When we moved into our newly built house, we were told by Comcast that service was unavailable in our area, so we ended up going with Direct TV. I set up the account, gave them a $300 equipment deposit, and it was downhill from there. The dealer who set up my account couldn't understand why they wanted a deposit, being that my FICO is 794 but also said that they are wanting deposits from almost everyone now.
I won't go into details about the fact that their installer from Ironwood Communications was a rude moron and totally botched the installation job and within a day, I had no service. I won't go into the fact that I had to hire an outside contractor to reinstall the dish and get me back up and running because I couldn't get a service appointment for ten days. My contractor was shocked, as the dish was too low, not secured to the point of wobbling in the wind, and worst of all, no grounding whatsoever. Just what I needed. All of the wiring fried in my new house during a thunderstorm! What I will go into is the adventure and absolute hair-pulling frustration I have had since I was able to get Comcast back (another story there. The pole was literally 15 feet from the front door of my house and they didn't know this being a new construction) and I decided to ditch Direct TV.
I DID know that there was a charge of up to $300 to cancel early. Not a problem... It was worth it to be rid of them and their deplorable customer service. When I cancelled, I was sent a Fed Ex box to return the equipment to them so "your deposit can be applied to your early termination fee and final bill." Sent the equipment back, get a bill for $3.14, pay it immediately, end of story... So I thought.
I went online to check to see that my account was closed and instead, I see a balance of $262. I emailed their customer service requesting a paper bill (being that they blocked access to my online statement). I insisted on an itemized bill, what I got a month later was a statement with nothing but the balance. To this date, they refuse to give me an itemized bill. Okay, now I am getting slightly annoyed. I get more annoyed after several emails back and forth that are borderline illiterate and have nothing to do with my concerns. I finally get one from one semi-literate person who tells me that I never made a deposit and since I had three HD receivers, that is why I owed $262. Uh, no... I had TWO HD receivers, both returned and I have confirmation of this via Fed Ex tracking.
After getting fed up, I call their telephone "customer service" (another interesting experience in itself) and am told again that I never made a deposit. When I tell the nice man on the other end that I have a copy of my bank statement showing that they took our $300 on September 14th and it says "Direct TV Hardware D", he gets quiet and then says he has to talk to his supervisor. I am on hold for ten minutes and then he comes back and tells me that since I cancelled early, they keep the entire deposit AND charge an early cancellation fee. I point out to him that the deposit was for equipment that was returned, so what was the point in sending it back? He seems befuddled and tells me that is what his supervisor told him. I ask to speak to her, and get this surly, rude woman on the phone who tells me "too bad. You should have kept your service." I point out to her that the legal system frowns upon deposit forfeitures when there is no provision in a contract stating is is possible. She gets nastier, and I ask her for the name of the company's Agent for Service of Process. She seems more lost and asks me, "What does that mean?" I explain to her that is the person who gets served papers in a lawsuit, and she hung up on me.
Got the information I needed, so I will be sending a letter to this higher up on Monday, followed by a Small Claims suit if necessary. It is not the $262.. It is the fact that they are liars and thieves and keep changing the rules as they go along, especially when confronted with proof that they are wrong. Too bad for them that I can paper-trail them into the next century, as I keep everything pertaining to a dispute.
I think if push came to shove, I would have rabbit ears on my television before I ever got Direct TV again.
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