DirecTV Review

ST AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA -- When I cancelled (Finally! Thank goodness.) my service, I was told that even though my original contract has a two-year term, when we upgraded one box a year later, it automatically extended the term for another two years. They now are billing me 280. When I called billing to say I would pay it monthly over the remaining tern, I was told they don't do that and it would be sent to collection if I did not pay all of it right away. I then said "I'll pay 50% right now" and have them waive the balance. Rep said only way to do that is to negotiate with collections. Not permitting an extended billing is lousy customer service.

I will NEVER, EVER, NEVER use DIRECTV again and I will tell everyone I come into contact with "do not use DIRECTV." This is just then last straw, their channel lineup is ridiculous with infomercial channels interspersed with all regular channels. That was enough but now this. I had to use DIRECTV through the bundle with AT&T and I'll gladly not use AT&T again either.

CANOGA PARK, CA, CALIFORNIA -- After 7 calls over 7 days, I had to dismiss the installers twice because my program package, the price and the equipment kept on changing. Every so-called customer care representative apologized and said my order was different than what the previous representative had told me. I never knew what I had and for how much. Worst service I have ever encountered. Their employees simply do not know what they are doing. For your sanity, stay away from DirecTV.

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE -- After one year I had to cancel my DirecTV - we had to move because my husband was diagnosed with cancer and we were not going to be able to stay in the house we were in. I called and explained to customer service and they said there was nothing they could do.

I went to the bank and closed the account that they had the information for and opened another one. They then sent me a bill for almost 1,000 stating I didn't return the equipment which I did. They found the equipment but still tried to get me to pay the cancellation fee.

I explained my situation, even offered medical proof of my husband's condition and they still refused to waive the cancellation fee. They are heartless money grubbers. Go ahead and send me to collections DirecTV. I only have about 500k in medical bills right now - what's another 1,000!!! JERKS!

CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS -- This was my second time around DTV and will be the last now that my contract is about to expire. The first time around my bill kept creeping up month by month after the promotion period of 1 year expired. Then 2 years ago I let them talk me into it again because they offered the promotion price plus NFL ticket. As a huge sports fan I gave them a second chance and now again I am paying for it.

I was promised by the customer service person that after the promotion period was over I would not pay more than $80.00 a month even with taxes but here I am with a bill over $100.00 a month again and I don't have NFL ticket or any movie channels. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!

CRESTVIEW, FLORIDA -- For the entire year we've had this service, we could not use our DVD players to watch our movies. The satellite was always going out and the fees kept creeping up. They were trying to get us to use the HD. It still wouldn't work and they wanted to charge us to send out a tech. We argued with customer service for 45 minutes and finally told them we just want to cancel the account.

They said first it was $220.00, the next day when we called to say the receivers were ready to ship they said it was $380.00. Angry we waited for the labels packed up everything and shipped it out. Today we got a paper bill and it said $409.53 further angering us. So we went online to pay it and be done with them. The online the bill was now $419.53. So we called and asked why after another 30 minutes arguing they said it was an additional fee for canceling the protection plan.

This company is so dishonest. Now we know $10, even $100, is not going to hurt us. But if they do this creative pricing different each month to everyone to some who can't afford that amount, can you see the amount of additional cash flow they get each month? So back with our old cable company, their techs set up our DVD players and they work fine even if we didn't buy cable HD/DVR. For those who are not in a high tax bracket we would recommend sticking with your local cable company. And you can go in and deal with them face to face.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA -- Last Tuesday, we had a bad snow storm. I lost signal for a few hours. It all came back but my playlist. I did not have full either. And there is no way I can recover the playlist. It is upsetting. I had some movies I won't be able to ever record again. They should have a backup for your playlist to go in case this happens. I think, when it went out the system, couldn't recover my playlist. So it was just deleted like it never was there. This is horrible system. They need to have a better back up system for playlist. If they do, that wasn't even working because that comes up with no deleted files.

I have been a DirecTV customer for over 20 years. Always had good things to say about their service and recommend them to numerous friends. That all came to an end due to being scammed about the Whole Home DVR package. Do not think you are getting Whole Home DVR because you aren't. You will get two receivers, one main and one secondary, that's it. I have five receivers. So in order to have WH, you need HD receivers for every room.

This is where I really get angry. Got my bill first bill today and was shocked at all the charges. I was charged $10.00 for the DVR and $8.00 for HD per month. Not only that, am now being charged $6.00 a month for every receiver plus $3.00 a month for DVR use. (Oh I left out the part where I already paid $149.00 for installation.) I called customer service about why no DVR in every room like it states and was told I have to have HD receivers in every room. Oh, and by the way, that will cost you $99.00 per receiver. So Beware of anything DirecTV tries to sell you because they are not forthcoming on their so called deals.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN -- I have been a DirecTV subscriber since June of 2012. I have had problems with service from both the satellite and ^their employees from the beginning. Shortly after I signed on with them, I found that I needed additional equipment for another TV in my house. I received an additional box after a week, which I self installed only to find that it was defective and I had to order another one for 200.00 out of pocket.

I found that I was unable to watch DVR'd programs on any of my other TV's if someone in the house was already watching a DRV'd program. In order to ^do this, I would need an additional DVR and I would have to sign a new 2 year contract. I decided to leave it as it was. It still bugs me but, whatever. A few months ago, we lost service to the DVR and it had to be reset, losing all recording including some family appearances. Sad to see those go but hard drives ^do that sometimes.

I called customer service and they offered no recompense, not even a credit for the outage. Customer service was continually rude, and at times, I felt that they egged me on and ^were trying to make me more angry so they could have an excuse to hang up on me. I decided I needed to reduce my bill because the service isn't worth $100+ especially if it doesn't work as I expected. After several hours of rude customer service and hard sell, I was finally able to get my bill down to about $80.

The final straw came last week when I decided to drop down to bare minimum because I don't want to pay them a penny more ^than I have to. After canceling my last 2 premium channels, I found that my previously DVR'd programs ^were all erased again even though when I cancelled my other premium channels, those programs had remained on the DVR.

After speaking to 3 different CSR's, the message was essentially "too bad, so sad" and I asked to have a supervisor contact me and was ^told I would be contacted within 72 hours. Still nothing from these deadbeats. I still have 16 months on my contract, but as soon as my taxes come in, I will be happy to buy out my contract and I will never ^do business with these creeps again. ^DO NOT USE DIRECTV!

OMAHA, NEBRASKA -- You can expect to speak to the nicest friendliest people on earth when you call to start service. Be prepared because you will never speak to anyone like that again at DirecTV. I called because one of our 3 boxes was not working. This very rude sarcastic customer service person asked about the problem and what we have done to correct it ourselves. Then, she decides I need Tech Support, so I start from the beginning again with name, what's wrong, what I've done to correct it, etc. Then, she requests I go to all 3 TVs and pull them all out to tell her about what is hooked to what and what colors were there and the card numbers on each.

After 45 minutes, I tell her, “OK. When I called, one was not working and now, I have Two that are not working. So, this is not working for me!” She finally said, “Fine, I will set up a service call but I have to know what color is hooked to this one receiver!” I said, “Whatever it should be, that's what we have! Your guys hooked it up for us!” She says, “Ma'am, I need your cooperation or I can't help!” Well, they came out, does it work, no. I'm wishing I hadn't gotten into that 2 year contract with them. I don't appreciate being treated like crap by a company that I Pay every month. Don't do it… 2 years is a long time when dealing with a Company that doesn't care about their customers!

FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA -- It all started in August! Hubby LOVES football, we were tired of crappy Verizon, so we made the leap and signed up with DirecTV! Installed without programming the remotes but that's OK. Day 2 of having service… no playlist on other TV's??? We have 4 kids and like to record their shows for "TV time".

I call about the DVR... no fix. Now, we see that the playlist will disappear all together, or if it is there, it will be from last week (shows we've already deleted will show up and new shows from that day are MIA?) I have reset the box, had DirecTV to my house MANY times and even had a case manager (had a code 47 and 48… had these codes this morning!) STILL NO FIX.

November, when DirecTV is tired of us calling, assign us a case manager, who should not work in customer service… ever, told me "In 3 weeks OR SO, our new SOFTWARE will fix ALL your problems. No, you cannot get out of your contract unless you pay $450." So, now it's January. :) December 4th, my TV showed new software BUT I found out this morning that wasn't "THE" software, so my problems are still ongoing!

So, NOW, January 8th, I still have DirecTV and it still doesn't work BUT I'M STILL PAYING BECAUSE IT'S NOT THEIR FAULT, IT'S THE SOFTWARE!!! Isn't that your fault? I feel like I should get an hourly pay because I'm always resetting, unhooking or speaking to DIRECTV. TV is such a small thing in life and shouldn't be this difficult. I pay you for a service, you provide me that service… right? Not at DirecTV. You pay them and you kind of get service BUT they are working on it. So as a paying customer, I WAIT, wait until the engineers release "THE" software. Well, I've been patient since AUGUST and I'VE HAD IT.

The manager this morning tried to comfort me in telling me "This is an ongoing problem, you are not 1st person I've talked to today who has the same issue.” That's sad! It sure didn't make me feel better, it made me come online and WARN others. If you want to pay for a service and not receive it, pick DirecTV. If you want a constant headache and always be "on hold", pick DirecTV. If you don't want your kids watching that much TV, pick DirecTV. If you like a big blue box informing you "your playlist is disconnected" every 2 minutes, pick DirecTV. If you want to be in the boat of people with the "same" problem for 6 months with no fix in sight, pick DirecTV.

The promise on their website is a script, not a "promise". If that were true, I would be out the contract, like requested, without paying you $450 or any dvr related fees! I feel DirecTV breached the contract and have not fulfilled your end… not even close. But, the little people pay and the suits win! I cannot believe a "new" customer has had such a horrible experience with your company AND is still on the hook for the cancellation fee.

DirecTV should pay me the fee and do me a favor for once! I thought it was cheaper to keep an "old" customer than to advertise for a "new" customer??? I hope, if you have a similar problem, you TELL THE WORLD. Warn people not to get involved until this magic software is released! Good luck to all who are new in my shoes, and to those who are "old" customer who cannot get out without paying the cancellation fee.