Directv
Unauthorized $159 Bank Debit Caused Overdraft Fees After Payment

I, too, have fallen victim to the lies, rudeness and unwillingness to help of the customer rep department of this poorly run company, DIRECTV. I have never in my life dealt with such unwilling-to-help people. I have reviewed the other reports that customers have written and the rebuttals by those who are employed by this so-called company. How can they condone the rude actions of their coworkers! In my part of the USA our motto in business is that the customer is always right. You'll find a way to recover, but you'll always have customers because they are satisfied.

I am a business owner and have encountered folks who didn't like a certain charge, and I adjusted to make them happy but learned I could recoup in other ways, and they are still my customers, happy as ever.

Last month when my DIRECTV bill was due, I paid as I always have, online with a debit card. I had a huge bill because they put my NFL Sunday Ticket all on one bill instead of the usual spreading out over months starting in July. My bill was $407. I paid the minimum allowed payment with an authorization code given to me by the customer rep and my banking institution.

I do my banking online, so come Monday morning (I made the payment on Saturday) I checked my bank account, which I do daily, and my payment of $212 was taken out with an authorization number as usual. But then that very morning there was a transaction, using my routing numbers off the bottom of my checks, taken out for $159 to DIRECTV with no authorization code.

I immediately called my bank because it wouldn't hard-post until the next morning. They confirmed the way and the name it was transacted with but couldn't trace the route the money went yet.

So I called the account department of DIRECTV. They didn't have any transactions in my account for that amount, just a $212 payment. They asked me to send a copy of my bank statement to the finance department via fax. I did that within 2 minutes. No response that day. The next day it hard-posted, the money went to DIRECTV and my account overdrafted, and now I'm incurring $29 a day because of someone's mistake.

I called again and got a rep who sounds like an automated machine. She didn't answer my questions, just had a one-track line over and over until I lost my patience with her and asked for a transfer to the finance department, where my statement was faxed and they are supposed to be handling it. "Sorry ma'am, they don't have a direct line, we have to make requests to them."

Well, someone better get requesting, because it has now been two weeks and my bank has refunded me the money and is investigating and keeping me informed of their progress, unlike the "good folks at DIRECTV" who really don't care about anyone.

Where do they find these employees, or should I say, is brainwashing part of their employee training? No human should be as uncaring as these people are. Sorry to those select few who are good employees, but they obviously don't put you in the customer service department.

And for all you who are employed there and rebut these complaints, can't you see a trend here? I'm almost at the point of believing these identity thefts are being done right out of the finance department of DIRECTV! How easy it would be! They have access to all these bank numbers and are capable of hiding payments where they want them.

This company needs to be thoroughly investigated before they go under, because I can't see them keeping too many customers when they treat them like this. And there are a select few of us who need questions answered and closure before they close up shop!

The moral of this story is: yes, I still owed DIRECTV a balance of $195. But I still do, even after the $159 was taken and never credited to my account. Had it been credited, there would not be this complaint! I owed it. It would have been wrong without being authorized, but I owed it.

Company: Directv
Country: USA
State: California
City: Glendale
Address: P.O. Box 29079
Phone: 8005315000

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