Removing Programming online

[phpscott]

Hi,
I have read that in the past that D* allowed people to add premium packages and remove them the next day online. I added HBO yesterday to record a couple movies and today when I tried removing HBO, I got the following message:

DIRECTV premium programming services are generally offered on a monthly basis. If you downgrade your premium programming options within thirty (30) days of adding a new service to your account, you may be subject to a $10.00 fee. If you wish to disconnect the selected service(s), please contact DIRECTV Customer Service at 1-800-531-5000.

Have they removed this capability recently or do you have to wait a FULL 24 hours to make a change (I made the change 20 hours ago)? I searched the forum and people could do this in July but could not find anything more recent.

Thanks!
Scott

 

[obeythelaw]

i remember reading that directv kind of caught on that people were doing this and so did not allow people to remove online programming anymore. whether you have to wait 30 days or not, i don't know.

 

[damaged]

That sucks! Yea, that's new, because I've done it dozens of times before without such message. And yes, when it did work, you had to wait the full 24 hours.

 

[Digital Dude]

I just added sportspak for SharkByte and this is the first time I saw the $10 charge BS. I think I'm going to go back and uncheck Center Ice preorder and explore options.

 

[damaged]

This certainly isn't going to get me to pay for those channels monthly, forget it, nothing on them is worth 12 dollars. They have _maybe_ one decent movie every couple of months on (100 freakin times), those are worth 40 cents, but 12 bucks?, no way. I don't see what their beef was, isn't it better to get 1-2000 different customers sign up for a day, everyday (and maybe even decide it's worth keeping) @ .40 cents (the SAME one pays when paying 12 bucks a month) then to never have those 1-2000 subscribe at all? Braindead.

 

[phpscott]

I think I cursed it.

Oh well, I guess I will wait a month and then have it removed by calling.

Scott

 

[damaged]

I was thinking(very wishfully I might add), he (the original poster) may have read the one that warns you about going from Total Choice Plus to Total Choice (or TCPremeium to TCPlus) and this 10 dollars is for downgrading your programming (as opposed to removing a package, as I have seen the message regarding the downgrades on there everytime but did not apply to the method in question.) can anyone confirm, maybe the orginal poster can try and do it 24 hours later (he said he tried at 20 which would fail)?

 

[phpscott]

Damaged,
I was on Total Choice before and am just trying to remove HBO but a good question. I will try again tomorrow. Does anyone have a copy of the message given in the past when someone tried removing packages before the 24 hour mark, if any?

Scott

 

[john262]

I got the message too. I think it means that you can continue to change programming online, but if you remove a premium package in less than a month's time they'll charge you the ten bucks.

I wonder if you can call them and remove it without the ten bucks being charged.

If not, I will definitely take it off after 30 days and then I won't ever subscribe to another premium package again.

 

[Stargazer]

Dish Network only charges $5 to downgrade unless its adult programming which is $10.

 

[damaged]

Well that certainly makes Dish look better after I'm out of my 1 yr contract with DirecTV.

 

[phpscott]

I just tried again and it still has the error message. This only means less $$$ from me long term I guess.

Scott

 

[damaged]

Thanks for trying again and reporting it here.

Same here, I won't be buying extra programming from them.

 

[Newshawk]

Dish Network only charges $5 to downgrade unless its adult programming which is $10.

But D*'s fee goes away after 30 days... you can downgrade programming on the 31st day for no charge. Does E*'s charge do that? I don't think so!

 

[dbs_sub_95]

Fees

I used to work for Showtime. I can imagine that all providers would do this.
When a subscriber picks up a premium service we charged a full month to the provider immediatly, regardless of if their customer kept it or not. Yes, we charged the provider less per month than they charged the customer... but we also charged per sub add fee, and per sub disconnect fees. We got 'em coming and going, but hey.... we were in a business to stay in business, right?