Deployed Military Servicemember Charged Excessive and Unfair Cancellation/Suspension Fees by DirecTV and AT&T

Actually, AT&T allows you to suspend your service for nine months. Had I not been on automated billing, this would not have been an issue. But when on automated billing, DirecTV bills your service at the beginning of the billing period, and refuses to refund my account for service I will not use because I am now deployed and no longer living at my residence.

In addition, I do not believe you fully understand the facts, or may not understand the issue. Why does DirecTV charge veterans a fee for service suspended while on a military deployment and active duty? It's quite a sacrifice to spend nine to ten months away from your Family and Friends. Certainly, service is voluntary, and deployments are anticipated, but most companies do a much better job of showing their appreciation for the service and sacrifice of military service members and veterans.

Thank you for your comment. I disagree. I won’t worry about it though. This is only one reason DirecTV will continue to bleed customers. Compare the customer service from a company such as Costco versus DirecTV. Two totally separate business segments, but the customer service from Costco is top notch, compared to DirecTV. And it shows in each company’s respective business results, quarterly earnings, and customer retention numbers.

DirecTV's suspension has been max 6 months within a 12 month period. In prior years there was special override in the system that could go beyond in special circumstances, but appears they are no longer doing that. Here is their suspend support page: https://www.att.com/support/article/directv/KM1237725/

You must suspend the account for at least 30 days and no longer than 6 months.

As for the cost of monthly suspension, that is new by AT&T. Now it is $7 as a monthly vacation hold. They no longer suspend for free. This is an update within the last couple years to their Terms of Service. https://www.att.com/legal/terms.dtv_feeSchedule.html

Vacation Hold Up to $7 Alternate monthly recurring charge if you put your service on a temporary hold while on vacation for 2-6 months.

With suspensions if it started after payment went through, it would not refund what you already paid. It would just prorate the services, so the remaining days of the service month would stay as a credit on the account. Then when service resumed, that credit balance would go towards any partial charges for the remainder of the month in which service was back on. That way you had closer to a normal bill, instead of having almost 2 bills in one. It is also why it must be a minimum of 30 days as they work on monthly billing for service, not usage based.

If you cancel your service however, there is no proration. That updated at the start of last year. You pay for the full service month. Here is the update notice sent at the end of 2018:

Please read this if you receive DIRECTV, AT&T U-verse® TV, AT&T Internet, AT&T Phone, and/or AT&T Fixed Wireless service(s). We want to remind you that you’re billed in advance for recurring service(s) and/or programming charges and applicable fees based on the terms of your current service agreement(s) with us. Starting January 14, 2019, subject to applicable laws, we’re updating your agreement(s) to include your recurring service(s)/programming charges and fees won’t be prorated if you cancel the above service(s) on any day other than the last day of your billing cycle. Your service(s) will continue until the end of your billing cycle but you won’t get a refund (prorated credits) for any remaining days left in your billing cycle. For products not listed above, refer to their terms of service for more information.

Questions about this change? Go to att.com/ProrationPolicy for more information and to see the revised section of your service agreement(s).

Canceling service normally has a 21 day return timeframe. It has been temporarily extended to 60 days because of Covid-19. There are no other extension in place. If a box comes in a little after the non-return fee (NRF) has been billed, then the charge gets reversed of course. But there has not been any other exception to the return timeframe as is an automated process.

As I recall, canceling because of a deployment would get a waiver of your early cancellation fee (ECF) if you still had time left on a service agreement. You would need to verify that with the cancellation/retention department to be sure.

Unfortunately they don't have further accommodation policies for what you want at this time.