Ok, where to begin... I have been a DIRECTV customer for about four or five years. Up until recently everything was fine. When we moved from one state to another we even kept their service. However, about six months ago we began to encounter nothing but problems. And today was the final straw when I came to realize just how shady they are with their WITHHOLDING OF INFORMATION.
We had ordered and been paying for their high definition (HD) package for over a year. This only included a handful of channels with their promise of more to come. We kept waiting for them and evenutally in late 2007 the channels arrived. As it turned out though, to receive those channels you needed to have an HD receiver for your television and we had the older analog receiver. We called and they said it was a simple fix: they would send us the new, needed receiver and we would just pay the shipping (about $20). So that's what we did. I won't get into all of the problems and four visits to our house it took for them and their contracted technicians to finally get it installed and installed properly (that's a whole other story!). But finally we got it and the HD channels we'd been paying for.
Then a few weeks ago we turned on our TV only to find that five of the HD channels were gone. We called DIRECTV and they told us that they will now be charging extra for those channels and if we wanted them back we'd have to pay for them. We found this a little ridiculous — they wanted to take away HD channels from the HD package that we were already paying more for each month. And we'd been paying to have those from the very start. They tried to offer us those channels free for three months, but of course we'd have to call them back at that time to cancel them or we'd get charged. To us, this was a final straw in the frustration we'd been having with them previously. And it wasn't worth it to us to deal with DIRECTV anymore. We told them that we'd be shutting off our service at the end of the year (we had the NFL Sunday Ticket and had to wait a few more weeks for it to be over). We sent an email to their customer service requesting our service be shut off Jan. 2.
So we signed with another satellite dish company and had their equipment installed at our house on Jan. 2. We called DIRECTV to confirm that our service be considered terminated as of that date. Trying to make a long story short, this is where they tell us that when we got that HD receiver about four months ago that we were committing to another 24 month committment with them. Funny thing is THEY NEVER MENTIONED THAT AT THE TIME! Or any of the eight time or so we were in contact with them when trying to get the new receiver. Or when the technician came to install it. They then told us that we'd have to pay the $12.50 a month for the remainder of the committment (another 20 months!), totalling about $250. When we continued to tell them we were never informed of this committment, they first tried to argue then said it didn't matter... That they don't have to inform you. Um, what? They don't have to inform me? They actually said that because we were long-standing DIRECTV customers that we "should have known." I find that comment ridiculous and insulting. She continued on to say how it was all in the fine print... And that we should read what we're signing. After the second person we spoke to, she maintained there was no other person above her that we could speak to.
And that bring me to writing this complaint. Granted, we should all read the fine print of what we sign. And maybe legally they don't have to tell you anything beforehand (though I just don't see how!). But I'd spoken to them over the phone numerous time before we got the receiver and it was never mentioned. And it was never mentioned at the very beginning when we were told we needed the newer receiver (when it should've been mentioned). It was never pointed out by the technician when I signed the paperwork. So they're really just trapping you. I'm a busy mom and when the DIRECTV technician was here, I wasn't any less busy. So do I have the time, or better yet, do I find reason that I need to read ALL of the fine print while the tech is holding the papers in front of me to sign as he's walking out the door? I mean, this is AFTER all of the work has been done and the equipment installed.
I have great problem with a multi-billion dollar company who allows it to be their practice to be shady about their business transactions with customers, maintaining in their defense that they don't have to tell you any of the important details. And then they are not even willing to compromise when they are sticking their "loyal" customers with a big bill. It's shady. It's misrepresentation. It's misleading. It's untruthful. I will tell every person to stay away from DIRECTV.
Shaunna
beavercreek, Ohio
U.S.A.
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