DTV has gone insane-24 month for changing programming???

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brad1138

brad1138

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Mar 20, 2006
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Red Dwarf
We have sold/installed D* & E* for over 12 years. Yesterday we learned that Directv is now extending their contract with the customer 24 months when ever the customer does ANYTHING. Call in and change your programming, 24 month commitment. Have a defective reciever replaced under warranty, 24 month commitment. Add a receiver to your acct, 24 month commitment. We found this out while trying to add a receiver to a customers acct. We found out his contract had been extended 24 months when he had a defective rec. replaced 3 months ago.

The worst part about it is they aren't telling the customer this in many cases. Maybe this is old news, but it is the first we have heard about it. I honestly can't believe they are doing this.

Brad
 
I have not heard of them doing it for extending programming, but have heard of it happening when a customer exchanges a piece of defective hardware.

I was actually asked about this a few weeks ago by a friend who works at the states AG's office as they have received a few complaints about it.

It is an unfair process and one that should be stopped.
 
brad1138 said:
We have sold/installed D* & E* for over 12 years. Yesterday we learned that Directv is now extending their contract with the customer 24 months when ever the customer does ANYTHING. Call in and change your programming, 24 month commitment. Have a defective reciever replaced under warranty, 24 month commitment. Add a receiver to your acct, 24 month commitment. We found this out while trying to add a receiver to a customers acct. We found out his contract had been extended 24 months when he had a defective rec. replaced 3 months ago.

The worst part about it is they aren't telling the customer this in many cases. Maybe this is old news, but it is the first we have heard about it. I honestly can't believe they are doing this.

Brad
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Wow! I hope this is not true with free promotions such as adding the HD Extra Pack for 3 months free online. If so, my relative will not be happy about this.
 
Does anyone else have a boxed section under programming that states "no new two year commitment" when reviewing accounts online? I was told it means exactly what it sounds like it means; been with them since 1994ish & have made plenty of changes & additions as recently as last week. Many of us had complained about "loyalty" in the past & I'm just wondering if older no hassle accounts are given a wider birth if you will. On the other hand, this could be cloud cover relating to some other service commitment & be covered by the same rules as everyone else. Really don't plan on going anywhere but will be running T's U-Verse product shortly so that adds a little competition to the mix.
 
I think you got some bad information. Only new receiver activations should trigger a commitment or commitment extension. I know that replacing a faulty receiver shouldnt and cant imagine the basis for a programming change triggering a commit. The commit is supposed to be there to protect directv from subsidizing a new receiver/install and then having the customer bail out a year later for a better deal.

If this is the case, they better scream it in your ear and have you sign a flaming safety orange document in 48 point type that you understand you've made this commitment. Otherwise they're going to end up getting sued from one end to the other.
 
I always thought that an adanced receiver, ie. HD, or DVR, triggered the 24 month commitment. But just today, I was on the phone making changes to a potential customer's account. She was wanting to add 1 standard receiver. The work order only had 1 standard receiver. The rep told the potential customer that it was indeed a 24 month commitment. The customer then politely told me, and the rep, to take a hike.
 
This whole 2 year commit thing is loony. I thought about adding a 3rd receiver last year but didnt because it'd trigger a new 2 year. I'd think about the directv tivo next year, but I'm sure that would start a new 2 year.

The 2 year is fine for a brand spanking new customer. It costs a lot to do a free install and give cheap equipment away to someone you dont have a relationship with. Stupid to do it to an existing customer. If they know about it, they're going to think twice about upgrading or increasing receiver count. If they dont know about it, you're going to have one pissed off customer if they decide to cancel and then find out they owe a big early termination fee.
 
Well, I just replaced my HD receiver this past week. The old H21 just stopped booting. It was dead. When I was on the phone with Tech Support, they said they would send out a replacement receiver. They sent out another H21. (FYI: I have the protection plan). When it was all said and done, I told her I had a couple of questions for her. One the the questions I asked was if this replacement would affect my contract time period in anyway, shape or form. She said no. You have to upgrade equipment or I believe she also said something about changing programming.
 
Is there any place on Directv.com where they show the commitment period? I was just on the site and couldn't find it. Maybe it's a state secret, only to be reviled when a person tries to stop service.
 
cfb said:
I believe its in the lease agreement. I think its also printed on the back of the document you sign after an installer finishes the work at your house.

DIRECTV: Customer Service: Agreements
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That's true. However, this thread is about the 24 month commitment changing with each change. Since my installation, I "dropped" service from 4 units to 3 units. I then later added SHO to my subscription. I was wondering if either of these two events triggered a new 24 month period?

According to a few of the comments above, they would. So, short of calling DTV, I was wondering if the commitment period would be displayed on directv.com under my page.
 
cfb said:
I think you got some bad information. Only new receiver activations should trigger a commitment or commitment extension. I know that replacing a faulty receiver shouldnt and cant imagine the basis for a programming change triggering a commit. The commit is supposed to be there to protect directv from subsidizing a new receiver/install and then having the customer bail out a year later for a better deal.

If this is the case, they better scream it in your ear and have you sign a flaming safety orange document in 48 point type that you understand you've made this commitment. Otherwise they're going to end up getting sued from one end to the other.
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So what if you own your receiver and buy replacement one and have it activated? Would you still get the 24 month committment withtout actually committing?

I can see why Scott commented about the AG's (attorney general) getting the complaints.
 
As I understand it, activating a receiver that you own shouldnt activate or extend a commit. However the cost of buying a new owned receiver is usually close to or more than the cost of the early termination fee, so its not really economically feasible to buy one.

I cant find anything on the directv web site, or anywhere else that says changing your programming package or dropping a receiver would extend your commit.

I know that adding a new leased unit extends the commit. Some people have had the commit extended when replacing a bad receiver even with the protection plan, but that was reported to be a mistake and if you make enough noise they wont hold you to it. I havent seen someone get a commit when changing programming but I guess its possible that if someone called in as an existing customer and asked for one of the new customer deals (like the current 'buy nfl sunday ticket and get platinum for free for 5 months' deals that the csr accidentally put them on a 24 month commit like a new customer as well. Or maybe thats policy, give a 24 month commit to a new customer deal, even if its to an existing customer.

I sincerely hope they wouldnt do a 24 month commit if you changed package, say from platinum to total choice. I suspect thats bad info.
 
This thread is wrong I will be making a new one to cover this crap....

Only time we extend contracts is when you get upgrades .

Otherwise no . Do mistakes happen where replacement reciver trigger new commitments yes are th valid no usually takes a little patience and politeness to get corrected. You fly off the handle when you hear the comittment then your not going to get anywhere. But I will be writting this all up in a new thread.
 
dfergie said:
I've been in touch with someone at DirecTv, If your account has been extended due to the above let myself or Jason know (with your Account info) and we can work to get it resolved...
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Personally the whole programing thing is a stupid rumor I would actually like to see someone who has got there programing changed and had there committment extended.
 
Just remember this issue does not happen to everyone, but it is happening to some folks out there which makes the complaints from those people valid.

Adding programming or replacing a defective receiver is not supposed to restart the 24 month commitment, but for some folks it has and that needs to be fixed.
 
stonecold said:
Personally the whole programing thing is a stupid rumor I would actually like to see someone who has got there programing changed and had there committment extended.
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Stonecold,

Thanks :up (a voice of "reason"). I have been reading the thread and have been concerned about this. I'm a 10-yr DTV sub that rarely calls DTV for anything and this wasn't making sense to me, getting my 2-yr contract extended for a programming change.

Question: What's the best way to verify the time remaining on my 2-yr contract? Can it be accessed from our online DTV acct site?
 
It would be nice if the contract expiration date was on the "my account" page.

Dish doesn't make it visible to you either. Whenever I would send them an e-mail asking about it, they would respond with a "you're not thinking about leaving, are you" e-mail.

Regards, Eric
 
Its true with faulty equipment. I had 2 bad receivers and they extended my contract an additional year. I argued with them and ot the extention down to 6 months, the equipment I got from them only lasted 6 months, that's why I was able to get the extension reduced. I didn't realize I had agreed to that when I signed the lease agreement. I think that I'm goig to go fta, I'm tired of paying monthly and hoping that my contract doesn't get extended.
 
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