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DirecTV has always had issues (none / 0) (#18)
by enforcer72 on Tue Dec 04, 2007 at 12:08:10 PM PDT

They never have been straight with customers former or current. I dont make this statement lightly, first off, I had an account in 2000 and early 2001 with them. In early 2001 we had a few storms blow through and the receiver quit working. I called their CS number and was told their systems were down but they would cancel my service when they came back up. After asking for confirmation repeatedly I figured it would be taken care of. Not thinking further of it and having just hurt my back recently before that I trusted it was taken care of. Told my friend who was here helping take care of me and the kids to put all the bills in a drawer and Id take care of them in a month or two except for rent and utlities. a few months later I go back to a bill over $100.00 as they didnt disconnect it and had sent it to collections for an additional 2-3 months. The bill has been sold several times and I the phone calls would start. Id ask them to not call me anymore or send a notice in writing and they would stop for a little while. I didnt hear anything from them in a few years when I checked my credit report and files a complaint with the attorney generals office here in michigan as they had started calling and harrassing me again about it even though it was in dispute. Received a letter stating they had no record of my call to cancel so too bad I had to call or write to cancel service.. now if their network at the call center was down how could they have a record? They contacted me recently from an outfit in Sandy, UT who started calling again and sending tons of letters. This outfit was rude to my children on the phone and to myself when I told them I had no attachable or collectable assets or income they said "borrow it" they also wanted to add another 100.00 on the bill. I sent a letter asking for verification of the bill and if they were licensed in my state and it got kicked back to DTV again. They of course fall back on the same argument about no record. I contacted a family member who was here at the time I called and my former care giver and they both are willing to sign statements to the effect that I HAD CALLED and was arguing with the lady about was she sure it would be cancelled cuz I hated to pay for anything that wasnt working. (Im a tight wad and hate to spend anything to begin with usually). While I was writing the letter I found out that they technically have no legal leg to stand on anymore. I found the following under Michigan law. (In addition, this bill is now Out-Of-Statute in the State of Michigan as stated at http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-600-5807 specifically, Section 600.5807 subsections 8. Which states that "(8) The period of limitations is 6 years for all other actions to recover damages or sums due for breach of contract.") So technically they cannot collect on the bill, and federal law prevents them from reporting it to the national collection agencies after 7 years which the bill hits the first half of 2008. At what point does doing something on principle become something that is easier to give up and just pay the company or let them walk all over our rights? More recently my dad has had contact with them as he upgraded packages to get a TIVO type system. He pays his bill on time, has paid it on time for 10+ years and finally received upgraded receivers after 9 of those years. The TIVO errored and he was sent a replacement unit. we packaged up the old unit and shipped it back with their shipping label. Kept track of the numbers online to make sure it was delivered and he called to verify they recieved it which they finally admitted to after bouncing him to 3 different departments. Next month he gets a bill for an amount he wouldnt tell me but said was over a hundred dollars for not returning the receiver. Took him 3 hours on the phone and 4 different departments to admit that they made a mistake and would fix it, but took 2 months for the billing to correct.



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