This is a letter that I sent to the collection agency handling the early cancellation fee, a debt that DIRECTV claims we owe:
Financial Asset Management Systems, Inc.
P.O. Box 451409
Atlanta, GA 31145
Attn: Mr. Thompson
RE: DIRECTV
This is in response to our telephone conversation of last week regarding the claim from DIRECTV that we owe $291.10. As my wife stated to you, we do not believe we are responsible for this debt. We never agreed to any obligation for it, and we never signed any contract to that effect.
I have written out in detail what happened to get the DIRECTV system installed.
A company (I found out later that it was Satellites & More) called my wife and said they wanted to come to our house and upgrade our satellite system. The man my wife spoke to talked about Dish Network, DIRECTV and Tivo. He said they would come out and install new receivers (an upgrade) and Tivo, because it was better equipment and was replacing the current DVR system. He said we would have the same programming but it would end up costing us less ($55/mo). My wife set up a date (4/24) for the installer to come out. When he arrived, he was wearing a uniform that had DIRECTV on it. She questioned this, because we already had a Dish Network system that we had for several years and were perfectly happy with, and it was our understanding that this was simply an upgrade to our current system. He said that Dish Network was going out of business and that DIRECTV was converting all Dish Network accounts to DIRECTV. He then proceeded with the installation. He called DIRECTV to have the service started and then gave my wife paperwork that was blank except for an account number for DIRECTV. She asked about the Dish Network dish, and he said he had to take it with him, by law; they were not allowed to leave it. After he left, my wife went into one of the bedrooms to move the furniture and TV back into place and saw that he had drilled two additional holes in the wall to the outside, the outside wire was strung over the roof, and the splitter was hanging on the side of the house.
Within a couple of days we realized we did not have the same programming (185 channels with DIRECTV vs. 250 channels with Dish Network), it was actually going to cost us $20 more a month, and we did not have the features we enjoyed with Dish Network. My wife called DIRECTV directly within a few days of the installation and had them cancel the service. She told DIRECTV the whole story of this deception. The person she spoke with gave us the name of the company that installed the system and deceived us, and told her they would also be filing a complaint against that company (my wife filed a complaint with the BBB). She also gave us a phone number for this company, but it was disconnected. We also found out that Dish Network was not going out of business. We returned all equipment to DIRECTV and had to pay $50 for Dish Network to come back out and install a new dish, because the installer had stolen our Dish Network dish.
Now DIRECTV is demanding payment of an early cancellation fee ($291.10) and has sent it to collection, for service we never ordered in the first place. We never spoke to anyone from DIRECTV about service or programming except to cancel the whole mess. I wrote to the first collection company with copies of my complaint to the BBB. DIRECTV responded with a standard letter stating we agreed to the equipment lease and the programming, advising us of our commitment, etc. We never agreed to any type of programming or service, because we never talked to anyone from DIRECTV. Their representative used deception and fraud to install the service but did not speak to us about programming or commitment.
The only resolution I can see to this whole ordeal is for DIRECTV to cancel this claimed debt, cancel any collection efforts and file a complaint against the company Satellites & More.
In closing, Mr. Thompson, please stop all communication with us regarding this matter. Please stop phone calls and written correspondence.
Cc: Federal Communications Commission, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Consumer Affairs for California
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