I opened a direct tv account for my elderly father about 2 years ago as he was unable to show sufficient credit to get one himself. I had to give them my debit card information to create the account but did not opt for the direct draft service for the monthly bill. The bill was paid on time every month up until January when my dad was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer.
At that time the bill fell behind by about 3 months as it was not top priority at the time. My father was in a hospice center and the tv at home was never used. Consequently the services were disconnected, again not a priority to have them turned back on so the bill again went unpaid.
Sometime in April I checked my bank account and saw a debit for over $500.00 on my account to Direct TV. I had honestly forgotten they had my debit card on file as I paid monthly with another account. I admit the lack of payment was 100% my fault and I explained that to the Direct TV rep when I called in. Here is the problem with the company:
The first rep I spoke with, although very nice, was either a complete and total liar or the most uninformed employee I have ever spoken with at any company. I was told that the charges were for the past due bills (about $100), unreturned receivers ($90.00), and early cancellation fees ($350.00). I was informed that if I paid the past due bills and reactivated the account I would be immediately refunded the unreturned receiver fees and the early cancellation fee, which was a completely unreasonable amount seeing as my contract was up in 2 months anyway. I agreed to do this after apologizing profusely for my irresponsibility in the matter and was told the unreturned receiver fees would be credited back that day and the early cancellation fees would be returned within 3 days.
Day 1- No refund
Day 2- No refund
Day 3- No refund, so I called to check the status and was told that the amount of the refund was now only $230.00 but I could not be told why, only that I owed $210.00 in early cancellation fees even though the account was not cancelled. I was given to the acceleration department. I was told by this representative that the case was being looked into and I should most likely see the full refund by the next business day. OK.
Day 4- No refund
Day 5- No refund, called again and was told that the refund would be $190.00 but only $100.00 could be credited back to my debit card and the additional $90.00 would be listed as a credit to my account because they could not issue checks or refund amounts less than $100.00, which makes absolutely no sense as the total refund was over $100.00 if not broken up into 2 payments. I was still not provided an explanation as to why the reund amount was changed and was basically called a liar when I explained repeatedly that I was intially quoted a refund of $440.00. At this point I was so frustrated I attempted to close the account and was told that I would be responsible for $90.00 in early cancellation fees for the 2 months left on my contract to which I asked why I was charged $350.00 for early cancellation less than a week prior. Guess what, no response, death hold, transferred to acceleration department again who then transferred me to India and told that the early cancellation fees were $500.00!!!
I finally gave up. The point is these people get your account numbers and basically take any liberties they want with your money with absolutely no coherent explanation as to why. I changed the card on my account to credit card I closed out shortly after that and had my bank cancel the debit card that I had signed up with and issue me a new one with a different account number. Account is now closed and I will never open another one.
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