I have been a DirecTv customer since October.in March my TIVO DVR (which I was leasing) broke. I called them for a replacement. I was told that they didn't use the TIVO unit anymore and that they would send me their new replacement. I asked them what they wanted me to do with the broken unit and I was told that I now owned it (???).
I canceled my service in late November since Verizon had finally put FIOS in my neighborhood. I called to cancel my DirecTv account and was told that I would face a $300.00 early termination fee. I was told that once you have leased a DVR for more than two years and it is obsolete, you now own it! The early termination fee was because they had sent me a new DVR to replace the broken one and, by doing so, I had agreed to a two-year extension of my contract. They would charge me $20 / month for every month still left in the contract.
The only thing is that they never told me this up front! If they had, I would at least have an option of what I wanted to do to replace the broken unit. They said to read the contract. I have never signed a contract with them but the boiler-plate one they sent me said that, if they upgraded my DVR, there could be an early termination fee involved. The contract doesn't give any information as to the length of the new contract or the penalties involved.
I called them and they refused to do anything about removing the early termination fee. They admitted that I didn't have a signed contract and that the person I spoke to might not have advised me of what I was getting into. I called my bank to make sure that they didn't honor any withdrawals from my account and I'm sure that DirecTv will report me to the credit bureaus and I'll have to fight it there (a losing battle).
The web is full of complaints about DirecTv and these types of issues. Some consumers have gotten their local TV stations and newspapers involved and DirecTv has backed down in some cases.
A word to the wise - what they tell you in the contract is very general and you have to know what specific questions to ask them about hidden fees, contract renewals, etc. Otherwise you'll wind up posting your report here too.
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