New Member
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2 Messages
Check your bill after the HD upgrade!
My mom is a close to original DIRECTV customer - I remember my dad ordering the equipment back in the day and getting on the roof to mount the dish to the chimney and doing all the alignment, etc. himself. She recently received the letter that the old SD equipment was finally being retired and she scheduled the installer to come out and put in the new dish and HD receiver. He was great, very professional, explained everything, yadda yadda.
She isn't very techie, ok, almost fearful of new tech, but she does know how to check her email. She went on today and had gotten an email that she was past due and had missed a monthly payment. Although the agent on the phone said he couldn't see when the change was made - she obviously was enrolled in paperless billing automatically after the upgrade. But she had neither received her normal paper bill nor an email with the normal monthly statement. She's old school, balances her checkbook to the penny every month, pays all her bills by check - so to have missed paying a bill was abnormal for her.
Anyway, the agent removed the late fee (as a courtesy of course) and said he took her off of paperless billing. After the call I had to go on the website and un-enroll her myself as whatever he did was not reflecting on her account.
The "upgrade" letter as well as conversations with an agent during the installation scheduling call gave the impression that 1) DIRECTV was not charging for the new equipment, and 2) her monthly bill would not be going up or changing at all. #1 proved to be true, however, #2 was not.
You'll find 3 new line items on the bill after you upgrade -
- Advanced Receiver Service - DVR
- Advanced Receiver Service - HD
- DIRECTV Whole-Home DVR Service
These three items come to $23.00 in additional new fees.
I had them remove the DVR fees because she doesn't record shows to watch later. Plus she has a Roku and she can stumble through it well enough to watch old tv shows on it if she really wants to. Who even DVRs anymore since you can stream everything?
I don't like the fact that like every other company, DIRECTV just assumes that you want these unnecessary services or won't check your bill and they can get a month or a few months of money out of you without you realizing or speaking up. I had to do the same thing with the "protection" plan. They just slapped that on without her consent, at least she did get communication that she could opt out, which she did.
I'm still not sure about the HD fee. The DIRECTV site defines it as "This service allows you to enjoy the HD feeds of channels you subscribe to with an HD-capable receiver." Seriously? How will they justify this fee when everyone drops their SD feeds and the only signal being broadcast is in HD? That's like a car company putting a credit card slot in the ignition that you have to swipe every time you want to go somewhere, even though you're making a car payment every month.
TL;DR - make sure you check your bill after the HD upgrade and that your billing preferences haven't been changed without your knowledge!
nabukl
ACE - Professor
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2.4K Messages
4 years ago
It's simple, the agent placed an upgrade order instead of a swap order, the swap order would have waived the hd and dvr fees and would have had no commitment , the upgrade order comes with a 24 month commitment, check her order confirmation email, I can almost guarantee it was an upgrade and not a swap, unfortunately there's nothing that can be done about it.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
DirecTV is shutting down the MPEG-2/SD-only feeds. So outdated equipment must be replaced.
What is supposed to happen is a complimentary MPEG swap. Since this is required to continue using DirecTV, the new monthly services are credited and there is no new service agreement.
However some agents misunderstanding the process (or knowing full well to boost their stats) are ordering an optional upgrade. That is where the new services are valid including a 24 month service agreement.
An order confirmation is sent to detail what you are getting. If there are charges and a 24 month agreement, that was your opportunity to call them and correct the order or close it if it will not work for you. Unfortunately once equipment was installed/activated, then the order was accepted as correct.
The DVR fee is NOT allowed to be removed. As long as you have one DVR, the fee will remain. Same with HD service. The Whole Home DVR is because you most likely got a Genie which makes all 3 services mandatory. Sorry but this is the reality. Even if some agent managed to delete the line item, it will be returned as is not an optional service.
Only way to remove DVR service is to replace all boxes with HD non-DVRs. Since you have used a free upgrade, that would be $99 each box to replace any Genie, Mini Genie Client, or regular HDDVR you have. And will restart the 24 months from the day they are activated.
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redfoxjr
New Member
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2 Messages
4 years ago
I see what you are saying Juniper, but the agent removed both the whole house and advanced services DVR fee from her bill and confirmed it on the phone. So if "Luther" was telling the truth, her bill from now on should only reflect the Advanced Service HD fee. I don't see why DIRECTV doesn't have the capability to disable the DVR function if the fee isn't being paid - everything is software as a service anyway. They can control your available channels based on your package, so controlling the functionality available on the Genie based on what you are paying for shouldn't be problem either.
Regardless, we'll see what it looks like next month when she gets her new bill.
The other thing that (Edited per community guidelines) is because of the distance that my mom lives off the road, she's just barely out of range for anything else other than DIRECTV. To me, she's just another example of who knows how many people (especially in her generation) who just want TV and are overpaying for services they don't need or want, but get lost in the jargon and techspeak. I'm glad at least I could help her with this much.
(edited)
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shannon02
ACE - Expert
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21.3K Messages
4 years ago
CSRs can't override the computer, the fees will be there.
Try filing a BBB complaint to kick it to corporate to get the swap offer instead the upgrade.
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Juniper
ACE - Expert
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23.4K Messages
4 years ago
They built the system that if you have a DVR you pay for DVR service. It is a waste of recourses for them to provide a DVR that is not being used for that purpose. So it has always been this way that as long as you have one DVR, then you must pay for it.
Agent gave false info. Even if they broke the system to remove the line item, later updates and audits will fix it putting it back on. It is not a matter of how you might see it could be programmed, it matters how their system is setup and their business decision. Unfortunately what you and she want to happen is not available. She either plans to pay for all the DVR services, pay the one-time lease costs to swap out all boxes for non-DVR models (which depending how many boxes she got could take a couple years or so before that cost and the monthly service equals out to where it is cheaper going forward), or cancel service (returning all boxes) and paying the early cancellation fee (ECF, valued at $20 for each month remaining).
The alternative I would highly suggest, is filing a BBB/FCC complaint. Your mother was ordering a MPEG swap, not an optional upgrade. Though the order confirmation would be for an upgrade she accepted, submitting through the BBB/FCC hits the corporate level. So it is a shot, but not a guarantee, of resolving anywhere in your favor.
Regardless of "jargon" always read the order confirmation or other paperwork provided. That way you can verify all is as expected or catch a concern before you are locked into it.
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