of my upcoming service call to fix what should not have been a problem all along), I will cancel my service and you can take your termination fee and shove it. Prior to calling in to cancel, I WILL cancel the credit card I know you have on file, report our debit card lost or stolen (and get a new one, but not give you the number), you also have on file and you won't be left with a single card to fraudulently charge. Yes, you can report us to collections, but I will fight that too, and I know how credit works, so I will win. And in the off chance, I don't win, my credit can afford a few notches downward and not affect me one bit.

i have been a directv customer for over a year and have never had a problem. there are over 130 hd channels and they are not mostly sports channels. there are some movie channels in hd as well as locals and many regular channels. i've never had problems with my satellite either. it doesn't even go out in the rain or if there's cloud cover. it's only gone out a couple of times in a year if there was a major storm. i'm more than happy with my directv and will choose it over cable any day. the picture is much better with directv than with cable. yeah, directv costs a little more but it's got better channels and it's a better picture. i had 13 hd channels with suddenlink. i have well over 100 with directv. i choose quality over price anyday.

I have read the reports about direct tv. I can see why lot are mad, but there is one thing that is getting under my skin about these reports. no one stops to think that dtv just bought out Ironwood comm.

Ironwood did a lot things that dtv didnt aprove of. Any one who has/does work for them knows this first hand. The take over just started and its hariy for alot of the employees. There is also a change in softwear for every one from the tech to call centers.

The dude from texas that rant and raved about morals and such may be you need to stop and think who was I really working for Ironwood or dtv them selvs? Ironwood did things that dtv would never ask of or demand of their employees.

Another point I want to make is if this is such a bad company why are there such loyal cosumers? One person siad they started with primestar that was back in the late 90s hello. Do you relize how much dtv spent to take over ironwood? probly not! Do you know why they took over? Probly not? Lets see dtv spent billoins on this buy out and they did for their custumers. I highly suggest that you stop and think before you rant and rave, and telling every one how crummy dtv really is, when in fact the ratings are very high and the techs are overwhelmed with NEW installs as well as UPGRADES.

I have dtv and I wont chage if it saves my life. Before that I had Dish network wanna talk about a crummy company. They call me 20 times a day I have the caller ID to prove that I get 40 emails in a 48 hour time frame they even showed up on my door step at dinner non the less. dtv will not do that and the price is right. Lets see you get all the networks on cable or dish network. ha ha YOU CAN'T!

I feel for the guy from texas he just tossed a great thing out the door. by not working for them any more.

First, directv does not automatically draft the card when they cancel or go into cutoff. The draft it right before it goes to collections so they won't go to collections. People get so happy about having directv, they don't even bother to read customer agreement. I always look at fine print. Always...directv can't help if people are too naive and don't decide to be informed about their bills and the money their putting into it.

You know, Amber, the first words I focused on in your post were "I'm one of those agents that actually does my job right". The very fact that a current employee of DirecTV can utter those words says something about the company. You obviously know there are a good deal of shite agents there as well or you wouldn't have bothered to distinguish yourself from the others.

Your next point as to whether or not I call or contact companies to let them know when they are doing their job well is a good question. However, I can answer that question with a resounding "yes". Just in the month of July this year I sent out no less than two dozen "appreciation" emails and/or phonecalls solely for the purpose of stating "You were great to work with" or "Your service has blown my mind with its quality and speed".

Now, as to the "insurance" program it is an utter joke. DirecTV's Cable competition do NOT charge for such things. However, they do have a system in place to make sure repairs and replacements do not get abused. They send a technician out: If the problem was hardware/service related there is no charge. If the problem was caused by the customer (ie- dropping, yanking cables, spilling drinks) then there is a service fee. Given that I have worked on 10s of 1000s of servers that cost $250,000 and above I don't want to hear ANY fluff about the "needs" for cost in the way of a protection plan. Devices such as the HD-DVRs, refurbished or not, should have a manufacturers warranty. If you are telling me DirecTV uses equipment that is not at all covered by the manufacturers I would love to hear that. Not to mention 100,000s of readers. That's more akin to buying a used car off an individual rather than a dealership.

Also, I lease the equipment. I pay an initial charge and a monthly charge. The fluff about the HD-DVRs costing $750 each is an outright lie as I can tell you now they start at $350. With $199 down, how many months of "lease fees" do I have to pay to equate the cost of the unit (which we ALL know is re-used and has already paid for itself from usage by previous customers)? 15 months, less than the "contract" length. We call this "Zero Overhead" or "Pure Profit" when it comes to the cost of the HD-DVR unit for the remaining 9 months. This is, of course, assuming the HD-DVR in question is brand new, not re-used.

You know what? If I assembled a $250,000 Sun Systems server for the New York Stock Exchange and it broke guess who had to foot the bill? NYSE? No, it was either me, my company, or the manufacturer (98% of the time the manufacturer covered the issues).

Now, I give you kudos for calming an angry customer. That means you did do your job right. So, perhaps you are the minority, not the norm when it comes to the dealings with most agents. As I said above in my earlier posts I would get 4-5 different answers from 4-5 different CSRs who had the very same information in front of them. I wish I would have had to deal with someone like you. But, quite frankly, everyone I spoke to had an IQ less than breakfast cereal. Now I know I am a pompous a*s, but I own that and live up to it. On top of that, I can back up the skill sets in which I am usually a pompous a*s.

With the list of Retail/Technological/Commercial companies *I* work with, DirecTV is down at the bottom of the barrel with Alienware as to being "customer oriented". I am not discrediting your opinion, but perhaps you just don't have as much experience with a larger number of companies as some others do. I could give you the, well over 300, company list I work with and tell you where DirecTV ranks in service skills, but that would be a long post for sure. To shorten it, I have dealt with companies as small as local online retailers to the Pentagon (yes, someone here has TS3 clearance). You can imagine the gamut there as far as size, quality, and capability of companies in that vast range.

In the end, the deluge of Class Action Lawsuits against DirecTV speak strongly to oppose your sentiment. If DirecTV was THAT good they wouldn't be in court that often. And yes, they are. Your boss may not tell you but feel free to Google around for a while.

PS- The #1 Tech Company to work for in the United States for it's 8th year running is Harrah's. Living in Las Vegas, I can attest to this even further.

"I am also a former employee of DirecTV and I have to say that some of the info in this report is not totally accurate. Yes DirecTV does have a policy that if you disconnect your account with a balance due it will be taken form any credit or debit card linked to that account. The length of time after disconnection that the money is taken depends on payment history and the amount due. Directv did also inform customers of changes to their service commitment with a copy of the revised agreement inserted in their bill and a notice explaining the change. If a customer chose not to read it then who is to blame. And also why would the company give a refund of that money when it was owed to them...?

Most of the information put on this report was from a person that has no first hand knowledge of what customers were told and not told. There is nothing in this report about being told to lie to customers or swindle them out of money. All of Directv's practices are completely legal and customers are well informed of them. If you are a responsible consumer you will not have any problems with this company.

It seems to me that this was a report from a disgruntled employee that did not voluntarily resign from their job.

And another thing, DirecTV did add newer satellites in the fall of 2007 to provide more hd channels to customers and are in the process of upgrading millions of customers equipment for a fair charge of $0. No ripoff there."

I am unsure to whom your rebutal was directed, but I have a few things to say anyway.To quote you Chris I want to point out some key flaws:

1- Not all customers receive "paper bills" to get these "agreement updates". I am a completely paperless employee and I have yet to receive a single piece of paper from them. So changing a policy on a report that does not get to ALL customers leaves DirecTVs proverbial a*s flapping in the breeze.

2- Not all of DirecTV's practices are legal. If that were the case there wouldn't be a long list of Class Action Lawsuits filed against DirecTV. Feel free to put the words "DirecTV class action lawsuit" in Google and watch the piles of links come rolling in.

3- In my case, DirecTV DID, in fact, lie/cheat/swindle. I entered into a Verbal Agreement with Austin from sales. Mind you, only a Verbal Agreement can be reached through phone system ordering. Therefore, when Austin promised both the $50 gift card and the free upgrade from my SD box to the HS box, Austin violated this Verbal Agreement. I cannot be held to the Customer Agreement Policy ex post facto. This is dsignated the "bait and switch" method which violates at least 3 Federal Laws set forth by the FTC.

In my report, and yes I still have EVERY last email logged, you can see that I was told 4 completely different answers in regards to the Gift Card. Well, through process of elimination only two possibilities for this arise: Either I was lied to or DirecTV hires some of the most moronic people on the face of this Earth. I am not sure which one I would rather it be if I were a DrecTV employee.

Another classic violation in terms of a Breech of Contract was when DirecTV opted to turn my service off, something that in their own Customer Agreement Policy dictates, they waived all rights to any "early-termination fees" as I did not terminate my policy "early", they did. This is bare bascs: If you order food in a restaurant and you are asked to leave before you are served you cannot be billed for what you did not receive. Pure and simple. Because they told me "You're still going to have to pay the termination fees even though you didn't terminate your account" they left their proverbials asses flapping in the breeze again.

To sum up: I am neither an angry ex-employee. I have never worked for and never will work for DirecTV. I hold 4 Information Technology Certifications (CCIE, MCSE, RHCE, and Net+), so I am by far not uninformed. In fact, I would be willing to put money down that I know more about the technological systems involved with DirecTV and their HD-DVRs (and the flavour of Linux upon which they run) than half of the CSR team. As I said before, I've personally worked on multi-million dollar networks. I don't think the New York Stock Exchange would have let me anywhere near their servers in the datacenters if I was incompetent. In fact, I have a track record in the IT industry for being one of the "go to" guys for major issues that need to be resolved with great alacrity.

The original poster may have had issue due to employment termination, but my issues arose from poor, wrongful, and illegal practices on DirecTV's behalf. They violated our agreements 3 times, as set forth in their own Customer Agreement Policy, and pertaining to the Verbal Agreement. I won't even get started on the damage done to the front of my home by their installation team (Ironwood Communications) who left gaping holes in my exterior walls that allowed water movement to flow inside the walls and a plague of pests. No coax capping was done, hardly any silicone sealant was used, and they drilled superfluous holes down the face of my two-story home because at first, the ran the cables sloppily down the face of my home without proper cabling guidelines (run to the corner, then down, then into the house. Not just drop the cables from the Satellite Dish and fasten them to the wall wherever they land.). I've personally run over 750 miles of CAT-5/6 cabling and Fibre Optics Cabling (up elevator shafts even), so I know very well what I am talking about in these regards.

Either way, DirecTV STILL has yet to fix the damage to the home even after filling all the needed paperwork, estimates, forms, and photos.

Like I said before, I have worked with companies that could buy DirecTV without blinking an eyelash and I've never had to deal with such utter crap before in 13 years of IT work.

I'm a current employee of DirecTV, and I've also worked for another company (not named, but it was a cell phone company) in the same call center. Let me say this first - the original company i worked for pretty much fired 300 people from our center - and DirecTV was awesome enough to take all of us in and train us. While 600 people in another center - IN TEXAS - lost their job.

I'm one of those agents that actually does my job right - and yeah, i talk to a lot of installers, activating receivers, and so on, but i also speak to a lot of customers. Tell me this - DO YOU CALL IN TO COMPANIES ON A REGULAR BASIS TO TELL THEM HOW AWESOME THEY ARE, AND WHAT GREAT SERVICE THEY HAVE?
Nope.

Only about 20% of our customers call in for technical issues. When you have millions of customers, yeah that's a lot. Yeah, so what, we charge to PROTECT your equip with the protection plan (and T-Mobile charges me 3.99 a month to insure my cell phone - and it's still a $40 deductible if i lose it!) Not to mention the hd upgrades - I don't know how many hd swaps i've done for free! Because I know how to use my systems and how to properly disposition what my customer wants done.

Even last night, I was on a call for an hour and a half with a customer, who was very, VERY irate, and said that his phone call with me was the deciding factor if he would stay with directv, if i couldn't get his issues resolved then that was IT. well, when we got off the call it sounded like he was smiling and said he'd continue to have Directv.

I know good customer service from bad, and Directv, so far, is one of the most customer-oriented companies.

I am also a former employee of DirecTV and I have to say that some of the info in this report is not totally accurate. Yes DirecTV does have a policy that if you disconnect your account with a balance due it will be taken form any credit or debit card linked to that account. The length of time after disconnection that the money is taken depends on payment history and the amount due. Directv did also inform customers of changes to their service commitment with a copy of the revised agreement inserted in their bill and a notice explaining the change. If a customer chose not to read it then who is to blame. And also why would the company give a refund of that money when it was owed to them...?

Most of the information put on this report was from a person that has no first hand knowledge of what customers were told and not told. There is nothing in this report about being told to lie to customers or swindle them out of money. All of Directv's practices are completely legal and customers are well informed of them. If you are a responsible consumer you will not have any problems with this company.

It seems to me that this was a report from a disgruntled employee that did not voluntarily resign from their job.

And another thing, DirecTV did add newer satellites in the fall of 2007 to provide more hd channels to customers and are in the process of upgrading millions of customers equipment for a fair charge of $0. No ripoff there.

I am also a former employee of DirecTV and I have to say that some of the info in this report is not totally accurate. Yes DirecTV does have a policy that if you disconnect your account with a balance due it will be taken form any credit or debit card linked to that account. The length of time after disconnection that the money is taken depends on payment history and the amount due. Directv did also inform customers of changes to their service commitment with a copy of the revised agreement inserted in their bill and a notice explaining the change. If a customer chose not to read it then who is to blame. And also why would the company give a refund of that money when it was owed to them...?

Most of the information put on this report was from a person that has no first hand knowledge of what customers were told and not told. There is nothing in this report about being told to lie to customers or swindle them out of money. All of Directv's practices are completely legal and customers are well informed of them. If you are a responsible consumer you will not have any problems with this company.

It seems to me that this was a report from a disgruntled employee that did not voluntarily resign from their job.

And another thing, DirecTV did add newer satellites in the fall of 2007 to provide more hd channels to customers and are in the process of upgrading millions of customers equipment for a fair charge of $0. No ripoff there.

Let me be up-front here. I am no average schlub who has no idea what he's talking about technologically. I've worked on multi-million dollar networks as an engineer and administrator. So my technical issues with DirecTV, yeah, I think I have at least some clue of what I am speaking.

Now, from a customer service basis: They just are horrid. In fact, I am in the middle of a debacle with them right now over a Breach of Contract on their behalf. When I called in and signed up for my account with DirecTV I was promised 2 things by the sales associate. 1- A $50 gift card for signing up for autopay on the billing side and 2- that I could exchange my SD receiver (the 3rd box) for an HD receiver when I got my 3rd HDTV without any further charges. I verified and verified and verified these stipulations before agreeing to the "sign up" process.

That was back in January. As of this date they have not sent me the gift card and I was told that I will have to pay another lease fee and $99 for the box exchange. This is a blatant Breach of Contract that was set forth before I had agreed to sign up as a customer.

The situation is such rubbish that this last week and a half alone I got three completely different responses regarding the gift card issue from three CSRs

1- Your card is still processing, you will receive it within a few days and no later than 06/24/08.

2- Your card has been sent to the processing department as of 06/29/08 and will take up to 14 business days to process.

3- You are not eligible for the gift card.

So here we have time travelling CSRs who put my card in for processing 5 days AFTER the "latest receipt" date, all the while I am ineligible. Make up your mind, DirecTV.

Now they are pissed at me because I refuse CSR phone calls. This is namely so because I want EVERYTHING documented for further use and they refuse to acquiesce to having "all phone calls recorded for legal purposes". Yeah, that doesn't sound AT ALL like they are trying to dodge the bullet. They simply MUST be working so dilligently to travel back and forth in time to process promotions that people are ineligible for.

My last communication with them via email stated that I wanted a "cessation of all services without any termination fees or charges" due to their multiple breaches of contract (there's more but I'd filll up a page with all the issues they have caused). Now they are saying they are turning my service off as of the 7th and I will be billed $480 for early termination. I told them that the only way I would accept termination of service is sans the fee. They stated that it has already been processed and now are telling me I MUST cancel and I MUST pay the fee.

Sucks to be them. I am in contact with the BBB, FCC, FTC, IC3, and the California State Attorney General's office, all of which I have been CC'ing copies of each email correspondence with DirecTV. If they cancel my services on Monday it will be held that they opted to discontinue our contract, which is well within their rights, but they cannot fine me the termination fee as I did nothing to warrant such an act. Guess what? That's yet another breach of contract. In fact, while informing them of their many failures I had no issue pointing out at least 17 case histories where DirecTV has been sued for violations in forms of Breach of Contract.

Their last CSR went as far as to tell me that I could not share any information we were dicussing with anyone else as it is illegal. Illegal? I suppose in Soviet Russia maybe. Here in the US, the moment you send it to my email or postal mail box it is mine to do with what I please. If you don't want people airing your dirty laundy, don't mail it to them. I signed no NDA.

I can't speak about what it is like to work "for" DirecTV, but as someone who has worked directly with HP, Microsoft, the New York Stock Exchanged, Cisco, and countless other technology-base companies I can say that DirecTV is by far and above the worst I have had to deal with. If you enjoy working there, fabulous for you. Meanwhile, I will make sure every last detail of my problems are known on every forum I can possibly find.

I work at a DTV site...leave it to an outsourced Convergys agent to get it absolutely wrong!

I've had it for years without one single issue. I get NFL Sunday Ticket every year- it's great (GO SAINTS!)! All my original equipment is still working, it's never gone down except in severe weather (and that's VERY rare), and I've never had a billing issue. Requested programming changes are handled quickly and efficiently. When I moved it was a seamless transition.

I would recommend this service to anyone, except maybe a bitter ex-employee of theirs who's walkin' around with a big ol' chip on their shoulder.

I always find it amusing when someone posts as an ex-employee of a so horrible company but they cant seem to even get the details right. It really makes you wonder if there was maybe more to why they are an ex-exmployee? +)

"Monst of the HD channels are sports that you only get in a high priced subscription" or something like that...

95 HD channels and growing the majority of which are NOT included in the subscriptions for sports.

"taking final payment from customers upon disconnect of the account without notification"

Customer Agreement Section 5e outlines this up front. Was sent out as a insert in the billing and in case you missed that one the agreement is available online and by phone per request.

"people are told they are paying one rate for a package and then end up paying something else or higher"

All new customers get offers depending on season and quarter. All of these reduced prices run for 12 months and are subject to redemption procedures. This is covered in the sale call, on the commercials "use pause on your DVR I know you have one", and also make readily available on the website where it shows the rediced price and the * which says includes mail in rebate *normal price $XX.XX.

No company is flawless but the one thing that does seem to be getting worse is consumers who make purchases or agreements without any research or confirmation of the details. They hear what they want to hear until they are held responcible for what they chose not to.

The information that is so aparently a "scam" or "deceptive practice" is also clearly hidden right in front of anyone who wants to know the facts. A) website B) commercial C) by phone.

DirecTV is very detailed in the documentation of its services and its terms of services. If you think differently I suggest you look at the customer agreement sometime.

I totally agree with the last entry! I am tired of people who dont know what there talking about complaining about working for directv. Personally...the best company I ever worked for. The only company I have worked for that truley cares about their customers and making things right.

Okay I have heard so much about this website and what it was about and I defenitely feel the DTV rep from the convergys site in pharr Texas is defenitely bitter about being fired. First off I work 4 a DTV owned site in ID and I work with some of the best people on this earth who take pride in there job and do anything in there power to assist the customer and make them happy DTV is very customer focoused and quit honestly I dont know of any other company who does the things we do for our customers we really go out of our way every phone call to do whats best 4 the company and the customer. 2nd it sounds like you didnt even get past the billing department which means you had no capabilities to actually provide a resolution for the customer all you probably did was anger them to the point of no return and then transfer to the people who can actually resolve the issue. so thats maybe all you know. You heard the complaints agreed with them probably gave mis information and then trasfered and left a huge mess for the next employee to deal with and chances are you didnt even notify the customer what you were going to be transfering them. Hey I feel for you if that is what it is like in the convergy sites and the non dtv owned ones but at my site which is the premiere site might I add our employees are hard working individuals who do there job and d**n well might I add. So pleae just stop getting on here dtv bashing because you are a disgruntalled employee who a convergys site let it go and move on.

You know calling employees of Directv drones....sounds like someone is just alittle bit bitter, now I never claimed that you gave out misinformation, but Im sure at some point in time some where some place you have unless you are not a human and then I think that would make you the drone. As for being brain washed! Ha you have got to be kidding me. You do realize that the angry people I talk to and you talked to is only about 2% of our 17 million customers?

Oh and as for that agreement you signed it also states you can not slander the company. Which by the way your doing. You have the right not to like Directv but you don't have the right to act like we are all evil, you don't know me and I do very well at my job and I do listen to my customers and I do care about their issues. You know with forms and things listed on this site...Give me one major provider doesn't matter the type of service from cable to phone companys..

There is always going to be an unhappy customer and there is always going to be terms and agreements. Your kidding yourself if you want to belive Directv is the root off all evil because even if we had one million unhappy customers (which we don't) we would still have 16 million happy ones. I think that speaks volumes over your little opinions.

Well, you have obviously been brainwashed by DirecTv. I heard long-time employees spouting those euphemisms all the time when I used to work there. Also your veiled sarcasm is probably something that helps to contribute to the anger and frustration of the customers. So you really think that it's the customer's perrogative to read every little line of their bill to make sure that they aren't getting screwed by the company they are with? Does that sound moral to you?

If it does, then you are really twisted. And apparently you also believe that marketing has to involve deceit, because "everyone does it". How childish. I don't care if every single company uses misdirection, manipulation, and exaggeration to promote their products, it still does not make those practices MORAL. Do you understand that? Obviously a lot of DirecTv customers agree with me, or else why would so many of them be so angry and fed up with DirecTv? DirecTv does cheat, swindle, and nickle and dime their customers, and unfortunately the employees following the proper procedures and policies are then forced to do this (which is mainly why I quit). BUT when the employee actually begins to believe and support DirecTv's decision to rip off their customers, and then internalizes the idea that the customer is always wrong and lying to them, that's when the employee becomes immoral. So you shouldn't be insulted by the truth.

I am an Ex Employee (incidentally from the same Company owned site as the previous employee poster here), and my wife is currently still an employee, and I have to say that this is one of the best companies I have worked for, and that we do everything in our power to satisfy our customers, while at the same time, not selling the business down the river so to speak.

Of course every customer that calls in to complain about those charges says "I never got that." Just like even with 3 months of prior warning on their bill before NFL Sunday ticket begins the day after kickoff of opening day of the season, they are calling to cancel saying they never received notice of the auto renewal. It is becuase they just glance at the bill and pay the amount without examining it further, or they are so used to paying a particular amount that they never notice anything until their service is interrupted.

I'm sorry that you feel like you were cheating or deceiving customers, but I (nor anyone I worked with out of the 1500 employees in my call center alone) would appreciate being labeled like that. We work extremely hard in a near thankless job, for wages that should be much higher, are forced to deal with attitudes that we hardly expect out of 2 year olds for more than 100 calls per day, and have to return to our families and try our hardest not to take it out on those closest to us.

As for the HD channels, there is an enormous amount of educational and movie channels that are offered in addition to sports, and I am quite happy viewing them, as I am not really much of a sports fan, some of which are not even offered in Standard Definition. Yes, the HD package costs extra, but if it was included in the package at no cost, then the company would be ripping off the much larger market segment that does not have HD televisions. So to me, this is actually responsible marketing.. I would rather pay extra for the service at my discretion than to know I wasn't getting everything I was paying for.

As for the commercials, advertising is that way.. go to your local community college and take a course in marketing... no company will EVER advertise the negative side of the product, and they ALL make their product seem like more than it is, I don't care what product you're talking about. that is why there are "buzz words" like "starting at."

As for your Supervisor, sorry to hear that, and as any company with thousands upon thousands of employees, there are sure to be a few that are lacking in various qualities, and eventually they will be found, and fired. But I am certain that if I printed this and sent it with my wife to show some of her supervisors, they would be appalled at the slanderous label that you have placed upon them. The Supervisors have an even tougher job than you did, as it is their responsibility to keep you doing your job at an acceptable level of professionalism and efficiency even though 8 out of every 10 calls is someone screaming or cursing at you for some (usually easily resolved) misunderstanding or error made by a HUMAN BEING sitting behind that computer (If you never made a mistake, I would love to see your 4 QA scores of 100% for every month you were employed, as my wife has only done that once in the year and a half she's been there). They also have the job of responding to more difficult customers than you can handle, as well as evaluating your performance as well as the rest of your team, and doing a mass of other managerial tasks.

So as I said, sorry your experience with DirecTV was a bad one, but it is so far from the truth I can't even believe that it is here, and I truly hope that people reading this take your opinion with a grain of salt, because if not, the job just got that much more difficult.

Also to all other readers... please use the DirecTV website, it has all of the information you need. No smokescreen, no tricks, all in black (or blue) and white. Some of it is easier to find than others, but it is all there.

I worked for Directv also. The location I worked was run by people of an average age of 22 years old, including Team Leaders ("supervisors" customers swear will solve their Directv problems). They were more worried about who did what and with who than the customers and would often avoid calls to talk to their neighbor which is why you're on hold for 20 minutes.

70% of the time I talked to installers to activate customers services. At least half of the actual customers I talked to were complaints, and half of those were irate.

One thing that wasn't mentioned was the free DVD viewer advertised by Directv that customers were supposed to receive upon installation and activation. What they didn't know is they had to go to a website and print a form to fill out and send to Directv along with a copy of their first bill.

By the time the customers learn this, they'd have waited a month or two already before inquiring of the "free gift" and had already thrown away their bill. That's not right.

Another thing is that not everyone has access to a computer and printer to print this form. It's my belief that the right thing to do was to supply the installers with the gifts so they can hand them to the customers on location OR Directv should send it to the customers after activation without the song and dance.

Why am I not employed there anymore? I was treated like I was in high school and I stayed sick having to share computers and recycled air with an outbreak of mono and lice among the kids I worked with.

Also changes were made with the tools used to help satisfy irate customers who had numerous problems with their services. Tools such as free services for a period of time or discounts. They didn't seem to want to make customers happy anymore, just make money. I had to get out.

I started out with Primestar amd Directv purchased them. So I have had an account with Directv for many years. I have had problems, but when I contact Directv they have always made it right.

That doesn't make much sense. You act as if you've never spoken to a customer who is upset. Are you actually a C.S.R.? Somehow did all of the calls from angry customers get routed to the contracted call centers, and then you got all of the calls from people who are happy with DirecTv? That's impossible. At least I did my job properly (including transferring to the proper departments) and just explaining the policies to the customer doesn't resolve the problem. That's extremely rare. If you are a representative, you probably are really pushy, and you don't listen to the customer or let them talk.

Oh and about that little agreement I signed. First of all, I'm not giving out any information that a customer can't find out for themselves. I didn't give out any information that cannot be found on DirecTv's website or in the customer service agreement. And secondly, DirecTv can come and find me if they want. I honestly don't care. I'm just giving my opinion on public information.

If you think I'm fabricating anything I wrote, then why are there so many people who are upset with DirecTv filing Ripoff Reports against them?

That doesn't make much sense. You act as if you've never spoken to a customer who is upset. Are you actually a C.S.R.? Somehow did all of the calls from angry customers get routed to the contracted call centers, and then you got all of the calls from people who are happy with DirecTv? That's impossible. At least I did my job properly (including transferring to the proper departments) and just explaining the policies to the customer doesn't resolve the problem. That's extremely rare. If you are a representative, you probably are really pushy, and you don't listen to the customer or let them talk.

Oh and about that little agreement I signed. First of all, I'm not giving out any information that a customer can't find out for themselves. I didn't give out any information that cannot be found on DirecTv's website or in the customer service agreement. And secondly, DirecTv can come and find me if they want. I honestly don't care. I'm just giving my opinion on public information.

If you think I'm fabricating anything I wrote, then why are there so many people who are upset with DirecTv filing Ripoff Reports against them?

That doesn't make much sense. You act as if you've never spoken to a customer who is upset. Are you actually a C.S.R.? Somehow did all of the calls from angry customers get routed to the contracted call centers, and then you got all of the calls from people who are happy with DirecTv? That's impossible. At least I did my job properly (including transferring to the proper departments) and just explaining the policies to the customer doesn't resolve the problem. That's extremely rare. If you are a representative, you probably are really pushy, and you don't listen to the customer or let them talk.

Oh and about that little agreement I signed. First of all, I'm not giving out any information that a customer can't find out for themselves. I didn't give out any information that cannot be found on DirecTv's website or in the customer service agreement. And secondly, DirecTv can come and find me if they want. I honestly don't care. I'm just giving my opinion on public information.

If you think I'm fabricating anything I wrote, then why are there so many people who are upset with DirecTv filing Ripoff Reports against them?

I have had Direct for years - the customer service department is great
The service is great and I have never lost a signal even in the tornado season and the frost season
Thanks Direct Tv! I enjoy the service as do my parents and sister

Im an employee for directv (company owned site) and I am extremely proud of what I do and am confident in the company I work for. I know that they did send out notice of the credit card charges because even I recieved a revised customer agreement, Directv does not rip off their customers. Any billing issue can normally be resolved by explaining rebates, free trial periods and what have you. Im assuming since it says your in Texas you worked for a contracted center in Pharr, Well let me tell you every employee who works for a company owned sites hates the contracted out sites because they seem to always tell the customer what they want to hear to get them off the phone and are always the ones who mistransfer to us. Oh and didnt you sign an agreement when you got a job with the company stating you wouldnt say anything bad about the company or give out information?