We had DirecTV for five years, and for most of that time we were very satisfied. As a result, we spent a few thousand dollars on their service. Unlike others who have written here, we were able to get local channels with no trouble.
The trouble started when we bought a DVR unit. My husband signed a two-year contract that said we had to keep the service for that period. During a year and a half, we ended up having to have that unit replaced five times. The first time they told us to just junk the unit and they would send another. From then on we had to return the units. Each time we called to say it was not working, they tried to get my husband to try all the connections, etc., which was no easy task since our TV/DVR were in a large, heavy entertainment center.
When the last unit they sent us lasted only three weeks, we finally got fed up. Every time a unit stopped working we lost all of our recorded programs and were without TV service until a replacement unit arrived. We called and said we wanted to cancel our service. They said they would charge us a $150.00 fee to do that, plus they would continue to charge us monthly for the length of our contract! My husband told them in certain words what they could do with that.
I sat down with all of our paperwork to see if there were any loopholes. Sure enough, I found a statement that said if the equipment was returned within 14 days of cancellation of the service, they would not charge us a fee and the service would be ended!
In the eight months since then, they have almost daily harassed us with a collection agency called Nationwide. They have even called us on Christmas Eve and Mother's Day! They wrote us a letter saying we had 30 days to write back and explain why we felt we did not owe anything. I wrote to them and said it would be the only time they would hear from me.
They never responded and continue to harass us. We only answered the phone twice, both times to tell them we did not owe anything. On top of all this, they are trying to say we owe, get this, $175.01, not $150.00. I think they might try to catch us on the wording in the statement that said "when the equipment is returned it must be in good condition." How can you send something back in good condition if it never was in good condition?
They have threatened to report us to the credit unions. If you have good credit, do not let threats like this worry you. Ours is good, and they can do whatever they want. The phone number of the collection agency harassing us is 800-374-8503. We do not answer the phone when we see it in our caller ID, or we pick up the phone and hang it up right away. Next I am going to use a whistle.
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