DirecTV Customer Service Sucks.
As some of you may recall, a few weeks ago I wrote about how DirecTV pulled a bait and switch on the service at my house. After about 45 minutes on the phone with customer service I finally gave up trying to plead my case which was that the offer I had signed up for was for $41.99 for 12 months but that I was being charged $67.99 for 12 months…and they said I never got an offer for $41.99, so too bad for me. Nice job, DirecTV, way to care about your paying customers. Oh how I longed for the days of cable TV at that point, which I had had zero problems with since the beginning of time. But I digress. So what’s the issue with DirecTV customer service now? I am going on my third receiver that has not worked correctly in only two months that I have had their service, I have not had TV in 7 days because of it, they still don’t seem to care that a brand new customer is having any problems, and they were so kind to offer a whole $10 credit. Yippee! Ah shucks DirecTV, you are too kind.
Today I was on the phone with them for 1 hour and 42 minutes. Yep, over an hour and a half. I talked to a rep who had no idea what she was doing, would not transfer me to a supervisor even though I repeatedly asked to be connected to one, and then when I finally got mad enough for her to do it, she was in the background talking smack to the supervisor. Seriously? What is this, 8th grade? And you know what I got resolved? Nothing – and they are sending yet another receiver to my house…which should be here in 3 days. And then I get to call them back, go through this whole thing again, and probably have this one be broken too. So instead of them just sending a truck out to my house, they are wasting everyone’s time – especially mine, now that I have spent over 3 hours total on the phone with DirecTV. This company has the absolute worst customer service of any company I have ever dealt with. I would rather stab myself in the eye while buying a new car at MSRP then deal with these people anymore.
At this point, I am starting to think that it would be worth paying the exorbitant cancellation fee just to set my mind at ease. I will warn you one more time as I did last time –
Before you sign up with DirecTV, please stop and look for an alternative way to get your television fix. Even if you have to go sit in Circuit City at primetime to watch your favorite shows, do that instead of signing an agreement with DirecTV. Seriously.
Oh, and it turns out that it’s not only DirecTV; Dish Network has terrible customer service too!
You might also like:
- Using Twitter To Get Better Customer Service.
- Just How Important Is Customer Service?
- Went With The Comcast Triple Play; Hope They Don’t Let Me Down.
- Looking At The Comcast Triple-Play Package For My New Home.
- Adding Up All Those Fees, Charges, And Taxes.
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BEEN DEALING WITH DIRECTV BEFORE THANKSGIVING WHEN OUR DVR QUIT WORKING. SENT US NEW ONE, SENT OLD BACK 12/01/2008. REVIEWED BILL, CHARGING FOR NEW DVR, CALLED 12/21/2008, WAS TOLD TO WAIT UNTIL AFTER HOLIDAYS TO SEE IF DIRECTV RECIEVED OLD DVR. REVIEWED YET ANOTHER BILL IN JANUARY. CALLED 1/13/2009 THE DAY BEFORE AUTOMATIC PAYMENT IS TAKEN OUT ( ANOTHER STORY THERE WITH DIRECTV). $286+ TAKEN OUT, REP STATED IT WOULD TAKE 24-72 TO GENERATE REFUND SHOULD CHECK MY BANK ACCOUNT THEN. CHECKED ACCOUNT NO REFUND, CONTACTED DIRECTV WAS TOLD 8-10 BUSINESS DAYS. TOLD THEM NO NOT ACCEPTABLE. GAVE THEM UNTIL THE 1/20. WORDS WERE EXCHANGED ASKED FOR STUPIDVISOR WAITED 1 1/2 HRS ON HOLD. STUPIDVISOR INFORMS ME THAT REP MISINFORMED IT WOULD TAKE UP TO 30 DAYS FOR REFUND. WORDS AGAIN EXCHANGED, ASKED HIM TO TAKE ME OFF AUTOMATIC PAYMENT PLAN AND GO GREEN PLAN WANT SNAIL MAIL. SENT EMAIL TO WHO EVER AT DIRECTV. AS IF THEY CARE
HOOORAH! After more than a year, it’s finally over! This last week I received a letter from DirecTV Collection Department, stating that they have admitted their mistake and are calling off the dogs, (the Collection Agency) and (I quote) “instructing them to cease actions and clean up any negative reports to your credit history caused by DIRECTV.”
For the last few months,I have been receiving one of their “promotional” letters almost every week, offering me everything (the things they offer to snare a new customer). These letters all came with my name printed on them, so they weren’t just random solicitions. Wouldn’t you know it…yesterday I got another one of those, again with my name of it. I guess, at DirecTV, one Department doesn’t know what any of the other “Departments” are up to, or this could have been resolved back in Jan 08, like it should have been. BTW: What finally got their attention was I sent a letter, explaining the whole situation, and addressing it to as high a DirecTV person as I could find. So, as usual, when these type situations come up it pays to go over all those stupid “Customer Relations” smart-asses and go right to the top! Unfortunately, it’s often very difficult, if not almost impossible, to get through to the top person.
That’s great Jerry, so glad to hear they finally admitted their mistake. Doesn’t seem like they do that too often!
I am a direcTv employee & loathe it in the very worst way not because I am not a star agent which i am. I just do not at all agree with the ethics that dtv sets forth, Direct sales which sells consumers the dtv rarely if ever tells customers that there is a rebate that u have to submit right away online or you will not get that low intro rate of price & you have to submit rebate within 60 days or it will be gone & it takes 6-8 wks to “process” which is a way that dtv shows you how expensive yur first bill is & that when u actually get the rebate that u feel like yur getting a good deal. If u dont agree with this which who would u can have the pleasure of speaking to a probable incompetent sup that is trained explicetly not to give credit & you customers should know that any time a csr gives you credit it was taken off our incentive so we get a pay cut so thats why csr’s are reluctant to dole out credit then if u do give credit then its like the movie office space you get a “talkin” to from 2-3 sups, coaches & or managers which just patronize you so much you end up feeling crazier than they are! I do applogize & understand how you feel I am just the person at the other end that you’re probably calling horrible names.
Try Dish Network instead. I love them!!!!!!!
I was sent a link to this post on Twitter while I sat on the phone with Direct TV and vented on Twitter. I feel your pain!
I’ve had one problem after another with these bozos! I canceled my service in late January to go with Verizon FiOS. My problem today is that I had a bill due on 1/28. When I canceled my service on 1/20, I was told to ignore that bill…a new one would be sent. My mistake though…I already had a payment scheduled thru my bank that I forgot to cancel. So Directv re-processed my account on the 27th, prorates most of what I owed, giving me a credit, then charges my c/c on file for the balance. New statement dated 1/28 comes to me, $0 balance, everything’s great, right? Not so fast…my previously scheduled payment (which I failed to cancel w/ the bank) gets processed the same day (28th), and today I get statement dated 2/9, showing I have a credit due. I call this evening to find out how to get my credit sent to me. It was my fault, I simply overpaid a bill. The idiot customer service “supervisor” I’m talking to starts telling me that they cannot issue payment for that credit b/c they have to make sure they get their receivers back! According to Fedex, they got their receivers back 6 days ago, and besides that, one had nothing to do with the other! Had I remembered to cancel the scheduled payment, this never would have been an issue. Apparently, this idiot “supervisor” was in fact the CEO of Directv, b/c when I asked for her supervisor since I still was not satisfied, she starts telling me there’s no one above her!
I started my account with them in 2002, and the first 4 yrs were great, but since the beginning of 2006 when I upgraded to DVR & HD, I’ve had continuously increasing problems.
I will absolutely NEVER go back to them, and I don’t advise anyone to ever start!
Wow, that is terrible Jason – but not at all surprising. As soon as my agreement is over, I am gone.
I work at a class action law firm and we are investigating this issue. I would like to talk to people and hear their experiences. Please contact me at shelly1100ny@yahoo.com if you have been charged an early termination fee by DirecTV, or if you have any questions on this investigation.
Thanks,
Shelly
If you work at a class action law firm, why would you have a yahoo email address? I am sure people would love to talk to a real firm about their issues, but it is doubtful anyone will respond to a yahoo address.
I am a DISH network Retailer and installer. Like any product, the product itself may be okay, but who you are dealing with makes the difference. Possibly the worst way to go with any satellite TV is to use the 800 number. If you can, use a local retailer who is able to provide references. Ask around to see what kind of reputation they have. We do very little advertising. Most of our business is word-of-mouth. I do the installs myself, and we are local. That means I have a local reputation to uphold.
Remember that be it DircTV or DISH, they exist to make money. There are always details, fine print and catches.
The installation is one thing; but unless my local guy does my billing, that doesn’t really solve my issue. My problem is not with the equipment, per se, but with the billing – the parent company.
We have no direct control over billing, but we advise our clients to NOT call DISH before they contact us. We have them bring their bill by our office. if the bill is incorrect, we call the billing dept with the customer present with us. They give the billing dept consent to speak to us on their behalf. We are then are able to speak to the billing dept for the customer.
It is sad that many times the cust reps in billing, tech support, etc. are unaware of many things they should be aware of. There are times when it takes 3-4 calls and several service requests (a special in-house email system for retailers) to get issues resolved. A good, local retailer will at least try to help you.
My DVR stopped working after I signed up with Directv. After numerous calls they agreed to replace it. My service was shotty at best, it would go out if it rained or snowed. My bill increased almost monthly without adding any additional programing. Everytime I called Directv I was on the phone for at least 1/2 hour.
The customer service representatives are the rudest I have ever delt with. Toward the end of my commitment I called for the exact date. I was told that my commitment was increased because I received a replacement DVR. I never agreed to this increase in time.
I have talked to numerous people at Directv about this situation, very few were kind and none were helpful. They all just say the same thing “you recieved an upgrade and therefore an increase in your service commitment”. When I ask them what I upgraded to? They say I recieved a DVR. When I explain that I received the same model DVR to replace the broken one; they repeat the previous statement.
When I ask to speak to a supervisor I am informed there are none. Or I am placed on hold for at least 20+ minutes and then they either hang up on me or the supervisor says the exact same thing as the customer service rep.
Currently, Directv took $62.00 from my credit card to pay for my early cancellation fee even though I completed my 24 month contract.
I feel lied to and cheated. I hope their treatment of customers catches up to them and they get to feel all the misery they have given to others.
I feel for you Trista, they are absolutely horrendous.
My Directv receiver has never worked. Never. $120.00 mo, and it never worked. So, yesterday I talked to Sam (Who certainly was taking the call from India, and he was definitely not Sam. I think he in some foreign language and, finally, as a special favor, for $90.00, he offered to send someone out to make my DirecTV work.
For free, I told them to pound sand. I switched to Dish.
Barbara, were you out of your contract? That is what I am waiting for now!
[...] sure if we are going to keep the caller ID and they said we can cancel that service any time. We cancelled our DirecTV for a steep price of $200 (big gulp, but we think it’s worth it). We got a plan through Time [...]
In Nov 2008 we ordered directv. At that time we told the sales person we are moving at the end of Feb 2009. NOT a problem was the sales ladies answer, we will follow you any where you go. We will come and get the dish, all you need to do is bring the receivers with you. We also asked if there will there be a new connection fee of any sort. No, no fee for anything. So we went with Directv. After moving to our new home, I called to get our Directv service hooked up. Ha what a joke. The kind “gentlemen” that works for Directv asked me for a credit card number. I reminded them there was no fee. The employee of Directv stated to me that we did not live at our previous address long enough to “establish good credit” there for there is a $50.00 transfer fee in which stupid me, I paid it or else they will not give us service (per the kind Directv worker). When my fiance’ got home he called Directv and told them they should not have charged us and that we would like a refund or account credited. Directv’s EXACT customer service friendliness staff told him TO BAD! she (meaning me) paid it already The next day, I called Directv @ 800-531-5000 and spoke to another Directv worker, explained my situation and was told well, there is nothing I can do to help, they charged you for a reason, I’m not sure why, but they did. I asked to talk to a supervisor and was told they are all in meetings however, I could talk to a “floor” supervisor Leon. He was just as rude and would not help me with my $50.00. I asked if I could leave a message as long as they would not transfer me to a voice mail Leon snickered and said sure. NO one has called me as to date. Am I the only person they are charging extra fee’s to and not refunding back? Is this some sort of commission in the sales persons pocket? I just don’t get it.
Contact the attorney generals office
I feel I was royally screwed by DirecTV. I signed up for the famously advertised $29.99 deal and in the past 3 months, from January 3 to March 3, I have paid $182.92. In their defense, I have an HD receiver, which would bring my monthly payments to around $40. The key to their scheme is to get you to go Green, by asking you to sign up for Auto Pay. This consists of you giving them your credit card and they are free to charge you whatever they want. To get the $29.99 deal, you have to sign up for Auto Pay and also to receive all promotions and spam e-mail they want to send you. I would have done all this, but they do not tell you up front. Once you get the first bill, which in my case was $76.27, then you call them and they tell you what you needed to do to get the discounts. Lastly, the discounts have to wait from 6 to 8 weeks to take effect, which means that up until then, they can charge you the full price. If you learn anything from my experience, learn this: DO NOT SIGN UP FOR AUTO PAY!
At this moment, I’m filling a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Consumer Affairs:
https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/
In case you need to do the same.
Laurie: I’m not surprised by your story. The sales rep lied to me also when I signed up. I think that the reps are trained that lying is okay, the most important thing is getting the person to just agree to sign up. I was shocked; it was the first time I could ever remember being blatantly lied to from any company, especially what I considered to be a very large, respectable company.
Currently in a dispute with DIRECTV stealing money from my VISA account after cancelling and paying them in full. We are up to $423.30 and everytime they say they credit my money back they steal more. Terrible customer service, you’re not allowed to speak to a supervisor and I’ve been hung up on everytime I ask to speak to someone other than the flunky on the phone. I’ve sent a certified letter to the President of DIRECTV, Better Business Bureau and my credit union is currently in a dipute with them trying to get the stolen money back. This Company SUCKS go to DISH.
Dish is no better…
Directv customer service is made up of robotic individuals trained to repeat exactly the same thing no matter what the issue. I wrote about similar situations and got almost identical emails back. Not the same situation, mind you, but similar. The wording in the reply was not similar – it was very close to a duplicate. I began testing it and discovered they are not at all interested in the opinions or needs of the customer. They just hope to wear you down. Make sure at least 5 other people know how horrible this service is.
I’ve been with DTV for many years now and have not had any issues with their Customer Service until yesterday.My wife who works as a Customer Service Representative for a major hotel chain was inquiring on a discount DTV was offering Hilton employees through a corporate memo, however when she called she was told that the offer is only good for “NEW” customers only (forget the loyal customers who have been with them for years). Even though she got a better quote from one of their representatives a few weeks ago when she inquired about it,our new bill showed an increase in their rates.When my wife called yesterday and asked the customer service person about the rate increase, she was told that they won’t honor what was quoted by the representative a few weeks back and that our rate was adjusted due to our new lease agreement. My wife mentioned that we’ve been with DTV for almost 10 years now and have not signed a lease agreement of any kind and that we purchased all of the equipment.
Seems like when we purchased a new receiver two months ago from Best Buy (a DTV receiver)to replace our old RCA unit which was damaged, an automatic 18-month lease agreement became effective. What a crock.All three DTV Customer Service reps she talked to were rude and their basic bottom line was “the lease contract is in effect, deal with it because we’re not going to make any adjustments”. I told the wife that she should send off an e-mail to Hilton Corporate to make them aware of DTV’s supposed “discount offer”.
I would imagine DTV would not like Hilton canceling their agreement with them… Someone told me that every time you get a new box because the previous one broke, they restart your agreement.
I seriously cannot believe how bad this company treats customers.
and what’s most bizarre, is that is that you buy the receiver yourself with your own money, and they re-start your two-year contract. In addition, I asked them if I buy the receiver myself, will they drop the 5 dollar a month lease charge (for my second receiver) and they told me no, I still have to pay the lease charge per month even if I own the receiver. Does that make any sense?
That makes no sense whatsoever, Steve!
i second this! i hate directv!!!!
i was ripped off… have gone through 2 rcvrs!
I am a customer service rep for directv. I deal with morons all day long (sometimes taking 80+ calls a day). Put yourself in our shoes for just a minute. I deal with people who can’t add or subtract, don’t understand the concept of pushing a red button to reset their receiver, refuse to hear any explinations of price increases, use profanity, threaten me with bodily harm and complain about the wait time for a supervisor. I expect respect and fair treatement when I call a company. I give what I am given in return. If you act like an ass, yell into the phone and demand respect at the same time you are going to get put on hold, wait a long time for a supervisor and its going to ultimately get you nowhere
Thats funny Bootsy – I didnt act like an ass, yet I was treated like one. Customer service is supposed to be just that; Customer. Service. Sorry to tell you that WE the paying customer pay your salary. Keep that in mind next time you treat someone like all these readers have been treated.
Sorry David I did not mean to imply that you were an ass. I was just simply trying to make the point that customer service reps always get the blame. You are right -there is no excuse for poor customer service; however, we have our limitations. We listen to your concerns and explain the policies to you… BUT we do not impliment the polices that complicate your life and seem to endlessly frustate. Men in suits who have no concept of the average consumer impliment these stupid policies and we deal with the impact. I wish that I could take away committments for people that don’t deserve them but I don’t have the ability. I can only listen to the complains and locate a supervisor when you don’t like my explination. 9 out of 10 times there is a wait time for a supervisor that is unreasonable. Again, this is not the fault of customer service. It’s the fault of under staffing (damn those men in suits again). There are approximately 16 million direct customers and 7200 customer service reps taking phone calls in various call centers across the country. That’s a pretty large customer to csr ratio… I hear complaints daily about fees for new customers, too long for new customer offers to process, $10 discounts are not good enough etc etc. I hear that in this economy there should not be a price increase. People do not understand that directv (or any tv provider for that matter) have to pay networks for the use of their channels. They go up and we have to or we will no longer be in business and you will be looking for another provider to complain about. It’s all trickle down. Corporate America makes the policies that complicate our lives not the customer service rep. If I have ever spoken to anyone of you with a harsh tone I am sorry. You might understand if you took 80 calls a day from pissed off people everyday that want to complain about a three dollar price increase.
They dont want to complain about a $3 price increase. They want to complain about being lied to about everything under the sun, as evidenced by posters here and all over the internet.
If the customer service reps don’t want to be yelled at by paying customers, they either need to:
A. get a new job
B. organize and go after those who set up these policies in the first place
We yell, call, complain, bitch, moan, etc. because we don’t like being ripped off. I am sorry you are on the other end of the phone, but it’s most certainly not our fault that you are or that we have a problem with your company. You voluntarily accepted a job to be the face of a company who treats customers like dirt, so like it or not you are going to have to deal with that decision. I wouldn’t work for a company I had no respect for or that treated customers like this.
I don’t actually work for directv. I work for a company who provides customer service to directv customers. This is the case with most large companies. I always get a good laugh from people who say they are going to go to comcast or dish network or time warner cable. We provide their customer service also. The corporate world is one giant hampster wheel. I wish you happy directv viewing and in the future read the fine print. It’s all on the website. http://www.directv.com/agreement
Dtv, I hate to even speak the name. I signed up for the $49.99 plan. They never sent me a bill. It takes me 3 months with them to find out my bill is actually $104.00 per month. I of course want to pay, what I asked for, but no! They require that I pay the bill in full before they will turn my service back on. This is a question of ethics. The ‘customer service rep’ was rude and absolutely no help. She hung up on me. I called back got the ’supervisor’ I felt as though they should let me pay the original 49.99 and carry on from there. I had already paid 189.00 for the first month and a half. Now they wanted an additional 189.00. I know I don’t get it either. Anyway she also hung up on me. I finally got my first bill on paper. It is almost a $1000.00. You know, early termination etc. I never canceled. Now i’m afraid to send their gear back. I’m pretty sure they won’t credit that cost back to me. They’re very shady.
I know this is a really old post–but my gosh! We cancelled our Directv last week– They tried to tell us we were still under contract–not true.
Since then there have been an average of 4 to 5 phone calls DAILY, its not noon and they’ve called twice today! This has gone on for a week. These are poor slobs probably working for commission trying to talk us into taking a new deal with them! They’ll cut the cost–etc..
Most of the time the callers hang up if I pick up the phone–sometimes they go ahead and talk–but I tell them not to call, I’ve asked to talk to a supervisor–to no avail.. they will not stop calling us! Good grief!!!
I have had DirecTV for a year now and am stuck with another year of their lousy service. Every little rain or wind knocks the satellite out and you have to wait until it recycles before you can watch anything. this usually takes about 20 minutes each time. i’ve had the DVR and one other box go out and they wanted to charge me $19.95 each for shipping a new one to replace their defective one. I told them to cancel the one and i’d go without service in the extra bedroom. They did finally agree to send me another DVR without the shipping charge. Their customer service waiting time is horrible!!!! i can’t wait to go back to cable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What ever you do – don’t ever subscribe to DirecTV!!! You’ll regret it.
I cannot wait to go back to cable either. Free repair, free boxes, no contract, no weather-related outtages. Cannot wait.
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directv is the worst company ive ever delt with. and im 48 !! dont want to waist my time to tell you all that ive gone thru. just dont get directv. but david it sounds like you “ARE” the cable company.
When you ask for credits from directv, just make sure you deserve them! Pay your past dues & make sure you make payments before the cut off date to avoid service interruptions. The CSR’s are working day & night from all corners of the globe just to serve you yet all you do is curse us & demand not just to get undeserved credits but escalate your calls to our supervisors thinking that if you do, your demands will automatically given. Did you even read the service agreement before you sign it? Better yet, just stick on to your local stations & be contented if you got so much to say about us! Racist!
Wow. Yes. We are all racists because of the horrible customer service at DirecTV. That is a new one I hadn’t heard.
Bought my directv kit in 1999, put it together myself, aligned the dish, called
the number in the instructions to get the receiver turned on then kicked back with a
brewski. They even gave me access to every
channel for a week at no extra charge. A few years ago, I upgraded to HD. They came to my house replaced the dish and set up the new receiver. My experience both over the phone and in person has been exceptional. They get a Bravo Zulu from me.
When you sign up for any NEW Equipment from Directv now ,YOU AUTOMATICALLY SIGN UP TO LEASE THE EQUIPMENT; plus the addendum ALSO REQUIRES YOU TO BE SUBJECT TO FORCED ARBITRATION.
YOU GIVE UP YOUR LEGAL RIGHT TO SUE THEM.
ALL NEW DVR’s are UP FRONT PAID LEASES ***
EVEN IF YOU PAY 169 (COSTCO), 199 Best BUY YOU DO NOT OWN THEM & the EQUIPMENT ISSUED is LEASED AS IS. THERE IS NO WARRANTY.
YOU MUST PAY THEM FOR A WARRANTY NOW CALLED their PROTECTION PLAN @ 6.00 a Month.
THis is WHy Direct TV has been bought by LIBERTY MEDIA ; its BIG BUSINESS NOW & BIG MONEY.
YOU ARE FINANCING THE CEO of LIBERTY MEDIA’s CORPORATE JET.. My Advice tou you is to Do what I did.. GET the BEST OTA Antenna for HDTV ; Bought A BLU RAY PLAYER & Got a SUBSCRIPTION to NETFLIX.
NOT GOINT TO PAY $100 a MONTH FOR TV. THEY CAN’T TALK FAST ENUF…
~ PLUS the NEW DVR’s DIRECTV HAS DONT LET U RECORD PPV movies but for only 24 hours; then they DELETE them off the Receiver. Plus you cant Move the DVR to another room in your house or to your vacation house and play what you recorded.It must remained hooked up to the original SAT DISH to which it was installed!!!~ They Don’t tell you these things before you get one..BTW Don’t get the AUTO PAY.. They will screw U so fast it will take a year to get it cut off (or you will have to change Banks) JMHO Had Directv for 15 years.. but no more…
I had Directv service 3 years ago. I was signed up for automatic payments, which meant they charged my credit card on the day the statement was issued, not on the due date. That always bothered me a little, but I let it go. When I moved, I assumed that I would get the option to use their well-publicized free moving plan. However, they said I didn’t qualify and they wanted to charge me a $200 fee, that they would give back in $5 statement credits. I asked for an explanation and they could offer none. It seemed that they didn’t care to even attempt to keep me as a customer, despite the fact that I paid on time and order NFL Ticket.
A year later I tried to get service at a new apartment. It ended up being impossible because of line of sight issues. They refunded the equipment costs, but never refunded my first month services fees. I made numerous calls over the next three months. Each time they said that the refund was in process and that I should see the check in a couple of weeks. They also would frequently say, please don’t call back for another month. I was charged in July for service I never received, and was not refunded my money until October when I threatened to bring it up to my credit card company.
Now for some reason I don’t quite understand, I want to try to get Directv again, but it appears they have no interest in my business. First, they won’t let former customers get the deals listed on the website. When I called up, they wanted to charge me $99 for the HD DVR receiever, not the free offer that the website listed. I was annoyed and said I needed to think about it. When I called back, I was told that there was no discount on the HD DVR and I would have to pay the full $199 price.
I was told that there is some code on my account that restricts me from getting better deals. Perhaps it is retribution for my complaining about the moving special, or the fact that they didn’t refund my money for three months. That hadn’t really occured to me until I read some of the comments here.
If Directv didn’t have the exclusive rights to NFL Sunday Ticket, then I would have no interest in it. I always thought they paid all that money, so they could get people to switch to their service, but it seems that they don’t really want some customers.
That’s quite a story Steve…it’s amazing how bad customer service can be, no?
I find it amazing to read about so many “additional” unsatisfied customers. I was feeling like the only one. I have had an ongoing issue with my payment being removed from my account and applied to someone else’s. It’s been 5 months now and the problem have yet to be resolved. They are idiots and I hate that I have been tricked into a contract with these people.
Sadly I have had nothing but problems since I signed up in Nov 08. I’ve called probably twenty times, since I never got my first billing statement that had the “rebate” information that I was never told about when I signed up, I never got the deal I was promised. It’s been a call center transfer nightmare! I actually, today, sent an email to: chase.carey@directv.com their CEO and got a call back to finally offer me a resolution. The woman I spoke to said I had no calls logged until the end of March!! I have been actually been calling since January when I cancelled their movie channels, and placed that call back in March, when it apparently wasn’t done! Last month I was offered a ten dollar credit for the next year, never saw it on my bill and called today.. The CR said “I see where they offered it to you but it says you declined.” Definitely not! Lies on top of lies on top of more lies! The woman that called me said that the credits were never issued and she was unable to apply it to my account so she just gave me a 120$ lump refund.
It’s sad when a company is paying for customer service reps who don’t do their jobs. I’ve worked at call centers and I know they’re able to do a lot more than they’ll admit to. Not buying it!
If you’ve exhausted all other channels, place emails to people higher up in the company but do it in a nice way, they’re usually more apt to get something done for you.
We canceled our service with DTV only to be contacted by a retention specialist. They offered us $100 to stay but we said no. We’ve since gotten a bill for $100 and they told us that we accepted the $100 and therefore did not cancel. We told them to pull up the “This phone call is being recorded for quality assurance” to prove that we turned down the offer and they said they couldn’t do it. They said, according to our records you said yes. I told them that this is a flat out lie and what kind of BS operation and scam are they trying to run on people. Stay away from these people at all costs!!!