Direct TV customer support
Published 6 years ago in life stories
I came home today… exhausted from a short but stressful week so far.
My goal: Be drunk and/or asleep by 9:00 pm, on the couch, in front of the TV watching a good reality show (that’s all that seems to be on TV this summer).
But, my Direct TV unit is having problems. I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with it (yes, I’m drunk almost) because it won’t tell me, but every time I turn it on, it give me a error message that says:
PLEASE CALL
Your Internet terminal needs to be repaired of replaced before you can connect to MSN TV service.
Call RCA/Thompson customer service at 1-800-722-9599.
So, I called them.
The dumb CSR on the line asked me a bunch of stupid questions like:
“Does the phone line connected to your Direct TV unit work?” (It’s the same line I’m calling her on).
“Do you hear clicking noised on the line when your unit tries to dial MSN?” (I’m thinking, I dunno lady, I’m not picking up the phone to see if the modem in the unit works).
All the while, I’m thinking she’s going to have me reset the unit to see if that fixes it…
Then she finished the call with:
“Please unplug the unit for 5 minutes, then call us back if it still doesn’t work”
I was right (she was telling me to reset the unit).
So, I did. Guess what?
It still doesn’t work… so I called them back, and of all the pissy things to do in the world:
They’re closed until tomorrow morning.
Figures… It is a microsoft product.
update: If you’re tired of DirectTV but like the convenience of Satellite TV, then I’d highly recommend Dish Network. Dish Pronto is offering a great deal right now: Get a FREE DISH Network satellite TV system with DVR & HDTV plus FREE install with DishPronto - click here
When I was in tech support I used to love calls right around $timetogohome-10 because I could always tell people “well, reboot, wait a few minutes, and call me back”… chances were I’d be gone by the time they called back with their inane question, and would be forced to figure it out themselves. I’ve talked about the secret tech handshake before though, for non-idiots
Man that is just so wrong. I’m sure they did it on purpose. I know that I rarely ever ditch a customer, unless its a 5pm Friday call. I’ve stayed late hours before. Of course I’m a one man team, i’m salaried and I still like my job
You think that’s bad, I tried to suspend my service while I was out of the country but was talked into just suspending it. When I returned to the country I recieved a bill for 3 months service. They said that they can only suspend it for 6 months and that at the end of the 6 months it turns back on. Now it is in collection and I keep sending them proof that I wasn’t even here but they won’t fix it. Great company to deal with.
years ago i bought 2 units ,dish and all. i took 1 unit camping with me and it was great. i went back to the same radio shack and bought 2 more,one for my daughters room and one for the camper. even though the same sale was still on they wouldnt sell me anougher dish! i couldnt believe it im like come on man!
i found one in the garbage on the way home from the store where someone had moved and thrown it.
so i put it out of my mind.5 yrs go by my units were mirrored over the dish. i paid the bill religiously.one day my wife and i are talking and the cable co. is pulling out of town and the mayor has gotten his local chanels(fox)so i called.oh no you cant have that!i explained i had been a good customer for years , and she said are your boxes plugged in? i said they have to get electric somwhere dont they? and she said no the phone line i said i dont have one she said i must have cause my boxes are mirrored and i told her that had happened 6 years eriler over the sat dish and then again 2 or 3 years later when they sent new cards.SHE CALLED ME A LIAR!!!!!!!!then started charging me 43.00 per box.i cant get in touch with direct tv my local is pegasus
my husband is in the army and is deployed to iraq for a year or more. i called to cancel the satalite service because i wanted to go home. i am all alone with four kids. when i called the first time they said it would be one hundred dollars to break the contract. so i saved up finally when i had the money i called to cancel then they told me it would be one hundred and fifty dollars per reciever. i dont know if you guys know this but the army is not superior pay. but i am not complaining about that i couldnt be prouder of my husband. so i have to come up with three hundred dollars just to cancel it so lord only knows when i can save up to go home. so i guess i am just stuck here by myself because i cant afford it. thanks for the help direct tv!
I have been on the phone for OVER an hour) trying to CANCEL my direct/pegasus subscription. When I finally got a live person I was given the run around by ALL of them (2). I will never do business with these companies again I still have been unable to cancal the”service”.
I have three tvs hooked up to direct tv at
Echo Bay. The main one is out. I can’t get
any support, I can’t configure the wires to make
it work again. Should I just pay two thirds of
my bill?
I bought my Direct Tv At a radio shack actually my husband ,it worked ok for about a month then I was constantly on the phone trying to fix it they gave me everything from unplugged the stupid unit
do you have clouds bullshit.So I just got rid of the service not the equipment.So here we are 3 yrs later I went to Michigan for a wedding and my husband was bored and went and had it activated and everything worked fine for almost a whole month while I was gone and now it’s shit again and this time around no help from anyone . Oh yeah they did say I could call our local dish person to check it out .Thaat sucks just for them to look at it cost 130.00$ Crazy asses.I HATE DIRECT TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Julia
My Direct TV connection is bad and try to find a phone number to call for technical support. There is no where to be found.
Please help and let me know how I can correct my problem
Thank you
Tony
After spending an hour and a half on the phone with the morons at Direct TV, I am told BECAUSE THEIR PRODUCT SUCKS AND WE CANNOT WATCH TV - if I want to cancel it - it will cost me $100.00
Yes, I signed a contract and no, they are not holding their end of the bargain up…
I e-mailed them at Customer Support and gave them 48 hours to respond - or I go to the BBB.
I hate Direct TV.
Hi i got direct tv 4 months ago and was promised a free dvd player. have i seen it no. i have called i believe every number there is for direct tv and people tell me that i have the wrong number and give me another one. i have finally given up unless someone will read this and advise me what to do. I like direct tv just not the service that i am getting thanks
DirectTV calls their customer service as customer care. Well, the truth is… nobody cares. I called them tonight with one person for 40 minutes (20 minutes on hold). DirectTV charged me an amount which is not in their invoice. Instead of helping their “customers”, the lady put me on hold for 20 minutes and said she will transfer me to her “supervisor”. Well, 20 minutes later, she picked up the phone and asked me questions and sounded like a “supervisor” until I recongnized her voice. She said… “Hmmm, yeah, that is me again…Hmmm” I will transfer you to my supervisor. Then, I talked to the supervisor, John, and he said “What is your Txx #” well, I said, “I am your customer, I don’t have that Txx#”. And, he said, I am not supposed to talk to you. Well, Customer Care Supervisor is not supposed to talk to a customer!!! Give me a break! Of course, I made him listen to me and he said… You have to talk to the Technical Support Department and let me transfer you to them” I said.. “are you customer care supervisor and supposed to take care of customer’s problem (I guess not now!) He said, well we have different division and if you want to solve your problem, you have to talk to the tehcnician department (yes, he said if you want to solve your problem you have to talk to the technical department), because they charge you! (Guess he is not suppose to talk to his own company technician).
WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!!!
I’ve been a Direct TV customer for about 15 years. In the past few years their customer service has gone to hell.
Dial their free 800 number and believe me you will go nuts trying to get past 30 or 40 “press 7 for…” messages.
When you finally do get someone they are very curt to the point of rudeness. Sadly their supervisors are worse than their basic reps.
If you tell a supervisor you want to speak to their supervisor, they take your phone number and no one, no one ever calls back.
When I see Direct TV’s ads stating they are number one in customer service, I know its a lie. In my 15 years as a customer they never sampled my opinion of them once.
Dish Network may or may not be a good alternative. I’m looking into it, if any one has feedback on Dish Network’s customer support, let me know.
Does anyone have the Direct TV coporate telephone number?
Their customer service and their attitude have gone from outstanding and into the tiolet. Hold time is always well over a half an hour.
With the NFL regular package you no longer get the games in Hi-Def - you have to spend another $100 or so to get their up-graded package.
I have recently found out that my Direct TV hi-def set-up (less than a year old) will soon be obsolete as they are going to a different set-up.
Direct tv has the worst customer service ever. I had a warranty service call in june. After my 12 month contract was over I cancelled. They then billed me for $70 service call that was 7 months prior!!!! It took me over an hour to get that credited back. I pay my final bill and next month what do I get but another bill for $70 for a service call.I have just spent another hour plus on the phone with them. I was disconnected 3 times, transferred to the spanish line once, a supervisor who was an idiot once and then some other department who had no clue. Direct TV you totally SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Direct tv is the worst company i have use. They confuse me with someone with the same name. Then then proceeded to cut off my service. I gave them the right information but they still refuse to fix it. Do not use these pepole they are bad!! bad!!. But they made one error with me i work for a big Marketing frim and boy I am going to trash them. Just wait for the blog a full page for direct TV.
DO NOT GET DIRECT TV. IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE WITH A BOX, YOU WILL WAIT 2 HOURS FOR HELP. ON SUNDAY WHEN YOU PAY TONS OF MONEY FOR THE NFL TICKET, THIS MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE. AS I WRITE THIS, WE ARE MISSING THE GIANTS GAME. UNBELIEVABLE.
***This is the letter that i sent to the executive office- it was returned because i was given the wrong address! this just shows how shiesty the agents are at customer service***
I started my service in September of 2004 and had nothing but problems with your company. I literally have a notebook of all problems that I have encountered as well as a basket of access cards that do not work.
Starting in October 2004, I had to call several times about my access cards being full. Every time I talked to an agent I was told that I had too many pay per view movies and I would have to wait until the new billing cycle when the card was cleared in order to purchase more movies. That was fine. Until later the billing cycle had closed and my card was not cleared, I contacted yet another agent who had me do a phone line check. When that was completed everything on my end showed that the phone line was just fine. So that was the first time an access card was sent out. (That was for my living room TV.) Still to this day my access cards are full- and my phone lines are just fine. I’ve had a telephone technician come out and check them for faulty lines and wiring and everything is in good working order.
Towards the end of November; my living room TV would not receive signal. The TV in the bedroom was working without a problem. I contacted another agent who sent an access card thinking it had something to do with my card not functioning correctly.
By mid- December, my living room receiver would not receive signal at all. After talking to an agent for nearly an hour, she told me to unplug the receiver for 20 seconds and then plug it back in. This was a temporary fix as the signal was gone again the next day. After going thru this whole charade for several days; I called back and was told that someone would come out and check the receiver and the cables. This was the first day that I had to call in to work. I was told that he was going to be there between 8am and 12:00 noon. He called me at 11:55 to tell me that he was on his way from Lawton (which is a 45 minute drive); causing me to have to cancel my plans for the day, because he was late. When he finally decided to show up, he looked at my equipment for about 30 minutes and stated that the reason I did not have signal was because my off air antenna was hooked up wrong (the original person who came to install my equipment was the one who hooked it all up.); and that had caused my diplexer to go out. He replaced it and told me that I should stock up on them and keep them around the house in case it happens again. At this time I was paying at least 75.00 per month for service. If I want to watch TV, I should not have to do anything but turn it on. I should not have to check all the plugs and cables, unplug my box, and check my diplexer. Within an hour I was without signal again. I contacted customer service yet again and they set up a time for another guy to come out and check it out. When this guy came out he checked all the cables and wiring and my receiver and after checking my signal strength (which was done the first time by this guy) he told me that one of my L and B ports were out. He replaced it and it worked for a few days. So at this point I have had to call in to work 2 times and missed 2 days of pay. And still nothing had been successfully resolved.
About the first week of January, my husband and I decided to cancel our service because it was quite obvious that it would never be resolved. After finding out that the other provider for our area was less than reliable, by not being able to keep a time to set it up (which I understand is not your fault), we decided to come back to direct TV in early February. That is when I called yet again to see what type of deal could be worked out. An agent told me that a new upgraded satellite dish could be installed at no cost to us. And that there was a promotional deal where we could get an HD receiver for $99.00, and to call once the satellite had been installed, also 1 new access card was to be sent out (because my living room access card was still working, but would expire soon- but to continue to use it until it did- even after the new card was received.). When this guy came out to install the new dish, he argued with me for nearly an hour stating that there was nothing wrong with my equipment and that there was no reason that we should receive an upgraded satellite. When he got around to checking everything, he stated that he had to pull out my TV, I advised him that before my TV was moved I wanted to call my husband since we have a Mitsubishi 55” wide screen TV. My husband and I paid a lot for this TV and did not want it moved by anyone but him. The tech did not even wait for him to walk next door from his office to move it; he took everything off the top of my TV- picture frames, candles, etc. and just randomly threw them on top of my entertainment center. Then yanked out the TV, paying no mind that the front panel pops on with little tooth grips, nearly breaking the whole front panel off. Then he grabbed the receiver off the shelf of the entertainment center causing the cords to get unplugged and fall behind the entertainment center. Finally after several minutes of fighting with the cords he hooked everything back up and decided that there was no reason for him to have had to pull that out and mess with it. Then when he turned on the TV he told me that since the channels were working that he did not need to replace the satellite. Apparently when my service was disconnected my access card in the living room did not deactivate itself. While he was shoving the TV back in position paying no mind to any other cables and cords that were back there nearly ripping the other equipment off the entertainment center, he was mumbling under his breath that it was pointless for him to come out and fix something that is not broken or messed up. I tried to explain to him the problems that I was having with my service and he told me that he didn’t care and slammed the door as he went outside. He had been outside trying to hook up the new satellite for a while when I told him that I wanted to keep the old satellite incase this one messed up, at first he said no that I could not keep it, but when he came in for me to sign the work order he said that he was going to leave it on the front porch. After he left, I went out to get the satellite and it was not there. My husband called him and asked him where it was, that’s when he told my husband that it was on the side of the house. When I went out there to get it, it looked as though it had been thrown because it was bent severely on the top part of it and the L and B port was several feet away in the grass. After all that was said and done, I called back to customer service as I was told to get the info on my HD receiver. That’s when I was told that there was never a promotion for $99.00 and that it was 299.99 and that it could not be sent out until the first payment had been made. When I asked how much the first payment was, I was told that it could only be split into 3 payments. Asked agent if they could read the notes- that’s when I was informed that there were no notes on the matter.
In March I was billed $33.00 for my movie channels and then again the regular charges on the same bill for my movie channels. The agent that I spoke with gave me 3 months free for all my movie channels. (HBO with Cinemax free, Showtime, and the Starz package) since I was double charged. I agreed to this offer. A few days later my living room access card went out and I had called to replace it with the one that was sent when I reinstated my service. I was then told that I only had 9 days to activate my new card once it was sent out. I was never told this in the beginning. At this time I spoke with a supervisor who gave me a free month of service and told me that another card had to be sent out. When I got that card I immediately called customer service for them to activate it. A couple of days later I did not have my movie channels in my bedroom, and I had been watching them the day before. About a week later when I tried to watch TV in my bed room that access card was not working. I called yet again to see what was going on, and apparently the person who activated the new card disconnected the card in the bedroom and killed it so it could not be reinstated. I had to wait for another card to come in and due to issues with FED EX; I did not receive that card. The card was ultimately sent back, I called again for another card to be sent out and after not receiving it within several days I called again to customer service and found out that the order had been cancelled for the card because I had reached my limit on access cards. After talking to another supervisor, I was given another month free as well as another 3 months on my movie channels. This is a total of 6 months free on all my movie channels and 2 months free on my service. I don’t remember exactly when it was but I did call one night since my Showtime channels had been deleted, I was watching a movie on one of them earlier that day- when I called customer service, I talked to a guy who told me that there were no notes as to my 6 months free of movies and that I should have never had Showtime. After talking to this guy for a long time he put my Showtime channels back on there.
When I called at the end of March, the automated system stated that my bill was 30 something dollars, I talked to a guy who told me that after all my credits were applied that my bill was going to be $4.32 and that I did not have to pay it until my May bill was due. I called April 20, and was told that my bill was $116 and change. When I asked for a breakdown, I was told it was for my movie channels and my basic package. When I told the agent that I should have my movie channels for free- he informed me that there were no notes about any free movie channels. I then asked to speak with a supervisor and was told that she could only honor 3 months free on my movies and then give me a credit for the rest of them. That is not what I was promised in the beginning. I was told that for the next 6 months (starting in March) that my movie channels would be free. This bill is twice the amount that I had expected to pay this month- I should only be charged 42.99 (monthly service) 4.95 (additional receiver fee) plus taxes. I did not accept this offer of 3 months free with a lump sum credit.
**this is a recent encounter**
And I am actually amazed that I have not had any real problems from March until October. That really floors me. However, around October 10th I put in a request to have my service moved from Burkburnett, Texas to Cache, Oklahoma. I was not sure of the exact date of my move and was just basically trying to get information. At that time, I was told to call in a few days before my move date and schedule a date for a tech to come out and set it up at my new house. I was never told that I had to take my receivers. I was also called the day before to confirm the set up and was also told that 2 new receivers would be installed. When the technicians got out there, they could not do anything but put up the satellite since they did not have my 2 receivers. We had to drive an hour south, and take another day off work, to get the receivers from out old house; because of that inconvenience we were given a 100.00 credit. When the technician came out the next day, they installed the receivers and I signed the installation report. I then asked the technician what satellite they put up, since we had already been given an upgraded satellite I wanted to make sure they put the correct one up. I was told that it was the regular satellite for the area, when I tried to explain that we were given an upgraded satellite due to the issues that we had previously, I was told that it didn’t matter, that the satellite that we were given as a part of the move was the standard satellite for that area. When I contacted customer service, I was told that there was no need to have the upgraded satellite anymore since the regular one would be just fine for the area that I was in. I was then told that if I wanted that one still I would have to pay the upgrade fee. After explaining my case for over an hour, the agent then decided to give me a credit for the 49.99 upgrade fee and 14.95 s & h fee. I don’t see how anyone would be satisfied paying again an upgrade they received before they moved. A new date was set for a technician to come out and put the correct satellite up causing my husband to take off another day of work. It was on my account what satellite that I had. Apparently no one at your company can read notes since every time I have to call, I have to explain the situation over and over and over again, when it is all clearly stated in the notes, and am told that it’s all in the notes after I get so upset that I ask for a supervisor. After being on the phone for over 3 hours speaking with several agents and requesting several supervisors and being told that none were available, I was finally put thru to Casey in the executive office and explained my case yet again to him. As compensation for the inconvenience, I was offered 5.00 per month for the next 6-12 months, which I felt was a complete copout for my problems, we were finally able to settle of getting my movie channels extended for and another 2 months free and a free month of service. He told me that the offer suggested was the most that he could do. After being on the phone for over 3 hours and realizing that there was nothing else that your company could or would do for me, I accepted it- reluctantly!
November 1st I was back on the phone with several agents. The movie channels that I had free for 6 months (that expired every 2 months) were no longer available. I understand that I needed to call in and have them added per Casey, so I called in again was on the phone for over an hour. The first time I called in I was told there was no such promotion going on and they could not be entered. I asked for a supervisor and was told there was not one available. She said that all the credits that were going to be issued were issued and there were no notes from Casey that stated what we discussed. Advised her the date that I spoke with him, and after her taking her time she then came back on the line and stated that she had found them and was going to put them back on my acct. When I got home several hours later, I still had no movie channels. I got the phone again and spoke with Ashley – who needs to be commended for her excellent customer service- within 10 minutes, I explained what the situation was and she understood and turned my movies back on. She insured me everything has been taken care of and the credit for the 1 month has been added. Before I even got off the phone with her, all my movie channels were back on.
DIRECT TV IS THE PITS!!!
I have never, never, ever dealt with such incompetence in my 63 years on the planet.
They should be shut down and crucified!
I cant even tell you what I have been through other than,
1/Incorrect billings, IN THEIR FAVOR…
2/Service cut off after they send my bill to an address that doesnt exist.
3/No incentive perks as promised.
4/Service turned off AGAIN for no reason, I finally broke down and gave them my credit card #…THAT WAS STUPID…You would think there could be no new excuses for ‘late payments’ when THEY have your credit card #.
5/Cannot get in touch with a REAL PERSON.
6/Have company over the holidays and they think I am either broke or an idiot for not paying my bill!!
and on and on and on….
What can we do to shut down this company?
They do not deserve to be in business, treat people unfairly, and cut off their service, hummm do you think…just to wear you down so they can get your credit card number???
Signed,
WILL NOT REST TILL THEY ARE HISTORY!!
I HATE DIRECTTV
I cant wait till the NFL moves to cable.. ANyone know when?
I hate then customer service sucks and they are expensive and say they are so good.. GOD what what rip off.
Well listen to this, We have had Direct TV since Febuary of 2004. The installers came out and installed our equipment. Everything worked fine for a while then in my kids room they would lose the signal off and on. Call several times to see what the problem was, all of their suggestions didn’t work. Then my livingroom started losing reception, it would work then lose the signal. Nothing fixed it. So this year my husband was on top of the roof getting a couple of small limbs off the roof and noticed that the installers installed the dish far on the roof and that our roof was sinking in and the wood was rottening around the dish. We also came to find out that the installers did not ground our dish, so if lightening were to strike it it would catch on fire. We also noticed that on the cables running up to the dish, they have holes through the wires in 3 different places. It looks like the installers were tacking the cable up and misaimed and the tacks went through the wires. We also found out that really the dish is not suppose to be put on the roof and if it is then it should have a waterproof plate underneath it and be right on the edge of your roof. So I called Direct TV, want to know my response, They told me that my 90 day warranty is up and I should have reported it then. I told that man, well I don’t know about you but I haven’t seen a roof cave in in 90 days and I am going to have to pay for a new installation, repairs for my roof over something that wasn’t done correctly in the first place. He said Yes. I said cancel my service.
I had person (illegal alien?) from Direct TV come out & install a box in the kitchen Nov. 04. Every time the wind blew we got signals on about half of the stations. Oct 05, worked on the horizen #’s & it worked. Nov 05 it went out (just overnite). Last night wind blowing, husband decided to work on the South to West signals, (on the ladder) he found the screws were loose on the side to side holder? Tightened them at 90 on the signal & guess what we have perfect reception. Wind still blowing & still great reception. Don’t know when the side to side screws were loosened but it was probably during installation of the box Nov 2004.
Direct TV is one of the worst companies that couldn’t care less about the customer.
They installed (half installed) our system and it never operated as promised.
We couldn’t receive our local broadcast VHF or UHF stations or record and control the channel from the second TV location.
After many hours of trying to receive the service we paid for ($128.00 for installation and receivers) we concluded that this company is not interested in our satisfaction, but rather in giving us excuses and “company policy”. We terminated the service within 4 days. 3 days from the supposed time we could no longer stop the service….their response was to send us boxes to return the receivers and thereby not be penalized for terminating the contract.
UNBELIEVABLE GARBAGE…… We paid, in good faith, the money up front and then didn’t receive the service promised. This company is a fraud….they have one goal in mind and that is to get as many subscribers as possible and hope the law of averages works in their favor.
CONCLUSION:
We are going to voice our right of descent and encourage all to reconsider using Direct TV.
There is no reason why in this day and age companies, such as Direct TV, should conduct themselves as they do and get away with poor service. They get away with injuring us as consumers of their service and could not care less about our customer satisfaction… Has anyone ever seen a customer survey or evaluation form from these people?
I think not, because they don’t care or want to deal with customers who have agreed to use them in fairness and honesty, but also without duress.
I would encourage all that have any dissatisfaction with Direct TV or any company for that matter, to let them know and if that doesn’t solve the problem, let their friends and family know how dissatisfying their product is.
If their goal is only money, then we have to hurt them where their pocketbook is.
Not only are we paying for service not received, but we are paying in time, (many, many hours of trying to get satisfaction). Where is the compensation for that?? All we receive is more and more problems and no REAL satisfaction.
POST SCRIPT>>>>>
UPDATE: Jan. 05-06; Just finished phone call with Direct TV. They said that the $100.0 rebate was NOT going to be issued since we terminated the service from them. We are now having to pay $128.00 for equipment they want us to return so that we do not get charged for terminating a contract that not was consummated due inadequate installation and inability to use the equipment as outlined by Verizon, who sold us the service in partnership with Direct TV and the Direct TV installation technician as well as the sales department of Direct TV itself.
DIRECT TV LIED!!!!!!!!!
I have had Direct TV for 5 years now and last June wanted to leave Direct Tv because they did not offer local HD Channels. They indicated that they would offer HD locals in the fall of 2005. The equipment I had at that time was a regular TIVO unit a HD receiver and HD out side antenna. So when they told me they were going to offer local in HD I said sign me up. I then proceeded to purchase a HD Tivo unit from them for 800.00.
So September comes by no HD locls. October comes by no HD locals. November comes by no locals. December comes by and still no locals.
So I decided to call direct TV and the CSR said they were transmitting DH locals in my market. I said great! What are the channels? The CSR then said well sir the hardware you purchased from us will not work with the new signal. So I asked the CSR what they were going to do and they indicated they would give me 6 months of free HD programing.
I asked what about my new TIVO unit. They said I would have to buy a new one.
BOTTOM LINE: Direct TV sold a service that they could not deliver. In addition they sold hardware that is not compatable with their signal. What is even worse is that any HD receiver purchased in the past will not work.
I would love to somehow start a class action against Direct TV. Many customer are in the same boat but just don’t know it.
DIRECTV CSR: We can’t change the fact that your “Favorites” keep getting reprogrammed sir.
ME: well, you completely reprogrammed the user interface on the box!
DIRECTV CSR: We didn’t do that sir - we don’t have control over that part of the service.
ME: well, who does? CBS? NBC? The government? Aliens?
DIRECTV CSR: Can you hold on a moment please?
ME: Sure - I have nothing better to do with my time than fuck with your… ahh… someone’s shitty software interface and be lied to by some patronizing front line CSR of a company that is mainly interested in making a buck.
DIRECTV CSR: okay, hold on
I cancelled direct TV service within 7 days (so I was supposedly NOT supposed to be charged a penalty for early termination)…..I was charged for that anyway, PLUS since I had three receivers, I was charged $20 per receiver so they could have them shipped back by fedex.
I called, argued and got the money refunded–or so I thought.
Every ten days I got another bill with a different amount. I spoke with many supervisors and got employee numbers of each (for my own protection). You would think the problems would cease after repeat phone calls to customer care—but no.
Just last night, without my notice, they forwarded my “delinquent” account to the Direct TV Collections Department. I spoke to a supervisor and she admitted fault–yet now my credit is potentially affected.
I AM VERY UPSET AT THE LACK OF PROFESSIONALISM! SHAME
I can’t believe this place is still in business. Quite possibly the biggest scam that I have ever seen. I run a bar and we decided to get Direct TV for the NFL Sunday Ticket to boost business. The Ticket worked fine for the most part, but my locals wouldn’t work (locals were included in the package). So 2 or 3 multi-switches later, a second dish position, a new outlet to plug it into and countless hours on the phone, the thing still doesn’t work right.
I’ve lost thousands of dollars in business from not being able to watch Monday Night Football, games on CBS and Fox and now college basketball and the Olympics. But the big one was on Super Bowl Sunday…nothing, no picture, no signal…nothing. So now I’ve been trying to cancel my service because I’ve had it with their terrible service only to find that I’ll be charged $2199 to cancel to recoup the cost of the NFL Ticket. They’re telling me that I’m breaking the contract by canceling before the one year agreement is up. Am I crazy or aren’t they in breach by not providing the service?
If they are in no way liable, then I think we’re all in the wrong business. If they can get away with getting a contract signed and say they don’t have to do anything in return, then I need to start a new career.
What is it they say??? If you can’t say something nice…..I imagine each one of you that wrote these things ahve any number of people who have been in contact with you that think you are the world’s biggest ASS. You all seem to me to live in glass houses.
Ok… a. generally it’s not the people we talk to “ass” it is the company. b. glass houses? no. Direct TV lies to customers. I had service started March 1st 2005 and cancelled it on feb 22nd 2006 due to problems I was having with my receiver never getting one etc. Apparently DTV extended my contract another year when I signed up for the TiVO portion. No big deal, but when I cl’d the service the rep (can’t remember name and doesn’t matter) told me that it would not be charged because of the problems. And of course today there’s a $250 automatic charge on my checking account. Which accordingt to DTV is a “valid charge”.
It’s not a point of “don’t say anything at all”. I will tell everyone I know not to use DTV.
Where is my free portable DVD player. I was put on hold several times trying to speak to a manager, as I never received the item as promised. This company sucks!
Direct TV Sucks.
They Keep raising their rates. It is close to $50.00 for basic service. Once you add on a DVR, and a second connection-plan on a 65.00 bill each month.
I am a disappointed customer. I cannot wait until NFL goes to regular cable.
I just filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office and with the BBB against Direct TV. What a nightmare. Here’s the jest of what happened:
On October 3rd I purchased Direct TV Sevice for my residence. The company whom Direct TV contracted to install the equipment i.e. Satellite Dish, cable wires, etc. was unable to provide me with uninterupted satellite television service- which is what I thought I was purchasing. After multiple attempts at to fixing the problem the contractor still couldn’t provide me with television service. During that time I spoke with Direct Tv almost daily, pleading with them to send someone here who could set me up with working service (according to a woman I spoke with this morning, my account shows that I called at least three times to speak with a supervisor in an attempt to fix the problem). After around two months of poor service (the television service would mysteriously shut down, the picture was constantly “flickering”) I asked Direct TV to come to my house and pick up the equipment because I had had enough. The woman I spoke with then told me “no problem Mr. Schottland, we’re sorry for the inconvinience, we’ll remove your charge from your account.” Approximately one months ago I began receveing phone calls from a collection attempting to collect $297 dollars- which I apparently still owe Direct TV. I called Direct TV to dispute the account and they told my I needed to send a letter to their Collection Department, in Glendale California, which I did.
Today, I called Direct TV to find the status of my formal compaint and I learned that my complaint was denied- they are still charging me $297. I receive approximately 2 phone calls per day from their collection company!
While I was a customer I did everything I could to work with Direct TV and their installation contractor to fix the problem and maintain the service. I wanted Direct TV and I was excited to be a customer. I am extremely frustrated that a company so large would act in this manner and unfairly charge me for service they didn’t & couldn’t provide.
I hope they all rot in hell
For the record I just got off the phone with those monkeys and they require $70 to go fix their own issue which is BS. I can’t believe I have to pay them to fix their own problems…I think there could be a very successful class action suit…they’re crooks. Who’s comin with me?
I was told from the beinning that if I ordered a Premium package, that I could cancel at the end of the term, and not pay any penalty of any kind. I ended up canceling early, just to be safe, and they charged me double for the month. I now have less channels, but have to pay more. They gave me a credit for three dollars for cancelling early, but charged me a ton more for the channels I changed to. When I did change the channels, I had to do so by an automated phone service on their site, which said I would be charged ten dollars for cancelling before the cycle. I thought this was dumb, but when I got my bill and it was double my origal bill, I couldn’t believe it! I called the customer service line, and the first lady acted like she was going to help me, but ended up putting me on hold for a half an hour, then hung up on me. I called back, and the second person offered me no help, but said I should have read the fine print. I told him that I had trusted the technician when he installed the service, and only liars refer to fine print. I asked to speak with his manager, was put on hold for a very long time, then he said the manager was too busy to talk. I said it was probably because of all of the complaints he was getting. In reality, I don’t think he even tried to connect me to anyone. He took down my phone number, but I highly doubt any manager will contact me. I guess I am just stuck for a year with them, unles I want to pay $115.00 to cancel, plus the outrageous bill I just received. I wish I would have looked into this company more before getting ther service, because now I feel like I am at their mercy. If anyone reads this, thanks for listening. I guess it’s the only satisfaction I will get from this experience. Direct TV sure isn’t listening.
Direct TV are a bunch of morons! I have had 12 - YES 12 - service calls in seven months for the same problem. It still doesn’t work. Funny thing is, they have been charging me 150 per month for service that I don’t get!!! Not so funny when it’s money out of my pocket. I want to disconect the service completely, but they made me pay for all these hi def recievers up front, and they only work with direct TV. This company is a major rippoff and I feel they got me by the gonads! I HATE THEM! Someone with the knowledge should start a class action suit. I figure with all the days I took off work and the HOURS AND HOURS spent on the telephone being on hold and transferred around - these scumbags owe me!!! BIGTIME!
If you have questions about directv or the protection plan, please let me know and I just may be able to help you. I was a manager for directv for 8 years until March 2006. I would be more than willing to give pointers on how to “screw them over”.
DIRECT TV suck like nobody’s business. I recently had them tack a $327 charge onto my credit report and send it to a collection agency for an account that isn’t even mine. They send a collection for a customer of theirs with the same name as myself for a 6 yr old “deliquent” account. I have never been a customer of DIRECT TV (thank God) but they still screwed me over. I now am trying to get a phone number for corporate or collections after sending numerous letters to no avail. I just want this off my credit and I’m willing to fight these morons as long as it takes just so they don’t win and get more money for a “service” they didn’t give.
If anyone has any info about how to directly contact corporate or collections please let me know.
All of those problems are pretty nasty, but get this… I called to inquire about their plans and services, etc. The only thing I gave them is my name, address, and telephone number. I explicitly stated in the phone call that I was only shopping around for prices and would not be purchasing any services that day. That was about 3-4 weeks ago. Yesterday (3 May 2006) I received a letter from them saying they tried to run a CREDIT CHECK on me. I’ll ask this, how do you run a credit check without a social security number AND why would you if the person you were running the check on wasn’t even interested in purchasing the services anyway? Sandra, in regards to one way to fight them contact your state Attorney General, consumer protection number/website. The phone number should be under the Govt. pages in the white pages and the website you can just do a search for:
Attorney General Consumer Protection - Your state
You should be able to file a complaint (I know I did) and they should open an investigation. You might get somewhere with it, but I just filed mine today so I am not 100% certain. I can tell you this, the course of action that I mentioned was the first step recommended to me by a JAG of 27 years and a great friend. Definitely spread the word (the bad one that is) about Direct TV and let’s do what we can to drive the bare face of this menace to society square into the pavement.
We purchased direct TV over a phone provider. When they came to install the dish,those idiots cut thru our phone lines!! The reply: ops, the fix: they just twisted the blank wires together outside!
The result: the next snowstorm destroyed the blank lines outside.
What to do: we calld the phone company and told them what direct tv has done, the phone company todl us that we need to pay to have it fixed!!!!!!!!! what the ….!
Since we have this problem our Internet doesn work proper either and we constantly have a static line on the phone. Hubby had to fix it as good as he could, but it is not good enough though. I will never ever recommend direct TV to anyone, and strongly adviced our HUGE company to not purchase Direct TV, and we didnt.
Hi,
I think I got you all beat with this one. I decided that I was going to switch from Dish Network to Direct TV. I have had Dish for a long time and Direct TV would install 4 units for free, sounded pretty good. I had a “professional installation” set up. This man made a complete mess of my house inside and out. He ran a black cable up the front of my brand new white siding, ran the cable across my roof and down the other side. Now realize, the cable did not go up a corner but right up the front and center, He proceeded to screw it into the siding. My nice, new siding. When I saw what he had done I went to the back of the house to see what he was doing. I walked into my bedroom and he had put a hole in my wall, for who knows why, because I already had a cable coming through the floor. The hole he put in the wall was between two door ways. One the the outside back deck and the other to a bathroom. I went on the back deck to yell at him about what he did on the front of the house and what he had done in the bedroom. I asked him what I was to do with this cable. He said he would run it up over the door way. I proceeded to tell him to get his stuff and get off my property. Then I turned around and saw black cable running all over the back of the house screwed into more new siding. By the time I made it to my sons room and found what he had done in there, he was gone. He drilled a hole 18″ above the floor under a window. Real nice and professional looking. Now I have to try to deal with these stupid people to get them to pay for a contractor to fix all this shit. Amazingly, no one from Direct TV was able to come to my house the next day, but a contractor made time to come and look at the disaster.
please interface and ask Jason (formerly a mgr with Direct TV for 8 years and until March 2006)to contact us.
Urgent.
Major problems unresolved with service since June 2006. Have all the dates, names and log-in ID numbers of DIRECTV and their service subsidiary, DirectSatUSA representatives, in as much as the information was given to us factually.
Thank you.
Don & Barbara
PS we did not overlook or omit entering information in “website” blank. We are unclear as to the type of info you are requesting.
I move across town. I disconnect my Direct TV. I get cable.
Six years later I get another final bill from Direct TV. I send them a certified letter disputing the balance. They continue to call. I pay the final bill a second time. I recommend you keep records of all your payments with these idiots.
HELLO I PURCHASE DIRECT TV 08-04-2006 THRU BEST BUY STORE AND WAS CHARGED 200.00 WITH CREDIT CHECK AND WAS INFORMED THEY WOULD INSTALL IT ON 08-07-2006 FROM 1PM TO 5PM .4 GUYS IN 2 DIFFERANT TRUCKS CAME TO INSTALL IT BEFORE THEY BEGIN INSTALLIN SYSTEM THEY WERE TRYIN TO MAKE ME BUY A POLE FOR .0FROM THE PRIVATE CONTRACTOR FOR 45.00 WHEN I INFORMED THEM I HAD A POLE LIKE THE ONE THEY WWANTED TO USE THEY SAID THEY COULDNT INSTALL IT CAUSE I WOULDNT BUY POLE FROM THEM . THEN THEY LEFT AND LIE SAYIN THEY COULDNT GET A SIGNAL WHEN THEY NEVER EVEN TRY TO HOOK SYSTEM UP NOW I HAVE TO WAIT TIL THE 9TH OF AUG TIL ANOTHER INSTALLATION CREW COMES OUT IM JUST TO UPSET WITH THE INSTALLATION COMPANY THEY USE.
I had Direct TV visit me today for install. I was very excited to get HBO, NFL Ticket, everything for half the price of Comcast. But then this moron shows up and spends 45 sec. evaluating the situation. He simply tells me he can’t put a dish on my balcony. I say yeah I know, my building has a DTV backbone that you need to hook me up to. His response was that I need to call QWest to do that. Upon hearing the name Qwest I became filled with rage not knowing I had pulled into the Axis of Evil. Forget good business practices, this is a pyramid of LOSERS. The hold music must have been composed with the express purpose of aggrivating people. I have it memorized through 40 min. of being on hold for only two phone calls. Direct TV = Terrorist Qwest = Terrorist
Hi,
I got DirTv for the NFL package last fall so I could watch the Pittsburgh games since I live in Philly and originally from Pitts (it was a great year for it). Anyway they said I would have to keep the service for one year or pay 150.00 to cancel. I was okay with that but then I got the agreement which offered a free DVD player, I was ready to submit my request for the player thats when I noticed the small print that reads if you accept the offer for the DVD you will be binded with Dirtv for 24 months or charged a yearly fee 150.00. Of course I did not request the free DVD because its not free at all.
When they came to my house I had to take of from work, and they did an awlful job I had cables hanging off gutters and they destroyed the entire gutter along the back of my house. When I said something they said you can call the office if you don’t like the way we did it. That call took 4 hours of being bounced around and when I finally got the supervisor she said what do you expect for free. And then she wanted to charge me to have them come back and fix it. She also mentioned I should do it myself if I want it done correctly. Nonetheless they sent someone back and he was polite and did it right, probably because I was cancelling right then and there and you can cancel at know cost the first 30 days.
Anyway my year is up in Sept. but about a month ago they tacted on the NFL early bird package to my acount so I called and cancelled the NFL package, and the CSR told me since I was a premier customer that I am intitled to a free DVR box and service. Of course I said great lets set it up, well that was 3 weeks ago and I got my bill and noticed it increased so I called last night to find out the exact date of my year and they said I was in contract until July 2008 and if I cancel I will owe 300.00.
I don’t know about anyone else but by law a contract is not binding unless you sign a legal document. I think it would be a GREAT idea if everyone decides too send there complaints the BBB. Unless we all do so nothing will ever change. By the way make sure you ask many questions when you decide to upgrade anything on your service.
I had comcast for years and can only say good things about their service and CSR. They do not have to bind there customers into a contract to keep them and HDTV is free!! The picture is actually better and you can do everything yourself. I will never go with DirTV again. Although I’ve never had a problem yet with the actually serice only the ridiculous contracts and horrible customer service.
Be Smart and Don’t start DirTV!!! No Fball game is worth it!!
HJR
I just called Direct TV to resolve an issue I had. About a year ago (May 2004) one of my boxes broke. I called Direct TV and let them know. They sent a new box pronto. It got here and I did not get around to setting it up in the den until tonight (Aug 2006). The message I got was card inserted in the wrong receiver. I called Direct TV… was on the line with a tech in less than 5 minutes… my receiver was fixed and set to the card all with-in another 5 minutes.
After reading all these horror stories I was quite shocked that my service went so well.
Direct TV - what a bunch of asses.
I used to love the TIVO and the entire service was pretty nice… up until I wanted to have my service suspended, while I sell a house and go through a divorce.
We suspended our service, sold the house, and when I tried to move our service few months later, I found out I have a $147 past due balance. Originally, I was informed that service can be suspended up to 9 months with no hassle. I wanted it re-instated in about 7.
The dish is still on my old house, and I am being charged for service I did not use. Would it be trespassing if I wanted to remove the dish myself one night? Apperantly, Direct TV customer service dept is under the impression, that the dish could be pluged into anyone’s ass and will transmit anywhere for the low price of $39.99.
I will never again refer any of my friends to those idiots.
DirectTV is an absolute rip off. I just want to subcribe to NFL Sunday ticket, as I’ve done for the last five years, but I’m told now I have to purchase their ‘basic’ package (at minimum) as well. THis is an extra $49 something a month. I don’t want their ‘basic package’. I subscribe to Comcast. I’ve used both DirectTV and Comcast and flat out Comcast is better. This seems so unfair.
How is this any different than the bundeling of software Microsoft did? Bottom line, if you want to watch NFL you have to buy Direct TV’s basic cable package AND you have to pay for NFL sunday ticket. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to pay for Sunday Ticket, I’m even happy to pay DirectTV for their trouble, but don’t make me sign up for your shitty basic package that I don’t want or need. What a load of shit.
In years past, I could set up my sattelite on Sundays for the game, and take it down afterward and return to my Comcast cable (which is a much better value). I have two words for Direct TV …On Demand. You’re product is a joke. It’s over priced, it’s anti competitive and without NFL you would be a steaming pile of shit.
I can’t wait for NFL to switch to cable. DirectTV’s customer service is THE worst. The supervisors can’t even make a decision or don’t have the authority to serve the cutomers, what is the point?
I can’t begin to tell you how much I HATE DIRECTTV..
If anyone knows of any classaction lawsuits, please let me know, I want to sign on. This has got to be illegal to tie one thing to another and make it mandatory.
gregory_browning@hotmail.com
We hooked up with DirTV in Fort Worth. we were promised a free DVD player, called many times never received it. We were with them for two months when we had to move back to Wisconsin. We called and the CSR told us we could suspend it for 9 months. Great, lets do that. After arrivng to Wisconsin we called again to verify that it had been suuspended. Yes, evwerything is fine. we recievied abill for 300.00. we called and said we were suspended. No problem, we’ll correct that for you. A month later our bill shot up to $900.00!!! What the hell. So we called again and got the usual run around. The CSR was sarcastic and snotty. Oh, so sorry for the miscommunication. If you have an balance on the account we can’t suspend it. I’m soooooooo sorry the previous CSR omitted that bit of information. NO, you can’t talk to the supervisor, the account has been turned over to collections. (It only had been a month from the time we first suspended it). Let’s see how we can make payment arrangements. When will you be able to send the full payment. My husband was furious. We were getting a screwed overfrom very incompetent people who deliberatley lied to us. The 2nd CSR could barely speak English (sorry to offend any PC people). We now have to ship the two receivers back and I’m terrified at how much that will cost. It’s right before Christmas and money isn’t falling from the tree. How do I file a complaint? I noticied on the Yahoo news Time Warner is suing DirTV. I am copying these complaints and sending them to DirTV. They don’t care they rake in millions and may pay a piddly fine. I would love to make a commercial and just read the complaints people have against DirTV..Anyone want to make a commercial?!!!
When Comcast decided to increase my bill without even trying to tell me about that wonderful deed, I thought God was good to me by having the mailman drop a Direct TV flyer on my porch.
I was offered a good monthly plan at about $65.00 and I joyfully agreed to switch.
As soon as the installation of their equipment ended the trouble began.
Every damned airplane passing over my house in its way to the landing strip at LAX would interrupt the signal. Sometimes brifly, for a couple of seconds but enough to put my wife and I in “total fog” by missing replies and scenes during our favorite programs or movies, and sometimes for longer periods, this time a receiver reset being necessary to regain the signal.
To cut a long and sad story short, after four attempts made by Direct TV technicians to correct the problem resulted in total failure and my thoughts began to dangerously slide towards evaluating the prison time given by judges to convicted serial killers, I decided to cancel the account and to return with tears of regret in my eyes to my faithful Comcast. I did it and now my pure and friendly thoughts are again stained by images of Vacaville, Chino, Folsom and other correction facilities, after I found out that Direct TV charged me and subsequently refered me to some collection agency for not returning their receivers, which in fact I obviously returned with their prepaid boxes and FedEX account, more than eight months ago.
I will definitely sue their asses for all the time and trouble I must go thru, trying to prove something they should check themselves.
DIRECT TV SUCKS!!!!!!
It took one hour to place an order for hdtv receiver and disc upgrade. I spent 35 minutes with a guy who apparently had a communication deficit. It was “whose on first” throughout. I kept looking for the hidden camera. Is this a joke? Am I being punked? Is this candid camera? Why did I even spend any time with him because after all of that, he then put me on hold and I was then transferred to a sassy woman who was the “real order taker.” What was he there for???? What was his purpose? Now this next one a female who is someone you would not want to get caught in a dark alley in harlem with, but felt somewhat safe that she was not physically near. I clarified a bazillion times to her what I wanted and she reiterated back several times what I was getting. An HDTV dish, HD receiver for $99 to be paid for by additing it to my bill. It is not a purchase. It is a lease. Okay? BUT On the dayof the installation, the installer arrives WITHOUT THE RECEIVER!! He said it wasn’;t on the order! He said his order stated only the dish! AGGGGHHHHH!!! I took a day off work to wait for this monkey. So there I go again, calling these mental midgets for two freakin’ hours trying to resolve the problem. One similar harlem type with an attitude (I think it was her sister) attempted to re-do the order, but this one says “that will be
$99 19.95 8.50 tax and I had to pay for it by credit card.” What????? The last order taker (her “sister”) said it was only going to be $99 and to put on my next statement. “Ah don know what she sayed Mayem…but that’s aint true. It has ta be paid by credit card.” I flipped out with a string of expletives and hung up on this ape, picked up the phone and tried again and again to speak someone with some kind of customer “care” sensibility, only to be transferred 6 times and when I asked for a supervisor, no one had a clue what supervisor meant. Each time a different person, but with the same pea brain, comes on the line and in between you are forced to listen to loud music while you wait. I swear this methodology would work to break down the hardest prisoner of war! I didn’t recognize myself as the f-word blurted out of me several times after being forced to listen to recording-while-you-wait direct TV commercials” and loud music. It only got worse. No one would help me but they said it with the same stepford wife tone - “Thank you for your patience. I am sorry for the inconvenience.” Almost in tears, beaten down, spent, hair matted to my sweaty brow after being transferred over and over again I said that’s it - Cancel my service!!! The CSR who I made this request to could care less about me or his job, and in a bored tone, stated “I will have to transfer you to another department to cancel your service.” Could I really handle another 15 minutes of this abuse? I broke down and said “Okay.” Laying in a pool of sweat, I chose to wait, listen to the annoying muzak and finally I spoke to the “service canceller.” Who suddenly started speaking in a desperate tone, making wild card promises to save his neck. “When you re-do the order, you won’t have to opay a dime. That sounded okay by me, but guess what? They had no openings for another two weeks!!! How can that be? In my weakened state of mind, I made the order anyway. From what I have read from previous posts - Direct TV is known to LIE. There is always the strong possibility I will be in small claims trying to get them to make this “free offer” good. Time will tell I will keep you posted and let you know if I will be billed anyway, ORRR if they show up in two weeks with or without the proper equipment. Maybe this is a sign from God to quit watching the boob tube.
I am all over the commercial. After waiting for my service tech for 4 hours he called to say that it was too late and he wasn’t coming, but he could come at 9 the next morning. When I explained that,unlike him, I have a job which I actually need to be on time for and I could come in late one day after I left early to meet him.
He told me I’d have to call DirectTv and reschedule and HE HUNG UP ON ME. I was so mad I thought my head would blow off my body.
I have emailed my complaints and received the same so sorry reply. Nothing has been done. This is the worst service I’ve ever received from any company.
If you find any recourse for those of us who have been screwed by Direct TV (there must be thousands) let me know.
Direct TV is a scam!!!
Well I went to go cancel my Direst TV and all of a sudden there is a monly charge for canceling early. Now I know I was never told about the charge. The guy on the phone said well someone did tell you. Basically calling me a liar. Then he said it was my responsiblity to know my contract. First off Dont you have to sign contracts. But anyways so I took the charge and said great atleast I dont have to deal with them anymore or so I thougt. Well when I went to go pay my final bill I made a honest mistake and accidently switched to checks in the mail. The direct tv check and my rent check. Well Direct Tv recieved my rent check and cashed it. They took a check that did not have there names on it and cashed it. Someone should have saw that and I only owed 56 dollars and the took 500. SO I have been on the phone trying to get my money back for about 4 days now. I thought by the way that was illegal to cash a check that was payable to someone else. Now they tell me that I have to wait 8 days for it to be processed back to me and then however long it takes for them to mail it out in the mail. In the mean time I have to deal with rude managers who flat out said to me “The envelop had our name on it so it could be cashed. It is your fault for send out the wrong checks. SO stop blaming us.” Either way it goes it is still illegal. I will never in my life deal with them again and I will make sure that everyone I meet knows what they did and what hassle they gave me to get my 500 dollars back.
DirectTV has crossed the wrong person…I cancelled their horrible service after 60 days, understanding perfectly that I would owe a $300 early termination fee. Cool, they have a $300 equipment deposit, I returned their equipment in the box that they sent to me, all is well. WRONG. I get a bill for $262, not itemized.
After six emails and six different responses that have nothing to do with the issue, I finally get some moron the phone today who tells me they never received my deposit..then, well, we received the deposit, but we keep that because you terminated early AND you owe us $262 more. Wrong agin..no such animal as a non-refundable deposit i most jurisdictions, as the law frowns on forfeitures.
I try to get the name of their agent for Service of Process and they refuse to give it to me. They are now on my bad side and my bad side is not where they wish to be.
In December 2006 I ordered an upgrade from Directv. I was to have a HD DVR and a multi satellite dish installed. I was told that I could have the 300.00 upgrade spread over 3 payments and a sub contractor would be calling me to set up the install. 2 weeks later I received a call from Directv and they said they would be out to do the install on January 4th between 12 noon and 4 pm. Great!
I took the afternoon off on Jan 4th and patiently waited for the tech to show up. Guess what? No tech…no phone call….no nothin.
Being really pisssed off I called the Directv customer service line. After waiting 20 minutes I again gave the rep my phone # which I already had entered into the automated system. I was put on hold and directed to their sub contractor (Michigan Micro Tek). Again…I have to give them my phone # and after being put on hold for 45 minutes I am told that my appointment was NEVER SCHEDULED because they have NO INVENTORY for the new HD DVR!
So a long story…long They now have 200.00 of my 300.00 for my upgrade and no idea when the inventory will arrive.
So I have this really cool 56″ JVC HD TV. I use rabbit ears to pull in HD signal over the air and I have my preistoric Directv Tivo unit that shrinks my picture down to a smaller size than my old 48″ Toshiba.
Thanks Directv…You truely suck.
Waited a week to get somebody to call me to set up appointment for installation of HDTV equipment.
Called this week to check status and was on hold for over an hour only to find out that I need to speak with somebody at the installation department.
So, been on hold now for another 20 minutes.
I’ve given up. Somebody told me that you can buy HDTV antenna’s for your tv so I’m going that route and cancelling all this extra DirecTV HDTV bull$%^@.
All I want is the Superbowl in high def. For the love of god, why is customer service such an issue for so many companies these days!!
Direct TV’s cumstomer service has to be one of the worst I have ever dealt with. Its funny, I look back and read everyones post and its the same trouble I have. Being put on hold by reps for almost 30 mins so they can find a supervisor. Being lied to about offers and deals. Installers put never showing up on multiple days. Its too bad these are the only people that have the NFL package because I would tell Direct TV to kiss my ass in a second!
Direct TV is horrible. We just got it. It took the installer 7 hours to get to my house. He was scheduled from 8am to 12 pm. I am In College and have a job to pay for college. I took a day off from work. I called direct tv customer service that morning and was told the installer was “EN ROUTE” at 9:35 am to my house. At 1pm he showed up, the moment I stepped out for lunch. The supervisor at direct tv said since the installer was late he would have him call me so I could step out for lunch.
No call EVER.
I call back.
What happens? They put me on hold, claim everything is my fault, then claim I wasn’t home. I informed them that like them I record my calls for my own satisfaction and could play him the calls.
All of a sudden he found notes in the system that explained to him what I just said.
He apologized.
They put me in contact with a crappy sub contractor. They finally get to my house at 5pm-is. The guy stays here till 8pm. I have a wire going right through the middle of my living room going into the dual tuner dvr. Why? Because the guy thought it would be too hard to install it the right way.
These people are idiots. STAY AWAY from direct tv. I am a comcast refugee and understand bad service, but DIRECT TV takes the cake.
And in my honest opinion I think Direct TV doesn’t take hispanics seriously. Basically telling me on the phone that perhaps I misunderstood what the customer rep told me, and that they could always transfer me to a spanish operator. Umm…. I’m a writer, english is my first language.
STAY AWAY STAY AWAY for G-d sakes stay away from Direct TV.
zone.writer -at- gmail DOT com
I have had DirecTV for about ten years and had an absolute minimum of problems with the service I only lost service once for more than a few minutes and that was due to 70mph winds that blew my dish down. It took three days to get a Tech out to fix it but after that wind everybody needed a tech. If you haven’t noticed every company works the same way now days the only one making money is the CEO and he makes sure his bonus money isn’t wasted on things like customer service. Getting your money back that is a laugh every big company will give you the run around and screw up your credit rating just to teach you not to mess with the big dogs. The fact is if the tech that installs your system does a perfect job you can still have problems with electronic components and if he does a poor job you will never know. The tech isn’t on the end of a phone line he is there in person to fix your problems and if you are ready for him or her and explain the problem or the service that is required there still can be a problem with the work order. He doesn’t make the work orders he just does the work. Most get up before 5AM and sometimes work past 10PM to make DirecTV customers happy. Some days he only makes 50 bucks because of canceled job that are incovenient to the customer and bad or duplicate work orders. He tries to arrive with a good attitude and is confronted by a customer that is angry with DTV and is going to take it out on the tech., or by a wife that has to check everything with her husband and so wastes time. This makes him late to his next job and that customer is now mad guess what the person infront of you just kicked you out of line and your mad at the only one that can help you. I am sure there are Bad techs, Bad lawyers, Bad doctors, Bad sectetaries and certainly Bad supervisors and I have met my share. I do believe that people with respect for other peoples ocupations get better service than people that have no respect for blue collar workers.
Hello, im a satisfied local cable customer thats in the process of trying to change to direct tv because one of my family members wants a certain channel that cable doesn’t provide. I went ahead and called direct tv to set it up, they took my credit card and social security number and made an appointment with me for the next day, between 12pm and 5pm on a thursday(that sounded great, call one day and get installed the day after.) At about 5pm I get a call from what sounded like the installer, he said that he would be here after he gets done with the job hes working on. I told him, ah no problem, not in any hurry, if its too late for ya we can set up another time(I really didn’t wan’t anyone here after 5pm, working in the dark on my roof, I do have a life.) So he set me up for the next day from 8am-12pm, this time it was a no call no show! I called dtv right away, told the dtv person my story, she placed me on a 3way call to there local rep, they had the paperwork but couldn’t get ahold of the install people and said they would call me back.
I didn’t call them until the following Tuesday because I figured I would get a call at least by Monday, nothing! Again, told the dtv person my story, she said there sorry and that an appointment has already been made for Friday from 8am-12pm,(lies) I said ok. It is now 11:10am on the following Friday as I write this waiting for them. By now im foaming at the mouth because I doubt there going to call or show. If they do show, the job is probably going to carry into the mid afternoon. So far I wasted about a total of 13 hours waiting for them and 8 days thinking about it! Thats three days totally wasted waiting for them when you split 13 hours into the three days.
Ok, we all know that customer service isn’t always perfect no matter who your dealing with. Under most circumstances I will let an honest mistake slide with a warm smile and give them 3 chances to do what they say there going to do.
It’s 11:38am now and I just got a call from an installer, said hes going to be here in about a half hour, I said ok. I just want to get this thing over with so my family member can enjoy that one station! If something else goes wrong im going to just pull the plug on the whole thing.
I guess if you really wan’t or need dtv just be ready to wait and pull teeth until it gets installed. And make sure you don’t cancel your cable before your dtv is installed because you will be without tv for over a week!
Hello, im a satisfied local cable customer thats in the process of trying to change to direct tv because one of my family members wants a certain channel that cable doesn’t provide. I went ahead and called direct tv to set it up, they took my credit card and social security number and made an appointment with me for the next day, between 12pm and 5pm on a thursday(that sounded great, call one day and get installed the day after.) At about 5pm I get a call from what sounded like the installer, he said that he would be here after he gets done with the job hes working on. I told him, ah no problem, not in any hurry, if its too late for ya we can set up another time(I really didn’t wan’t anyone here after 5pm, working in the dark on my roof, I do have a life.) So he set me up for the next day from 8am-12pm, this time it was a no call no show! I called dtv right away, told the dtv person my story, she placed me on a 3way call to there local rep, they had the paperwork but couldn’t get ahold of the install people and said they would call me back.
I didn’t call them until the following Tuesday because I figured I would get a call at least by Monday, nothing! Again, told the dtv person my story, she said there sorry and that an appointment has already been made for Friday from 8am-12pm,(lies) I said ok. It is now 11:10am on the following Friday as I write this waiting for them. By now im foaming at the mouth because I doubt there going to call or show. If they do show, the job is probably going to carry into the mid afternoon. So far I wasted about a total of 13 hours waiting for them and 8 days thinking about it! Thats three days totally wasted waiting for them when you split 13 hours into the three days.
Ok, we all know that customer service isn’t always perfect no matter who your dealing with. Under most circumstances I will let an honest mistake slide with a warm smile and give them 3 chances to do what they say there going to do.
It’s 11:38am now and I just got a call from an installer, said hes going to be here in about a half hour, I said ok. I just want to get this thing over with so my family member can enjoy that one station! If something else goes wrong im going to just pull the plug on the whole thing.
I guess if you really wan’t or need dtv just be ready to wait and pull teeth until it gets installed. And make sure you don’t cancel your cable before your dtv is installed because you will be without tv for over a week!
Yep it’s truly not the installer or reps fault, you can only blame the fat ceos for this problem. You can tell that it’s all about the money and nothing about good customer service. If they were losing money because of this, you can bet the ceos would do something to schedule customers properly. I give the workers an A and the corporate people a big fat zero!
I have had enough with this so called company. Direct TV. Directly screw you up the ass is what they should be called. They have ruined my perfect credit and made my day a bad one! I had direct tv 6 years ago~ yes
“six”… and after my final bill was payed, equiptment was returned, all was said and done. I apply for a loan and what should be on my credit??? yes! Direct TV. I call because certianly it’s a mistake, we have’nt had service for 6 years! The “manager” tells me that there is a late fee of $208.08 due to a transmitter card that wasnt returned with the equiptment. “Im sorry maam’ but there were two movies that were not paid for on your final bill”…well.. isnt that why you call it a final bill, how should I know there werent two movies paid for? and Is there a reason why I have lived at the same address for 3 years and not one person has called me or sent me a statement saying that I owe you???? OMG!!! Now you want me to wait for 6 weeks while I send a letter to Colorado to see if you can clear up my credit?
I will NEVER NEVER NEVER have service with Direct TV EVER again. and dont be suprised if you drive by my house and see a sign in my front yard letting the world know how bad they suck!!!
You stupid fucking drunk prick! I work at a call center for directv. And there are policies that we have to go by. If you call from a number other than the one on the acct, it won’t pull it up and we have to pull it up w/ your help. I hope that everytime you call, you get treated w/ the worst service you could ever imagine. Did you know that if we do not go through the troubleshooting steps and the call is recorded, we are fired?? i dont know about other people but i am not going to lose my job over a cunt like you!!!! btw, i stopped working there after a year yesterday. go drink somemore you faggot
Direct TV has by far the worst customer service I have ever encountered. I got on with them the beginning of Jan and they have been a pain ever since, from the installation of the satellite dishes to purchasing pay per view. Even getting charged for subscriptions I didn’t purchase. Trying to get a refund has been a joke. One person will say yes, but you have to call back at a certain time. The next person leaves you on hold forever. Then the phone disconnects. Relocating the dishes has been awful. I called 5 minutes after they were put up, because I didn’t see where he put them until they left. They said it would cost 46.00 to move them. I made a few calls and scheduled a free locate. Someone came out to my house and said he wouldn’t do it. Made a call and determined it would cost me 75.00 to move them. I spoke to about 25 different customer service representatives. Every single one of them gave me a different answer. And a confirmation number means nothing. They will pass you off from one person to another, leave you on hold forever and disconnect you before they will address your issue.
march 5, 2007
I HAD A VICTORY IN DEALING WITH DIRECTV ! ! !
feb. 20,2007 i ordered a $39.99 package, and on the day they were supposed to install, i got at call at 4:45 A. M.! ! and again at 5:45 a.m. (the middle of the night to me) because they couldn’t find my address.
i called the customer service number at 8 a.m. & spent an hour trying to straighten it out, including learning that someone had sent the order to MICHIGAN (that’s why they called me –they couldn’t find my California address in Michigan. )
he said someone would call to set up another appt. to install. by 3 p.m., i had not heard from anyone and called again. THEY SAID THAT NO ORDER HAD BEEN PLACED. from 3 p.m. until 9 p.m. we were on the phone continuously for SIX hours — trying to place an order. that’s 7 HOURS IN ONE DAY TRYING TO GET AN ORDER WRITTEN AND AN INSTALLATION DATE SET - (march 2).(this six-hour marathon just trying to pace the order should have warned me plenty, but i wasn’t listening. what a dope! )
they did keep the second installation date, and AFTER THE INSTALLERS HAD LEFT, PEOPLE AT THE COMPANY, HAVING SCREWED UP AGAIN, REQUIRED ME TO START FROM THE BEGINNING AGAIN in order to write the order. again.
after i got through with getting an order written, i called them back as one of the stations i had been promised at the original ordering time, feb. 20, said “station not purchased”. they told me that the package i ordered was no longer available, but i could upgrade for more money in order to receive the ONE station that was most important to me (WGN from Chicago as it has america’s funniest home videos from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m.) i used to laugh for an hour and sleep like a baby. no more.. . . .
so on saturday, i put into google “directv - complaints” and read such horrible horror stories about directv that i decided to dump my television additction (the drug with a plug) and i plan to use only netflix for old cable shows like six feet under and the sopranos, and old movies and all the modern movies i’ve missed over the years. SCREW THE SATELLITE AND CABLE COMPANIES — dish tv is just as bad.
HOW DID I HAVE A VICTORY?
i called the office of the california attorney general, and was told that what directv had done was, indeed, bait and switch (offering the same deal as promised, but for more money), and it was illegal in california.
so i called the company on a speakerphone, had my friend who had done 3 hours of the calls sitting there, took notes as i had done before (including each operator’s ID number) and I RECORDED THE WHOLE 45 MINUTES OF TALKING TO THE PEOPLE AT DIRECTV today. after i had talked to several people (having told them they were being recorded), i got the customer retention supervisor. he told me, when i told him i wanted to cancel, and i didn’t want any deals or anything to do with the company, that BECAUSE I HAD CALLED WITHIN 3 DAYS TO CANCEL, THERE WOULD BE NO FEES OR CHARGES, and he would send me a box to send, postpaid, the black box and the remote control device back to them.
what did i learn? from now on i will ALWAYS TAPE EVERY ENCOUNTER WITH ANYONE ON THE OTHER END OF THE LINE IF A TRANSACTION IS GOING ON, and, of course, i’ll tell them they are being taped, and tell them i’ve talked with the attorney general about my legal rights regarding ordering anything.
i wish you all luck with dealing with this company. they are the most difficult, slippery and inept people i’ve ever dealt with. it will be hard for me to give up the 14 channels i watched out of the 140 channels i paid for, but getting over an addiction, saving the money i spent on this addiction, and having a way better sense of peace of mind will be worth it. (and, i’m very grateful that i don’t work at directv, or any place like that)
(as usual, the management is responsible for the culture of the company and for providing the appropriate training that is part of the policy at well-run companies where customers are not tortured, as reported in these websites, and employees can be proud of a job well done.)
Well lookie here another pure example of Customer service from directtv. My adivse is to not aim for DirectTV as a career choice, maybe aim a little higher in life….like working at a bar.
(from above comment)
“hope plummer
Feb 23rd, 2007 at 2:30 pm
You stupid fucking drunk prick! I work at a call center for directv. And there are policies that we have to go by. If you call from a number other than the one on the acct, it won’t pull it up and we have to pull it up w/ your help. I hope that everytime you call, you get treated w/ the worst service you could ever imagine. Did you know that if we do not go through the troubleshooting steps and the call is recorded, we are fired?? i dont know about other people but i am not going to lose my job over a cunt like you!!!! btw, i stopped working there after a year yesterday. go drink somemore you faggot ”
By the way…to everyone else but Hope Plummer, You can suspend your acct. for up to 6 months without going out of contract and having extra fees for cancellation. Just tell them you are traveling and you would like to suspend your account for 6 months (a little insider info they don’t want you to know about)
THE CALLS ARE SCREENED, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH MANAGEMENT AND THEY HAVE NO CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING.
THE CALLS ARE SCREENED, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO REACH MANAGEMENT AND THE PEOPLE NEED CUSTOMER SERVICE TRAINING. IF YOU WANT TO REACH THE COMPLAINT DESK IN DIRECT TV’S CORPORATE OFFICE CALL THEIR REGULAR # IN EL SUGUNDO, CA. I KNOW OF NO 800 TO THE CORPORATE OFFICE.
This is what I sent their Little Contact US Email.
I called up for your service in July of 2006 I watched the advertisements and the ad’s said nothing about a service agreement/ contract, When I talked to the Rep I asked him ” Now I can cancel this anytime I want” I asked this question several times and I was told many times over YES. During my first phone call I was it was never disclosed to me that I had TERMS AND CONDITIONS to adhere too, nor was I ever told that I would be under a contract for two years. If I would have been told that I would NEVER HAVE SIGNED UP FOR THEIR STUPID SERVICE I WOULD HAVE GOT CABLE TV. I never received a copy of these so called TERMS and CONDITIONS in the mail that the “lovely” Cancelation Rep told me I was to receive, and I am unable to locate them on your web page where I was directed to read them to understand the CONTRACT I was in.
This is the worst service I have had from any company, Comcast and Qwest have been very easy to work with and are very helpful, they disclosed the truth from the beginning and they have never been as SHADY as Direct TV has been.
Needless to say I am very upset being told now that I have to Pay almost $200.00 to cancel a service I have been very unhappy with, due to canceling programming and then continuing to be billed for it long after I had canceled. We are moving and we am not keeping the equipment, we are giving it all back. And I will take it to the STUPID OFFICE where they want it to go.
Also we were never told about this commitment when we signed up. How come is it when ever I call in something changes, something new happens? Something new is disclosed? That was not disclosed when I originally signed up.
When you put someone under a CONTRACT they are to sign it. I did not sign any contract agreeing to keep the service for two years and I was never told when we signed up that this was the case. THEY LIED, THEY FLAT OUT LIED.
Needless to say I am now filing a complaint with the BBB of Utah for this shady practice and I expect this to be resolved in my favor because of this Non Disclosure of Contract. And I will fight tooth and nail for that, If they want to send me to collections they will have a big problem. This contract was not DISCLOSED to us at the time we signed up, we were not mailed the so called TERMS and Conditions that are to be on the DirectTV web page. I have looked and I am unable to locate still to this day, Terms and Conditions my ASS.
Wow…I feel like I am not alone anymore. My wife and I are currently on the phone now. Since we have had DTV installed in November (should have been installed in September but due to tech issues, missed appointments, etc) we have had nothing but issues. We have had at least two service calls a month…one month we had contacted DTV over 5 times. Issues ranged from no HDTV coming in, no signal coming in at all, billing issues, etc. We have canceled are service and am now going through the dispute process to get the early termination fee waived. As with all of you, they have given us the run around. The local company has a different system than the national customer service, there is a different system for every issue…if you want an excuse, they have come up with every one in the book! I am a pretty calm person, but they have just pushed me to the point where I have had raise my voice and swear.
We will definitely be submitting a complaint to the BBB. I HAVE NEVER RECEIVED SUCH POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. I can’t wait to switch back to cable and actually watch TV! Any additional advice or help someone can give will be greatly appreciated! How do we start a class action suit?
WOW…
“hope plummer” - nice customer service. It’s no wonder everyone posting on this site has a problem with the attitudes of the CSRs they talk to.
The saddest part about all of this, is that every phone/internet/cable company is THE SAME. I’ve had issues exactly like these, word for word, with Charter and Verizon, and I’ve heard of the same for Comcast and others. They’re all terrible, don’t care about anything but money, and could care less if you cancel…b/c some poor bastard is coming around the corner to take your place.
I recently moved and Direct TV was not able to find a line of sight on my new house. There are woods behind me and I guess the satelite could not penetrate them. I wanted to keep direct tv, but unfortunately they could not provide me service. Before I moved I added a receiver (for a new roomate in my old apartment). So the contract was renewed another 2 years. When I canceled my service because, THEY COULDN’T PROVIDE ME SERVICE, I was slapped with the early cancellation fee $267.
Called, sent a letter to dispute it as I was told, got several calls from their dispute center. Each time I got a call it went to my voicemail, and I called them back within minutes. The person in India, told me each time they were still reviewing my dispute. Well why had they called? I guessed there was some info someone in the office needed to tell me, but no one could figure out why they’d called so I figured I’d just wait. I even sat through a customer service survey (happy to give my bad review).
So today I get a call from a collection agency! I called direct tv and told them i was waiting for someone to get back to me and they never did. The girl said they’d been trying to contact me. Well, duh, they had conatcted me. Not my fault that they were clueless when they did. I had to send the dispute in writing, couldn’t they have sent me a response in writing before sending the “debt” to a collection agency. The CSR wouldn’t give me a number of the person in collections (the person who I suppose was calling me, though my phone never registered it (cell) and there were no voicemails) So now I have to send yet another letter. Start all over. Wait by my phone to pick it up the second they call.
I need help to get my rebate for the direct tv equipment via Qwest. Please contact me at my work email address - royalplazaretire@comcast.net
yes, I have been with this company for almost 3 months now, and out of that only half of one month did the tv work. I think they have a 50 page file of all the different problems they NEVER FIXED AND WANTE TO CHARGE ME A TERMINATION FEE FOR NEVER REALY WATCHING ONE DAAAMN FULL TV SHOW OR MOVIE. I HAD PROBLEMS MY FIRST WEEK BUTI REMAINED CALM AND LOOK WHERE THAT TOOK ME, TO A FINE FOR SOMETHING I DIDNT EVEN UTILIZED!!!!
I HATE DIRECT TV!!!
THEY MAKE CONTRACTS TO MESS PEOPLE UP WE SHOULDNT EVEN THINK OF OURSELVES AS CUSTOMERS UNDER THEIR EVIL TRAP!!!
DO NOT SIGN UP IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU… YOU WILL END UP WITH NO TV, SERVICE AND JUST A BUNCH OF EXCUSES AND A HUGE FINE ON TOP OF THAT IF YOU WANT TO CANCE.
To say the least, I’m disappointed with Direct TV’s customer service. They changed the terms of our “agreement” after the installation, and now I have no recourse.
When I called the 800 number a few weeks back just to compare prices with my cable service, the sales rep was quite aggressive and offered me what seemed like an amazing package for $65 per month. He assured me that there was no catch, and the price would stay fixed at $65 each month, unlike the cable specials that jump to a higher price 3 months down the road. When I called back 2 or 3 days later to confirm my installation appointment, I was told my price would be $85 per month. Being passed to a customer care rep, I said “tell me right now if my rate is going to be $85 per month so I can cancel our installation appointment & tell the cable company not to pick up their box.” He assured me that Direct TV wants my business and that he will go ahead & make a note in the computer that I’ll be billed only $65 per month for the Direct TV package I’d wanted.
The bill arrived yesterday, and I see that I’m being charged $90 per month! When I called in & wrestled with a customer care supervisor for 15 minutes, she told me, “ok, go to http://www.directtv.com/rebate and enter in the info, and we’ll bill you $70 per month for the first year, and $90 for the second year of my contract.” This was the first I’d heard about a TWO YEAR CONTRACT. “I feel like I’m getting squeezed here, so maybe you should come over now & pick up your equipment,” I told her. Though I never even signed anything to begin with, this customer care supervisor told me I’ll be billed $300 if I cancel my service. I was paying $92 with cable, and I never would have agreed to a 2-year commitment with Direct TV anyhow, had they mentioned it to me beforehand!
More of the same…
Got service upgrade to HD in Nov. and we couldn’t ever get the signal to come in properly. Tried to wiork through the problems with CS and local techs. Nothing could be done. We canceled in January. Now we are fighting the early cancelation fee too. We are in collections now and it doesn’t sound like we will have much luck either?!!…amazing!
Well I see I’m not the only with problems from Direct Tv.
When I called to have my service upgraded in Nov of 06 to a DVR the service tech was “real” nice.
Didn’t trust him the minute he walked in my house. The comments he made about items in my home, I knew at that moment that he was going to break into my house when I left for work.
I live only and work for a police department, I even had my shirt that had the police departments name on it. So I removed all of the important things out and jewlery, lap top anything that could be taken fast. I was so sure about this that I came to work and told my commanding officer that the tech was going to break in that night.
I get a call from a friend (co- worker) that was going to meet me at my house a little after midnight when I got home, guess what I had been broke into they or he trashed my house. I called Direct TV and got the run around told me I was stupid and I should call the police and I would have to call the sub-contractor blah, blah, blah.
Funny there was six other breaking and entering in that area. And Direct Tv is the only service that you can have in that area.
He hasn’t been charged but two others have and the state police think he was giving out locations to his friends to break into.
Worst yet Direct TV is doing everything in their power to try and charge me and early termination and other fees. So I will be suing them and their sub-contractors. I may not be able to prove it in a criminal court but in a civil court doesn’t look to good for them.
I’VE BEEN TRYING TO GET IN TOUCH WITH SOMEONE AT DIRECT TV SATILLITE THAT WILL HELP ME BEFORE I GO TO ACTION 9 NEWS & MY ATTORNEY. SOME RENTERS THAT I RENTED TO ON 1610 TREXLER AVE GASTONIA NC., HAD A SATELLITE PUT ON TOP OF MY POOL HOUSE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!!! IN ADDITION, THE INSTALLERS CAVED THE WHOLE ROOF IN NEXT TO THE LEFT CORNER OF MY POOL HOUSE. I WILL GIVE YOU ALL TO MONDAY MAY 1ST 2007 TO GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH ME BEFORE I TAKE ACTION.
SINCERELY,
DAVID HUFFSTETLER
FUCK DIRECT TV
i want the fight tonight and they’re down or something…fuck them, how do you go down on website and phone in 2007? especially during a major boxing event…pathetic, i’m sticking with cable no bullshit and they record programs for you
THIS IS THE LETTER I SENT TO DIRECT TV VIA CERTIFIED MAIL AND NEVER GOT A RESPONSE FROM THE. I ALSO SENT IT TO THE BBC AND THEY SENT ME BACK A LETTER STATING THAT I NEEDED TO CONSULT W/ AN ATTORNEY. TO THIS DAY DIRECT TV HAS NOT RESPONDED TO ME LETTER AND I RECEIVED CORRESPONDENCE FROM A COLLECTION AGENCY NOW. DIRECT TV IS ON THE VERGE OF A CLASS ACTION SUIT AND IT’S JUST A MATTER OF TIME NOW. PLEASE VOICE YOUR EARLY CANCEL PROBLEMS W/ THE MAJOR LAW FIRMS FOR CLASS ACTION SUITS. SUGGESTION - MILBERG WEISS OUT OF NEW YORK.
“March 26, 2007
Final Letter – Response Requested by 15 Calendar Days Of Receipt
Direct TV / CEO / President / Officer:
2230 E Imperial Hwy.
El Segundo, CA 90245
Re: Account#
As I am very surprised by the lack of customer service and employee action and completely appalled by the time and energy I have put into this matter, I will no longer deal with any ‘customer service’ associates or their ‘managers’ of Direct TV—this has now become an issue that corporate leaders need to be fully aware of. It is my goal to have this issue taken care of once and for all and to inform company leaders of the extremely negative behavior of representatives.
Though I have already explained this situation to approximately 10-15 of your associates over the past 2-3 months, I will do so once again so you can be completely aware of where I am coming from. Please know this is not an exaggerated version—I am confident that if you pull my file you will find notes that highlight my attempts to clear this issue and your associates’ lack of response, action and knowledge and their blatant lies.
Note that when I originally signed up for Direct TV neither the representative on the phone nor the installation personnel informed me of any cancellation fees. Thus, I will not be held responsible because of your own associates’ negligence.
After having Direct TV for several months in Minnesota, I was transferred to Arizona for a job. At this time, we did not have permission from our landlord to install the satellite system in his house and had basic cable provided by the HOA. I received an action plan from your customer service representative to take all of my receivers and remote controls to a local Best Buy store. I did this as instructed too. He also informed me that because of not being able to physically install the system into my new home and not being advised of the early cancellation fee, the ‘early cancellation’ fee would not be applicable—regardless of whether I was initially informed of it or not. He also advised to write a letter to your billing offices to notify them on the situation—apparently this was not something he could take care of himself even though it was Direct TV’s lack of action in the first place- not my own.
You can imagine that you would be highly irritated if you went to a nice restaurant and your food came out prepared wrong and you were told to go back to the kitchen and fix it yourself….
Since January I have received several bills in the mail that highlight my need to pay these ‘early cancellation fees’. Initially, I contacted your representatives and they informed me that it was a mistake on the bill—unfortunately I was the one who was again held responsible for Direct TV’s mistakes. I was told to write a letter explaining that I was never informed of the fees and that I did return the boxes as informed and was assured that I would not have to pay because of the physical circumstances.
Again, I did not receive a response to this letter beyond another incorrect bill. In early February and March 2007 I called your offices and began to explain my situation to one of your associates who apparently did not have the ability or jurisdiction to follow up on my initial requests. Thus, I was put on hold as she was to get a manager which lead to her hanging up on me instead. That evening I was also hung up on by three other associates—I would follow the prompts and once I got to an associate it was VERY clear that they were picking up the phone and then hanging up—as if it were some childish game and not an interaction with a customer. I finally got through to another representative and they put me through to a manager, Michelle who verified that I was indeed hung up on as she could track the phone log and she herself identified her neglectful associates. Unfortunately, they must have learned this negative behavior from Michelle herself as she ‘helped’, saying that she was ‘at that moment, while we were on the phone, writing an email to the appropriate parties both about the situation surrounding the cancellation fees and also the very very negative interactions I had just experienced’. Michelle assured me that she would follow up with me in 5-7 business days. Those days passed and I still did not hear back from her. During our initial conversation she gave me her direct line to contact her as needed and I left three messages on this line and did not receive a response from her.
Finally last week, I spoke with, one of Michelle’s associates. He reviewed the notes in my file and saw the conversation with Michelle and then heard from me the lack of action she showed on following through. Your organization has weak associates and they learn from even weaker managers—your associate seemed quite amused that his own manager had put me in such a negative situation. Again, I was disappointed when he could not put me through to Michelle because she ‘was not available’. Again, I was reassured that action would be taken and that Michelle or another manager would call me back that evening, and again, I was let down by your company’s atrocious customer service as I did not receive a call as promised or any action of any sort for over 3 months.
I just recently received a letter dated March 12, 2007, which I have attached a copy, advising that I have been charged only a prorated portion of the total fee, based on the number of full months that remained on my original commitment. Again, this is incorrect as I was never advised of an early cancellation fee. In addition, there is no amount listed on the letter therefore what are you now charging me? Please be advised that the last conversation I had w/ a Melissa on the week of March 19th was very appalling. She
advised that she was another manager that works in the same department Michelle works in and was returning her call. She tried to settle this matter by deducting $125 off of
what your company states I owe and I just hung up on her as I am tired of dealing with this situation. It appears that your company is trying to play games with me and I am sick of it.
It is my hope that, if you are an organization of any integrity, you will respond to the lack of service and rude behavior of your managers and their associates and finally to my discontent and time, energy and money wasted.
Please be advised that I expect to receive a response to this letter within 15 calendar days of receipt of this letter. I am requesting response by phone and letter. As not to cause any confusion and to be assured that your company receives this letter I paid out of pocket to have this sent VIA CERTIFIED MAIL/RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED.
Please also be advised that this is my last attempt to have this matter resolved. If I do not receive a response by the requested date I will have no alternative but to escalate this matter. Please also be advised that if there is no response to this letter within 15 days of receipt I will use legal remedies to properly resolve this issue. I am requesting response from the appropriate management level and do not want another form letter advising me the same thing as the attached letter. I request that you specifically address my issues and respond promptly. As this is most likely an issue faced with numerous customers, former and present, you may find it is in your best interest to resolve this before I escalate.
Regards,”
DO NOT USE DIRECT TV AND START NOTIFYING MAJOR CLASS ACTION LAW SUIT FIRMS SO WE CAN END THIS ONCE & FOR ALL.
We are having the same customer service issues. I had Direct TV for 6 years - my service stopped working properly. I called CS and they said I needed a new box. I disagreed, because all 3 of my tvs were not working. The CS Rep sent me a new box without my permission, I hooked it up, it didn’t work, so I mailed it back. I then called and cancelled my service. Now they are charging me over $200 for an early cancellation fee!!! Apparently when the new box was sent (which I did not want), it renewed my contract. I wrote a letter to “dispute the charges”, but did not get any results. Now every representative I speak with says the same thing, “the charges are valid”. UUUUGGGGHHHH… Let me know if there is a class action suit, I would love to sign up.
After 5 months of all of the above,and being on the brink of collection I sent them my bill for ROOF TOP ADVERTISING AND STORAGE, TOTALING $2,200 (since their dish was still on my roof and they refused removal) I INFORMED THEM THAT UNLESS MY BILL WAS PAID, LESS THE MONEY THEY CLAIMED I OWED, I WOULD PUT THEM IN FOR COLLECTION OR SERVE THEM A DOCUMENT TO APPEAR IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT. THAT DOCUMENT WOULD BE SERVED ON THE PRESIDENT OF DIRECTTV IN COLORADO.Imagine if the Pres was served a subpheona by every one who had a dish on their roof.The legal fees alone would be astronomical. GO FOR IT!
PLEASE - Someone out there HAS to have a number or name that we can all get ahold of at the corporate level……….start calling into the guys raking in all the $$$ from those they have LIED to…..any ex employees that know the ropes?
The truth about satellite & cable companies is they have a high profit margin and cut their expenses by offering average installation or service. I know because I’ve worked for plenty of them. They employ contractors to use them at pleasure, which is nothing new, and they pay such a low amount to their in-house installation group that it’s amazing anyone has their services installed at all! I’ve worked in the cable & satellite industry for 20 years. I’ve setup a billing and revenue platform that’s unbeatable. For my trouble, heart attack, and stress I was laid off. Nothing new for big business. I setup my own small business, jw solution pro network, and now I work directly with the customers getting them the professional installation they should have had to begin with. It’s nice seeing happy people. I’m doing it because I can undercut the satellite and cable companies and everyone really can afford the service and get their home theatre hooked up for quality workmanship.
I enjoyed Direct TV for 6 months, but then I moved about a mile away to another house. The pine trees in Georgia grow about 70 ft in my new back yard. The 3 installers have all agreed that there is no line of sight (LOS) including a “supervisor”. So after cancelling my service and paying my final bill, I receive a bill for cancelling the service. The CSRs and supervisors all acknowledge that it wasn’t my fault, but they billed me anyway. Now I get a letter from a collector for a debt I don’t owe. These guys are a rip off. Just think that drug dealers go to jail for less than these crooks are doing.
feburary i sent in a fill out form for the $100.00 rebate for new customers, after 120 days i cannot find anyone to help, it was waite another 30 days, and gave me a tracking number now the tracking number is no good and i can not find anyone to help, let alone speak english that i can understand. jack
This is what I used for Corporate. Told person that answered I wanted Corporate or Complaints. It is answered Office of President 1-310-535-5000 address 2230 E. Imperial Highway, El-Segundo, CA.90245. Hope it helps it did me.
I have had alot of the same problems you guys have had. Have had problems with the system since they put it in. Called today because there are charges on my bill for stuff I did not order and they are refusing to take them off. They say they can only take one of by company policy, which is bullshit. Of course I get pissed and the guy starts laughing in my face which pisses me off even more and now he refuses to take any charges off. He also refuses to put his supervisor on the phone. This is the worst customer service I have ever seem. This company is not all that it says it is. On their website they say they have excellant customer service, by whos standards. Definantly not by my or any company I have worked for. You don’t laught at a customer while they are on the phone that is just plan rude and very unprofessional.
My suggestion to everyone is to write a letter to the corporate office and let them now what kind of crappy service they are providing. Here is the address if anyone wants it.
Directv Corporate Offices
2230 East Empirial HWY
El Segundo Ca. 90245
fuck direct tv
only 2 weeks after paying a 182.00$ bill, they cut my service. How can they say that a channel hasnt been purchased when I just payed for it 2 weeks ago? Stupid mother fuckers
Don’t do it…if you are even thinking of signing up for Direct TV. They have the worst service if you can call your satellite signal never working service. Their customer service is very poor and unresponsive. You have to pay for having a technician sent out.
If you are currently in a Direct Tv contract and you need service tell them you are going to cancel and get connected to the cancellation department. They will beg you to stay and offer you a free technician and credits. The more you say no the bigger the credits get. They offered me a $10 credit and it went all the way up to $200.
Although for me the credits weren’t enough I just wanted to go back to cable to make the whole family happy. Nothing they could have given me would have been worth it. I still had to pay an amount to get out of my contract but it is it worth it to get out of the headaches we have had. If your children know how to reset a satellite signal you know you have issues!
I have a huge problem with these large companies selling a feature for a low price and you find out there are many hidden costs ! I ordered direct tv on 3/9 . They were out to install within 3 days …imagine that . The installer was a sub-contractor and left the biggest mess in my home you have ever seen . He did not hook up my boxes correctley nor program my remotes . I came upstairs only to find he had already left !! I paid $239 up front for a DVR recorder (joke this is to rent not buy ) . He left and it did not work . I called …they sent another installe to fix this mess but not until 4/9 .WTF I then recieved 2 more boxes that were not working … 45 days into this mess and I called to cancel ! Guess what a $275 cancel fee …wait . Dont I have atleast 30 days of actual service before I am into a contract ? I am pissed to say the least . Since 4/9 I paid $239 for a reciever that doesn’t work which I had to send back…….. $180 for 2 months of service which I never recieved ….and $20 for a disconect fee and service cancel fee !! I called and threw a fit only to get no problem we will not charge you a fee for cancel because I know they have 10 pages of calls for me ! I was told they would return my call in 3 days to confirm …. never happened .. Now I am fighting the charge which must go to their higher ups which I cant talk to ..They will call me .. Great customer service !! BS !!! Unbelieveable !!!!!! I will keep COMCAST !!! Run like hell from these thieves ! ?? P
Won’t I ever learn? I live in rural Arkansas and have had both Dish and Direct Tv. I cancelled Direct and went to Dish when they were going to charge me $200 for a box to replace the one that went out…That was 4 years ago..I signed up for Dish and was with them for 4 years..I cancelled them over a billing problem and they begged me to stay as the Direct tv installer was in my home..I should have thrown him out on his ass and kept Dish…First of all I was promised I would get a portable dvd player and $100 referral fee..$50 for me and $50 for my sister in law. They try and confuse you on the sign-up so you don’t really know what you are getting till they bill you..I have online billing and have written them 4 times to ask them to explain charges. I get an email from an idiot telling me to go to the website and look at my bill…That really told me a lot…I have looked at it so many times I will never understand it. I paid $39 for something they called a one time charge and then I was billed for $64 more when the package I took was only $39 after they remove the $10 fee for the free HBO and Showtime which stinks as they keep showing the same stuff day after day..I was told by a friend of mine to cancel that shit before they start billing me for it as they will do it and will take forever to cancel them if I don’t do it before my 3 mos is up…This may sound confusing? hah hah Well it IS….I am sorry everyone has had so many problems but it is nice to see we are not alone. When we first moved to rural Ar. we could only get 3 channels via an outside rotary antenna…then the satellite came…Hell I was happier with the 3 channels and if I ever get rid of these crooks I may go back to the 3 channels…Nothing on but crap anyway…Thanks for letting me vent…Bette
I also am very disgusted with directv when i first ordered service i was told i would recieve a free portable dvd player and 3 free months of showtime and cinemax, cool right?,HELL NO!!!!!! i get my forst bill and am charged for the showtime and cinemax so i call CS and they tell me that i wasnt suposed to get the channels for free and they can give me credit for them but only $5 per month for 10 months what the hell is that kind of shit. Also the asshole tells me that this is the only credit i will recieve ever even if once again it is their error. Also seeing the $50 referr a friend commercial makes me so mad. I referred a friend and guess what? NO $50 for either of us. So now not only did i screw my friend by having her sign on to this fraudulent company we didnt even get our $50 credit. I am deffinatly gonna contact a lawyer its not even really the money its the way they lie and cheat you into signing up for their service and then leaving you no options but to keep the service or pay out the ass to get out.
Oh yeah and never got the dvd player either and that was one of the reasons i signed on.
Call Direct TV at:
1-800-822-1269
1-866-739-5192
You won’t believe all the crap I’ve been through with this stupid company. For a company that adveritises that they are so great it sucks!! All they want to do is take your money give you the big run around like they must hire the doppiest people around because it seems that no one knows what is going on.I’m going to get my money back one way or the other and I’m telling everyone that I know what a ripoff this company is.My story is too long to write but it’s taken me since 04-26-2007 to get this far. Please join me in letting everyone you know to stire away from this joke of a company.
Hilda
Thanks everyone I was going to get direct tv, NOT NOW. I will stick with cable and know it works.
As soon as my 24 month period is up it is back to cable for me. Direct TV is horrible. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made. Poor customer service, if you can get service. Spent one hour on the phone and still could not get them to let me talk to a manager. I hope the word gets around and people stop using them all together.
I filed a BBB complaint against Direct Tv- all they did was tell me that Direct Tv said I was accountable for the charges and dismissed my case. They did not ask for proof from Direct TV or anything- so the BBB is a worthless endeavor. My only option now will be to obtain an attorney which is an expense I cannot afford.
I had Dtrect TV for over a year. Started on a 1 year contract which was up 01/07 - in March of 2007 I called to cancel because I had met my contract and Dish had a free DVR. Direct offered me a DVR if I do not disconnect. So I said sure. That was all. Then in May I disconnected because I was moving and they would not honor the move me free thing - said policy had changed and now I was not allowed 2 moves in a 2 year time frame - and further it would cost me to move- so I cancelled. Now they are billing me $274 for some early cancel fee. They are claiming that adding the DVR extended my contract for 2 years! I was not told any such thing, they argue that it is posted as such on the web- Hello- I was not on the web when they added the DVR I was on the phone and that rep made no mention of a contract extension.
i COULDNT AGREE MORE WITH all of you!!! Direct Tv has to win the prize for the most inefficient, incompetent, untrained company ever!!!!!!!!!!
I am now being harrased over a 600.00 bill which was never real- I have all 3 receipts from Fed Ex showing the return of my equipment- Despite numerous phone calls wher by the way- they acknowledge receiving my eguipment, they still keep trying to bill me- After writing to billing disputes, they are now threatening my good credit with this ridiculous matter!!! Anybody with info or desire to sue them- contact me at woodsidewino@yahoo.com- thank you- michelle hebert
I paid through Moneygram over 24 hours ago and they will not turn my cable satelite back on they hung up twice for no reason and will not except my reciept conformation number. There system has been updating for over 12 hours. I was told this is better than cable but if it were cable the problem would been taken care of when I showed proof I paid the bill. I will never go satelite again!!!!!!
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who is disappointed in direct Tv’s service. They are no help what so ever.
There are a few good customer service reps, but they are few and far between. Most everyone I have delt with has been insincere and realy does not care. Techical support is null and no one there knows what they are talking about. They out and out lie to you.
I have the full protection plan on my Direct TV equipment and my DVR isn’t working. They informed me they could not ship me a new one because it does not fall under my full protection plan. This information came from a Supervisor at the Protection Plan department. Also she stated that if she did send me a new DVR it would not work. That the DVR’s are having problems recording and they need to reprogram the system in order to fix the problem. She then informed me to go to set up on my remote and see what model DVR I had. I have model 100 and she informed me that that model is not on the scheduleto be programed yet. I informed her that the two Techs I had spoke to stated that I needed a new DVR and that the Protection Plan department would ship me out one free of charge. The Supervisor informed me they were mistaken and she could not do that. However she would credit my account for the months of no service and I would just have to wait. I then asked her to please send me an updated DVR and keep the refund. She refused. I could,nt believe it. I explained that I was the customer paying for a service and a protection plan on all equiptment and I was not getting service. She said oh well.
I then called Customer Service and spoke with Jonathan and he said you are covered under your Protection Plan and we will ship out your new DVR today. With no extentsion on your excisting contract. However I did have to pay a 19.95 shipping fee, but since they credited my account 24.00 I figured it was worth it.
I was on the phone with these people for 2 hours and spoke with so many departments. No one knows what they are doing.
I am totally amazed this company does not have a class action suit against it. If they ever do I would love to be a part of it. They have no integerity at all and the training they give there staff is null and void.
i just called the direct tv number after watchin thier commercial which intreiged me…150 HD Channels!!..whoo hoo!…sooo when i phoned to get more info an i got a friggin dial tone!!..what??…ya!!…then i got pissed an put in google search “direct tv sucks” an came up with this site…thanx for savin me from a HUGE mistake guys
Purchased Direct TV in Jan 2007 as result of Dish losing their distant network broadcasting opportunity and the fact that their sub, All American Direct was undoubtedly the most incompetent bunch of morons with whom I have ever conducted business. Until then, I was a Dish customer for 5 yrs w/o any major complaints.
Service installed and worked well for ~6 months. Forgot to mention that the installation tech was a complete slob. NY in January = snow & slush & salt. Wipe your god damn feet! This guy was all over my hardwood floors and I had to follow him around with the Swiffer - finally offered him a throw rug to stand on. Proceed to tell me he has booties in the van. Left his coax cuttings all over the floor, scratched a dresser due to carelessness, etc.
Now to the real pain in the ass part! July 12th - both units lose signal simultaneously and then come back on abouth an hour later. Perfectly clear day - no storms or obstructions whatsoever. I attribute as an anomoly and go about my business. That night, we begin intermittent loss of signal [SEARCHING FOR SATELLITE 771]. Call CSR and am given the Direct TV precautions manual responses. Run signal strength meter, hard reset, etc - nothing works. Service call scheduled Sunday July 15th.
Tech comes in and says he cannot reallly understand why losing signal on intermittent basis. Pulls wire from wall jack to receiver and installs a new one and low & behold it works. He didn’t fix anything - he just got lucky that when he installed the new wire the signal was already restored. The downstairs unit was working for past two days w/o any problems and although signal strength was low (longest run is ~75′), he said there was nothing he could do about it. As a check, I replaced the new wire on upstairs unit with the old one and it worked fine - this guy did nothing!
Less than 2 hours after tech left, both TVs go out again and now I’m pissed. Call Direct TV CSR and after 40 min on either hold or attempting to conntect with someone who can make a decision I finally get committment for tech call for July 17th. This time a “supervisor” comes up and fiance fields the visit. I’m on the phone with this guy from the time he arrives until he leaves 1.5 hrs later. He replaces the “eye” on the dish, graciously leaves his direct cell # and tells us to call him if any more problems exist. Systems work for ~2 hours after he leaves, then BAM, right back to shit again. No 18V signal on the even transponders and only about 75% on the odds. Upon first install, I was in mid 90s on all.
I call his cell and he states the earliest he can return in Saturday 7/21 in the PM. OK and we remain home all afternoon until @ 6 PM, I call him inquiring of the status. Get a sob story of how busy they are and he would REALLY appreciate if he could do it tomorrow. I oblige as I understand these guys are working a lot b/c their equipment and installs are shit so we agree on Sunday 7/22 @ 1:30 PM. He tells me to call him as soon as I get home (which I do) and he tells me he’s on his way. Well, 4:30 rolls around and no tech (remember, this guy’s a supervisor for my local HSP). I call his cell again - this time he’s not answering & the VM is also prohibited from receiving incoming messages. I leave a numeric page. No return call that day!! The complete rudeness and disregard for customers is unprecedented. To add fuel to the fire, I’m a private consulting engineer and lost 6 hrs on Saturday and 6 hrs on Sunday - thats $$$ I sure as hell will never see again.
Completely enraged at this point, I call Direct CSR evening of 7/22 and tell them to cancel my service immediately. Spoke to the Julie, who was the only CSR who was actually helpful and attempted to provide me any resolution. After 45 minutes, my account was credited for the month & put into an escalation status and I was told a representative from Direct TV and the HSP would call me first thing Monday (7/23 AM). I never received the call. On morning commute, I call the Tech Spvsr’s cell again and this time he answers. I ask him what happend Sunday - reply was “we got really busy”. I stated a call would have been nice and he said “yeah, sorry about that”. He then asks me, when do I want him at my house. Besides the obvious prior two days when he was scheduled, how about today. He agrees and now I have to take the afternoon back off from work to meet with him. Oh forgot to mention, this time we have had NO SERVICE whatsoever, zero, zilch since Thursday 7/19.
He shows up an hour late and begins to troubleshoot. First he tells me the dish is out of alignment which he then realigns and we get signal. After 15 minutes, the intermittance problem returns with no 18V on even Txp’s. He tells me it’s the wiring and says to run all new home runs from dish to receivers. I say you gotta fucking be kidding. You telling me both RG6 which are dedicated runs (no multiplexers) shit the bed at the same time. “I’ve seen it happen” - yeah right. Additionally, this guy says “I don’t understand why the original installer has your units looking at both statellites; it should only aimed at one” - huh? Apparently, the original install was botched as well. Anyhow after 4.5 hrs of me working (tech left the job), there’s all new coax runs to all receivers and I hook the everything up and they work! That is for about an hour, then BAM, they crap out again. Signal strength is lesser than with old wires, picture is partially scrambled and downstairs reveiver completely freezes showing a yellow-green opaque screen. Cannot power OFF with either the remote or button on receiver.
I again call CSR demanding to speak with spvsr or manager. I am put through to spvsr who then passes me onto Jason in technical support. Alas, I can finally speak to someone with a technical bkgd - this guy is great. I explain to him my plight and he states that although rare, it sounds like the receivers are malfunctioning. I inform him that ~1hr is the MTBF of the units - may be a heatsink issue. He then proceeds to set up a 7/26 service call in which the techs are to replace the receivers and hopefully finally fix the system. I tell him they are not to leave the house until I have at least 2 hrs of uninterrupted service. He agrees and states they are to fix the problem or else will provide a new installation to rectify.
Well, 7/26 @10:00 AM is go time. Either the system works or I smash the shit out of all the equipment right on my patio!
Anyone else experienced problems similar to the aforementioned? If so, was there any resolution?
Well:
Direct Tv had function well for me. Taking into account that I gought the receiver and the antena, before they had contractual leasse. I have a sony HD receiver 92) also one DirectTV that I got for DVR.
Well my DVR starting acting up this weekend, rebooting on it’s own and locking up.
So I went to the web. I order and the upgrade included a new antena (from 3 LRN to 5 RNL in the satellite and new H2O receiver and a BBand block (scrambler) that has to be place behind the reciver (POOR DESIGN).
The contcat has a 2 year clause…
It does not matter that IO have been paying for 7 HD channels for 2 years waiting for the supposed 150 channel thing ….
LIES
I did not have a no lawsuit clause and they put one (they called it arbitration clause)…
then the web connection tells me to wait 72 hrs for a call for a installation appointment. Now all weekend without DVR and TV in my room.
Finally a computer call me give me 2 options for appointment, I accept the first then says no, I accept the second then says no told me to hold for an operator 25 minutes latter and operator shows no installation appointment until SEPT 5-15, 2007 . That is 8 weeks almost from now.. I ask for someone to deliver the DVR and I will install myself (answer is no)… I ask for a place to pick up, (also answer is no). I ask to cancel the appointment and the Order…
She has to trasfer me to credit and then to installations. Go threw 4 people.. finally I get one that says my credit card will be refunded. I go to the net and yes they inmediatelly charge my card, well one day later the credit is not there.
this people keep this up and they will go broke. I cancel HBO, Cinemax, Starz and lower teh channels to the minimun. When the DVR dies I will cancel everything…
People from HBO and Cinema should know that they must pay for direct TV so cancel HBO and CINemax and let then know direct TV is responsable with yopu being upset.
the people from cable have to get smart because their systrem is better.
thanks
Angel
I hate direct TV! HOLDING FOR ENDLESS AMOUNTS OF TIME! BASTARDS! FUCK THEM! MOTHERFUCKERS TOO. I HATE THIER FUCKING ASSES
I have been a Dish Network customer for years, and was appauled @ what I’ve been reading on this site. I almost went with Direct T.V. a couple months ago because Qwest, our local phone company, has a package deal with Direct T.V. Anyway, my mom went with Direct T.V. and was promised a rebate of $100.00 at the time of signing, for the $100.00 DVR that she purchased. She has contacted them twice (since signing) and was told that the rebate form she would need to fill out would be mailed to her. Never happened. She was also given a form to try out additional pay channels free for 6 mos.(by the tech that installed, who, incidentally, talked her into adding the “free for 6 mos.” channels). She sent the form in, and they sent it back because she didn’t write her account # on it. Now, allow me to repeat that: THEY SENT IT BACK TO HER, and stated that she didn’t write her account # on it, so it wasn’t valid. Point #1) There was NO place to write the account #. Point #2) She was NOT told she had to write her account # on it, nor did it seem necessary to write it. Point #3) The most obvious; They were able to use her address to mail the form back to her, yet could not look up her account with her name and mailing address. Do you see where I’m going with this? Something fraudulent is definitely going on with that company. If they con 100 people a week to do the same as my mom, look at the profit. That’s $10,000.00 more than they would have had in their pocket(based upon 1 DVR per person, whereas many people would order more than 1). Not to mention the fact that they are having their techs talk people into adding pay channels “free for six mos.”, and then charge for the pay channels when the forms are “invalid” because an account # is not on them. Might I also add, my mother is NOT elderly. She is a very capable, intelligent individual with a Master’s Degree. I definitely will stay with Dish. My only complaint with Dish? Much of the time, customer service is given from the Phillippines. That’s not a joke. One customer service rep told me that he was in the Phillippines. Another customer service rep from Texas verified that much of their customer service is based out of the Philippines. Also,I generally have NO problem understanding anyone’s accent, etc. However, when I have a problem understanding someone, then their english is so broken that it’s nearly impossible for ANYONE to understand them. Usually it’s ok, but every now and then, they are just not capable of doing the job due to the fact that they cannot speak, nor understand english well enough. Other than that, they’ve been great. Hope this helps.
Oh, one more thing; My DVR hard-drive went out just recently (total bummer). Naturally, I contacted Dish. They were super-nice about it, and spent a great deal of time with me on the phone trying to resolve the problem (gentleman from the Phillippines. Again, super-nice). BTW, I’ve been out of contract for about 2 years now. Anyway, he added the optional insurance on to my account (his idea), making the insurance retro-active, and mailed out a new DVR for free (with the exception of the optional insurance that I had to carry to get it replaced @ $5.00/ mo., making current bill only $10.00 more than usual to cover 2 mos. insur.). I received it within 2 days time. On a weekend, I might add. They paid for everything, including the shipping to mail the broken DVR back. Other than the loss of my recordings, everything worked out well. Again, hope this helps.
For nearly a year we have been having problems with our Direct TV box. It goes black and shuts down. We called them and they told us it would be $75 to come out and check it. If I signed up for their service plan for $4.95 per month there would only be a charge of $14.00. The guy came out and said there was nothing wrong with the box but the dish was a little off. It worked fine for a few hours but now it is back going out that is if you can get it to work at all. I want to quit their service and they won’t allow me to. I guess I’m not the only one that they are riping off.
Roughly the same as the above stories with a twist. Having been a DTV customer for approx. 7-8 yrs. with service in the acceptable range. Things changed. I upgraded to HD Sat box. to go with those wonderful HD sets. With the Direct set I didn’t notice a lrg difference but I paid the fee’s and watched the programing. After having owned “leased” the HD box for approx. 13 months it went belly up. I called them & they sent out a new box no problem. Picture was better. So much so I thought about upgrading to another high def. TV with a box. Procrastinated then ATT offered a service called U-verse to try for 2 months free. 3 HD boxes and a DVR that records 4 stations at once, non high def. or 1 HD. seemed great I signed up. No service contract. Picture is better than Direct TV & is slightly less $. So I knew that to adopt this new system I was going to owe for early cancellation. But much to my suprise when they replaced the defective HD box they restart your 2 yr. contract. None of this is ever explained or noted anywhere so I had estimated I would owe at the most $65, they figured $187. After wasting a few hours with different service reps, I explained that obscelesence to keep customers is a Weak practice. I have already lost 3 or 4 nights sleep being upset. They win I am weak, I am going to write the check and get this painful experience behind me.
To close I suggest that any dealings with direct tv be treated like buying a used car. BUYER BEWARE.
I recently returned from another deployment to Iraq with the Marine Corps. When I returned home my wife and I wanted to hook up one additional satellite receiver in our bedroom. Until the spring of 2007 we have always only had a single receiver in our living room. Prior to this installation, I called Direct TV to see what needed to be done to install an additional receiver. I was told at that time that there was no additional charge; I could hook up as many as I wanted to. I went to a local Best Buy retail store and purchased a new satellite receiver off the shelf. There was no contract signed, no additional paperwork or stipulation given to me at the check out with regards to purchasing this receiver. The only thing the young man at the register tried to do was get us to sign up for some “free magazine subscriptions” that would really be charged to a credit card. This receiver was paid for with cash and I received only a paid receipt with the purchase, no other paperwork, contract or verbal warnings about it being “leased equipment”.
When I called Direct TV to activate the new receiver, the assistant told me that we already had two active receivers from their company. I explained to him that we have always only had a single receiver, the current one was again replaced in Aug. or 2006 when I was home on leave before deploying to Iraq and the satellite receiver was knocked out from a lightning strike. At that time we went to a local retail store and purchased a replacement receiver off the shelf. Just as this most recent time, there was no contract signed, no additional paperwork given to us or any indication that the equipment that we purchased was for a lease. It was paid for at the register and we received a paid receipt only.
After verifying the serial number on the only operational receiver in our house, it was determined that Direct TV had not removed the previously damaged equipment from our account. The service rep. said that if I checked our bill it should show that we were being charged for a leased receiver. When the bill was checked, it in fact did show a charge for a leased receiver. When I called Direct TV to dispute this charge I was told that I should have checked the bill and it was my responsibility to raise the issue last year in Aug. when the error was made. I explained to the customer service representative that I was in Iraq involved in combat operations until recently and that I did not receive any bills there nor did I have any indication there was a problem until I returned home and again began dealing with bills. My wife had been paying all of our bills in my absence. The representative said that it was my wife’s fault if we were overcharged and that company policy was to not do anything about it if it was over 60 days old. I was told that on the bill a charge was noted as leased equipment but it was only a charge for having an additional receiver hooked up, not that I had rented the equipment. Then to add insult to injury, they wanted to refer me to another representative to get us to expand our service and pay even more money out on some promotional package.
After a couple of days I again called Direct TV trying to get the issue of being over charged for a receiver that was not operational taken care of and I received the same lack of understanding as before and again had someone try to sell us something else.
A couple of days later, I again called the company trying to get this issue taken care of and received the same story that it was our fault for not catching it sooner and Direct TV would not refund any overcharge. At that time I told the representative I wanted to disconnect our service immediately. Again the representative tried to sell me an additional service package if I didn’t disconnect. I was eventually transferred to an older gentleman named John who said he would help me disconnect the service. He wanted to know why we were dissatisfied and I explained it all to him again. He was the first person from the company to say anything could be done about the overcharge after everyone else said nothing could be done. He did say he thought it was his companies fault for the overcharge and said he would have our bill adjusted to show a refund. If anyone at Direct TV would have shown an interest in dealing with us previously, the issue would have been settled at this point. Then John also tried to sell us an upgraded service package. I told him that the last thing I was interested in was spending more money when I was trying to recoup an overcharge.
Last week we received two empty boxes from Fed Ex with return addresses to the company. A couple of days later we received a recorded message from Them explaining that we were to return leased equipment to Direct TV. I called Them to explain again that we do not have any leased equipment, that all equipment we possess has been purchased at a retail store. I was transferred to 3 different people who each said basically the same thing. All they say is that the equipment is leased and that I have a one year service contact with Direct TV just because I used the service. One of the customer service representatives went so far as to say I wasn’t telling the truth when I said I never received any additional paperwork, contracts or cautions when I purchased the equipment. The next man I was transferred to said he would connect me with the department that would remove the 1 year service contract from my account and when I spoke with them they said they knew nothing about it.
It seems every time I have some contact with Direct TV, I receive some previously undisclosed information about some charge for one thing or another that is not mentioned by anyone else but I’m supposed to know about it because it’s in my contract.
Many of their representatives have given erroneous and at times conflicting information which has aggravated this issue.
Most recently we received a call from 2 more reps., one eventually after about 45 minutes of saying we owed all the previous charges and trying to sell us additional service packages confessed that she had no authority to deal with our dispute, that her only purpose in calling was to get us to continue our service with Direct TV and that she had no authority to deal with disputes. The last week of July another service rep. calls the house under the veil of dealing with our dispute only to find that she also has no authority to deal with it and actually never even read my pervious letters to their company. She did say that the charges have increased now to nearly $200 and that they would send it to collections.
Direct TV continues to attempt to sell upgraded service packages, not deal at all with the complaint issues and have people contact us with no authority or knowledge of our complaints. But they always end the conversation with big thanks for choosing Direct TV. We feel that they are being purposefully deceptive, stalling and leaving us with no choice but to seek legal action.
I have sent the president of the company my 5th letter that has gone unanswered, BBB has not responded and I’m going to the county court house tomorrow to file a suit.
Hi everybody. Looks like we have about enough people on this page for a suit. I live in rural Wyoming, and same as many of you, we had direct tv for 4 days before we cancelled, and they slapped us with the old $275.00 charge. They promised us local channels which we couldn’t get, were supposed to set up in three rooms and they only could do one, they didn’t even hook up the ground wire, just cut it off right below the deck so it looked properly installed. At first I was polite and nice on the phone, but the more they lied and screwed me around the more pissed I got with each call. They continue to lie repeatedly on the phone and have now charged us 212 bucks for the reciever, which we sent back on time, and they have received. I am beyond words with the anger and frustration. They have dropped the ball completely and given me the absolute worst customer service EVER, EVER, even worse than AT&T.
I made up a DirectTV sucks sticker for my car, and continue to tell as many people as I can how bad they suck, and why. I too would be happy to persue a class action suit, but don’t know what it involves. Maybe someone could contact Erin Brokovich?? LOL.
I would throw a freakin party, if they went under, except that we have had to give them all our money just to avoid the ding on our credit rating which will probably show up anyway. Arghhhhhhhhhhhh
Everyone that works there is a piece of crap, and now I can’t trust a thing they say. If there are any good people there they should save face and quit or come forward like the 40 people in florida. Cheers to them. And you scumbags that work for DTV and have written on this blog, you are a perfect example of how bad you guys suck. You suck! You suck! A Pox on you all.
I hope you don’t mind if I post these.
News links - cut and paste into browser or google - ‘Direct TV Lies’
http://www.local6.com/problemsolvers/9164122/detail.html
Other Blog
http://my.opera.com/Kite Geek/blog/2007/07/21/dear-direct-tv-can-you-help-me-understand
By the way, my lip-gloss is poppin…
Same thing here. “Free” 60 day trial. I didn’t like it. I canceled two months ago and they want me to pay $200 now.
But, you can get a “recovery kit” to waive that. Only they have promised to send me one three times now after I read the contract to them.
Now I am afraid they are going to stick me with it because they need it back in two weeks after the account is closed.
They also threatened me with a bill collector.
They are the single worst company I have ever dealt with. 100% not worth it.
The arm on my dish fell off!. It is not a hard solder- I lost the signal and like a fool I called Direct TV. I spoke to Miss $5.85 an hour who did not have a clue. She informed me that I own the dish as well as the receivers inside the house. That was after she put me on hold everytime I asked a question. (Except for the service call fee etc.) I finally got a little pissy and asked if I own the lot then I can walk ouside to the canal and chuck the lot in the water. She put me on hold then informed me- Yes I can!!. Lucky for me I own a compass and in the dark of night was able to reset the azimuth- she did not know what the azimuth was. May they all develop an itch that has no cure. I fixed the bloody thing myself and am dumping Direct TV. By the way, I did call Damage Tv the next day and got the same run around that everyone else has.
May the curse last through to the next generation!!!
Hello everyone
I want to say thank you for all those post…I called the corporate office as stated above and they reveresed all the chages on my bill….my case was as follows..i ordered the the dvr in 06 i was not aware that i was binded by a 2 years contract…i also sold my house that year…i moved into an apartment where i could not recieve direct tv..as a results i thought the account was closed…3 months later i get a collection letter stating i broke the contract…i was floored however, yesterday i called corporate in segunda and asked for the corporate complaints department…I spoke to the VP..he apologized and removed the charges.
i hope that helps
i was all excited to switch from Dish to Direct TV just in time for the NFL package. Today is big installation day, i scheduled it between 8-12. Giving up half my saturday, but can’t take time off work for this.
12:30 rolls around, no calls, no install van. I log onto the website, and verify my appt is scheduled for 8-12. So I call DTV, and am on hold 20 mins. They tell me it’s scheduled for 12-4, not 8-12 (even though i am on the website and it says 8-12). CSR says website wrong.
I wait until 4, still no now. Call, hold 15 mins, same person answers. Must only have 1 person working customer svc today. She calls the install subcontractor while i’m on the line. Guess what? No record of my appointment. So, calls another contractor who actually has the appt booked. Put on hold. They can’t contact tech or supervisor. They wanted me to reschedule for another saturday 2 weeks from now. Thank god i found this website in time. I told them to eat sh!t and cancel the whole thing.
Not even a customer yet, and they have the worst service i have ever seen!
If the guy shows up I will throw him out on his ear.
I HATE DIRECT TV!!!!!!!THEY SUCK!!!!!!ZERO CUSTOMER SERVICE…THEIR EQUIPMENT DOESN’T WORK….NO ONE GIVES A CRAP….INSTALLERS DON’T HAVE A CLUE… WE NEED TO START A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FOR ALL THE NICKEL AND DIMING THIS COMPANY DOES…..I HATE DIRECT TV!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Has anyone had trouble with Direct TV remotes? One of ours broke (slider just flopped back and forth) Direct TV sent us a new one - same model - but this one will not control volume on our tv, and will not program to run our DVD player.
I have called them three times - spent hours on the phone with people walking us throught he “program remote” procedure to no avail. Their excuse is that they do not guarantee that their remote will work on all tv’s. The catch is that the first remote we got worked just great until it broke. We have the same tv and the same DVD player, but now we cannot use the DVD at all, and we have to have a separate remote to control the volume on the tv. Anyway, just wondered if anyone else has had this kind of problem. They won’t send another remote, as they say that it wouldn’t work either. They told me they have different models - some work some don’t. They guarantee nothing other than it will control your Direct TV box. They will send a tech out for $70.
account in question is #57098303
i was given a final bill of 50.87 that i paid online on 7/31. there were 2 payments of 50.87 taken from my credit card, 1 of which was not approved. Now I am getting a bill for activity on this bill that was closed in May/June. I asked the lady (Linda Florance)tonight 8/23 at 11:10pm to credit back 50.87 to my credit card and she said that she could not. I also asked to maybe credit my home account for 50.87 and she said that she could not. She said that there was a PPV from November 2006. My sister and her 4year old daughter did not even know how to use the PPV. Please reimberse 50.87. I do have another account on this phone number as u can see i am a good paying customer.
I will never reccomend Directv again and will probably cancel service when my contract is up.
I have seen for YEARS the refer a friend commercial that Direct TV send over my dish. Well the one time I refer a friend, they refuse to give me the 50.00 credit on my bill simply because the friend did not call the 866 number and contacted direct tv thru another number. At no time was this mentioned on the commercial. I would be interested to know how many people have been denied the money. They are scam artists!!!!
I didn’t realize that so many customers have been having problems with Direct TV.
Last November I signed back on with Direct TV after not having it for over two years. They sent me a “Please Come Back” letter which promised a free DVD player. On January 1st I sent in the required paper work for the free portable DVD player. Since I did not receive it by March 1st I called them and was told that they never received the paperwork. I photocopied everything and sent it to them in California as requested. I have a receipt that says they received it. They also confirmed on the phone that they got the paperwork.
I have made numerous phone calls to CSR and was always told that it would be coming. The latest CSR told me that it was actually shipped out on June 26, 2007 and that I should expect it in about 6 to 8 weeks. I retorted that they must be shipping it from India since the U.S. postal service is not that slow.
Needless to say it has now been 10 weeks and still no sign of the FREE Portable DVD Player. I have resolved that I will never get it. I am tired of their promises. I would like to write the CEO of Direct TV but I have noticed in the foregoing e-mails that they do not bother to reply to letters.
Cable companies are not so great either! What are we supposed to do?????????
i changed my monthly payments of $74.72 to direct tv from my credit card to be taken out of my checking account.. in5/17 07 they took out $141 out of my ck acct. i was only supposed to pay$74.72…. they deducted $142.50 in june , nothing added,supposed to be $74.72 only!!! nothing was added… in july they deducted $131.nothing added!!! I have called them 5 times for them to get this straightened out.. they tell me that it onlly shows up as $74.72 on their computer.. they give me the dis pute office in coloroda ,which i sent a letter with photo copies of my ck acct where they took my money .. then in aug i got a bill for$149.5 0 from them , so i called them and told them to stop taking it out of my ck acct the next time i called the home office,they told me to send them another letter to the dispute office in coloroda with all the photo copies again and paid $5. to have it certified this time they had to sign it was mailed aug 16 th,signed the 23rd and i still have not heard any responce from them… today i got a bill for $ 228 and said they would cut off my service if i didn’t pay it ,so i asked to speak to the manager and they put me on hold for 20 minutes and , i told the girl to tell her manager to call me.. so i am going to call the states atty.. this is disgusting i will go back to comcast again
I CAN’T BELIEVE TH STORIES I AM READING. I WORK FOR THIS DIRECTTV. I DEAL WITH CUSTOMER EVERYDAY WHO TELL ME STORIES LIKE THE ONES I HAVE BEEN READING AND I THINK TO MY SELF THEY MUST BE MAKING THIS UP. BUT OVER THE PASS WEEKS I HAVE STATED TO KEEP A LOG OF THE TYPE OF CALLS I GET. I’M SO SORRY FOR THE PROBLEMS EVERYONE HAS HAD WITH THIS COMPANY. I FEEL ASHAME OF THE TYPE OF SERVICE WE ARE PROVIDING TO OUR NEW AND OLD CUSTOMERS. I WILL DO WHAT I CAN TO TREAT EACH CUSTOMER WITH THE RESPECT NO MATTER WHAT IT COST!!
All complaints should be directed to federal trade comminission. directv has been sued in a class action suit once i think they need another lesson. for info on suit see the bbb website. unite we need power in numbers to beat the crooked white collar corporate thiefs of direct tv
This company gives you many promises with very little Results. They are a POS and will surley go out of business in the next 25 years. But meanwhile, they will keep screwing people until such time. What does it take to create a class action lawsuit? .. If anyone deserves such, this terrible company certainly does. I switched to Dish Network and they seem to be a bit more professional
Our story too is too long to list. The only positive thing is the fact that we are not alone in our assessment of Direct. Direct TV Sucks outloud, their customer service reps are a joke and they lie, lie, lie and offer incentives which they do not follow through with. Word of mouth is the best advertisement. I tell everyone I know not to sign up with direct TV. I just love going to stores like Best Buy and Circuit City and telling anyone buying a new TV set not to sign up with Direct TV.
What a bunch of cry babies on here. My Direct Tv is great. (mostly)……
The people on the phone speak english, and not the ebonics mumbling shit, or some
half indian english.
The only thing that sucks is the out sourced their service in Philadelphia to Iron wood communications or something like that name. What a bunch of lazy dumb fuckin’ ghetto idiots! 85% of the time they don’t show up or call if they’re going to be 4 hrs late, which they usually are. I’ve taken days off work to wait, the assholes never show. If they do, the idiots can’t fix a damn thing! We finally got 1 good tech from this company. Direct Tv needs to get rid of them before they lose all of their customers.
But love the thing much better than Comcast cable !!
I hate this company. I wish I would have pulled up this website before getting suckered into directtv. I moved 1500 miles and could not get regular cable, or so I was told. I got talked into directtv by Bell South. After 4 cancellations the technician finally showed up. He didn’t tell my elderly mother how to work the system, leave any information, just told her to hit the power button and the button to change the channels. I cancelled the service 6 days later, and now I have regular cable, that actually works; however, I am still being threatened with $139.00 early cancellation fee. I spoke to someone I thought was at corporate headquarters who said I did not owe anything, but was giving me another number to call to make sure everything was all right, then I get to speak to someone in India, who says that I still owe the money. I will die before directtv gets 39 cents out of me because I owe them nothing.
DO NOT USE DIRECTTV THE SUCK BIG TIME!!!!!
direct tv is full of shit. i can”t get local channels like promised by the sales rep kyle. i want out.a person with a family work to damn hard for thier money to be taken in some bullshit scam. i only had this crap for only four days, and all ready wanting to have this shit disconnected. DIRECT TV YOU LIED.
Yeah well my tv works like on three channels!! It constanly stays on ‘ searching for satilight signal ‘ and its stayed that way for days!!
Ive put in brand new cords and everything!
I love ‘Americas next top model’ but my parents hate it! So I cant watch it in the living room where the satilight works just fine , and when I get to my room to watch it , its just black!!
Gosssh!
Oh , I bet you can guess what satilight company were with …starts with a d ends with a v…
I have a couple of issues with these people.
These people have the ability to help you. Think about the process that transpired when you were initally set up.
Second of all, I have had their service going on 4 years. So, I can sever all ties, return their equipment and, not owe them a damn thing. What they will lose is: the $106.00 a month they have faithfully received from me for 4 years now because I am totally fed up with their technical support and customer service. I do not have TIVO, DVR or HD. All this came from their highest tier of standard programming, local and movie channels. So if they try to stiff me with any “forwarding balances or unfilled contracts” I will not hesitate to sue these bastards.
I let “DIRECT TV Move Me For Free”. B I G M I S T A K E! NOTHING AND I REPEAT THIS… NOTHING IS FREE!
They couldn’t get the main connection in the family room to work. Two “technicians” and a “supervisor” completely dismantled all of the wiring between my television, VCR & child’s game system and couldn’t put it back together again. I had to show Moe, Larry & Curly how to do it. The “supervisor” exclaimed it was taking them too long and he was off to the next appointment {another doomed recipient of their shoddy service} and to meet him there and to “hurry it up”… They did and as Curly wanted to make sure my VCR and XBOX was still working, jammed his finger into the on/off switch on my VCR and busted it. I was angry. I called Direct TV and got this really sweet letter of apology to which they finalized, go take your VCR to a repair shop and get an estimate. We will then tell you how much of it we will reimburse. This was never resolved.
Ironically, my service was good for about 5 months… Then, for no reason my signals start going out. I go thru all of their technical tips… send the boyfriend out on the roof… check that all connections are tight and those to the outside box are not damaged, then I am asked about the phone line connection? Pardon me? Yeah you know, is the phone line that connects your service working? Did you plug it into a phone to see if you get a dial tone? I don’t have a phone line connecting my receiver. Oh, well, you should have discovered that within 90 days of having your service moved. Since I am not a “certified installation technician”, how the hell am I supposed to know that? Also, in following the outside cables to the house, see that they gerry rigged the cable from the main receiver, to an additional receiver upstairs by connecting it to an old cable tv source. For the life of me, do not understand how my child was able to receive anything in his room but the main receiver went completely out last week and ironically, so did his. Although the dish is receiving signals, I am constantly searching and have “no favorites”…. The receiver in the master bedroom worked for a day later and it died. Now “tech support” is telling me “my receiver died”. My response was “all 3 at the same time”? How coincidental can you get?
I will tell you what IS coincidental… all of this happened the day after I get a phone call from their marketing department trying to push yet more movie channels and upgrades on me that I politely declined. I kept ignoring this call for a week because it was from an 877 area code and they always called at dinner time {bad marketing skills}.
Now I sit here without television for almost a week and if it weren’t for having a preteen in the house, could care less. Two angry calls to their “support” line where I was informed it is “my equipment, not theirs” only infuriated me more. So after calming down, I decided to opt for their “service plan”. I was told that the work performed is guaranteed for 90 days. If these people do not fix this system that controls a service that I am paying a small fortune not to have, I am sending “their” receivers and fucking dish back to them. I refuse to give them free advertising.
Did someone say Class Action Law Suit??? SIGN ME UP!
Bottom line, DTV has the worst customer service I have ever dealt with. Their reps are programmed monkeys that can only say the same thing over and over no matter what you are trying to get help with. I have had DTV for about 16 months….and I call them so often for mistakes in my bill, that I have them on speed dial on my cell phone. I’ve tried to cancel before and they threaten you will outrageous cancelation fees that exist only because they sneak in renewals without asking you. Did you know that when you buy another box or have them send you one under your lease…it renews you subscription for 2 yrs??? My dead Grandmother could provide a better service!
Had DTV hooked up on Dec. 13th. Didn’t work from day 1. Cancelled on the 19th. Within the 7 day time frame. DTV wants to charge me $460.00 to terminate my service. Sure wish I would have seen this site before I signed on. After reading all these horror stories, I got a sick feeling that I’m not done with them. I cancelled within 7 days, their equipment is packed up and ready for them to pick up. I will pay them nothing! Stay tuned.
After being a LOYAL customer for 9 years with Direct tv, I upgraded as the christmas approached to HD and 2 extra receivers for the bedrooms. I called DTV, they responded with, YES Mr. WIlson, we can fix you right up, no charge for equipment and installation, we will even knock off 10$ a month for 1 year as long as you agree to a 2 year contract. You will see 200$ something opn your bill, but it will be credited, don’t worry, you will not have to pay it…wtf…Great deal…guy shows up, hooks me up….get a bill for over $300.00…WTF??? Call them…oh no, we don’t just give equipment away, and we already gave you a good deal, tell you what, we will eat one of the 69$ charges on a receiver, if you don’t take this deal, it’s off the table…of course…FUCK YOU!!, put a supervisor on the phone… She gives me the same line of crap…it’s not in the notes here of any such deal Mr. WIlson, sorry….you have to pay…. MY POINT IS: The phone call was recorded, go back and listen to the tape…her simple reply was…no, you have to pay. Come get the equipment…their reply: Nope, it’s already installed, you have to pay. NO MATTER WHAT, get your deals in WRITING before you commit!! Fucking big coorperation rip offs. SEE YOU IN COURT BASTARDS!!
I HATE DIRECT TV MY FAMILY AND I HAD TO SPEND THE ENTIRE
CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS WITHOUT TV BECAUSE NO ONE CARED ENOUGH
TO TRY AND GET A TECH OUT TO TRY TO RESTORE THE SREVICE
BUT LET YOUR PAYMENT BE A DAY LATE THEY WILL DISCONECT
YOUR SERVICE WITOUT FASTER THAN YOU CAN BLINK YOUR EYES
I WOULDN’T RECOMEND THIS COMPANY TO MY WORSE ENEMY.
Hey, Since we have all had similar types of problems with DTV, why don’t we try to get a class action suit going against them. There has to be thousands more of us that are having the same issues.
weve been charged $9.99 a month for 18 months for hd channels we did not receive. billing department will only credit us for 3 of those months. this is a ridiculous policy that i will spread the word about. this is why i am switching to cable when my contract is up.
I am very disappointed in the direct tv service that I have recieved. I am new to the area and needed tv service. I made the mistake of choosing direct tv only to be heartbroken on New Years Day. It is a family tradition for my family to watch the mummers parade every new years day. Being a new customer to direct tv, I called them two times within 3 days before new years day to see if I was able to get this parade in my new area. The agent told me they did not know. My husband called them back a day after I spoke to them and asked them again. He was told that it all goes by zipcodes and they did not know if it was available to us. Well, new years day I found the parade at 4:45 on a channel that I could have purchased… needless to say, the parade went off at 5:00pm, so there was no sense in purchasing it. My New Years Day was shot… I was so mad at direct tv that I called them immediately and cancelled my service. I have no idea what other services are available to me, but I will watch no t.v. before I will put up with their lack of professionalism. They have no idea how important that parade was to us… and I will contact the utility commissioner about all of their complaints that I see posted here.
I can’t believe what a disappointment this has been for my family. Of course, you start with a great price after you pay for all the additional equipment needed to have it. Then we had to pay a monthly insurance fee because we had issues with the additional equipment within the first few weeks of service. They took two or three weeks for someone to come out to fix the brand new equipment. There is a rental fee on some of the equipment if you have more than one TV. They have a terrible customer service department. They are planning to charge us a huge fee because we are canceling the service before our so called verbal two year contract is up. However, with any other business if someone is totally not satisfied, they will let you out of a verbal agreement. Not this company. I asked for a supervisor waited 40 minutes and got another person who was of no assistance. I am not sure how verbal agreements hold up in court, but I am sure this company will find out soon enough.
I started out excited and loved the picture. Not realizing what a rip off, and how it goes out every time the sky clouds up. I know someone is going to sue them. I am surprised AT&T/bellsouth company is affiliated with them. I assumed that bundling the phone, internet and TV would mean great service (like you receive from other bundling companies). I wish I would have done more research. Thank Goodness the cable company wasn’t like this when we switched, and they gladly took us back.
I love PR and it works both ways - as it goes, it will make you or break you. This is just my first step in my PR campaign against this company.
I don’t have a clue how to get them their crap back, but I may just put on e-bay so I can cover all these stupid charges that I know I did not verbally agree too.
I can’t even read through all of your numerous e-mails…oh my gosh! I thought it was just me that is being taken through the ringer.
It’s terrible that DirectTV can and will tell you everything “you want to hear” to get you started with their service…but once you have service, you find out how dishonest and unknowledgeable their company really is.
Is there seriously nothing we can do? It just seems so out there that a company can be this terrible to so many people and how not more people know about it. AND, the company continues to get away with it.
I just got my service started, but have a list of complaints for just myself. I was concerned that I wouldn’t get my complaints resolved, but now, all your e-mails have really made me sick.
I’m so sorry for all the people who have to deal with DirectTV. No-one, no-one deserves to be treated badly…
Jan. 02, 2008
Called for service that was suppose to have been done today! A contractor came out and charged us for work that did not have to be done. He chose to charge us an additional $60.00 to run a cable that we already had. We were scammed by Direct TV. We had already paid Direct TV over $52.00 for this same service.
Look, they have you held hostage because of the NFL package or lackluster selection of alternate providers. Suck it up and pay the ransom. I can tell you that whenever the NFL gets away from these degenerates, I will be having a party…while waiting the two hours to cancel.
i called last friday to get direct tv. i got all of the information and every thing was agreeable, until i asked about a commitment. they told me that i would be commited for 2 years and there would be a $20 per month charge to get out of contract. i told him, “so if i don’t like the service, it will cost me $480 to get out; i am going to have to think about that.” so i called my cable company and got a comparable package with no commitments for $5/month less. since then, i have been called 5 times in 3 days by direct - each time telling them i am not signing a contract. i knew something was fishy by them trying to pressure sell me. i did a quick search and found this site, looks like a made the right call. sorry about you guys who are already stuck but for those of you who are thinking about getting direct tv, better go with you gut feeling.
Dan, Where does it say in the agreement that you have 7 days to cancel without paying any fees? I just signed up for DirectTV and had it installed on Jan. 5. When I got the bill it wasn’t showing me the amount I was quoted when I signed up. I have been trying to get some information from customer service but am getting the run around.
I cancelled my DTV and they informed me that I had several more months on my contract. Customer no service said that when the origional HD box I purchased was replaced that it extended my contract another 2 years. I thought they replaced it because the box they sold me quit working. She said that the new box was a lease and that means extended service. I told her no one ever said this to me and that I never received a customer agreement, I even called to get a customer agreement and never got one. I said then why did you make me send the old box back if it was mine and not repairable? She said it was their policy. Why would DTV pay FED EX to ship a unrepairable box back to them. There was even a threatening note in the new box that said if I didn’t return the old one I could be charged up to $477.00. I told her that I wanted my old box back or a credit. That can’t be done she said it’s in a warehouse somewhere in Memphis. Wow! They’re going all out to ship and warehouse this malfunctioning equipment that I paid for. Now they’ve turned me over to Nationwide Credit Inc., a company I suspect they probably own, and have still not responded to my dispute claim that I sent long ago. DO NOT USE DIRECTV they use deceptive practices, obvious by the number of postings here. I purchased a HD set of rabbit ears and I get all my local channels for free, even more local channels than DTV provided me. PLUS! my reception is better, I never knew GMA’s Chris Cuomo’s eyes were teal colored. Free yourselves!
I am about to change from comcast to directtv…. but now after reading this I am not so sure….
I have been looking into Direct TV because I liked the Channel Lineup better than Dish Network. I could care less about sports. However Dish Network, seems to have better hardware you can own, instead of lease. There seems to be a need to investigate.
I was getting annoyed by Optimum Online’s TV commercials and Jacking the sound for them, making the service too annoying to watch without a Channel Changer in your hand.
After reading these “horror stories” and surfing other sites, a pattern appeared that has been established for years by Direct TV. How can I trust such a company to do business?
I also found the same results on the Ripoff Reports site. I could never have the patience to deal with all the problems reported on Direct TV. They can roast in hell.
I thank all of you for your efforts, to spare and wise me up to the problems you encountered.
We have not received our local channels or HD channels for six months. Direct Tv will do nothing about it. We have not videotaped the TV showing how the channels pixate and switch from one channel to the next as well as go off and provide a message saying searching for channel. We have decided to send this video to 20/20/, Sixty Minutes, Dateline, and local news stations as well as any other news stations that do “problem solving” reporting. We also plan to send this video to the attorney General and BBB (without much hope in their services)… IS There a CLASS ACTION lawyer out there who would like to take on Direct TV?
Someone needs to do something. We also want to put the video on You Tube and others like it to warn people about Direct TV. We have it because of the NFL package and can’t wait until it is no longer with Direct TV. In the meantime, how can we beat big business? There has to be a law firm willing to make news with this, and we need to get the media on the public’s side. Any ideas?
Does anyone know how to start a class action lawsuit? Are there any lawyers on here?
I am an attorney in Ohio, and an unfortunate Direct TV customer. I am having substantial problems, and will be glad to talk to you about a Class Action lawuit. You can reach me at 216-348-1700
I found this website after I had Direct TV installed. What a HUGE mistake getting Direct TV was. I have learned my lesson. I went back to Comcast and glad I did.
First of all. I found no where in the so called contract that I had a 3 day, get out policy and I’m no sure if this fricking co. (Direct TV) offers one. And when my wife signed the paperwork after the install was done, we were never explained by the person on the phone when we signed up, nor the installer explain that there was a penalty for cancelling the service. With the service tech having been out twice to fix what the installer had screwed up (no football or sports programs and the boxes all saying looking for a signal) and the hidden charges that we never agreed to I’d had enough of their crap. When I called their customer service line, I’d be damned if I could get anyone who could speak english good enough for me to understand. Well long story short. We cancelled the service. $247.00 to pay and that was that. They sent 4 boxes to ship their crap back but sent only 2 shipping labels. I crammed all their shit in 2 boxes. I would never run a business like this and I would at least get customer service reps. say from a english speaking country. Now you all know what OUTSOURCING is. I have to say that after going through this nightmare, that I’m feeling COMCASTIC now…………………..
OMG…you are all right on DTV is the worse! I have had my contract for 2 years and we went to dish. Screw DTV’s customers service. They don’t care if you watch tv or not all they want is to rip you off for any money they can!!!
I WAS LIED TO WAS TOLD i WOULD GET THE SAME CHANNELS i HAD WITH DISH , OH DEAR GOD I WISH I HAD STAYED WITH DISH HAD BEEN WITH THEM FOR FIVE YEARS, THE REMOTE’S WERE WORN OUT, COULD NOT GET ANY ONE TO CHANGE THEM SO i THOUGHT THEY ID CARE, sO I WENT TO DIRECTV, AND WAS TOLD I WOULD GET THE SAME CHANNELS AS I HAD WITH DISH CHEPPER, bUT WHAT i GOT WAS THE FAMILY CHANNEL AND THE NETWORK LOCOL CHANNELS, i CALL AND TOLD THEM THAT THEY HAD MADE A MISTAKE BUT ALL I GOT WAS A RUN AROUND ONLY HAD JUST PUT DIRCETV IN THAT MORNING, NO ONE WOULD LESSON TO ME WAS TOLD THAT WAS WHAT I ORDER, AND IF I WONT THE CHANNELS I THAT I HAD ORDER I WOULD HAVE TO PAY 45.99 FOR THEM, bUT I WAS TOLD I COULD HAVE THE SAME AS DISH FOR 35.99, LAST NIGHT i CALL TO GET THEM FOR THE 45.99 BUT WAS TOLD IT WOULD BE 49.99, tHEY ARE A BUNCH OF LIER’S AND WAS TOLD i COULD CANCEL DERECTV FOR 18 MONTHS OR PAY THEN 200 AND SOME DOLLARS, FROM WHAT I SEE THIS COMANPY IS A BUNCH OF LIEING CROOKS, i CALL THE
TV NEWS THATS GOES AFTER PEOPLE LIKE DIECTV, THEY CAN’T TRAP PEOPLE WITH LIES LIKE THEY HAVE AND LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE THEY HAVE DONE THIS TWO, PEOPLE CALL YOUR BETTER BUSNESS OR YOUR TV PEPORTER’S THAT GO AFTER PEOPLE THAT CHEAT YOU,
I would like to say, I findly got some one at DirecTV that help me, and streaten everything out for me, I just told my story with out getting up set and this young man fixt it all for me, you should never get upset, just keep trying to get the right one to talk to, i’m sorry for what i wrote the first time, should have not blown my stack, But hung in till I got someone that could help, thanks yound Mam who ever you are, Gob Bless You,
they are dog fucking rat bastards with shitty equipment and people.
We have been DTV customers for years and have fought with customer service for hours. I can not even tell you how many times we have called them. Where we live - the stallite installation company is Premire Communications, when we moved in September of 2007, it took 6 days for a technican to come out an intall our equipment even though we had called and scheduled it 2 weeks in advance! These people are complete idiots….and they do not care about their customers or care about how their subcontractors treat their contractors. Now they are trying to charge us $237.00 for early termination fees because we are SICK of DEALING with them!!!
If there is a Class Action started…please contact us.
Where do I begin? I called on 1/22 and ordered our service with DTV. We were told we would get one DVR and regular receiver and 200 channels for $49.99 after a $12 a month rebate. My install date was set for 1/30 4-8pm. My husband took the day off of work to be home for the install.
On 1/30 in the AM I received an emailed confirmation dated 1/30 welcoming me to DTV.
At 6PM my husband called and told me that no one had come yet. I went home and called DTV. I was told that my account had been cxl that day and that there was no reason they could tell me and that if I wanted to resign up I would need to be transferred to the direct sales dept. I said okay.
I was transferred back to sales given the same deal I had asked for but adv that my commitment would now be 2 yrs. They again charged my card the $25 just to see if the card works. (btw, the $25 from the first order is still showing on my cc and has not been returned)I asked if there would be anything done about my order being cxl w/o my knowledge and was adv that if I did decide to pay the shipping and handling charges for $20 than they would give me Showtime free for 1 year. I declined. I was then given my new acct and confirm # and told the install couldn’t happen until 2/10!!! I asked to be transferred to someone else.I was transferred. I again explained the situation and was told there is nothing I could do about speeding up the installation and “what do you expect it is 3 days before the Super Bowl” I stated that is exactly why I called on 1/22 and ordered in the first place. He then told me that my original order had been cxl on 1/23 at 850PM by an acct representative and that again there was no reason why. I asked again why did I receive a confirmation this morning he stated he had no idea. I again asked what someone was going to do for me and he said ” No one will do anything for you ma’am”. I, at that time, cancelled the new order, I was that upset.
I called back, I explained the situation again and immediately asked for a supervisor. I explained again and she stated there was nothing she could do, but that if I did have an account with DTV she would have given me $100 off of my bill. I explained that in the last 8 days I had had 2 accounts with DTV. She said sorry and that if I wanted to re-sign up she would transfer me back to sales, I asked if the $100 offer applied and she no, because I didn’t have an account (!!!!!) and if I signed up again there was no gaurantee because she couldn’t give out her extension and it would be up to the next person to decide if I would get the $100 off. I than asked if I could file a complaint about the employee that had cancelled my order from 1/22 she said yes, but that really nothing would be done about it so what was the use..
I work for an airline that uses DTV on everyone of our planes. When the service does not work I compensate our customers.
This is the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Not one single person that I spoke with had a solution nor would take responsibility for the fact that a DTV REPRESENTATIVE cxled my original order just over 24 hours after being approved and confirmed. I have emailed DTV and have only received the generic email back saying how busy they are and someone will email me back eventually.
Someone needs to do something, but apparently because I do not have an account It can’t be me. Anyone have any advice?
I can be emailed at tisstef@yahoo.com
I have 3 receivers.One wnt kaput so I called DTV.They charged me almost $22 to ship me a reconditioned receiver,and it doesn’t work! I contacted them and the person I spoke to said I would have to have a service call . I asked her how much that would be,and she said(gleefully)$79.So to summerize,they charged me $22 to ship me a defective receiver,and then want to charge me another fee to fix their defective equipment.What balls!!The only way to punish corporations like this is to hit them in the wallet.Spread the word.If you’re under a contract,when the time comes to renew,don’t.All these people care about is money.I see a lot of complaints listed but how many have taken action against these thieves?I say notify the general public what a low life company this is to deal with.
I’ve spent countless hours: 1. one the phone on hold 2. On the phone talking 3. Resetting/troubleshooting the system myself. I had one Direct TV guy come out and cut an splice all my cables, adding potential problems to MY equipment. Another guy came out and told me that their download was faulty. Then tried to charge me $80 for a service call. I refused to pay until I get the service they promise, and I won’t pay a sevice charge unless they pay me for my services… I get paid $30/hr. I’ve been on hold now for 1-1/2 hours, thats another $45 off my bill. Pretty soon they’ll have to pay me to keep their service.
We, too, hate Direct TV. A little over a year ago we purchased a home and called to schedule DIRECT TV to move our service from our existing home. They said it would be a MONTH before they could get to it. I said, “Fine- we’ll cancel our service and just get cable”. I was then informed that I had a 2 year contract and would be charged a $200 cancellation fee. I was shocked! I NEVER signed a contract! Apparently, when I initialed the original installation form, that bound me to a 2 year contract. The man I spoke to was incredibly rude, told me it was my problem that I was not aware of a contract and that a cancellation fee and would be sent a bill. I told him “FINE! Send it, I’m not paying it”. He said “Fine. Don’t pay it. Your credit will be affected severely if ou choose to do that”. We gave in and my husband just decided to move the satellite and install it himself. It worked, and we’ve had okay service except for weather related conditions and then its terrible. We purchased NFL Direct Ticket, and pay a crap load of money for that. Yesterday when I arrived home, both of my receivers were “Searching for Satellite Signal”– I went outside to check the satellite, searched for satellite strength, etc.– we did our normal thing to fix it- didn’t work. Called tech support, the computer put us through a series of tests, finally got a customer service rep who attempted to make us do the same things we had already done. Once she realized it wasn’t working she informed us that our receivers are no longer under warranty and there would be a service charge for someone to come out and fix it. My husband told them he was “$%!#ing cancelling his service” and hung up on her. Well, I’m not going through the hastle of arguing with them about a cancellation fee again, so I called them back this morning and informed the CSR that I would NOT be paying for a technician to come out and fix my system, that they never MOVED my service like they were supposed to, and that I paid a monthly “leasing” fee for my receivers and if there was something wrong with them, it was THEIR responsibility to replace or upgrade the equipment, not mine. She transferred me to another department to “schedule” the visit. This man promptly informed me I would have a service charge, to which I promptly informed him I would not, and that I better have service by Super Bowl time on Sunday. I pay my bills on time, I expect service. I have an appointment between 4-8P tomorrow afternoon. And I did clarify with him again that there would be NO service charge, to which he agreed. We’ll see how it goes. When my contract is up in June, I’m done with DTV. And I’m sure I’ll get about 10 final notice bills and end up with jacked up credit because of them.. tends to be the going situation with everyone else on here.
Last night while watching Wild Hogs on my Direct TV, I was startled to say the least when flames shot up out of the box on top of my wall unit just above my television. Actual flames right out of the box and up to the ceiling. My wife just about collapsed trying to jump up to put out the fire and I restrained her while I made a dash for the box, ripped it out of the wall and threw it outside. It was on fire! My house smells like plastic throughout and if I had not been sitting where I was when the fire occurred, my house would have been on fire. I have a dog and cat and many times in the past I have left my tv on while I am out so they won’t feel so alone. Fortunately for all of us, this happened at a time when we were all in the same room.
We called Direct TV today to tell someone what had happened and the “voice” on the other end suggested that my house has faulty wiring. I am a building contractor and I built my own house in the last 4 years and it does not have faulty wiring.
The box that caught fire was only just recently sent to us by Direct TV after having various other reception etc. problems with the prior box. I have been paying Direct TV for a long time now, but do not wish to pay them any longer.
It was suggested to me that they would happily replace the box!!! I wouldn’t trust them to replace the box. They JUST REPLACED THE LAST ONE.
To top this off, after making the complaint my wife told the “voice” that she would leave my cell phone number with her so that the repairman could call when he was coming and was told “WE DO NOT CALL CUSTOMERS, THAT IS NOT OUR JOB. YOU HAVE TO CALL US” to which she replied, “even after the customer’s house catches fire?” She was then put on hold, and DISCONNECTED. Needless to say, calling back was not something that anyone has time to do so I am going to fax a letter of complaint in the morning when I have more energy!!! Thanks for your help DIRECT TV.
I just called yet again to check that my contract is scheduled to end this coming May 08. Well as was last summer when I called about a problem I was having with my DVR service they informed me that my contract would not end until May 09.
Last Spring of 07 my receiver crapped out and I had to get a new one sent to me. I have the protection plan at ($5.99 per month) so this should be no problem. Well it was until I found out that they extended my contract for another year due to my receiving “new equipment”. I was dumbfounded I have a protection plan and under that plan it doesn’t say and we will extend you for another year. So needless to stay I’ve been trying to get this fixed and so far no luck. I just spoke to a 3rd CSR today and they were going yet again to escalate it the dept that handles problems. I want out of Direct-TV so bad — Cable costs more but there is NO CONTRACT! The whole Satellite racket is just like the cell phone racket!!
I ordered Divectv in Feb.2007 and a month later there is a server storm that included a tornado in the area and me with no t.v. cause it goes out in bad weather ( just like the commercial with the guy on his roof during the rain trying to get reception ). I considered that a danger to my family since we could not watch the weather updates during a severe storm. The box would just reset it self 2-3 times a night for no reason. No weather no wind, dish not moving around. Call C.S. and got the same “is there a phone line plug in, yada yada yada. I tried to ride out my 1 yr contract but decided to cancel in Dec. 07 and pay the early termination fee which was $13 and well worth it to get cabel tv back. Customer service said I should recieve the equipement return box in 2-5day. Well 2-3 weeks go bye and a get a bill for Dec. when it was canceled. Called cust. serv. and told then I cancelled my service and I never received the return box. Jan. 28 they charge my card $90 for the equipment not returned. Jan. 29th I call to have another box sent again. Feb. 4th still no box. I call Fedex to find out why they have not deliverd and they said the boxes where returned because directv did not put my Apt# on them. I call directv and have them send out another equipment recovery box and tell them to make sure they have the apt# on it. So if I get a box by Feb. 9th sent back to directv by Feb.15, 5-10 days after they receive it they my refund my card. they would have had my money a month in there account collecting interest while I’m paying interest on it. I smell a scam… I hate satillite t.v. and will never recommend it to anyone.
isn’t there something we can do? class action law suit? spoke to agent then supervisor and was assured i had 7 days to cancel service - installer and field supervisor stated the same! THEY HAVE NO SALES CONSULTANTS TO COME TO YOUR HOME TO TEACH/INFORM YOU SPECIFICALLY ABOUT THEIR SERVICE AND HOW IT WILL WORK IN MY SPECIFIC AREA(TREES ALOL AROUND) AND HUGE HOUSE TO WIRE — KTHEY MAKE YOU GIVE THEM ALL YOUR INFO AND CREDIT CARD AND HAVE YOU INSTALL IT TO CHECK TO SEE. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN THEN, BUT THOUGHT “BIG COMPANY.” i called this morning the 7th day and they now tell me i had only 3 days and that i have to pay $400 dollars to get out of their contract! crazy - the first time there was a light rain the signal went out - wind blows the signal goes out - i was not told that my dvd player could not be hooked directly to it - i have to unplug direct tv box and plug in my dvd player to watch dvd’s - when this was brought to my attention - i was told “You have 7 days to cancel” - this was after installation was almost finished and all my cable had been disconnected and messed up- so i tried it - HOW CAN THEY TELL YOU ONE THING AND DO ANOTHER - THIS IS A SCAM AND A MAJOR COMPANY– HOW/WHY DO THEY GET AWAY WITH IT! YOU’D THINK ATTORNEY’S WOULD BE ALL OVER THIS TO THE POINT OF ADVERTISING THEIR SERVICES …AND OR COMCAST CABLE - ANYBODY KNOW OF A SOLUTION WITHOUT DAMAGING MY CREDIT — THERE’S HOW THEY SCAM YOU THE WORST - PAY OR TOTALLY MESS YOUR CREDIT UP - BECAUSE THEY KNOW IF WE PAY - IT’S AS THOUGH WE ARE ACCEPTING THE CHARGE/BILL.– FALSE ADVERTISEMENT - FRAUD BY THE “SALES” AGENT AS WELL AS THEIR SUPERVISORS! TIME/MONEY LOST - AS WELL AS DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY WITH THE SATALITES LEFT ON YOUR ROOF!!!
Terrible is the best way to describe it. I was called a liar and told what I was saying wasn’t true, it took me over an hour to finally “convince them” what I said was correct, for that, all I got was it is a big company and that is the way it is. Too long to go into the details but I agree with everyone who has had problems with them, they are terrible, look elsewhere,
customer service is slacking. when I called to place my order I was told I could qualify for movie channels for free for 3 months. when calling to see if i could recieve the movie channels I was told my plan did not allow me to recieve the movie channels.
Also the companies that are doing the installations of your equiptment are not doing a satisfactory job. This i my opinon, But my install was donr poorly. The landlord at my residence did not want the dish to be on the roof. I called Direct tv back to let u know, and the installer was still not equipped with the right equiptment to perform the
install. He had to go to Home Depot to retrieve a poll and some clamps to mount the dish. Next the wire coming into the house is run on the ground under some leaves that were on the ground that the installer found. The wires are run over the lawn to the bushes over to a wooden walkway and is nailed to that. first of all what do I do
when spring and summer time is here and the lawn has to be cut. Next, the wires are also run in the in and out traffic of out everyday lives. it should n ot last long the wire that is once the weather breaks. The installer also filled out the satisfactory
ratings sheet, that was supposed to be filled out by myself.
Please reply
I had Direct TV installed on Monday. I had been with DISH network for 5 years. When I switched, I switched for “better” HDTV service to watch my hockey games. While with DISH, I had center ice and the FSN package. Most games were being shown on both packages. So, when I switched, rather than paying for an entire season of Center Ice (more than 3/4 of the way thru the seaon), I decided to get only FSN. My husband said we would keep the DISH service active for the remaining month or so of hockey and just switch back the box if there was a game we could not get. Well, first fo all, that plan went out the window right away because the DTV installer removed my DISH receiver off my roof (without my knoweldge) and tossed it in my yard. Fast forward to 11:00 pm Thursday night. We attempted to watch a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game that is listed to be on FSN ohio, and am told that because the game is on FSN and on Cener Ice, I can’t get it on FSN. WTF???? IN addition, the HD picture is not as crisp off there reciver as the three channels that I can pick up with the antenna on my roof. I called these idiots and was on the phone for almost an hour with three different people. Same old crap…we are happy you are a new customer..sorry about your problems…but tough luck. I ask if they could pro rate Center Ice because of all the problems and they refuse. They would rather lose a customer. What a bunch of idiots. How do these people stay in business????
So I have not been with Direct TV longer than a 6 months. My TV worked fine for a while. I switched to them after being with Comcast for 7 days. During those 7 days I never watched TV, and I had two (yes you read it) 2 service calls. So here I am with Direct TV and GUESS WHAT!!! it does not work either. And after forcing me ( the customer) to do reset after reset I now have to wait 7 days for a technician to come out and I HAVE TO PAY FOR IT… This is nuts. The customer service rep told me with the nicest tone that it would either be $79 for a visit or $19.99 and a protection plan at $5.99 a month. Why do I have to pay for your stuff that does not work, there is no snow, no sleet, no heavy winds what could be the problem other than shotty workman ship… I am so over people stealing my money as I sit a home handing it to them, I would rather do something productive.
We currently have Dish, it has been okay,it all depends on whom,And how it is installed originally. Dish has an equally fucked up cust. support system. We elected to shit-can dish to try direct simply because of more hd programming…So we call the salesperson and he lies his ass off telling us we wont have to pay for extra recievers, free hd programming free installation, just a bait&switch in progresss. Today two gentlemen appeared ontime at my door to install my direct-tv… Soon i was being informed of ADDITIONAL charges for burying cables extra wires, bla bla bullshit the sales punk assured us we would Not be charged for…i stopped the installers,called direct-tv to confirm my original deal, and shit had changed dramatacaly!!! Needless to say..gentlemen start your engine///leave..no deal/no thanks //see ya..The POINT IS.. THESE FUCKING SLEASE-BALL COMPANIES NEED TO BE GOVERNED BY THE STATE PUBLIC-UTILITIES COMMISION. THEY DO NOT HAVE THE COPORATE MORALITY TO OPERATE IN AN HONEST AND PROFESSIONAL MANNER. Companies like edison att, etc. cannot pull this bullshit because the commision would shut them down with fines for not providing services sold..Legislators need to start thinking of these types of companies as service providers that should be monitored,and regulated.This is what happens with de-regulation laws.Idont know about direct-tv, but you would be hard-pressed to talk to an english accomplished-speaking dish-net-”support-tech”.There is no answer here, cable-tv sucks because it is regenerated so many times the signal is so reproduced it looks like shit. Im thinkin about my old rabbit-ears..they never screwed me.
I am an experienced class action attorney who is seriously considering initiating a class action against Direct TV based upon personal experience with the company, which has been incredibly negative and protracted.
I am presently investigating the pervasiveness of the company’s irresponsible and seemingly shameless practices that I have experienced in dealing with it. I can be reached at bruce.fox@obermayer.com if any subscribers have verifiable information such as that which I have seen posted at this site regarding the company’s sales and service practices.
# Monty Valll Jun 8th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
This is what I used for Corporate. Told person that answered I wanted Corporate or Complaints. It is answered Office of President 1-310-535-5000 address 2230 E. Imperial Highway, El-Segundo, CA.90245. Hope it helps it did me.
# 89 Nancy
thank you for the number, in the time i spent getting angry with the reps, it took half that time for them to make me more happy. It did help even though I’m not 100% satisfied
sad to read all these comments on dtv. hate to add mine to this trail of tears, but I just wasted 30 minutes to find out 5 HD channels I used to get now will cost me more money a month. No real reason except as the supervisor sad, other providers charge more he HD than DTV. wanted to give me the 5 channels for free for 3 months the charge me. told them no thx I just want what I had. I will now look to see what other do charge. I hope to find another provider that doesn’t change their plan and not notify or have a good reason other than it will now cost me more.
I call 3 days before we move to have them move the service. They schedule me for EIGHTEEN DAYS LATER. In the process Im told to call in after a few days to check and see if a better time would be available. I call back only to be belittled by a woman who blames me for not calling in sooner. A “supervisor” then tells me I am being billed for the time I’m not even installed.
He promises a refund on 2/11/08 to a zero balance when I get installed finally. Today I was installed, called back and there are now no notes on the account to support my claim so even though we have never been late and even though we are installed at the new address, we have no service and are still being billed like we are.
I’lll be calling that lawyer in Ohio, and the corporate number too. Anyone else who organizes anything, email me at mark@thehealingstream.com and thanks!
“I called the number below and was told by Wayne and they by Jamae #R9566 that I still have to pay.
(This is what I used for Corporate. Told person that answered I wanted Corporate or Complaints. It is answered Office of President 1-310-535-5000 address 2230 E. Imperial Highway, El-Segundo)
.
This started 7/7/07 and my 18 year old daughter died in my drive way on 11/19/2007, Haley Lynne Boyd, Port Orchard, WA from as asthma attack.
Even if i was wrong in my complaint you would think that they would at least have some kind of human compassion. No, i am right and am being charged wrongfully and they still choose to unjustly charge me. Direct TV has no compassion…
Here is my story..
Details: I requested Direct TV service through quest on July 9 2007; I was never told that it would be a contract. I was told that I would get a rebate for my DVR of $100 dollars. I forgot to ask about the DVD player so I called direct TV a few days later and I was told that as long as I signed up within a certain time frame that I qualified for a DVD player. I called back in August (8-7-07) because no $100 and no DVD, I was advised to fill out activation redemption forms which I did and mailed them on 8/8/07. (Why didn’t they tell me that when I signed up?)
I was advised to wait until 10/2/07 or so. (6 to 8 weeks. I did receive the $100 rebate but no DVD player. I call back again to inquire about the DVD player and because I could not get my motor home signal to work. (11-09-07) Again I was told I was qualified and would send it to “Escalate and Resolve”….I finally received a letter dated November 15th stating that I was not eligible this after everyone I talked to said I was. I would have discontinued this service on 8-8-07 when I called in if I knew that it didn’t work with my motor home and that I was told lies regarding a DVD player. Then on
Nov. 19 2007, my world crashed, my 18 year old daughter died in my driveway from an asthma attack.
I had had enough with all of this and so I called on 12-8-07 and canceled my service due to the fact I never received the DVD player that I was offered and the problem getting the signal in my motor home, he wanted to stop me from canceling but I was very emotional and could hardly talk. A few days later someone called to try to get me to not cancel, and again I could hardly talk, he did however offer to send me a DVD player at that time. I said it is too late I don’t trust your company and just cancel the service.
I’ve received 3 bills since, the balance is $235.00.
Even if I was wrong you would think that they would have some human compassion. However, I am right and they have no compassion at all.
Nancy
Port Orchard, WA
hi please do me a favor call direct tv and let them know not to shut off the direct tv service then txt me back ill pay you next friday the $54.00 dollars that we owe you thank you youres truely rebecca capuchino ps. the account is under edward f capuchino my account number is 35324641 2/22/08 thank you and have a nice day. txt me and let me know if you can do that for me or not. my e-mail address is brownie1212@bmI.net i love direct tv and hate dish net work look you need to make changes to the internet i love stars and HBO look the kids dont need to see dirty movies at all and why should we have to block STARS AND HBO at 9:00pm every night just take off the dirty movies from STARS AND HBO ok and put them on cinimax only thank you once again please txt me ok thaks
i ordered direct tv through a package deal through verizon. needless to say it never got installed. the first time it was a no show no call. so i set up another appt. after several emails conf. the date and time and a phone call at 710am conf. my add. they called at 1130am to say they were not going to make it. i flipped out(this being the second day i took off of work) told them my time is money and they offered a discount and another install date. (idiot here) i agreed but told them if they were not here on that day i was going to cancel my order. once again no show no call. when i called them, to vent and cancel, they told me they couldnt get in touch with anyone in the local office. either way im done with them and i am recomending to everyone to cancel and take the hit on the fee or dont bother calling for any service. THEY SUCK
Spoke to CSR for 1 hour.;.passed to 4 diff people..was on hold for 50 minutes..hung up..called Corporate..got transfered to “office of the president”…5 mins later..problem solved
SO last night my girl comes in with pork hops and says make these with your famous gravy, cause Im a chef from a previous career ya’ know… Johnny my kid says can you put the new direct tv dvr in cause the man who came to install it dropped it when he got it out the truck and it has been not recording stuff. I put the fucker in and hook it up. Ends up, I gotta call to get the card turned on. So I call and get it hooked up but the trasponder settings will not see 103 degrees south. “FUCK” I say to the guy. After being on the phone from 6:30P.M. to 8:45 P.M. earstern time he finally gives up we hook up the recciever that is broken cause the new one will not see my locals. He is trying to get me to have a tech come out to the house when I know that will take another work day off my paycheck. I have already gotten two credits and I am up for another cause the trouble they have cause me. HDTV? I should have kept the old shit hooked up and not upgraded cause you know there just going to screw you back to front. The guy that installed it was named charlie and had bronchitis and emphzima. Red neck contractor needs to be purelled. Fuckers!!!!!!!!
Tom Finch Waynesboro VA
Good luck to ANYONE signing up with Direct TV.You will need it.Better yet, just don’t.
Just in case my last rant did not get thru, here is my good deed for the day:Stay away from Direct TV.Far Far away.
They want me to pay for THEIR mistake as well. I refuse!
CLASS ACTION SUIT put me on board.
bledsoemichele@aol.com
definitely office of president………they will help you.
But still…….they are the worse customer service company.
Hi everyone. I want to thank you all for this information. I was about to call DTV and get it installed in my new home. Because of all of the negative reviews that I have seen. I think I will pass. I will just pay the extra 10 or so bucks a month to stick with basic cable and be sure that it works. My cable has only gone out during MAJOR storms (maybe once a year if that). Yes I would like to order fights and have NFL ticket and all that. But judging from the reviews, it just ain’t worth the hassle. I am really big on customer reviews and this is why. I know that if a lot of you had ran across this site before you got DTV, you may have thought twice.
Thanks again.
I too, have had problems with Direct tv. I talked to them in November about the deal that Dish network had. They finally agreed to give me the same deal.
Well, I am getting billed for two of the three installments of $99.66 that I should not have had to pay.
I have been on the phone for over 2 1/2 hours this morning, and of course they don’t have any record of the person doing that in November.
They won’t honor the agreement that was made in November because they don’t have any notes that say that was done, just one month of $99.66 will be deducted.
I talked on the phone so long that it died, but I refuse to give up. I see in most of the messages here to do a class action lawsuit, that will drag on forever, and everyone will get $20 at best, the lawyers will get big bucks, but not the general consumer. Then direct tv will increase rates to pay for any pay out.
I feel that the best course of action is to contact the Better Business Bureau, contact your state attorney general, they will react to these kind of complaints, and most of all tell everyone that you come in contact with about the service, or lack there of that you get.
Lets don’t give up on this, these people suck, and they don’t give a crap about anyone.
David
The worlds worst. Lets start a class action suit. Going from cable to Direct TV is the WORST decison I have made in my life. Its a faulty systemt they are selling. Unfair to consumers. PLEASE, lets start a class action suit.
Two nights ago my grandkids were watching a DVD and a video tape.
Yesterday when we tried to get back on the direct my wife must have pressed every button on the remote because for two days I have not been able to get the Dddirect TV to come gback on with anything but a pretty blue screen. I can not even get my TV to do anything but a blue screen.
My other three units are wowrking fine. Only this one is out. Please help me or tell me where I can go for some help.
I CALLED DIRECT TV WITH THE THIRD PROBLEM WITH THE HD RECIVER,AS PER COURSE THE STUPID TECH,RAN ME AROUND ,FINDLEY HE RELISE I NEED ANOTHER RECIVER.BUT TO MAKE THINGS WORSE HE LIED TO IS STUPID-VISOR.AN SAID I DID NOT TROUBLE SHOOT THE PROBLEM.SO THAY CHARGED ME $199.00 FOR THE NEW RECIVER.IF COMCAST WERE NOT A BUNCH OF IDIOTS I WHOULD SWAP.
I consider myself a good discerner of crap in companies … well, almost. After CableVision (great service, customer & tech support) raised price after initial promotion terms expired, I decided to switch to Verizon land telephone line and DirectTV for TV. Verizon gave me hard time to set up an appointment (their customer support is second grade but not worst). Enters DirectTV.
1) I set up an appointment, subcontractor from DirectTech North East showed up on time. We spend 1 hour tracing existing cables but, no, he won’t install and won’t use those lines, the other guy will show up later (first flag) but will finish installation in the same day. Well, he did show up but without some tools, set up antenna pulled in new cables but did not finish work and said to my wife that he’ll come on the next day around 6PM and will call before visit. He did not, leaving behind two receivers.
2) That did not exactly inspire me and I decided to call DirectTV customer support asking them to have somebody come in on that day. First time they dropped me back to message system asking to call again - after 15 minutes of transferring me back and forth. Second time, they tried once to reach subcontractor but nobody answered and they said that I have to call them myself. When I objected the rep (Crista) started talking over me and when I objected said: “I place you on hold until you are ready to listen to me”. The rep whom I asked to follow the process through (Kim) did not call me back, even after I called the third time leaving a message for him. At this point I decided to stop the process due to poor technical support via sub-contractor and horrendous customer support. When I called to cancel customer support they first said that they did not find the account, saying that I ordered through reseller (that’s not true) and when I persisted, said “I’ll see what I can do” and seemingly found the account by the phone number. Still I have to call DirectTech North East to “resolve it with them”. Sure I will. Overall I spend 1.5 hour on the phone.
3) Next morning I called subcontractor DirectTech NorthEast, who connected me back to DirectTV to cancel service (yes - nothing was done last night after 1.5 hours of wasted time). Direct TV rep (Steven) started on his little promotional speech but then had mercy and canceled. Seems that he knew exactly what I went through as my eloquent description of it made an effect. He gave me confirmation number and told to call subcontructor (”nothing remains to be done by DirectTV”). I did and eventually got to speak to same person in local warehouse in Piscataway (Ovidia) who said that I need to get work order from DirectTV. After I told her what Steven said she agreed that DirectTV is passing the buck. It took about 10 minutes but the work order was set in motion. DirectTV rep (Jeff) said they’ll call me when order is set up. I begged with Ovidia to call me as I am concerned that DirectTV will delay or not call me. She agreed and took my numbers.
DirectTV are F-ing bastards! Quote me.
I am a little concerned about all the info I had to give…… Well, if it shows up on here please ignore it.
My Story…..
I became a DTV customer in 1998, 2000 and of course at the time was entered into a 2 year contract. In 2007 I upgraded to HD. Now before all that I was very happy with DTV, never had a problem. My hubby and I for years would cut the service for 6 months (suspend) then turn the TV back on…… No Problem. Then as I said I upgraded…….
I bought a HD reciever from Circut City and all I was asked is if I was an existing customer and proudly I declared “since 1998″ and all the rep said was “ok” then gave me a discount for already being a costomer. I went home and had my stepdaughters boyfriend who was a DTV tech hook me up, I asked him about signing anything and he said “NO” so I said cool and enjoyed my HD. In July of 2007 I moved from Jersey to South Carolina and during a major fiasco with my house had to put all my bills on hold for 2 months, I called DTV and spoke with a rep and thought everything was taken care of. I had my service turned off (my TV is still in Jersey) in Dec. and thought I was under an agreement to have the tv turned back on in Feb or March.
The customer service TWIT I spoke to said that I was in a 2 year contract so she had to add several charges to my bill for breaking the contract but ASSURED ME that when I called to have everything turned back on those charges would be removed and I wuld only owe the original $140 for back payments.
Along comes Feb. I paid a bunch of other bills (not DTV) and to my horror and my hubbys discovered we had overcharged our bank account, not sure why or how my hubby called the bank and discovered DTV removed $583 from our account without our knowledge so naturally I called and explained this was not the agreement and the CS Rep I spoke to couldn’t understand why the Twit I spoke to before would ever tell me that. (our agreement)
When I got my bill I thought it interesting that these Assholes removed the $583 BEFORE the statement was even printed. So even if I had planned to turn the TV back on Feb. 1 it would have already been to late.
So naturally hubby and I freaked out and now we are taking them to small claims court. They swear we were in a contract which is bullshit since the whole point to our buying the HD at CC and NOT through DTV was so WE WOULDN’T BE PUT IN ANOTHER 2 YEAR AGREEMENT. My hubby is taking this to the FTC which will make a lot of you happy since it most likely will become a class action lawsuit.
We got them though, even though they dealt with me the bill is soley in hubbys name and HE NEVER SIGNED ANYTHING so there is no way they can produce an agreement with his name on it. All the CS Rep kept saying to him today was “It’s our policy” Well hate to break it to ya sweetcakes but you can’t enter someone into a contract without their knowledge. They also charged us for a unit I already bought at Circut City. It is against the law to make me pay twice for the same unit. They had an issue with what I paid too…… I only paid $100 for it but DTV chargeD me $330.
If this turns into a Class Action deal I will let you all know.
Another DTV HATER:
I’ll just leave this letter I just sent off, hopefully to the right address…
To Whomever Might Listen to My Case, and Stop Quoting the Customer Service Manual,
I could take you through the hours spent on the phone, the letters faxed and mailed, and the complete and utter frustration of just having spent valuable time speaking with no less than four of your agents/supervisors in Phoenix.
But instead, I will tell you that Agent #1, Agent #2, Dexter and Alexandra all repeated the exact same information to me, ad nauseum, no matter how many times I explained to them that no, I did NOT receive notice of “pending programming activation”, and no, I was NOT “fully and duly aware that service would resume August 12, 2007.
It would appear that what gets typed into a customer’s account becomes sacred, no matter what misunderstanding might have transpired, and that no pleading of the customer to say, be human and have a heart, will be heard.
Bottom line. My account says we owe $80.17 in service fees I was “fully and duly aware of”, and I say this is not true. Some mistake, somewhere, occurred. $80.17 means something to my family, with four children, on one income. It is probably not such a huge deal to Direct TV. I was told that no matter what my stance, “integrity is valued in our employees at Direct TV”, so whatever note was on my account was there to stay, and influence the reversal, or lack thereof, of the fees aside from the early cancelation fee. What happened to the customer being valued? What happened to, oh, I don’t know, giving a person a break and maybe admitting someone on Direct TV’s end somehow could have misunderstood the situation?
To quote that last letter from Phoenix:
We could only assume service was satisfactory because we received no request to extend the suspension when we sent notification of the pending programming activation, and no statements were returned to us as undeliverable.
We suspended service in July of 2006 because we had to move to take a job. We moved in with my parents, who had their own TVs and systems. We had no means to use the services of Direct TV, and to this day, do not. I never received any notification of “pending programming activation”, or interim statements, making me aware of compiling fees.
No matter how many times I tried to explain that I would have never allowed charges to add up, that until I started receiving bills in the amount of 164.17 in Sept. of 2007, did I even know this was an issue, I was repeatedly told “we have a notation that you were aware”. I called in September of 2007 to be sure the account was canceled. I began disputing the charges in late fall of 2007, and in January of this year, received the letter stating that the charges remain valid, and therefore, should be remitted.
And really, while the money is an issue, almost worse is the most insulting, offensive tactic to repeat over and over “I understand, BUT…” as your representatives did today. If someone understood, I wouldn’t have spent 2 hours on the phone while my baby was cranky and crying, and my neck got wrenched while trying to prepare lunch and simultaneously handle this matter, while being told each supervisor on up the ladder was going to be harder to convince to even take my call. Oh, and then the endless time on hold. Hearing the cheery lady tell me how great Direct TV is and how simple simple simple it is to sign up, and get what I really want in total entertainment. Really. Someone should really explain how difficult difficult difficult it’s going to be if you have unexpected circumstances derail your plans to to be able to enjoy fast-forwarding and rewinding live TV for a contract minimum of two years. Also, you really should just tell your representatives to say, “tough shit sherlock”, because that’s really what they think. And honesty, while potentially brutal, is always so much easier to swallow. Or if they do care? Then give them the power to choose who they may think they might help out.
My dealings with your company over the last few months are exactly what all “The Man” jokes are about, and why we, who are not The Man, really love to hear stories about how somebody finally got to stick it to Him. Big corporations who play all that “we care about you, our customer” jazz on their automated phone systems, where it is nearly impossible to get a real, live human (and who does finally answer, is questionable, here) while we languish on hold, just waiting to ultimately be told we, and our case, don’t amount to one tiny ant crap.
So yes. I am disputing the $80.17 in assumed satisfactory service. And you may decide I have not one child-clung-to leg to stand on, but I just couldn’t help but wonder if there wasn’t one person in all of Direct TV who might just have the power, the cajones, and maybe even the kindness to say, “Hey, we’re sorry for all the trouble, the time, and effort. Somewhere, clearly there was a misunderstanding. Here. We’ll take care of that, for you.”
Wow. Wouldn’t a little of that go a long way.
Very Unsatisfied,
A.T.
Had a problem with my Direct tv system, told them plainly that I did not want to sign another contract that I was going to change To Newwave communications, Paid for service call sent back their boxes and remotes and they bill be 320.00 for canceling on an early contract that I told them I didn’t want if I had of known I was going to be paying for nothing I wouldn’t have let them come out, They are a dirty company and I advise anyone who has a problem with them not to put your trust in them, They are threating turning me over to collections department, but that’s o.k, I had this company for 5 years but now I wouldn’t recommend them to any one, I am encouraging my friends andy family to let them go as soon as their contracts are up, I have tried to get this company to send the contract or the tape where I said yes and I would pay, but they can’t so…They’ll just have to take me to court.
Dear People, I found myself in need of a third converter box, and called direct T V to ask if they where able to install a third converter box on a 2 dish hook up. They told me yes there wouldn’t be a problem, so I ordered the third converter box, then rep on the phone said that they would be able to come out the next day. the installer arrived at my home, was very polite and professional, installed the third converter box where I asked him to and when he was finished he stuck around for an add few min. to make sure that I understood how ever thing worked. The installers number is 4004 and the next time that I need repair work done I hope that the service tech is as polite as this installer was
Thank you
Robert Baer
I am new customer; I got the receiver on last Monday till date
1. My account is not active.
2. I called DTV if not more at least 20 time, Even after so many promises the engineer does not show up. We are waiting at home since last 5 days, hoping for the miracle.
3. 90% of the time the calls goes to voice, by any chance if someone picks, he or she is not right person, try to transfer and guess what disconnected.
4. Even they say leave Voice message, they are not even courteous to call back.
5. Nobody tell the actual problem. Keep giving wild guesses.
Bottom line pathetic service, hopeless customer service, and I will never recommend DTV to any of my friends and family.
I sympathize with all of you, and hope you can get what you need out of DirectTV. I also hope that once you cancel, you check out DishNetwork. I’ve had great success with Dish Network since switching from Direct TV to them…
I’d highly recommend Dish Network. And DishPronto.com is the place to order it.
Also, They want to charge me a $250 charge to cancel the service. They said that I have a 2 year contract. No-one can tell me the correct date. Each rep tells me my contract ends on a different day. I have less than 1 year left and the day that the contract ends i am going to cancel.
Yes i just got a royal screwing by Direct TV as well. Ive been trying to figure out how to cut costs since our economy is in such great shape and came across a cable deal too good to pass up. Ive been paying $60 a month for Direct TV and found a deal where I get telephone, internet and my cable for $86 a month. Now it doesn’t take a genius to figure that one out. So I called Direct TV and ask them how much it would cost if I canceled my subscription and they told me $40. So I wanted to make sure and called them again a few days later and got the same answer. So I went ahead and canceled my services. Then low and behold I see a charge on my credit card for $177.10. So I call them up and say oh thats $130 for early cancellation. I said “WHAT?” you idiots told me twice it was going to be $40 , no one ever mentioned $177 to me and any point in my conversations with them. So to make a long story short I told them their company SUCKED and they can take their satellite boxes and stick them up their A$$….
We moved from Forida where we had Direct tv and and liked it. Now in colorado we tried to have it installed but our location can’t see the sattilite so they can not provide service. They are charging me $280.00 for early cancellation for a service they can not supply and ther reason is to recoupe the cost of installation even though the people in our old house are using it. So there will never be another direct dish on my house. They make it very easy for the cable company. In closing just let me say “DIRECT TV SUCKS” Want to quit cable OK no cost.
I cancelled Direct TV after five years and they are charging me $200.00 cancellation fee. The initial contract was only for one year. I have made reapeated request but they won’t stop sending me the amount due notice. Direct TV customer’s service sucks and every time you call it takes about 20-30 minutes to talk to a live person.
DIRECT TV SUCKS!
1. Every time the wind blows or it gets cloudy or a bird farts it gets pixelated or is “searching for satellites”
2. Their customer service schmucks are incompetent and rude
3. You pay them $100 / month and they want to charge you 5.95/month “insurance” in order to realign your dish for “free”
4. The way their remote and channel changing works is totally awkward
I would only recommend it to someone who lives in the wilderness and has no other option
I’m impressed but not surprised at how many comments are on here. I’ll make mine short in an effort to keep my blood pressure down. After having their service for nearly two years I received a incorrect bill for over eight hundred dollars. As of right now I’ve completed my obligations and cancelled. I’ve logged over five hours on the phone with customer service and after many promises from supervisors to correct my billing, lowered my amount owed (actually $181.00) to the mid $400’s. I’m going on six months and am totally willing to pay them their due when they get it straight. I’ve since cancelled my phone service provider of 20 years for their lack of help with Direct TV as they were involved in a package and somewhat responsible for the spot that I am in. In closing, I received a call on my work cell phone from a collection agency regarding my DTV account. I absolutely lost it on this poor person and possibly for the first time in history they said they understood and I haven’t heard back since. Could this be because this is such a common occurence? Never in my life have I experienced such consistently horrible customer service. This is my new favorite website and the only time that I’ve ever typed something like this.
You really have to watch these folks. You sign up for a $39 plan and they send you a bill for $73.66. Then when you call them and ask what is going on they say well we will see if we can get you a rebate. When they determine that you have a rebate coming and it will happen in a couple of months. In the mean time I am pay $30 dollars a month more than I had planned on. The only way I see you can stop it is to go some where else.
DIRECT TV IS NOTING BUT A FRAUD ON THEIR PROMOTIONS:
Wow, I’m seriously not surprised to find so many people with problems with this Direct TV. We were with them several years ago and stayed with them for over a year and decided to switch back to cable then, after a year Direct TV sent us a letter to come back to them with so many offers of promotions that we decided to go back so on 11/30/07 we went back to Direct TV and they came out on 12/03/07 and reinstalled their service, WELL… when we got our first bill to our surprise we were charged full price for everything that was suppose to be a promo… we called customer service with no luck at all. We refused to pay the full bill and paid only what we were told the service would be. They turned off the service until we paid the rest so we paid the rest to restore service, this went on for over 3 months. We were sick of dealing with them. We have spent hours and hours of time on the phone with the customer service and each time we get someone new and they tell us something different. The point being Direct TV never gave us anything that we were promised on the promotion and so we switched to another company and since then we have received a bill totalling over $900 for canceling the service and the boxes and we have returned the boxes and we are not going to pay any cancellaction charges since we never signed a contract to start with and they never gave us what we were promised and we still have the letters to prove everything. We would like to do a class action suit against them if anyone wants to join us for the sake of stoping them from doing this to anyone else. Weather or not they realize this is FRAUD against us consumers. We are willing to take this to court if we have to. We are sick and tired of having this company harass us about their lies and fraud and false letters of promotions to trick people to come back under false promotions and all of this is FRAUD and we want to stop them once and for all. Who wants to join us? Contact us: VCL5474@aol.com Thank you for reading our commit.
I too am fed up with DirectTV and am planning a legal suit against them for breach of contract.
My Direct TV service is out now because the idiot installer put the dish in the middle of my back yard in the wintertime without considering tree foiliage in the spring/summer. Now they want to charge me to move the dish that they poorly placed with no consideration of seasonal changes.
I spent five hours on the phone being transferred between departments with no resolution. I am preparing a package to the BBB, complete with photos of the idiot’s installation, and will be contacting the GA State Attorney and the President of DirectTV. It’s not the money as much as it is the principle of the matter. I am the customer, I shouldn’t be the one responsible for their placement of their dish, yet they want me to be. It was their mistake and I’ll sit here with no TV until they are made to be accountable. Contact me at carydbuch@yahoo.com if you would like to join me in the lawsuite or if you have any comments.
Remember, even if everyone only makes $1 in a class action suit, DirectTV will have to pay out huge sums of money. The benefit is that DirectTV may choose to clean up their act when their pocket is hit hard enough. Only in a class, can all of our losses add up to a significant impact to DirectTV.
P.S. Took a picture of where the HD dish is located in the yard.
This picture shows where the first (sensible) installer put the original dish up on the roof.
What really sucks is we told the idiot installer that we didn’t think it was a good idea to put the dish so low in the yard and wanted it up where the old one was. He told us he “wasn’t qualified” to put it up on the roof but we could call to have the “other guy who is qualified” come out and move it. What he failed to mention is that we would have to pay to have it moved. If we would have known that then, we would not have allowed him to install it there. I guess he didn’t think our trees would bloom in the spring, summer and fall!
Also, the wires are strewn across the yard as if it was done as a temporary job. If this is the way Direct TV instructs their installers to hook up customer’s dishes, then it is nothing short of SHODDY WORKMANSHIP!! Here is just one example.
How infuriating. STAY AWAY FROM DIRECT TV!!!
Does anyone have a corporate phone number for Direct TV? They told me that I would be receiving a credit for 2 no show appointments of $100 each. After constant contact with them and hours on the phone they say that I don’t qualify for the credit!! When I asked for corporate, they said they didn’t have a number for them.
HELP!!
I just ordered Directv. Was going for the basic 29.95 package went online they offered the 52.99 package for the same price as the first one with more channels for a 12 month contract.Picked my install date next day. Great right.NO. He called at 9 said I will be there by 12 showed up at 1:30 I had a doctors appt. at 3 he left at 4. At the end of my order I got an email that said welcome and what my directv would cost per month. It said FINALLY MONTHLY TOTAL 45.96 including taxes great.Finall monhlu total for 12 months includes a credit of 23.00 per month for 12 months. I got my mail today in it a bill for 77.33 per month. They said I never filled out a redemption form so I have to pay 77.33 for 2 months then the redemption should be through and I can pay 45.96. Called 3 people with my story and in other words they said to bad so sad. I asked to speak to a supervisor she put me on hold and disconnected me.2 other people told me the same thing happened to them. I am sending them 45.96 per month.I hate dirctv.
Corporate number to DIRECTV 310-964-5000
Watch out for Directv they will offer you a deal and forget to tell you that you have to fill out a redemption form before getting the deal. And if you forget you have to pay the higher bill which is usually 30.00 more then you anticipated for at least 2 months. If you threatened to cancel them you have to 480.00 for leased equipment of 2 weeks.
Here are some other sources for those of you who, like me have been lied to, mistreated and disrespected by DirecTV. I have never in my life dealt with a company who has NO REGARD for customer care…can’t imagine how long they will be able to get a away with it…at any rate, try these agencies for satisfaction.
It’s my hope the complaints will get their attention.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
Consumer & Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB)
445 12th St., SW
Washington, DC 20554
Toll free: 1-888-CALL-FCC (225-5322)
TTY: 1-888-TELL-FCC (835-5322)
Fax: 1-866-418-0232
E-mail: fccinfo@fcc.gov
http://www.fcc.gov
FCC accepts public inquiries, informal complaints, and questions regarding cable, radio, satellite, telephone, television and wireless services.
Satellite Industry Association Susan Eid DirecTV board member Vice-President for Governmental Affairs
1730 M Street, N.W.
Suite 600
Washington, D.C. 20036
Phone (202) 349-3650
Fax: (202) 349-3622
info@sia.org
I like all the rest had decided to go with DirectTV signed up on their website back in November 2007 they came installed it on December 4th. When i signed up on the website it gave me a ” new customer” 34.95 rate, when i finished filling out the form it zeroed out on all the other charges, only to find out on December 6th my credit card was hit with a ton of charges, shipping fee’s for the satellite, receiver and first month charges at 59.00. oh Yeah.. and that ” FREE” 3 months of HBO, STARS and Cinemax I get on the phone to call ” customer support” only to get someone who didnt speak english all that great, barely could understand a word he said. After 20 minutes of trying to understand a word he said, I finally asked for a supervisor and told her I wanted all these charges reversed off my credit card, this was not what was on the form when i filled it out to have Direct TV. She said she was not authorized to do that, but would on the next bill give me a credit and then informed me of the ” Redemtion Form”, I said what redemtion form, she politely said the one you have to fill out to get your price break. I said Where the hell was that on the website when I first went with DirectTV, she said well ma’am I dont have anything to do with the website and what goes on it. I said well dont you think its a little illegal to LIE to your customers then? So she filled out the redemtion form for me, and told me I would get the price break for the ” New Customer” I said Great Thank You. Next month bill comes and I dont see any of the ” Promises” that I was told I would get. I called again in January 2008 only to be told ” the redemtion form is being processed and it could take up to 8 weeks before you get your credit”. I said okay then will I be retroed the credits back to the date I signed up. Again I was told NO. I said You people constantly lie left right and center to get people to sign up find it interesting that you people are like Used Car Salesman ( no offense to some of you) but its the standard bait and switch routine. You sucker people in with a ” special price” and then dont tell them what is to be done to get it at that price and then on top of it sneak in all kinds of other charges on top of it. Today I called because I was sick of my Signal going out EVERY weekend, come saturday you can set your clock to it, half my channels have no reception ” searching for a signal” after spending a half hour on the phone with some Idiot from Customer Service, she tells me, we can send out a technician to check your sattelite i said Great.. she informs me there is a 79.00 charge for that. and any additional charges., I went WHAT.. She said your equipment is only Guarenteed for 90 days. I said OH REALLY. the receivers are YOUR equipment I just pay a lease for them so why should I have to pay for your equipment to be fixed…. Then i proceeded to tell her I was never informed of a ” 90 day Warrently” which her reply was, I am sorry but you can sign up for our ” protection plan of $5.99 a month” and then the service call is only 17.99. I again said.. Why should I Have to pay for YOUR equipment to be fixed?. So keeping all the information I recieved from Direct TV to see if they even had it in SMALL PRINT a warrently clause in my contract and low and behold… There isnt one, however they do give you information on the ” Protection Plan” You seriously can not win with these people, they pretty much have you by the balls and no one has yet to set these people straight. I have yet to see where DirectTV has been finded for their missleading business practices. Now I am stuck with DirectTV and only half my channels work…. I certainly am going to start a huge writing campaign just to get people to sit up and Notice this company for what they are, ” RIP OFF” I hope that everyone does the same as well.
Sounds like everybody is having the same issues as we with Direct TV. Let’s start a campaign to encourage the NFL to pull the broadcasting rights of that company or at least let the cable providers in.
Direct TV has been the most horrible experience I have ever had in my life. I am sure they have taken years off of my life due to the stress. It doesn’t seem to ever end and I am now happily using Dish Network. Our service with direct tv ended in the beginning of May of 2008. Today (mid July of 2008) I am getting a notice that I have unpaid fees and I will be turned in to collections. Of course after we paid our bill in May we received a notice that said our balance on the account was $0.00. I bit and called them when I got home, they have stated that when I returned my recievers to them the chip inside of the box had 6 pay per views on it that they needed to bill me for since my phone line was not plugged in. Throughout the entire time I had their service I never used the ppv service, that is why I didn’t have a phone line plugged in, I didn’t want it used. Not only were they saying that they had these movies on the “chip” in the box, they are saying it was adult channels. That is when I said wait a minute, there is no way! After a frustrating hour on the phone and a promise to receive a return phone call from a supervisor. No luck. I am on here trying to do my research and get to the bottom of this. My thought is that one of those satellite stealers had logged into the system somehow and ordered these things. I know it is possible because I know someone who has done it. I have written down all of the contacts information from above and am attempting to settle this once and for all. We’ll see where it goes considering my account has been closed. It pisses me off how easily they can turn something in to your credit and cause you serious problems, but you have no recourse for their failures. Why hasn’t the government done something about this yet? Isn’t that why we spend billions of dollars in taxes?
Hopeful in Florida
Today a DirectTV installer name “Mario Martinez /Truck# 62292″ came to install a dish on my neighbors house, the dish was not only in front of my back main window of my house, but was not according to our Neighbors Association Rules which saids the dish most be on the back of the house… I try to explain this to the installer and did not have the chance… he did not let me talk and said “If you don’t like it close your window!”
I am following with out Homeowners Association, we will see what happens… the moral of the story is ‘DON’T GET DIRECT-TV’ a company which does NOT care of its image or customer service.
….and YES I did call the many 888s and 8OOs numbers! … I was disconnected every single time!
DirectTV? … give me a break!
Cedar Park, Texas 78613
Worst service I have ever had. I have been an un-satisfied customer for 8 months now, and would have already cancelled the service if it weren’t for my contract. Now I’m moving and the private homeowner will not allow me to have a dish. I called to cancel the service, and these assholes tell me that I will have to pay to cancel early, even though I have to cancel through no fault of my own. Every time I have had a problem with this service, they can fix it…as long as I give them more money. Apparently they feel that I should be held financially responsible for the weather also, after a thunderstorm knocked out our service, the dish needed to be turned about a quarter of an inch, which they told me was easy to fix…for 80bucks. I told them how dis-satisfied I was and how awful their customer service is and they quoted me some crap about how they are the #1 rated service in the US. What a bunch of garbage. I would rather walk through broken glass then ever have Direct TV again.
Yesterday (8/28/2008) a DirectTV installer “Mario/Truck# 62292″ came to install a dish on my neighbors house in Cypress Creek, the dish was not only in front of my back main window of my house, but was not according to our Neighbors Association Rules which said the dish most be on the back of the house… I try to explain this to the installer and did not have the chance… he did not let me talk and said “If you don’t like it close your window!”
The neighbor just moved into the house and very politely I ask to please move the dish and NO luck! He points fingers to the Satellite company… mmm at the end of the day don’t you agree that if your are the customer then you can ask for the dish to be relocated?… So, here me out… The installer, the installer Manager and the new neighbor refuse to take ownership of the issue! - Well, life is colorful sometimes to say the least.
I am following with out Homeowners Association (Alliance Association Management), we will see what happens… the moral of the story is ‘DON’T GET DIRECT-TV’ a company which does NOT care of its image or customer service.
….and YES I did call the many 888s and 8OOs numbers! … I was disconnected every single time!
I wonder if I can get a refund on all the money we have paid to our association if the rules are not enforced? – jaja I doubt that very much…
DirectTV? … Give m a break!
MY HUSBAND WAS DYING FOR THE NFL PACKAGE SO WE CANCELLED OUR COX CABLE. FIRST TWO THUGS SHOW UP TO OUR HOUSE AND TELL US THAT WE HAVE TO PAY THEM $150.00 CASH FOR OUR “FREE INSTALLATION” THAT WAS PROMISED. INSTINCTUALLY WE HAD THEM LEAVE W/OUT INSTALLING AND WHEN WE CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE, SOME YOUNG KID CLAIMED TO BE A SUPERVISOR AND COULD HAVE CARED LESS! WE ARE WORRIED THAT THEY WILL ATTEMPT TO CHARGE OUR CREDIT CARD. DIRECT TV HAS NO AFFILIATION TO THEIR SUB CONTRACTORS AND THEY DID NOT EVEN OFFER TO HELP US AS ALMOST NEW CUSTOMERS. WE HAD A REALLY BAD FEELING ABOUT EVERYTHING AND WE HAVE ALREADY CALLED COX CABLE TO INSTALL AGAIN TODAY. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR COMMENTS IT PROBABLY SAVED US 2 YEARS OF HELL.
I was going to leave another story about the horrible service and policies that Direct TV offers but it’s clear it doesn’t really matter so I’m not going to waste my time typing it in. If you’re reading this do yourself a favor. DO NOT EVER SIGNUP FOR DIRECT TV. Get cable or FIOS.
I have been a Direct TV customer for more than 6 years. I am tired of fighting with their customer service reps and their installers to get what I pay for. Yesterday after witing 3 weeks for a upgrade to DVR the installer shows up without the right drill bit to install the 2nd line of the DVR. No offer to go get the correct drill bit and come back, nothing. He installs the DVR with one line therefore we can not record while watching a different channel. He leaves then that is when I notice that he took my old receiver (my property I purchased it) and also my new remote to the new DVR. Which means we cannot even use the DVR as our old remotes do not have a record button.
I call Direct TV and report this they act as though its no big deal must have been a mistake by the installer, right? That is why he took the time to program our old remote to the new DVR receiver, please this was done intentionally.
I then was informed this installer was not an employee of Direct TV that he is employed by “Ironwood Communications.” They sub contract I call this company to report this and the response by the supervisor Jon Paul was a promise he would return my phone call by 6:00 that night. He never called or made an attempt to reschedule for an installer to come “equipped with the correct tools to do the job. Nothing. I am disgusted.
Out of my 15 calls to Direct TV I have had 3 people who gave good customer service and were helpful the other 12 acted as though this was no big deal that the installer stole my property, it was business as usual.
In this recession people are choosing to either pay another bill or pay Direct TV as times are tough. Pay the other bill. Direct TV does not respect or care about their loyal customers. They suck.
Also what kind of background check do these installers have done prior to walking into your home?
I don’t ever want to hear again that in this country (America) everybody has equal rights as consumers! What a crock of shit!
Half of Americans who are football fans are fucked because we’re denied the right for NFL Ticket Package because we live in a condo/apartment that faces the wrong way or has an association that doesn’t allow particular dishes on a roof.
How can this happen? In a country like America, you should be able live anywhere and always have an option to buy the NFL ticket package.
Not that the NFL needs more money, but think of the millions, or maybe billions of $$$$ revenue the league is losing, because of some fucking contract DirecTV signed. Or think of the millions of $$$$ revenue DirecTV could make if they also had a regular cable system for those who can’t get ‘dish’ access? It is not only ridiculous that I can’t buy the NFL ticket package, but unconstitutional.
Why doesn’t our government blow the whistle on this? Who is responsible? Why has this crap lasted this long? I wish I knew a lawyer or some congressman who could explain all this nonsense to me!
I recieved a DirectTV account about 10 months ago. I had the service
for some 4 months and had to move homes since I’m a renter in
Indianapolis. I moved to a new home and wanted to bring along my
directTV since I still had 20 months left on the contract. I had a
technician come to my new and tell me that it could not be installed
because the DirectTV signal can not be attained through the trees on
my new property.
I called a CSR person and they basically said I was screwed because I
had signed a contract. She said “We didn’t ask you to move Mr.
Herron”. This upset me because it was obvious they didn’t ask me to
move but I didn’t know DirectTV’s product was inferior and wouldn’t
work in my new home.
I asked then to speak to a manager and he assured me that I could
suspend my account for 6 months and then call back again and suspend
it again for 6 months. Which would have worked for me since I would
be moving again and could pick a house that was compatable for
DirectTV. Which is great because I want to have to worry if my new
house is ok for DirectTV. But I agreed to this and suspended my
account for 6 months.
On September 19th, 2008 I called DirectTV back and asked to re-suspend
my account for another 6 months. No problem, she did it!
Today is October 14th, 2008 and just saw my checking account has been
billed by DirectTV. I call them and explain my situation. The man
replies by saying that DirectTV can only suspend accounts for 6 motnhs
and can not re-suspend accounts. He assures me I was never told I
could suspend 2 times in a row and if I was there was nothing I could
do. I need to cancel or start paying again. Don’t you think I would
have cancelled my account 6 months ago if I was told I could only
suspend once since I had just moved into a new home for 12 months.
DirectTV has lied, been rude, lied, then lied, and rude again. This
is one very unhappy canceling customer. I would not suggest DirectTV
to anyone. I would suggest AT&T, COMCAST, or BRIGHTHOUSE. Never sign
a contract with DIRECTTV because they will own you.
Customer #039347609
I signed up for Direct TV about a year ago. This spring after being repeatedly over charged I attempted to cancel the serivce but was told I had made a one year commitment and would have to pay a fee. Yesterday my reciever stopped working. I called tech support but decided that instead of having them send a new reciever I would just cancel the service since my year was just about up. But, then I was told that it was actually a two year commitment. What a surprise. After getting offthe phone I began to smell something strange and realized it was comming from the TV area, specifically the Direct TV reciever, which had smoke coming out of the back of it. When I called back to tell the CSR what was happening she said, that could happen with any appliance. When I told her that there was a strange chemical smell coming from the unit and I was concerned because my nine month old daughter had breathed it in she told me to bring my daughter somewhere else. No concern, no apology. This company has no regard for customer service. Please do not order Direct TV.
I’m also a very unhappy former customer with a story similar to Noah’s.
After about 1 year of the HDDVR service, we moved to a new house. We attempted to switch our service to the new house, but when the technician came out to install a dish, they could not find a suitable location due to trees.
This left us the only viable option of canceling our account. DirectTV charged my credit card on file the cancellation fee of around $170 and required we return the DVR (we purchased it from Costco for around $200 only a year ago - apparently it was a lease).
Why should I have to pay if they cannot provide us the service?
While trying to get answers and make our case their customer service has been extremely poor during multiple phone calls and emails. You cannot easily reach them or get answers. They only just repeat the same line over and over when they do decide to respond. They apparently know I have very little recourse as I’m not going to take legal action for this amount of money.
We believe this to be unethical and poor business practice. I doubt we would ever consider DirecTV again considering this experience. There needs to be some better consumer protection laws to cover this.
Also an interesting anecdote about the quality of installers - This was scary since I saw it happen - during the install in my old house the installer almost drilled into a bunch of electrical wires. Missed them by less than half an inch.
Lesson learned - don’t ever expect to get out of the service contract with them even if you have a very good reason. They are a rude and un-reasonable - they make the cable and phone companies look great when it comes to customer service.
if you initiate that class action suit i’m in…i just signed up and was lied to from out of the gate. it’s going to be a long, miserable, expensive two years.
I HAVE NEVER BEEN SO DISSATISFIED — FRUSTRATED– OR FURIOUS WITH A COMPANY THAT IS SUPPOSED TO PROVIDE SERVICE!!!!!
WHAT IN GOD’S NAME ALLOWS THIS COMPANY TO STILL EXIST TODAY???
WHAT CAN WE DO??? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THIS??? I FEEL LIKE I JUST GOT TAKEN LIKE A FOOL!!!!
AND I THOUGHT COMCAST WAS BAD???? GOOD GOD— THEY WALK ON WATER!!!
I AM TO THE POINT WHERE I WANT TO KNOW WHERE TO GET A LIVE, IN THE FLESH PERSON THAT IS CAPABLE OF TAKING CARE OF THIS SITUATION RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW… AND WHERE HE/SHE LIVES… SO THAT MAYBE THEY MAY ACTUALLY BE ACCOUNTABLE FOR THEIR ACTIONS/WORDS!!!
I’VE BEEN LIED TO AND HUNG UP ON ONE TOO MANY TIMES. I HAVE SPENT WAY WAY WAYYYY TOOOOO MUCH OF MY VALUABLE TIME AND ENERGY DEALING WITH THEM!!
HERE IS A BIG FAT WTF…
I’M GOING TO TAKE A BASEBALL BAT TO THE DISH ON MY ROOF–BLOW UP THE RECEIVERS AND REMOTES WITH A ‘LITTLE SUMTHIN SUMTHIN’… PUT IT ALL ON YOUTUBE…. PACKAGE THE REMAINS AND MAIL IT TO THE PRESIDENT/CEO/WHATEVER OF DIRECTV ALONG WITH—- A BILL FOR MY ROOF, A BILL FOR MY TIME THAT THEY HAVE TAKEN FROM ME WITH THE HOURS OF PHONE CALLS THAT GOT ABSO-FREAKIN- LUTELY NOWHERE, A BILL FOR THE HOLES THAT THEY NEEDLESSLY DRILLED THROUGH MY BRICK WALLS AND HARDWOOD FLOORS, AND ANOTHER BILL FOR THE DOCTORS THAT I’M GOING TO HAVE TO CONSULT FOR THE CHEST PAIN, ANXIETY AND STOMACH ULCER THAT I NOW HAVE DIRECTLY RELATED TO MY ENCOUNTERS WITH THEM!!!!
THEN,,, I AM GOING TO MAIL A COPY OF MY YOUTUBE VIDEO TO ALL OF THEIR EXECS–ALONG WITH THE WORLD….. THEN,,, I’M GOING TO HIRE AN ATTORNEY…
CLASS ACTION HERE WE COME!!
I too just signed up and was lied to. NOTHING that I was sold is happening. I received my first bill yesterday and am being billed for the total amount - not the 12-month special I signed up for. The “special” does not go into effect for 6-8 weeks. On top of this, I was told that I would receive credits for 2 of my receivers for 5 months. When I questioned these credits I was told they can’t do that and have never heard of such a credit. The person who sold me this package also told me that I could cancel if I did so during the first 30 days - not true!!!! We have had Direct TV at our cottage for the past 8 years and pay $57.99/month for this. The reason I signed up for Direct TV at our home, is because I was told that I could cancel our cottage service and have the cottage service “mirrored” for just $10/month. Guess what….can’t do that either. In fact the tech from Direct TV told me there is no way possible to do this. I was also told that I could “split” two TV’s so that I did not need to have to pay for receivers for two rooms at home. When the tech came in to install the dish and receivers I was told that it cost $45/room to have this done. While this is a charge from the company installing the service, the installer told me that Direct TV knows there are charges for this. He said that this happens all the time - customers are not told that there will be a fee for certain requests and while Direct TV cannot quote the fee because they vary, they have a general idea and should tell customers that additional installation fees may apply.
I hate Direct TV .. When we first got our Direct tv we were told we signed a 12 month lease. When we tried to cancel after 10 months we were told that we signed a 16 month lease. I told them I have the 12 mon. lease aggrement in my hand and they told me that did not matter..This went on for almost an hour back and forth. I finally called my phone comp. cause it was a package deal. Long story short.. Phone company called Direct TV and told them to fix it.. Well they did, and we WILL NEVER USE DIRECT TV EVER….
It’s been 2 weeks, and I still do not have satelite service. Their “software update” fried my HD DVR receiver, and I still do not have a replacement. In the last 2 weeks, I’ve had 3 different appointments with their sub-contractor repair techs. They failed to show up without a phone or explanation. I’ve spent over 15 hours total on the phone with over 30 Direct TV representatives, but there is a total lack of regard for customer service. My problem should be a priority, but they treat me otherwise. They refuse to provide me with the corporate office’s contact information. How is this possible? I feel like I stepped into the twilight sone. This is absolutely crazy! We need to stand our ground against big businesses who treat their customers as though they are just a number and a dollar sign. I am going to CANCEL.
I can add my story to yours. I just got off the phone from talking to Direct TV. I wanted to know why they think I owe them $630 for service that was so lousy and TV that was so unwatchable…basically I didn’t watch it. There were problems from the start: The installers left before the TV installation was finished because they said I didn’t have the right wall outlet plug-in, and they couldn’t wait until I found one. So, they said I would have to finish the activation. That took 2 hours. Then, in one of my many calls to customer service at Direct TV, they finally figured out that my old (all of 2 years old) TV set was not compatible with their remote, making it pretty much unusable to me. Then, all goes well for a couple of months, but I find out that when I want to record a movie, I can’t do it on the downstairs TV set. My upstairs set is in my office, and I don’t watch much TV there, so I don’t want to go upstairs to record a show, so I find that isn’t working for me either. Then, the receiver goes bad and I don’t get any picture at all. All the while, I am calling Direct TV, and they give me the usual routine: Unplug, wait, plug in, check cables, do a reset, look outside, see how the weather is, yada yada yada. They finally determine that the receiver is bad (I told them that when I first called them), and send me a new one. It is not much better, as the picture and sound go completely away several times per minute. When I call them, they go through the above routine, but of course, nothing helps. So, I am stuck with a downstairs system that I can’t use all of the remote buttons on, and TV reception that is unwatchable. So, I get stressed out and give up, and let it slide, which is probably why I owe them $630.55 and it has been turned over to collection. My bad. Time to write to the Department of Justice/Consumer Affairs Department, I guess.
Direct tv is the biggest piece of shit service I have ever seen, you keep getting the run around every time you call, the equipment keeps going out and of course it’s never their fault. I am on call number seven trying to get my high def channels working. I would never recommend this service ever
holy crap i can’t believe there STILL bending people over and screwing them in the ASS i had gotten direct tv about 5 - 6 yrs ago and i canceled cause i kept getting a run around with the locals well a few yrs later they had locals so i went back to them (i know stupid mistake on my part) the lady tells me that i can’t re-activate my recievers i should upgrade my boxes for free so i say ok and pay $19.95 for the installation she tells me that they’ll give me the first 30 days free to try it out she FAILS to tell me you have to have a certain package in order to get the free month she also tells me if i cancel before the 2 yrs is up i’d have to pay $200 cancellation fee so i figured i’d sign up for the premium package when i got my bill 2 weeks later my bill was $140 for the premium package for a month and a half so i call customer service the guy i talked to tells me that in order to get the free month u had to sign up with the plus plan for 49.99 or w/e it was for that plan i told him i wasn’t told that i was just told that the 1st month was free so he gave me a credit of $95 and downgraded my services which i still owed $43 and i paid $100 on the first of that following month to cover both months when the bill came out like 3 days after i paid it the new bill came out and i apparently still owed $20 - $30 soo the next month i paid another $100 when the bill came out it was $150 still owed $50 that month i moved in with my aunt so i moved the service and activated my other 2 recievers with the move i’d lost my remotes for the other recievers so i asked the guy since i had the protection plan were they covered he tells me they are so i tell him i want to get 2 for my old recievers he places the order for the move and tells me i have to sign up for another 2 yrs of service so i agree too it then he sends me over to the protection plan dept and THEY tell me it was covered so i tell them i need 2 remotes they send them the following month i pay $100 then the bill comes out it’s $150 AGAIN so still owe $50 at the end of that month i paid another $100 and i get charged for 2 remotes $15 each so when the bill came out it was $180 ($150 + $30 for the 2 remotes) so i call and tell them i have the protection plan and ask why i was being charged $30 they tell me that “lost” remotes aren’t covered in the protection plan i tell him the other TWO guys i talked to said they were he said well there not and wouldn’t take it off my bill so i told him to cancel that protection plan so he does i get charged $20 $10 for canceling the protection plan and $10 for downgrading from the premium to the plus which happened 3-4 months earlier after this i had had ENOUGH i had everything canceled and was told AGAIN there was a $200 cancellation fee i tell her i was aware of the charge and paid the $79 that i owed toward the bill sent the boxes back called several times to see if they recieved the pkgs they tell me no the last time i called i asked they said no i said well thats funny because i checked the tracking right before i called and it says right here that you DID and i demanded they give me credit for the $30 and they did before the month was up without sending me a notice or anything they send a $220 charge to a bill collecter $250 cancellation fee -$30 for the remotes that i sent back when the bill collecter called me i was like WHOA back up i don’t owe that much they said it was a $200 cancellation fee and they took off $30 for the remotes so i only owe $170 they wouldn’t take that by agreeing that i owed “something” it was official that i owed $220 i call Direct Tv and get this RUDE lady telling me that charge was valid and that she couldn’t remove it that there is a $250 cancellation fee and that by telling me it was $200 it was a “mistake” i tell her yes it was a mistake on THERE part not mine she again says it was a valid charge i tell her BS! she tells me quit cussing her lol and i tell her i’m NOT paying a $250 cancellation fee when i was told $200 not ONCE but TWICE they tell me to send a letter to the dispute dept everytime i called for a month i got told no we haven’t received it yet FINALLY i talk to a supervisor who tells me they recieved it and it was denied and i told her i was only paying the $170 by that time i had already paid $100 on it so i was paying the other $70 that i owed and i wasn’t paying another dime on it probably a month later i get a call from the bill collector again saying i owed Direct Tv $50 i told them no i paid what i owed in full he says no sir you only paid $170 there’s still $50 you owe i said i paid $170 cause that is what i owed explained the situation and flat out told him i wasn’t payin them anymore and made that quiet clear he then asks me so you think Direct tv should be responsible for this? i said YES there responsible and i aint payin it 2-3 months later i checked my credit report and it was no longer on my report and i never got anymore calls on a scale of 1 to 10 10 being the best 1 being the worse i give Direct TV NEGATIVE 9 TRILLION i’ll be glad when they get a big lawsuite on there ass and forced to shut down the bussiness with there illegal practices and BITCH customer support ladies
Well I have Dish network and have been pretty happy. However, we won a bid at a charity silent auction for the USO for a free year of Direct TV including either 3 receivers or two receivers and a DVR.
I called to ask about the installation requirements and was told that 4 cables are required from the dish to a junction box. The receiver requires 1 cable and the DVR requires 2 cables. Three cables for each location. I can’t imagine the damage that will take place if I let an installer do the work. I installed my own cables before I purchased Dish Network. Dish requires two from the dish to a junction box and one that is shared between the DVR and receiver for each location in the house.
I asked about the programming and the customer service (?) rep became irritated and insisted that I did not have a free subscription. I asked her if I had offended her because she sounded angry at me. She said it was loud in the room she was working in, she has a strong voice, she was the best customer service rep the company has (told me twice) and she would transfer me to someone who could help me with the free package we won. The call must have been recorded. And as expected, she hung up.
Dish Network has worked consistently with very few problems. Customer service has been very helpful. I think I’ll give the Direct TV package to someone I don’t like.
For those of you who feel that they have received the bait and switch I would suggest you contact not only the BBB but also your State Attorney General and file a complaint.
i have direct tv the programmaing really is bad almost all commercials, now ever time a commercial comes on the sound will blast you thru the roof. you must constantly turn it up or down, every hour of programming is 36 minutes of commercials. please contact 10 people and have them contact 10 people and stop payment. it won,t take long till we can get decent service money talks
laying in a hospital bed waiting for over a month for direct tv to come install a box on our 4th tv. they said the problem was they contracted install with a texas company. over a month, excuse after excuse, i’m 15 min from o’hare intl. airport in chicago. one of the largest cities in america and this multi-million corp. can’t install a friggin box. and then you get “attitude” on the phone. i won’t feel bad when lay-offs hit those clowns. dish tv here i come…..
it’s painfully obvious that as long as the paychecks keep comming the bigshot executives could care less how business (or lack of) is being carried out. can’t find any of them on the web or anywhere else. at least i’ll know that none of my money is being used to pick up the check for their “liquid lunches”
Well I am on a quest. I am searching for anyone that has the Basic Tier of Service from Directtv. Long story short, I too got suckered into a 2 year contract. I have lowered my service to the “Family Basic” which is 29.99 and I am down to one receiver. I’m pretty sure the FCC requires all Cable Television Operators to provide this service level offering. I was told by Directtv they don’t have it.
I have sent an inquiry to the FCC and will be filing an inquiry with the Secretary of State of Georgia tomorrow. I have also sent an inquiry to Directtv’s consumer division.
I have confirmed other providers offer this service and it is approximately $14.99 per month which would cut my bill in half. On Directtv’s website, they had a reference to Basic at $9.99.
If anyone has this, please post. I can see why they wouldn’t want this advertized. Remember, your term commitment may be two years, but you can change your subscription at anytime.
If I find this rate, I will be sure to post the terms of the deal.
Good Luck to all!
Below is the email that I just sent to the CEO’s office.
I just called your billing center with a question and, after going through annoying computerized sales tactics, the person who I eventually spoke with had not a single clue what he was doing He asked me for my phone number 2-3 times and asked me TWICE why I was calling. I swear he was doing it on purpose. I hope there is a recording of that call because if I weren’t so pissed, it would be funny. Where do you get these people? Then the explanation of why I was being charged a leased equipment fee, when I don’t have leased equipment was wrong. He stated that it was for having more than one receiver. Call me stupid, but isn’t that what the mirroring fee is? These people do not know what they are doing or talking about. After he asked me the second time why I had called, I asked to talk to somebody else because I didn’t think he knew what he was doing, he told me that he could not transfer calls. LIAR. I have absolutely had it. That was the last straw. I just ordered dish network so I will be making one last call to these idiots—to cancel my service. I wonder if they are competent enough to handle that.
I suspect that the more people that have to deal with this call takers. the more you will lose customers. I was already having DVR problems with a box that had begun to seize up and nobody could satisfactorily deal with that either. There is no way I will pay for a new one an continue the self-torture that the continued service with directv would bring to me.
Sincerely,
X-happy customer for ~10 years,
is that jennifer garner? she is f#cking hot.
does anyone have the ceo’s name?
our story is way more complicated. But the common factors are the technicians and customer service reps lack of competence and response.
it is unbelieveble that this company is still in existence
What can we do as customer to shut them down I can’t take it anymore
We are new customers to Direct TV. Barely two weeks in and we have to reset the DVR a few times a day just to get lip/voice synchronization. Today, out of the blue, we lost satellite reception. When we called customer service, they said they could send a tech out in 13 days!!! They expect us to go without watching TV for 13 days!! Stay tuned. I am sure our plot will thicken.
After 6 years of being a dtv customer, I canceled my service today, because like all these other posters, I’d had it with the shoddy service and equipment that doesn’t work half the time. I live in colorado, it snows here in the winter, a good time to watch tv. Directv goes out every time. The DVR cuts up all the time, records partial shows, or just won’t play anything back. I pay for HD service, bu the HD channells all have terrible reception. After several months of necessary customer service calls every one to two weeks (where I was treated like an asshole by some jerk-off in Nepal), the final straw for me was sitting at home on new years day, hungover, wanting nothing more than to watch some college football, as is any american’s right. Instead, my receiver has taken a huge crap, and just wants to reset itself over and over again forever. I might as well live in France. I’m done. I call comcast, set up a cable installation. Then I call Direct TV to cancel, where the little jerk-off kid very rudely tells me it’ll be a $260 charge to cancel. He then tries to convince me to stay, “we’ll send a technician out to fix it” - yeah, and charge me $50, and then how long till I have to call you again w/ another problem? I’m done. Then he starts to offer me the comps, before he can finish his sentence, I tell him, you could offer me your crap service for free for a year, I’d still rather pay $260 to get out of it. Instead of comps, it’d be nice to just get what you pay for. Unbelievable.
Once these guys lose the contract w/ the nfl, they will be out of business in a year. That is the only reason people continue to put up w/ their crap, b/c there is no other way to watch out of market NFL games. Period. I’m a giants fan in Denver, believe me, i know. Write to your State Attorney General, BBB, this is not right.
Currently, American satellite provider DIRECTV has an exclusive deal with the NFL, making them the sole provider of NFL Sunday Ticket in the United States until the contract expires at the end of the 2010 season. [1] Prior to the NFL’s latest television deal, other satellite and cable providers were allowed to bid on the rights to carry NFL Sunday Ticket if they agreed to carry the NFL Network. However, DIRECTV still won exclusivity for the package, bidding over $700 million a year to do so.
Since the launch of new satellites, DIRECTV no longer drops other HD feeds to broadcast the NFL Sunday Ticket games in HD. It is rumored that some of NewsCorp’s foreign satellite companies, such as BSkyB, may offer NFL Sunday Ticket within the next couple of years. However, given the fact that NewsCorp sold its 40% share of DIRECTV to Liberty Media in February of 2008[1], this seems increasingly unlikely.
THIS IS NOT FAIR TO CONSUMERS! SHENNANIGANS!
ok i work for qwest and yes dtv suck as far a customer service…..so bitch at them not at qwuest already!!!!!!! we have nothing to do with the way they bill you.
I HAVE NEVER IN MY LIFE RECEIVED THE SORRY SERVICE LIKE I HAVE FROM
YOUR
COMPANY, JUST LET THEM KNOW I WILL SPEND WHAT EVER TIME IT TAKE TO LET OTHER
PEOPLE KNOW THIS COMPANY IS A SORRY SORRY OPERATION, AND DOES NOT CARE ANY AND
I MEAN ANY THING ABOUT THE CUSTOMER, JUST READ THE INTERNET IT WILL SHOW YOU
THIS COMPANY IS A PIECE OF CRAP! LETS SEE IF A JUDGE WILL GIVE THEM MONEY ON A
CONTRACT THEY CANT EVEN FULL FILL
IF YOU WORK FOR THEM I FEEL FOR YOU.
— On MON, 7/21/08, DIRECTV CUSTOMER SERVICE
** wrote:
—————————————————————
Response (Christine N. - 100129258) - 07/20/2008 09:59 PM
Dear Mr. Belcher,
Thanks for writing. It’s always a pleasure to hear from our new customers!
Welcome to the DIRECTV family!
In order to watch different programs in different rooms at the
same time, you
will need to have a separate DIRECTV receiver for each TV that you would like
to use. As long as your DIRECTV receivers are hooked up to the same phone line,
we can “mirror” your monthly programming to all of your receivers.
Then, instead of charging you the full monthly price for each receiver, we
charge the full price for the first set-top box, and bill each additional
receiver at just $4.99 per receiver per month.
Moving forward, if you’re having problems with your DVR receiver, we simply
found by resetting it. On some DIRECTV receivers there is a reset button inside
of the access card door. If your receiver has a reset button, you can simply
press it to reset your receiver. If there is not a button inside the access
card door or pressing the button does not correct the problem, try these steps
to reset your receiver:
1. Leave the receiver box on.
2. Unplug the receiver from the
electrical outlet. (If your receiver’s
light is still on, you have pulled the wrong plug.)
3. Leave the receiver unplugged for 15 seconds.
4. Reconnect it to the electrical outlet and return to normal viewing.
If resetting the receiver doesn’t fix the problem, you may find some
additional help at directv.com/troubleshooting. Otherwise, please call our
technical support center at 1-800-531-5000 and select the option for technical
assistance. Our Technical Support agents are trained to walk you through a
number of troubleshooting steps which are too difficult to try to talk through
over email. Also, you may find some helpful information at the DIRECTV
Technical Help forums. Just visit http://forums.directv.com/pe/index.jsp to
find answers to your questions.
Also, DIRECTV significantly discounts the price of equipment and installations
so we ask you to keep your programming for at least 18 months for
standard
receivers / 2 years for DVR, HD, and HD-DVR receivers. If you cancel your
service or do not maintain the minimum programming requirements we may charge
an early cancellation fee.
I have reviewed your account and I see that you activated equipment on 05/30/08
and at that time you agreed to a 2 year programming commitment. If you’ll
not be able to maintain the minimum program requirements we will charge a
pro-rated fee of $480.00 to your account.
For more information on programming commitments please visit our web site at
directv.com/agreements.
Sincerely,
Christine N.-100129258
DIRECTV Customer Service
Catch up to 14 games every week this fall with NFL SUNDAY TICKET, now available
at directv.com/nfl.
Make the most of DIRECTV by registering your account on directv.com. You’ll
learn about exclusive online promotions, new features of DIRECTV and the latest
programs and
packages. Visit http://www.directv.com/register today.
Customer (Gary Belcher) - 07/20/2008 01:20 PM
We went with your service at the end of May. We had spoke with someone at
Directtv and were assured several things. One was that we did not have to have
a box for each tv, which was one of our major questions. We ask the installer
when he got here, got the same answer. All the televisions worked when the tech
left and worked for about a month. Now they don’t work.We called and were
told we had to have a box for it to work. We tried moving one of the boxes to
the television of our tenant and it won’t work. Our television with the DVR
is stuck on one channel. We have talked to so many people at Direct Tv and all
they want to talk about it how much it is going to cost us to repair the
problem or cancel our service. We were told we could be charged with fraud
because we moved the box to
another television. I know now
that customer service is the last thing Direct
tv cares about with profit being #1. So you have us by the balls and we have
half-ass service. Thanks!
Taylor, look 23 opinions (Roberto) above yours. I feel ya brother.
Complete bullshit that many ‘qualified’ consumers are denied the right to purchase the NFL ticket package. In a country like ours, how does this happen?
I live in the Chicago area, where we tend to get some pretty severe weather. 4 days ago, my Direct Tv went out. I figured the snow had something to do with it, so after brushing off the satellite, I still had no picture. I called their technical support, and they said they would send somebody out, earliest available time, 3 weeks. Yes, 3 weeks, and did I mention that it is negative 15 degrees outside? Not great for a walk in the park, better to sit in front of the tube. Anyway, I have been as patient as possible with these people in the past, but I have hit my limit. I spoke to their customer service to cancel, but apparently somewhere along the way, I signed a contract. I asked them to produce the contract I signed, but somehow they couldn’t. Want to know why? I NEVER SIGNED A CONTRACT. And if there had been said contract, why aren’t they holding up their end of the bargain? Needless to say, in order to get out, I have to pay $480. So while walking my dogs this morning, I ran into a Direct Tv installer, who was quite friendly, and not happy to be out in the cold all day. He informed me that a few years ago, the company decided to upgrade their satellites, installing a new “eye” that reads the signal from space. When testing this equipment, which by the way was tested in California, they never thought about plummeting tempratures. Essentially, the “eye” freezes, and therefore breaks. If you have the older equipment, you won’t experience these problems. (He then looked in his truck for an older dish, but to no avail. Thanks for trying though!) After speaking to my friends in the area with Direct Tv, it turns out 8 out of 9 people have no signal. Leads me to believe that they are in a world of hurt. Something needs to be done. Any ideas?
I wish I had read these posts before I called Direct TV. My story isn’t as sad as some of the others. I was fortunate.
These people cancelled my install date twice without informing me. The original installation was to have been done on January 17. I think I received an e-mail every day that week leading up to the big event reminding me of the install date and what to expect, how to prepare, etc. When it got to be 1:00 PM on January 17 and the installer being 1 - 5 hours late, we called the installation number.
We were told, rather matter of factly, that the installation appointment was cancelled on January 15…..this came as a bit of a shock, considering the January 16 e-mail from Direct TV confirming the installation on January 17. Obviously, at least to the installer, it certainly wasn’t them that arbitrarily cancelled the appointment without notification. It was also obvious to Direct TV that they certainly didn’t cancel the service.
What was blatantly obvious is that neither has a clue as to what customer service means. An insincere apology was about as much as we got.
Anyway, my wife and I thought it over and decided that we would give Direct TV another chance. We rescheduled for January 24. We got the e-mail confirmations from Direct TV. We were all set, except……
On January 23, we got a call from the installation company confirming the installation for January 26, just like we agree to…..but we didn’t agree to.
We contacted Direct TV and were told, nope, installation scheduled for January 24. So, rather than sit around all day tomorrow and wait, we decided that we weren’t going to wait. We cancelled the service.
When I called Direct TV, the CSR with whom I spoke was pleasant enough…she did ask why we were cancelling, but didn’t seem concerned about it. At the time, Ifigured that she was either really well trained, or just numb to all of the complaints that she gets during the course of a day….evidently, by reading all of the posts, it is apparent that it is the latter….I guess you can get used to people telling you your service stinks.
What’s so fascinating to me is that any good business will tell you that it’s easier to keep a current customer that to find a new one. Obviously, Direct TV doesn’t subscribe to that school of thought. They seem to prefer finding potential new customers to piss off.
Anybody got anything good to say about Dish Network?
for all you people complaining about the customer service remember they are outsourced to the Philipeans and they follow indtructions on a computer most of them have no real experience with this equipment.
also if you are going to move remember there could be 50 or 60 people in your area that require some kind of service that called in ahead of you so you have no room to complain about how long it takes to do what is called a mover, they cant drop other people that called in weeks ahead of you to do your service that is just the way it is its called first come first serve….as far as the rest goes yes this company really bites with customer service…but so does qwest….if you have already done all the stuff ie…unplug the unit and reset it they still make you do that because they are following instructions on a screen….since my hubby has worked fr both satellite companies in the past i just rely on him to fix the problem because i am not paying for anyone to fix what is suppose to be leased receivers….oh yes look at your bill you will find that your equipment is leased and not owned and they will not replace it if it gets damaged unless YOU pay a fee monthly for each receiver………..not only bad customer service but also bad company policies……..and just so you know give some of those techs a break out there they are overloaded with work that not one of us could do as well as they can but bad customers can make for a bad tech to others be respectful of the techs they can and will bend over for you but if you piss them off they are allowed to charge you like crazy for any extra wire fishing it through the walls or under your house non of that comes with an install…
direct is the biggest liers and bull—–s around I had direct in Fla no problems. I moved to Waurika Ok called to inquire about direct tv . and was told yes you can get local with HD so like a dumb a– i went out and bought a nice big HD tv .so hook time i get my tv going. I had to have them out here four or five times just to watch tv. IT was then that I found out our area does not have local channels. so the long wait for super bowlturned to s— .They were nice enough to tell me I could pay a hundred or so to buy it. And besides I dont get half the chanels but they dont care their sitting on their fat a– laughing at us idots that signed up on a promise . While watching dish tv I just wish everybody would boycot them I thought it was illegal to scam people
February 3, 2009
I just found out that Direct TV (who do their billing through Verizon when a customer had Verizon) have made an outrageous and gross ERROR by DOUBLE BILLING us!
This is not only outrageous and VERY BAD Public Relations on the part of Direct TV but it is totally unacceptable by any standards. When I talked to your billing department the man I spoke with agreed it was a MISTAKE and apologized for it and assured me it wouldn’t happen again” !!! I told him that did not satisfy me nor did it exonerate them from their outrageous error. He again apologized but an apology is of no use to me with the DOUBLE bill I’m left with having to pay.
I will now intend to call my local TV station which is “8 On Your Side” and they investigate this kind of thing. I also intend to write a formal complaint to the president of Direct TV (assuming they do have a president) but will certainly write to their Head Office to launch my above complaint.
February 3, 2009
I just found out that Direct TV (who do their billing through Verizon when a customer had Verizon) have made an outrageous and gross ERROR by DOUBLE BILLING us!
This is not only outrageous and VERY BAD Public Relations on the part of Direct TV but it is totally unacceptable by any standards. When I talked to your billing department the man I spoke with agreed it was a MISTAKE and apologized for it and assured me it wouldn’t happen again” !!! I told him that did not satisfy me nor did it exonerate them from their outrageous error. He again apologized but an apology is of no use to me with the DOUBLE bill I’m left with having to pay.
I will now intend to call my local TV station which is “8 On Your Side” and they investigate this kind of thing. I also intend to write a formal complaint to the president of Direct TV (assuming they do have a president) but will certainly write to their Head Office to launch my above complaint. People need to be aware of what Direct TV are, or have done in their DOUBLE BILLING ERROR if you are using Verizon as your phone service and have decided to have ONE bill rather than pay both - Direct TV AND also Verizon. I chose to to have my billing combined. But now I just found out through Verizon that they have done this, and after confirming this gross error Direct TV - directly, I am totally disgusted and am now consdering cancel Direct TV because of the above. I have been very satisified with them UNTIL TODAY!
Why do you folks boost the volume for commercials. It is maddening and is counterproductive. I hit the mute button asap when a particularly loud brassy ad comes on.
My husband and I are very unhappy with Directtv as the man who we spoke to on the phone(at Direct tv) had told us we would get a rebate and referral discount. Our first bill was going to be only $14.99 and our bill $51.17 instead on the $29.99 package.
We gave $221.35 up front as well, and were told if we wanted to be disconnected we would also lose that amount.
My husband and I are very disappointed with Directtv as we were looking forward to the channels in the $29.99 package and then have to be strapped with this problem. We feel that the Direct tv staff have not been honest with us. Wished we had stayed with cable tv.
Carol Watters-AR.
contact this law firm for a class action against DIRECT TV
http://www.LieffCabraser.com
Just like all the others…dupped by DirectTV. Lack of service, lack of honesty, big company can mess over you and there’s nothing you can do about it. They DO LIE and will not respond reasonably and responsibility to support issues. My problem was pixel interference and loss of audio that they could not fix. They said the problem had to happen when the service person was there or they would charge me for a service call !!!!! After trying to resolve it for 10 months, I cancelled and am now being charged $240 for breaking the contract. They even refuse to negotiate.
I will putting a DirectTV sign in my cars that has DirectTV with a line through it, why don’t we all do that…
I’m a former Direct TV tecnician who was fired. I had a “free” employee account, and now that my employment has ended they not only cut off my account which i expected them to do, but they also want $180. I’ve heard all the lies that sales reps will try to use to sell services and alot of times i would have to sit with the customers and explain to them what they were getting into.
I’ve also heard of a few tricks to get service immediately when you call. When the voice prompt asks “what’s the reason for your call” if you respond with “my house is on fire” or something similar, you will be transfered right away to a live dummy. another response would be “office of the president” and not only is there a chance that you will get youre services removed, but it’s not uncommon for them to come out and un-install the system. Another thing, if damage was sustained to your home during an instalation, you can file a damage claim to have repairs made. they also have an escalation department to deal with frustrations with techcicians and customer service representatives.
If any of this information helps a few people, good.
Long story short;
Called qwest comm. (former tv service provider) to have Direct TV sevice started, given a quote for service. was then transferred to Direct TV trained monkey.
Was quoted a totally different price. (rudely I might add) Payed $275 in deposits.
Sat and thought about how rude the rep was and how I was given the run-around on the pricing.
Called Direct TV back less than 20 minutes later. (including hold/ignore time)
Told by rep my deposit was be credited back immediately (interesting note: was looking at my account info on the web, took them about ten seconds to take the money from me after I gave my acct info)
Hung up, waited an hour. Hmmm no money.
Called back, new rep=new story. Told 2-5 days for a credit to my acct.
(day six) Called back, (furious at this point) talked to 3 reps and 1 “supervisor” was “accidentally” disconnected twice, told by “supervisor” it takes up to 10 days, but it would actually be 11, (Get This) because St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday. LOL Im Irish and I never knew it was an official non-working holiday.
Well today is the day I was supposed have my money back by. I know everyone will be shocked to know they didn’t follow though.
Plan on filing a lawsuit, after reading all these complaints, multiple websites worth. I wonder if there isn’t a class action suit just waiting to happen.
To anyone out there who needs the number of Direct TV to speek with a real person here ya go. 1-800-531-5000.
I just chatted with someone at this number.
Hope it helps
i usually go on a two week trip and have to unplugged the set everytime i leave. But whenever i come back i lose my signal and always get the “searching for satellite signal” while the other 2 sets i have are working fine. After calls to customer support and a dozen of resets i ended up being frustrated and hanging up on them (due to the very long hold). Eventually leaving it on overnight i get a signal back the next day for this unit. This has been ongoing for months now.
It happened again today and eventually same process, resets, holds, hang up, stayed on the whole night. This time nothing happened. i called up for help and they always say a tech will come but i will be charged for it. Aren’t techs payed monthly already and they have to get payed more for doing customer tech service and they only way they will replace ur unit of fix any cable connection problem is … again be charged $49++? Are they saying if we are not paying then we are left with a non functional unit?
So its up to the customer to do the tinkering? like its up to u to go to ur roof and fix it? like hell with them. My friends are into comcast and if ur unit mal functions u can just take it to the comcast store and exchange it. That simple that fast.
After i finish this contract with them i’m dropping Direct TV for the rest of my life and pass it to friends how much they suck.
I have not had Direct TV more than 2 months and am already having the problems you describe, like them taking more money from my Dad’s credit card than the contract says and charging us for things we did not order.
We have to sue them before they go out of business.
You guys must not read the fine print on the Direct TV contract as it states..
If you cancel your cubscription within your lease time frame they WILL charge you 450.00. Also Direct TV states you DONT own a reciver…even if you buy one from BESTBUY.. EBAY ect.. you will have to return the reciver and you STILL have to pay to lease.
Idiots that dont read the fine print ALWAYS get burned.
So as DirectTV uses unethical practices.. stay away from them.
man trhey just suck really they just install my antena and its not showing signal and they wont replace anything they wanna charge me 50 dollars for the antenna and 20 dollars for installation that sucks
Get DishNetwork instead folks…. DishPronto.com is the place to order it.
Keith and Donna never got our money from Direct TV , we had to pay tfor the shipment and we returned it months ago and no money Yet.
Keith and Donna never got our money from Direct TV , we had to pay for the shipment and we returned it months ago and no money Yet.
WE had to send them Money for shipment and they never retuned my money 30.00
And you wont return our 30.00 bucks