Chris Leckness is a Geek

Open Letter to Direct TV - Warning to Consumers

1^st off, I work a lot. My wife takes care of all our bills and unless something is seriously different than what it was last week, she just pays and goes about being a mom.

I am not making any excuses for my not knowing some of this. Maybe if I were not so trusting, I would know some of it. Either way, it’s ridiculous.

That said, here is my problem with DirectTV.

Update: I sent a letter to the CEO of Direct TV and got a call from someone from his office. What I learned is at the bottom of the story…

Back in late 2005, I chose to give Direct TV a whirl against the advice of others. I had heard about the issues that are inherent to satellite. Well, I answered an ad that offered a TiVo receiver and 3 additional rooms and installation free. This went down fine. I was pleased with the service and didn?t really have any of the issues that friends told me about. I was aware that I was locking in to a 2 year contract. More than a year of happy service goes by and I bought a big HD TV so I decided to give Direct TV HD a try.

November 2006, I answered another ad in a circular that offered ?Free HD Receiver? with installation. I don?t remember if this was to ?bump? my contract to a new 2 year deal, but since have learned that it had. No biggie, I got a free receiver, so I accept that a contract is in order. Still, I am almost 100% happy at this point. We have started seeing some nasty signals sometimes with wind and definitely with rain. I keep trying to get around to finding out how to get someone out to readjust the dish since that is most likely what the problem is.

October 2007, I decide I want a DVR for HD. ( the receivers were out of stock when I got HD in 2006 or I would have ?PAID? for the receiver then) I went down to Circuit City and plopped down $299 of my own dollars to get an HD DVR. I take it home and install it. Called to activate it. Now my kids are happy to record hours and hours of crap, even better, I can record what I want to watch. J Everything seemed fine.

Last month, I received a box from Direct TV. I didn?t order anything so I called and asked what the heck this was. ?It?s an empty box to return the receiver?, I was told. HUH? The free receiver I got when I signed up for HD? ?Yes?. What the heck? How can I be asked to return something I was led to believe I OWNED. Anyhow, I am quite busy and didn?t get around to sending it back against my belief that it is my receiver.

Fast forward to last week. I mentioned that my wife only questions bills when they are different. Well, this one went from $100 to $337.80. That threw me off the deep end. I said, give it here and I will see what?s up. The cost was $240.00 for this HD Receiver I was supposed to own. That bothers me terribly, but that was only bomb #1. Bomb #2 was the fact that I had been charged $4.99/mo to lease this receiver that the ad told me was free. Hmmm? Fishy.

I call the 1-800 number, find out that I was misled and asked to have my service canceled. I was more than willing to a) pay a year of cancellation (11 months) and sell my HD DVR that I purchased for $299 at circuit city on ebay to recover the difference. I was going to mail the HD receiver I thought I owned back and go with Comcast or Charter. Well, a couple more bombs hit me even harder than the 1^st two.

The 3^rd bomb was that a new 2 year contract was slapped onto my account when ?I? purchased my own receiver. Re read that? when I PURCHASED MY OWN RECEVIER. WHAT THE HELL?

Oh, don?t laugh, it gets better. I figure, ok? I can take my receiver and pay the $275 early contract termination fee with whatever I can get on ebay for a 2 month old HD DVR. That?s when bomb #4 hits. Sir, you don?t own that receiver. Huh? The receiver I dropped $299 for at Circuit City. I don?t own it? Nope. I don?t. You paid for the right to lease the receiver to use on Direct TV. That?s kind of funny. I go buy myself a Nokia N95 (an unlocked GSM Cellphone) to use on Cingular/AT&T network, they don?t up my contract and tell me that they own my phone do they?

So, to sum it up. I owe $337 to Direct TV. I can reduce this by $240 for sending a $99 market value HD Receiver than I BELIEVE I own based on the ad I accepted to get HD service. No Problem. I guess I can send this thing back againt my will. (not that I am using it anyway) Then, I cancel my account and pay them $275. Instead of recovering some of the cost of this fee by selling the HD DVR I paid for outright, I will have to send that receiver to them too. Yes, send the receiver I paid $299 cash for to DIRECT TV. No refund for my $299, no nothing.

What a load of crap. Who governs this companies tariffed rates? The PSC, FCC, who? Think it?s the FCC?

Update: The guy that called me a few hours after my letter was sent to the CEO was very thorough in explaining how I was screwed. Here are the bullet points.

• The “Free” with install HD Receiver apparently came with small print about leasing that I didn’t read. So I have agreed to return the HD receiver. (not like I was using it anyhow, it’s got a dust wrapper already.
• MY HD DVR isn’t mine. Once again, I didn’t read. Before I explain, let me just ask. How many of you would expect to pay $299 for this thing and expect it not to be yours without reading the “box”. I expected it to be like any other piece of A/V equipment I have bought. I am going to be severely pissed if Onkyo comes back asking for their $900 receiver if I stop using it. Anyhow, the $299 is a subsidized price. Similar to buying an AT&T Tilt for $299 instead of $600. Only you know this walking into the AT&T store.

I am going to let them come out and fix my reception issues and give them another chance. I might as well since I would have to pay $275 to quit since I was screwed into another 2 year contract when I bought a $299 subsidized receiver. What crap. Anyhow, since it’s subsidized, I can’t even sell the damn thing to recover the $299.

Yes, I am happy for a great explanation, but I am still unhappy that companies can get away with screwing consumers over with contracts. The FCC needs to step in and throw some regulation on this.  Subsidized or not, I am adding over $12 a month to their pocket by getting this DVR before they rope me in with an extra 11 months from when my contract was to expire.

Moral of the Story… READ THE FREAKING BOX (or paperwork) My advice, stay away from companies that take advantage of those that don’t read the FREAKING BOX.

I will not enter into any other contract with this company. I don’t care if they give me a 52″ LCD, no go! (not to mention, they would give it to me, then charge a lease fee and ask for it back if I don’t use it for 2 years.)

Thanks for explaining this Chris, but I have to agree to disagree on the business ethics of these moves. (my lack of reading or not)