DirecTV Review

MISSOURI -- This company is crap. First, the gift card I was promised never came even I called about it 4 times. Second, they never told me that I was getting to "try out" the premium package for the first 3 months. Since I didn't know this, you can imagine the shock when I see that my bill had doubled. After that I didn't have problems until I moved. I stayed with them because of my contract.

When the tech got to my new place I had no line of sight so that's an automatic contract cancellation. I was assured that because I didn't cancel it myself I wouldn't be charged a cancellation fee. Sent back the equipment then got my statement and there's a charge for early cancellation. Call them and explain the situation and get assured that it's going to be taken care of. Well this goes on for 4 months until I finally get a couple supervisor names and magically the charge gets reversed.

Now my statement shows that they owe me a credit. I think it's all said and done. I get another statement with some trumped up charge for that credit they owe me to zero out my account. When I call about that again I get told that they can't reverse it. Don't ever deal with this company. They'll squeeze you for every penny and lie to you.

NOLANVILLE, TEXAS -- I been in DirecTV for a while. I had to suspend my account for couple of months because I waiting of my new home that's being build. Finally the end on February this year I move in. At that time I'm still going through all my stuffs from storage so I couldn't find my equipment yet, but I called DirecTV and I explain everything on the phone that I'm still in the process of moving.

I couldn't find my equipment yet what is my option to get my service activated again, the representative told me that she can upgrade equipment to a new to Genie for only $99 because it was on sale right now. The price used to be $299 and whenever I found my old equipment just return the old ones. So that deal is done.

I have my appointment set up. The technician come over to my appointment and install. Everything is installed and running, and then last month I got my first bill and they took $196 and some cents so I called them back because I look at my bill I got charge twice of the $99 and I was told that the other $99 is for having a wireless receiver but I was explaining to the guy on the phone that I was not aware of another $99 going to be charge in my account and I don't mind paying the first $99 because I was aware of that but the second one. No.

So they transfer me to the moving department and I was told again and again that because of the wireless receiver and I told this person again that, "I know you have a reason of everything but my point is I was not told for the 2nd $99". So she finally told me that this issue got escalated. That the manager will call me back to fix the issues, but no one called me.

And then two weeks ago I called them again because I decide to add international channel on my account and I told them that I don't want the dish install in my roof because my house is new so please put a note on the account to bring a pole because the last time the technician come no pole, and then they did put the note on there, then I was told that they are going to waive the installation for the whole inconvenience and I only had to pay $19 and some cents for handling fees. So I paid $19 on the phone.

That day the technician come to install my international channel and I was told that it's going to cost me a $75 plus tax to have the dish to be install in the pole. Now again for the 2nd times I was not aware of this extra charge again so I told the technician that I'm going to call the customer service and the technician told me that he is going back later on today to finish the job.

After talking to the customer service about the issues, I was on the phone again with another representative. Lucky enough that the representative is very patient of me. He did try to help me possible to fix the problem. I was giving the same reason that he couldn't waive the $75 or neither the 2nd $99 because it was already completed but he can give me $10 discount monthly for 12 months and then I said ok fine, but I told him that he still take my $99 upfront and the money that I don't have right now.

So I ask him to make sure that the technician will come back today because I'm off today and guess my appointment got reschedule to Saturday because the technician already have another job to do for today. So I'm very frustrated because they don't tell you everything upfront so you know and make a decision right then if you get the service or not. 90% of DirecTV representative doesn't tell everything upfront and take more money from you in the long run. Very bad experience. Not happy with this company.

NORTH CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA -- DirectTV/AT&T offered me a great package. Great, except they had no intention of honoring the price. The auto-pay for the contract price came out and paid DirectTV only. AT&T billed me another $74, including installation that was waived. 3 phone calls, hours, half of which was on hold, an hour and a half long "chat" with someone - who ultimately told me he could do nothing for me.

When I called to cancel, they asked why, and when I told them they were not honoring our contract price, they said, "okay, let's get you canceled."

I canceled way under the first 30 days, confirmed on phone no early termination fee, and NOW are trying to get me for an early termination fee.

STAY AWAY! STAY AWAY! Do not believe their "deals."

SAN CLEMENTE, CALIFORNIA -- My mentally ill son signed a contract with DirecTV. We called cancelled, they charged him $400 in early cancellation fee. Originally DirecTV said they would take care of it. But they turned it over to collection. Son is very sick, shame on them! They are cruel sales people that pressured him into 4 devices!

CLEARWATER, FLORIDA -- Okay so the funny, insane situation with my ordeal is, I have yet to even have a piece of DirecTV/AT&T equipment installed but yet I already have a major issue?? WOW!!! So I order DirecTV this past week, scheduled installation for (yesterday) Saturday, received NUMEROUS emails, as well as text messages from order day til install day, "confirmations", "order summary", " install date/time" and so on! Ok great. HAHAHA yea NO!!! So install date arrives, receive a text at 7:00 AM stating my "installation tech" is due to arrive between 12-4pm, as scheduled. Received 4/5 texts throughout the day "reminding" me of this.

LMFAO because in turn DIRECTV SHOULD HAVE BEEN "REMINDING" THE TECH OF THIS SET APPOINTMENT!! Because Guess what?!?! 4:00... 4:15... 4:45... NO ONE! So I reply (during another text) with 'HELP' as they instruct you to if the customer has an issue. So I get some chick, blah blah, oh we are sorry, BLAH BLAH, let me check on the tech, BLAH BLAH!!! She states AND I QUOTE "Well Ms. Kelly, are you still certain you would like to reschedule this installation today because I just received news FROM THE TECH, he is minutes from your doorstep?!?" "MINUTES'' she says.

So I decide just to keep the appointment because he's obviously down the street, right?! HAHAHA. Well. I take it now that her "minutes" has a very different definition as everyone else's! Here I sit, 1 HOUR LATER, STILL NO ONE. WHY?!? To say the very least, these people are RIDICULOUS! So I once again, contact AT&T or whomever, this time, now some dude is telling me that my install had somehow been CANCELLED. Whoa whoa. Wait. Cancelled?!! WHAT?!? "What the hell happened to this "tech" being "MINUTES FROM MY DOOR"? Why the hell was I receiving texts ALL DAY?

My whole Saturday is wasted, my 7 year son's Saturday has been wasted and all you can say is "I'm sorry, there was a error on the "Dispatch end"!!! Wow lol!!! He continues on with, "Oh ma'am, I am so sorry, I myself, will fix this for you right now!", then I am literally transferred to 5 DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS SINCE THEN. But get this. Just to be transferred BACK to the original "tech dept", that I was originally speaking with, all to only reschedule the install appointment!! Now mind you I had originally suggested to do so earlier, at 4:30 pm!

So this is how they "fixed" this major issue. Oh yea and when this was all said and UNDONE it's freaking 6:45 PM. Yea, these are the brain surgeons we have to deal with nowadays about cable tv! Cable television. ARE YOU SERIOUS?!! So needless to say, after this **, PREVENTABLE, ridiculous, idiotic ordeal with this disgusting company.

I will (once again) spend today, looking over DTV/AT&T COMPETITORS offers/deals, I'm sure I'll find something even better, with enough common sense to actually follow GPS directions and show up at a customers home to install service, on the date as well as the time of the confirmed, scheduled appointment. Oh and btw, my memory hasn't been the sharpest lately so hopefully I remember to contact DTV about my change of service provider!!! I honestly will inform DTV though, I could never be so inconsiderate nor insulting as this company, employees included!!

SIMI VALLEY, CALIFORNIA -- 1. I switch to AT&T / Direct TV on 12/2017 and regretted since then. On the first day of installation, they messed up my order and the tech was not able to set it up the way I wanted it. He left, and I had to call for another appointment which took about 3 weeks for them to send another tech to my house. The 2nd tech fix the equipment, and I started watching TV after 3 weeks. The quality of picture is not good.

2. The lied about $200 reward card that I was supposed to received. They indicated on the call (back in December) the Visa gift card will arrive in mail late March or early April, however; I called to ask them about the gift card so I could look out for it in the mail, they said an email was send to me to claim it and since it was not claimed, it expired on 03/06/18. I do not recall receiving any email from them and when ask them since it has not been claimed if they can re-activate the card for me they simply said they want to do it. I am not happy with AT&T / Direct TV at all and will not recommend to anyone.

CLEBURNE, TEXAS -- Said TV was going to be disconnected. Went to AT&T to pay. They called DirecTV to see what was up. They said I had credit balance. Next day they disconnected. ATT again. Called to see what early termination costs. $180. Then comes the bill. $399.50. Got sick in hospital etc. Turned me in for collection after I tried numerous times to get a copy of bill. Never had anything on credit before. They are dishonest. I am changing cell phone after 20+ years because I will not do business with any business connected with DirecTV.

CALIFORNIA -- I dropped off 3 receivers at UPS (as instructions by DirecTV) on Jan. 29th. They gave me a receipt with a reference number, not tracking number. They said they put all 3 receivers in the same box and would add to it until the end of the week. They would send it out even if it was not full. I waited two weeks and heard nothing from DirecTV so I called them as I had a refund of $95.00 owed to me. After 30 minutes on the phone, they said they did not receive my equipment. I waited an additional week and called back, 30 minutes on the phone with them asking me to come back to DirecTV.

They eventually transferred me to billing. I was told that my equipment WAS returned and my refund would go out within 21 to 30 days. I asked for an email confirmation for my return. They said I would receive that within 24 hours. I waited another week with NO EMAIL and called again. Another 30 minutes on the phone trying to talk me into coming back, then transferred to billing and was told they have only received ONE of my receivers and I would have to pay $90.00 for the two "unreturned" receivers.

I asked for a Manager who actually knew LESS than the representative I was speaking to. I was told my issue would be "Escalated" and I would receive a callback. I received a callback but was not near my phone when it came through. They left a voicemail with a number to call and a PIN number to use. I called within 10 minutes and when I tried to use the PIN, it said it was expired or incorrect. I called back again and spent another 30 minutes going through the same CRAP as always. They said it would be "Escalated" again. I never received any email or anything. I DID however receive an email/bill from them saying I owed $90.00 for Unreturned equipment.

The bottom line is I've called in so many times that I'm not even sure how many times it's been. The last time I called in was Friday, March 9, 2018 and after 45 minutes of transfers, etc. I DEMANDED that they get this taken care of. I told them that they received my receivers but have somehow misplaced two of them. I said something of the following: "You have misplaced the receivers and it is NOT MY FAULT, I DO NOT WANT to be "Escalated" again. I want my refund or I will file a complaint with the FCC."

She FINALLY said she would take care of it after saying she would "escalate my issue" at least 3 times. She told me that she would enter a credit for the equipment and I would receive an email confirmation within 48 hours saying as such. My refund would take up to 30 more days. I said the 30 days was fine as long I receive the email confirmation, confirming that this was all handled as I DO NOT WANT TO CALL BACK AGAIN.

Well, time's up and I have not received an email confirmation or anything else from DIRECTV. I believe they just want you to keep calling back so they can try to talk you into coming back to them. I was a customer for over 5 or 6 years and referred them many friends. I only left because my bill went up to around $100.00 for the basic package. I called at 3 different times to see if they had any package to offer me that was a better deal. They always said, "No, they are only for new customers." This was until of course I actually canceled my account and signed up for DISH.

If they do not return my money I will file a complaint everywhere. Sorry this is so long. I needed this much space to release some of my anger with this company. Every time I call I feel like my head is going to EXPLODE... Thanks for listening...

CRAWFORD, TEXAS -- Format of channels and recordings is horrible. Too tiny to read from reasonable distance. They just changed format and it's even smaller and words are no longer bold. The only thing I like about DirecTV is the ability to watch TV on my phone away from home. That's really a combination of an AT&T and DirecTV offer. Customer service phone mostly twists and turns.

FRESNO, CALIFORNIA -- Well... about two years ago my wife and I bought a HD Smart TV right? So I thought I needed DirecTV to switch out my box to a HD unit. I guess I did if I intended on watching HD with DirecTV's equipment through their system. So after I got into a two year contract, I quickly learned that HD is broadcast from a station originally in HD and if you simply have a TV that can receive HD then you can receive the signal in HD. All HD does with DirecTV is pass through them compressed like a middleman. But there's also a whole lot of stuff going on here that soon didn't jive with me!

First of all, any movie you find you wish to watch on DirecTV is loaded jam packed with commercials. I realize this is normal but man it's a lot for the price! We're talking loads of em too! Except every now and then DirecTV will show certain movies maybe on a weekend only without commercials. Much of the channels as well are marketing or TV shows that I absolutely have no interest in whatsoever... so at the end of the day my wife and I really only watch two channels on a regular basis then maybe a movie or show that 90% of the time is spent watching commercials through half of it.

The price creeping bill every month per contract... here's the contract... penalties for wanting to cancel and leave. That was also my fault, I take responsibility for agreeing to it, but not anymore. Never again. I would rather quit TV than submit to that again. The price would creep up through the duration of the contract from approximately $70.00 dollars to $120.00 at the end of my term. That's approximately $1200.00 to 1400.00 a year just for TV! Did I also mention that the signal in HD through DirecTV is compressed and not as clear as if I am receiving the signal myself on my own antenna?

So at the end of my contract I notified DirecTV and informed them I wanted to cancel my contract. They were polite and wanted to offer a package that might be of interest. My problem has never been customer service with them, I just don't like the product let alone its conditions of confinement. Respectfully speaking there were no packages of interest for me. Then he went from $120.00 bucks down to 70 then to 50ish then to 34 bucks right over the phone for 12 months! "12 Months"! Big deal! Oh yeah... sure another contract that has a growing price I told them.

30 minutes later a female from DirecTV notified me via phone to inquire if I was treated right and she wanted to go over all this again... It was kind of funny as she kept stating to me "Ok what I'm hearing is..." So I had to inform her politely that what she wasn't hearing is "I'm not signing back up". So I closed my account with them, took their remote and HD box to my nearest UPS outlet and saved that transaction record. Ya know they're too lazy to come and pick up their equipment and I get the feeling they want to charge you for it too so be careful.

They originally informed me that a empty box would ship out to me via UPS and I was to ship free within that box. By 4 days I called them back twice and finally someone informed me to take the equipment to my nearest UPS outlet. Yeah!, Let that one go as I wait like I was told and I will be charged for their equipment! You have to watch them closely now! Since then I put up a cool Extreme 80, 8 bay HD standard 180 degree TV antenna about 7 feet up on my roof bolted simply to a pipe with my own R6 coax and F plugs!

I receive just over a 100 channels. The HD quality is actually a bit sharper. For example, channel 24 will have about 5 different channel 24's. One is in HD and the others are playing different programs through the same station so I have learned a little bit about stations. Personally, I find this more rewarding and a bit fun. My antenna cost me a $100.00. I'm currently in the process of possibly getting me a directional antenna with a rotor and search more areas and scan with an amp as well.

My amp even has a filter in it that gets rid of the signal problems that I also had with DirecTV. Now for a bit more I added another program I signed up for just $13.99 a month and I have loads of movies in HD that are 100% commercial free!

So after I pay for whatever equipment I want to own, I end up with better quality HD TV and regular classic TV for FREE, then I only pay $13.99 a month for loads of movies we can watch anytime at will. Isn't that nicer than a creeping contract loaded extra movie fees added with loads of commercials? I'll tell ya what man, I couldn't have gotten away from that Direct AT&T garbage fast enough! The day I cannot do it like this anymore, is the day I don't need TV anymore altogether.