Account # 3515**** Lindsay Alison Clark Received service at 1390 Kirston St. Reno, NV 89503 Moved to Montebello Apartment Complex 5200 Summit Ridge Dr. #3121 Reno, NV 89523 Writing in regards to early cancellation fee assessed without knowledge after being told would not be assessed any additional fees. Mid-may called in to inquire about what to do since our apartment has no line of site. Spoke with Rose. She ensured me that there will be no early cancellation fees because of the no line of site. Was informed I would have my account deactivated on June 5th, and would be receiving a bill in the mail with my final account balance and would also receive my recovery kit by this time. Was told June 13th was cut off time for them to generate bill. Recovery kit needs = 3 boxes and ids + remotes. They will have 3 months to inform me of additional charges. Montebello, Tansies, confirmed there will be no line of site from our apartment on acceptance of our application. On Tuesday I called in to inform direct TV that I had not received a final bill or any recovery kit. Was concerned that my account would be charged and wanted to prevent any problems that would arise as a result. Was told not to be concerned. Wednesday at 8:00pm I received a call from your service department Telephone number: 1-80*-531-**** informing me that my recovery kit had been sent. Friday June 13th, Direct TV automatically charged my Bank of America account for $346.92. No notification was giving or a written bill. At no time during my investigation process was I told to expect a deduction. Sunday June 15th, 7:30 am called in and spoke with Jarred, who declined to help me due to updates. Reported 2-3hour time slot for systems to be back up. But was transferred anyways to Ashley in tech services who told me the same thing (7:45am) spoke to a supervisor who asked me to call back as well, named Frank. Called again at2:00pm and spoke with Jerry who said systems will be down for 24hours. Refused to give me an eta so I informed him that I will be calling every hour until someone can help me with this problem. Jerry was very rude and I could detect a hint of laughter in his voice while he serviced me which only led to further aggravation on my part. Called back at 3:16pm and spoke to Marie. She at first said the charges were for my equipment and then changed her mind to an early cancellation fee. Once again she transferred me to the department responsible for charging my account who told me "It isn't direct TV's fault that you chose to move into an apartment complex you couldn't receive service at." At 4:00 had my verbal spoke person call back with my legal approval. Obviously I wasn't making any headway with getting answers and even was refused to be given a copy of my account activity and current list of charges by Marie. Bryan P. Snyder spoke to two service Representatives and after finally being transferred to someone who had answers we discovered: That at the time of termination I had never missed a payment, and had a zero balance. That the company considered an early cancellation fee grounds for removing money from my bank account without my knowledge. And that because I had chosen to get a DVR service, that they had switched my agreement from a one year to a two year without my personal knowledge. I also discovered that somewhere in my phone conversation with rose I declined a service Representative to come out and assess line of site. Mentioned who strange that would be for me to decline a service that would set me up to receive an automatic withdrawal of $324.92 without my consent. Mentioned also that nowhere in speaking with anyone did anyone mention this cost, that Rose said because of confirmation I was clear from additional charges and that I should keep my eyes out for a final bill. As a result my account is standing at negative $283.53, with 5 possible overdraft fees to be assessed at $35 dollars each for purchases made without the knowledge of account activity by company. Also led to missing payments on credit card due on the 14th and also to me making a personal loan of $600 dollars from my parents to prevent negative cash flow that would incur for the following weeks till deficit is filled, would have missed auto insurance payment. Informed company that I am not 30 years old and do not have ample amount of cash flow. Due to misinformation I'm looking at almost a 1000 dollar problem including overdraft fees, personal loans, and this unauthorized activity. Informed direct TV personal that this seems illegal and wonder if no headway is made with company for resolution if we would have to seek legal advice. I am waiting now to hear back from some sort of specialist with the company to help me with resolution. So to wrap it all up: I am livid with the operational procedures of this company. I am angry that I spent my entire Father's day on the phone with the customer service department and was giving the run around. I am angry that I was not informed in order to be considered for the no line of site voiding of contract that I needed to have someone come down from the company to confirm this. I'm angry that the information that was given to me by Rose was not correct and that she led me to believe that I was not to receive any charges to my account. Further more, I'm angry that I didn't receive a copy of the two year contract at the time of install (all I have is a signed installment paper) and that nowhere on it does it say an exact amount I will be assessed for early cancellation, just that it will be assessed. I'm angry that I was blamed for this mistake by your associate Marie exact words being "It isn't direct TV's fault that you chose to move into a complex you couldn't receive service at." And would not even relinquish my own account information to my house. I'm angry that I was told that I would be receiving a final bill on the 13th but instead had my account automatically charged without ANY knowledge from me in either written or verbally from any one I spoke to over the course of this past month. Not only was I misinformed and not expecting this unauthorized transaction on my account, but as a direct result I am now in negative account standing will be looking at 5 overdraft item charges of 35 dollars each. I had to also take out a $600 dollar loan from my parents on June 15th to prevent the next two weeks of my paychecks being taken out. Now it's been a few months since I have closed the account. I didn't get my money back and decided to drop the whole thing until this happened: I get a letter a NEW final bill after they received my boxes. It was for 55.95 for movies rented in February. I was beside myself! How is it that a closed account can be charged for movies rented in February? Well apparently they have to hook up phone lines to each box that receives service so that they can charge the account for the services your using. They told me they aren't even responsible for hooking up the phone lines. That is a lie. My tv in the living room was hooked up to one and when I rented movies there I was charged so they must have chosen to only set one box up to bill as we go. Why wouldn't they provide a phone line to a box that is capable of renting movies from their system? How could this cable box be able to rent movies but not have the billing department receive the billing? So I got on the phone AGAIN with direct tv and finally got some headway with a customer service rep. The only reason they ever help me is to avoid a lawsuit and I am in arms. So I throw around the fact that companies like this have a class action lawsuit against these kind of practices and get the guy to credit my account for the charges. He starts talking about sending a service technician out to my house to confirm no line of site. I'm ecstatic thinking I might get my money back but am detoured by the rep when he starts mentioning these fees. He said I might be charged an installation fee and they'd have to reactivate my account (which means I would have to pay a bill!) to even get my money back. I'm happy that they dropped the charges cause it was their fault that they didnt do a full installation or neglected to charge my account at the time of purchase. But NOW its back on. I would be an idiot to let this happen to someone else and would really love to see them be reprehended for these practices that really do walk the line of being illegal. PLEASE dont use direct tv. All it takes is for a rep to click the wrong box and then one day you'll check your account and see a big overdraft fee. I want my money back!
How long had it been since you used that DirectTV box? I have three boxes, and one of those is in my motorhome. When I don't use it for for approximately a month, it is automatically disableled by DirectTV...for security reasons, and I have to call them to turn the box on.
There is a way to do it by using their 1-800 number.