DirectTV

[Nishu]

I am canceling my phone internet and cable from the beginning of February to mid March. I get it through qwest. Qwest doesn't have their own tv service so they work through direct tv.

I'm so mad right now. When I signed up I must have asked 50 different times in 50 different ways... DOES THIS INVOLVE A CONTRACT?!

'course not, they say!

So I call qwest to cancel my phone and internet. It goes off without a hitch. They transfer me to direct tv to cancel my direct tv. Guess what. THEY SAY I HAVE A CONTRACT! Of course the guy doesn't have access to my paperwork and he can't even tell me how to get a hold of that paperwork but he says that if I have a dvr, I have a contract. He says I have 13 months left and that I'm looking at a 200+ early disconnection fee. It was in the paperwork (he says) that I signed when the dude installed it. I asked him if it's okay to say over the phone that I don't have a contract and then put it in the contract at the time of installation that I do. He didn't answer that.

I may not have been nice. I may have told him I'd bend over and kiss my own @$$ before I pay it. (I should have been nicer. Poor guy was just doing his job.)

Am I stuck with this bill!?!

He says I can put a hold on it for 6 months if I pay $72. I told him to go ahead and cancel it. I may have to just keep it to avoid paying the $200. GRRR.

[elphie]

I would call back and ask to speak to a supervisor. Keep going higher up and tell them that without a resolution you are happy with you will have no choice but to contact the better business bureau and the attorney general.

[57plymouth]

Ask to hear the recording of your initial call. Tell her you are sure they recorded it, as they likely have. If they cannot prove you wrong, tell them to beat it.

Of course, unless they have your social security number, they can bill you all they want. It's up to you if you pay it.

It sounds to me like you wanted to ensure you had no contract, thus you are under no obligation to them.

[Momto2Boyz]

I agree with Elphie! Call and talk to a supervisor. I used to work as a business manager for a company who installed Dish Network, and they basically, promote nickle and diming anyone who wants to cancel a contract!

Simply explain to them, that with the way things are going, you need to cancel your contract because money is tight. Tell them that you are cancelling for the months you listed above, but after that you will be looking to have it re-installed. Tell them very straightforwardly, that if they charge you a contract cancellation fee, you will certainly NOT be reconnecting your TV service with them, and that you'll be going with Dish Network instead.

As soon as you mention going elsewhere, I will guarantee that they will suddenly have an agreeable solution to your problem! They are very big on keeping business, so the promise of getting you back later, may get you out of the fee! But be sure to talk to a manager or supervisor, because the regular customer service probably won't be able to help you!

[rowdy35]

Direct TV is the Worst ! I also hate QWEST.... I switched to COMCAST (no regrets) Direct TV still owes me a refund of about $60 that I overpaid and they still haven't sent it me (it's been about 6 months since I switched) They are the worst company in the world to do business with. I would threaten them with a complaint to the Attorney General, Better Business Bureau and FCC !!

[LeeCee]

you can never win against direct tv they are the worst company ever

[hwmabire3]

you can never win against direct tv they are the worst company ever

Actually, in my personal experience, Dish Network was far worse, LOL.

[jenloveschip2001]

We have been having problems with direct tv to. I had a second reciever when I first got direct tv but about a year later I sent it back because we never watched it and I didn't want to pay the extra $5 a month. Now I would like to get another one to go in the kids room so I called them to see if I could lease another reciever and they would sebd me one if I wanted to buy it for $90 but I could not get one to lease because it was only for new coustmers. I told her that my contract was up in two months and I guess I would just have to go talk to dish network, thanking that she would try to do what she could to keep my buisness but she just said that she was sorry to hear that and if she could be of further assistance to give her a call back. My contract is up March 3 and I am seriously thinking about shutting it off and getting a set of rabbit ears and a converter and save my money. Where I live we have only two choises for tv and that is dish or direct. We don't have cable out here. The funny thing is that we don't have cable and I only can get dial up internet but we get pizza delievery out here.

[pecunierrant]

We have DirecTV too. We had some really annoying billing trouble for a few months. It wasn't untile my DH said he wanted to close the account that they cleared it up and gave us some free months, etc.

What's also funny is they called and asked me if I/we wanted to subscribe to Showtime, yadda yadda for $10 per month special deal, etc.
Bad timing, I was just railing about the cost of food and electricity and how my budget had to be tightened... LOL

I very politely but in a slightly high pitch voice told her OMG, we're trying to cut back on our expenses not hike them higher.. the last thing we want is... etc etc

Anyway, I'd love to drop the service and do some pc to tv appletv thing but nothing is quite there yet. But soon hopefully!

[cheles2kids]

Nishu, I am so sorry to hear about this.
I too would consider calling back and speaking with a supervisor and I would not let it go.
Continue to call and talk with someone until they can give you a better answer/solution.

Unfortunately I have heard too many satellite company stories, very similar to yours.
I just don't see how they continue to stay in business with such poor business practices.