Direct TV advertises its move service as free, but when customers try to take advantage of the "free" offer, they are told the move actually costs $50. These fees are based on unwritten and undisclosed determinations made by Direct TV.
I cancelled my Direct TV service in December because of the $50 charge for a move of service. On January 11 my checking account was directly debited $269.36. This was for the early termination charge of $200 and the last bill for service. I called Direct TV customer service to complain about the direct debit because I did not approve it.
All I asked of Direct TV was to let me pay the $200 termination charge at a later date rather than immediately. The only thing the agent and a supervisor would say to help me was to refer me to the service agreement. It appears that if a customer agrees to pay their bill online with Direct TV, the customer also acknowledges that Direct TV has the authority to debit the customer's account without consent. On January 27 my checking account was debited again without my authorization, this time for $274.77.
Both debits caused me financial hardship, but my complaint lies more with the second debit than the first. When I initiated the cancellation, I was in the process of moving to another address. I was asked to return the Direct TV receivers, so I left my forwarding address. The Direct TV return kit was mailed to my old address after I had already moved out.
Since I never received the return kit because of Direct TV's error, my account was debited. As this was no fault of my own, I expected Direct TV to make the situation right and compensate me for the stress of dealing with customer service agents who hung up on me twice, of calling my bank to have them conference call Direct TV, and of not receiving adequate assistance.
Direct TV would not refund the money debited from my account until I returned the receivers with the return kit they mistakenly sent to the wrong address. I then had to call Direct TV to give them the correct address, which they already had on file, and ask them to send out the return kit again.
Five days later I still have not received the return kit, but the customer service agents assured me it is en route. Meanwhile, they still are not willing to refund the money they debited from my account because of their error.
0 comments