Complaint Review: Directv

BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THE HIGHEST PRICES IN THE GALAXY

DISH NETWORK IS NOT PERFECT, BUT IT IS A MILLION TIMES A BETTER VALUE AND LISTENS TO CUSTOMERS.

WITH DIRECTV, CUSTOMERS ARE HOSTAGES.

DON'T YOU DARE SET UP AUTO-PAY. DIRECTV WILL WIPE YOU OUT. AND YEARS LATER AFTER YOU HAVE DISCONTINUED SERVICE, THEY WILL COME BACK AND WIPE YOUR ACCOUNTS CLEAN.

DIRECTV ACCOUNTING HAS A "SKIMMING TEAM" . ALL THEY DO IS GO THROUGH A LIST OF ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND TRY TO PUT CHARGES THROUGH ON ANY ACCOUNTS STILL ACTIVE.

ALTHOUGH THEY HAVE A LIST OF EXCUSES TO JUSTIFY THE CHARGES WHEN DIRECTV'S VICTIMS CALL THEM, AND TO THE BANKS WHEN THEY DISPUTE THE CHARGES. 100% OF DISPUTED CHARGES WILL BE REFUNDED TO THE CUSTOMERS, BECAUSE DIRECTV CAN NEVER PROVE TO THE BANKS OR CREDIT CARD COMPANIES THAT IT HAD A LEGAL REASON TO CHARGE THE VICTIMS OF DIRECTV MILLIONS OF DOLLARS COLLECTIVELY, WHEN THEY DIDN'T EVEN HAVE SERVICE WITH DIRECTV.

DIRECTV ARE CROOKS. THEY ALSO HAVE THE POOREST RECORD IN THE HISTORY OF CUSTOMER SERVICE AND THE HIGHEST PRICES.

DOES DIRECTV HAVE THE MOTIVE AND OPPORTUNITY TO CHARGE CUSTOMERS FOR PAY PER VIEW AND ALL DAY PAY PER VIEWS FOR MILLIONS OF DOLLARS COLLECTIVELY. THE ANSWER IS YES.

WHEN A CROOK ROBS SOMEONE, AND HE IS QUESTIONED ABOUT IT. WHAT'S THE FIRST THING HE IS GOING TO SAY, "YES I DID IT, I'M SORRY"?. OF COURSE NOT. HE WILL DENY ANY KNOWLEDGE OF THE CRIME.

DIRECTV ROBS MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FOR BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, IN MANY MANY MANY WAYS.

WILL THEY ADMIT THIS? I DON'T THINK IT WOULD BE IN THEIR BEST INTERESTS!

How come its always porn that gets mysteriously ordered when no one is around??

I never here anyone complaining about the charges for The Little Mermaid or Shark Tales, being added to the bill. It's always porn.

Hey, I'll give you a hint - someone in your home is lying.

While I have also taken calls from people who have not ordered ppv's "supposedly" I have also taken calls where the customer has several ppv orders on the same day at the same time. Now I know there is no way a person can sit there and watch that many movies at the same time (unless you have dvr) but the one response before was correct. per policy you are afforded a one time courtesy credit. Note I said ONE TIME COURTESY.

I try to explain it like this. You get a charge for a 3.99 movie you want immediate credit for it and you are given the credit. Now later on down the road lets say your kids decide to order a wrestling ppv (wrestlemania XXI was 49.95) You caught them didn't allow them to watch it but now it is on the bill. You can't get that credit because it has already been given for that 3.99 movie.

I try to explain that to customers all the time. Also, if your account has a past due balance, you won't be able to order a ppv through us. A phone line is the only way to order one because the receiver doesn't know if you are past due only if there is a phone line connected. And one final thing.

I don't know if it was a simple isolated glitch in the system, but I have indeed seen ppv on the billing ledger that were ordered even before activation of the account.

In other words the account is activated on 01/01/2004 but the billing ledger shows a ppv ordered 06/01/2003. Computers are only as good as the person operating them but if there should be some type of security hole in the system that applies the ppv that could be possible.

Perhaps the technical aspects of how the Pay-Per-View processes function would help to educate you on this matter.

The process in itself is simple. Purchases you create are stored on the Access Card that is located within your receiver. Once a month at an assigned time and date, your receiver uses your phone system to call a toll free number to empty your purchases into the DIRECTV billing system.

Once the purchases are emptied into the billing system, they appear on your bill and then are erased from your access card.

Each access card has a Purchase Limit that is defined by several factors which include your credit score at the time you create an account with DIRECTV and your payment history and range from $49.99 to $200.00 depending on these factors.

There are several reasons that can cause "mysterious" Pay-Per-View purchases to appear on your bill without warning.

If your receiver is unplugged from a land-based phone line for a period of time, the receiver cannot initiate a call to DIRECTV and report your purchases. However, if the phone line is reattached or repaired and the receiver begins reporting those purchases again, even purchases from years previous can suddenly appear on the bill.

Keep in mind that regardless of when you order the PPV purchases, you don't actually pay for them until your receiver calls DIRECTV and reports them to our billing system.

Also, if you are ever asked to return an old Access Card when a replacement is shipped to you, engineers will try to extract old PPV purchases from the card if they have not been reported. After all, why should you pay for services that you agreed to purchase and received? I see nothing unfair about this aspect though several customers see this as being unjust.

So, in short, how do you prevent PPV turmoil? If this is an issue, or youfear it becoming one, the safest thing to do is to disconnect your receiver from a land-based phone line (be sure to tell a DIRECTV representative that you have done so though), place parental locks and spending limits on each receiver in your home (you will have to do this for each and every receiver you own), and finally, call DIRECTV and have a customer service represent disable ordering PPVs by remote control - in the call center, we call these PPVs "IPPV" or "Impulse PPVs".

Afterwards, you can still enjoy the luxury of PPV purchases by ordering on DIRECT.com (no phone transaction fee applies here), the Automated Phone System (aka IVR) where a small $1.50 phone transaction fee applies, or have a Customer Service Representative do it for you (though a $5.00 phone transaction fee applies).

Interested in seeing what PPVs have been ordered and when? Check your Purchase History in the main menu of your receiver.

I can tell you, having inside knowledge and years of being a DIRECTV Customer Service Rep in the Expanded Support (Advanced Technical Troubleshooting) department, that it is impossible for these receivers to order PPV purchases on their own.

Though you may believe that it isn't true, your children and/or spouse are creating these orders. And in some cases, you yourself are creating the orders and not fully understanding how the process works.

At any rate, if you call to dispute these charges, we do offer credit and information on how to prevent this from reoccuring again. Wether you heed our advice and pay attention, is up to you. We offer solutions to keep you as a loyal customer if you choose to accept our help instead of automatically declaring everything to be a conspiracy against you.

Ask a representative to walk you through the steps of preventing this from occuring. Any one of them will be more than happy to do so. Just as we will be more than happy to place a password on your account and disable your pay-per-view capabilities. Afterall, it saves us from having to explain this to you over and over again. No representative likes to face a beligerant customer. It also saves DIRECTV from losing your business as a customer. Doesn't it make more sense that DIRECTV cares more about your monthly bill than a few PPVs?

I have no doubt that happened and I know you have since switched but perhaps this info will be useful to anyone else having this same problem. All cust reps should give you at least a 1 time courtesy credit when this happens. To prevent further occurances parentaly lock these channels call us at customer service and put a password on your account, ask the rep to note what has been happening then if it continues you have taken plenty of precautions and it will be easy for us to rectify the account, sorry the account rep you spoke with was so rude. Hope this helps