Direct TV violated the terms of my contract with them by overcharging my account.
At the time I subscribed with Direct TV I specifically asked for a package deal where no aditional charges, fees nor surcharges or hidden charges will be due at the end of the month. One PAckage that will inlude High Definition for one price and that's it. Otherwise I will not join Direct TV. I was very firm on that.

Customer service rep on the phone tells me that the "HD-DVR PLUS PACKAGE" was the one exactly as I asked for 49.99 a month. With HD and special receiver all for one single price with no extracharges. Price of 49.99 was for 12 months and after that 72.99 for another 12 months.

I had doubts about it so I did not sign. I hang Up the phone. Next day I talked to another Direct TV Cutomer Service rep and she tells me the same thing.

So I signed. And for the first three months everything was ok...billing according to contract terms.

My contract was for 49.99 a month for the first 12 months. And the overcharge was a violation of my contract.

No conversations with Customer Service reps or their supervisors was able to reverse the decision of Direct TV to overcharge me.

I had no choice but to order this provider to stop their services inmediatly and I call my Credit Card Company to stop payment on the overcharge and also to stop payment on the early termination fee ever since it was Direct TV the one that violated the terms of the contract.
Fourth month: To my surprise Dircect Tv decided to charge me the full amount of 72.99 without explanation.

At the fourth month Direct TV decided

The trick is to scam enough people who can't afford a lawyer. All you need is a few customer service flunkies who are willing to pretend to care about the customer. Hide your contract somewhere within the mass assortment of ads and other junk lurking in the envelope that carries the customers statement. Tell the new customer whatever it takes to reel him in. Whatever you say on the phone doesn't matter. Record only the conversations that benefit the company. Then, while he's grieving the death of the loved one he ordered your service for; smack him in the face with a $340 early cancellation fee. Practice this behavior enough and you won't need to be a decent human being, you'll be a rich one. You can start your own business. Call it, oh, I don't know, DirecTV, maybe.

This is the letter that was sent to the corporate office, if there such a place. In my opinion the letters all go to the same office where the customer service flunkies are. They look at your name, insert it in a 'denial' form letter and email it to you. I doubt the letters even get read.

This letter is a chronological report of injustices for which we feel is an unethical business practice on the part of DirecTV, Inc.

On my first contact in late December 2008, I spoke with a female sales representative, by phone, to inquire about having their service installed in my uncle's room at N**** S*** nursing home in Denver, CO. I specifically inquired about what would happen should he pass away. She stated that all I would need to do is provide a death certificate to their office to have the contract canceled. On December 23rd the system was installed at the nursing home.

I have been legal guardian of my uncle for several years now, due to his dementia. Therefore, I have handled all of his business transactions.

On January 21st, 2009 my uncle passed away. On January 22nd my wife, ****, contacted DirecTV's customer service department to cancel service. A male service representative told her, to avoid any charges, mail a copy of my uncle's death certificate, and return the receiver and remote control in the box which they would send us. We returned the merchandise.

On our January 29th statement we noticed a charged of $340 for early cancellation fee in which payment had been automatically charged to our credit card. My wife called customer service. A female service representative told her to fax a copy of the death certificate when we get it, and the charge on the credit card would immediately be reversed. As requested, we faxed the certificate on February 11th.

My wife called customer service at 5:03am on February 13th to inquire as to why the charge still hadn't been reversed. The male representative who answered said there was no record that the fax had been received.

At 8:03am she called again, in hopes that someone working regular business hours would be in a better position to assist her. Again, she explained the situation to the male representative who answered. This time she was told that they had in fact received the certificate, but the charge couldn't be removed because I placed the order, not my uncle. She explained why I had to order for him. He told her there was nothing he could do. My wife asked to speak with the supervisor and was put on hold then was disconnected after a few minutes.

At 8:26am she called again. A female representative answered this time. She apologized, and then told my wife to explain the situation again and she would put her through to her supervisor. Again, my wife was put on hold and again, she was disconnected.

At 8:49am she called again. This representative asked her to explain the situation again. My wife refused and demanded to be put through to a supervisor. Finally, she got put through to a man who claimed to have some authority. He stated that it didn't matter who the service was for. Because I signed for it, I had to pay. I never signed anything. He offered to provide the address where I could dispute the charge.

I can provide documentation that shows that my uncle resided at the nursing home in Denver, CO where the service was installed, and to show that I was his legal guardian. If you check the billing address for the account you will notice that I don't live in Denver. This service was clearly never meant for anyone other than him.

I am hoping that, as a reputable company, you can see the injustice of this charge and see how badly your customer service personnel handled this incident. My wife called customer service once again, on 18 February 2009, as a courtesy, to inform them that we were sending this letter to you and to our credit card company to dispute this charge.

Direct TV repeatedly sent me email asking me to return to them and they would offer a special 29.99 (for 12 months) special for their Choice Plan (normall over $50 per month).
When I called them and spoke to Juan he assured me I would get that deal. When the installer came I had to talk on phone to woman at company who also said I was getting that deal.
There was NO mention of a rebate process. Then the first bill came and it was NOT for the advertised rate (it was over $50).
When I called and spoke to Tim he said he would process the rebate. He was apologetic and said I only need to pay lower, agreed amount.
Then in November when I was still getting the bills for higher rate I called and was told that unfortunately over 60 days had passed and the rebate hadn't been processed so I was out of luck.
I canceled the service and now they think they can bill me for a $400 termination fee.
I never signed a contract and they never provided the service and the fee that was agreed.
I was very clear when I first called them that I was only purchasing their service if it was at the advertised rate.
They are practising fraud.
I would like to know who is responsible for regulating them so I can make formal complaint.

Big Corporations Like Direct TV
feel they have the right to abuse their customers.
As the public we are really being taken advantage of as customers. At one time people took pride in their jobs and the equipment was good. Not today, they send you the cheapest equipment knowing it will not last and then when you have a problem instead of fixing it they give you are big run around making it look like they are doing something.

I lost the signal on one of the receivers I have. They wanted me to call them, couldn't just email me the instructions with images so I could do it without going through a bunch of bull with their automated call center. We've all have been through the automated call centers so you know what I am talking about. Any how lost the signal, the only way to get it back is turn off the receiver, unplug it and pull the chip out. Leave it off for about 5 minutes and plug it back in. Then it works.

After a half hour on the phone and resetting the receiver, well that is their solution. Needless to say if it happens again I will have to go through the same thing. Another fact is if this happened "ONE" time then there is a PROBLEM with the receiver and it should be replaced so I don't have to go through this again. Second they know everything that I watch and what the receiver is doing at any given time. If you wonder how I know, watch their ad about knowing who is watching what show at any time. I should not have to give up my time because of their problems. They don't care if you miss your favorite program as long as they get their money. Now they won't email you the instructions so you can do this for some reason, they make you call. and this is from one of their emails and I quote:

"Thanks for writing us back. I understand your current situation. We are limited to what we can troubleshoot by email, but we want to ensure your system is up and running again as quickly as possible. As previously mentioned, since you have the DIRECTV PROTECTION PLAN, the best way for you to get help as soon as possible is to call 1-888-667-7463 and choose the option to speak to a technical assistant.

You would have to speak to the DIRECTV PROTECTION PLAN department directly to have this issue resolved as any service call or receiver replacement processed through the email department would require a charge for the service."

Simple instructions with images work wonders in solving problems. I know I do it all the time helping people with their computers. So why the run around, got me. But they will not send the instructions via email and they are really simple instructions.

I emailed them about this problem and they insisted I make that dreadful phone call, at my expense, (prepaid cell at 25 cents a minute) just so they can say they did something. Now odds are the receiver is going to go out again when a program that we don't want to miss and have to go through this all again.

As I said the problem most likely would return, well it did a week later and I had to call them again, this time they said they would ship me a new receiver and would receive it in 3 working days. I called on a Tuesday, and they said that it would "ARRIVE ON SATURDAY" but the shipping company did not work Saturday's so it would be Monday. Now Tuesday to Friday is what I call 3 working days but I am getting I guess somewhat old and can't counts as they do today. The receiver should have be shipped the first time and saved me the headaches of dealing with a company like this and the loss of the service I am paying for again. As long as they get their money we the customers do not count.

After receiving the new receiver box it had to be activated. They gave me an 800 number to call for activation. I called that number only to get a menu to choose from. Seems they would have given me an 800 number directly to the activation department instead of wasting my time with a menu.

So after going through their menu I finally got a woman who was going to activate the box. Well after trying for 15 minutes she couldn't do it and had to transfer me.

After being transferred they wanted my life history including and this is amazing they wanted to know what room it was in? Sounds like there were staking out my house.

They also wanted to know the Model Number, the serial number and another number which was on a small tag on the receiver that was so small even with a magnifying glass I couldn't read it. So while I am trying to tell this guy it was too small to read I looked at the screen of the TV and there on the screen were the numbers he wanted. Funny he didn't know they could be found there.

Sadly the story doesn't end there. After I finally got this thing activated, about 30 to 40 minutes I went online and checked my bill and guess what? They added a $1 fee for a leased receiver when the one I had been using for two weeks didn't work. Now only was I without a good receiver box for two weeks, they now want to charge me a lease for a receiver box? Talk about GREED AT ITS WORST. As you can see it is autopay so from the last billing it was paid in full and there should be no charges until my regular monthly bill is sent so what is this extra charge for??? Some CEO needs the money I guess.

Whatever happened to pride and a good job and doing the correct thing? Like just sending a new receiver so this problem doesn't happen again. One other thing a supervisor came to the house to check the installation told me and hasn't been done yet. This was about 7 months ago that he told me the pole the dish was on was supposed to be cemented in the ground and the wires run underground. He said they would send someone around to do this and I had to pay $50 to have it put on a pole in the ground because I didn't want them running bolts through the roof of the house.

After paying you would think they would do what they promised but hey they got their money and the pole still hasn't been cemented in the ground and the wires are blowing in the air.. So before going with Direct TV better plan on not having any problems or else get ready to be put through a bunch of crap for no reason at all.

Unlike other products you buy, when something goes wrong, you call and they give you a RA number to return the product and they replace it. NOT DIRECT TV, and by the way, they don't have 24 hour tech support. It starts at 8AM till and I didn't pay any attention but it most likely is 4 or 5 PM so pray you don't have problems at other times or you will be paying for a service you will not receive until they open up again the next day.

This is nothing but big corporation greed at its worst.

Yes I have just experiences the same thing and catch this one. I had service for 18 months which was my commitment term-I cancelled one week after the 18 month-they charged me $125.00 for early termination and just yesterday I got socked with a a$52.82 cent charge. I called their customer service and you are transferred to the Philippines. I asked to speak with a manager and they told me this was for pay per view events that showed up on my access cards from 2007!!! Well I tried to tell this idiot that my phone line was never connected to any receiver so therefore I never got the event and yet you can try and steal my money from me 18 months later? There needs to be something done about this company legally. I am furious. Not only did I fill my commitment but also I had the most expensive HD package they carried for 5 rooms.