Two (2) years ago I signed with DIRECTV through Bell South (AT&T) for satellite service. My contract ended in February. At that time I became a month-to-month customer. In June my DVR would not boot, so I called Technical Support for service. After numerous attempts at resetting it, it was diagnosed as non-operational. At a later time I found this information was erroneous. It was then that I was informed by DIRECTV that this DVR was mine and was not covered for service.
I was given two (2) options, neither of which I found appealing, and asked to speak with someone with more authority. I was transferred, the two ridiculous offers were rescinded, and I was offered a third offer. After carefully thinking about it, I declined because I did NOT want to consider a new two (2) year contract with DIRECTV. I decided to live without TV in my bedroom.
At the end of June I had surgery, and my physician told me I could only sit up and/or walk for a minimal amount of time daily. I felt I needed a working TV in the bedroom. In July, prior to returning home, I again called DIRECTV, agreed to the last deal I had been offered, and scheduled a time for installation. Before the scheduled date I called and cancelled this appointment for two (2) reasons.
First, I did NOT want a two (2) year contract with DIRECTV, and second, I was given a DIRECTV DVR. I called for Technical Assistance and was walked through setting up this DVR. During the set-up I noticed a notice on the screen which said Tuner 2 is not working. I mentioned this to the technician, and he said we would work on it after the initial set-up. Unfortunately, we both forgot about it because of setting up the DVR.
The following day, when I tried to record one station and watch another, I was unable to. I again called for Technical Support, hoping I would get Brian again, but I didn't. The person I got this time gave the standard reset, reset, reset, reset and finally reset. It was then that she said she would have to send a technician to my home. I asked whether there would be a charge for this, and she said NO. I then asked whether this would constitute a new two (2) year contract, and again I was told NO.
The technician came a few days later and reset the system several times and diagnosed a problem with the DVR that I had been given. He went to his van and brought in a DVR. The first thing I asked was whether this constituted a new two (2) year contract, and he said NO. However, he took my DVR, which I asked him to return because it was not the property of DIRECTV, so he returned it. I was presented with two (2) documents to sign. One was the service work order, which I signed, and the second was an agreement, which I refused to sign.
Upon receiving my August bill I noticed that I was charged for the service call and a leased receiver. Additionally, I was charged the monthly charge last month for the DVR that I had reported BROKEN in June. I called to have these items removed, and it was at this point I was informed I was in a two-year agreement. How could that be? I did not sign any agreement, and the customer representative said it was the document I signed in Feb. 2006. Again, how could that be possible when I only signed up for two (2) years in 2006?
On August 26th I again called DIRECTV to try to rectify this contract debacle. After several attempts to explain that I was not under contract again, this communication failed. I hung up, frustrated, after being told that my only recourse was to email or write to DIRECTV. There was no one else on site I could speak to.
On August 27th I turned on my bedroom TV and received the message that I had not purchased every station I tried to watch. I tried to watch another TV, and this one said: receiver Identification problem. This led me to call DIRECTV to inquire about these problems. I had the distinct misfortune of getting Mariella. I was then told by Mariella that DIRECTV had discontinued my service. No, there was no one else I could talk to in her department, and there was no one else she would connect me to. Mariella also said if I wanted to talk to someone else I would have to call back. This is horrendous customer service.
Why was I disconnected? I had not asked for this to be done. I called on August 26th attempting to straighten out a mistake that DIRECTV made. Additionally, I was told by Mariella that I would be receiving a bill for early termination of service. Why would I receive a bill for a contract I didn't have, and I did not request that you terminate the service. I was trying to work through the problem you created. By far, this is the worst chaos I have ever been involved in, and it seems to get worse by the day.
To add to the turmoil, Brian, your technical support person who had answers other than reset, informed me that I should have formatted my hard drive on the original DVR which broke in June. I did this at a later time, and it now worked fine, hooked up to another TV. However, no one on your support team had offered this information prior to my securing the previously owned DVR. Please check your records for the number of calls I have placed since June. If I had been told this information in June, when I placed my original service calls, I would not have secured a previously owned DVR, when formatting would have taken care of the problem.
I would have liked to talk to someone who was a decision maker for DIRECTV, not someone who was reading from a script and/or bored because they had to take a call. I have asked for a Manager, Director and even the CEO to no avail. I have tried to explain numerous times that I have not signed a contract, nor do I have a contract with your company at this time. Finally, an invoice for an early termination fee is ludicrous. If anything, I should be billing you for early termination with no notice. Perhaps this was not on the script to inform customers of the decision they have made unilaterally.
Since then I was given the name and e-mail of someone that could resolve all problems. I have called and left messages to no avail, and my e-mail has been returned several times. Is this not a mess?
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