So about 3 months ago I swapped over from DishNetwork to Direct TV, since the former had proven to have issues giving me the sports channels needed to watch the upcoming CFL season. At the time I was signing up with Direct TV, I was told that I needed to sign a 24 month contract with the standard early cancellation fee.
I remember quite clearly asking the nice person on the other end something along the lines of "What if I have to move to, say, Canada, before then? You guys don't operate up there." to which I was told that in the event that I was moving to a place where Direct TV did not operate then the early cancellation fee would be waived. I happily signed up.
Fast forward approximately 3 months.
Last week I called Direct TV and explained my situation. They said that they would cancel my service, and waive the early cancellation fee. Thank you and have a nice day.
This week I got my final bill. It was rather large, due to the large early cancellation fee I have. I phoned up Direct TV and the conversation went something along the lines of this:
Billing Agent: You're right. There's a note in your file about no cancellation fee. It must have gone through automatically by mistake. I'll have to transfer you to our cancellation department, though.
Cancellation Agent: I'm sorry, but we only remove cancellation fees for soldiers being deployed. Our agents are not allowed to discuss cancellation fees with customers. We'll send out a memo to make sure that they don't do it in the future, but you'll still have to pay your fee.
Cancellation Supervisor: I'm sorry that the only reason that you agreed to sign up with us was because we lied to you, but you're still going to have to pay your fee. All we can do is make sure that our agents don't lie to anybody in the future.
In short: They admit that their agent lied (either deliberately or through ignorance. I don't really care which). They accept that I only agreed to sign up with them because of the lie. And they are quite happy to still take my money. Not surprising, I suppose (and technically legal, since I imagine their TOS doesn't say anything about waiving cancellation fees), but still more than a little dickish. I'd just move back to Canada without paying my bill, but I get the feeling that that would cause problems in the long run if I ever needed to get back into the US.
Fuck You, Direct TV.
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4 comments:
You should ask them if they can file a civil lawsuit for unpaid satellite fees against someone in another country. Can either legal system actually force you to pay? Would the cost of their lawyers be more than your cancellation costs?
I'm not worried about them forcing me to pay, so much as having an unpaid debt accruing interest if I need to travel or move back to the US in the future. I'm also not sure if it will affect my credit rating in Canada. I'd like to think no, since the good stuff (paid credit card bills, mortgages, rent etc) doesn't seem to follow, but I wouldn't be surprised if the bad stuff does.
I did file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, but I imagine that I'm going to have to make a decision before they decide to do anything.
Hell, I'd just threaten them with the concept of you moving to another country and them having to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees just to TRY to collect a couple hundred bucks....
... then send the cheque on the last possible day before exiting the USA.
I actually did tell them that I wasn't planning on paying the bill. Their response was "I'm sorry you feel that way."
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