Horrible crooks

Settling with the collection agency (that now owns the balance, not DirecTV) will not remove record of the debt. You may need to verify with the collection agency that it has been properly reported, and if needed to submit to the credit bureau(s) that are reflecting it that the debt info is no longer current if they are showing it as active.

Sounds like you may have canceled around the time the return process was being changed. Used to be you were automatically shipped a prepaid return kit. Now the old process is only used if you call and request it if you are over 10 miles away from a participating shipping location.

For reference for anyone who needs it, here is the new return process.

How To Return The Equipment 

Go to a FedEx or UPS location with your account #. No need to bring a box or label, the equipment will be boxed it up & shipped out at no charge. The process takes less than 5 minutes. 

 

• Find FedEx Office locations at www.fedex.com/attreturns.

• Find The UPS Store locations at www.theupsstore.com/locations.

Actually DTV told me when I initially canceled the service they would send me the boxes to return the equipment and they never did. It was after the initial cancellation that my numerous inquiries were ignored.  But thank you for the other info about contacting the collection agency. 
However based on this contract and previous contracts I stand by what I said, Crooks. 

Migration of companies including a big change in the return process caused some excessive problems. But big problems from that, or agents who messed up on getting it fixed, does not make them crooks. Certainly fault somewhere on their end for not giving the proper info for the change in return process (was a big headache at the time), but wasn't intentional.

So not crooks, but definitely a big error on their end (and possibly the collection agency depending what they reported after you settled).

I do feel that it is intentional. Not about the equipment so much as gradually increasing your bill without your consent for the same service. When you call to cancel they magically can make your bill go back to what it was if you don’t cancel. The fact that every representative gives you a different answer is also an issue. Maybe greedy manipulator would be a better description.  The definition of (Edited as per community guidelines) is someone( in this case a company) who is dishonest or criminal. They are a dishonest company and that is the definition of criminal. I am not calling agents or any individual a (Edited as per community guidelines) I am calling DTV (Edited as per community guidelines). You can continue to defend them to any extent that you want but I stand by what I said. As I stated in my review it’s partially my responsibility for going back to them a second time. I should not be dealing with dishonest companies (Edited as per community guidelines). DTV has a reputation for this as my experience is not unique. I am reporting my experience not yours and everyone I know that has used DTV has an issue with them. I’m sure AT&T would at least give you a contract job since you seem to be so enamored with their business model. 

All TV providers have gone up over the years. I am not enamored with it, just understand that is the reality. You call to cancel, companies are expected to try and make offers to retain your business. Nothing magical about it, just a normal strategy in the business world.

However, the days are gone of getting it back to where it used to be. They apparently reviewed and found too many customers skating by on discounts either operating at a loss or high risk to do so. As such, their CEO announced months ago (before Covid) that offers would be pulled back. They were only ever intended as a temporary perk, not a constant way to keep your bill low. They are a business, not a charity, and must operate as such. I do hope discounts will return before too long, but I expect they will be in reasonable moderation when they do so.

Regarding the returned equipment, when they made change to the return process there were huge problems. They were still in the middle of the acquisition of AT&T, training their agents on that new service and working on integrating their systems. So a lot of confusion happened there. I stand by it was not intentional to hit you with an NRF, but I completely agree the problems were too much and for too long. I feel they were trying to do too much too soon. They should have done a smaller set of changes at a time, but I'm guessing they had a schedule to keep with certain parts of the migration that turned out to be more of a challenge than planned.

Yes the errors of not providing you the correct return process and sorting it out was their fault. My point is that it was not on purpose, but an unfortunate effect of their migration plan. And yes I do believe it could have been prevented with better long-term planning on their part and focusing more on the logistics of training new and migrated agents. AT&T does have some good potential for DirecTV, but they still have a long road ahead to get DirecTV back to the high reputation it held.

I stand by what I said for the final time. When a company makes an error they should fix it. End of story.  I’m sure AT&T appreciates your persistence on defending them. You seem to be going to great lengths to defend them. Good luck!

Yes they should have fixed it. I am not defending or excusing what they did. They dropped the ball in your case, but it was not "greedy manipulation" or intentional. Big problems can happen without it being on purpose, that is where I stand. Nobody was out to get you as you make it sound.

Not going to "great lengths", simply I have heard (not just the forum, just through life) too many people who have something bad happen and have to cry that it was on purpose and everyone is out to get them when all that really happen was an honest, though quite large, error. Them being at fault does not make them a crook or have personal vendetta against someone.

You have your opinion and I have mine. Yes you are defending them or work (Contract work counts) for them to have this much time to reply. No ones crying hun just reporting my experience and my opinion like this is for. Thanks have a good day. 

It’s not personal or an attack on me personally. They do it to all their customer’s. 

I do not work for them, not even "contract work". Just another customer. Received a lot of help on the forums and ended up spending a good amount of my free time discussing with others. I try to help where I can, preferably to find a solution or give guidance. Other times I can only give a realistic perspective, which though may not be well received, is given honestly.

We both agree they messed up in this situation. But I respect we disagree on the intent of it. However they do not do it to all customers, as many of us enjoy our service with no issues like the one you went through. But I do say from information I have seen, including posts and situations from some, that they have a lot of work to do to smooth out from the rocky migration with DirecTV.