How to get your cancellation fees back from DirecTV

by Jen

A couple of months ago, I wrote about how there’s almost no way to escape DirecTV’s enormous cancellation fees, and it’s really not clear in the fine print that every time one of their crap DVRs breaks down and they replace it, your contract renews for another 1-2 years.

Well, I am blessed with some really smart, savvy readers here at Bohemian Revolution. Several of you tried various ways of getting out of your cancellation fees, or getting them refunded. Doug found the solution:

Don’t waste your time with their customer service department (800-531-5000). Forget billing dispute (the Colorado address you have to write to). Call or write their corporate headquarters in El Segundo, CA, and it’s like you’re dealing with a whole different company.

Doug got jerked around by Customer Service for a bit, then:

I wrote a letter to John Malone, who is Chairman of DirecTV in El Segundo, California, explaining my “frustration.” I have no idea what he’ll do, but I explained that I will do everything I can to make people aware of this ridiculous business practice. I also read about the class action lawsuit in California, and emailed the lead attorney to get some more information. If he writes me back, I’ll post here.

This worked for Doug, who received a polite, response. The letter does not accept any blame or fault – they’re making a “business” decision to settle things “amicably.” Read: “Oh, noes, we’re gettin’ sued! Better play nice!” But hey, he got his money.

Around the time Doug got his lovely reply, I got a meaningless form letter back from Billing Dispute in Colorado saying that the cancellation fees I was charged were appropriate. I decided to call the El Segundo number Doug found: 310-964-5000. To my surprise, the entire phone call only took about 7 minutes.

At first, you get a recorded greeting, and then it starts ringing. It may ring quite a few times – over ten both times I called. Then someone answers, and you tell him you’ve got a problem with a cancellation fee and Customer Service isn’t being helpful, and he puts you through to the “Office of the President”, where someone answers immediately.In my case, she listened to my complaint, then put me on hold to review my account, and came back within two minutes to announce they would refund the cancellation fee.

I was afraid it was too easy. She had also said it might take ten business days to show up on my credit card. I gave them that, and it still wasn’t there. I called them again, and this time the call took only about three minutes. I was reassured that they were processing the refund that day and it would show up on my card in a couple of days. And so it did.

Here is the contact info for the El Segundo office:

Phone:

310-964-5000

Address:

John Malone, Chairman of DirecTV
2230 East Imperial Highway
El Segundo, CA 90245

Good luck! If you care to share, I’d love to hear in comments how this works out for any of you who try it.

Related posts:

1. DirecTV cancellation fees
2. Watch for new credit card fees
3. SCAM ALERT: Account services wants to lower your interest rate?
4. Utility rebates: don’t get jerked around
5. Dear Readers: how do you find a legitimate debt consolidation service?

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Posted in Do It Yourself, Featured Articles, Scam Notices on November 19, 2009
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