DirecTV and early cancellation fees - My Story
In November of my husband and I signed up for DirecTV. My husband had just returned from an overseas
Assignment in Korea and his next duty station was Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. We moved into base housing and were ecstatic and happy. The service was installed on November 28th. Imagine my disappointment when my service didn't work after the installer left my home. I called DirecTV the next day and they said that they could send someone out on Tuesday. They did and the guy fixed the programming, however, we discovered that evening that our DVR service didn't work. They tried to fix it over the phone by resetting our box and whatever nifty things that they do. Their attempt was unsuccessful and they were going to send someone out yet again.
They did and he came out a few days later, by this point we'd already had the service for a week. Now, we'd already had a separate receiver that my husband had used on his mother's account in addition to the one provided to us by DirecTV.
A few days after that, we discovered that our two receivers weren't receiving the same programming. I called in yet again and was informed that our receiver was still on his mother's account. So, in one household, we had 2 accounts broadcasting to 2 separate televisions with different programming. I was really upset about this because I told them that I had wanted our "old" box to work with our "new" account. They said that would be no problem and that it would be placed on the work order so the installer could make sure of it, which I had assumed he did. So, while talking to customer service again, they told me that I had to purchase a new access card and that it would cost me $20. I was furious and decided that it wasn't worth the $20. We are a young couple and money is tight. I decided not to worry about it and just deal with the separate programming.
During the weekend, EXACTLY 2 weeks after installation, we saw that we had HBO and some other premium channels. I'm not very fond of HBO/Showtime and was curious why these were on our account. I had not ordered them. I called customer service again and by that time I had them on speed dial. The CSR said that we'd received these for free for 3 months. I told him that I didn't want these channels on my TV and wanted them removed immediately. He went through the process of removing them and then said that we'd be charged a one time fee of $10 to remove them from our account. "What? Are you serious? You're going to charge me $10 to remove something that you provided to me without my consent for FREE?", I said. I spoke to a supervisor and got that charge waived. At that point, I was absolutely furious and didn't want to spend another day using their service. I wanted to cancel service immediately and told the supervisor that I was speaking to just that! She said "Yes ma'am no problem, I'd be happy to take care of that for you" and was very nice. She went through the process and the line was quiet for several minutes. She gave me a quick run through of what she had done to the account and asked if my credit card on file was a good card to bill. I was completely floored. Bill for what? She then informed me that I was being charged $480 for an "early termination fee".
I was even more furious and completely blown away. I asked her how long they gave their customer to cancel service without worry before charging this fee and she told me "24 hours". I had her cancel her request to terminate my service. If we can't pay $20 for a new card we sure can't pay $480 to cancel service. I told her to give us the cheapest plan they had and to cancel DVR and HD service. We, of course, didn't use the TV with that service on it and used the one that was still on his mother's account for the next few months.
In February of my husband and I decided to move off-base and into a new house. We found a really great
deal that we couldn't pass up and it was alot cheaper! One problem: The landlord said no satellites! None on
the house, none on the property. This house is brand new and Cox Communications was the primary provider
for cable tv/internet. I called DirecTV and explained the situation to them. Unfortunately, if you move to a place that doesn't allow the service or where you can't even use the service, they disconnect it and charge you the early termination fee anyway. They didn't tell me this over the phone, they simply applied it to my account several days later and I got an email saying that I could view my bill online. I was, once again, furious with this company. They charged us $420 for cancelling service. I called them back, same old thing. They CSR told me that she'd escalate my story to the "refund department". Okay, sweet, we're finally getting somewhere.
Wrong again. A few weeks later, I get another email saying that my bill is available for viewing. I go online to see a $930 bill. Part of this bill was from the received that I still had in my posession, which is fine. I have no problem returning it. The rest is the $420 charge STILL on the account. I called them again today, talked to a CSR and he was no help so I asked to speak to a supervisor. She came on the phone 15 minutes later and told me that my request to have the fee reversed was denied. I asked her if they ever give customers refunds and she told me that the refund department only refunded customers if they had overpaid on their account. She insisted that I signed an agreement for 2 years and that in this agreement it said that they could charge these fees. I've been in my relationship long enough to know better than to sign any kind of contract like that, especially when we move so much due to his job. I asked this woman to provide me with a copy of this agreement and she said "we can't provide that information". She then said that they didn't keep copies of the agreements and that I could likely get one "from the installer". She tried to look up the installers name/phone number and couldn't find it. How convienent. I am positive that at the time of ordering this service, I did NOT sign any kind of agreement and I am being unfairly charged. I'm willing to join a class action lawsuit.
Susan
Surprise/Phoenix, Arizona
U.S.A.
0 comments