Awesome billing error in my favor, and now I'm moving

[MsSarcastic]

For 10 months now I've been paying just over $5 for my Directv. It *should* be close to $70 a month if not more. No, I didn't intentionally do anything to get this, but when I upgraded my equipment & package at the 1 year mark last year I ended up with this awesome billing error in my favor since then.

I have purposely not called Directv for the little quirks here and there that I've run into (like I only get channel 5 in my bedroom and not the living room, so I must watch Greys Anatomy in my bedroom - boofrigginhoo, but for a $65 savings every month, I sure as hell am not gonna call and complain! haha) But now my dilemma is that I'll be moving soon, and I think it's safe to say if I call DTV and arrange the whole moving thing, I'm sure either the CSR will notice something is up that I've been paying very little for a long time now, or whatever the case may be.

1.) Can I just move my satellite myself? I'll be moving to another apartment complex, so I could just try my best to mimic the angle the dish is pointed from neighbors, and keep tweaking it until I get a signal?

2.) I would be willing to pay an independent contractor to do it if I knew for sure that someone from the real DTV wouldn't be tipped off to look at my account.

Or 3.) Just suck it up and admit my practically free ride is over. But buuuut it was so much fun getting random movie channels and never knowing from one day to the next which movie channels I was getting for free hahaha!

Or even 4.) If I called DTV and did it the legit way by asking for their assistance, and the CSR says something about my bill, could I just say something like my stepdad or whoever works for DTV so I get a discount? Lol. Does anyone get that great of a discount that would be believable?

Yes, I really am a cheapo. Don't hate on me because of it haha. And ethics? HA! That went out the door years ago It would be different if this were a mom and pop joint that I knew honestly would hurt from losing the couple dollars from me a month... but as you can see I obviously don't effect DTV from losing $65 a month from me, afterall it's been 10 months this has been going on and they haven't caught on.

 

[stardust3]

What if they catch their mistake & back bill you for the difference?

 

[Jimbo]

What if they catch their mistake & back bill you for the difference?

Thats where I was going to go !


They will find it eventually.

Sounds to me like shes using someones Addl. recvr, but don't know how it's going thru the D* billing that way.

Even D* employees don't get thier service for $ 5 p/m.

 

[MsSarcastic]

Lol nope. Wish I could say I did this on purpose, which would mean I'd be able to do it again. I don't think I'd be asking this question if I know how to do this, would I? It's pretty simple what they did to my bill. On my bill all there is the 2 receivers, and the credit for the main receiver. Leaving me with $5 and some cents to cover the fee for the additional receiver and tax. I still have full programming, HD on my main box, and DVR on both boxes. This month it increased (with the cost of everyones bill I believe, right?) to $6 and some odd cents. It only went up like .50c or so.

I'm not worried about them back billing me. I wouldn't pay it and they would send it to a collection agency. The agency would back right off as soon as I were to ask them to validate the claim, and all they have is copies of my monthly bills. Well guess what, I've paid every month what my bill is. It immediately wouldn't be a valid claim and DTV would just have to stfu about it.

If we can get back on topic I definitely welcome any other replies with answers to my actual questions. But any others who want to get off topic about this rather than what I'm actually asking, don't waste your time

 

[Nebugeater]

IF they were over charging you by $65 a month would you be silent? Buck up and pay what you owe.

 

[MsSarcastic]

IF they were over charging you by $65 a month would you be silent? Buck up and pay what you owe.

Congratulations on wasting your time and effort on that post.

 

[marquitos306]

For 10 months now I've been paying just over $5 for my Directv. It *should* be close to $70 a month if not more. No, I didn't intentionally do anything to get this, but when I upgraded my equipment & package at the 1 year mark last year I ended up with this awesome billing error in my favor since then.

I have purposely not called Directv for the little quirks here and there that I've run into (like I only get channel 5 in my bedroom and not the living room, so I must watch Greys Anatomy in my bedroom - boofrigginhoo, but for a $65 savings every month, I sure as hell am not gonna call and complain! haha) But now my dilemma is that I'll be moving soon, and I think it's safe to say if I call DTV and arrange the whole moving thing, I'm sure either the CSR will notice something is up that I've been paying very little for a long time now, or whatever the case may be.

1.) Can I just move my satellite myself? I'll be moving to another apartment complex, so I could just try my best to mimic the angle the dish is pointed from neighbors, and keep tweaking it until I get a signal?

2.) I would be willing to pay an independent contractor to do it if I knew for sure that someone from the real DTV wouldn't be tipped off to look at my account.

Or 3.) Just suck it up and admit my practically free ride is over. But buuuut it was so much fun getting random movie channels and never knowing from one day to the next which movie channels I was getting for free hahaha!

Or even 4.) If I called DTV and did it the legit way by asking for their assistance, and the CSR says something about my bill, could I just say something like my stepdad or whoever works for DTV so I get a discount? Lol. Does anyone get that great of a discount that would be believable?

Yes, I really am a cheapo. Don't hate on me because of it haha. And ethics? HA! That went out the door years ago It would be different if this were a mom and pop joint that I knew honestly would hurt from losing the couple dollars from me a month... but as you can see I obviously don't effect DTV from losing $65 a month from me, afterall it's been 10 months this has been going on and they haven't caught on.

We all due respect since you are awear of the billing mistake , if I was you I notifie D* of the situation. You got a good year now is time to get thins straight. I had mistake on my acc. before in my favor and I notified D* and got some perks out of the deal. That is me, sir, my humble sugestion. I'm not passing judgement on you but I will call D* for the moving part and take it from their. I stated this with all my respect to you.

 

[TDK1044]

Lol nope. Wish I could say I did this on purpose, which would mean I'd be able to do it again. I don't think I'd be asking this question if I know how to do this, would I? It's pretty simple what they did to my bill. On my bill all there is the 2 receivers, and the credit for the main receiver. Leaving me with $5 and some cents to cover the fee for the additional receiver and tax. I still have full programming, HD on my main box, and DVR on both boxes. This month it increased (with the cost of everyones bill I believe, right?) to $6 and some odd cents. It only went up like .50c or so.

I'm not worried about them back billing me. I wouldn't pay it and they would send it to a collection agency. The agency would back right off as soon as I were to ask them to validate the claim, and all they have is copies of my monthly bills. Well guess what, I've paid every month what my bill is. It immediately wouldn't be a valid claim and DTV would just have to stfu about it.

If we can get back on topic I definitely welcome any other replies with answers to my actual questions. But any others who want to get off topic about this rather than what I'm actually asking, don't waste your time

You are ignorant of the law. Your scenario regarding 'Collections' is not how it will play out. You knew that the monthly amount that you were paying did not represent fair compensation for services received from DirecTV. DirecTV has several options in terms of how they proceed.....none of them good news for you. Do yourself a favor and cut a deal with them before your credit score takes a huge hit.

 

[Nebugeater]

Congratulations on wasting your time and effort on that post.

Who is wasting there time? I think the overall majority you will find agree with me, not your approach.

 

[Ronnie-]

I would do what a few others have already said. If you have to move, call D*, set up an appointment to move, and get the billing straightened out when you do.

 

[hvcomputech]

So you know you're in the wrong, you perpetuate it by trying to figure out a way to continue with this "great deal" by means other than calling D*, and you don't want to hear anything on the forum other than how find a way to get it to continue, as if it was your right.

Unfortunately, for you, I'm pretty sure someone at D* is already running a report on accounts that pay less than $10.00/mo.

Good luck finding an answer that suits you.

 

[raoul5788]

MsSarcastic, assuming that your posts are legitimate, and I'm not convinced of that, have you ever heard of karma? If you haven't, or if you don't believe in it, you will at some point.

 

[TDK1044]

As the OP is effectively admitting to stealing from DirecTV and then asking Forum members to assist in this venture, I believe that the thread should be locked and the OP should be given a warning by a Moderator. The OP would be the first to complain if they were asked to pay a few Dollars more each for a package, but they have no problem stealing $65 per month from DirecTV.

 

[VinceT3]

Oh for the love of god.. the guy isn't stealing anything.. directv screwed up the bill and he's enjoying the advantages of it.. directv isn't going to fix your overcharged bill without you saying something.. why would they fix it if you didn't say something about being undercharged.. anyway..

yes you can move yourself.. only issue you may run into is if you move out of the city area.. then you might not get locals anymore.. but its very easy to take the receiver & dish to a new location.. little rough readjusting the dish.. but by far not that impossible.. may take you far longer than someone who's done it many times before.. but you can always call some local dish installer and ask them to do it and you'll pay them directly..

 

[BobMurdoch]

I'm with Vince. This is their screw up, not his. If they do catch it, I'm sure they will change the billing going forward, not back (like a grandfathered plan). The only time I've seen that be different is with utility companies and "estimated" bills (when a meter reader can't get to the meter due to weather or whatever reason), where you get a massive bill if they underestimate the amount (happened to me this month after the power company skipped two readings and underbilled me for two months - since they based my bill on an artificially low bill that made up for a month that they overcharged me last fall).

In this case, they applied some crazy discount to your bill. Worst they will do is remove it. But if you call to change the address, I guarantee they will catch it UNLESS, you can find a way to do it online (I'm not sure how D*'s system works as I am an E* customer) in which case you might be able to get away with it...

 

[Ramy]

Thats where I was going to go !


They will find it eventually.

Sounds to me like shes using someones Addl. recvr, but don't know how it's going thru the D* billing that way.

Even D* employees don't get thier service for $ 5 p/m.

Directv employees get their service for free.

 

[Rey]

Directv employees get their service for free.

Hmmm. Didn't know that.

 

[hvcomputech]

But subcontractors don't.

 

[MsSarcastic]

Thank you Bob and Vince, finally some genuine posts! And I'm there with ya guys on that one. Does anyone ever go over their bills every month with a fine toothed comb and see what they find? Many of us get over charged from places monthly. And you'd never even know unless you look at every single bill every single month. I, for one, am constantly calling TMobile to get things changed. And yeah I've even had to call DTV in the past to have stuff edited. The worst was when I signed up for their automatic payments from my checking account - bad idea, never doing that one again! It just so happened my first month of automatic payments with them they royally screwed up my account and charged me close to double what it should be. And who is the one that has to rearrange things in their account to make sure other payments are covered while waiting 2-3 days for the credit to return. Did I ever end up with something in return for all my hassles? NOPE.

It's BS and heck yeah I'm going to try to keep my free ride going as long as possible. As for karma, I'm really not worried about it. I can say DTV is the first to ever royally ever screw up my bill like this, and I really doubt I'll ever get it back after it goes away. But in all reality I think of this as karma biting DTV in the butt, not me.

And to the rest of you haters, come on now, if I were your relative or best friend or whatever, you know you'd surely be telling the person to keep it. I do not believe you for one second that you'd jump on them and tell them how they gotta call DTV and adjust their bill up to the correct price. Just because I'm some random person through the internet that doesn't mean I'm any less than the real life humans you interact with on a daily basis ;-)

 

[Lone Cloud]

I am really not thrilled with the modern practices of any television provider. For one thing, they announce in big red letters promotional deals, and then include two and a half pages of tiny, green fine print that you can't read unless you have an electron microscope.

Secondly, and this is the reason I am a true FTA guy, after you get used to your tv, they jack up your rates and then see if you will pay them. THEIR THEORY IS, IF YOU PAY THEM, YOU MUST AGREE WITH THE CHARGES. Now why would this not work in reverse?

They accepted the five dollars. They deposited it in their account. They continued to provide the service.

They have a hundred different promotions going at once so who is to say what's an error and what isn't.

But if they decide to, will they TRY to get you to pay full rates? Probably, but if you don't want to get banged for back charges, I would not send them any additional money, nor would I admit that I owed it, or did anything wrong for that matter.

I worry about none of this with my true FTA C and Ku system. I get more than enough good, absolutely free tv to suit me