We have been loyal DirecTV customer's for over 3 years now. Our Tivo based DVR broke after 3 years of excellent operation. 3 months ago they sent a replacement unit. NEVER do I recall the operator saying that I had to sign up for a commitment to 2 years of service since they were sending me a new DVR (I use the term NEW loosely). And I definitely don't remember them saying that I would have to pay $300 if I canceled my service before the 2 years. Well, that's exactly what they told me today when I cancelled my service. Their "New" DVR was a refurbished unit that was send just thrown in a box with no packaging at all. Well, that only last about 2 months. They were going to send us another refurbished DVR and we said don't bother, we'll switch to Metrocast. Basically, DirecTV says there is nothing we can do about the charge, and even though I never signed up for anything I am bound to the contract I never saw until after my DVR arrived on my door step. Going back through my paperwork, there is a line in the reciept I got for the DVR stating just this. So, basically it's my fault for not reading it, but this is just sketchy business on the part of DirecTV. So, just beware before you deal with them. Their DVR is a piece of CRAP and is the main reason we went with Metrocast. And thanks to the $300 credit promotion for switching from Satellite, it's pretty much a wash. Thanks for reading me vent.. and think twice before you deal with DirecTV.
DirecTV Consumers BEWARE!!
- Thread starter bigluke
- Start date
Yeah.. I can't be too mad because I should have read the fine print somewhere in the paper work I received. I just think it's sketchy that they make you sign up for a 2 year commitment for just replacing equipment. Equipment that they know is not good. The operator I talked to even said that people go through the DVR's pretty quick that's why they don't issue new units. Anyway. We never had any problems before, and I was always happy with their service. Just frustrating.
ohstate
Member
I've heard that you can suspend your account rather than cancelling it. It saves the cancellation charge. I would imagine that people going on travel for extended periods of time might want to suspend the account, then reactivate it when they return. I wonder how directv would track those suspended accounts? I would imagine, that if you didn't restart your subscription after a long time, they might wonder what was up, but since you didn't cancel, what could they do about it? Interesting to think about.
blazinlow89
Big Poppa
We have had directv for about 6 years now and have never had a problem the dvr unit is about a year old and we have never had a problem with it. We cant get cable on my street so we dont have any options.
Interesting about the suspending your account option. I haven't had cable in a long time, but gotta say I'm pretty happy with it so far. Seems like they have more options with the Video on Demand than they used to, and the picture quality is better than I remember. But, we'll see how it goes.
When I worked for DTV about four years ago, on the back of the contract it said that if you returned your equipment to them they could not charge you a cancellation fee. You "own" your equipment after you fufill the obligation--but if you turn it back in you are okay. This was a few years ago--read all the paperwork because the operator will NOT tell you about this.
bohman
Well-Known Member
bigluke said:
I just read an article somewhere about wireless companies (Sprint, in particular) doing this same kind of thing. Basically, any time you contact them for any service, if you verbally agree to an extension, you're locked in. Doesn't matter that you don't have any paperwork to indicate that the extension happened, and it doesn't matter that you may not have understood the double-speak that led you to agree to it in the first place.