Complaint Review: DirecTV

I referred a friend to DirecTV on September 15, 2006. She called 1800Directv to order her service. She told the operator that she was referred by a friend. The operator asked for my account number and told her the referral was in the system and that I would receive a $100 bill credit.

Her service was installed on September 16, 2006. I called 1800Directv on September 17,2006 to make sure my credit had gone through. The rep I spoke with said it would take 1-2 weeks to appear on my statement. I called back on September 30th. The rep I spoke with said it would take 1-2 months to appear on my statement.

I called back on October 15th. The rep I spoke with told me it would take 1-2 billing cycles to appear on my statement.

I called back on October 31st. The rep I spoke with told me she would escalate my request and someone would get back to me.

During this time I paid all of my monthly statement except for $100. I began receiving collection calls and emails telling me my bill was late. I called back November 10th, and was told again my call was being escalated. On November 17th, my service was turned off. I called again and threatened to switch to Dish Network if my service wasn't restored and my credit issued. My service was instantly turned back on and I thought the issue was handled...

On December 10th I received another collection call. I told the collection agent the story (again) and threatened to switch my service if the credit wasn't issued (again). The rep promised to take care of it.

Today (December 14th) I received an email telling me my bill was past due. I called yet again and first spoke with a gentleman that told me since my friend didn't call a special number I didn't qualify for the credit. Now mind you, at this point the company had had at least 8 different opportunities to tell me this (once when my friend called to sign up and then the 7 times I called after - plus all the collection calls). I then threatened to report Directv to the Better Business Burea, sue for fraudulent advertisement, and switch to Dish Network if they did not take care of the credit.

I was then transferred to another gentleman who made me tell the same thing (again), and again told me I did not qualify for the credit. Upon once again stating that I planned to report Directv to the Better Business Burea, sue for fraudulent advertisement, and switch to Dish Network if they did not take care of the credit, he finally issued a "Customer Dissatisfaction Credit".

I honestly believe that Directv has no intention when they get these referrals to ever issue a credit. I am sure there are a large number of people out there who just give up. Please - save your time and energy and don't refer anyone, or immediately start threatening to sue when they start giving you the rigamarole.

Michelle
Parma, Ohio
U.S.A.