We had DirecTV for five years and for most of that time we were very satisfied. As a result we spent a few thousand dollars on their service. Unlike others who have written here, we were able to get local channels with no trouble.
The trouble started when we bought a DVR unit. My husband signed a two-year contract that said we had to keep the service for that period. During a year-and-a-half we ended up having to have that unit replaced five times. The first time they told us to just junk the unit and they'd send another. From then on we had to return the units. Each time we called that it wasn't working they tried to get my husband to try all the connections etc, no easy task since our TV/DVR were in a large, heavy entertainment center.
When the last unit they sent us lasted only three weeks we finally got fed up. Every time a unit stopped working we lost all of our recorded programs and then were without TV service until a replacement unit arrived. We called and said we wanted to cancel our service. They said they'd charge us a $150.00 fee to do that PLUS they'd continue to charge us monthly for the length of our contract! My husband told them in certain words what they could do with that.
I sat down with all of our paperwork to see if there were any loopholes. Sure enough I found a statement that said if the equipment was returned within 14 days of cancellation of the service they would not charge us a fee and the service would be ended!
Since that time - eight months ago, they have almost daily harassed us with a collection agency called Nationwide. They've even called us on Christmas Eve and Mother's Day! They wrote us a letter saying we had 30 days to write back and explain why we felt we didn't owe anything. I wrote to them and said it would be the only time they would hear from me.
They never responded and continue to harass us. We only answered the phone twice, both times to tell them we didn't owe anything and to stuff it. On top of all this they're trying to say we owe - get this - $175.01, not $150.00. I think they might try to catch us on wording in the statement that said "when the equipment is returned it must be in good condition." How can you send something back in good condition if it never was in good condition?
They have threatened to report us to the credit unions. If you have good credit, do not let threats like this worry you. Ours is good and they can do whatever they want. The phone number of the collection agency harassing us is #800-374-8503. We don't answer the phone when we see it in our caller ID or we pick up the phone and hang it up right away. Next I'm going to use a whistle.
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