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 Unethical Charges Withdrawn from Our Checking Account by DirecTV
Posted Fri June 15, 2007 12:00 pm, by Matt R. written to DirecTV, Inc.
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DIRECTV,
It is unfortunate that I must write you this message, but there have been some serious financial issues caused by your company that need to be addressed in the most expedited fashion. I will begin by saying that my wife and I were very pleased with our installation and service through DIRECTV. We enjoyed reasonable rates and excellent reception and programming.
It is an outstanding service you offer that allows your customers to receive free installation if they ever move. We indeed moved and requested a transfer of our dish, which was handled very promptly and accurately. However, the technician sadly informed us that the apartment we were occupying did not have line of sight, and therefore we could not receive DIRECTV. This was disappointing, and it was sad for us to have to cancel our service.
This took place in early May and we were assured by telephone that because the reason of our cancellation was neither a problem nor a choice of ours, we would not be charged. They also ordered a box for us to return the receiver and remote control. This is where the problem began. We did not even realize this was going to be a problem until early June June 14, 2007 to be precise. All of the sudden we saw a charge of $463.61, a charge that we knew nothing about and that never should have been debited from our checking account.
During the past month or so, we never received the box to return our equipment, even though our correct address had been on the account after all, the address was good enough for the technician to come out and make his appraisal of the line of sight issue. Furthermore, we were told that because it was a line of sight issue we would not be charged an early cancellation fee. This incorrect and unwarranted charge has caused our check account to be overdrawn. I personally spent over an hour on the phone with various supervisors who tried to help us with this dilemma. I will say that everyone I spoke to was courteous and helpful, alas, the results were far from acceptable.
I was told that it would take 3-5 days to receive the money for the early cancellation fee back into our account. I was also told that there was nothing they could do about the equipment charge until they had the remote and receiver in their possession. This is a completely unacceptable situation. We were never informed that we owed any monies in regard to our cancellation. We never received as much as a phone call alerting us to the fact.
It is not acceptable, courteous, justified or ethical to debit a customer's checking account with no warning. Additionally, it is completely absurd that an errant charge your company makes requires several days to correct. I am extremely unhappy with this problem and it requires an immediate resolution. Our checking account is in the negative due to your actions. What are we going to do? How are we going to purchase the items necessary to live food, gasoline, etc.? Also, it is unreasonable to think that we should be held responsible for the charges our bank is adding to our account due to the overdraft.
I respectfully request that I be contacted by the most qualified, knowledgeable and capable manger so that we can resolve this issue today. In summary, these are the items pending resolution:
* $250.00 charge for early termination
* $216.61 charge for equipment
* $29.00 (x3=$87.00) overdraft charge from Washington Mutual
I thank you in advance for your professionalism and help in this matter. Please contact me at the following number:
Sincerely,
Matt R.
We need to be reimbursed immediately for the following charges:
* $250.00 charge for early termination
* $216.61 charge for equipment
* $29.00 (x3=$87.00) overdraft charge from Washington Mutual
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by narsi Posted Wed June 4, 2008 @ 6:38 PM
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Same case a everyone else, the only difference being one of their
supervisors - Carol, offered to refund 120$, instead of the whole
amount. I refused and asked her to escalate the matter to the "account
management" for the second time. But nothing got resolved.
Just called them the third time today, I think it is really stupid
that Directv does not address line of sight problems; for it is their
inability to provide the service and we are made to pay for it. Even
more stupid is the fact that Directv spends more money in the form of
salaries of Customer Reps trying to talk customers into giving up the
claims than to just pay the customers and keep them happy. Now they
have to pay atleast 200-300USD to a CR for addressing this problem
per customer, if the customer talks to Directv for 3-4 hrs in total,
on different occassions. I also got them to reactivate my account so
that the cancellation fee can be credited back by asking them to set
up a new installation. This should cost them something more, for the
technician like the 2 others before would report a line of sight
problem. This would make Directv pay more .
There is no thing wrong with the Directv customer service, it is just
their policy to levy an early cancellation fee in cases where they
cannot provide service. That is what I am pissed off and intend to
make Directv pay for that.
Please join me in calling their Customer service more often especially
in the after hours so that they burn more money in trying to talk us
out rather than just pay it and be wiser moneywise. :(
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by joey haynes Posted Fri August 3, 2007 @ 10:01 AM
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I feel your pain. I just submitted a letter to Pf about the same
issues I'm having with Direct Tv. I placed my account on a suspended
status and the next mont, thay debit my account for over $700.00. When
I called to speak with them, they said nothing they could do I would
have to write a letter. I called my bank Chase, they reversed the NSF
charges , gave my a new account and after 24 hours, returned my money
back to my account. They also gave me a report which stated that
direct Tv could'nt give the fraud department proof that I authrozied
the charges and I plan to bring it to the AG.
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by ChristiG Posted Fri July 27, 2007 @ 5:40 PM
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They will keep it on file and if you cancel and owe a balance, they
will deduct the money owed out of your account without your
authorization. This happened to me yesterday (7/26/07) and caused me
to be overdrawn. I called them and spoke to five different people and
none of them helped me resolve the issue even though they admitted
that the person who processed my cancellation should have told me that
the money would be automatically deducted. THEIR ERROR but they won't
rectify the situation. I already wrote the BBB and now I just want to
warn people to avoid DirecTV.
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by blondie615 Posted Sun June 17, 2007 @ 2:04 AM
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I hear ya, they are out for money, you cancel after you just received
equipment, you are charged.
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by Lee H. Posted Sat June 16, 2007 @ 4:27 AM
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I, too, would agree that this is a very well laid out and worded
letter. I would also agree that they should not have charged you
after agreeing, over the phone, that you were not to be charged an
early termination fee or equipment charge.
The problem is making sure you have enough documentation to back up
this claim. Hopefully, you've kept a very good set of notes, which
includes with whom you've spoken and even confirmation numbers given
by the representatives detailing this arrangement. This is ultimately
because your initial agreement is within writing and allows for
equipment charges and early termination fees. Ultimately, anyone
could make such a claim when, in fact, no previous arrangement had
been made.
Best of luck and do keep us updated.
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by April Tolliver Posted Sat June 16, 2007 @ 1:25 AM
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My mother went through the same thing with Dish network. It took
several months of fighting with them, showing them the reciept of the
system sent, and hours on the phone with them to get the charges
removed from her credit card.
My advice is to keep track of everyone that you speak to, and notes of
what they said.
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by TwinkleToes Posted Fri June 15, 2007 @ 8:55 PM
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This is a wonderful letter!
I have to say that I feel you deserve the ET fee (if they don't charge
like you say) and the overdraft fees. The equipment fee should be in
your account until you return them however I feel that they were wrong
to debit your checking account without sending you notice of the new
charges. I also feel they owe for your overdraft fees.
Please update us on the resolution. :)
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