Christine
03-21-2007, 09:14 AM
I made a promise to Direct TV that I would blanket the internet with the story of how they screwed us over. As a woman who keeps her promise, I feel obligated to follow through.
It all started about a month ago when Dave and I decided to go back to satellite television service. We’d been Direct TV customers in the past and had always been happy with their service so it was an easy choice.
Unfortunately, as returning customers we didn’t qualify for any of the perks they were offering new customers. We agreed to pay $232.09 for an initial installation fee for our HD DVR. The soonest they could get us an installation appointment was 3 weeks from the initial phone call – this past Saturday, the 18th.
The installer showed up on time and went about his business. I was busy with people coming and going for Morgan’s sleepover and didn’t pay close attention like I should have. Of course, I had no idea what I should have been looking for. I can be very naïve about things like this and like to assume that people will do what they’re contracted to do. Big mistake.
About 2 hours after he arrived, he handed me a remote and asked me to sign a form. I could see the TV was working and I signed away. I sat down to skim through the channels when Dave arrived home. The installer had already left. Dave noticed immediately that the hookup was wrong. With a HD TV, you use an HDMI cable for your picture and sound. The TV was hooked up through an S-video cable and the old standby, the red/yellow/white cables. It was NOT hooked up for high definition service at all, but for basic satellite reception. Dave checked behind the TV and found our HDMI cable dangling, as well as a new cable that the installer had left – neither were hooked up. Dave removed the old hookups and reconnected the HDMI cables – neither worked. There was no picture, no sound.
We tried to call Direct TV to find out what to do, but our phone wouldn’t work. Dave was able to track down the local dispatch office and talked to the installer. He told Dave that the DVR was faulty and he knew it when he left the house. He said he would call his supervisor and see if he could bring out a new DVR that night. We never heard from him again.
Dave spent about 2 hours on the phone. He had to use his work phone because our home line still wasn’t working (this is relevant, trust me). He called the Direct TV customer service line, as well as the local dispatch office. He was finally able to get someone to schedule a visit for noon the following day – Sunday.
After getting the appointment confirmed, Dave went to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the hookup. This is when he discovered that instead of running the line under the house, like the previous Direct TV lines had been run, the man had run them around our house, through the yard. When he did this, he disconnected our cable line and hooked up the satellite. This is a problem for us since our phone service runs over our cable internet hookup. See the relevance? Dave disconnected the satellite line and hooked the cable back up. We no longer had ANY reception – HD or not.
Sunday, Dave left church early to meet the installer at our house. When I arrived home from church, he was on the phone. No one had shown up and no one knew what to do next. They couldn’t get anyone out to the house. They told us the soonest they could send someone out would be Wednesday.
Monday morning, Dave gets a call on his work phone. The man told him that he would be out to the house around 11:30 to fix the installation problems. Dave left work to come home and meet the guy and guess what? He didn’t show up! Dave called the local dispatch office and they had no record of anyone placing that call to Dave. A few minutes later, the original installer called me and confirmed the Wednesday appointment.
We’d had enough. I called Direct TV Monday night and told them I needed to know what to do to be refunded the $232.09 that we had been charged for the initial installation. At first the woman said that they would not refund service that had already been started but when I explained the situation to her, she agreed that Direct TV was at fault, not us. We didn’t breach our contract and gave plenty of opportunity for the situation to be rectified. She talked with her supervisor and they both agreed. She told me that canceling now would make any chance of a refund obsolete. She promised they would figure out a way to get us the refund and call me back within the next 24 hours.
The following night, I called Direct TV to check on the status of our refund. I was informed at that time that a directive had come down from the office of the president of Direct TV that they had refused our request for a refund. I was MAD! I talked to several people, none of which were any help. I was finally put on the line with a supervisor named Ron who promised to help me through the account services department. He promised to call me back within a half an hour. Again, naïve Christine. He didn’t call.
I called back and stayed on the phone for another hour trying to sort it all out. It was clear that we had hit a brick wall.
I called into Direct TV this morning to make sure that the service was cancelled and that no monthly charges were accumulating on the account. That was when I was informed that I would be charged $287.50 to cancel the service. Doesn’t matter to Direct TV that they breached their contract with me, I still have to pay to cancel the service. The service, by the way, that was never properly installed or fixed.
I’m taking this to the BBB but not until I’ve blanketed the message boards I go to with this information.
By the way, we’ve decided to go with Dish Network who gave us a lovely package, a $50 startup fee and had an appointment scheduled for the following day. :D
It all started about a month ago when Dave and I decided to go back to satellite television service. We’d been Direct TV customers in the past and had always been happy with their service so it was an easy choice.
Unfortunately, as returning customers we didn’t qualify for any of the perks they were offering new customers. We agreed to pay $232.09 for an initial installation fee for our HD DVR. The soonest they could get us an installation appointment was 3 weeks from the initial phone call – this past Saturday, the 18th.
The installer showed up on time and went about his business. I was busy with people coming and going for Morgan’s sleepover and didn’t pay close attention like I should have. Of course, I had no idea what I should have been looking for. I can be very naïve about things like this and like to assume that people will do what they’re contracted to do. Big mistake.
About 2 hours after he arrived, he handed me a remote and asked me to sign a form. I could see the TV was working and I signed away. I sat down to skim through the channels when Dave arrived home. The installer had already left. Dave noticed immediately that the hookup was wrong. With a HD TV, you use an HDMI cable for your picture and sound. The TV was hooked up through an S-video cable and the old standby, the red/yellow/white cables. It was NOT hooked up for high definition service at all, but for basic satellite reception. Dave checked behind the TV and found our HDMI cable dangling, as well as a new cable that the installer had left – neither were hooked up. Dave removed the old hookups and reconnected the HDMI cables – neither worked. There was no picture, no sound.
We tried to call Direct TV to find out what to do, but our phone wouldn’t work. Dave was able to track down the local dispatch office and talked to the installer. He told Dave that the DVR was faulty and he knew it when he left the house. He said he would call his supervisor and see if he could bring out a new DVR that night. We never heard from him again.
Dave spent about 2 hours on the phone. He had to use his work phone because our home line still wasn’t working (this is relevant, trust me). He called the Direct TV customer service line, as well as the local dispatch office. He was finally able to get someone to schedule a visit for noon the following day – Sunday.
After getting the appointment confirmed, Dave went to see if he could figure out what was wrong with the hookup. This is when he discovered that instead of running the line under the house, like the previous Direct TV lines had been run, the man had run them around our house, through the yard. When he did this, he disconnected our cable line and hooked up the satellite. This is a problem for us since our phone service runs over our cable internet hookup. See the relevance? Dave disconnected the satellite line and hooked the cable back up. We no longer had ANY reception – HD or not.
Sunday, Dave left church early to meet the installer at our house. When I arrived home from church, he was on the phone. No one had shown up and no one knew what to do next. They couldn’t get anyone out to the house. They told us the soonest they could send someone out would be Wednesday.
Monday morning, Dave gets a call on his work phone. The man told him that he would be out to the house around 11:30 to fix the installation problems. Dave left work to come home and meet the guy and guess what? He didn’t show up! Dave called the local dispatch office and they had no record of anyone placing that call to Dave. A few minutes later, the original installer called me and confirmed the Wednesday appointment.
We’d had enough. I called Direct TV Monday night and told them I needed to know what to do to be refunded the $232.09 that we had been charged for the initial installation. At first the woman said that they would not refund service that had already been started but when I explained the situation to her, she agreed that Direct TV was at fault, not us. We didn’t breach our contract and gave plenty of opportunity for the situation to be rectified. She talked with her supervisor and they both agreed. She told me that canceling now would make any chance of a refund obsolete. She promised they would figure out a way to get us the refund and call me back within the next 24 hours.
The following night, I called Direct TV to check on the status of our refund. I was informed at that time that a directive had come down from the office of the president of Direct TV that they had refused our request for a refund. I was MAD! I talked to several people, none of which were any help. I was finally put on the line with a supervisor named Ron who promised to help me through the account services department. He promised to call me back within a half an hour. Again, naïve Christine. He didn’t call.
I called back and stayed on the phone for another hour trying to sort it all out. It was clear that we had hit a brick wall.
I called into Direct TV this morning to make sure that the service was cancelled and that no monthly charges were accumulating on the account. That was when I was informed that I would be charged $287.50 to cancel the service. Doesn’t matter to Direct TV that they breached their contract with me, I still have to pay to cancel the service. The service, by the way, that was never properly installed or fixed.
I’m taking this to the BBB but not until I’ve blanketed the message boards I go to with this information.
By the way, we’ve decided to go with Dish Network who gave us a lovely package, a $50 startup fee and had an appointment scheduled for the following day. :D