Is it legal for Directv to change my bill without permission? And why is customer service so bad?

it’s not just due to COVID-19. Directv is always hard to deal with. They transfer you from one person to another and keep you on the phone for hours. I have never had them resolve an issue for me under three hours. They always transfer you to one person to the next. Today I had to speak with nine people and they still did not resolve my problem. They made a mistake on my account and they refused to correct it. I will be leaving Directv and I will likely cancel my AT&T wireless phone as well as my U-verse account. DIRECTV is awful!!!! I was on the phone with nine different people today for over six hours and they did nothing for me and it was their mistake!!! I absolutely hate DIRECTV

@LinWa

The rates themselves only adjust once a year. This is because of increasing costs from the networks. This is why all TV providers have a clause that programing/pricing can change at any time. However for DirecTV, that only occurs in January with notice in December about the new rates. This time is was no more than $10 (depending on what you have).

If your bill changes outside of that, then compare the bills as most likely some discounts competed (those are not permanent), you have one-time charges (such as PPVs), or something about what services you have had changed.

Since rates only change once a year, something else is going on with your account. You will need to call DirecTV. Make sure it is the DirecTV specific number for best chance at getting this sorted. Regardless of how customer support may have been months ago, now they are just hanging on with a short staff as many call centers are temporarily closed for Covid-19.

YOU MUST BE LIVING IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTV UNIVERSE THAN ME ... I was charged for the NFL ticket and called them to get it taken off. They agreed to removed it and give me a credit. I paid my normal bill and told them since I didn't order that and didn't want it, I wasn't paying that portion. This was in Nov. and they promised a credit. On Feb 17th my service was disconnected because the NFL Ticket charges had not been paid. THEY HAD PROMISED FOUR MONTHS EARLIER TO CREDIT ME FOR IT BUT CONTINUED TO CHARGE ME FOR IT!!!! I called and after FOUR HOURS on the phone finally spoke with Chris who told me they could not give me the credit ... I gave him the name, date and employee # of the person who had promised me the refund and he still said he couldn't help me. Then, I found a case number they had given me and he was after almost FIVE HOURS ON THE PHONE was able to find where they had indeed PROMISED TO GIVE ME CREDIT. He said he gave me credit and reconnected my service. BUT he said since my service was disconnected, he could not set me back up on the same account program and my bill would be much HIGHER GOING FORWARD!!! WHAT!?? I complained telling him it wasn't my fault. DIRECTV kept charging me for something I didn't want or order (he said it auto renewed .. so I asked him to take off all auto renews from my account - he said he did) ... then he said my bill would be THREE TIMES HIGHER THAN IT WAS BEFORE THE DISCONNECTION. I said I wasn't paying that and it wasn't my fault. He said he could help by giving me a $95 discount beginning in March for the next 12 months IF I AGREED TO PAY THE HIGHER BILL THAT DAY. Chris was saying this would save me money in the long run but I had to pay the higher bill that day. I paid the higher bill to get the service set back up and the discount in place.

Fast forward to the next month's bill ... the next month's bill was incorrect!!! He told me my bill would be $81.00 for the next 12 months but it was way higher for March. Because I am a small business owner and we were hit with COVID19 crisis I did not have FIVE HOURS to call because I was in the middle of closing my office, work from home, quarantine, filing for PPP, Disaster Recovery, Unemployment and taking care of supplies for my family ... ETC!!! This was the MARCH BILL ...

When the APRIL BILL arrived it was over $400.00 !!!! I had been paying $30 per month before the disconnection. When Chris set it back up, he did not get the $95 discount added and my bill was not the $82.31 as he had promised (this was still higher than the $30 after tax I had prior to the disconnection but they said one promo for $55 had expired) ...

In the midst of the pandemic, I got a notice my service was being disconnected so I spend the time to call them yesterday .... I was on the phone for OVER SIX HOURS, DISCONNECTED THREE TIMES, TRANSFERRED BACK TO THE AUTOMATED BILL PAY BY Michelle instead of to a manager ... so had to start the process over!! I spoke to Princess, Michelle, the automated system, Macy, JR (disconnected with no return call), Mary (disconnected with no return call), Christine, Glen (Manager), Josh (disconnected with no return call) and Luis/Luie LC308M over a period of MORE THAN 6 hours (began at 3 pm and ended after 9 pm)

They were not able to solve the problem!!! They said they didn't see where Chris had set up the $95 promo for the next 12 months ... AND (GET THIS) because the service was disconnect (because of the NFL Ticket and because DIRECTV didn't issue the credit THEY promised for something I didn't order in the first place) ... AND because they disconnected my service because I didn't pay for that ... THEY SAID MY $95 DISCOUNT WAS TAKEN OFF (AND GET THIS) FOR NON-COMPLIANCE ON MY PART!!!!!

THEY CHARGED ME FOR SOMETHING I DIDN'T ORDER, THEY PROMISED ME A CREDIT, THEY DIDN'T CREDIT ME, THEY THEN DISCONNECTED MY SERVICE BECAUSE I DIDN'T PAY FOR WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSEDLY CREDITING ME FOR ... THEN AFTER HOURS TRYING TO GET IT RESOLVED THEY RECONNECT MY SERVICE ..... AND CHARGE ME MORE .... THEY PROMISE ME A LOWER PRICE OVER THE NEXT 12 MONTHS SO I'LL PAY THE HIGHER BILL WHICH I DO .... THEN WHEN I GET MY BILL ..... THERE ARE NOT DISCOUNTS!!!! WHEN I ASK ABOUT THE DISCOUNTS, THEY SAY I'M IN NON-COMPLIANCE (because they didn't give me the credit they promised ... and they disconnected my service over that amount) SO THEY TOOK OFF ALL MY PREVIOUS DISCOUNTS AND WOULD NOT HONOR THE $95 DISCOUNT FOR THE NEXT 12 MONTHS WHICH CHRIS HAD PROMISED if I paid the HIGHER AMOUNT ON 2/17/20!!!!!!

So, it turns out that DIRECTV had not fully credited me for the NFL Ticket, so Luis was able to give me $150.00 back (which was my money that I had paid for the NFL ticket .. seems they billed me again and I paid this ... so he gave me my money back on that ... KEEP IN MIND THIS WASN'T something they were giving me like a discount BUT giving me MY MONEY BACK BACAUSE THEY OVERCHARGED ME. HE ACTED LIKE IT WAS A BIG DEAL THAT HE WAS GIVING ME SOMETHING!!! What ... DIRECTV overcharged me so that was my money ....

So after talking to all those people and feeling like I was going to have a heart attack, stroke or at the very least a panic attack ... DIRECTV DID NOT fix the problem and refused to give me the $95 discount that was promised ...

So Luis tries to get me to go with a cheaper service and I tell him I'm exhausted and can not continue the call (AFTER 6 HOURS ON THE PHONE AND GETTING NOTHING!!!!!) I tell him I'm going to look online to see what's available and that I'm not going form paying $30 a month to now paying $184 per month ...

Luis says the $150 NFL ticket credit will keep my service from being disconnected AND that service will not be disconnected during the pandemic. I tell him I'll look at what's available and call back but that I'm not under any circumstances paying $184 per month.

He then asked if he provided me great service ... I said no, my problem was not resolved. I told him I still had to call back and go through this HOURS AND HOURS LONG CHARADE AGAIN TO TRY TO GET THIS FIXED ... we then ended the call.

I wake up this morning, get me coffee and turn on the TV to watch morning news ..... AND MY SERVICE IS DISCONNECTED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I need to speak with someone who can help me .... this isn't right!!!!! DIRECTV disconnected my TV during COVID19 even after they said the credit would prevent that and also saying that they would not disconnect during the pandemic !!! WORST COMPANY EVEEEEERRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I HATE DIRECTV .... !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am living in reality. I just to read through my bill, especially if there is a change in amounts, so that I fully understand what is going on instead of assuming.

Being charged for NFL Sunday Ticket is not the rates changing. It works on an auto renew, from either the intro offer of having it free or if you chose to have it added later. Renewal notice is in June. You are billed 1st of 6 installments in July. You have until the season starts (September) to opt out. Calling in November would be too late as that would be 2 months after season start so is secured in. At best they can turn off the auto renew so you don't get it the next year. I will still verify by the June and July bills to be sure it was opted out.

Full bill should have been paid. Charges are valid until anything is adjusted. Logging into your account would show you the running balance. If the balance reduces by the amount of credit you were expecting, then sure pay the lower amount. If it doesn't, then there has been no credit yet meaning charges are still valid. They only send out one bill a month so the safest option is always pay the bill as it shows, as any adjustments would reflect on the next bill sent.

If an account goes into full disconnect (non-payment or voluntary), then all promos are forfeited. That is the way they have always been. The agent reconnecting you promising discounts, I suspect was just saying what you wanted to hear. Discounts have been pulled back on being offered per the direction that their CEO publicly announced. Too many people on discounts that are not sustainable for the company. So they will no longer allow accounts to operate at a loss.

Any discounts they might have tend to have minimum requirements to have them. So if the services on your account are not in compliance with that, then agents are stuck as that is built into the system. They cannot apply what your account does not qualify for.

So what is going on is you were promised discounts and credits, many of which could not be honored because they were invalid. Sounds like at least some were able to be taken care of later.

There is no promise that DirecTV will avoid interruption during the pandemic. Such protection only applies to services considered essential, not any of the TV services.

https://about.att.com/pages/COVID-19.html#consumers

(Keeping Our Customers Connected - Updated April 28, 2020)

April 27, 2020

Consistent with FCC Chairman Pai’s “Keep Americans Connected Pledge,” AT&T will continue to support our customers. Through June 30, 2020, for residential or small business customers who notify us that they are unable to pay their bills due to disruptions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we will:

Not terminate any postpaid wireless, home phone or broadband residential or small business account.

Waive any late payment fees for postpaid wireless, home phone or broadband residential or small business, U-verse TV or DIRECTV customer.

Waive domestic postpaid wireless plan overage charges for data, voice or text for residential or small business wireless customers.

Keep our public Wi-Fi hotspots open for anyone who needs them.

As shown, their TV services have a late fee waiver program, but no promise of avoiding interruption. That only applies to phone and internet services.

well, I’ve had enough of their misquotes and plain out lies. And, I will not spend hours being transferred from one agent to another. I was on the phone for six hours yesterday... that’s just abusive !!! I’m out and won’t be back!!!! There are better companies out there ... and, honesty no TV is better than the excruciating experience I have had to endure ... not doing that anymore!!