I purchased Direct TV in March because we moved. My husband and I are HUGE NFL fans and we wanted the Sunday Ticket. Unfortunately, DirecTV is the only company that is contracted to offer it. For 2 1/2 years we have had nothing but trouble. They came to our house over 10 times because the service did not work. They rewired our house twice and replaced the converter boxes in our house 4 times and never fixed the service. On 11/08/08 DTV wanted to send us out new boxes, and they assured us this would fix the problem. Since we had been patient with them, we agreed to allow the exchange. DirecTV apologized for the situation and stated that they were going to send a Supervisor Tech to our house to investigate the problem. Two gentlemen arrived at my house to inspect the wiring, the boxes, and the satellite. Again, the supervisor said it was a faulty receiver and he exchanged it. He had me sign a contract for the replacement receivers. He "x-d" out the contract extension part of the contract and ensured us that our contract would remain the same (The contract was up 18 months from when we first purchased the service) A week later, our programming was cutting in and out again. Fed up, we called DirecTV and received an extremely rude person who kept us on hold in silence for over 30 minutes until we received a supervisor. She told us that because they have sent some many receivers to our house, they would require that the receivers be reformatted. We had over 40 to 50 hours of programming recorded on our DVR and they were shows that we did not want to miss. She said we would lose all of that programming. This was unacceptable to us. So, we asked for the cancellation department. We were even further enraged because we were told that when the guys exchanged our boxes on 11/08/09, they extended our contract for another 18 months. I explained to the supervisor that the guy crossed-out the terms on the contract before I signed and the guy in the Cancellations department stated that didn't matter. I signed a contract and that was it. After an hour of debating, he agreed to note they would waive the cancellation penalty since we only had 2 more months before our contract was up. So, my husband cancelled the service on 1/19/09 and went with another company. On 1/29/09, we noticed that DIRECTV charged our bank account 425.00 dollars. I called them at 9:30 on 29JAN09 and spoke with Karen#100185294 and she said she saw it was noted that dates were not correct, but she stated the agent that advised us this did not have any authority. (Supposedly, he was a supervisor). She said that they go by the contract we signed not what agents verbally say. I asked her why her company doesn't abide by what they tell customers and she stated again that they only go by the contract we signed. I asked to speak with a supervisor. A lady came on the phone and she gave me a badge#412524 and said this would be all I need. She said she had no control over charges because we signed a contract. I told her we wouldn't have exchanged the receivers if I was told by the techs that came to my house that our contract would be extended, and then she hung up on me. My husband tried to call after that and was left on hold for 30 minutes and finally hung up on by another agent. My husband called them on 1/29/09 at 1000 CST and finally around 1230CST they agreed to credit the money back to our account, but they are sending us a check. They said it will take 6 to 8 weeks for the refund.in the meantime, I had rent due and other bills that are electronically withdrawn and they are not going to be covered. So, I called DTV back and spoke with a guy named Adriel. I explained to him that I am a fulltime-working mom and full-time student and that this was going to put us in a pinch. I guess he had a heart because he transferred me to another supervisor who agreed to issue a return of funds to my debit card. He said it would take 72 business hours. On 02/04/09, the funds were still not in my account. I called them back around 4:30 CST and received another agent who said he could help me. He checked his system and said that he saw where we were being issued a check in 6 to 8 weeks. I explained that I called another agent on 1/29/09 and he said they were going to reverse the charges. He put me back on hold and came back and stated that he saw the notes and we would receive the funds in 8 business days. The customer service agents at these call centers (Which are located all over the world: India, the Philippines, the US, ect.) have no idea what their standard policies are. They just tell customers whatever they want to hear and they have no clue how to resolve customer service issues. THEY DON'T CARE! I am advising anyone who is going to use this company - NOT TO! It is an extreme headache and not worth your time.
Emily
Tulsa, Oklahoma
U.S.A.
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