One-time billing snafu or is this typical?

[bfollowell]

Well, I just received my third bill from DirecTV. Instead of the roughly $50 bill I was expecting, I saw they charged my credit card $154 dollars! When I started looking the bill over, I noticed that they conveniently left off $103 dollars worth of credits that I'm supposed to be receiving. Is this a harbinger of things to come? Am I going to have to go over every bill with a fine toothed comb for the next 24 months to make certain they continue to give me the proper credits that I'm supposed to receive? Is this typical or maybe explained away as a rare billing snafu?

I'll post what I find out from customer service when I call them tomorrow.

 

[StealthMonkey]

I actually got my bill the the other day and saw all of my credits vanish as well. I haven't had a chance to call yet -- I am planning to in the next day or so. I'll be interested to hear what they say for you.

 

[Bodo Fenrirsson]

The best thing to do in the future(I'm assuming that both of you have paper billing),is to check your account online at the 5th of each month. That is when your bill is posted online. Then you can see in advance what they are billing you,hopefully,before any charges are made to your credit cards. I use paperless billing & auto pay. How much you owe for the month is posted on the 4th of the month,& the itemized statement is posted on the 5th of the month.

 

[bfollowell]

Nope. I have paperless billing and autopay as well. That was $10 of the $103 credits that I didn't receive this month.

Good advice about checking the bill before it actually posts though. Thanks for the info and the dates. I'll set myself a reminder to check the bills in the future to catch any issues before they charge my cc.

- Byron

 

[lparsons21]

If you are on autopay with a cc, you don't get to actually see the bill until AFTER they've taken the payment. That's a major complaint with D* that I have.

You can look to see most of the credits that will be applied before the date they scheduled to take the money, but I'd bet the most you'll be able to get done at that time is get credits against the next bill. IOW, they get to keep the excess for a month!

 

[raoul5788]

There was apparently an issue with many of the credits not being properly applied this month. Call and get them reinstated.

 

[Darrell S]

I lost 40 bucks worth of credits this month. They say it is a known issue and I have to wait at least five days for corp. office to fix it.

 

[bfollowell]

Well, I just got off of the phone with customer support. It was pretty easy to take care of. They looked at my account for a few minutes and quickly verified that they had not applied $110.21 worth of credits to my account. They asked me if I wanted to apply it to future bills or if I wanted an immediate refund. Since My bill for the Choice package, a Genie and one Genie Mini is only about $45, I figured it would be best to get a refund to my card. They processed it immediately and said that it could take up to ten business days for me to see it. They were really professional, polite, and apologetic, so I as long as this doesn't happen every other month or so, I guess I really can't complain too much. I know I'm going to keep a much closer eye on my bills for the next two years though, just to make certain I continue to get all of my proper credits. I know that's always good practice anyway but you know how we humans tend to get lazy and set in our ways and, as the credits start to drop off and get smaller after ten and twelve months and on up to twenty-four, it would probably be easier and easier to miss one.

Thanks for the replies. If you're someone fairly new like me that is supposed to be getting sign-up discounts, I'd definitely go double-check my bill.

- Byron

 

[mdram]

i always check the amount, if its off from what it should be, then i dig into it
not just with direct, but all bills

 

[StealthMonkey]

Yeah, I just called as well. They said it was a billing mess up (that they are very well aware of by now haha) for people with bills on the 16-18 of the month (I think those were the dates). She assured me that I will receive double credits on my April bill. I can actually see in my account online that the credits are already there, so it looks like everything will be fine.

 

[dalyew]

I know of some small businesses, especially subscription based businesses like gyms, who do this stunt because of cash flow problems. When the error is caught they usually apologize and offer to apply the overcharge to future months, basically giving themselves an interest free loan for the month. I hope Directv didn't need an extra cash boost this month lol.

 

[KraziJoe]

It's funny how it takes seconds for them to take the money but days/weeks for you to get it back.

 

[Tank]

I wondered the same thing as I didnt get my referral this month. noticed that the credit was put on the account over the weekend.

 

[Tank]

just got an e-mail from directv

Thank you for your loyalty as a valued DIRECTV customer. We are writing to inform you about an error that has occurred with the DIRECTV billing system, preventing monthly credits from appearing on your March bill statement.

We truly apologize for this error and want you to know that the problem was addressed immediately. Though you won't see the credits listed on your bill statement, the amount has been credited to your account. You can check your account balance anytime at directv.com/myaccount.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. We remain dedicated to bringing you the very best television experience and thank you again for your loyalty.

DIRECTV

 

[bfollowell]

Yeah, I got the email today too. I checked the account and, even though I was offered, and requested a $104 refund to my credit card, they just put all the credits towards my account instead. I guess it's no big deal either way. Now I basically don't have a DirecTV bill for the next 2.5 months. Still, like someone else said, it's sort of like all of us giving DirecTV a no-interest loan for a month or two.

 

[scots]

If you are on autopay with a cc, you don't get to actually see the bill until AFTER they've taken the payment. That's a major complaint with D* that I have.

I have autopay with a credit card, and they've NEVER taken the payment before I've seen the bill. I usually get the bill at least 2 weeks or more before they take the payment.

 

[lparsons21]

I have autopay with a credit card, and they've NEVER taken the payment before I've seen the bill. I usually get the bill at least 2 weeks or more before they take the payment.

If true, you are the very first person to ever have reported that.

They don't take debit card payments before the bill is ready for viewing, but they have always taken credit card payments before you are notified a bill is ready.

 

[StealthMonkey]

I have autopay. I get my bill and one line item is the automatic credit card charge. I might get the bill a day or two before the charge posts, but they've already dinged the card.

 

[Jam3s]

It's funny how it takes seconds for them to take the money but days/weeks for you to get it back.

That's true for nearly everywhere else. Refunding credit cards is difficult, whereas charging them is relatively easy.

 

[Broe67]

I just looked at mine. It is correct. Same as it was last month.