I'm so furious I could spit. Just got off the phone with DirecTV's CS and I'm royally steamed.
The convoluded way all the various credits and rebates are applied make it very difficult to arrive at REAL cost, so to a certain extent I relied on the information I was given on the phone when I signed up as being accurate. That was a damned mistake.
I switched from Dish to DirecTV in January, and I have my bills autopaid to a credit card each month. When I signed up, my service for the first 14 months was to be $33.99 per month. That went to $34.99 when they raised the receiver lease fee. Fine. Dandy. I can live with that... although for some reason I thought when I was locked under contract, it was locked... apparently that only applies to programming costs and not other miscellaneous charges.
Anyway... I just checked my statements only to find that for the last 2 months I've been charged $40.99, $6 more per month than what I was quoted. At first I thought it was due to being inadvertantly charged lease fees for both receivers than just the second one, but it's much more insidious than that.
Cause: Deliberate understatement of initial charges to make the CSRs understate real monthly costs.
Here's what happened: When I signed up, they were offering an HBO/Starz/Showtime pack free for 3 months. Of course the pricing for this and supposedly an offsetting credit were incorporated into the initial bills, so the net effect should have been $0. However, the package charge was $44 and the credit offset was $50, thus making my monthly package artifically appear $6 lower than it actually was, i.e., when I asked the CSR if my monthly bill would be $34.99 after I cancelled the "free" movie package, either the CSR didn't know or deliberately didn't say that my monthly charges would GO UP $6.
I know I know, I shouldn't bitch about $6, and I actually was undercharged by $6 for 3 months, but it's the principal of the damned thing. The monthly commitment I expected, signed on for, and agreed to was $33.99 a month based on what the CSR told me, NOT $39.99 per month. When the CSR tells me that my net bill is going to be $33.99 or $34.99 per month, that's what I expect it to be, not rise to $40.99 because of underhanded games they play with supposedly "free" packages.
I left Dish partly because of this damned misleading games crap.
They're all deceptive bastards.
The convoluded way all the various credits and rebates are applied make it very difficult to arrive at REAL cost, so to a certain extent I relied on the information I was given on the phone when I signed up as being accurate. That was a damned mistake.
I switched from Dish to DirecTV in January, and I have my bills autopaid to a credit card each month. When I signed up, my service for the first 14 months was to be $33.99 per month. That went to $34.99 when they raised the receiver lease fee. Fine. Dandy. I can live with that... although for some reason I thought when I was locked under contract, it was locked... apparently that only applies to programming costs and not other miscellaneous charges.
Anyway... I just checked my statements only to find that for the last 2 months I've been charged $40.99, $6 more per month than what I was quoted. At first I thought it was due to being inadvertantly charged lease fees for both receivers than just the second one, but it's much more insidious than that.
Cause: Deliberate understatement of initial charges to make the CSRs understate real monthly costs.
Here's what happened: When I signed up, they were offering an HBO/Starz/Showtime pack free for 3 months. Of course the pricing for this and supposedly an offsetting credit were incorporated into the initial bills, so the net effect should have been $0. However, the package charge was $44 and the credit offset was $50, thus making my monthly package artifically appear $6 lower than it actually was, i.e., when I asked the CSR if my monthly bill would be $34.99 after I cancelled the "free" movie package, either the CSR didn't know or deliberately didn't say that my monthly charges would GO UP $6.
I know I know, I shouldn't bitch about $6, and I actually was undercharged by $6 for 3 months, but it's the principal of the damned thing. The monthly commitment I expected, signed on for, and agreed to was $33.99 a month based on what the CSR told me, NOT $39.99 per month. When the CSR tells me that my net bill is going to be $33.99 or $34.99 per month, that's what I expect it to be, not rise to $40.99 because of underhanded games they play with supposedly "free" packages.
I left Dish partly because of this damned misleading games crap.
They're all deceptive bastards.
