Beware of DirecTV Pricing scams...

[94-Newmar]

When I originally signed up for DirecTV service they were running a "promotion" that gave you the Premiere Plus package bundled with the HD service for 6 months at at reduced cost. Sounds fair. Evidently I failed to hear the fine print that the package also included some NFL season pass package free during that same introductory time period. However at the end of the promotional timeframe the NFL season pass automatically renews for a total of $49.99 per month until the season ends, which is 6 months for a total of almost $300.00. They started billing me for it in September but since I'm on auto bill pay I didn't catch it until last month.

No biggie, I'll just log into my online DirecTV account and cancel it. Nope, it won't let you cancel online, you have to call in. So I called Customer Service, explained the situation and they referred me to a "special department that handles the NFL Season Pass package". A special department? Hrm.. ok.

This tool explains to me that the NFL Season pass cannot be canceled once the season starts. I explained that I don't watch sports, nor would I ever pay $50.00/mo to watch it - it was simply a barnacle left over from the promotional package. He explained that I would've been warned on my billing statement that it was going to auto-renew and I had to call in to cancel it before it started because once the season started it could not be canceled. I do paperless billing and get emails from them instead of paper bills. I looked back through all my emails from them and there is no mention of this scam on the bills at all. He exclaims there is nothing else he can do.

Frustrated I call back and ask for the Customer retention department. Part way through explaining this to the representative he stops me and actually tells me that I'm his 10th call about this very same situation today alone! This was 1pm here, he was in the L.A. call center 3 hrs behind us. I said, it's only 10am there! He laughed and said "yea, I know, it seems there is widespread confusion on these promotional auto-renew packages and we are being deluged with calls the past couple of weeks about not only this package, but others as well." Ok, so what can you do for me? He said he immediately canceled all further billing for that package on my account and issued a refund request through their finance department. He could not guarantee a refund for the 2 months I had paid into it already but he would certainly try - I'll know within 5-10 business days.

It's sad that to retain customers companies have to use deceptive methods such as discussed above, contractual agreements that include hefty penalties for switching service or changing to a competitor's service. If these companies kept their customers happy with good service and decent pricing customers wouldn't leave. I think in the future I'll try to avoid companies that use contractual agreements since it can only mean one thing...

Quote:

You're not going to be happy with us eventually. In order to prevent you from moving to a competitor, rather than having good customer service and a good product and trying to make things right, we'll just hold you hostage by having it cost you too much money to switch. You'll then get to decide if you hate us enough to swallow paying $xxx.xx to switch to another company.

In 1995 I started and still own an Internet Hosting Company. Even though this industry is now highly saturated and we're certainly not the least expensive out there we still maintain a retention ratio of just under 90%. We do NOT use contractual agreements. Our customers stay with us because of our excellent customer service and clear-cut-easy-to-understand billing.

These same scams are widely used by many companies, DirecTV is certainly no innovator in this scam. I canceled the auto bill pay and paperless billing - we'll see how the refund goes and I'll post if/when I actually get it.

Ok Done venting..... carry on!

[Clifftall]

Here is a news article of the other day that may bring you some relief DIRECTV to pay $13M in settling case over deceptive sales practices

[MICHIGAN CAMPER]

This is an interesting buy not unusual story anymore.

There is no 'brand loyalty' gain when they do this crap. I just dumped DishNetwork for their nickle & dime stuff after being a customer for almost 10 years. They didn't believe me when I wanted to cancel and just refused to stop billing me. The charges got up to over $300 even AFTER I switched to DirecTV. I dug in my heels and just refused! They have me in collections now and want only $55. My response to them is still not only NO! but "HE** NO!"

There are those on this board that advised me to "pay them" or my credit will be damaged.
I'm retired and out of debt. Will never need another loan. What do I care what they do to my credit? If your credit can be damaged over not paying a 'claim' of $55 when you have a good record for 65 years,... and people wonder WHY America is going down the tubes. Our financial system is a fraud!

I wonder why anyone would fall for that 'auto-pay' bill stuff anyway.
Can't you even pay your own bills?
Hey, I have an idea... why don't ya'll send me all your money. I'm an honest guy, (remember Bernie M.?) I'll pay all your bills for you AND give you a 100% return... when you catch me.
How's that for a deal.

I'll just sit back here now and wait for your checks to roll in....
mak'em out to...ME, Larry K.




(idiot people)

[RVJeeper]

Wow... we used to be with DirecTV and changed several years ago to Dish. We continue to get letters at least once a week begging us to come back to DirecTV, making all sorts of promises and incentives to re-up. Guess I should just stay with Dish... at least I know what I have and where I'm at! We do the electronic billing but not the auto-pay. It's good to review each bill and pay it manually so you know where the money is going and how much.

[94-Newmar]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifftall Here is a news article of the other day that may bring you some relief DIRECTV to pay $13M in settling case over deceptive sales practices

Ha! How timely too, just a few days ago. Guess I'm not alone. Thanks for the link.

[MICHIGAN CAMPER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVJeeper Wow... we used to be with DirecTV and changed several years ago to Dish. We continue to get letters at least once a week begging us to come back to DirecTV, making all sorts of promises and incentives to re-up. Guess I should just stay with Dish... at least I know what I have and where I'm at! We do the electronic billing but not the auto-pay. It's good to review each bill and pay it manually so you know where the money is going and how much.

You got it Ron, I'm thinking it really doesn't matter which service you use. Over a period of time they'll all try to stab you if given a chance. It's the American way! You just have to do what you can to eliminate giving them a chance, like not signing on to that 'auto-pay' deal.

If we don't pay our legitimate bills, they have a right to sue.
That's that way it should be.
Larry K.

[Clifftall]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MICHIGAN CAMPER You got it Ron, I'm thinking it really doesn't matter which service you use. Over a period of time they'll all try to stab you if given a chance. It's the American way! You just have to do what you can to eliminate giving them a chance, like not signing on to that 'auto-pay' deal. If we don't pay our legitimate bills, they have a right to sue. That's that way it should be. Larry K.

I don't like auto pay either, but it comes in handy when you travel and DTV takes $5.00 a month off my bill. I get an email statement and check it each month to stay on top of it..

[MICHIGAN CAMPER]

Quote:

Originally Posted by clifftall I don't like auto pay either, but it comes in handy when you travel and DTV takes $5.00 a month off my bill. I get an email statement and check it each month to stay on top of it..

They haven't tried to entice me with that one yet.
We travel also. We have a list of regular monthly bills and what they should be. We check our accounts online and when they're due, they get paid.

Funny thing happened with our Power company. We paid ahead once when we were planning to be away for three months. We got a call. They said we couldn't pay ahead like that because they couldn't keep track of it. I asked if I didn't pay them at all, could they loose track of that too? They decided I guess we could pay ahead after all.
We don't do that anymore though. We pay most of our bills through our online banking. Seems to work and no one's screwed up... yet!
Larry K.

[Norm4015]

DirecTV has no customer loyalty. I had been a customer 11 years including 10 years of fulltiming. We built a new house and I wired it for satellite TV. I called DTV and told them I wanted them to install a new dish, two HD receivers including a recorder, and get HD TV, locals and some other goodies in the package. They quoted me a price of about $600 with a monthly charge of over $90 a month. I told them I was an old loyal customer and asked what price break they could give me. The answer was NONE - I had to pay full price for everything.

So I cancelled and my wife called and said she wanted to start DTV as a new customer. They gave her all the above equipment free and installed it free. And her monthly price was only $55 a month for the first 13 months of a 24 month contract.

Three of my good friends have done the same thing. Husband canceled his account and wife became a new customer.

[MICHIGAN CAMPER]

They all seem to want to play silly games.
When DTV gets squirrely on me, I'll switch back to Dish for a few years again... It's just a game they play.
I like Satellite over cable. With cable, I'm tied to only one company.
With satellite RADIO,... even though there are supposedly two companies, their being bought out to each other has brought absolutely NO COMPETITION and had destroyed the 'service' of satellite radio.
Just my maybe NOT so humble opinion.
Larry K.