Complain about a product or service

DirecTV - Billing Problems

DirecTV • Billing Problems • Installation • Maintenance • Rebates • Sales Practices • Billing for "Adult" Shows • About those "Adult" Bills ... --- News • DirecTV Takes Disputed Fees Out of Customer Accounts, Suit Charges • Major League Baseball, Cable Operators Reach Agreement • Major League Baseball Extends TV Deadline • Senators Object to DirecTV Deal that Shuts Out Baseball Fans • DirecTV Settles Do Not Call Charges • DirecTV Telemarketers To Pay $75,000 Penalty • Fired DirecTV Contractors Say They Refused To Lie To Customers • Outbreak of DirecTV Porn Charges Hits Philadelphia • DirecTV Fined $5 Million for Do-Not-Call Violations • DirecTV Will Reform Ad Practices, Pay Millions in Refunds • DirecTV Abandons Satellite Internet Plans

Michael of Nine Mile Falls, WA November 22, 2009

On Nov 21st, 2009 at 3:51 I called Direct TV about the 461.89 they deducted from my checking account on the 18th of Nov. I cancelled my service on Nov 9th after having it for only a month and a half. I knew I would have to pay the early termination fee but, I never thought it would all come out of my checking account at once. At the time this happened I was watching a friend's house while he was having major surgery. He lived 300 miles away from me and the money Direct TV took out was my money to get to back home and get to work. I am on Social Security Disability and I won't get paid until 12/03. I have 15 for food and no other form of income.

When I got direct tv I went through qwest. The whole order a disaster. The qwest rep did not tell me it was a 24 month contract or that tv service was going to be a seprate company. Then I was charged 19.95 shipping and handling for the equipment the installer used at my house. The installer was on his last installation and he was in a hurry yto leave so when he handed me an invoice to sign I thought it was to say he installed it. Then after he left I turned it over and saw all the legal fine print which can also be found on direct tv's website.

I was upset to find out I agreed to a 2 year contract as soon as services were installed. Wonder what would of happened if I refused to sign it? Would the installer repair the holes he put in my house? Would he pay for the new couplings to replace the ones he cut off my cables? Probably not.

I also paid a 200 deposit and I have never got a reciept from Direct tv or qwest for that. I only have my bank statement. This was another deceptive act too. I authorized 200 exactly to the qwest rep for the deposit I had to give to get the TV service. Two days later I noticed my bank account was charged 221.69. I was going to make a deposit that day but, the extra 21.69 caused my account to be overdrawn. I called my BofA card services and I could only dispute 21.69. That dispute is still ongoing.

When I questioned this rep about my 200 deposit she told me it was Direct tv's policy that deposits were non refundable. I read the lenghty legal documents that the customer rep could not understand. I got a call from Nicky ID# 300148146 and we went over the various options. I decided to sign back up for direct tv on a cheaper plan. I did loose any rights to my deposit though and it will not be refunded. By signing back up I have to pay for the remaining month of service (which I don't understand except maybe she put me in a disconnect status instead of cancel.

So all being said Direct TV will put back in 406 in my bank account in 15 to 30 days. One hell of a way to keep a customer. Well I filed a dispute with Visa and I won't when the dispute but, I will be able to use the money until I get my credit and then pay Visa back with the refund I get from Direct TV and some of my own funds. It has been said there is more than one way to skin a cat. Well I say skunk instead of cat and Direct TV is the skunk. I hope the FTC takes them to the cleaners like they are the American public. I am letting everyone I know what they are doing.

I am on disability for a mental disability (bipolar) and even though I am on great medication things like this stress me past what my meds can handle. I go into depressions and sleep for a couple of days at a time. Luckily I have learned it is not the end of the world and when I get strong enough mentally I handle it as business like as possible.

Thomas of belleville, MI November 21, 2009

I received a final bill after cancelling service from Directv. Three weeks later I received the second final bill for 92.00. Directv said that I owed this amount from 2 and a half years ago. Afer receiving my first final bill from Directv,I shredded all past bills. Now that I have no record of the charges from 2 and a half years ago I am liable according to Directv.

So please do not fall for the sales pitch and you need to sign up for cable to save yourself the headache I had when dealing with the customer service of this company.Please call you're cable company before you ever consider the satelite option. P.S. I hope it does'nt rain during you're Big Game this weekend because you are going to miss part of it.

Bruce of Bethlehem, GA November 19, 2009

During the final week of August 2007, we were convinced by a DIRECTV salesman operating in an AT&T Wireless store to switch from Dish Network to DIRECTV. We told the salesman how much we were paying per month for Dish Network and he told us that he could save us as much as 30 per month by switching satellite companies and letting AT&T bundle all our services. He also told us we would receive a 75 rebate for signing up with Direct TV.

We told the salesman that we would like to setup three TV's and we wanted two of the three to be DVR receivers. He told us that we could not get DVR units installed but could upgrade the basic units to DVR units later at no charge by taking advantage of rebates. We picked the package that we wanted and set the date for Sep 1, 2007 to have an installer come out and switch us over. Everything went downhill from that point.

When the installer came out, he informed us that we in fact could have requested DVR units and he could have brought them out and installed them at that time. He then told us that we were going to have to pay to upgrade to DVR units and schedule someone to come out and set them up. When he tried to turn on our service he discovered that we didn't have a package. He called Direct TV to set us up and get our package turned on -- but it was not going to be as cheap as we had been told.

So then my wife had to spend almost an hour on the phone with customer service trying to get what we thought we were switching from Dish Network to Direct TV for. In the end, we only got one of the DVR unit rebates and had to pay 99 to upgrade another unit to a DVR. We were told we were not eligible for the 75 rebate and our monthly bill ended up being higher than we had been told by the Direct TV salesman. Then we had to schedule and meet another installer a week later to have two DVR units installed.

We were not pleased with the service. The user interface was sluggish and the DVR units were not as good as the Dish Network unit that we had. We decided to cancel and called only 83 days after Direct TV was installed. When we called to cancel, we were told that we might owe some money but it was unclear since we were canceling in less than 90 days. We asked why we would owe anything since our bills were up to date. The customer service rep told us we had a two year agreement. We never signed or agreed to any contract in the store with the salesman or over the phone. The first time we heard about a 2 year contract was when we called to cancel our service. During the course of canceling our service with Direct TV we have never been told the same story twice regarding cancellation fees. We were told everything from we wouldn't owe anything since we canceled in less than 90 days to we would owe over 450.

By providing insufficient information to us through DIRECTV's inadequately trained sales force we feel that their company did not act in good faith with us. Basically, we were convinced to switch from Dish Network to Direct TV under false pretenses. We honored our commitment by paying our monthly bills on time and paying whatever additional fees they requested when we switched services. We don't believe we owe DIRECTV any additional money.

tori of kalamazoo, MI November 18, 2009

Worst company I have ever dealt with. Tried to cancel service after 16 months, was told I signed a 2 year deal I had no idea about. Agreed to put account on hold for a few months. Tried to cancel again after this sent them numerous emails to NOT reinstate the account yet they did anyway. I refused to pay sent the garbage product back and now they are sending me to collections over 132.42 they say I owe them for programming I never got and a 50 early termination fee.

DELORES of ANNISTON, AL November 18, 2009

we have had account with direct for many years and we was moving about 75ft from where we lived. so i called if you are moving on the bill. they answer as direct, but i got a new account # which i didn't want, but i didn't know it until i got a bill. it was through a agent, my daughter wanted to get directv and they knew it was my daughter, but they ask if they could use my debit card for her, which i let them, she had no credit. she talked to them. i didn't even know the address.

but anyway they took out 796.96 without my knowing it. they do not tell you anything about a contract or anything. just to get a sell. we are social security and that is all we get. but they don't care. i have yet to hear about a contract until i called. i had checks bouncing and still having to fight. they refuse to give back the money. we didn't even have money to buy food or get our medicine

david of ashland, IL November 18, 2009

i have been a customer of directv for yrs. not sure how many now but i know at least 6 yrs. last yr. i moved last yr. and called dish mover thay said to leave dishes and take the boxes and remotes with me, they came out a week later and put in new dishes and a new box in livingroom. the installer hooked up a new box in livingroom said it was an upgrade because of the digital transition..i lost my job in june so i couldn't pay bill for 2 months..directv sent me a a box to return my dvr's i sent them back... then a couple of days later i checked my checking account balance and i am overdrawn by 681.81 i called the bank to find out diretv took 579.77 out of my account on oct. 22 2009...i contacted directv they told me they took 220.00 for dvr's i never reurned (i did return them) and 160.00 for early termination of contract and they 2 months i owed them (i understand the 2 months of charges)i aked to speak to a supervisor many times they never would give me a superviser.. they said that they would refund me 220.00 for the dvr's. i called back on monday nov.16 and talked to reggie, here it is nov. 18 2009 i have not seen any of my money,i was not informed that when they came out and set us back up that i was under a new 2 yr. contract.as a result i have been working all month just to pay the bank back.the bank did refund me on some over draft charges.

JUDY of RIVER RIDGE, LA November 18, 2009

In 2006 we subscribe to their service. The whole time we have direct tv the service was not received well,everytime it rained we were without service. At the time we had their service in 2006 they did not have an HD receiver, so my son purchased one from Best Buy. In 2009 this year, we contacted them to see if they could do something about the HD we were not getting but paying for this. When the service man came out he indicated that the Satelite that was originally installed in 2006 was not the right Satellite, so he took the old one off and installed a new satellite, and at that time they offered service to for future problems. the cost was 10 per mo then in August I received by bill and they were charging me for an HD receiver.

I e-mailed their customer service stating that I had purchased one from Best Buy and why were they billing me for one. I did not pay for the HD receiver but paid the rest of the bill. Then I received a past due stipulating that if I did not pay for the HD receiver they were going to cut off the service. Then on Sept 28th my service was cut off. I then advised them to cancel the service. Then I received another bill charging me for the HD receiver plus 400 for an early cancellation..I contacted them again and they advised that when they installed the satellite (new one) that I had started another contract. I was not told of this and was not aware of a new contract since I had been a customer since 2006. I feel since they had originally installed an incorrect satellite that I could not recd HD that this is their fault and not mine. They have now put me in a collection agency for non-pay...

Debbie of Rancho cucamonga, CA November 16, 2009

they had a promotion of 5.00 off of what you pay for premium channel for 5 months . I had a rebate offer of 35.00 a month. What they did not tell me the promtion was 5.00 off of the regular price of cable not the 12 month introduction offer I had a the time. My bill went from 35.00 A Month to 76.13 a month

Gary of Weber City, VA November 12, 2009

I've been a DIRECTV customer for several years I had billing issues I activated service at my address and contacted directv to send a tech to my home to mount my dishes they sent 2 techs to my home and one dish was installed and and the tech refused to mount the dish for my local channels and tried to get me to sign a contract and they would install new equipment and i told them i didn't need equipment i already owned my equipment and directv refused to credit my account for the local service i could not watch after 2 or 3 months i finally canceled my account

Roy of Randleman, NC November 11, 2009

I had a 2 month dispute with DirecTV where they would not take incorrect charges off of my account. In the 3rd month they said to pay my bill and they would then make adjustments. I told them I would not pay for an incorrect charge. Service was then disconnected. I was upset and told them to send an itemized bill of all charges against me and to cancel my service. 3 days later they pulled over 700.00 from my bank account for past due amounts and box fees, even though they sent boxes for the equipment that said to return them in 5 business so I wouldn't get charged. I was now severely upset.

I finally spoke to a CSR named Jen that listened and apologized for their mistake. She turned my service back on and they would credit my bank account the money they took out (minus the money I owed them) within 24-72 hours. 3 days later the money (597.00) was not posted to my account. Called again. This time I was told it would take 8-11 business days for the refund to take place. To make a long story short, they took the money on Oct. 5 and I didn't get it back until Nov. 5. They claim they deposited the money in the wrong person's account. I asked for a year of free service to make up for the problems they caused, and they counter-offered 3 months of a movie package which I have not accepted.

Back to the top |

Terms of Use Your use of this site constitutes acceptance of the Terms of Use

Advertisements on this site are placed and controlled by outside advertising networks. ConsumerAffairs.com does not evaluate or endorse the products and services advertised. See the FAQ for more information.

Company Response Welcome If complaints about your company appear on our site, we welcome your response. Please see the Response Form for more information.

For more information, see the FAQ and privacy policy. The information on this Web site is general in nature and is not intended as a substitute for competent legal advice.  ConsumerAffairs.com Inc. makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof. 

Copyright © 2003-2009 ConsumerAffairs.com Inc.  All Rights Reserved.    The contents of this site may not be republished, reprinted, rewritten or recirculated without written permission.