Suspending Service

DTV never notifies you when the 6 months suspension expires and they have no idea where you are so long as your account is active you are billed.  You take returnable receivers to a UPS/FedEx to scan them in and kept the receipt as proof you returned them, only if you are more then 10 miles from one will DTV send you a return kit.  You have 21 days from cancellation at the end of your billing cycle to return the receivers to avoid the NRF but if you do return them within a reasonable time frame after that then they will credit it back.

DirecTV has up to 6 months (not 9) max within a 12 month period. They cannot suspend over half a year as you really aren't a customer at that point.

Suspension is to the day. So the day it restored, your following bill would have a partial months charge for the remainder of the month it turned back on in addition to the full next month as normal. If your suspend/restore was in the first few days of your bill cycle, then yes that bill would look about double.

When you cancel, you have 21 days to return the boxes. It does not matter that you will not be at the location until November. It is the same time for everyone. Since cancellation does not go through until the end of the bill cycle, that is when the 21 days should start (as opposed to the day you call).

A retun kit is the old process. The current process is you take the boxes with your account number to a participating FedEx or The UPS Store. Keep receipt showing they took possesion.

If the boxes come in a little late, then any non-return fee (NRF) charged is reversed back once logged in. But perhaps your boxes are not returnable anymore. Agents tend to follow general info when canceling instead of checking the exact return list. If you post the model numbers of the boxes, we can give guidance.

Your word of advise of "don't use autopay!!!!" doesn't mean much. You would still be liable for the charges upon account restoring. And they can collect unpaid balances automatically, even if you are not on autopay, per the Terms of Service. The good advice is very information on how something works and don't expect any company to suspend for more than half a year.

Suspend DIRECTV service

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

We called and canceled our DirectTV service and never thought about it again, was told to discard the equipment as they didn’t want it back. 9 months later I realize I am being charged by ATT but know we do not have any services through them. After hours on the phone talking to multiple people they refund the $509 they autopay out of my account and tell me I’m all set, the very next week I am charged an additional $509 using the autopay they claimed to cancel. After hours on the phone again I am able to get a refund and promise the service and the autopay is canceled. One month later I receive a bill in the mail for the same amount, after another hour on the phone the best they are willing to do is split the bill with me. I’m guessing they will send the $255 bill to collections if I don’t pay…. I asked for a supervisor and was told I was speaking to the highest supervisor there was. I’m positive it is easier for the customer service to suspend an account than it is for them to cancel as asked and that is why I am stuck w a bill a year later, for a service I didn’t have equipment for, or the knowledge of it even being available. ATT suspends service instead of canceling and turns it back on 6 months later allowing them to charge you until you realize their charging you…. Seems shady AF and I will never use another ATT product or service again ever. 

AT&T no longer owns DTV.  How is it DTVs fault you didn't notice your CC was still being charged?  You are the one responsible for your finances.  DTV gives you 60 days to report billing errors and that is only what they refund. 

@DirectTVscamvictim 

When you cancel service you get a final bill confirming cancellation. While suspended there should still have been a monthly statement reflecting current status and no balance owed during suspension. Yes agent putting account into suspension instead of canceled as you requested was in the wrong, but there should have been other info on the way verifying this wasn't an actual cancel.

Cancellation goes through the end of the service month, not a chosen date or when you called. That means final month is not prorated.

If they were able to verify the cancellation request at the start of all this, they should have done a billing correction credit back to the end of the month when cancellation would have originally been effective. At this point I would consider filing a BBB complaint as that takes the issue to the corporate level. They might be able to do something a bit more. The concern is it sounds like you noticed the issue after months had passed from coming out of suspension. That is where it can make it look like you accepted the continuing service, as it is your responsibility as a consumer to review your bank/card accounts.

As a note, AT&T no longer owns DirecTV as they have gotten out of the TV service as a whole. And a bad agent doing the suspension trick instead of canceling has happened even before AT&T acquired DirecTV. Not often thankfully, but the point is that this issue was not caused by AT&T but a pre-existing weakness in the system that wasn't addressed (at least not successfully).