FTC says DIRECTV wasn’t so direct about fees and negative options

I had not had any Cable provider since February of 2014 because my best friend and soul mate passed away. I decided she was paying way too much with her bundle with AT&T and Direct TV at nearly 200.00 per month for one TV. I dropped the Cable but after one year of no TV I got a scammy sales pitch from a Time Warner salesman who just pushed his way into my house and told me he had a fantastic deal for setting up Cable month by month but I had to pay a month in advance of 103.00, at first he kept trying to insist it would be no more than 85.00. He said he would need my mother's maiden name, my SS number and it was right about then that I stopped his fast talking and sent him away with difficulty. He showed up at my door about five more times that week saying he really needed to get his bonus. I told him I don't care about that and I would call the police the next time he bothered me. He kept insisting that this is now how Time Warner is getting their clients and that it has been going on for ten years. I told him that I read all of the FTC material on scams and a big one is never to give money up front to an installer. He was thick as brick. Now, onto Direct Tv. They were set up at Costco selling contracts and promising good deals. They were very clear about the rates going up in the second year, as well as making clear I would need to cancel those three pay channels before the forth month or I would be charged. What they were sneaky about was disclosing ahead of time that they no longer take care of their own equipment on your property unless you pay a special fee of 7.99. I did not find this out until the installers had finished hooking up the old dish left on my roof from before and used the same old wiring as well which they sloppily left sitting on the floor rather than mounting it nicely against the baseboard. The same went for the reducer as well. The little box they provided was new and in the past that was all the customer was responsible for. We were never told in the past that we would have to pay a service repair man 75-100.00 just to come out if our cable goes off. That,s rediculous. Also one of my 90 year old church lady friend was wondering why her bundeled Direct TV bill had gone up. I looked at it and told her she was paying for that insurance. She was mad as a hornet as she insisted that she told them she did not want it and for months was not paying it. So they cram when they can everytime. Thank you

I was tricked by them I canceled my service with them and they still charged me I need to be added to this list

Signed up in December and was or promised a "triple play" price about $30 less than Verizon triple play. Also promised 3 free months of pay stations and discounted rate on aforementioned for remaining 9 months of the year if any or all channels were to be continued. I specifically asked to clarify total charges for 2 year period for three service was $91 and change and (in retrospect) now know i was only quoted DirectTv fee. They LIED!! AT&T bill arrived with considerable additional charges in dispute of sales call, Called them and they were quite accommodating and advised they had bought DirectTv , created discounts which temporarily appeased me. Called DirectTv two days prior to the expiration of free premium channel offer to advise that I would not be continuing beyond "no pay" period. Was advised that I had already been charged for all pay channels at full rate the previous week, prior to the expiation of free period. Was also advised that the purported discount on pay channels for the remainder of the year would not be honored. Rep Said complaint was doumented. Asked for supervisor who advised that complaint HAD NOT been documented Complaint reiterated. Credit provided. Asked for cancellation of sevice without cancellation based on misrepresent ion. Was denied and advised that cancellation fees of more than$400 would be applied if I changed service. Also advised that offered pay channel rate reduction could not be honored as "coupons" permitting same were for "loyal customers". Asked how it was possible to be a longstanding, loyal customer when company lied to me. I am screwed by liars who can apparently say anything to obtain a sale. Asked for sales taped conversation to be pulled. Will call to see if they do so but would not be surprised if they actually do so as lies would be exposed.

Signed up in December and was or promised a "triple play" price about $30 less than Verizon triple play. Also promised 3 free months of pay stations and discounted rate on aforementioned for remaining 9 months of the year if any or all channels were to be continued. I specifically asked to clarify total charges for 2 year period for three service was $91 and change and (in retrospect) now know i was only quoted DirectTv fee. They LIED!! AT&T bill arrived with considerable additional charges in dispute of sales call, Called them and they were quite accommodating and advised they had bought DirectTv , created discounts which temporarily appeased me. Called DirectTv two days prior to the expiration of free premium channel offer to advise that I would not be continuing beyond "no pay" period. Was advised that I had already been charged for all pay channels at full rate the previous week, prior to the expiation of free period. Was also advised that the purported discount on pay channels for the remainder of the year would not be honored. Rep Said complaint was doumented. Asked for supervisor who advised that complaint HAD NOT been documented Complaint reiterated. Credit provided. Asked for cancellation of sevice without cancellation based on misrepresent ion. Was denied and advised that cancellation fees of more than$400 would be applied if I changed service. Also advised that offered pay channel rate reduction could not be honored as "coupons" permitting same were for "loyal customers". Asked how it was possible to be a longstanding, loyal customer when company lied to me. I am screwed by liars who can apparently say anything to obtain a sale. Asked for sales taped conversation to be pulled. Will call to see if they do so but would not be surprised if they actually do so as lies would be exposed.

Direct TV has always been very slick about their programs. Glad you pointed out their error.

I was a Directtv customer when they first started years ago and paid about $58/month for almost 8 years. I switched from Time Warner to Directv in June of 2013. I have the Choice package and it was $56.64 a month. In June of 2014 it went up $21.90 to $78.54. It went up another $10 a month the very next month (now $88.54/month). In February of 2015 it went up again and I had to pay $93.75. It is the same amount for March 2015 payment. I noticed on my bill that they dropped the 'Choice' and just call it 'Directtv Channels. Also I was paying a $19.99 fee for their protection plan and in January of this year that was gone and now I have a 'Directv Equipment Services fee of $26.49. I don't understand why because we still have the old tube televisions. My Directv service was supposed to be bundled with Verizon to save another $10 a month. I called Verizon about this in December of 2013 and they said it would take several billing cycles for this to appear and I would then have one bill. This never happened and it has been well over a year. I am so happy that the FTC is watching out for us consumers and I hope they are successful in their case against Directv.

I was also one of those customers. I have yet to see anything about their "bundled packages" which I signed up for, but they didn't bundle my internet! I've been disputing the charges and now that account is in collection. I was even charged for the equipment return they refused. Told me the equipment was out of date.

I read all these comments and have been a DirecTV customer for probably 15 years now. Never once have they not made me aware of contract commitments when receiving *free equipment upgrades* (aka. two years) nor never once have they not made me aware of promotional commitments and periods and that you would have to cancel if not wanting to continue. Pretty easy to pick up a phone and call to cancel the premium channels. You get what you ask for in my opinion. I think people have a case of amnesia here and don't want to pay for services they received. Suck it up and learn to be honest individuals as well, and we won't have jacked up prices for all of the services. Just my opinion.

Screwed me as well. I would have canceled but the termination fee was to high. Crooks!

My daughters boyfriend canceled his service, they hit him with a 400.00 cancel fee. My daughter used her card 1 time to make a payment. Her name is not on the bill, but they wiped out her checking and savings with an unauthoried payment.

We were also ripped off by them. Our bill would vary every month sometimes $40 to $60 and we wouldn't change the programming or order movies.We would call their crappy customer service only to be given the run around until we were too frustrated and just hang up with them. Our bill should have NEVER been different every month, especially if we hadn't made any changes or ordered anything. Then when we switched to a different provider,they took the early termination fee without telling us which caused us to bounce a couple checks. I would have gladly paid the termination fee just to be done with them, but they didn't tell me when they would be doing it or anything. They took it THE DAY I cancelled them. I have been with Directv twice. I have them a second chance to redeem themselves and they are dirty rotten scoundrels. I have happily been with another provider since then. My bill with the new provider is the same every month and its soooooooo much cheaper than Directv and I have the same amount of channels.

I paid direct TV in excess of ..please have a seat! I paid them over $6000.00 dollars.every month the bill increased.I had no optionso as I left Comcast for the $99 bundle..I'm seeing my attorney tomorrow to go over all three contracts, but I only agreed to the one contract the very first contraCT that I signed in January 2014. I hope my attorney can get to the bottom of it.re

We entered a 2 yr contract for 59.99 and 6 months later I received notice it was going up to 64.99. I contacted the president of directv via email and asked why don't they have to honor 2 yr agreement when I do? I was told they have the right to change the prices when they want. Another 6 months late it went up again to 69.99. 6 months later it now has gone up to 76.99. I have dropped everything I can wihtout losing all the good channels. Very disappointing how corps don't have to honor contracts. Monopoly?

I went through Centurylink to get a bundle package. Now, when my bill goes up Centurylink blames DirectTV. DirectTV never honored the terms of the bundle package. It was three years, three services, on low price, guaranteed. The price has been going up since the day they installed it, and I still have the offer they sent me. I kept the original promotional offer. I didn't solicit them, they contacted me. I don't know how these liars and thieves get away with this. If I stole hundreds and thousands of dollars from my customers, I'd be in JAIL! Something needs to be done.

charges Regional Sports Fee and I don't watch Sports Directv Bill. They will not tell what its for when I ask them.

To further comments made below about misrepresentation of pricing, early charges for free pay channels and failure to price pay channels @ promised rate past the first three month, I demanded that Direct Tv pull the sales tape. This was not acted upon per my first verbal request and I was advised in the next phone call to put the request in writing. I did so, outlined all deceptions and cancelled the service with a $400 early cancellation fee. I finally got a response after documenting and advising that I had reported them to FTC and was told that the tapes were to be reviewed. After about 10 days, I received an email today indicating the following: "Upon review we determined the Early Cancellation Fee to be eligible for reversal. A credit has been applied and will be reflected on your next billing statement." Put your grievances in writing, let them know they have been reported, demand review of tapes and you may be able to cancel without penalty.

I called to order Direct TV last July, but didn't have it installed till August on a Saturday, and on Monday called to remove it. They want to charge me $522 to cancel my 2 year contract. No one told me there was a 2 year contract, and then they wanted to start my contract from July, even before I signed anything. I thought there was a 3 business cancelation legal. Now they have me in collections, and I cannot get a mortgage.

I am one of the ripped off consumer also. I only been with Direct TV since December 2014. So imagine my surprise when I get a $386 bill my 3rd month. Every since then my bill mysteriously goes up doing my billing period. I had to call on 4/14/15 only to look at my account online today 4/16/15 to see they added back the false charges the very next day that they just credited me. I was so upset. I can't logged in everyday to monitor my bill that not even due yet. They are a scam.

SAMe disepeptive practices were done to me..my bill went up to 500!! I was bound by contract so my credit wount be distroyed

I would cancel DirecTV now based off the FTC decision. Make sure you cancel whatever form of payment you are using also to prevent them from charging you a fee (cancel a debit card or change your account number with your bank - most will do it for free). If they try to sue you or file a complaint just dispute and and use the FTC decision. Based off what is happening with the FTC they probably won't even waste their time trying to cheat you. I would also bet that DirecTv will be changing their practices to try and keep people's business without a contract (such as charging reasonable fees).

I was promised 49.99 per month and before the first year was up it started going up to 70 then 80 the next month then 90 and this month was 133.00. When asking why they said 30 bux of credits dropped off and when I asked what about the other 50 she couldn't give me an explanation. All she said is the terms say prices are subject to change.

We are on the phone with Direct TV this nightmare right now. We have been caught in between Verizon and Direct TV for two months now because we were sold a lie about bundling back in December 2014. Our first Verizon bill was $ 250 of which were one month "pre-bill" or estimation of what.they thought we would use in Internet services. We were quoted by Direct TV and Verizon that we would be charged a flat rate of $59 per month for the Internet. Meantime Direct TV canceled our cable TV because we had not paid Verizon. We paid Verizon $250. When we called Direct TV to find out why our cable service was canceled, they said it was because we hadn't paid Verizon. Direct TV then put us on a three-way phone conversation between us, Direct and Verizon where we consented to canceling all services, and now we are being billed $ 401 from Direct TV. As we are on the phone with Direct TV right now, they have NO record of our three-way conversation or documentation of the three-way conversation had in the past.

They got us too for over 12 years

When DirecTV offered the "Sunday Ticket" to new subscribers, I called them and asked why dedicated customers couldn't receive the same benefit. The representative said he'd give it to me free of charge, for being a long term, dedicated customer. How sweet of him, until I got my online paperless bill a few months later. He charged me the full amount and I was unable to cancel since football season was nearly done. Since I live in a rural area, my options for television programming is limited, so I am stuck with either of the two vendors. I hope the FTC is successful in mandating changes to their unscrupulous manner of business. Thank you!

I would like my name added to the lawsuit. I had been a customer since 2002 called to move and emphasized I ddi not want any add-ons or any additional perks or charges. In the install they swapped out the receivers and my monthly bill went up over $25 dollars a month. When I called to resolve, they informed me that when I accepted install at the new house I accepted the rate increase and I was also subject to 24 month commitment with a $20/month disconnect fee if I disconnected!!*! This company is abusing its clients and strong arming people with threats. I asked to go into an office so we can return equipment and we can sign papers I can read and review. - You can't email where you get a copy of your communication - There is no office to visit or resolve - I have to follow their shipping instructions - They record all the calls but they don't listen to the recordings and they wont provide me with a copy. If they had an email, I would dump their equipment on the curb and email them my terms and conditions. Pick-up your stuff or I will charge you $20/month to have it sitting outside my house! I can't accept the abuse. Please tell me where I can sign on to aid in taking these guys down

They... Being Directv, Have ripped me off, in a two year deal with a special promotion from Best Buy Gift Cert. for $250 / I then had to move and couldn't get my new place for 3 months/ charged me a $231.31 reconnect fee and a $ 67.00 new hookup plan/ then 3 days later they took anouther $231.31 and a $127 that were both "UNOTHERIZED TRANSACTIONS"/ Now to have tv I pay $127 per month and thats for the basics...No HBO, Cintimax, nothing!!! Ripped OFF!!!!

Please add me to the list to get my refund back from directv. They took almost $600. That i did NOT owe them and they took it out of my account illegally because they did Not have my permission. I had a credit with them, they owed me money. They told me they would move my service for free and then tried to charge me 300 dollars for moving my service. They need to be stopped from these deceptive practices and need to be held responsible for what thier employees tell customers. I want to start a class action law suite here in North Carolina against directv.

I also have a 2 year contract and I asked specifically what it would cost a month with taxes and fees, because we are on a fixed income. I was told that the cost would be around $52.00, which was never the same on my bills. They never told me I was on a 6 mo. promotional offer and that it would go up after that. My bill now is $70.00 a mo. just for TV. I called and got them down to $60.00 but this is just ridiculous. I think I am just going to cancel and let them try to collect the $320. that I would owe. Maybe all of us that got ripped off should do the same! Suzy

Please stop these fraudulent, misleading, rude and incompetent thugs that hide behind small print. Took money from me that I did not owe. Cleared out my account..caused multiple overdrafts. I cancelled my 2yr sentence 3 days after it was up and they still helped themselves. Thank goodness I kept the postal tracking number for the equipment!!! That would've been another 3 bills!!!

Hello, I recently concluded my 12 month bundle contract with At t and within the same hour called to do the same with Direct TV. I wanted something that had faster internet speed, a cell phone instead of land phone and a less expensive Television setup I could better afford and did not wish to continue with either party. I now have something like that with another server without a binding contract. I thought since it was a free country I had the right to change my mind and get something else. I was told that the 2 contracts were separate and that I would be charged a $240 cancellation fee for Direct TV plus anything else they wanted to charge me for or legally take out of my bank accounts. Sort of like Blackmail. I thought the word "bundle" meant all-inclusive. Who in their right mind would imagine anything different; one contract for bundling the 3 elements of phone, internet and Television. How wrong and surprised I was. Last year when I decided to go with a "bundle" with At t to save a few dollars over time, I was 84 years old, I will soon be 85. I am neither blind, disabled nor stupid but honestly, never saw or remembered signing a contract that said 12 months for At t and 24 months for Direct TV. I had a Costumer Agreement form that was for 2013 and I could not find anything like that . It was in 2014 that I signed for the bundle contract. I made copies of everything that was sent me over the internet for either company. I just recently saw that Direct TV has a Costumer Agreement form for each year. The one I had was a year behind but stood until it was replaced by the following years form. The WIFI has been sent back to At t and confirmed received , and the black "box" was sent back to Direct TV and was listed with USPS "Delivered" the next day. I have talked to several agents over the past week and altho there was never any abusive language, their tone was to aggressively keep me as a costumer, More so with Direct TV than At t. It is hard to remain passive when I am so angry at their lies and misrepresentations and consing practices, both by phone and by internet messaging. My bills were progressively increasing over the period of the year and the final billing with single billing for all elements showed only a few dollars less than when I began the "bundle" a year ago. There was this little charge every month about some kind of "sports" billing. I never watched a sports program in my life. I am not interested in sports. I called at the appropriate time, earlier, that I wanted no sports on my billing. That charge could never be explained to me nor several other charges that were stated. Their billing was confusing to me. Where was my savings promised by both At t and Direct TV?? Their billing was so hard to figure out. The final billing from At t shows that any charges billed by Direct TV were paid thru the contract final date and 0 (zero) was my balance. So why the extra request from Direct TV if it says in black and white zero balance for all three elements!! Three times during the year beginning with October 2014, At t communicated to Direct TV that I did not qualify for the bundle and I began to get mail bills from Direct TV that asked me to pay their portion of the total bill by mail and by check. Also the due date from Direct TV had changed which would cause me to not have any funds until my Social Security deposit was made. This happened 3 different times and each time I called At t for an explanation of why I no longer qualified for the bundling "discounts". Each time the agent told me it was a mistake on their part and that it would take 3 more billing periods to straighten out where I would again be getting one bill to pay for all 3 elements. I was told I would be getting a small "reward" for their mistake. One time it showed up as a $20 or $25 credit. At the end, because of this mail bill paying, I got a final billing from Direct TV for $157.67. The statement accompanying that bill said I owed certain amounts that were not paid. They were paid months ago and I had accounting from my Bank statement that they were paid. Last week when I talked to an agent about this, I made a statement that I was challenging this billing for $157.67 and wanted an address where I could send my bank statements as proof of payment and the agent suggested I send a copy of that billing along with my papers of proof from my bank. It was a Los Angeles address and I sent my letter and papers off, return receipt requested with a tracking #, for proof of receipt on their end. That was Saturday, May 16, 2015. In Direct TV Costumer Agreement pages, I understood it to say that as long as they were notified in an allotted time of a question of billing, they would put any further billing on hold until the issue was resolved. I will see if that is true or not. Then on Monday, May 18, I received another request for immediate payment of $157.67 which would eliminate the $240 early cancellation fee if I would re- commit to another 12 month contract with Direct TV. More blackmail. They included a final accounting of how they could do that "for me". There was a " previous balance" stated, Advanced Receiver Service "credit" Choice Credit, Regional Sports Fee Credit all based on me re-installing with them. The statement I received earlier from them showing the amounts I supposedly did not pay by check, was not even mentioned.! So they changed their tactics and I would say this is mumbo-jumbo billing practices. To be continued

I was lied to by directv, fraudulantly billed, and then directv without my authorization stole money out of my checking. I filed papers against them at my credit union that reversed the charges, then took money back out again. Directv got my money that was not owed to them and now they are sending me emails where they threaten me with turning me over to credit beauro, now changing thier story and saying falsely that i owe even more money to them. I do not understand how our great legal system is letting directv get away with false billing and threats of damageing someones credit with those falsified bills. I agreed to service with directv on the conditions they promised to me, that when the house i was living in sold that i could put my service on hold free of charge for up to 6 months and when i got my new residence they would reconnect free of charge. But when i called to reconnect at my new residence well within the 6 month periiod and only 3 hrs from the previous residence, directv tried to squeeze 300 dollars out of me for reconnection that they promised would be free. I refused to pay and so service was never connected at my new residence. Directv billed me for minthly service i was not recieving, then sent notice that they had canceled my service (service i didnt have) and then without my authorization took that money (thier imaginary service charges and a hefty cancelation fee) out of my checking account. I never signed up for recurring payments and actually told them they did not have my permission to hold or use my card. I had a credit with them before i called to reconnect my service and directv kept that too. I called over the phone to get service at the first residence and only agreed to what was involved in that conversation. I never signed anything and yet directv says i did. How can they get away with all this?

Please add my name to your list for getting the justice for all the hardship and loss that directv has put me and many others through, and as i speak and everyday directv is doing the same to thier customers unless our great legal system stops them . PLEASE STOP directv !!!!!!!

Bought MLB extra innings. Turns out some games aren't included and supposedly blacked out. Fine but where are they since I'm paying for this. Well, I can buy the sports package for another $13.99/month to pick up those games. Thought I was getting my games in the MLB extra innings. Any games they cannot provide should be provided free to customers. What a ripofff

I had them for two years i want to add my name to the lawsuit. I only had 60% service for 100% if my money.

Hi, I also have and do have a problem with this company and the lack of integrity they take undercover which is stealing. Also Cashusa.net please chech them out also they told me I owe ATT so they charged me 500. For one thing or the other as I was trying to get a loan please help .

We have had DIRECTV for many years and have been fairly happy with the service although we want to try to save some money so decided to cancel the service in bundle our internet and TV to our cable company which would save us $70 a month. Pretty much a no brainer! But when I call DirecTV they told me I was in a two year contract which I could not figure out why I was being I've been with them for four or five years. They said when I upgraded to the genie they put me on a two year contract which I was not aware of! They told me the upgrade would only cost me $1 on my bill which wasn't true either they failed to tell me that that was going to go up. They said I agree to the terms and conditions but they never told me anything about a2 year agreement or that the genie equipment charges were going to go up from $1 which is what they told me. I specifically told the girl on the phone I do not want to upgrade if its going to increase my bill any more than $1. Now that im trying to cancel the service they want to charge me $400 termination fee I am not a happy camper! They said they will have somebody call me but it could take up to a week for them to get hold of me. So now I had to delay the installation of my other service and wait for them to call me. Has anyone else experienced this is there any way for me to prove or get out of paying the Fee because I did not agree to a 2 year contract. Advice please?

Me too , I just got to my second year and am being charged $60 more per month and the customer service sucks now day's....I have been lied to over and over again.................they suck

I am amazed these jokers continue to rip off working people and get away with it. They send junk mail automatically enrolling a subscriber in a "free" promotion, which after 3 months becomes a monthly charge. Never mind if you want it. Never mind that I throw away all of their junk mail, got enrolled in NFL Prime Ticket and got charged over $100 before I caught it on my statement. Recently sold a 2nd property and cancelled Direct TV service for that property. They call me at least 3x per day offering all kinds of promotions, even though I do not own the property anymore. I asked, politely, for them to quit calling me. They continued to call 3x per day until I spoke to one of their "managers" and blocked their calls. These guys are really something. If there was competition, my guess is that many customers would drop them immediately.

I cut my cable a while back, but was thinking about going with DirectTv since these deals seem so cheap. I priced out the Choice package, which was $29.99. Plus I would get a year of NFL Ticket included. But with all the add-on fees and insurance, it came out to over $66 a month for the first year. Year #2 would see a rise in the monthly cost of $40. There's no difference in cost with my local cable company. I really don't see where Im saving money.