DirecTV Should Waive Cancellation Fee

Time has come to start a class action suit and an advertising effort
to let consumer know to boycott Direct TV contact Clint
suedirecttv@gmail.com

Direct tv makes more money from cancellation than anything else. We
were suckered and lied to by their rep at home depot. They said that
this was a try out for 3 months. The total cost was only $99.00. Of
course the rep lied and now we are stuck with this service that we do
not think is so great. it is going to cost 237 to cancel.
Then,we called because one side of the house was not receiving the
signal. We were told that we could pay 85 dollars or get the
additional maintenance contract for 5 dollars per month and the
maintenance would then be 20 dollars.

Those fees are a killer for sure. I've been a customer for the past
ten years. Most of the time the service was excellent. Unfortunately
I've had to move due to a work transfer, and I can't get the service
where I've moved to. Even involuntarily I have to pay that fee. I
don't even want to cancel, I honestly have no choice, and it's costing
me $230 to discontinue the service, not to mention the eight weeks of
the NFL package that I don't get back or get reimbursed for. Those
are the breaks I guess. I'm asking if there's anything that can be
done, but I'm not expecting much of an answer...Live and learn I
suppose.

I sympathize with you. I recently paid $287 to not have DirecTV. I had
been a customer for 10 years until AT&T's U-verse came and offered a
free month with free installation. I called to cancel my DirecTV and
was offered a free HD upgrade along with free HD service for a year. I
had it installed one Sunday morning. The DirecTV tech and I sat on my
couch switching back and forth between AT&T and DirecTV's HD services.
The quality of AT&T's signal was noticably better than that of
DirecTV. The tech told me to wait until he left and called in to get
paid for the installation before I cancelled DirecTV. He said there
was a grace period that the company never tells people about. Well,the
DirecTV customer service people weren't aware of any grace period. I
was charged $287 for 6 hours of service. That's $10 a month for the 2
year commitment even though the first year was given to me free as a
perk. Upon hearing this, I decided on principle to just pay the fee
and sever my realtionship with DirecTV. I couldn't bring myself to
watch an inferior quality picture for the next 2 years. I must admit
that I was aware of the commitment, but in my mind I had committed to
a service before even seeing the quality of that service. That's where
the sour taste stems from.

You can request a signed copy of the contract you signed where you
agreed to update for 2 years if you really want, but for the DVR you
did recieve the same deal as in the ad and I bet that ad had contract
terms. No company is going to give you a deal on the DVR in return for
nothing, they gave that to you in return for your continued service
for a set period of time.
As far the website I can put up a free website that says anyone that
talks to me will have to pay $10 for the pleasure of my company, but
it wouldn't mean anything.
Personally I think you should just pay.

Your reasoning is flawed. Pay the fee and in the future, take a little
responsibility for your actions and don't go whinging when things
don't go your way.

And thus, signed up for another 2 year contract. DUH!

How stupid do you have to be to rationalize that you should get the
new customer perk by pointing out that you have no current commitment
with then and then try and get out of the commitment 3 months later by
saying they didn't TELL you that there was another contract in
effect.

Funny how you keep calling it an upgrade when the truth is they
re-established you as a new customer.

Nice try but you can't paint a skunk's stripe black and pass it off as
a cat.

Yet another example of "Give an inch, they take a mile."

You wanted the free upgrade, so DirecTV allowed you to get past the
rule of actual new customers only. Now that you are seen as a new
customer in their eyes, you follow those rules. It IS what you
wanted.

This is why businesses are getting strict with exceptions. People are
never satisfied. DirecTV let you jump through the first hoop, and now
you're complaining because they won't help you jump through the second
one.

Directv customer service reps have a "script" that they have to follow
when activating anything. In those scripts a lot of stuff is repeated.
Questions about upgrading your channels,do you want insurance,....2 yr
contract,etc. Those are some examples of things that get repeated in
that script. Thats probably why they dont want to waive your fee,
because they know how unbelievable it is that the rep would skip over
huge chunks of the script...multiple times.

On that note, Directv customers are some of the most self entitled
people on this planet.

Pay the fee and move on. You reasoned, and did not bother to ask any
questions.

Even a "COB" (cheap ol b**T*RD) like me knows that being treated like
a new customer means new commitment along with the associated terms,
conditions and fees.

I think you are responsible for the cancellation fee. You wanted to be
treated like a new customer, you got a new customer package and fee.
Then you CHOSE (we had need) to cancel. Therefore you are cancelling
a new contract. I think if you read the original ad, you will see the
contract and cancel committment.
Do you have the name of the CSR who told you the fee would be waived,
and the date you spoke to him/her? If not, you really have no proof.
I think you got a good deal then just wanted out because you got a
free deal. Pay the fee and go on with life and happiness.

You re-signed as a new customer to get an upgraded DVR and that means
that as a new customer you were under the required two-year
commitment. Pretty simple stuff.

You wanted to bend the rules, to get the perk. Then you wanted to
bend the rules again, to get free cable. Whats a matter w/ you? You
broke a contract, therefore you should have to pay the ETF. Stop
trying to blame everyone else, because your a cheap ass!

If you want to be a "new customer" to get the perk, you need to accept
that you are now a new customer and tied into a contract. It's an
easy game to play, but also easy to get burned by.

Now, I would agree that if they told you they would let you drop it if
you wrote a letter, then they should live up to the bargain. However,
you kind of set yourself up for this one to be a tricky situation.

Per your letter:
"...since we reasoned that we had no commitment with DirecTV and would
likely be considered a new customer if we had quit and re-signed up
for the service. DirecTV exchanged our DVR for an upgraded version."

Basically you WANTED to be treated as a new customer to reap the
benefits of a new DVR. You picked your destiny, pay the fee.

By getting the upgraded system you essentially became a new customer.
New customer equals a new two year commitment. You are responsible
for the fee. Since you already went all the way up to the president
of the firm, I don't think this letter is going to get the fee waived.

It seems to me that you were lucky to get the new customer deal in the
first place. Most companies will not do that even if your contract
has expired. That said, I would have assumed that you were buying
into a contract at the time that you signed up for the deal. It would
not make any sense for a company to woo new customers over, just to
give them an automatic out whenever they like. You should have either
looked on the internet and read more about the deal, or asked the
salesman on the phone point blank whether this would mean you would
again be under contract. It is unfortunate if the salesman did forget
to mention the contract, but the fault should not lie entirely with
the salesperson.

Just because you got a perk of free cable service, dosen't shift the
responsibility of the contract you signed. Direct tv did bend over
backwards to get you the upgraded contract offer, and you knew what
that entailed when you signed. Every time I've gotten these offers,
there's an asterisk somewhere that explains the terms of the contract,
I find it very difficult to believe it isn't specified somewhere on
your paperwork.