Being disabled, living on a fixed income, and being a home owner can sometimes lead to some real money crunches. It was during one of these crunches, that it became necessary for me to forgo the paying of my Direct TV account for that month, and to borrow money from my Aunt.
On August 21st while in the hospital, my monthly Long Term Disability check was directly deposited into my checking account. Wanting to make sure that my mortgage payment etc. Was paid on time, I made sure that all the bills were mailed out. Realizing that I also needed to make a payment to my aunt for the loan, I wanted to figure out how much money I was going to have to use for my groceries. That was when I found out that the money in my checking account was gone, after doing some research, I found out that Direct TV had taken $480.00 out of my checking.
I called Direct TV to find out why, and was told that when I didn't make my payment, they took it as my discontinuing service, and since I had signed a contract saying that I would stay with them for 12 months, I had broken the contract, and they had the right to charge me the contract breaking fee. Trying to explain to them that I wasn't canceling service, only strapped for money, it was soon apparent that they were deaf to any explanations. Then asking why if what they said was true, why did they take $480.00 out of my account instead of $240.00 as the contract indicated. They denied taking more then $240.00.
The police suggested that I contact the bank and that the bank would replace the money until the matter was resolved. This was done, and the bank did replace the $480.00, but unfortunately so many bounced checks had already eaten up what little was there, that most of the money was used to bring the account out of a negative balance. Then for some reason the bank determined that Direct TV had the right to take the money, and they took the $480.00 away, although they could not say why they thought it was ok to double dip also. This was also done with out informing me before hand, so once again I paid bills with a negative balance in the account. Finally Direct TV seemed to realize that they had double dipped, and return $240.00.
Last month, a call came saying that I now owed Direct TV $200 for their equipment. I told them that they were more then welcome to come and get the equipment. Then was told that I would have to bring it to them. I explained that I am on oxygen 24 hours a day, and spend most of my time in a wheelchair, and was unable to get on the roof and get the equipment for them. Then I was threatened with being taken to court.
I have proof on bank statement of the taking of the $480.00
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