DirecTV
Charged Twice After Phone Payment Promise and Slow Refund

Customer since 1999. Generally run late on paying my bill. Was disconnected on 9/26. Paid bill in full on 9/27 with on-line bank/check draft. Service immediately restored. On Sunday, 9/30, was called by Directv. Because I'd had two returned payments my payment of $275.50 would not be acceptable, and payment with a debit/credit card would be required, or service would be immediately disconnected. Checked my bank account on-line while we were talking; check had not processed. Was assured that check would not be processed, so gave debit card number for same bank account.

Big mistake! On Monday evening, 10/1, found that both payments had processed. Customer service was unhelpful, so I called back on 10/2. Was told that it'd take 10 business days to put the $ back in checking account. I said that was unacceptable, and they agreed to expedite to 3-5 business days. Finance dept. Would call me within 24 hrs. Bank could not stop payment on either transaction.

Checked back with Directv on 10/4. Was told that refund would be sent by check in 6-8 weeks, that I had been informed of the double hold on the $ that occurred with the processing of the debit card, and that no one ever talks to the finance dept. Both payments had been posted to my Directv account, but that doesn't pay the electric bill.
Contacted my bank, and filed a dispute on the debit card transaction. Bless the bank. Haven't heard back from Directv yet. If I didn't live in the middle of nowhere I'd get cable.

Also, one of the nicer customer service reps, who actually seemed to know what he was doing, and cared about the hardship caused, supposedly gave me NFL Sunday ticket at no charge due to the trouble and my long-term customer relationship with Directv. That's not showing up on the account. Probably a good thing, since they'd probably charge me for that too.

Company: DirecTV
Country: USA
Site: directv.com

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