DirectTV
Quoted $59.99 Monthly but Billed $89.99, Then Sent to Collections

DirecTV played a dirty trick on me.

A mailer about DIRECTV service prompted me to phone and ask what specific packages would cost. I left a message, and someone called me back later to go over the packages and prices. Since none of their packages matched what I was after, I explained to the representative precisely what I needed.

The monthly price quoted to me was $59.99. More than once I asked whether any extra fees existed, because I wanted no unpleasant surprises. Each time, the answer was that taxes were the only thing that would be added.

Then the installer arrived, and, remarkably, one more line had to be put in for $75.00. I accepted this, since I was the one who chose to connect 5 TVs, and DIRECTV could not have known how many lines my home already had. Still, nobody at DIRECTV had mentioned that an extra line might cost money.

Now comes the best part: my first bill.

It came to $89.99, so I called customer service right away to say I had been overcharged. The woman I spoke with promised that the difference would be credited and that my payment should be $59.99 per month. About seven days later I paid the bill online, only to find no credit anywhere and the amount still at $89.99.

A second call put me through to a different representative, who said nothing could be changed and that paying only $59.99 a month was out of the question.

So I cancelled my service. And what do you know, they handed me over to collections, saying I had violated a "two year agreement" and was refusing to cover an early termination charge of $280.00!

And what of their own side of the deal?

My first dispute letter was denied. In their answer, they declared the charges accurate and explained that the $59.99 price did not include separate programming on each of my 5 televisions. For that, I had been billed $4.99 plus tax per additional television, which raised the monthly total to $81.15 - a detail the phone representative forgot to share. They also wrote that I had closed the account before completing a two year service commitment.

In my second dispute I wrote that I had never agreed to any commitment. This time the reply was that such an agreement is verbal and needs no signature, and that I had been told about the commitment and the equipment lease fees when I placed the order and again upon activating the equipment.

A verbal agreement, really! Have they lost their minds?

To everyone reading this: be careful about "verbally" signing up with DIRECTV. I strongly recommend getting every cost confirmed by email before any equipment gets installed. Or do as I did and switch to Cable One or a reputable local provider.

Company: DirectTV
Country: USA
State: Arizona
City: Phoenix
Address: PO Box 78626

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