Direct TV Complaint

This is the second time I am submitting this. In inadvertently said Dish TV when it was actually Direct TV.

Verizon was offering a package which contained Direct TV, Verizon DSL and Verizon telephone for 99.00/month. We decided we wanted to purchase it. Verizon made arrangements with Direct TV to come and install the dish. Prior to that, we had not signed anything. The account was to be activated when the technicians came to hook it up. We already had Comcast Cable, and there was no need to activate anything until we cancelled Comcast, and Direct TV was working. When the technicians came, they tried for hours to install the dish, but could get no signal. Finally, they decided that the dish just would not work in our home, so they decided to cancel the whole thing. They claimed to have called Direct TV to tell them it was cancelled. In the meantime, we signed nothing. They came and left, and we didn't get Direct TV. I even called Direct TV to confirm that the order was cancelled and they told me it was. However, they failed to inform me of any cancellation fee. Last week, we received a bill from Direct TV for $340.00, representing an "early cancellation fee." They claim that we had the account activated weeks before they came to install it. Why, may I ask, would we do that? We were already paying for Comcast, and we did not have the dish yet. so why would we activate anything? I have tried reasoning with Direct TV, but they keep insisting that we owe them this money because we signed on for an 18-month period and cancelled early. The fact is, we never had Direct TV. It was not ever hooked up because it would not work. We do not feel that we owe them this astronomical cancellation fee for something we never had, and therefore never cancelled. Also, I've spoken to about 10 different people at Direct TV. Each one of them gives me a different date as to when we activated the account. All of them are lying. We had no intention of activating anything until it was in our possession. They are now threatening to go into our bank account (they have our debit card number - well not anymore - we cancelled it). I have filed complaints with everyone. Consumer Affairs has selected this story for publication on their website. Also, the FTC has entered this information on their law enforcement base. We have also filed a complaint with the BBB. I would like to try and get some media attention for this. This is an outrage. They are trying to intimidate us, but it's not working. They won't budge. They just keep making up different dates for which they claim we activated our account. As I said before, there was no paperwork, nothing was signed. I asked them to provide me with proof of what they're claiming, but to no avail. I hope you can help. Thank you.

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