DirecTV Harassment after dropping service ripoff Greenwood Colorado
We had DirecTV for five years and for most of that time we were very satisfied. As a result we spent a few thousand dollars on their service. Unlike others who have written here, we were able to get local channels with no trouble.
The trouble started when we bought a DVR unit. My husband signed a two-year contract that said we had to keep the service for that period. During a year-and-a-half we ended up having to have that unit replaced five times. The first time they told us to just junk the unit and they'd send another. From then on we had to return the units. Each time we called that it wasn't working they tried to get my husband to try all the connections etc, no easy task since our TV/DVR were in a large, heavy entertainment center.
When the last unit they sent us lasted only three weeks we finally got fed up. Every time a unit stopped working we lost all of our recorded programs and then were without TV service until a replacement unit arrived. We called and said we wanted to cancel our service. They said they'd charge us a $150.00 fee to do that PLUS they'd continue to charge us monthly for the length of our contract! My husband told them in certain words what they could do with that.
I sat down with all of our paperwork to see if there were any loopholes. Sure enough I found a statement that said if the equipment was returned within 14 days of cancellation of the service they would not charge us a fee and the service would be ended!
Since that time - eight months ago, they have almost daily harassed us with a collection agency called Nationwide. They've even called us on Christmas Eve and Mother's Day! They wrote us a letter saying we had 30 days to write back and explain why we felt we didn't owe anything. I wrote to them and said it would be the only time they would hear from me.
They never responded and continue to harass us. We only answered the phone twice, both times to tell them we didn't owe anything and to stuff it. On top of all this they're trying to say we owe - get this - $175.01, not $150.00. I think they might try to catch us on wording in the statement that said "when the equipment is returned it must be in good condition." How can you send something back in good condition if it never was in good condition?
They have threatened to report us to the credit unions. If you have good credit, do not let threats like this worry you. Ours is good and they can do whatever they want. The phone number of the collection agency harassing us is #800-374-8503. We don't answer the phone when we see it in our caller ID or we pick up the phone and hang it up right away. Next I'm going to use a whistle.
Paula
Elburn, Illinois
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Paula
Elburn,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Response to ex-employees rebuttal
#6Author of original report
Thu, December 06, 2007
1 - we sent a total of five non-working units back.
2 - Directv did not ever offer or give us credit for any of the time that we had absolutely no TV service. They did absolutely nothing to "work with us".
3 - Contract or no contract - we are not fools. We do not pay for bad service. People have to stop accepting poor service.
4 - We wrote a letter explaining our stance. Our contract stated that if we returned the units within 14 days that there was no longer any obligation on our part. I am not wasting my time explaining this to every verbose, obnoxious collection agency that Directv wants to throw at me. IF Directv had any respect for its customers or the public in general, they would not start these situations.
5 - I don't care what you term "harassment". It didn't matter whether we answered the phone or not and I don't give a d**n who our account was sold to. Directv should have never done any of what it did.
We will never pay them one cent. These companies have no business roping people into contracts and then giving poor service once they do and not caring a d**n about how their customers feel. I notice you're an EX employee. How come - not good to work for? Why the heck would you defend poor service that got worse as time went on? You must be a real sucker if you would put up with this. I'm from a generation that doesn't.
Paula
Elburn,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Response to ex-employees rebuttal
#6Author of original report
Thu, December 06, 2007
1 - we sent a total of five non-working units back.
2 - Directv did not ever offer or give us credit for any of the time that we had absolutely no TV service. They did absolutely nothing to "work with us".
3 - Contract or no contract - we are not fools. We do not pay for bad service. People have to stop accepting poor service.
4 - We wrote a letter explaining our stance. Our contract stated that if we returned the units within 14 days that there was no longer any obligation on our part. I am not wasting my time explaining this to every verbose, obnoxious collection agency that Directv wants to throw at me. IF Directv had any respect for its customers or the public in general, they would not start these situations.
5 - I don't care what you term "harassment". It didn't matter whether we answered the phone or not and I don't give a d**n who our account was sold to. Directv should have never done any of what it did.
We will never pay them one cent. These companies have no business roping people into contracts and then giving poor service once they do and not caring a d**n about how their customers feel. I notice you're an EX employee. How come - not good to work for? Why the heck would you defend poor service that got worse as time went on? You must be a real sucker if you would put up with this. I'm from a generation that doesn't.
Paula
Elburn,Illinois,
U.S.A.
Response to ex-employees rebuttal
#6Author of original report
Thu, December 06, 2007
1 - we sent a total of five non-working units back.
2 - Directv did not ever offer or give us credit for any of the time that we had absolutely no TV service. They did absolutely nothing to "work with us".
3 - Contract or no contract - we are not fools. We do not pay for bad service. People have to stop accepting poor service.
4 - We wrote a letter explaining our stance. Our contract stated that if we returned the units within 14 days that there was no longer any obligation on our part. I am not wasting my time explaining this to every verbose, obnoxious collection agency that Directv wants to throw at me. IF Directv had any respect for its customers or the public in general, they would not start these situations.
5 - I don't care what you term "harassment". It didn't matter whether we answered the phone or not and I don't give a d**n who our account was sold to. Directv should have never done any of what it did.
We will never pay them one cent. These companies have no business roping people into contracts and then giving poor service once they do and not caring a d**n about how their customers feel. I notice you're an EX employee. How come - not good to work for? Why the heck would you defend poor service that got worse as time went on? You must be a real sucker if you would put up with this. I'm from a generation that doesn't.
Paul12345
Evansville,Indiana,
U.S.A.
Pay up!!!
#6UPDATE EX-employee responds
Mon, December 03, 2007
Your contract states that you will return all leased equipment within 14 days in good working condition or you will be subject to a fee of up to 700 dollars for each item not returned. You returned your equipment, and I doubt you where charged becuase of mechanical failure.
What you where charged for is a early cancelation fee of 12.50 for each month that remained in your contract, you last bill (any monies that you owed to DirecTv for thier service), and late fees and now collection charges.
That same contract you claimed to have found a loophole in also states that you will be charge any money it cost to collect a bad debt from you.
Now I don't think this belongs under DirecTv because they sold the bad debt to another company who calls you trying to reach you. If no one picks up the phone, of course they are going to call back and that is not harassment. Now if you tell them a few times to stop calling and put everything in writting I am sure the calls will stop for a while.
The bottom line is you OWE them money, and you are not paying.
If you would have been willing to work with DirecTv when you canceled, they would have creditied you any charges for the time without service and the only thing you would have to pay is the 12.50 for each month remaining in your contract.
Paula
Elburn,Illinois,
U.S.A.
DirecTV Harassment Follow Up Report
#6Author of original report
Thu, July 19, 2007
We are now being harassed by another company. Nationwide passed us off to these people. Their phone # is 877-859-3261 and their name is Financial Asset Management.