We have been a customer for 9 years - satellite service was A+, never an outage, no problems. Problem began in November when we added their NFL football package - wouldn't work with our 'old' boxes and remote controls. They shipped one new box out at no charge but refused to ship the second receiver. Could watch the games on one of the televisions. Wrote to the CEO of Direct TV and some gal called - left a message and said her number was only valid for our complaint for 7 days! Kept calling and finally someone there shipped us the second box. This was after we spoke to at least 10 different reps - and got a resounding 'no' when we asked for a box that was compatible with their service, to a $60 one time charge and $15 shipping fee. When we saw that the playoffs were on the local channels, called again and told them I wasn't going to pay the entire $300 for the package when it wasn't exclusive. The customer service rep gave me a credit for $105. The following month, Direct TV charged my card for this $105 saying I wasn't entitled to it. I have always had automatic payments with them and after speaking with them and getting the charge reversed, told them I wanted paper billing and automatic payments cancelled.

A week after my payment posted, they discontinued our service. Called their regular number and said the account had been "flagged" and they weren't able to discuss it with me - gave me a 310 number (El Segundo) which went to a voice mail box.
Called that number the next morning and they said our "address was being audited" and they cancelled the service.

During the time from November through April, I continued seeing specials for new customers and asked what they had for 'old' customers. Nothing was the response. Finally, they gave me $10 off a month for 6 months and I called again and got $5 off for a year. I think our account was 'flagged' because we called in too many times. (I remember reading that Sprint did the same thing to customers.) I contacted the credit card company and disputed the last and final charge.

One would think they would extend existing customers offers to retain a customer - or at least send out the latest boxes and remote controls.

Think their name should be changed to Let's Make a Deal. Strange behavior in these difficult economic times - when 1 out of 4 people are losing their homes - they're sure not going to need television service.

From what I've read on this site, doesn't look like Dish is a winner either.

Beware! My checking account debit card had expired in Oct. 2010. I made payment arrangements to pay my past due bill plus the next month's bill on Nov 11, 2010. On or around November first they debited over $367.00 from my account. I called to have the charge reversed. I was on the phone for over 3 hours demanding and speaking to supervisors and supervisor's supervisors. I explained my main point--I already called on Oct. 26, 2010 to set up arrangements to pay Nov 11th. This was so I could pay my mortgage. What good does it do to have satellite TV if you can't pay for the roof over it? I had to contact my bank and file a fraudulent charge claim and get it reversed--which really worked! Apparently making payment arrangements with those clowns is as binding as scotch tape on the space shuttle. Beware! There will likely be another comment on this board when I once again, call the clown college and dispute all the charges on my account. Why get charged for NFL Sunday ticket when your service is cut off. What a bunch of "igits."

In May of 2010, I moved from one rental property to another one in another town in IL. The new Landlord would now allow me to carry my Direct Tv over to the new address. Her reason was because during a previous intallation, Direct TV caused so many holes and drafts in the house, and yards and yards of wire around door frames etc so she would NOT allow tenants to have satellite or cable. I called Direct TV to cancel the service. After a long drawn out conversation, I thought this was taken care of which it was NOT. They only suspended the service, only to begin charging me 6 months later. and not only that, they took over $600 from my checking account when rent was due. I called serveral times prior to them taking my money and the call was dropped, or I was put on hold for over 30 minutes and I had to hang up in order to get back to work. Or I was caught up in a recording loop that went on and on no matter how many times you were prompted to 'press 3" or, they said I never called which is a lie. I WOULDN'T RECOMMEND THESE SHISTERS TO ANYONE AND I will be campaigning to warn people of their deceptive practices.

After the agent spent over an hour taking every piece of personal information that I generally do not give, including my credit card number, e-mail address, home address, and running my credit rating, I was transferred to another agent who ran my address and told me that my area was not part of their service area and that I could not get the internet and telephone package that I was promised by the original agent. The result was that this company now has loads of my personal information, they have run my credit, they have wasted my time and THEY DON'T HAVE THE PRODUCT IN MY AREA!!! I am very uncomfortable that they have my personal information and they have reduced my credit score by running my credit...all for not! What a horrible way to do business. I am worried that charges will appear on my credit card and that I will receive mailings and e-mails from them. Who knows whether they will sell my information to other companies. It is all such a horrible way to treat a potential client. Just terrible!!!

About a couple months ago, my dad was asking me how much it costs to add another channel. He wanted to add Ch.606 (Out Door channel.)
I called Direct TV to ask how much and they offered me a free trial which includes the channel until April 1st, so why not try it out, I said ok and got the free trial.
Today March 29th, I called back Direct TV to cancel the trial... and the customer service agent tells me that I do not have authority to cancel or make any kinds of changes to the account except my mother.
I asked him, then how come they offered ME!!! the free trial and HOW WAS I SUPPOSED TO ACCEPT THE OFFER IF I DONT HAVE AUTHORITY!!!????
The agent said, that wasnt supposed to happen or whoever helped me wasnt suppose allow me to make any changes in the first place.
That sounds like a mistake from the company side, but this agent keeps on telling me that my mother should call back and cancel the trial.
I told him that my mother doesnt know how to speak english, and he tells me he cant help but give me a number of Direct TV International and take care of it there...
Later, my mother gave the authorization to me and I cancelled it.

But to me it is so clear that they didnt check any authorization when they offered me the trial and later when I was about to cancel the offer then they checks the authority.
Its is also clear that many companies do not have good customer services. They're just there to pick up the phone and be useless, becuase all they say is "I can't help you." or "Ill try to do something about it." which is a lie so they can hang up, move on, and forget about it. You can even tell by their voices that they dont care... like today for example, the agent was just overly hyper and over reacting, which you can tell he's faking.
Becuase at the end, he was no help at all!!! All he did was annoy me!!