DirecTV Lawsuit for Misleading Customers
In the past three years, the Better Business Bureau has received 53,000 complaints against satellite TV companies such as DirecTV and DISH Network. Consumers have complained about being overcharged, having free trials turn into paid subscriptions without notice, early termination fees, and being charged for “free” installations.
The Miami-Dade Consumer Services Department (MDCSD) sued DirecTV a few weeks ago under the pretense that the company is using deceptive practices to trick consumers. It cites “false and misleading advertisements” about cost and equipment as well as failing to disclose the full terms of the contracts. MDCSD’s public relation specialist Sonya Perez said her office discovered that DirecTV’s ads didn’t give complete prices after reviewing them. She said that consumers who signed up for the $34.99 package were actually billed $55.99 and cited several other packages that were actually higher than stated in the ads.
In the lawsuit, DirecTV is accused of not “clearly disclose conditions and limitations to their service agreements in advertisements or in any other type of communication with customers.” For example, fine print stated a $5 charge for a second receiver and $6 for the HD DVD receiver upgrade that was listed as “free.”
In addition to the MDCSD lawsuit, the state of Washington has also filed suit against DirecTV after the state attorney general’s office received numerous complaints and DirecTV refused to change their practices.
Paula Selis, the senior assistant attorney general handling the case, said, “Their business practices are unfair and deceptive.” Among the complaints listed in the lawsuit were customers being automatically charged for premium movie channels after a free trial without notification, having to pay for “free” installation then being refused a refund by DirecTV, and being overcharged for packages. Selis also accuses DirecTV of using “mice type” – print so small in their terms of service contracts that humans cannot read it.
In their defense, DirecTV spokeperson Darris Gringeri said, “We have a regular dialogue with the states to address incoming customer issues, but beyond that we cannot comment.” Gringeri also said, “We make it clear about that agreement in the advertising and marketing materials. It is in readable print, not fine print. The customer is also told during a sales call or online ordering. There is a confirmation letter, confirmation e-mail and final review of the terms at time of installation. We make sure they are fully informed.”
January 17th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
This is exactly why I will never get DIRECTV. I work and subscribe to DISH Network, so I see the business from two views, one being a customer and another being an employee. DISH only looks out for the best interest of the customer. With DIRECTV, you will not get certain channels in HD such as E!, ID Discovery, Style or G4 and as far as premiums go, you won’t be able to watch HBO Family, Comedy or Signature in HD. You will pay about 16% more for their DVR service and 8x’s more for their sports package. DIRECTV has received an “F” by the Better Business Bureau with over 40,000 complaints from customers for false and misleading advertisements and if I were a new customer, you will need to mail in rebates to get the price they advertise which can take anywhere from 6-8 weeks to process. I would never leave DISH and I honestly believe that they do not try and misguide their customers but I think that is the intentions of DIRECTV.
February 20th, 2011 at 6:55 pm
On January 15 2011, I contacted DirecTV satellite services to review my account. The purpose was to determine whether to continue service with this company after having been a customer in good standing since 2003.
Disclosing that I was considering switching to another television service provider (cable/satellite) if I could not receive similar offered/advertised services from DirecTV, that others were offering, a verbal offer was made by the customer service agent, as follows:
1. swap out of a standard receiver with an HD-DVR receiver for 0.00 (I agreed to pay a delivery and handling fee of $19.50 + $1.50 tax to total $21.50 before the end of the call by credit card)
2. free DVR service for 12 months if I agreed to a 24 month service agreement and kept at least 2 receivers active on my account for an additional 12 months
3. free professional installation
4. maintain my current pricing plan with no increase in my monthly billing fee for 24 months unless after 12 months I opted to continue receiving DVR service at which point I would be charged an additional $7/month; if I opted to not receive DVR service, I would be required to send back the HD-DVR receiver and continue to have, at least, 2 receivers active for the duration of the service agreement (12 more months)
Once the details of the verbal agreement were stipulated, I asked that this be emailed to me for confirmation. Upon receipt of the email, I agreed to the “Terms and Conditions” (Exhibit B) that were available, as instructed by the DirecTV representative, by direct hyperlink in the email under “Other Important Details To Remember”, “terms and conditions of your order”, “as stated in your agreement” (see exhibit A)
On January 20, 2011, the installation was performed and my wife, who was not privy to the verbal stipulations, and the “Terms and Conditions” agreement, signed what she believed was merely a confirmation that the installation had been completed to her satisfaction. She also agreed to the inclusion of a “service contract” that was “free for the first 30 days.”
Dispute:
As stated above, the final point of the contract/agreement was that there would be no increase in my monthly service charge. However, upon receipt of the February statement of charges for services from DirecTV, the DVR service had not been credited and an additional $1 was added to all receivers active in my home. The previous months bill (January 2011) was $86.93 and February’s bill is $100.29, an increase of $13.36.
Obviously, the terms of the agreement we not respected and institued by DirecTV. If I had not reviewed the bill before my wife paid it, I believe that DirecTV would have interrupted this as a binding agreement through payment of services.
I contacted DirecTV customer service (800-DirecTV) by telephone. I spoke with a customer service agent (CSR), a supervisor (Ashley), and finally a manager (Dennis) in an attempt to reconcile the discrepency.
Ultimately, after some very heated dialogue, numerous long periods on holds, transfers, and lengthy explanations, I was able to get the agents and the manager to agree that the DVR service was to be credited for 12 months, that the service contract was not part of the original contract thus had to be removed, and that I reserved the right to cancel the DVR service at the end of the first 12 months as stipulated in the verbal conversation notes (only within DirecTV receipt but confirmed as existent by the DirecTV agents) and the “Terms and Conditions” received and reviewed by email on January 15, 2011.
However, what remains in dispute is the increase in the monthly “Fee” for additional receivers that increased from $5/month to $6/month. Both Ashley and Dennis, state that per the “Customer Agreement” found on the DirecTV website the company reserves the right to increase fees at any time. They also stated that notifications had been sent to customers about the rate increase. However, when I asked for them to reproduce that notification they could not and one stated that it was sent out over 2 months ago and another stated probably 2-3 weeks ago. When queried as to why this rate increase was not disclosed upon my negotiating of a new “Service Agreement” I was told, “well, we can go to lunch and when we come back things have changed”. I spent a considerable amount of time reviewing old DirecTV emails I received to see if there was any containing a notification of a rate increase to no avail. Regardless, since no disclosure or representation of fees were introduced into the agreement by the original CSR, I argued that what ever increases occurred were not legal since we had negotiated a contract and agreement which clearly stipulated that there would be no changes i.e., additional charges, applied to my bill. Dennis argued that the Customer Agreement clearly states that the company reserves the right to increase its fees; I argued that the contract was null and void. He stated that I could cancel the service at which point I asked, “and how much will I be charged?” Dennis stated that per the Customer Agreement the company had the right to charge up to $480 however he was willing to take partial accountablility for the lack of clarity between what was sent to me in email, and via hyperlink within that email, and the DirecTV website Customer Agreement. For this disrepency, he would only charge me $5/month for twelve months and then $6/month thereafter for additional receivers. Understanding that this would be considered a “settlement of the dispute”, I declined the offer.
Please assist me and the many other “customers” enslaved by DirecTV through these one-sided binding agreements. Fair and ethical practice establishes trust and a culture of justness. It is obvious that DirecTV uses decepetive, false, and misleading business practices. In addition, DirecTV forces its CSR’s, Managers, and Supervisors, as well as it “Professional Installers” to commit collusion; the only time customers sign documents is after the installation is completed, not before, as stipulated as necessary in California contract law (http://www.lectlaw.com/files/bul15.htm). These documents contain “fine print” that attempt to nullify any and all previous agreements except the ones that benefit DirecTV and its affiliates. The signing of these documents is misrepresented as only to “certify that the installation was completed to the customers satifaction,” when in reality the document is much more. The document to be binding must include the stipulation of all previous verbal and written agreements,
“1623. Where a contract, which is required by law to be in writing, is prevented from being put into writing by the fraud of a party thereto, any other party who is by such fraud led to believe that it is in writing, and acts upon such belief to his prejudice, may enforce it against the fraudulent party.” (http://www.lectlaw.com/files/bul15.htm)
February 28th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
Is there a law suit going against Directv ? There saying I’m still in contract with them when I decided to leave there company and go to a cheaper company, because I had to exchange there faulty equiptment (DVR)and they claim this put me in contract again. They say I have to write to the company with this because there is no one above the suppervisor to talk with there when I was discusing this matter with them.
April 22nd, 2011 at 6:07 am
My satellite dish became dislodged from its mount during a rain storm back in late December. Upon reviewing the situation I discovered that the dish was improperly installed. The DIRCTTV installation manual specifies that the two center lag bolts are to be driven at least 2 inches into a solid wood structure such as a rafter; with four outside bolts and caulking in the bolt holes. My dish mast only had three lag bolts total; and none of them had been driven into a solid wood structure. Rather they were haphazardly driven through the plywood sheathing and no caulking was used. The dislodging of the dish caused a serious leak; and now after an inspection it has been determined the cost of repair and mold mitigation could exceed $10,000. I filed a claim with DIRECTTV’s insurance carrier; and it has now been more than 90 days and have yet to get an answer!
May 19th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
I signed up to get Direct TV for only $29.99 per month.
WOW! sounds like an awesome deal. WELL IT WASN’T!!!
This was ordered through a promotion offered by Cincinnati Bell & Cincinnati Bell took my order.
I was then contacted by the Direct TV representative, telling me that I need to go to their rebate web site to insure I get the $29.99 price. This MUST be done BEFORE Tuesday. (the date my Direct TV & Cinti Bell Internet service was scheduled to be installed)
Ok GREAT. However, while reading about how the rebate works, I learned that I was signing up for a full 2 year contract agreement with Direct TV and the rebate would only apply for ONE year. The rebate broke down as follows: I would get a credit of $25.00 per month from Direct TV + another $5.00 credit per month through Cinti Bell. The additional $5.00 credit was for signing up through Cincinnati Bell. Total Rebate Credit per month: $30.00.
On top of this, it said there would be a $400.00 early disconnection fee if I were to cancel before the 2 year contract.
This troubled me, Am I to understand that after the 1st year, my bill would then be $59.99 per month?
So before confirming, I immediately called Direct TV back and voiced my concerns about what I had just read.
The lady assured me that after the 1st year, my monthly bill would only go up $10.00 per month.
OK, I believed her. I went back and confirmed everything.
Tuesday comes and everything gets installed. BTW, I also had to agree to a direct payment for my monthly Direct TV bill.
Now on April 16th I was looking at my bank statement. OMG, Direct TV charged me $49.85 on April 15th.
Soooooooo, I spend hours & hours on the phone, trying to get this all straightened out. I talked to 3 or 4 different supervisors from Direct TV.
It turns out that someone from Direct TV, took it upon themselves to send me out the more expensive HD DVR box instead of the standard box which was initially ordered through Cincinnati Bell. This is why I was charged $49.85 instead of $29.99. WELL SLAP ME UPSIDE THE HEAD but HOW WAS I SUPPOSE TO KNOW?????
I assume whatever box the installer is putting in my home, is the same box that Cincinnati Bell arranged for me to get for $29.99 per month.
The last Direct TV Supervisor I spoke with, explained to me that in order for them now to exchange the box to a standard box, they must 1st charge me $149.00 & then I would get that credited back to me after they receive the HD DVR box back in the mail. OMG, are they out of their freaking minds or what?
NO OTHER OPTION? ARE YOU SERIOUS?
He was indeed sorry, but it was not within his own power to send me out another box without 1st charging me the $149.00 deposit fee. However, after further discussions, I learned that it WAS within his own power to waive the early cancellation fee, if I elected to cancel my contract agreement right then & there.
BTW, the Supervisor did confirm to me that I was correct in suspecting that after the 1st year my bill was going to increase another $30.00 per month. He assures me that he will still be looking into this case and reviewing the phone calls. Hopefully, THAT particular call was recorded when the lady lied to me and said it would only increase another $10.00 per month.
Well Thank You Lord for helping me resolve & cancel a very bad contract agreement with Direct TV.
OOPS, Not Quite So Fast!!! It now appears The Lord is using me to help educate the rest of you as well, as I still am forced to deal with DirectTV a bit longer.
UPDATE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpNW34BdhUA
Installation was performed on 3/29/2011.
1st bill of $49.85 was debited on 4/15/2011. (should have been $29.99
Services was cancelled immediately on 4/16.2011 with promise of waiving the early cancellation fee by a Direct TV Supervisor (ACE Group)
On May 16th, Direct TV cleaned out my checking account with a $389.14 debit to my account.
Update: Even after cleaning out my checking account for $389.14, DirectTV sent me an email on May 16th saying that my account is past due & I still owe them $42.15 which they plan to charge the debit card I have on file with them.
If a similar circumstance occurs with YOU, do not believe anything they tell you over the phone.
Cancel your Debit Card with your bank IMMEDIATELY, so they can not steal your money as they stole mine.
NEVER do a direct debit via a checking account number. It’s less hassle to get a new debit card with a new number than to close out your checking account & open a new checking account. (advice from my bank)
In Addition:
File a complaint with your State’s Attorney General, they will also forward the complaint to the BBB for you as well.
I consulted my attorney and he told me that contacting the Attorney General was the best thing I could have done, because my attorney is aware of class action lawsuits against DirectTV for this exact type of business practice.
July 8th, 2011 at 7:02 am
I am not happy at all with Direct TV, My son moved out of my home, into his first home. I was helping so I called Direct TV and Charter to see who had the best deal, I told them that my son has already purchased 2 HD DVR while living with me, they looked at me account and told me that he could take the DVRs with him to his new home, All we had to do was Purchase’s 2 New Cards @ $20.00 each to take them out of my service to his, So after he got moved and Direct TV Install I called for him to buy the new cards for the HD DVRs, He got the HD DVRs on a special they were having for $99.00 when I got them they told me they were reg, $199.00
So what a deal Right. WRONG when I called to get the new cards they told me that the DVRs were leased we did not buy them that if we had purchased them they were $499.00, Know one never told me that was a lease, I was understanding that I got a special deal and was buying the DVRs for $99.00 Reg $199.00 So people if you got a DVR and didn’t not pay $499.00 for them the DVR is not yours, you are only leasing them plus paying $4.99 a Month each on your bill for the Service, SO this is what I see is I paid $99.00 for each HD DVR plus $4.99 each a month to used them for 3 years so far that $359.28 plus that is a total of $557.28 Now I am told my Son will have to lease 2 new ones at $199.00 each Down then the monthly fee, In the 3 years I have been a Direct TV Customer I was never told that the HD DVRs were just a lease, Now I did call and talk with someone on the phone and after talking with 3 people Finally a really nice guys was trying to help me out did agree to send me one DVR but not a HD DVR out for free but get this I got to buy the other one for $99.00 and pay some fee of $69.00 but they will take off the $69.00 on my bill. Ok so now I have to turn in the 2 HD DVRs that we have had that I have already invested $557.28 so I have lost money on this deal and now I wish I would have told my son to go with Charter they really have a better deal. if any one knows a Atty, they has a case with Direct TV I would really like to get in with it, I think it is time that big companys stop screwing with people and a law suit is the only way so maybe that will open ther eyes, My e-mail is pamelakay77@gmail.com, So I look at it this way The girl knew I was shopping for the best deal for my son and she just lied to get the sale, I try to see if I could Cancel now so I could go with Charter and was told I only had 24 hours after install to do that so now my son is under a 2 year agreement with them and I am very upset, I will NEVER IN MY LIFE REFER ANY ONE TO DIRECT TV Thanks for your time. Pamela
July 24th, 2011 at 7:08 pm
My wie and I separted 8/24/10. She moved into the trailer that we had near the beach in NC. We had Directv at the time and in my name. I called directv to get it changed to her name and was told that my account would have to be cancelled and a new one opened. The equipment would have to be changed also. The customer service lady told me that there would not be any early termination fee since the nea account was at the same location. The equipment was removed and the new installed 9/13/10. I did not hear anything about the old account until about March 2011. They wanted me to pay a late termination fee and monthly service until December 2010 because they did not turn it off until then. at thattime they wanted $250. I told them I would not pay the early termination fee because I was told that I would not have to. There has been a number of Directv employees that I have talked to over the past few month.
Before the end of 2010, I had directv installed in my home in SC. during one of the conversation I was told that the amount of the termination was going to be added to my SC account. I received several billing cycles with the termination fee added to the account. I paid my local service only. My accunt for SC is current. As of Friday morning approximately 7:30 my TV went off and the message you are not subscribed came on the sceen.
Whe I got home from work Friday night I tried to call customer service, VRU would not transfer me and told me that my service would be restored when I paid my bill of over $600. I’m willing to pay for any service that I have received at the SC location that has not been paid, and nothing else. They terminated my service I did not request it to be terminated.
August 22nd, 2011 at 6:00 am
Genuinely fantastic website, thank you so much for posting the articles
October 11th, 2011 at 3:21 am
I was ripped off for over $500 for a system that NEVER WORKED PROPERLY !
Beware ! It is a scam and a racket. I was told that I could get email connectivity for an estra $5/mo in my rural location and that never happened either. Trying to recoup the money is very time consuming and I am not sure that I will be successful.