The trick is to scam enough people who can't afford a lawyer. All you need is a few customer service flunkies who are willing to pretend to care about the customer. Hide your contract somewhere within the mass assortment of ads and other junk lurking in the envelope that carries the customers statement. Tell the new customer whatever it takes to reel him in. Whatever you say on the phone doesn't matter. Record only the conversations that benefit the company. Then, while he's greiving the death of the loved one he ordered your service for; smack him in the face with a $340 early cancellation fee. Practice this behavior enough and you won't need to be a decent human being, you'll be a rich one. You can start your own business. Call it, oh, I don't know, DirectTV, maybe.
This is the letter that was sent to the corporate office, if there such a place.in my opinion the letters all go to the same office where the customer service flunkies are. They look at your name, insert it in a "denial" form letter and email it to you. I doubt the letters even get read.
This letter is a chronological report of injustices for which we feel is an unethical business practice on the part of DirectTV, Inc.
On my first contact in late December I spoke with a female sales representative, by phone, to inquire about having their service installed in my uncle's room at N* S* nursing home in Denver, CO. I specifically inquired about what would happen should he pass away. She stated that all I would need to do is provide a death certificate to their office to have the contract cancelled. On December 23rd the system was installed at the nursing home.
I have been legal guardian of my uncle for several years now, due to his dementia. Therefore, I have handled all of his business transactions.
On January 21st my uncle passed away. On January 22nd my wife, *, contacted DirectTV's customer service department to cancel service. A male service representative told her, to avoid any charges, mail a copy of my uncle's death certificate, and return the receiver and remote control in the box which they would send us. We returned the merchandise.
On our January 29th statement we noticed a charged of $340 for early cancellation fee in which payment had been automatically charged to our credit card. My wife called customer service. A female service representative told her to fax a copy of the death certificate when we get it, and the charge on the credit card would immediately be reversed. As requested, we faxed the certificate on February 11th.
My wife called customer service at 5:03am on February 13th to inquire as to why the charge still hadn't been reversed. The male representative who answered said there was no record that the fax had been received.
At 8:03am she called again, in hopes that someone working regular business hours would be in a better position to assist her. Again, she explained the situation to the male representative who answered. This time she was told that they had in fact received the certificate, but the charge couldn't be removed because I placed the order, not my uncle. She explained why I had to order for him. He told her there was nothing he could do. My wife asked to speak with the supervisor and was put on hold then was disconnected after a few minutes.
At 8:26am she called again. A female representative answered this time. She apologized, and then told my wife to explain the situation again and she would put her through to her supervisor. Again, my wife was put on hold and again, she was disconnected.
At 8:49am she called again. This representative asked her to explain the situation again. My wife refused and demanded to be put through to a supervisor. Finally, she got put through to a man who claimed to have some authority. He stated that it didn't matter who the service was for. Because I signed for it, I had to pay. I never signed anything. He offered to provide the address where I could dispute the charge.
I can provide documentation that shows that my uncle resided at the nursing home in Denver, CO where the service was installed, and to show that I was his legal guardian. If you check the billing address for the account you will notice that I don't live in Denver. This service was clearly never meant for anyone other than him.
I am hoping that, as a reputable company, you can see the injustice of this charge and see how badly your customer service personnel handled this incident. My wife called customer service once again, on 18 February as a courtesy, to inform them that we were sending this letter to you and to our credit card company to dispute this charge.
Respectfully
Enraged
colorado springs, colorado
U.S.A.
0 comments