We were relocating to a condo whose building has cable and forbids satellite dishes, so DirecTV had to go. My DVR was under contract, and to avoid being billed for it I had to send it back. The company mails a prepaid return kit for that, which sounded easy. It turned into a nightmare.
On June 29 I called and asked that the subscription end on July 15, because the final fortnight of July would be spent moving and the old address would not need service. I requested the return kit and gave the agent the address of the new condo.
The agent said that because the equipment was under contract, a cancellation fee would show up on my last bill. She also said I could mail a dispute to an address in Colorado and ask them to waive it, because my condo association bans satellite. Her instructions were to pay the final bill first and then send that letter asking for a waiver and a refund.
But no final bill ever arrived, and neither did the kit. Then, with no warning, $532.10 was taken from my bank account. I was furious. The bank told me DirecTV must have gotten the card details from me, but I knew I had not given them out, because the account was brand new and I had never enrolled that card anywhere for repeat payments.
When I phoned DirecTV, they explained that by paying one bill with that card I had let them keep it on file and charge it whenever they wanted. One single payment, and they think they can use my card at will!
Then the people who bought my old house called me, wondering what to do with a box DirecTV had sent them. The return kit had gone to my OLD address. That explains why no final bill and no kit ever reached me. Now I see how they squeeze extra money out of customers.
I still have recovered nothing. Their version is that my account was shut off for non-payment at the end of August, a month and a half AFTER I told them to close it. They refuse to refund that extra month and a half, even though I personally drove past my old address in the beginning of August and watched a DirecTV truck parked in the driveway setting up NEW service. They are also billing me for August. I can hardly believe this.
I wish some agency existed to take this kind of problem to. I was told I would get $200 back for the equipment, yet this month an invoice came showing a credit balance of $212!!! This is outrageous.
If you are thinking about switching to DirecTV, think very carefully. In my opinion, Sunday ticket is not worth this much trouble.
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