DirecTV
Early Termination Fee Billed After Suspension Despite Assurances

Because of money problems, I suspended my DirecTV service in July 2008. At that time they said I could call on 1/6/09 to cancel. I called on 1/7/09 and ended the service, and during that call I asked the representative several times to confirm that I would NOT owe an early termination fee (ETF). Each time, she assured me I would not.

A couple of weeks later, a DirecTV bill arrived with an ETF on it. I phoned the next day and learned that, since I had suspended service, my contract had been extended by the length of the suspension, so it still had six months left, and that was the reason for the fee. No representative had ever mentioned that in earlier conversations, and I told the people I reached that day as much. I first spoke with a front-line representative and got nowhere, so I asked for a supervisor. After 20 minutes of waiting while they looked into it, a rude answer came back: the fee was valid and nobody at the company would remove it.

I found the phone number for the Office of the President in Boise, Idaho, and called it. I explained everything again and still got nowhere. After two hours of fighting, I gave up. Not one representative could answer my single question to my satisfaction: why am I held responsible when representatives give wrong information and do not record things properly in their 'system'? All I heard, over and over, was that the fee is valid and will not be removed.

Company: DirecTV
Country: USA
State: Idaho

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