Directv
Freedom of Choice? - Direct TV scam

I just talked to Robert, DTV Employee ID U4572, about the letter of complaint (below) I sent to DTV, Mr. White. I was told 1. Mr. Hunter is not willing to review complaints when asked to have this reviewed by him personally. 2. A verbal commitment was made through Best Buy and that was solid. The complaints are all in the below letter.

Mr. Michael White
Office of the President Direct TV Incorporated
P.O. Box 6550
Greenwood Village CO 80155

Dear Mr. White

As of November 22 I am no longer a customer of Direct TV and this is my reason why.

I have been a customer of Direct TV for approximately 7 years. We became customers when we bought a 65 inch TV (not flat screen), HD ready, and 3 receivers from Best Buy. Best Buy is the store that convinced us that satellite TV was the way of the future. I can’t disagree with that! When my husband and I first started with Direct TV it was quite an exciting time for watching TV. As Cable is really no comparison to Satellite. 7 Years ago, though, there were no HD channels (with programs), or local stations available to us. We kept basic cable so to get our local weather stations. So as you may realize we were growing with Direct TV.

We (my husband and I) were excited when about 3 – 4 years ago Direct TV offered local stations. We could finally stop paying for the basic services of the cable company. Unfortunately the installer that put in the 2nd satellite for local stations set the satellite in the middle of the lawn of my back yard. Now you have to admit not a good advertisement for the Direct TV service. This was a thorn in my side every time I looked into my back yard. I had asked to have it moved and of course my response was they would be happy to move for a service charge. This did not make me a happy camper.

As time is going on Direct TV is making available more and more HD stations. As a matter of fact I believe it was this last year the majority of the stations had HD and non HD capabilities.

After wondering when we were going to receive the HD channels I had called one of the most frustrating awful Service/helpdesks in the world, the Direct TV help desk. I know technology has taken the world so far away from what real help is that Direct TV does not stand alone on having a helpless helpdesk. After having the usual argument with the automated voice, I finally was able to speak to a real human inquiring when our region will have HD stations. I was told that our receivers were old and needed to be updated because our region was receiving HD stations. Now this all makes sense since I was receiving with my bills information on getting a free upgrade for HD receivers. When I made another inquiry to the phone number on the free upgrade for HD receivers I was told I wasn’t eligible for the free upgrade! OK so now what do I do? I didn’t quite understand why I heard two different stories.

This is what I did, in March I went to Best Buy to purchase one HD Receiver/DVR for $199 and one HD Receiver for $99. What I didn’t realize is that this is leased property. Which then since I didn’t lease directly through Direct TV I assumed this was a prepaid lease. Also Best Buy does not inform the customer at purchase this is for 2 years. Talking with the sales person at Best Buy he led me to the type of Receivers I was looking for and he placed the two in my shopping cart and these are the ones I purchased. That evening Direct TV arrived to install the receivers and it was pointed out to me by the installer that I did not come home with from Best Buy with the receivers I requested. I was then back on the phone with Best Buy and they realized what happened with the wrong receivers set into my cart was there fault and they would send out the correct receivers in the morning. But… in order for the Direct TV installer to come back he said he would have to open up a new work order which then I would be charged for the installation. (I just didn’t think this should be so difficult.) In order to avoid this charge, the Geek Squad from Best Buy installed the receivers for me the following morning (No charge). This all is not making me very happy!

Since the installation of the new receivers, I have had poor picture quality. I called Direct TV for some assistance on this quality issue and after the over the phone tests I finally did get a Direct TV employee to come and check out the equipment. The answer I got from this DTV service tech was the problem was with BOTH my TV’s not direct TV. Sounds a little strange, I realize. So, then I called out a TV repair man. And truthfully there is nothing wrong with my TV’s. I always did question why the Direct TV service Tech did not check the Satellite dish. After 7 years of being weathered, could it be some of the wires or becoming a little corroded? I don’t know, all I know is nobody wants to help me with my poor reception issue.

It finally happened on October 11, I found the STRAW that broke the camels back. After several years of grief and dissatisfaction, the camels back broke when we ordered a pay per view movie. An error appeared on the screen and this was not the first time this has happened, but I don’t remember the timing on the first, but for the 2nd’ time when I ordered a pay per view movie (ordered from my computer) we got an error message on about 1/3 of our TV screen, the error message was 777. I called DTV and once again argued with the automated voice. Every time I said error message 777 the voice said “did you say 771? ”. And I finally got to an arrogant human male voice. This male voice was badge #100349341. I admit I was more than upset and I can get a little carried away.By now the PPV was playing on and neither my husband nor I could watch. Badge # 100349341 made a comment that this error message meant I needed to be connected to a telephone outlet as if that was the entire issue and he would not correct the issue for me. My comment was I thought I have 3 ways of ordering,

1. Through the remote control
2. Through making a phone call
3. Direct through my account on my computer.
I made this purchase on-line, now why would I need to have my receiver connected to a phone line? He was very arrogant but did manage to removed this message.By now 20 – 30 minutes of the movie has passed and I had asked for credit for this movie since I did not see the whole movie. He replied with this is why it is a 24 hour ticket. Now if I could have watched it another time I would have ordered it at another time. He refused to give me credit. I asked to speak to his supervisor and after being a hold for a few moments some one came on the phone claiming to be his supervisor. His supervisor was in 100% agreement that I would not get a refund for this movie. I have a difficult time believing that was his supervisor since if you look at the notes from this day on my account nothing was signed off by a supervisor. I feel as though this whole situation was very unprofessional on the Direct TV side. As I was the customer!

And this is the reason why I cancelled my subscription to Direct TV.

Sunday November 22 Dish TV installed service at our residence.

In the past 7 years I believe I have been a good customer with a good credit rating.

1. I don’t believe I have ever been late with a payment. (If so, it was a very rare occasion of a missed place bill).

2. I have only been offered one promotional service of an additional pay channel (Max) for 3 months.
3. I honored my only known original 2 year contract
In addition
1. I did not get a free upgrade to HD

2. I purchased the “lease” from Best Buy for the entire amount when not offered from Direct TV to upgrade.
3. I was not able to get anyone to correct my reception problem
4. There is no indication on the receiver or receiver box that the purchase of the receiver will subject me to a 2 year contract with this new receiver
5. No Direct TV assistance
6. No Best Buy assistance

Now, not only am I asked to return the receivers, which I purchased the entire lease and not receiving a refund (so be it) which meant I spent $300 to use/lease Direct TV receivers for 8 months which equates to $37.50 per month plus the added monthly lease fee. I am also told I broke a contract and my credit card will be billed $281.96 six days after the disconnect, to which I was not advised of by DTV or Best Buy, to which I had no help from Direct TV, to which after I met the agreement of my sign up contract of two years I would have never expected there would be any further 2 year contracts.

Mr. White, I would like to believe that should something ever happen to my service with Dish that I could come back as a customer to Direct TV. But as departing from Direct TV as it currently stands I believe I would give up quality of picture and return to cable than ever go back to Direct TV.

Mr. White I plead with you as the new president of the Direct TV Corporation you would see my letter from the consumer point of view and that all these charges are truly not what you want Direct TV to represent. Direct TV should be a corporation that the average “Joe” can “trust in” rather than be blind sighted. I believe Direct TV is a great company, with a few places where improvements are certainly “In Demand”.

Thank you for your time

Company: Directv
Country: USA

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