I hooked up with Direct TV on May 16, getting the two receiver deal that was available at the time. The activation contract stated that I needed to have service for one year or I would be charged a disconnect fee, or I could ship Direct TV back their equipment. On November 6 I upgraded and added TIVO service at a cost to me of $100.00 for the equipment and a $15.00 service fee. Even though I paid full price for the new equipment and no added wires or hardware were needed for the hookup, I again needed to keep the new TIVO activated for a year or be charged (they missed two previous appointments before reluctantly showing up for this one). Once again it also said that I could contact Direct TV and ship the receiver back to them instead of making this payment.
In late May I was told by the company I work for that I was going to be temporarily relocated out of state, for a period of around a year or longer. I decided to rent out my house and disconnect all extra services. When I contacted Direct TV and told them of my situation, they told me that I would be charged for the remaining time on my TIVO equipment (their dish mover program would not work in my case). I then reminded them about the clause in the contract for sending back the equipment. After checking with his supervisor, the customer service rep told me that I did qualify for this and transferred me to the office that handled this procedure.
The woman I talked to there told me that she would ship me empty boxes with pre-paid shipping labels for the equipment and that I needed to package all three of my receivers, the smart cards and the remotes. She said I needed to take care of this ASAP and that she would call me back after I received the empty boxes to offer any assistance I might need. She said she did not want or need the dish itself and added that she hoped I would hook up with them again when I returned. Doing this would waive any cancellation charges. Sending them the TIVO made sense, but the two original receivers seemed excessive since I had satisfied the one year contract on them. Nevertheless, I agreed to fulfill all their requirements.
On Friday, June 18, the empty boxes arrived via FedEx. They were well put together, with enough bubble wrap for all the receivers and remotes, tape for the boxes, pre-paid shipping labels and an instruction sheet. I packaged all receivers, remotes and smart cards, properly attached the shipping labels and called FedEx. They arrived the following Monday morning, June 21, and took the packages. I tracked the shipments through FedEx and saw that the packages arrived at Direct TV's shipping and receiving department in Memphis, TN on Wednesday morning, June 23, and were signed for by an R. McKnight. Everything seemed to have worked very well, with this being the very definition of timely on my part.
However, one week later, on June 30, I got a message on my answering machine from a Maggie who worked for Direct TV Customer Care, saying they had not received the packages yet even though their records showed I had received the empty boxes. She left the number 1-866-587-3850 and asked me to call if I had encountered any problems. She also said she would call me back in a couple of days and check on this again. I called back immediately and got their voicemail. I left a detailed message telling them who I was, all my vital details and the details of the shipment, and asked them to return my call. I called back several times (including today) and each time I only got this voicemail. I thought and hoped they had corrected the situation, but then I checked my credit card balance online and noticed a new $50.00 charge from Direct TV dated July 19, almost two months after I disconnected service.
When I called to complain, I was told that this was a cancellation charge. I told the rep of my situation, and she took down all my information and promised that it would be sent to the appropriate department for resolution. She said this would take less than a week. She, nor anyone else, can tell me why I got charged when I fully complied with their procedures and returned all the equipment to them. It has now been two weeks and still no answer from Direct TV.
This whole thing seems rather cheesy. First, why would I need to do a year commitment on equipment that I fully paid for? Second, why offer the return of equipment in writing if it's not really an option? Why have me send them back their equipment and then charge me the $50.00 cancellation fee, and then hope that when I returned to my house I would hook up with them again? Why do this to a good customer who always paid his bills on time and had their top of the line Premier Package the whole time? My final concern is what will keep Direct TV from adding more charges to my credit card account in the future?
I will be disputing the charge on my credit card, but no matter what the outcome there, I will never use their service again and will use whatever forum I can to publicize what a dishonest company they really are.
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