I had been customers of Direct TV since 2008. Like everyone else in the USA the recession has hit my family hard. On 12/2/09 my husband who already had a C-spine & back injury along with several surgeries due to a work accident on 8/14/06 was in a very bad car accident. He broke 3 vertebrae, 17 ribs, & his shoulder. He was in the ICU Trauma Unit in a medically induced coma at UAB Hospital in Birmingham, AL from 12/2/09-1/510. We have 2 children, one with Cerebral Palsy. I am on SSI Disability & my husband is on Workman's Compensation. On Sun 10/31/10 we called Direct TV to let them know that my husbands WC check did not come in yet & that it should be in on 11/1 & that we would pay our bill then. Direct TV had always worked with us in the past but our service was interrupted anyway so we canceled our service with Direct TV on 11/1/10. My children & I missed Christmas last year and New Years with my husband. We had hoped to make it up to our children this year. But when we went to do our shopping this year to our surprise & shock our Wal-Mart card had been charged without our knowledge for the amount of $371.19. I called the Wal-Mart Card hotline & found out that Direct TV had took the $371.19 without my authorization! I immediately called Direct TV & was told by a Supervisor that once I sent in the receivers he would immediately put the $371.19 back on my Wal-Mart card. During our conversation on 12/15/10 he then said that he would put half of the money back on my card immediately. I told him thank you & that I would contact Direct TV to make payment arrangements to pay the balance due. I asked how they got my Wal-Mart card information & the supervisor told me that anytime I used a credit/debit card that the information about the card is kept on record. My husband was very upset because he had been looking forward to making it up to our children for not being able to get them anything for Christmas last year due to his accident & his medical bills. He got so upset that he took the phone from me & started yelling & cursing at the supervisor. I got the phone back and then the supervisor told me that he was not going to put ANY money back on my card. My complaint about Direct TV is that I DID NOT AUTHORIZE them to take the $371.19 from my Wal-Mart card. I opened my Direct TV acct using my Bank credit/debit card. I NEVER authorized any auto payments on ANY of my cards. When I have payed my bill online I have only ever authorized for the ONE TIME PAYMENT ONLY!!! I have sent in the receivers and as of 12/24/10 I still have NOT had the money put back on my Wal-Mart card. It is Christmas Eve and we do not have any presents for our children THANKS TO DIRECT TV! I think we all need to get together and file a Class Action Law Suit against Direct TV. I contacted Wal-Mart about the situation and they are going to Dispute the transaction for me since I didn't authorize Direct TV to use my WM card. I also have called Direct TV several times and one person said that I was going to be refunded $225.72 & another person told me $178.50. So I wrote an email to the corporate office and in less than an hour I had someone from corporate on the phone with me. She said that because I used my Wal-Mart card more than 3 times that Direct TV was allowed to take the funds in accordance with there agreement terms. I told her that it does not say that anywhere on the agreement and what would they have done if I had borrowed someone else s card like a neighbor or relative. If I had borrowed someone else s card and Direct TV took the funds off their card then it would have been like stealing and they could file a police report right! She was silent and then fumbled over the words, Well we would be able have the authorization to withdraw funds if someone else s card was used 3 times or more. That is like stealing if you ask me. How does everyone else feel? Shouldn't we have a Class Action Law Suit! Is there any Attorneys out there interested? Or does anyone know of any?
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