DirecTV
Reviews and Complaints

Hello,
My name is charlene lathan. I ordered direct tv a couple of months ago. The technician went thru my back yard through a fence we have never used! We have two fences in the backyard. In order to gain entrance he had to forcefully enter thru that gate! In 5 years we have never opened it. He broke the gate leaving it hanging from the hinges and never told me or my husband. Also he used our ladder and left it in the middle of the yard. In each room where he installed a box he left the actual boxes in the floor. I called your claims department who assured me someone would come out in 2 day to repair my fence. After 5 days i called back and was to the same thing. Finally i received a letter from your claims department asking for pictures and a estimate in which i provided 1 week later a field rep called to come see the damages. 3 days after that i got a call from claims stating that direct tv would not pay for my whole repair because some of the wood was rotten. My argument was that if the tech would have never forced his way thru a sealed fence it would not be off the hinges..Now the est was for 900.00 and you want to settle for 450.00 way should i pay anything for a fence that was standing tall before you guys broke it down? Not to mention i had a dog whom we had since she was 4 weeks now she is 8 who had to be tied to a tree to keep her in the yard. After 2 days she broke thru the rope and left our home and has yet to be found. Direct tv has destroyed my home my kids and our life. What are you plans to rectify this situation? I don't have a problem calling 7 on your side to have this aired. I have heard that you don't respond for months to complaint if at all and now that i am a victim i see its true this has been going on for 2 months.One last thing one of my tv's dont even work its not connected and im still paying for service and waiting on repair. Here are the photo's i sent in

Charlene lathan
[protected]

Direct tv charged me for a year for something I did not even have. Tivo. I tried to get a credit to my account, but that never happened. I decided if I am being charged I might as well have the equipment so I put in the order for tivo to be installed. I was given a date and an open window of time noon until four and that the technician would call twenty minutes out from appointment. I took a day off work and waited and waited... No-one showed and no-one called. I called customer service and no-one seemed to care or offer any reason why no-one showed. I talked for hours going round in circles with different people and not one person could help me. Frustrated I cancelled the tivo order. To my horror I have been charged for the installation and equipment that I do not have. They have scammed me again. How many other people has this happened to. I cannot believe that they can get away with this!

I signed up with direct tv as bundle service with verizon a few months back and I have had to call them nearly every month for extra charges they're including in my bill. They're running a scam! I called about a charge for a dvr, which I do not use, and comes with an hd receiver. The customer representative told me that I could not have one without the other. She also reminded me that if I cancelled my service I would have to pay them over $400! I asked for a supervisor who told me that I could get an hd receiver without the dvr! Now, I have to decide if I want to be charged over $400 and be done with them once and for all or if I finish my contract in 2 years!

Don't go with direct tv please, shop around first. They are running a scam!

I am this after the thirty minute conversation I had with a supervisor’s named Albert. Let me start from the beginning. (Brace yourself, I’m long winded)

My service had been interrupted for lack of payment sometime in June or July. I’m sure I am not the only one struggling in this economy and unfortunately, it was my cable among other things that suffered. My payday was August 13th, and with that check I had planned to pay not only my DirecTV bill but the remainder of my rent which was also passed due. Thank goodness for understanding landlords. When I checked my account balance at the ATM machine before withdrawing the money for my rent, I learned that $678.42 was missing. I later learned that DirecTV had not only recouped the past due amount of about $149.28 that I owed but additional fees and the cost of the DVR still in my possession. Imagine my horror.

While I knew I was up a creek without a paddle, I completely understood why the funds had been removed but needed it back immediately. I needed help! My first call was to the Customer Service Department with DirecTV on Saturday, August 14th approximately 1:42pm. I spoke to a representative who said refunds normally take 30 days but he would connect me to a supervisor. The Supervisor although courteous was also unable to help me so he connected to what I think is called the Financial Department. Finally, I spoke with a very sweet woman and explained my dilemma.

“My rent is past due, please help me”, I begged and she was sympathetic.

She explained that a refund normally takes up to 30 days but she was going to do everything in her power to have it posted in the next 2 business days. If not 2, no more than 7 days she told me. Not what my landlord wanted to hear but not much I could do about it and much better than 30.

After Tuesday, August 17th had passed without a deposit to my bank account, I could see that she wasn’t able to get the refund posted in 2 days but maybe 3 or 4 I hoped. By August 20th (the 5th business day), I called back. Again I started with Customer Service who told me he couldn’t help, but he transferred me to a supervisor who again connected me to a different department; perhaps the Financial Department again. There I spoke with a woman who said, “Yes, I see your request. I will have someone call you back today”. Guess what, no call.

I called back August 21st again starting with Customer Service. This agent told me the normal process is 30 days but, he could escalate my request for a refund which could take up to 8 business days.

“WAIT…eight days from my initial request, or 8 days starting today.”

“Eight days starting today”, he told me.

Noooo! I was beyond upset. I didn’t bother with a supervisor I was so mad I had to hang up immediately before I forgot how my mother raised me.

On August 25th, I called again, just to see if the refund was still being processed. Didn’t want anyone to give me another 8 day story. She told me my refund had not been processed yet and could take up to 8 days.

Okay, so here I am, September 1st; 8 business days later. No rent money!

With my landlord beating down my door rightfully wanting the money I owe, I called the Customer Service number around 4:30pm eastern and immediately asked for a supervisor. He quickly transferred me to Albert. I asked Albert if he should transfer me to a different department since I had spoken to them before about my refund. Albert, employee number 467520 tells me, “You’ve reached the right department.” So I explain the long, sad story.

“My service was turned off, my account was debited, my rent is past due, I was promised a refund, blah, blah, blah…help!”

Albert says, “It could take up to 8 days, plus 5 to 7 more”.

All I saw were visions of the Marshalls throwing my clothes outside. I’m sure if that was the very first phone call I made, I could have handled the news a little better. A little! But this being my 6th call, I simply could not.

“WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT”, I’m furious and all I want to do is talk to the department who told me they could help but Albert refused. REFUSED!

“Let me talk to your supervisor then”.

“I am the supervisor”, he told me.

While I’m sure Albert is a very important person, something tells me there are quite a few more people above Albert before I reach the president of the company, but no, Albert was standing guard and would NOT let me in to speak with them.

“He doesn’t take calls.” He told me.

I thought to myself, Self…why won’t this man at least transfer me. Why?

Calmly Albert tried to explain that the reason NO ONE ever mentioned 8 days plus 5 to 7 more is because they were wrong. All of them? All 6 other DirecTV employees were wrong? No one is right but Albert.

Fine, if that is the case then let me talk to them. Let that department that gave me this misinformation, clean it up. No…Albert refused.

I request Albert last name. No. I requested Albert’s supervisor’s full name, No. I asked again, “Please just connect me to the other department.” No!

Albert told me I didn’t want to believe him, and he would NOT transfer the call and proceeded to ask what my occupation was. I suppose he planned on using this information to explain to me the dynamics of customer service. Dear friend Albert, I am a very educated woman, and take offense to such a question. I have every right to ask his position, I am the customer. He was not only inappropriate, he was insulting and I promised I would make sure this was brought to someone else’s attention.

I consider myself a reasonably responsible person with limited funds these days. I also feel I have responsible expectations. I don’t expect people to pull miracles out of their hats but when I ask for assistance I do expect to get it. Albert told me he just started his shift so unless I planned on staying on the line with him all day…hey, I have unlimited talk time. I was willing to go the distance but I grew so angry I knew I was only making the matter worse. This is after he threatened to transfer me to the voice automated recording. Great customer service!

Bottom line to all the Albert’s out there, all I want is my refund. My money! Not yours, not Albert’s, not DirecTV’s, but my hard (and I do mean HARD) earned money so I can pay for the roof over my head; literally.

The sad thing is, there are people doing worse than I am in this economy. I hate to think what’s happening to them.

Yes, I hope that you do find this call, listen to it as you state calls are monitored. And I hope you do fix the mistakes that were made with all of the misinformation and customer service issues but most of all…I just want my money back. FAST!

Please…to the powers that be…can you PLEASE PLEASE give me back my money?

I canceled my Direct TV service on August 13th and was supposed to receive return shipping materials. On August 20th I received a box that contained inadequate packing materials to protect the two receivers that I need to return. The return shipping label was also missing. I contacted Direct TV the same day and was told that they would reship the return packing materials and confirm shipment with an email. I received neither. I again contacted Direct TV on August 26thand escalated my request to a lady who told me her name was Sekl. After quite a bit of discussion, she said she would send out a return package and that I would receive an email confirming the shipment within 24 hours. At this time August 30th I've received neither. I've been told I have 16 days to return the receivers and controls in good condition or I would be charged $250 for each receiver.

My two years contract with direct tv had ended so on february 2010, I called and cancel direct tv.
A final bill was sent to me which I paid. Now to my surprise, I received another bill for $216.76.
I called direct tv to find out about this new bill, the rep. Told me that the amount was for pay per view charges (Adult movies) stemming from 2007.
I told the rep. That we never ordered any ppv movies from direct tv muchless adult movies. I mentioned to this rep. That my husband is a member of netflix and that we usually receive three movies a week including any latest releases so there is no reason for us to order any ppv movies. My next question to this person was why it took over two years to bill me for these charges, his answer was that after receiving the cable boxes they were able to extract this information. At this time I asked to speak to a supervisor who stated the same, and bluntly refuses to waive these charges. I told him that I will not pay for these charges, and so my conversation with direct tv ended.

On may 2010, I received a collection notice from cbe group about this matter, and respond to it stating the above.

On june 9, 2010, I received a letter from direct tv collection department that after reviewing my file they determined that the charges are vaild, and I must pay this bill.

I am asking your viewers if anyone has this problem to e-mail me at [protected]@yahoo.com to let me know whether it was resolve or
How to get is resolved, because I don't have any intension in paying this bill, I would rather go to court and let the judge handle it.

Ken

Starting several months ago, direct tv tried to charge me additional fees for continued service after my contract had expired.
I told them verbally, and in writing, that I would not pay anymore than the last negotiated price, with no reduction in service.

I gave them the option to cancel my service. They continued to bill me for the additional amount, where I would call, or write to notify them to either pick up their equipment and discontinue service, or honor the prior agreement.

They tried to get $180 additional funds out of me tuesday, and when I refused to the demand, the said they would have some one in retention call me.
Instead, they simply cut off my service, after they just received my payment for this coming month's service.

I just spent 2.5 hours retelling this story to over 7 direct tv representatives. After dumped calls, and much repetition, I dialed "the president's office at [protected]. This resulted in a contact with a pleasant woman who told me I could hang up with the other folks (On my other phone line) at direct tv who had had me on hold/standby for over 45minutes on that particular round. She assured me that she was the end of the line, and that a resolution and final result would end with her, at the "president's office!".

I re-explained the details of situation, and she remained very attentive, and seemed to be understanding.
She stated that the expired agreement required that if I made any payment towards any bill, that action would make that increase acceptable regardless of my repeated objections to the increase and refusal to pay the increase. That rolled forward into a revised balance, approximately $100.00 off from what I had ever agreed to.

Yet, after not being able to negotiate a reasonable package for my $66.16 per month I had previously agreed to; she (Ever so politely) threatened to charge my credit card for their perceived remaining balance due (Infact they owe me a credit). I informed her, that I did not have a valid credit card on file with them, and her demeanor changed from that strategy.

We then agreed that there was not a resolution; and she still maintained that I owed the balance in question, and I maintained that I was due the payment I had sent in, plus a reconciliation of the overcharges still reamining on my account.

She said that I was responsible for the payment, and that she would send return boxes out for the equipment.

I told her I would not be returning the equipment until I got a satisfactory and fair balance reconciliation. She said I would be additionally be billed for equipment.

I told her that they would not be getting the equipment from me, but that I would take the equipment, and the boxes to either the local justice of the peace, or sheriff's office, whichever entity was most appropriate to file my complaint with.

We agreed that there remained a chasm in our understanding.

She called back a few minutes later offering a package with similar, albeit a few less channels for slightly less than what I had been paying. I told her I though t that was reasonable, as far as plans go, but would not accept any contract, and wanted my balance to be paid in full through this coming month's billing cycle.

She agreed to make the adjustment, and pro-ration to reflect our new agreement, and we both agreed that any price increase would have to be pre-authorized, and that if I did not accept the increase, that I would simply request a disconnect. (I did this with the initial price increase, yet continued to receive service, and no adjustment to my account.

I have no doubt that if I had a credit card on file, I would have not been given this "concession", or in my assessment nearly fair treatment, after several hours invested.

The woman at the president's office was no doubt a skilled negotiator dealing with my principled brick wall.
The "policies" of direct tv are probably no more pompous, or unilateral than most pig headed corporations.

I am offering this, not to blow smoke at my own negotiating abilities, but to provide others some hope as to resolving problems with direct tv. I wish to assure you, it is probably not you if you are getting the run around from them.

I also believe it is high time that we all start quoting more of our own policies to them, and be very careful as to how you trust direct tv or any other business with credit card information. When they have all the cards, you become the servant, not the customer.

John l.
Texas

On august 18th, 2010 I finally received my replacement receiver. After hours spent on the phone at the beginning of august trying to diagnose my problem, the solution was to send me a new access card. It took 10 days for the access card to arrive. Then I had to spend another hour on the phone to then find out that I needed a replacement receiver, which would take another week. I received the replacement receiver a couple of days ago finally. I spoke to customer service and got the new receiver activated. Here is where my problem started. The customer service rep informed me that I had to dispose of the old receiver because it was broken. Wait what? This is leased equipment.In california, it is against the law to just throw something like this in the trash. It has to be taken to an e-waste recycling facility to be disposed of properly. Apparently, from directv’s point of view, once the equipment is & ldquo;broken”, it is no longer leased, but owned by the customer. Well, I requested that they send me a recovery package and / or a prepaid shipping label to send it back to them. It is their equipment, therefore their responsibility. I look at it like you have leased car under warranty and say the engine is shot. Instead of it being towed back to the dealership, the dealer delivers you a new car and tells you and refuses to take possession of the old car.
So, I ask for the manager. I end up speaking to kyle, employee # v1688, in technical support. He refuses to send me a prepaid shipping label so I can ship their equipment back to them. I have been a directv customer for over 5 years, paying them $95 a month. That is $6000 + in revenue to them. The cost to ship this back to them would cost them a max of $15. It is totally irresponsible, inconsiderate, and insulting that I would be treated this way.

I am a new customer with direct tv. My account nunber is [protected] the order number for the service is [protected].
I requested the basic service for 39.99 plus tax package.
Before the service was installed I called the office because I was sent a bill for $80.00+ I called to reminder that I did notg request any service that cost that much it was nopt in my budget. This was done while the service man was here, it took aver 90 min. For this to be resolved. After it was resolved. The persone I was speaking to assured me that my first bill would be what I requested, which was basic package for 39.99 plus tax to be a total of $44.99 monthly. If they did not agree to that then I explain to them that I did not want to go through with the installation.
My first bill was for over $200.00
I did not pay it the service was interupted. I tried to explain it to the billing department when I called but she whould not hear anything I was saying, she kept repeting " if you want the service turned back on, then I would have to pay $125.00 I paid under protest. I did not ask for anything but the basic package for the price that was qoted to me before service started. Now they are telling me that I will be charged the same amount for at least eight weeks before before trhe rebate kicks in. The rebate was requested verbally in the presence of the direct tv inmstallation man, please check this out for yourself with him. I want basic, I did not want any showtime, no hbo or any of that, I just wanted, and I was assured that I would get whet I requested, and my first bill would be 39.99 plus tax.
No the billing office is saying something totally differient. At this time I am very dissatisfied.
I do not think it is right for direct tv to turn things around in their favor so that they can charge me what they felt like. I wishe I did not sign the contract I had no idea that is was how it worked.
I would like my bill to be adjusted to the 39.99 because that is what I requested. I would like the 125.00 I paid under protest last week
To be broken down and applied to me account to reflect the original agreement. Please send me a responce to my e mail address.
[protected]@hotmail.com
Thanks for you help.
Clifton b. Folkes

How do these people manage to stay in business? They rate f with the bbb and well earned. They did nothing to settle my dispute (Was told i had a 1 yr agreement but it ended up being more at the close of the yr). They lied about the purpose of my phone conversations with them. Did you know they do not record the sales calls but do record the cancellation calls - how convenient! They will not permite you access to the calls either - it only benefits them. I'd love to see an attorney pickup on this group of "gangsters" and put them into bankruptcy and out of business. They are not even permitted on the grounds of my new place as they arrived and dug up the yard and drilled holes into the home without permission...They dmanaged the property but won't comment on this either. Do not sign up for Direct TV.

I was pretty put off my the high pressure sales tactics the call center guy--who was supposedly just there to answer procedural/pricing questions--used to get me to buy a bunch of stuff I didn't need.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5645446/directv_high_pressure_sales_and_the.html?cat=46
Gotta be careful with these guys.

I am fighting the same complaint with directv and shoddy "professional installation". They tore a huge hole in my wall and left a large crack running across the wall from the crack. Customer service sucks.
Sent complaint to corporate office.

Try these emails: [protected]@directv.com, [protected]@directv.com, and [protected]@directv.com

Forbes lists these individuals as ceos and senior executives at directv - maybe is their inbox gets flooded with consumer complaints something will be done.

We have been a direct tv customer for almost 3 years, every year we have paid for the $300 nfl ticket, the price alone is a total rip off but anyways, if your a new customer you can get the premium package with movie channels, free dvr's and free hd for 59.99 a month, or 5 months free of service with the purchase of the sunday ticket. We pay 145.00 a month for the next to smallest package and ticket, so my husband called and spoke to a rep and she basically said your out of luck, your not a new customer, we could get free hd if we signed up for automatic billing, but that was it! I understand they need to make perks to get new customers, but what about all the customers they already have that keep their company running. We dont get squat, after this stupid nfl season were switching. Shame on you direct tv!

Direct tv has their customer service in asia.
They hardly can speak english, and direct tv's policy is that they won't send your funds that are due to the customer for 8 weeks.
This is unacceptable.

There was one customer service rep named jimmy that was cool ( from the us group). He was at least helpful and spoke english and was upbeat. The only bright side of this stupid company.

This company will not return your funds that are due to you from 6 to 8 weeks.
Do not use this company. They rape and pillage the average customer.
This company sucks, do not use them, they steal your money.

They tried to charge me several times for nfl sunday ticket without my consent. I spent hours on the phone trying to work it out multiple times. They would not credit the money back to my credit card and instead kept it and i had to work it off my bill. They said there were no options.

Here is how i dealt with direct tv:
-skip calling them initially.. Too aggravating - you'll spend hours like i did.
-followed them on twitter first and then announced my complaint with them regarding unauthorized charges on the general twitter stream which resulted in a direct message from them asking for my account number. They didn't call me and i was really pissed so i kept working on this by continuiing with these steps
-first went to the website and clicked on the fcc spot (Can't remember what it is called - at bottom of the page) - i recall someone saying they must track these clicks somehow because i got straight through with the next step
-followed someone's advice here who said to keep saying to the automated recording "complaint" in response to their inquiries about which department i wanted to talk to - after the thing on twitter
-filed a complaint with the better business bureau through the website. I did this before it got resolved on the phone with them and i'm glad i did because they tried to extend my contract based on adding a dvr. I don't want to stick with them any longer than i have to (Which was 18 months from the inception of contract) and i'm negotiating that with the better business bureau. I think i'll be successful - it's in process right now. I want out of that contract asap with no penalty and i think they'll settle to get rid of my complaint.
-put a password on your account so no changes can be made by phone at all
-have the representative that you speak to read back your notes - add anything you want clarified and make him read those back too. Get his name and badge number and make sure you make a note of it somewhere you can find it should they screw up again.

Note: now that i've shared this, if i have another problem with them, i'll go straight to twitter, then go to the website if i don't hear back in 2 hours and click the fcc button, then call and say complaint, then get the rep to read the notes back to me and make sure that they have in them that no changes will be made to my account without my express consent and using the password since i'm the only one who can change it here. It should take 15 minutes instead of hours.

This works - promise.
-got the information to file a complaint with the fcc.
-write an email to the vp with a high priority and read receipt

My name is james duncan acc. # [protected] i had been with brighthouse cable for many, many years and never had any trouble with the picture, service, payment ever until the price went way up just for basic cable so i decided its time for a change so at&t derected me to direct tv so they ( dierct tv ) came out and installed it in which the installer put a huge lag bolt though my 23.000 dollar siding i just had installed 1 year earier. But anyway the dvr works great the picture is great until it starts raining the the dish goes out even if its a light rain.Dish network was working in area 2 times in 2 days i told them my problem they said the dish just needs realigned so i called direct tv and they told me they would charge me to make a service call cause it wasent doing it now cause it wasent raining even though i do have the protection plan so what did i get myself into! Sounds like a company that dont want to back what they are installing cant wait until my contract is up cause this company will lose my business anyboby reading this stay away from direct tv

As a valued customer for 4 yrs, which direct tv acknowledge and offered their valued customers one movie a month for three months. I brought a computer and shopped around for the best deal I could get for internet and cable. I found that comcast/xfinity had the best price 72.00 dolars monthly for internet and basic cable 4 dollars more then I was paying direct tv for only basic cable. I called and e-mailed direct tv of my choice to close my account with them and my reason. I also stated in my e-mail that I had been pleased with my service over the last 4yrs and would stay if they had a package compatible to comcast. They did not.. I had my service disconnected 2 weeks before my last paid in full bill ended. I was sent pre-paid material to return there receivers. I was never told that there was a deadline of 21 days to return the equiptment, and if I failed to do so, I would be charged 150.00 (I had three receivers). Today they debited my account for 150.00
Dollars, which left me 9. Oo in my account. I called and spoke to a customer service rep, a supervisor, a supervisor at coporate headquaters and a account manager at coporate headquarters. The first rep I spoke to told me to return the equitment, and my money would be refunded, once I had took the the prepaid boxes to fedex. I went to straigt to fexex, and was told that the boxes were prepaid shipping by ups. I took them to the post office. I came home and called direct tv. I then was told that my money would not be refunded untill they received the receivers. I ask to speak to a supervisor, they kept me on hold for 20 minutes. When I finally spoke to the stupidvisor, he stated the same thing. I ask for the corporate telephone number, he stated all he had was an address. I told him to give me the coporate number or his supervisor. He put me on hold for 5mimutes and gave me a number that was disconnected, when I called it. I then went on the internet and found this web site which provided the ceo name, address and phone number. I called and spoke to another stupidvisor and then an account banerger, that told me it would be 3-5 days before the receivers reached the wearhouse and then my money would be refunded. I asked to speak to his supervisor, he told me his supervisor was not there, and there was nothing I could do but wait until they received the equitment. Screw that I was a valued customer, screw that I sent an e-mail congradulating the service they had provided. I failed to read the contract four yrs ago that stated I had 21 days to return equitment and that's the bottom line.. There is no difference between a valued customer requesting a disconnection and a customerdisconnected due to non-payment regarding return of equitment. No notice, no courtesy call. My daughetrs contract with direct tv will end soon after one year, and I will encourage her and several other people I know to switch to xfinity. I will also send a letter to direct tv' ceo.

On may 5, 2010 I called direct tv to compare their satellite package plan to the plans offered by dish satellite and comcast. I was described a package by the representative that I agreed to, so I provided him my credit card information for a 24 month contract. There were rebates offered and these rebates would of course modify the usual price for the services by direct tv. What I didn't know when calling direct tv was I was being directed to an independent retailer, namely "direct star tv." later, this became an excuse for direct tv not to look further into the shady business dealings by direct star tv.

When I received my first bill I realized there was a disparity between what the salesman on the telephone offered, even with the rebates involved, so I called direct tv on may 26, 2010, explaining my grievances. Though the 24 month agreement is with direct tv, I was being informed direct star tv is the one who provided the misinformation and I should take the matter up with them. I did so on my next phone call and contacted the customer service for direct star tv. Try getting through to the customer service at direct star tv, the two numbers provided were [protected] and [protected]. You may find as you make the phone call you would feel you've a better chance contacting an alien on another planet in the universe than their customer service. There are plenty of ways of redirecting you instead, some of which take you back to direct tv, who referred me back to direct star tv in the first place.

I spoke to someone in customer service for direct star tv named "lorraina" who said she would defer the entire matter to the research department for direct star tv. They would listen to listen to the entire conversation between their sales representative and myself on the day I agreed to the terms of the agreement. If the research dept confirmed I was misinformed there would be adjustment made accordingly.

I called back and learned in speaking to another sales representative their research dept confirmed I was misinformed. After this I received no adjustment to the charges in my agreement and it appeared there was no intention from direct star tv to do so by the various phone calls I made attempting to get through to lorraina in customer service. I never spoke to lorraina again, I couldn't get through to her nor did she ever call me back when I left messages for her to do so.

I looked carefully at the agreement and noted I had to submit a "claim in writing" to take my grievances anywhere at all. This was the first step in the arbitration process I will now have to go through to protect my rights as a consumer. I subitted my letter on june 4, 2010 to customer service for direct tv located in greenwood village, co. I am required to wait a sixty day period when direct tv has the opportunity to resolve my issues in what is described as an informal level. I recieved a call from someone named "greg" who indicated he was the account manager for direct tv. He told me the email they send out after the initial agreement is made by telephone is the method of confirming what the agreement consists of, so this should have cleared up any confusion

I looked again at this emailing greg spoke of. No where in the email does it clarify what the rebates consist of and what the consumer is responsible for once the rebates are included. Greg declared direct tv would continue holding me responsible for a 24 month agreement and would offer no adjustments in return. I asked greg if his response is considered the informal response to satisfy the claim in writing process and he indicated an affirmative.

During this interim period of sixty days, awaiting to satisfy the period direct tv has to respond in an informal manner i've recieved a notice indicating they were going to add on a protection plan without my permission. I called and inquired where and how did I agree to this added protection plan and got no explanation. I also got an email asking if I was enjoying the three free months of showtime and starz premium channels. Of course, further down in that same email, in much smaller print, there is a notice these premium channels will continue for an additional $24 dollars a month unless I call to cancel. Apparently, the method to capture more profit for direct tv is not to actually obtain your permission for something but require you to notify them you don't want it.

Is there any doubt in anyone's mind this satellite company puts the customer at the very end of their priority list? In my opinion, direct tv's efforts to rectify an injustice is very poor and every dealing requires the customer to carefully look at an email from them, looking for the small print below that will serve as your notice.

In early august I will need to file a lawsuit and defer this entire matter to an arbitrator. It seems, unless I wish to be intimidated and bow to the decisions and dealings of their personnel, I have no other choice in the matter. That will be my next step in the process and it will be a step I intend to take.