Please Read!

Hello followers of Momma Smells a Deal. =)

Generally I only post to tell you all about great deals and freebies, but tonight I am posting about another way to save you money. I urge you to read this before choosing service with Direct TV. While you must make your own decision in the end, I feel that this is important information.

Let me give you a little bit of a back story about what has happened to me; My husband and I have been direct tv customers for about two and a half years now. While I have always been satisfied with their customer service in the past, it is what occurred after our contract ended that has brought me to write this post to warn all of my readers.

This past summer the cable box in our living room stopped working. Direct TV promptly sent us out another box to replace the broken one. When we decided to move this October, we called Direct TV to find out when our contract ended. They clearly quoted us "November 7th 2010". Thankfully, that was our moving date. We asked that the service be shut off on the last day of the contract.

November 7th came, and our service was shut off. We moved into a new place where we were unable to have satellite television. At the end of November I received a bill stating that Direct TV had charged my credit card just over four hundred dollars for a early termination fee. The payment that they charged my card was turned down since I did not have the funds, as I was not anticipating the charges. This caused my interest rate to go up and made me look bad to my credit card company.

I was very upset, so I called Direct TV and demanded to know why they were charging me these fees. It turns out that whomever had sent out our box over the summer (to replace the broken one) had accidentally opened an entirely new contact for our account. I was assured that all of the fees had been taken off my account and that I would not be charged again. The company took responsibility stating that it was completely their mistake. While I was upset about what they had done to my credit, I let it go.

Then, on December 8th 2010, Direct TV charged my credit card the over 400.00 charge again. This time my credit card did have the funds, but it took all of my remaining balance, so the bills that are due to come through this week will be denied, causing my credit card interest rate to skyrocket yet again all because of the companies problem.

When I contacted Direct TV today, December 9th, I was told that the refund would take a full thirty days to be refunded to my account. That's right folks, they took over four hundred dollars from me with no right and then refused to return it until thirty days. I told the company that I would not accept that. After arguing on the phone for over an hour, they finally told me that they could do 8 business days (still well over 2 weeks) but that they were giving me special treatment. I am appalled that 2 weeks to get back money that I literally feel like they stole from me is considered special treatment. During those eight business days my bills would have gone unpaid and the bank would raise my rate. Direct TV was completely uncaring and unsympathetic.

Thankfully, I have worked something out with my bank who will not be raising my interest rates due to Direct TV's utter lack of customer service and complete incompetence. In this economy, I know very few families who would be able to feel financially stable if someone came and took over four hundred dollars from them and their family during the peak of the holiday season. I feel as if Direct TV has not only stolen from me, but they have literally managed to take away from my sons Christmas gifts this year. Yes, I realise that the money will eventually be returned, but sometimes eventually is not good enough.

I have been a very loyal customer, and have even referred a few of you, my readers, to Direct TV over the last year as a way for you all to save money. I no longer back this company. I will never do business with them again. I simply feel that you should all be aware of what has happened to me and my family so that you can prevent it from happening to you. If you ever have an instance like this, always call back to confirm that the fees have been removed from your account. Direct TV's lack of customer service worries me, and I urge you all to choose companies that hold customer service to a higher level. The choice is yours, but I feel that it is important that you are informed of this.

XoXo,
MommaFreebie

Disclaimer: This is based on my opinon and is not meant to be malicious. It is simply meant to inform the readers.