We loved DirectTV. Key word: LOVED. We were with them for a year and referred them to all of our friends - we even got one to use our account number for the referral program (when we ended service, we found that even though we had $80 left of the referral “reward, ” they would not apply the remainder to our last bill - thanks). Then we moved. We really wanted to keep DirectTV and they even added Showtime and Sunday Ticket to our new service, but when we changed locations, everything changed. We had to wait 2 weeks for a technician/installer to come to our apartment. He showed up late (expected), but then seemed like he didn’t care what kind of customer service he provided. He told us simply: sorry, can’t install the dish on your balcony because your railing doesn’t support it (it’s old and wooden); he said we would have to buy a tripod and left. He left behind 60 feet of coax cable just laying in our apartment grassy area (you can see it in the picture attached to this comment.) Later, we had decided we would buy a tripod and continue service. After holding for literally hours and speaking to numerous supervisors, one told us tripods were available for purchase with DirectTV (something our installer failed to mention), but that they weren’t recommended because they tend to get out of alignment and if DirectTV would need to come out to fix it, we would have to pay every time out of pocket $60 (something else he failed to mention). The same supervisor advised us to cancel our service because our balcony was not conducive to continue and promised that, because they could not install the dish, we would not be charged an early termination fee. Reluctantly, we ended service and started new service without a dish. We felt like things were over. We were wrong. Two weeks later, we got a bill for $233.71- an early termination fee. We called, thinking it would be a simple overlook that would be easy to resolve. After sitting on the phone for hours again and going from person to person, another supervisor told us that there were no notes from the previous supervisor, but that he would send our case to accounting and billing to resolve the issue. “Don’t pay your bill and they will contact you within 7-10 business days.” We wait to hear from them… And then wake up this morning to a charge for $233.71 from DirectTV on our debit card. They told us not to pay it (we never set up direct debit either, just used our card online to pay manually-apparently, they will save this information and use it when they please). I understand that this is probably just part of their Terms of Service, but when you tell someone NOT to pay their bill and then unexpectedly charge them anyways, that’s very poor customer service. Since we weren’t expecting to pay the fee, who’s to say we even would have the money in our account? Now, we get to spend hours on the phone again to resolve yet ANOTHER issue with DirectTV. Needless to say, we will NEVER be recommending DIrectTV to anyone EVER again.
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