Complaint Review: Direct TV - Phoenix Arizona

In my last update I reported that I had paid this to save my credit. Even though I did not owe the money and disputed it from the beginning. It has been over one year now that I paid them. I recieved a letter in the mail a few weeks ago from a new collection agency, Risk management, trying to collect for direct tv, For the account I already paid through Allied interstate. I imediatly contacted Risk management to explain this was paid, they said all I need to do is send them proof, which I have through the cancled check, but they wasted no me adding this to my credit report before even notifying me or giving me a chance to dispute it. Its there on my credit report now although showing it is in dispute. I then spent hours with Direct Tv and Alliedinterstate explaing the problem, (over 8 hrs.) being tranfered back and forth blaming each other and in the end I was promised a letter from Allied showing It was paid which I still have not recieved and Direct TV saying they show the payment recieved but it was the fault of the collection agency (Allied) to complete the paperwork to avoid this. Alliedinterstate will be the topic of my next rip off report, Just wanted to update be careful when paying off direct Tv as the have managed to come back and this time on my credit even though I tried to avoid this and thought I was finally done with them. If anyone knows of a law against this sort of practice please let me know, I am very upset with the whole thing as I am very particular with my credit and needed credit at this time causing a higher intrest rate as a result. I wish I had never fell for the lure of sattalite TV, I have been with cable TV well before and since this incident and NEVER had this mess to deal with. This was paid and I did not expect to ever have to deal with Direct TV again, Its wasting my time, harrassing, ruining my GOOD credit, And the thought I didnt even owe them the money to begin with...

Christine I'm responding to this because I feel badly that you got charged and believe you deserve to know what probably went on. My husband used to hack DTV cards and he would subscribe to pirating sites that would generate access card numbers for people to use for free. It was kind of complicated. Before you hate him too much, he got his in the end, DTV sued him and he had to pay a gigantic settlement. So in the end, he paid thousands of times over what he would have paid if he'd just subscribed to the d**n thing. However, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you probably were not personally targeted, your card number may have been generated by a computer program or an unscrupulous distributor of DTV equipment (there were hundreds of them out there loading card numbers into these databases as a previous poster alleged by the Radio Shack dealer--that was all true and is still going on today). What must have happened is some hacker cloned your card (and from what I have witnessed this is scarily easy to do), used your card with your valid subscription and the dumbass must have plugged in their phone line (contrary to what another poster said you do have to have your phone line plugged in to incur PPV charges). The person must have just bought the card from a illegal card dealer because any real hacker that was using a valid subscription card would have merely cleared all the PPV charges with their card reader once it was full according to the PPV limit that was set. That is another thing you can do--you can set a dollar limit for PPV charges and it won't let you order anything past that. Unfortunately--there is NO WAY you can prove this to DTV. Having them send you a new access card (as someone else suggested) probably would have solved the problem. I find it alarming and disgusting that DTV while paying out millions in attorney fees to prosecute pirates, has a legitimate customer call and indicate her card is being misused and they act like they've never heard of such a possibility. If DTV customer service reps had any brains or even cared about their customers they would have credited your bill the first time it happened and immediately sent you out a new access card. Btw--I was not involved in any of this hacking business. But I feel the guilt by association. I don't even watch tv! However I did pick up through my husband and his "hobbyist" friends all that was involved with this and how it worked.

Christine I'm responding to this because I feel badly that you got charged and believe you deserve to know what probably went on. My husband used to hack DTV cards and he would subscribe to pirating sites that would generate access card numbers for people to use for free. It was kind of complicated. Before you hate him too much, he got his in the end, DTV sued him and he had to pay a gigantic settlement. So in the end, he paid thousands of times over what he would have paid if he'd just subscribed to the d**n thing. However, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you probably were not personally targeted, your card number may have been generated by a computer program or an unscrupulous distributor of DTV equipment (there were hundreds of them out there loading card numbers into these databases as a previous poster alleged by the Radio Shack dealer--that was all true and is still going on today). What must have happened is some hacker cloned your card (and from what I have witnessed this is scarily easy to do), used your card with your valid subscription and the dumbass must have plugged in their phone line (contrary to what another poster said you do have to have your phone line plugged in to incur PPV charges). The person must have just bought the card from a illegal card dealer because any real hacker that was using a valid subscription card would have merely cleared all the PPV charges with their card reader once it was full according to the PPV limit that was set. That is another thing you can do--you can set a dollar limit for PPV charges and it won't let you order anything past that. Unfortunately--there is NO WAY you can prove this to DTV. Having them send you a new access card (as someone else suggested) probably would have solved the problem. I find it alarming and disgusting that DTV while paying out millions in attorney fees to prosecute pirates, has a legitimate customer call and indicate her card is being misused and they act like they've never heard of such a possibility. If DTV customer service reps had any brains or even cared about their customers they would have credited your bill the first time it happened and immediately sent you out a new access card. Btw--I was not involved in any of this hacking business. But I feel the guilt by association. I don't even watch tv! However I did pick up through my husband and his "hobbyist" friends all that was involved with this and how it worked.

Christine I'm responding to this because I feel badly that you got charged and believe you deserve to know what probably went on. My husband used to hack DTV cards and he would subscribe to pirating sites that would generate access card numbers for people to use for free. It was kind of complicated. Before you hate him too much, he got his in the end, DTV sued him and he had to pay a gigantic settlement. So in the end, he paid thousands of times over what he would have paid if he'd just subscribed to the d**n thing. However, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you probably were not personally targeted, your card number may have been generated by a computer program or an unscrupulous distributor of DTV equipment (there were hundreds of them out there loading card numbers into these databases as a previous poster alleged by the Radio Shack dealer--that was all true and is still going on today). What must have happened is some hacker cloned your card (and from what I have witnessed this is scarily easy to do), used your card with your valid subscription and the dumbass must have plugged in their phone line (contrary to what another poster said you do have to have your phone line plugged in to incur PPV charges). The person must have just bought the card from a illegal card dealer because any real hacker that was using a valid subscription card would have merely cleared all the PPV charges with their card reader once it was full according to the PPV limit that was set. That is another thing you can do--you can set a dollar limit for PPV charges and it won't let you order anything past that. Unfortunately--there is NO WAY you can prove this to DTV. Having them send you a new access card (as someone else suggested) probably would have solved the problem. I find it alarming and disgusting that DTV while paying out millions in attorney fees to prosecute pirates, has a legitimate customer call and indicate her card is being misused and they act like they've never heard of such a possibility. If DTV customer service reps had any brains or even cared about their customers they would have credited your bill the first time it happened and immediately sent you out a new access card. Btw--I was not involved in any of this hacking business. But I feel the guilt by association. I don't even watch tv! However I did pick up through my husband and his "hobbyist" friends all that was involved with this and how it worked.

Christine I'm responding to this because I feel badly that you got charged and believe you deserve to know what probably went on. My husband used to hack DTV cards and he would subscribe to pirating sites that would generate access card numbers for people to use for free. It was kind of complicated. Before you hate him too much, he got his in the end, DTV sued him and he had to pay a gigantic settlement. So in the end, he paid thousands of times over what he would have paid if he'd just subscribed to the d**n thing. However, I guess what I'm trying to say is, you probably were not personally targeted, your card number may have been generated by a computer program or an unscrupulous distributor of DTV equipment (there were hundreds of them out there loading card numbers into these databases as a previous poster alleged by the Radio Shack dealer--that was all true and is still going on today). What must have happened is some hacker cloned your card (and from what I have witnessed this is scarily easy to do), used your card with your valid subscription and the dumbass must have plugged in their phone line (contrary to what another poster said you do have to have your phone line plugged in to incur PPV charges). The person must have just bought the card from a illegal card dealer because any real hacker that was using a valid subscription card would have merely cleared all the PPV charges with their card reader once it was full according to the PPV limit that was set. That is another thing you can do--you can set a dollar limit for PPV charges and it won't let you order anything past that. Unfortunately--there is NO WAY you can prove this to DTV. Having them send you a new access card (as someone else suggested) probably would have solved the problem. I find it alarming and disgusting that DTV while paying out millions in attorney fees to prosecute pirates, has a legitimate customer call and indicate her card is being misused and they act like they've never heard of such a possibility. If DTV customer service reps had any brains or even cared about their customers they would have credited your bill the first time it happened and immediately sent you out a new access card. Btw--I was not involved in any of this hacking business. But I feel the guilt by association. I don't even watch tv! However I did pick up through my husband and his "hobbyist" friends all that was involved with this and how it worked.

I have paid the final bill, again to keep it off my credit. Does anyone know how piracy works, was it possible for someone to tap into my reciever? I have a friend of mine who said her brother worked for Radio Shack and was able to make dummy cards from the originals in the store. Is this possible and would it effect the way my reciever was working? I just know we did Not order the PPV movies and I'm looking at all options. I will never take the chance with satellite again until I know what happened, why and how it can be prevented. The customer service of DTV was very discourtious and determined they were ordered within the home even if I could prove otherwise. There is no way many could have been ordered from within my home, and no one knew the secret passwords entered in but me. How could this happen? I have read other complaints of the same nature with no answers to how it happened except they had to be ordered from within the homes.

I certainly wish I could solve the problem for you with Directv. If you no longer have the service you should not be charged. Please call and ask to speak to the CRG dept. They are the department that does all the disconnects. They will be able to trace your information and through the comments the EC's have left on your account and find that you no longer have the service. Each time you call into directv, we (who ever answers your call) are required to comment the account what has happened on the acct. Who called, what the call was about, and just what happened, if the problem was solved, if the call was transferred and where, the entire just of the call. Through these comments something like this can be traced, if you truly called that call will be commented. This should be no problem, Directv usually has absolutely no problem in crediting any legitimate claim. Whether it be credit for unauthorized pay per views or credit for services. This is an excellent company, their training in customer service is second to none. I wish I had your information on your account I would be more than happy to research it and to issue credit where credit is due. I am sorry for all the inconvience this has caused you. please call Directv and ask for the customer retention department (CRG) I am absolutely certain they will be able to help you get this matter resolved.

I am having a similar problem except it goes beyond pay per views. I called to have my service disconnected in August of 2003 but I am still being charged every month and the payment is being taken directly out of my checking account. I have called and sent email explaining that I ended my service in Aug. 03, that the receiver box was sold, that I no longer live at that location and in fact, no longer live in the same state! No matter what I say they just can't understand that I no longer use their service. I was going to stop payment and decline future charges on my checking account but the bank said I should handle it through Direct TV. Since they are convinced that I am still using their service, declining payment could damage my credit.

It is true that a person should have a phone line plugged in to their dtv receiver when a cust orders movies they are stored on the access card and then downloaded once a mth thru the phone line. Being an employee for more than 3 years I have learned that if some one in your immediate area as an apartment house or garage apt or some neighbor close to your home can pirate your access card if this happens a request for a new access card can put a stop to this. This is why dtv sends out new access cards on a regular basis for piracy prevention. DTV usually will give credit to the cust if and when this happens. Directv is very customer orientated and will do everything to keep a customer. The third principle that is given to the employees of dtv is "We take action to resolve customer issues or place the customer in the hands of the person that can." I have given credit to a lot of cust on unauthorized PPV's.

I have had Directv for 4 years and I have never heard of this kind of problem before. I am not saying this did not happen. On the response to unplug your telephone cord this will stop your problem let me inform you that it will not. I have bought PPV's before and found that my phone cord was unplugged from my receiver and about 2 or 3 months later it would appear on my bill. So if you think that unplugging will stop this think again. I hope you find a solution to your problem. Best of Luck

Hello, Christine; If you don't want to buy PPV movies at all, you can simply disconnect the telephone line from the receiver. Your system will still work the same, except you will not be able to get PPV. The telephone is the means by which DTV determines what movies you might have ordered. We have had DTV for a few years and I have never bothered to hook up the phone wire. Best to you,

Hello, Christine; If you don't want to buy PPV movies at all, you can simply disconnect the telephone line from the receiver. Your system will still work the same, except you will not be able to get PPV. The telephone is the means by which DTV determines what movies you might have ordered. We have had DTV for a few years and I have never bothered to hook up the phone wire. Best to you,

Hello, Christine; If you don't want to buy PPV movies at all, you can simply disconnect the telephone line from the receiver. Your system will still work the same, except you will not be able to get PPV. The telephone is the means by which DTV determines what movies you might have ordered. We have had DTV for a few years and I have never bothered to hook up the phone wire. Best to you,