Beware of DirectTV
 

We went more than seven years without cable hookup for our one TV set.

When we moved closer to town, we signed up with a local cable provider.

The only problem was that it's expensive. So, my wife talked to our phone company and they offered DirectTV bundled onto our other bills.

She wanted exactly what we had with the local company and DirectTV told her that's what they had for less money.

Well, it turns out that the basic service doesn't have many of the channels our family watches, such as public TV for kids, Major League baseball games, etc.

So, she called to cancel and it would cost $460 just to remove the junk from our house. We've had it less than a week. They won't budge even though their deceptive marketing has been put right in their faces. Over the telephone, anyway.

If you think that DirectTV might be a good fit for you, fine.

But approach their marketing folks with the same amount of caution that you might approach buying a used cat from a mangy cat that is a disbarred attorney and former term life insurance sales kitty.

We'll probably be stuck with it for 24 months.

I'm going to put a bird feeder on the roof so that wild birds will poop on the dish.

Same thing can happen with dishnetwork. I can ,however reduce what channels I subscribe to without penalty and thereby lower my monthly bill. I have 6 months left on my 2 year contract.

if they misrepresented themselves you can break your contract and take their equipment to a local directv place and get a receipt for it ..they broke their contract with you..you didn't break it with them..

we did that with Hughesnet when they didn't properly provide us service.

Call back and keep harassing them, you've just hooked it up, there must be some sort of grace period. Ask to talk with their supervisor, take names/ID's, and try to work your way up the food chain (easier said then done). They didn't have what you were told they had, they need to remove it, end of story. Don't take "no" for an answer. I hate dealing with carp like this but it will work if you just keep at it.

Oh, we're still working on it.

They say that there was a 24-hour grace period (not in any of their written or online information).

My wife started calling with complaints about the misrepresentation at about the 25-hour mark.

It's being made a far more complicated deal than it needs to be.

Letters are going out. The phone company will be sternly complained to for having become involved with the bundling of their service, the Better Business Bureau will be contacted (DirectTV already has an "F" grade. Live and learn, we should have looked it up earlier), etc.

My wife has her "New York City voice" on.

I'd better behave for the next few days if I don't want to be collateral damage.

This is strange to me because I have never had anything but great service from Direct TV. What equipment are they going to charge you to remove?

It's essentially a penalty for cancelling the contract that they aren't delivering on.

I have had DirecTv for about 2.5 years. Prior to that I had Dish. I am moderately happy with DirecTv. Maybe a 5 on a 1 - 10 scale. The only phone/cable/internet provider that I have been really happy with is our local company. They are great! They are small, local, tech support is a breeze. The employees have worked there for years and years. They are friendly and knowledgeable. Only reason I don't have them now for TV is because I moved slightly out of their service area. I really dislike the larger companies where tech support and customer service are typically located overseas. Its such a different experience from what you get with the small, local company. No comparison.

I also don't like how the two major satellite companies advertise these really reduced rates for the first year or two and then the rates are jacked up. I guess I'm super old-fashioned because I don't think I should be paying more than $30 a month for cable. I know that's unrealistic. I'm not well served by the current TV industry. TV is not my life. I don't need anything extravagant. I would be in seventh-heaven if I had an a la carte option. There are maybe a total of 10 channels that I would choose. Instead I end up getting tons (hundreds??) of channels just to get the 10 that I want. As it is I don't get 2-3 of my favorite channels because I would have to upgrade to a higher package. I did call a few months ago and say that I wanted to disconnect service because it was just too expensive. To keep me a customer they offered a discount for a year. I think it was about $15 a month off. I believe I now pay $65 a month. Still way more than I want to be putting towards TV every month.

That's my rant. I can empathize with you. I have read the online horror stories about both DirecTV and Dishnetwork. They really put people through the wringer sometimes.

Thanks for the warning! Their ads are very enticing but your direct experience would keep me from getting suckered if I were thinking about signing up. I did have a similar experience with cell phone service. (Well NOT service) with AT&T with their "more bars" ad which was fraudulent in practice in my specific coverage location. THEY broke the contract by non-performance but I paid a penalty for not wanting what I didn't get. I hope you figure out the logistics of escaping the net they tricked you into without having to be locked into paying for what you are not getting.

call your state attorney general, cancel the card you set payment up with, and call them to come claim their equipment (but only after you get rid of the card) you may also
want to send them a registered letter stating that the did not deliver on the service promised and that you are cancelling.

direct TV will over charge you and continue to charge you, I know first hand.

? We have had directv for ages and have never had a problem. Basic should have your local (to the nearest metropolitan center) channels bundled in as well as the basic ESPN. There are lots and lots of channels that are unavailable because of the way sats work - like west coast Disney isn't available here, etc.. The Total Choice Plus is the sweet spot for us.

I do have a couple of caveats - first, we have tivo so we record at all hours and watch at out leisure and on our schedule, and second, the lineups on many channels are now very very poor compared to even ten years ago -lots of repeats, infomercials, fewer decent movies and so on. If it wasn't for tivo, we would probably dump tv except for netflix and some access to local weather news.

DirectTV,,a true "thorn" in my side for the next 20 months..To make a summer long complaint story short,,I finally contacted the Better Busjness Burear,,and got some action..however they still lied to me..but will never admit it..just excuses etc...we'll see how this goes now..or I may be contacting the BBB again..if it was up to me..I'd have no tv,,but hubby loves his sports..

Our telephone company always calls trying to sell Dish network. But, they don't have the channels I want on their basic package. I guess that's why it's basic. I picked the package I wanted from Direct TV long ago. In order to get the handful of channels we would watch, we had to sign up for a fairly expensive package. I expect they'd all be that way.

Harry Chickpea - same with me. I use my Tivo, actually a DVR, exclusively. I cannot tell you the last time I watched live TV. There is no way that I could sit through all the commercials. Even the concept of being in front of the TV at a set time as being foreign to me. There is no way I would have TV service if it wasn't for the DVR.

In most states there is a 3 day period in which you can change your mind. Kep good records in case this is true in your case and you notified them in 25 hours.

i wish i could dump our dish--its worse now than a few years ago, there are tons of info-mercials and very little decent watching shows. and we pay for the privilage to have nothing to watch?! the day ours was turned back on (had no tv for several months) i already had 'buyers remorse'. and if you want enough channels to really have a few choices, wow, its not cheap!! i am looking forward to our time running out and cancelling. DH likes it, kids do too but i also see everyone doing more meaningful fun things without it!

good luck, i feel your pain!

Two words: Consumer Protection. See http://www.oag.state.ok.us/oagweb.nsf/ccomp.html

Peg

http://www.ftc.gov/

Call the Federal Trade Commission and lodge a complaint. Then call Direct TV and tell them you did it.

I had a major problem years back with Bell South that went on and on. I called the FTC and within 24 hours (less actually) my issue was completely resolved.

If you put up a bird feeder to lure birds in you just have to know that Direct TV will send attack cats up there!

Good luck.

We had issues trying to move with Direct TV. It was a major pain and they wanted to charge us a huge amount of $$ to move because we had more than one move in a twelve month period. It ended up being cheaper to just cancel which was ridiculous.

i'd file complaints with whatever public utility commissions exist in your state. file it about the phone company that was doing the joint marketing. file about directv if they're regulated too. and keep complaining. might check into small claims court too.

i think the problem may be proving what the person told you on the phone. i'd guess they have marketing literature that lists what channels they have, and they'll say it's unproven what was actually said on the phone, and they can't control what a rogue customer service person might say on the phone, but that's not company policy.

so, you'll just have to become enough of a pain in the derrière to them, that they figure it's easier to let you opt out than to keep squeezing you.

--sgl

I've had DirecTV for ages - when my "contract" expired they called and told me if I renewed my agreement they would give me a couple of movie channels free for 6 months and deduct 10 dollars from my charges each month for a year. I agreed, with this caveat - since this was a verbal agreement - I told them that it takes TWO parties to reach an agreement so, if they reneged on their end I would cancel the agreement and specifically said that if you DO raise the rates to accomodate the 10 dollar deduction the agreement is off. You guessed it - 2 months into the agreement - up goes my "rate" so I was paying the same as before. When I complained, they said that they "reserved" the right to increase their rates when "necessary". I reported this to the BBB - not my local one, they said it must be the one in the provider's homestate - and basically they gave DT a huge pass, but I am no longer a contract tv watcher. I still have DT but am looking to change. They lied, and they have the BBB on their "side". Laws are made for the provider NOT the user.

I hate direcTV, and that is not overstated. I was a customer of Dish when we moved to a different location. Even tho Dish would have moved everything at no charge I decided to be stupid and fall for Directv's enticing promises. Direc service guy installed our new system on a Friday. He said he couldn't put the dish on the roof because it was a metal roof (Dish network was already installed on the roof). So he put it on the roof of our outside basement walk-in. That was about 4 ft. high and right behind a huge tree. We had reception for about 24 hours before it started acting up.
When I called them on Monday I was told that everything was ok and it was only a temporary problem that could be resolved by cutting the tree down. I removed their stuff from my house and sent it back to them (except for the dish which they didn't want). Then I went back to Dish Network. Everything was now fine, UNTIL I FOUND $470 HAD BEEN REMOVED FROM MY CHECKING ACCOUNT!!!!! NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!

Why pay for tv?? We stopepd paying over 4 eyars ago and I don't miss it at all. I gte netflix and internet tv shows. I hated DireTv they kept saying we had gotten thsi [ay per movie and we hadn't I threatened to file charges and they backed off and we canceled and cut the card in haly photocopied it and sent them 1 hal while we kept the other half. Bee n happy since

I had DTV for several years (had it installed when we moved out here in 2000). Had the Total Choice package...service/reception was great.

Due to having to restructure our monthly budget after losing my job back in January, I changed my programming package and shaved about $20 per month off the bill. After a couple of months, they notified me that their prices were increasing which put my monthly charges right back where they were prior to changing my package.

One might assume the price increase was on the level, but three of my friends had the same cheaper package that I did and they have not, to this day, received ANY price increase.

I had it cut off.

Although I "do" miss my cable, I "can" live without it.

thats why you call the bank and tell them you want a new card!

LOL, I'm from NYC and when I get ticked off DH says "Your Ginny's showing"

You call was "monitored for customer service" Call them up. Do NOT bother speaking to whoever you get. Ask for a supervisor. They will not want to give you supervisor. Make them.
Once you get a supervisor, demand their FULL name and direct line, the number for the phone on their desk. They won't want to give it to you. Remember this call is being monitored. Ask them flat out "Are you refusing to give me your name and contact number?" Because they have to if you ask for it, but will try to weasel out of it.
Tell them that you have a complaint and that they've broken the contract. Give them the dates and times that you called. Demand resolution. Either for them to give you what you were promised or to remove the stuff at no charge. They'll say they can't, it's against company policy, blah blah.
At which point you say. "If you can't help me, then I need to speak to your supervisor." and they'll try to talk you out of speaking to their supervisor, tell you that no one can do anything for you because of company policy, blah blah.
Ask "Are you refusing to put me in contact with your supervisor?" If they say no, they will lose their jobs, so just keep bringing it back to that. "Thank you, you've already explained that you can't help me, I need to speak to your supervisor, please connect me with them right now."

Keep doing this and eventually they will put you on the line with someone who's authorized to play hard-nosed *** with you. At this point, your wife's "ginny will be showing" and all you need to do is out hard-nose them. Demand a copy of the transcript of all your calls from the first. Again, they really can't say no - it would give your lawyers (should you have any) an opening they could march an army down. Just keep repeating that all you want is what you were promised.
Our customer service rep wasn't authorized...
Not your problem "Then they shouldn't be your representative. They represented you and told me I'd get this service."
If we made an exception for you...
Not your problem "So do you always have a problem giving people the service you told them they were paying for?"
And so on.

It may take HOURS on the phone - but how many hours would it take you to earn $460? And if you go through this long enough - they WILL fix it. You just have to know how to talk to them and be persistent enough. Most people give up after 2 hours on the phone. So they know that all they need to do to pocket $460 is to run you around for 2 hours. Don't let them win!!!

Oh no doubt about it.

My wife is more angry than a bantam rooster on a turkey farm. She's already been on the phone for about four hours. Next come the letters and the lodging of complaints, including the formal written process to DirectTV's home office.

At worst, we put up with the inferior package while saving money for two years. That means doing without much baseball, but the playoffs and World Series kick in soon and they'll be on the major channels.

In the meantime, I'll be telling everyone I run into that DirectTV snorts great gobs of rancid moose cheese.

Anytime, any place the subject of television comes up, I will track in what they left on the bottom of my shoe.

I got suckered once by agreeing to a "better deal" over the phone after a call from my cable company. NEVER again would I agree to anything that isn't in writing. THAT's why banks and credit card companies and cable companies CALL you--you don't have any proof of what they said they would do for you!

I had a two year contract with DirecTv and when it was up I cancelled my service and sent the equipment back. They charged my credit card $20.00 for pay for view movies they said I ordered with my remote. I have never had my receiver hooked up to a telephone line in the two years I was with them and I never ordered any pay for view movies at all with DirecTv. They would not refund my $20. and I called several times to complain.

Dish is not much better. I went out of the country to Mongolia for three weeks and had my tv and Dish receivers unplugged. When I returned home my Dish Network would not come on the tv. I called them and they said I needed a new Smart Card. I told them everything was working fine when I unplugged the equipment but they charged me $15.00 for the new Smart Card. Thats when I switched to DirecTv. Now I watch far less tv and when I do I have a choice of, over the air, PBS stations from three regional cities and many broadcast channels in mid Michigan.

Bill

Im canceling my direct tv this week, going to Cox cable. my bill for direct started at 55.00 and now its 85.00 and nothings changed, then they called and offered me a package "FREE" for 4 months, however my bill showed they were charging me 50.00 for this free stuff. needless to say when i called they told me i accepted the 50.00 sports package that i already told them i dont watch, and i got the movie channels free. I told them that it was NOT what i was offered or agreed to and to take that crap off immediately because i wasnt paying for it. I also let them know i was calling Cox cable as soon as I hung up with them. They must have been caught in this many times because they didnt even try to offer anything else, it was immediately taken off, and I DID call Cox, they will be hooking me up with alot better bundle deal with phone, internet, and cable, Im saving money, and the salesman was nice as could be , no pressure, no contract. woo hoo.

OP, just playing devil's advocate here, but why did you sign up for a service if you were unsure of what channels were on it? Maybe I am missing something, but I can't figure out what Directv did wrong? You called up, asked for their basic service, contracted with them for it, got it, then decided you did not like what was on it. Unless somone actually told you that X channel was included and it turned out it was not, then this looks like a case of buyer's remorse.

The list of channels on their various plans is available online, or it used to be at least. It is the buyer's responsibility to make sure they are satisfied with the selection before having it installed, IMO.

On today's Drudge Report - drudgereport.com - there is a link to a story "Consumer's Dropping Pay TV Services"

"The number of subscribers to cable, satellite and telecom TV services in the US fell for the first time ever in the second quarter" a story from Investors.com

Bill

I have DirecTV, but you know what? READ the fine Print!! A Contract IS a contract is a contract. And it plainly says on that contract, IF you break that Contract Early, YOU will be responsible for Said charges~! Period../... End of Story~!
And that even Goes for ANY TV provider including Cable services And the other Satellite Service as well.
I have had Direct TV when it First came out back in the mid 90's~!
Had it for 3 years then went to The Dish Network, had them for 12 YEARS, went to a local cable provider, dropped them AFTER THE CONTRACT was up, and went Back To Direct TV! READ that is all I can say.
Added Note: My 24 Month Contract is up at the end of this month, Now I can do whatever changes I may want to do, or even cancel them, That Won't Happen though. But 24 Months is the Basic contract for BOTH Satellite providers. and 12 Months for my local cable provider for their CONTRACT.

My wife arranged with them to provide the same channels that we have with our local provider. They said that they would do it. And they said that there were more channels on the basic service than the local company.

She specifically asked about three channels and was told that they were in the package. They are marked as part of the package on all the materials that they supplied.

The day after the service was turned on, she spent almost an hour on the phone with DirectTV trying to figure out why the baseball game our son and his friends planned to watch on his birthday was not airing. The channel that we used to get with the other service was "blacked out." The Major league does not black out games in parks that are almost a thousand miles away. That simply doesn't happen.

DirectTV tried to sell us a sports package that had that channel. Because it was our son's birthday, she OKed it for three months. The channel was still blank.

She called back and was told that the first representative had given the wrong information and that the channel was available with an upgrade for more money. My wife then told them to cancel all the upgrades.

Monday, she spend three valuable hours on the phone, trying to get DirectTV to make some sense. It was one story from one person, a different one from another.

She also talked with the phone company because they were the ones who originally made the bundled offer.

The simple facts of the situation is that we were promised something and they did not deliver. When we requested to stop the deficient service we were told that we would be charged $460 for the favor of doing so.

Rest assured that we'll explore all options both within DirectTV and through other methods to make sure that they live up to what was promised.