Refer-a-Friend

[johnm356]

This is nothing new for DirecTV - they did this to me back in '05 as well.

They do the same thing for many of their "services", like a couple of years ago when they enticed me back into the NFL Sunday Ticket package after I called to cancel.
They mailed me a postcard with what amounted to a 50% discount if I re-upped, with free SuperFan. What they -didn't- tell me was how they intended to bill me with their creative billing practices.

They were supposed to only bill me something like $30 a month for 5 months. They ended up billing me the full rate ($60/month) and then claimed it was supposed to include a $30/month "credit".
The "credit" never materialized. Calls were an exercise in patience. The Billing Dept. said I had to talk to their "Sports Packages" Dept. They said I had to speak to the "Special Promotions" Dept., which I later found out, doesn't even exist. It took almost a year to sort it out, and even then they never lived up to their promotion terms. I ended up having to "settle" for a series of discounts to balance things out. All in all it wasnt worth it - the money I saved on NFL ST was spent three times over in lost time and sheer aggravation. The new business model these days is "Act dumb and frustrate the customer into giving up"

From now on, I take down names and record every word during phone calls (They already gave me permission to do so since they advised me they're recording ME).
Seems the only way to make any headway with them at all is to call the Retention Dept. and scream "Disconnect"...
Never again. They won't stop until they're sued, and lose big.
One more "misunderstanding" from DTV Billing and I'm gone for good.

[Al K]

About three months ago a friend of mine decided to switch to DirecTV. I gave him my account number and he signed up through refer a friend. He got his first $10 credit on his first bill. I didn't get mine and called. I got the same story others here have gotten. "It will appear on your next bill." It did not.

The second month neither one of us got the $10 credit. We both called, and we both got told to wait another month.

The third month neither of us got our credit and we both threatened to cancel our programming altogether. Both of us got our $10 credits.

The reason they do this stuff is that they hope most people will just get fed up and stop complaining. In my mind, there is no concern for customer satisfaction at DirecTV. They know Dish Network is just as bad, so they're not worried.