Complaint / Review
DirecTV
Unpaid $200 HD Receiver Rebate and $260 Early Disconnect Fee

When I signed up, they told me I would get a $200 rebate on an HD receiver. I just had to fill out a paper and wait 2 months. Six months later, still no rebate.

So I called and got this story that the form from the installer was the wrong one and that it was now too late to send in the new one. They told me that all they could do was offer me 2 months of free Cinemax. OK, that is the only thing you can do? Oh yes. $20 worth of programming for 200 didn't add up, so I called back. Now they could offer me a one-month bill, $89, and $20 off my bill for six months. Great, I said, that is fair. Then comes my next bill, only $10 off.

I called back several times, and that is all they will do. My contract is almost up, six months or so. They would have paid me off at the time of the end.

Nine months in, the DVR starts digitizing. I called, and they told me no problem, it is under a one-year warranty and they would send one right out, and I should just send back the old one. Two days later it arrives, an older model that does not read all five LNBs, but I don't use the two Spanish satellites, so no big deal. It just looks older, with no digitizing, and I was already fed up, with three months to go.

I called to cancel, and they first told me that I upgraded to a DVR and that this extended my contract automatically for two years. That is nonsense. I have had a DVR from the start. Oh no, sir, you upgraded. No. I called back and was told the system was only under a 90-day warranty. I automatically owe them $260 for an early disconnect, and they can't do anything for me until I reactivate my account. More nonsense.

Then a month or so later they sent me a letter wanting their DVR back. Sure. When you send me mine back. Oh, we can't do that? But we want ours. OK, pay me for mine and you can have it. Oh, you own your equipment, never mind, just pay the early disconnect fees. Nonsense and more nonsense. Nothing for six or seven months, then the calls start, and then collection from DirecTV.

This time I wrote them a letter. They replied that because I canceled, they didn't owe me for the rebate and that I still owe them.