Trying to cut back on our monthly outgoings, we decided to try Direct TV bare-minimum service, which turns out to be cheaper than our local cable. So I ordered the package online, chose my installation date as Jan 9th, selected my DVR box that was "free" after an instant $100 online rebate and felt pretty clever with myself.
That evening, I received a call at home from an account confirmation specialist. Turns out the date I had chosen was not actually available, and I had to wait till the 14th (and I had already booked a day off work). Also, I was told that I had to pay $100 for the DVR box. I argued that I had been given an instant $100 rebate for the box and it should be free, but I was told that I was mistaken, and the lady checked her system and confirmed there was no way it could be free. I didn't have the computer I ordered it from at the time, so could not argue (I later checked, and sure enough, it should have been free).
So I go to work, and book Jan 14th off work. The next day (the 7th) I get a call from Direct TV installers saying they'll be there "within 15 minutes". Luckily my wife was home at the time to let them in. This was getting to be a joke.
I rushed home to see what was going on, and the picture didn't even fill the screen. The installer dismissed it and said I could just play with the TV settings later on to get it to fit and he left. I tried everything with the TV and the box (I'm pretty technical) and it wouldn't fit. I called Direct TV and was told I would have to pay an additional $10/month for the HD service to get it to fit the screen.
I was livid by this point, went to bed, woke up the next morning and there was no picture at all... Nothing! That was it, I called Direct TV (about 15 hours after it had been installed) and told them I wanted to cancel. I was told that because it was within 24 hours there would be no charge to my account, and that they would send a box to ship back the DVR. Less than a day later, they took $488 out of our account. The bank wouldn't stop the payment, so we called Direct TV and they said "Oops, we didn't mean to, we'll get it back in there within 72 hours". 72 hours later, no money, so we call again and are told it'll take 6-8 weeks to get our money back!!! After lots of shouting at them, they get a supervisor who says he can do us a 'favor' and have it in there within 3-5 business days.
Direct TV are absolutely useless. They have not done a single thing right since the first interaction with them. They still owe us over $600, have said they'll pay it back, but there is no sign of anything and I'm not holding my breath. That $600 should be covering some of our mortgage payment. Don't ever give them a credit or debit card number, because they'll take money from you in an instant, and getting it back is like pulling teeth
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