warning for people with satellite....long vent!

mom23gsfg

New Member
are you aware who is getting money out of your account without concent?...

last year i made the big mistake of switching from dish network to direct tv...
at first glance all of the channels and in every room was just too good of a deal to pass up...and for a "cheaper price"...well our bill kept getting higher and higher...and last week we got a bill stating we owed them almost $300 dollars (needless to say hub accused me of not paying the bill,when i showed him where i had payed it each month he still accused me of not paying correct ammount)...so he gets angry and calls to disconnect service the next morning...
so while they are waiting to disconnect i get online and figure out i can look at all my past bills ....they had been charging me for $55 apeice for recievers i had never recieved!...so i call to get this problem fixed so we can keep our satellite...well while im waiting they cut it off...ugh...so the lady looks at my bills and sees the errors and says she will send them to the bill dep so it can be fixed but oh wait...even though these where made in error they still have to leave the satellite off for maybe 7-10 business days until it gets fixed because of it "appearing so high" and when it does thay will send me the correct bill and cut back on service....i say ok that is fine but will i get charged for those "off" days? of course not...

so 3 or 4 days go by and i go and do my grocery shopping...thinking i had money in the bank..
and when i get home i start to figure up my checkbook looking at my account online...and notice a bill taken out that i had not done in the amount of $133.90 (no use in asking hub he dont do bills) so i call the bank and they cant figure it out either because it hadnt fully posted yet...so i find out later when the mail runs..
sitting in my mailbox is my bill...it says $0 amount owed ...as i have learned i look closer ...
and noticed it showed where they had took some of it off but not all...and the remaining showed paid.....i called and the lady told me that now if you call and disconnect service they "have the right" within 2-3 days to use whatever payment method you have on file whether it be check or card to use it to get the money out of your account.to pay the remaing amount...
also upon further inspection i notice they have not fixed several of the errors...they still had charged me over $60 too much...and while the bank tells me this was illegal for them to do without me signing a concent form when i first started service ...they lady tells me this new policy just started 2 mo ago...so i couldnt have signed this so called form...
so i politly tell her im sure that they get alot of bounced checks because of this ...and she laughs ...i tell her it wouldnt be funny if it were her,...that shut up her laughing!
i also speak to her about what the other lady had said about sending me the correct bill and i would keep services ...and she says so you are saying you want to keep services ...i tell her NO!and i want my money they owe me so i can give it to another place ...oh and that will take up to 7-30 business days...ugh!
 

Hound dog

Nana's are Beautiful
I"d report them to the Better Business Beuro (I can't spell the last word sorry)

I'd be livid. husband decided it would be simpler to let the phone co take our bill money out of the bank each month instead of him remembering to pay it. That worked well for awhile. But then charges increased, and if we were notified I never saw it. And they added a few things.

I went off on them and swtiched it back to us paying it. They no longer have access to our account.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
From what I have heard this is not uncommon with satellite providers. We don't have cable in our area, and I won't pay extra for TV anyway.

I am sorry you are having to cope with this.

Hugs,

Susie
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
I have Dish and never had this problem. Maybe because I bought our receivers outright? I never have paid through autodraft but I do use my debit card online to pay the bill. It would really irk me if someone just drafted my account without telling me they were going to do it.
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
The only bills I have on auto payment is my insurance & my utilities. The others I pay via EFT through my bank website.

I have never had any problems with this - I hope you get this straightened out soon.
 

muttmeister

Well-Known Member
I'd be mad too. I have direct TV and so does my son but I get mine through the local electric company and I've never had any problem; I pay my bill at the electric company. My son, on the other hand, got his directly from directv and it seems that he has had a lot of problems. It sounds like they need to do a fix or they'll be out of business. Even these days, you can't stay in business by scr__ing your customers. I'd raise a fuss.
 
F

flutterbee

Guest
The only thing I have drafted out of my account is auto insurance. My utilities I pay via online banking, but I always make sure to check the box marked 'one time only' payment. I have all control over when it gets paid and how much. My cable company keeps sending me emails about auto-drafting my bill every month. However, they rarely even get the bill here before the due date. I'm not trusting them to draft my account.

I don't like companies having their hands in my checking account. If they make a mistake you're left holding the bag while they take their time fixing it.
 

mom23gsfg

New Member
thats what im so mad about i have never used auto pay...ive always sent them a check when they sent me the bill. and i dont think it was right of them to do this, just using my routing number and bank number to access my account to take the money out.....i was told not to pay until i got my bill fixed correctly...
 

tammyjh

New Member
Wow! We've had DirecTV for years and have never had a problem. I pay by phone check but they are not authorized for direct payment. I know because we've been late before and the service was shut off until I called and made payment.

Sorry that you had this problem. I would be wild as well. I hope you can get it resolved and that you are happy with whoever you pick for a new provider.
 
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