My family and I were pioneer subscribers to DirecTV service beginning in approx. 1992. When I moved out of my parents' home in 1995, I transferred all related equipment to my father. He ended up opening a separate account, but the same equipment connected to my account was assigned to him. I paid my final bill in the amount of 84.00 due at the time.
When my father took over my account, he ended up selling one of the two receivers I had. He sold it to a man named Tom, who in turn opened his own account.
My father went on for years paying the bill until his death in October. At that time, the account was transferred over to my mother, who continued service. My mom kept paying the bill on time, as my father had, and enjoyed the programming.
In September I moved into my own apartment in East Providence, RI, and contracted for service in my name. I maintained service at this address until I had a falling out with billing in June. I indicated then to close service, send me a final bill and take the equipment away.
When I attempted to make these arrangements, someone in billing told me that an outstanding bill in the amount of 86.00 was due from June or May of 1995. This was for the month after I transferred the equipment and account to my dad's name.
The head of customer service at DirecTV told me that when my dad sold the receiver to Tom, the access card was never shut off from my name and apparently 86.00 worth of pay per view movies were ordered. The following month, Tom opened an account in his name.
DirecTV then told me that if this bill was not paid, they would shut off my mom's service, as she resided at the original address. This was 11 years later. My mom always paid the bill on time and was never late. She was 80 years old at the time.
When I pointed out to DirecTV that it was their mistake, they refused to acknowledge it and shut my mom's service off. I paid my outstanding bill from East Providence and flatly refused to pay the 86.00.
It shocked me, to say the least, that it was worth DirecTV's reputation and financial bottom line to shut off an 80 year old woman's TV service. And to top it off, it was an account always in good standing for 11 years.
After this experience, I vowed never to get their service again, and my entire family has stopped doing business with DirecTV.
When I got cable service for my mom from Comcast locally and explained what happened, they gave her 6 months of free basic service, HBO and Showtime. They even offered the installation to multiple TVs at no charge.
Just to let everyone know, be aware that DirecTV advertises itself as a direct competitor to cable, yet their customer service department claims they are a luxury service.
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