DirecTV/Direct Tech Southwest Complaint
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DirecTV installer fraud and extorsion - DirecTV installation
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I am a resident of Tatum Texas and now the consumer of DirecTV. On 11-22-07 I had a Direct Tech Southwest installer come to my home and install a new DirecTV service that I had ordered from DirecTV. At the time of install I was told by the installer that I would need to pay $60.00 for a wall fish (new cable in the wall). He stated that he was willing to waive $20.00 of the cost. Upon completion I asked the installer who I should make the check payable to. He stated “Make it out to my girlfriend”, I found this to be rather strange and after he left I contacted Direct Tech Southwest about who the check was made to. I was told that I should not have done that and that they would take care of the issue.
On 01-05-2008 my wife received a call from the installer stating that because we had not paid the $40.00 dollars at time of install we would now need to pay him $60.00. He also stated that we had until noon 01-05 to pay him or our service would be shut off. Of course we did not pay him and at noon the service was shutdown. When I contacted DirecTV I was told that I shut the service down and that I would need to reveal the password. At that time I had no idea what the password was. With a little help from the operator I was able to figure out the pass word and get my service back on. I was also told that due to the fact I had suspended the service I would need to pay a $56.00 reconnect fee. Now keep in mind that I did not suspend the service the installer did. After several calls I was able to get this charge removed and filed a complaint as well.
On 01-13-2008 my wife received yet another call from the installer stating that I was not to contact DirecTV, Direct Tech or him. He stated I would be receiving a letter on Monday and that he hoped we could resolve this prior to going to court or him filing a claim on my home owners insurance.
This man is attempting to extort money from me and I have contacted my local PD along with the FBI office in Dallas but no one seems to want to help. I should be noted that this man has one of my personal checks that contains my address, phone number, DL number, bank account and routing numbers. This guy with the right knowledge could destroy my credit and even still my identity as well. I am in search of any and all help that may be available to me.
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Reader Comments:
Posted by nrog1 on 02/09/2008
Nice work direct-tv...These companies must be regulated by public-utilities commisions!! they do not have the corporate morality to operate in an honest/professional manner. We need consumer-protection laws in this country.
Posted by rking8 on 02/09/2008
We need a nationwide consumer generated, consumer controlled lawsuit to bring dish and direct to heel. Installatin is top of the lsit. Putting holes in a roof is against code. Windstorm is a big deal on the coast where I live. Insurance companies are not going to pay for a leak repair and water damage when you let them do a roof mount. What kinda idiot punches hole in a roof? Composition shingles are a system. It bonds in the heat. Then we have a lack of building permits, non-presentation of landlord re-lease is a biggy. Training and licensing of installers-I can go on. Tiny important wording is frowned upon by courts. This crosses state lines. If they do not present it is triple damages under the deceptive trade laws in Texas. Renters are naive under the eyes of the law. If you get in a fight with direct tv send them a certified letter with a time demand. Make the certified letter have a signature and return receipt. Save all emails. Call your Representatives office at the state and local level immeadioso. These guys are pirates.
Posted by ron_all on 05/07/2008
I work for Direct Tv as a tech
This installation tech was correct
He did CUSTOM WORK that he is to collect the funds for worked reformed. THIS MONEY DOES NOT GO TO DIREVT TV. He had a rights because this walfish is not included as part of a noemal insakkation. The tech was with in his rights for the work he performs, the FBI and local police have nothing to do with is LABOR work for Custome work performed, He can have the funds made payable to anyone he wishes, since he performed the work. He is totally within his rights to preform the work and YOU AGREED TO PAY HIM THIS MONEY FOR WORK DONE !! HE BOKE NO LAWS FOR WORK HE DONE OR MONEY HE HAD A RIGHT TO COLLECT ! !
Check with any Sirect TV instaaltion company and they wil, tell you the same
NO FRAUD WAS Committed. that is why the FBI And POLICE DID NOTHING TO HIM !
Posted by contact on 07/14/2008
On behalf of DirecTv, I am hereby authorized to send each and every account that has outstanding balances to CBE for collections. This is my job. Pay your bills on time and in full, and we would not have to do this. Being poor/broke is not an excuss, you ordered the service, you pay the bill.
Scott West
DirecTv
Albany, OR
1-541-926-4635 Field Office
1-360-885-9669 Regional Office
1-541-936-1908 Office
1-800-531-5000 Customer Service
Posted by marylyn99 on 08/12/2008
There are certain requirements a customer's house needs to have in order to have DirecTV installed. If those requirements are not met well, the tech needs to bring the house up to DirectV standards which sometimes come at price.
A wall fish is custom work along with moving customer furniture, connecting un-installed devices, and special equipment (for customers that don't want holes on their roofs). Custom work is NOT FREE!...get that straight and be ready to pay up front.
Most of the time, technicians will inform customers on custom charges prior to the commence of work. Whether customers want DirectV, they need to pay for custom charges or reschedule your appointment and pay another contractor for the labor.
The only thing that is free is the installation of the satellite (anywhere on the house not necessarily on the roof) and outside wiring (if no wiring is present). Once the customer wants something beyond the standard installation, be prepared to pay for custom work. Failure to pay for labor performed will result on you going to Judge Judy
Posted by jim.hosford on 10/01/2008
In case anyone is wondering, I have validated the following phone numbers for DirecTV Installation/Service support through DirecTech.
1-866-238-4993 (for NE US, but they can direct to your area if you give them your service phone number)
1-800-745-1058 (hit option "5" and then enter your zip code and the call will be directed to the appropriate local office).
1-866-648-7808 (Local number for Houston and surrounding area).
Posted by ford_man82 on 11/10/2008
Im a tech for directtech southwest in houston and the installer was not correct what he should have done was call the custom work line and you could have paid directtech sw by check credit card but us as installers we can not accept any checks. now if a customer wants to give us a tip in cash that is different. that tech should have been fired for his actions because we can not call directtv and cancel your contract and as for ron_all dude you and this guy give us techs a bad name you are an idiot you and that other guy should be fired
Posted by perry268 on 11/12/2008
They all are correct to a point, yes there is an extra charge for custom work and some direct TV installers are allow to charge the customers because they are private comtractors and other are working for a company such as the one mention above but custom work is extra all the time. Each company has it own policies on how much to charge base on the areas ansd so on.
Posted by jamoffit on 11/18/2008
satelite techs do not get paid to fish lines, and need to recoop costs from the homeowner, however having you make out a check to his girlfreind seems, not on the up-and-up, i don't blame you for being concerned. If a contractor is not upfront with you about financial obligations prior to doing work, then they are operating at the risk of not getting paid. I do believe that direct tech's issue with the installer was that he wanted you to make the check out to his girlfreind and not the actual charge for the service. I would probably just pay the tech for his service, however i would only send the 40 dollars as agreed.
Posted by Rex_1966 on 12/23/2008
You should be grateful that the tech ran the wall fish and gave you a discount. The DirecTV pay schedule for the wall fish is $60.00. The tech is only required to bring the line in through an outside wall or through the floor. The Tech gave you one third off. You ungrateful bastard
Posted by gator_79 on 01/15/2009
As an installer for direct and dish I agree with charging for labor and an install consisting of aditional labor should cost extra but I think this customers complaint is that it was paid and this tech is coming back for seconds. The customers have the right to be made aware of customs before the techs arrival and the tech should collect all fund before leaving. The customer and the tech should have the estimate signed before work begins. If the customer refuses to pay after work is complete it is the techs right to take it before a judge. WE AS TECHS MUST MAINTAIN GOOD MORALE CHARACTER AS WE ARE THE FACE OF THESE COMPANYS
Posted by gfgriepp on 05/27/2009
30 Months of Fraudulent Billing!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:50 a.m.
Called and spoke to David (U2631) at DIRECTV he informed me Amanda would return my call within 2 hours.
Amanda (R9631) at DIRECTV called offered me 60 days credit I politely refused and again informed DIRECTV that I would be suing in small claims court and filing criminal charges for unauthorized use of a credit card. Amanda kept telling me that DIRECTV had spoken with me and I had not called DIRECTV to confirm the disconnect and that DIRECTV had billed me for approximately 30 months before I noticed. I stressed to Amanda that I had never been contacted by DIRECTV after my initial E-mail in July, 2006 and that I had never spoken to DIRECTV about this account until February 24, 2009 when I discovered the fraudulent billing.
DIRECTVs position appears to be that I did not catch DIRECTV soon enough so DIRECTV intends to keep most of the funds that DIRECTV fraudulently removed from my bank account because I did not catch DIRECTVs fraud quickly enough. The approximately $100 credit DIRECTV offered does not equal the approximately $1600 dollars DIRECTV obtained fraudulently.
Posted by johnnylambert77 on 07/03/2009
How does the technician get paid for doing custom work at a customers home. Does the customer make check payable to the technician or to the hsp that provides the home service? Please send answer asap! This is happening to alot of techs who except money and are being fired from the hsp for doing it!
Posted by dbraz on 12/27/2009
Synopsis:
On October 28th of 2009 I received an automated message on my cell phone indicating that cable TV from DirecTV had been ordered in my name. I was immediately alarmed because I had NOT recently ordered utility services of any kind. The automated message left an account number and 866 number to call back. I researched the number on the internet and found that many others had also received a similar message and indicated that it was fraudulent when they called back. I called the 866 number but it gave me another automated message indicating that I should call another number. I then decided to call DirectTV corporate based off the number I found in the whitepages. When I called they indicated that no such account for me existed.
I checked my credit report in December 09 as I am undergoing approval for a mortgage and the bank indicated that they wanted further information on the inquiry from DirectTV. Upon review and confirmation of the posting on my credit report, I immediately contact Experian to report that fraud had occurred and they submitted a request for an investigation. The representative from Experian recommended that I also contact DirecTV to ensure that no such account existed under my name and alert them that some fraudulent activity had occurred. I immediately did so (contacted DirecTV) and was transferred to the Fraud Department. I spoke to a representative by the name of Vincent who stated that he could not find an account under my SSN and that the error was on the credit bureau's side. I expressed my concern that at this point it was an inquiry and my fear is that it would escalate to a delinquent account. Moreover, I explained my situation with respects to obtaining a mortgage and the inquiry being questioned by the bank. He then stated that there was nothing else he could do for me and a issue of this nature should not prevent me from obtaining a mortgage. I requested to speak to his supervisor and Vincent was very uncooperative but after 5 minutes he took my cellular number down and told me that he would have his supervisor "Jose" contact me within 24 hours as he was busy, in the field, investigating cases. It is not 18 days later and I have not heard from Jose.
Later in the day, I contacted DirecTV's fraud department again with hopes that I would get a more knowledgeable representative. This representative's name was Rebecca. She searched my SSN and could not find an account but advised that she put a "block" on my SSN which she said meant that no account could be established in my name. If only Vincent would have done this?
This situation with DirecTV is not unusual. There are many other consumers and citizens who have experienced this from them. However, I believe that more steps should be taken to validate the identify of applicants, and protect the identity of consumers.
Posted by ldanon on 03/10/2010
I am so sorry that I did not see these posts before I signed up for Direct TV for our business... I called the 800# and spoke to a friendly representative and told them that we were moving our business and that the new place did not have cable reception so we were investigating our satellite options. He said great! and went on to give the sales pitch of his life. I signed up for the $24.99 package and scheduled an install date AT OUR STORE and the tech came and installed the dish AT OUR STORE. One week later I get a nasty call from the "fraud department" from a nasty, uneducated girl named Brittnay - telephone number 310-964-2886 if you want to harrass her - telling me that I was committing a fraud by having a residential acct at a business... I said EXCUSE ME?!? FRAUD?! I gave the name of my business, I gave the address of my business, I told the guy it was a business and a tech came to my business to set up the service by drilling a HOLE in the side of my building - How did I commit a fraud?! DirectTV is commiting a fraud by selling me a on lost cost package and then once everything is installed switching on me to a "business package" which is nearly 3x the price .. I said to her -- who do I CALL about a fraud perpetrated against me?! And she of course - with her high school education continued to read from her script... refused to transfer me to anyone and told me if I did not call the Commercial Accts dept my service would be suspended...The person at the commercial dept was very understanding but said that yes, I would need to switch to a business acct for $69.99 a month ... and I said no - that unless they figured something out they would have to send a tech to my BUSINESS and take their equipment back -- and since THEY were changing the terms of the contract I would not pay anything... We'll see... I am cancelling my credit card today so they cannot start charging me for things like happened to the people on this site ... at least I read your notes in time for that! I'll keep you posted as to how things progress...
Posted by mikenierman on 03/27/2010
PAY HIM !! IDIOT !! He did a job that puts food on his table !! Wall fishing is not a standard install and you need to pay him !!
Posted by joeygarza on 07/26/2010
The reason he told you to write the check out to himself is because if you would have wrote the check to directech it would have taken six weeks or so for him to get the money for the work if he would have gotten it at all. Directech is not a trustworthy company by no means. So, the guy cut you a deal (I wouldn't have) and told you to only pay $40.00. You should have paid the guy and left it at that.
Posted by gregricks10 on 12/14/2010
The tech broke no rules. He is suppose to charge you for the custom work because it is not included in the free standard installation. Most companies split half of the money with the tech. If you were to write the check to the installation company he would have got $30 but he said $40 so he would get all the money also helping you out by cutting the fee. The reasoning for the check going in his girls name was so he wouldnt get in trouble with his company for charging you less and with it being in his girlfriends name it has no ties to him or his employer. In a situation where you did not want to pay him he could have brought the wire through an exterior wall from outside, poke a whole through the floor, or came from the ceiling with a wall plate (mostly in a closet) that would be standard. Directv will tell you that there are customer rate charges if you call them
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