Beware of Direct TV service.
It all started when our TV lost its signal. We called Direct TV to get help, and nothing we did would bring back the signal. When we tried to schedule an appointment for a serviceman to come out, they said the earliest time they could come out to our home was 3 weeks away.
We decided we couldn't wait that long without our TV, so I called Direct TV back to cancel our account and sign up with another company. That's when we were informed that it would cost us $480 to cancel because we had a two year contract and that was the early cancellation fee.
First of all, we were never told about a contract, nor did we sign any contract. We just got the service one month ago and just paid our first bill, online.
Ever since the first day we have had problems with the Direct TV system not working right, and instead of sending out a repairman they tried to get us to fix it with their phone help. We never did get it to work right. Direct TV sent us a new receiver, and now that one does not work.
They were supposed to send a box to send back the old receiver and never did. My wife called them twice within a few weeks, and they kept saying they were sending a return box. It never arrived. Then they charged us $55 for failure to return the receiver. We were also dinged with a few other charges that we were never informed of when we set up the account. In all fairness, after spending all day on the phone with several different people at Direct TV, they agreed to credit our account after they receive the receiver back. We are still waiting for the return box.
However, I was not able to get them to release us from the contract that we knew nothing about. In fact, they kept putting me on hold and then never returning, or the phone would just get disconnected after several minutes. Now I cannot even drop them and go to another company unless I want to spend another $480, on top of the $187 I just paid for the first month's bill. That is a total of $667 for just over one month of service, and half of that time we had bad or no service on our TV.
We were with Direct TV for over twelve years in Arizona and were very happy with them, and by the way, we never had any kind of contract with them then. So when we signed up with them here, we had no idea of a contract, nor were we ever at any time explained in clear terms about a two year contract with an early cancellation fee. If we had known about this, we would have never gotten Direct TV installed here in Oregon.
I think the thing that makes me the most upset is Direct TV's lack of concern for their customers and lack of communication when first contacted for their service. We truly feel like we were ripped off and would highly advise anyone to think twice before using Direct TV.
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