Complaint Review: Directv

All of my equipment was purchased by me back in 1995.
Still using all of it.

DTV did send me a new activation card in the mail about one or two years ago.

First of all i am a directv employee in the billing department. I get calls like this all the time. If you would read the terms and conditions under section 5 (e) it says------>Payment Upon Cancellation. You acknowledge that you have provided your credit or debit card account information to us. You understand that you will incur fees and charges as a result of your receipt and use of Service and/or Receiving Equipment, and may incur early cancellation fees and/or equipment non-return fees (as specified in any lease, programming or other service agreement you entered into in connection with obtaining Receiving Equipment). By giving us --------->your credit or debit card account informationyoucancellation *This clearly states that dtv has the right to charge ANY amount that is owed on the account by credit card that is on file OR was used on account which ever one is most up to date. If you would of read the agreement you would of seen that directv didnt take your money. It is most likely that you also had a commitment that made you early cancelation fee so high. Also dtv DOES NOT sell their equipment even if you did buy them from a store. When you first installed the equipment it said that the equipment was not yours and belonged to dtv. Some people do own their equipment because it is older equipment and dtv does not have any use of them. Thank you for your time.

Nowadays DirecTV leases all of their equipment, however back in the good ol days prior to 2007 it was possible for you to own equipment. I personally own my Plus DVR and both receivers. The reason I own the Plus DVR is because it was replaced under the protection plan for my old Tivo. The two receivers I have had for over 5 years and yes they are owned. The reason I know this is because I cancelled my DirecTV service 6 months ago. I had to send my HD DVR back as it was leased. The other three were mine to keep.

If your equipment was older then yes it is very possible it was yours to keep. I know they tried to mark my Tivo as leased about 3 years ago. They were able to go back in the records and show where is was mine and did not belong to them.

I would fight fight fight!!! DirecTV is good at marking receivers as leased just to screw with people. It's really sad :(

i work for directv and just wanted to state that you don't buy your equipment from directv, it's all leased when you get it...even if you "purchase" it from best buy or circuit city. they lease our equipment and you never own it. if you get a standard receiver for $69, a dvr for $99, an hd receiver for $99 or an hd-dvr for $199 then you leased it. if you return the equipment you will get a full refund back for not returning the equipment.

It is impossible for you to have bought your own equipment. The only thing they will actually sell to you is the small receiver box that sits on your television, and even that requires a 1 or 2 year lease to own program. You cannot at any point buy the receiver's memory card. Nor can you buy the dish, mounts, stands, or cabling from them. Most contracts for service even state that if you cancel service you agree to send the receiver you "own" back to them to become their property again.

Yes, they charge an arm and a leg for all the stuff they put in if you cancel. They do, however, give you a mess of legal paperwork that says, last I read one, in at least 20 different ways that they are going to do this.

You do not "own" your satellite equipment.