Complaint Review: DIRECTTV - Nationwide

DIRECTV recently billed me $19.95. At first glance, oh! Great this is an insignificant amount, I must have underpaid my final bill from a month ago, or was late returning the programmer card from their equipment. But wait, lets’ review the bill to determine what the charge is for before I just pay the amount under threat of having the amount automatically deducted from my credit card n file. What do I find? The charge is for a “Pay-Per-View event ordered on 07/2009 via Remote. Charged on 03/14/17”. Now how can this be considering we are 1) eight (8) years after the fact; 2) I have never used Pay-Per-View services and have no interest in Girls Gone Wild; as well as was on assignment to Guam from 2009 through 2011 with the United States Navy; and 3) my account with DIRECTTV was closed by me in February 2017 (disconnection confirmed as of 02/17/2017) with a final bill paid on 02/28/2017 in the amount of $26.52. My conclusion is this bill for $19.95 is obviously a mistake, but an easy fix – I will just contact the company and get in corrected. Right! , wrong!! -DIRECTTV representative (Brian customer representative # 7001446) stated he would be happy to wave the amount, but to do so he would need to reestablish my service and could do so at a cost reduction. SCAM Alert!!!! I refused, and informed he as well as his supervisor that I would not be paying the fraudulent charge. Oh! And during the conversation, I was extremely alarmed to find that AT&T would assume ownership of DIRECTTV with such illicit business practices. What firm waits eight (8) years to charge Pay-For-View services.

 Thinking through this situation I recall the numerous phone calls, emails, and regular mail received to inquire as to why I canceled my services, and offer me discounts to reconsider. Being the polite person I am – I completed a survey providing my dissatisfaction with DIRECTTV’s Customer Service, the inability of the firm to provide uninterrupted service to my residence, and their attempts to charge for technical support services to trouble shoot equipment issues in terms of high cost technician visits to evaluate equipment faults. Example – In December 2016, I reported to the company two of three receivers would not function and reminded the firm my services were to have been suspended while I was away, but it had not with billing continued. Representative advised me to trouble shoot the equipment faults myself, send the equipment back for exchange at my expense, and/or pay $50.00 for a technician to come out and work through the problem, which I agreed to trouble shoot myself. Two of three receivers would not power on so I called the company back and requested my account be closed in January due to services not be provided and defective equipment. Representative offered to wave the technicians fee and have someone come out to remedy the problem. Technician arrived with new receivers and program cards and all was fine. Ultimately decided the service was not performed to my satisfaction and customer service was very inconsiderate with no consideration given for period where no service was provided. End result - I closed the account and return all equipment in the prescribed manner.

Bottom line, this particular charge of $19.95 is fraudulent. However, the lager problem is this manner of billing may have been applied to thousands of other DIRECTV customers, and that cannot be allowed. On a positive note, I sincerely hope AT&T will service the issues of valuated services not being provided because of DIRECTV induced equipment faults, fraudulent billing and poor customer service.