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DirecTV Cancellation Fee

Law firms are investigating complaints that DirecTV imposes a cancellation fee that is improperly or insufficiently disclosed to consumers. This fee is imposed regardless of the reason for cancellation (including for poor reception or service) and regardless of the amount of time of the subscription.

Some Excerpts from Unhappy DirecTV Customers

Watching TV
"When we signed-up we were told that it was a 12 month commitment, and when we called to cancel, they told us we had fulfilled our commitment. Now they are trying to stick us with a $100 early cancellation fee, despite what we were told on multiple occasions."

"They show me ordering service on 12/27/07 and canceling on 12/29/07. That's TWO days! They offer cancel within 72hrs (3 DAYS), and there is no early cancellation fee. We check our bank account on 01/08/08, and they have taken $301.23 out of our checking account for early cancellation fee! "

"Direct TV offered me $19.99/month and when one week later I got my bill it was jacked up to $50 per month. When I called to straighten it out I was told that there were no rebates at this time and they would not honor the $19.99. I said that I wanted to cancel. They would not let me speak to the cancellation dept and then assessed $157 in fees."

DirecTV Cancellation Fee Articles

DirecTV Cancellation Fees: "A Big Mess"
Elizabeth M. is upset that DirecTV charged her an early termination fee, especially since she only had DirecTV service for two days. She says that even customer service reps for the company told her she shouldn't have been charged the fee. But what made the situation worse was that DirecTV took the money directly out of her bank account without notifying her.

DirecTV: Consumers Angry About Cancellation Fees
Cell phone customers are not the only ones complaining that they are being charged too much for cancellation fees: customers of DirecTV are also upset that they are being unfairly charged for terminating their service. Much like the cell phone companies, DirecTV is apparently using changes to customer contracts as a reason to extend those contracts, often without customer knowledge or authorization. Now, some customers are investigating a lawsuit against DirecTV, alleging they were improperly charged cancellation fees.

Consumers have had enough with DirecTV
Many consumers are saying they have had it with DirecTV for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is the termination fees that they must pay for cancelling a service that is not working well for them. One consumer in Massachusetts complained to the Massachusetts Attorney General when he was forced to pay $162.50 in termination fees after he had nothing but trouble with his service.

DirecTV Cancellation Fee: Customer Complaints Mount
It's one thing for a company to protect its cash flow. In fact, ensuring adequate cash flow is a prerequisite to running a viable business. However, ensuring that cash flow through the alleged practice of unfair and unreasonable cancellation fees, and putting those fees on the backs of your clients and customers, has been described as unfair and unjust. To this end, a number of DirecTV customers allege ill will and unfairness with respect to cancellation fees.

DirecTV Cancellation Fee in the News

MAR-31-08: Couple, who thought their contract was up, gets a $400 cancellation fee from DirecTV after receiving a new receiver, which the company claims "extended their contract". [WGRZ NEWS: DIRECTV CANCELLATION FEE]

DirecTV Cancellation Fee Legal Help

If you subscribed to DirecTV and were charged a cancellation fee, which you believe was unlawfully or unfairly imposed, please click the link below to send your complaint to a lawyer to evaluate your claim at no cost or obligation.
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LEGAL ARTICLES AND INTERVIEWS

DirecTV Cancellation Fees: "A Big Mess"
DirecTV Cancellation Fees: "A Big Mess"
April 26, 2008
Elizabeth M. is upset that DirecTV charged her an early termination fee, especially since she only had DirecTV service for two days. She says that even customer service reps for the company told her she shouldn't have been charged the fee. But what made the situation worse was that DirecTV took the money directly out of her bank account without notifying her. READ MORE

DirecTV: Consumers Angry About Cancellation Fees
DirecTV: Consumers Angry About Cancellation Fees
April 21, 2008
Cell phone customers are not the only ones complaining that they are being charged too much for cancellation fees: customers of DirecTV are also upset that they are being unfairly charged for terminating their service. Much like the cell phone companies, DirecTV is apparently using changes to customer contracts as a reason to extend those contracts, often without customer knowledge or authorization. Now, some customers are investigating a lawsuit against DirecTV, alleging they were improperly charged cancellation fees. READ MORE

Consumers have had enough with DirecTV
April 17, 2008
Many consumers are saying they have had it with DirecTV for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is the termination fees that they must pay for cancelling a service that is not working well for them. One consumer in Massachusetts complained to the Massachusetts Attorney General when he was forced to pay $162.50 in termination fees after he had nothing but trouble with his service. READ MORE

READER COMMENTS

Posted by

on
Just canceled my DirecTV and was told I had a $100 cancellation fee despite the guy telling me Saturday I wouldn't have a fee and could cancel at any time. Well if they don't want to listen to their recordings as they say they do with all calls and honor what they say hopefully they will listen to mine. I recorded the call stating there wasn't going to be a cancellation fee.

Posted by

on
I read previous comment. I felt the urge to reply. I have had direct tv for several years, upgraded to Genie2. Our service from that moment changed. We continuously called due to problems with our service, technician would come out tell me or explain to me that either we were too close to the server with remote. I made a final call to them after so many calls to remember that we were having interference with sattelite. That day appointment was set, they never came. With all the calls we had enough. Called to cancel the service and they are telling me that I did not give them a chance to make this right. I stopped paying. They send me a bill with termination fee of $460 and feel that after being a loyal customer for so many years they would of treated me better instead they charged me for services that should be guaranteed and I feel that they did not improve our service. Now I have no idea what to do. I am paying my Bill. As for the termination of the contract I wasn't aware of this sudden contract thing. I'm not paying them the additional charge

Posted by

on
DirectTV no longer offers the ABC channel. Can I cancel without penalty?

Posted by

on
After breaking my contract with direct TV they say I will have to pay 430 to break it because I only had it for month or so.crazy I wasn't satisfied direct TV never making a mistake to go to them again

Posted by

on
I have learned a lesson about subscribing to directv. Whether you think you are, or not, they have you under contract, and they will charge you an early cancellation fee. My box went out & I didn't have service. When I called them they told me I had to pay to repair their equipment because I was not paying a monthly fee to keep their equipment working. They informed me that if I agreed to a contract that I would not be charged for the repair. I told them to cancel my service because I refuse to enter into a contract with this type of scam. Now they have turned my early cancellation fee over to SEQUIUM ASSET SOLUTIONS,LLC. for recovery of a debt that I do not owe & refuse to pay.

Posted by

on
I was told that I could get tv and internet. I asked the people multiple times was the internet was able to stream because I wanted to use firestick and they said yes multiple times. I explained that I had directv in the past and the internet was not strong enough. I couldn't do anything with the internet so I called in and they told me then that the internet wasn't strong enough in my area. they brought me one box and my bill was way more than they said. I sent the internet boxes back within 3 weeks and it's been two years and they keep trying to charge me for the equipment. we went back and forth for months and they finally brought me another box. and when I called in to cancel my service after my two years was up they told me they sent an email that I was extended 2 more years.

Posted by

on
i signed a 2 year contract with directtv and has been a complete nightmare . i agreed to the service my original price was 80.00 a month.Since then it has gotten to 208.00 .i have been charged for 300.00 for early disconnect 800.00 for no return of equipment.When i still had there service and still using my boxes.They have overdrew my bank account twice.They have caused my to miss surgery.i am a disable man who struggles with my health and lives on less then 750.00 a month.and this month they did it again charged me 50.00 bucks without telling me leaving unable to get my medication or feed my animals . i called about issue and they admit they are in wrong but will not refund money .They will give me a 45.00 off next months bill .

Posted by

on
I had the internet bundle and my internet did not work from the beginning. they had a technician come out and put new equipment and it still didn't work. A month went by but due to my husband's death I didn't have time to complain about not having and paying for internet service. He told me I have a 36 month contract and will have to pay 20.00 for every month. I told him I can't take off of work for technicians to continue to come only for no resolution. I only had the service for a 6 weeks and nothing but problems.

Posted by

on
Dierctv wants to charge us to get out of our contract. When we got the service I told her. I just want pricing and a channel list sent to us. She said we dont do that but If you will tell me what you are looking for,I will find what package works for you. We told her the channels. She said well choice would be best for you. We ask her three times if we had all the channels we ask for. She said yes. She told us the price.She then said plus you will get a 100.00 visa gift card, price lock for two years and no auto pay. So we told her to let us think about it. She then said well if you get it today, I will send you another 100.00 visa card. So we agreed. Come to find out. We do not have all the channels she said we did, I was on auto pay,only one visa card that I must apply for online and the pricing increases after one year. I called to cancel right after we got it but they told me give them a few days to see if they could fix it. They called back nothing they can do but upgrade the package. Then a day later they took another channel away. Stating that they had to move it to a higher package because their cost went up on that channel. It is fraud.... You lie to sell something that they are not actually getting.

Posted by

on
THE WORST COMPANY ON THE PLANET IS DIRECTV PERIOD.

Posted by

on
They have empty my bank account twice i told them that was my disabilty acount the guy said he didnt care this is againt the law and they stilldo itmy account sits on 0 dollars been on disabity for 16 years help........

Posted by

on
I'very been a customer of DirecTV 4-over 14 years. I'm canceling my account and they told me I will owe $400 for a receiver that I had less then a year. Which was a replacement receiver for a receiver that the software went bad.
I don't know were to turn they will charge my credit card. They are so wrong for charging me this fee! It was a replacement not one I order.

Posted by

on
I had Direct TV service for not even a week, and my service was horrible. They have bad customer service as well as horrible cable reception. Every time it rained my service was out. I have no trees in my yard as they claimed the problem was. I disconnected my service, and they're trying to charge me $508, when they told me my balance would be $91.97.
I have had an horrible experience with Direct TV, and AT&T during this whole time. AT&T caused me to lose my land line numbers that I've had for 17 years, because of bad communication. Both these companies are a disgrace!!!

Posted by

on
After 6mths of receiving only 1/2 the channels I paid for I canceled DirecTV. They kept insisting they were going to charge me to come out and fix their issue. I said no. I'd been with them for years. You could never get ANY service from them. So I canceled. Now I have one negative mark on my credit report for $400 from them. I can't get it removed. It's been there since 2014 and I am denied credit because of this. I hate this company

Posted by

on
I have been fighting with Direct TV regarding an early termination fee for the past two weeks. I was informed that, despite being relocated (as I work for the Federal Government) and being placed into temporary housing, because I "choose to" not take my services with me to my new location, they have the "right and are valid" in charging me $180 dollars for the termination fee. I CANNOT believe this company's practices and would NEVER use them again, if I even had a choice.

What kills me about this is the relocation is that DirecTV was the ONLY service provider at my current location, so it was not my choice to have them in the first place (I guess my choice would have been no service, which would have faired better than this). Now, with my relocation, I don't have a "home" to go do (as I will be in essentially a temp housing situation) and they still believe they have the right to take my money from my account because I could reconnect "when" I have a home!

Their customer service has been HORRIBLE (try 32 minutes waiting to talk to someone, or the Ping pong game of being bounced around from department to department, all of which say there is nothing they can do) and no one cares about the customer.

I am not giving up my fight on this and will keep fighting, even if that means a lawsuit or BBB claim :(

Posted by

on
i signed up for directtv in april..they set up my service april 13th..on the 26th they ran my card for the bill..two weeks with service and i have to pay again..wth is that about..already want to cancel but have a feeling gunna be huge cancellation fee..why are they billing me only two weeks of service..

Posted by

on
I am trying to get out of my contract with direct TV, I had it installed on 4/18 and tried to cancel on 4/22. There are telling me I have to pay a cancelation fee. I told them they quoted me the wrong price and said I had 15 days to cancel. Now there tell me I only hsd 24 hours to get out of contract is that correct? This is not far I was given nothing but false info, why am I being charged?

Posted by

on
After a few loyal years as a customer I cancelled when I moved. I paid a final bill and received a call from a Direct tv representative for an exit survey. He asked some questions as to my satisfaction and experience, and why I cancelled. That was that...til I recieved a collections notice? Now its the only negative on my credit report. They were charging me for service at my old address which no longer had receivers active. They didn't seem to care though.

Posted by

on
Even after being told that there would be no time agreement by the DIRECT TV employee who installed the service, I am receiving a cancellation fee. If he didnt know what he was talking about, why should I be charged for their own employees ignorance?

Posted by

on
Frustration and Time. Direct TV has sent my account to their Collections department. They are NOT HELD ACCOUNTABLE for their product . DIRECT TV does not take responsibility for upholding their end of the 24 month agreement. SERVICE.

Posted by

on
When we called to cancel our Directv due to the fact that we were not provided with the service we were promised, we were charged a $433 cancellation fee. We have records of multiple unreturned phone calls and letters of dispute etc.

Posted by

on
I cancelled my service after 4 months of being overcharged for programing and was charged a cancellation fee of $441.00, including taxes. I was not told by Directv how much the cancellation fee would be and it is not stated how much it would be in their customer service agreement. My contract was also extended without my knowlege because I sent in a defective reciever for a good one.

Posted by

on
My 87 year old mother was so often unable to watch with Direct TV as it was "out of contact with satellite". She was tired of calling and being on hold for hours waiting for service. We cancelled and have received excellent service from a cable company. Now Direct is threatening our credit if we don't pay.

Posted by

on
The installers said I didn't have "line of sight" from my balcony, so they offered to put the dish on my roof and told me many people do so. I live in a condo complex and the association immediately took down the dish from the roof. I have no other place to mount the dish, thus I canceled my service. Directv has been told about this over the phone and via letter to their disputes department. They refuse to reverse my $378 early cancellation fee even though I tell them that I would love to have their service, but there is no possible way I can receive their signal from my balcony. I have spent hours trying to settle this, but they just recently charged my CC and I'm furious.

Posted by

on
My HD/DVR service/lease began on 8/30/06. All costs where paid as scheduled. On 9/26/08, a replacement HD/DVR was sent out to replace the defective one. When I called in today to set up closing the account I was told that I would be charged an early termination fee of $300.

Posted by

on
Requested installation, asked about local channels, was told "after installation, call for waiver". NOT told till AFTER installation that is takes approx. 45 days to process waiver. Installed on Thurs. 7 Aug, removed on Mon 11 Aug. less than 72 business hrs. Missed my programs, missed Olympic Opening Ceremony, system was clunky and cumbersome, programming sucked. TOTALLY dis-satisfied. Wrote to Billing Disputes, they declined to refund cancellation charges based on a 24 hr cancellation window????? Never heard of it!

Posted by

on
I have written several times to DirectTV. They claim I do not have to have signed a contract to be bound by their terms of service, and refuse to waive the fee.

Posted by

on
I tried to cancel my direct TV service and was told that I would be charged over $200 as an early cancellation fee. I never signed a contract, nor was provided a contract with fine print to read. In addition, I have had multiple billing issues with Direct TV and have had to call 7 out of the 10 months I have had the service to correct billing mistakes. Direct TV representatives refused to provide me with any proof of contract, or any of the case information they have collected during my many calls.

Posted by

on
I have had $460 charged to my credit card, all because my two weeks of "service" failed to function after 2 different receivers, 3 different modems, and around 8 hours of phone time with tech support over that time.
The service had multiple problems from the beginning, and I'm told "Sorry about that, here's your cancellation charge." Upon demanding that they honor my promised 30-day cancellation period, I was told it's actually 24 hours. Gee, that's close.

Posted by

on
I have been notified of a $459.00 cancellation fee. When I called previous to cancel I requested total balance, commitment , etc. They tape these conversations. I had a replacement receiver sent in early 2008, but asked what charges for replacing a failed unit. No contract was mentioned. My point: I asked before switching service providers.

Posted by

on
I moved from Arizona to Kentucky and had every intention of having my DirectTV set up in my new apartment. However, once I moved in, I found out that my apartment was not facing the right direction to receive service. I called DirectTV and was told that I would be charged a cancellation fee, regardless of the reason.

One representative actually had the gall to tell me that the company had to recoup its cost for installing my original dish. I spoke to countless supervisors and received numerous conflicting bills. First I was charged for disconnection, then I was credited for it, then I was charged again. It took two months of daily phone calls to work it out. The company still owes me $37 but I don't expect to see that anytime soon.

Posted by

on
Direct TV offered me $39.99/month and when one week later I got my bill it was jacked up to $54.99 per month. When I called to straighten it out I was told that there were no rebates at this time and they would not honor their promise or advertising.

Posted by

on
DirecTV has caused me so much grief because they turned this into the credit agencies and hurt my credit. They will not accept their responsibility as the problem maker. They couldn't supply me with my local channel 6 after I asked the company and the installer if I would get my local channel 6, even before they installed it. I told them that if they couldn't furnish that channel there is no use in me having it,because my son was a commerical fisherman and had to know what the local weather was going to be each day. I wish they would just leave me alone!

Posted by

on
I called in advance of cancelling and was told the contract was up on 03/11/08. I cancelled on 03/12/08 and was informed that there was a 2 year contract on the DVR unit and that I owed a breach of contract penalty and the remainder of the contract fees. I asked where they had my signature agreeing to this and they said it was implied and that it was standard policy.

Posted by

on
I signed up for Direct TV service with a DVR based on advertised price of $39.95 with one year committment.

At the time of order I asked if a DVR was available. I was told the extra charges and accepted. What I was not told was that on their web site they have a contract (never provided to me) that in fine print says DVR increases contract length to 2 years, but not at the price promised.

My DVR actually never worked properly due to known software bugs. After dozens of calls and attempts to receive the service I paid for, I was told that I must pay an early cancellation fee of over $400. Additionally my monthly bill was jacked up to $66/month, though I was told I had no choice to continue at the price we had agreed.

How can you have an agreed contract when the terms are not disclosed? Now I am forced to pay about $1500 for a service that is not working as advertised. When I communicate with DTV they offer no solutions to the technical problems other than wipe the hard drive of the DVR, yet do not agree to cancel the contract, either.

Posted by

on
When I signed up for their service I was assured that I was not bound by a term contract.

After several months, the DVR that I was leasing went bad and I had to pay to replace it.

When I cancelled my service I was told that upon activating the replacement DVR I was automatically entered into a 24 month contract.

I have tried since January to handle this between DirecTV and American Express but to no avail. My last conversation this week with a DirecTV representative informed me that I was VERBALLY INFORMED when I called to activate the receiver. So I asked her to get me a copy of that conversation.

I am frustrated, have spent too much time and feel that they must be ripping off more less astute customers.

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