I live in a small town in the Berkshires in MA (about 2 hours from Albany and 2.5 hours from Boston). We do not get cable so the only service I have to choose from is satellite. I had signed up with DirecTv in 1997, and the only provider for that available in my area is Pegasus.
I had been a loyal customer for years, my service was around $75 for basic sat tv, plus "local networks" and HBO. That's not including the several PPV purchases I made each month. First of all, I had to go through this lengthy approva process to recieve the "local networks" that they offered.
It took about 3 months before I was approved to get them, even though I had no other access to recieve these channels. Then I was told that my Local networks were out of Albany, NY. And that I was not eligible to recieve the Boston networks or even the Springfield, MA networks which would be considered my local channels. Oh well, I guess I had to deal with that. Well, I may not be the perfect customer, sending my bills in ahead of time, but they were always paid every month. Even if they were a week or two late, they were paid.
I sometimes had bills running around $100 a month, just so I didn't have to drive 40 miles to the nearest rental location for movies. It was just about once a week I'd lose my signal and be without my expensive TV for a day. They trashed one of my Access cards while uploading program info into and then tried to charge me to replace it. Every time I had to call their customer service center, I could never get anyone who spoke English and twice their service reps hung up on me.
My bills were due on the 21st of everymonth. I mailed out a check on the 28th and called to let them know. I was informed that if they didn't have the check by the 4th of the following month, then I'd be shutoff. They recieved the check on the 2nd and it cleared my bank on the 3rd. On the 4th they shut my satellite off. I called furious, because of over 4 years of loyal service with this company and always paying my bill (never more than 2 weeks late) I shouldn't have my service disconnected. AND they had already cashed the check so I owed them no money.
They said that I had PPV's from earlier in the year that had never registered and that I owed them another 50 some-odd dollars that they said was over 6 months late. When I asked them to tell me what the movies were and what the dates were so I could check it against my old bills, they told me that they couldn't do that. I told them unless I have that info, then how do I know that those are actually PPV's from my account?
They replied with "That's not our problem now, it's yours." So I told them they could take their freakin' dish and shove it where the sun don't shine. I signed up with DishNetwork and have been happy with them ever since. And they give me my Boston channels.
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