Finally! I was getting out on my own and renting my first apartment in downtown Houston when it came to the decision on which cable provider to use. My family has always used Comcast, but with DirectTV's competitive rates at that time and the option of DVR-ing Grey's Anatomy, I decided I couldn't go wrong, so I would give them a try. Something new never hurt, right? Well, boy, was I wrong.
My service was hooked up beginning in August. I had zero problems with my service until January, when I received my bill for the December billing cycle. I noticed on it a $17.00 charge for a pay-per-view movie on December 24. Now, we all would agree that it sounds nice to snuggle up with our honey and watch a movie on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to arrive; however, I found this charge a bit alarming for a couple of reasons.
The first was that I was out of town celebrating Christmas Eve with my family, so who was at my apartment watching a movie? The other was that I did not know how to order pay-per-view, let alone did I even own a land-based phone line. I immediately called customer service, thinking it was all just a mistake and the charge would be removed from my bill. Wrong!
Speaking to the customer representative, I was informed that indeed an order was placed, and get this, for an ADULT movie channel. Now, I am a young 27 year old professional who could not care less about watching an adult channel, let alone one on Christmas Eve. I told the rep that (1) I was not in town and (2), which I thought was the time bomb, that I did not have a land-based phone line. I was told that neither was a remedy to the problem.
For one, since I drove to my family's house and had no receipts to validate my travel, there was no way to prove that I was not in my home ordering adult movies. Secondly, as far as DirectTV is concerned, you can order pay-per-view movies on some type of access card simply by pointing the remote in the direction of the television, and poof! You have a pay-per-view movie at your fingertips. Phone line not needed, not even a wireless call!
When pressed further, the customer service representative admitted that this movie was ordered via some type of phone call to their automated system using my address and converter code and not through the television or the remote. However, they could not even provide me with the name of the caller or the time the order was placed. In fact, I was told that the information was not kept in their records. I was stunned.
Didn't the person ordering the "movie" need to know certain security questions about me or my account in order to access my account? NO! Please be aware that most of the calls are automated, and all that is needed is the address and receiver identification number. Through exhaustion, I figured I would remedy the situation by just paying the bill.
Now mind you, I lived in downtown Houston in a duplex-type apartment building, and no telling what splicing could be going on, so I requested that they put password protection on my pay-per-view ordering account. I had a feeling something was fishy about this, but instead of fighting with them, I went ahead and paid the $17.00 fee for this movie, which was such a minute amount. Truthfully, I didn't mind at that point, just to get them off my back and put the password protection on the account. This prevented all of the orders from going past my detection. Since that time, no subsequent orders were placed.
My service ended in March. I happily paid the relinquishing fees due to "cancelling my account prior to the 24 month lease was up," moved in with my fiance, who is a Comcast customer, turned in my receiver box, and figured I was done with DirectTV. Or so I thought!
On July 8 and repeatedly over the past week or so, I had been receiving random late night phone calls from a 1-866 number. I don't owe creditors money, and no one from the number ever left a message. I disregarded the calls. Finally, I answered the phone when they called me during normal business hours (I answer my phone for them as they answer their calls for me, Monday through Friday, 8 A.M. to 5 P.M.).
To my detriment, a not so nice customer representative proceeded to tell me that I owed DirectTV for 4 pay-per-view movies which I had not previously paid for during my tenure with them over the past year. I explained to her that I was billed for every movie that was ordered from my household and even one I had not purchased (the one in December). She "didn't want to argue with me," as I was told quite sternly, and that I "owed this amount, it was now past due and it must be paid, how did I want to pay it?" WHOA! Slow down. I wanted an explanation.
I immediately logged onto my DirectTV online account with the customer service rep on the line with me, which stated that I did have a balance of $59.47 due July 24, set to be automatically deducted from my debit card on the account. I stated this to her, at which time I asked her why I was being bombarded with harassing phone calls if the due date on the payment was in the future (I had a zero balance for the June billing cycle). She was awfully quiet after that, told me to make the payment timely, and hung up. BUT something else was fishy. I have never cancelled my enrollment with their online notification or billing cycles. Somehow, my online statements were inaccessible.
I called customer service back quickly to get a copy of those statements to prove that I paid for all of the movies we viewed while we owned the box, and boy, was I in for a surprise. I named off all of the movies we rented, "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry," etc. I was told that "yes, you paid for those movies, but these charges are for 4 Adult channels purchased through the tv and receiver that were not ordered over the phone, and not billed to you while you had the receiver in your possession.
These were charges stored on the access card, and when the receiver was returned back to us, the access card was read and these charges showed up." I immediately requested dates and channels of the "4" orders placed for the pay-per-view movies for which I was being charged. To my surprise, the charges were from August through October (prior to my placing password protection on the account) and again for ordering the SAME "Adult" movie channel 4 times! And yet again, another red flag flew up!
But now that I had specific dates, I was on the defensive and off to do my research. I was stunned that these never showed up on my billing statements, but I was told that these were ordered through the remote and tv and that this information was stored on an access card. Again, I informed them that I did NOT own a land-based phone line.
Armed with that information, I was told that once again, a land-based phone line is not needed, and pay-per-view could be ordered by aiming the remote at the tv, although the only thing plugged into the wall is the TV and the cable line. This literally is still news to me. No calls, nothing. Just point and poof! I'm going to have to try this one day just to see if it really works like they say it does.
Unplug all the phone lines, people, point the remote at the TV converter box, click, and PLEASE tell me you do not get a screen that says "Please call a 1-800 number to order." Believe me, we tried to order the UFC Fight in 2008 just to try it, since I was told in December that it worked without a phone line hooked into the receiver, and I got the same message to call to place the order.
So there it was, my explanation. I calmly let the customer service representative go, only because he was working with me and patient with me while I searched through emails proving that I did not order these movies.
I immediately started researching. It took me a while, but finally, armed with all of my evidence, I called customer service later that night from home. I explained my problem to the representative and that I wanted to dispute the charges. She asked me how I was going to dispute the charges, to which I replied that I have proof via hotel receipts, car rental receipts, car repair receipts and various emails proving that I was not in the city of Houston at the time of those rentals.
Trying not to sound sarcastic, I led her back to the December charges and asked her, "Now do you see a pattern here?" She quickly put me on hold. As I waited, I continued to search my credit card bills, phone records, etc., anything I could find to prove I was not in my house that day, let alone the city, and could not have purchased an "adult" movie channel on that day. I was bound to find the proof and turn the evidence over to DirectTV.
Just as quickly as I was finding more and more evidence, the customer service representative returned to the phone and notified me that all of the charges were dropped and I did not have an outstanding balance with DirectTV. She suggested that someone may have been splicing into my receiver or satellite and ordering the movies to their tv set using my address and converter information.
This is something I originally asked about back in December, and the lady thought I was a schizophrenic, reassuring me that it could not happen, and that if it did, I would have noticed wires growing out of my cable connection that were easily detectable. (I did search around my building to see if I could see anything, but I couldn't. How do I know what to look for? It's all wires to me!) In the end, the rep reassured me that I owed a zero balance, all charges were taken off my account, and asked if I had any more questions for her. I chose to save them for a later date, if need be.
So, my advice: save everything! I work in the legal industry, and I have learned over the years that my mom raised a packrat for a good cause. Had I not saved old hotel receipts on my email account, airline receipts, car rental receipts, etc., I might not have had the ammunition available to fight the fraudulent charges. Also, ask them to password protect your pay-per-view movie ordering option.
This forces anyone "calling in" to order a pay-per-view to use a case-sensitive password in order to place the order. Ever since I had the password protection, no charges were added to my account and I have not had a problem with them attempting to charge me for "Adult" movie channels ordered.
Also, I did not have any problems with returning my receiver, but I would advise you that when you return your receiver(s), photocopy your FedEx tracking receipt that they enclose with your pre-paid box. If this is not enclosed, either FedEx it back to them or send it by certified mail. Do something in which you can track the package's progress through the mail system. These days you can't take any chances with them, and it's worth the extra $10 to ensure receipt of the package at their facility.
Good luck, and I'm proud to say that I no longer am or will ever be a customer of DirectTV. Nor will I recommend their service to anyone I know, friend or foe. They have taken a minuscule amount of my money from me, but hopefully I can save you from paying them any more money than you need to. I highly doubt they were expecting me to fight such a small charge, but person by person these charges can add up, and before you know it, that company is fraudulently claiming money for orders that may have never been placed.
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