DIRECTV not honoring paperless opt-out.

The only reason to send out late notices is if the payment is late. Even doing everything on paper, she should know when the Directv bill is due since it’s the same date every month and she should also know if she hasn’t received the paper bill by a certain date, something is wrong. You are absolutely right that Directv should not be re-enrolling her into paperless billing once she has opted out but if she insists on sticking with paper bills, she also needs to know when bills are due and when a paper bill is late. Even with a paper bill, the bill is still available online and always available as a backup if the paper bill doesn’t arrive in time.

If paperless keeps being opted back in without consent, that is a problem. You might consider a BBB complaint that your choice keeps being overridden when they haven't moved to paperless only.

Regardless if by traditional paper bill or paperless, the bill is due at the same time each month. If she is so set on paper everything, perhaps a wall calendar or such with a reminder what her due date is each month and when she should have her payment made by in order to hope it reaches them on time.

A side note: With her having DirecTV since the year they started and she is so set in her ways, there is the concern she might still have MPEG-2 equipment that is actively being phased out as those feeds are shutdown. Before she gets an agent that might try to update more than she needs or just doesn't work best for her personally, what are the models of each box she has now? Just to be sure if she has any required swaps or if any updates are just optional to where she can just choose to say on her existing equipment.

Thanks for both of your responses. 

She had the HD upgrade to her equipment last summer and has been fairly happy with it.  The install was a very good experience.

I told the agent that I would keep an eye on the account myself, and that if it was changed again without her consent, I would be filing a more serious complaint with DirectTV.  The BBB is a good idea also, I'll make sure to keep that in mind as well.

Telling the agent you will be keeping an eye yourself doesn't do anything to change their options. I suspect it is their system defaulting to paperless in error, not something that is intended. If it happens again, definitely go with the BBB complaint for the ongoing issue.

If all her boxes are MPEG-4/SD and HD capable now, instead of MPEG-2/SD-only, then glad it all worked out. Once in a while you find someone who spoke to an agent who got overzealous with the update so just wanted to be sure for her sake.

Hey, @redfoxjr We are here to help you. 

We understand your concern and the importance of it, lets meet in a DM in order to check all options to make things right for your mother account.

Andres DIRECTV Community Specialist

My 87 year-old mother is also old-fashioned and has the same recurring problem. Not only is her paperless billing option "magically" enabled every few months without her consent, but for the first time in over a decade so was the autopay option last February (she likes to make manual online payments month-to-month to prevent the billing system from overcharging her and upsetting a fixed budget that is tight enough as it is).

It is completely useless to disenroll or complain to Billing Dept and Loyalty Dept supervisors. They will lay the blame on you and barefacedly gaslight you, arguing that you must have clicked on it or requested it by phone because it is otherwise IMPOSSIBLE for the system to do it on its own. One supervisor today went as far as to suggest that we should talk to the Fraud Dept because someone could be hacking us.

They may hide behind their plausible deniability all they want, but we all know that this is all about saving money on paper, toner, and postage (multiply by 16M subscribers and you'll see a clear motive), which would be perfectly legitimate if they didn't go about it in such an underhanded way.

We will submit a report to the BBB, even though it might be a lost cause.

As a Customer of Att, DirectTv Stream or Whatever It Is They are calling themselves now(Really don’t care) It is the Right of the Customer to want to have paper billing every month if that is their wish. I would prefer to have the paper billing myself. Why do we as customers have to go through all of the trouble of printing the bill from the website.? Attt is supposed to make the customer happy and not have to do extra work to get what they want. I have been with ATT for almost 5 years now and have never liked the fact that My bill gets split in to. One for internet and home phone and direct stream tv. Att is the only company that does this practice. To me it’s very shady. I also was getting a paper bill for the internet/ phone but it stopped after a year. I have to call Att every month to pay it. Then 12 days later, Att takes another payment from my debit card for the direct tv stream. I feel like I’ve been robbed twice by Att. And don’t get me started when Att has their disputes with cable tv carriers. And your favorite channels are blackout by 2 multibillion dollar companies having a (Edited per community guidelines) contest. In the meantime customers are suffering because of the (Edited per community guidelines) contest. Like the current black out between Att and Disney/ABC/Discovery. I’m close to getting rid of my account with Att over these problems that they continue to have. And now they are raising their prices again. When it isn’t necessary.

AT&T sold off 30% of DTV and no longer has anything to do with the day to day operations and this post is 2 years old

@AtmxDawg 

Sure it is your right to WANT, but it is not something AT&T, DirecTV (or any other service under those brands) must provide. More of a digital world now with paperless being the standard.

AT&T is not "supposed" to do what you claim. That is just what you want them to do. You can either call and leave feedback with support or even do a BBB complaint if you feel strongly enough. But in the end, it is their choice as a company.

Digging up a thread from over 2 years ago doesn't change the reality of the situation. Either you accept this is how their billing works or you go elsewhere.

And raising prices when it isn't necessary? Their operating costs go up than so do our bills. That is basics of economics. If you think it is not necessary then go get employed by them and show how it can be done to their satisfaction. I submit that your "not necessary" is not based in fact but is simply because you don't like it when your bill goes up (just like everybody else).