Tech / Special Interest → Cable & Satellite TV > [DIRECTV] DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Scam

[DIRECTV] DirecTV NFL Sunday Ticket Scam

It's hard to believe that Broadband Reports does not have a separate DirecTV forum, but this forum appeared to be the only option for me to post this matter of concern.

Two years ago, I signed up for DirecTV. The promotion, at that time, included three months of free movie channels and a one-year NFL Sunday Ticket subscription. DirecTV required that I submit a credit card number for automatic billing. I had no use for the movie channels or NFL Sunday Ticket, so once I established the service I called to cancel both of them. DirecTV canceled my movie channels, but told me I would have to wait until the end of the football season to cancel NFL Sunday Ticket. I did so, and canceled it ca. March 2011.

Low and Behold, however, in my August 2012 statement, I found a charge for a 2012 renewal for NFL Sunday Ticket. I immediately called DirecTV and demanded to know why it had included the charge on my bill. The agent who answered my call told me that DirecTV felt that "it was such a good deal" it put it on my bill automatically. He then offered to take it off my bill and arrange for credit on my credit card. I told him to never bill me for NFL Sunday Ticket service again. I was debating renewing DirecTV beyond my two-year contract, as, even though there were so many channels available to me, there seemed to be so little of interest to watch.

All was well until yesterday when I received my August 2013 statement. Once again I found a charge of $37.49 for "NFL SUNDAY TICKET 2013 Early Renewal in 6 Payments." I called DirecTV and once again the agent who answered my call offered to take the charge off my bill and credit my account the $37.49 it billed my credit card. I accepted the credit, but demanded to speak with a manager about the matter. I told the manager that what DirecTV was doing to its customers in relation to NFL Sunday Ticket amounted to fraud. I reasoned to her that just because one might go into a store to buy a refrigerator, that does not give the dealer the right to also bill you for a washing machine. She defended DirecTV's practice of automatically billing for NFL Sunday Ticket, whether the customer wants it or not, by telling me that "adequate notice on proceeding statements of the pending charge was provided." I advised her that I would notify the fraud division of my credit card company of DirecTV's practice as well as my state attorney general office and possibly file a lawsuit against it in Small Claims Court. She was undaunted.

What DirecTV appears to be doing is fraudulently billing customers for services they do not want in the hope that they will not notice the increased charges until after it is too late to cancel them. A notice on my August 2013 statement indicates that the customer must call DirecTV to cancel NFL Sunday Ticket prior to the start of the football season on September 8, 2013--that does not leave the customer a whole lot of time to notice the charge. I strongly believe that this practice is nothing less than a scam and DirecTV should be held accountable for consumer fraud for engaging in it.

LOL.. All Direct TV sports packages are auto renewal.. All's you got was a person who did not take it off auto renewal correctly

Fraud would be more believable if they did not give you a credit when you called. No idea what you would sue for since you got a credit. You can't get money for being billed and then getting a credit.

Yeah except he was told on his bills several time MONTHS in advance he would be auto-billed for it. He CHOSE to let himself be autobilled THEN complained. Sounds like someone that likes drama. The first notice I got I would have been on the phone making sure I wasn't going to be billed. Not wait MONTHS later AFTER I've been billed.

You are correct there. You are warned on several bills that Auto Renew is set to kick in

"Emotional stress?" That was sarcastic, right? Because if it wasn't, my God what a laughable overreaction.

You do realize they have to follow the law (and they do a very good job at that). Fact is - you can't sue for what you think you can else anyone who gets upset at another person can sue in small claims. Suing for what you suggest - will get you laughed out of the filing room.

Especially since there was no fraud.
--
Brian

"It drops into your stomach like a Abrams's tank.... driven by Rosanne Barr..." A. Bourdain

"emotional distress" oh bullshit. You don't have a winning lottery ticket so don't waste out tax dollars in the court system on this crap.
--
I do not, have not, and will not work for AT&T/Comcast/Verizon/Charter or similar sized company.

You do realize you have the right to appeal the arbitration ruling to a court right?
--
No Victim=No Crime

Then tell DirecTV to stop charging people for stuff they don't want especially when the customer tells them
--
No Victim=No Crime

He called and told them not to bill him again, and they did. The OP said that DirecTV put it on his bill because it was such a "good deal"
--
No Victim=No Crime

What you read in the OP is the mantra of the typical consumer. Sad but true. For the past six months or so I worked at a call center doing tech support part time for a dial up internet service provider, until I just recently moved on to much bigger and better things. I’d get many calls a day from people swearing at me, telling me how the company is a scam. Gee, who would have thought you needed a landline to use dial up internet. Who thought you couldn’t stream Netflix on dial up, and my personal favorite, why are you complaining about being billed for a service you claimed you haven’t used in the past three months and never bothered to cancel. All of these people swearing at me, saying what scam artists we are, and how they’re going to call their attorney and have the company shut down and I’ll be out of a job. I would just put my phone on mute and just uncontrollably laugh at these ludicrous statements from these imbeciles. So, I’m not surprised one bit by the original post.

I’ve subscribed to many sports season packages on cable and DirecTV, and no you cannot cancel during the season. No DirecTV is not a scam, no NFL Sunday Ticket is not a scam. They are not frauds. Your one situation is an isolated incident or else you’d hear many more reports of this. If your sitiation is indeed as described, you shouldn’t be surprised by the charge of NFL Sunday Ticket, if you would have looked at last months bill you would have seen plenty of mentions about NFL Sunday Ticket and it would have been listed as a line item for $0.00. I know it was on my DirecTV bill.

We just got our early renewal notice for NFL Sunday Ticket. The past few years my daughter has called DTV and we got the bill down to about $150. We also did the same thing with MLB extra innings until we cancelled this season. Sorry that you feel like your'e a victim, but check your billing statements closely and if you get a renewal notice call them and have the programming dropped. My only comment of having DTV services at two different locations is that you can add programming online, but to cancel programming you must call customer service.

This is what's wrong with America today. Too many lawyers, making up too mnay "emotional distress" lawsuits and cramming our courts with crap. Give us a break

Pretty sure he said he called in when it showed up on his 2012 bills, and then it's back again in 2013...

And in fact, if you had read the OP....

"
Low and Behold, however, in my August 2012 statement, I found a charge for a 2012 renewal for NFL Sunday Ticket. I immediately called DirecTV and demanded to know why it had included the charge on my bill. The agent who answered my call told me that DirecTV felt that "it was such a good deal" it put it on my bill automatically. He then offered to take it off my bill and arrange for credit on my credit card. I told him to never bill me for NFL Sunday Ticket service again. I was debating renewing DirecTV beyond my two-year contract, as, even though there were so many channels available to me, there seemed to be so little of interest to watch.

I had somewhat of the same situation but I was told I would have the NFL package for 2 years and they only did it for 12 months and I saw it on my bill this month and they started charging me for that. This is also the same company that told me I would not have a service call charge if I sign up for the protection plan. Guess what, I got charged for the $49.95 service charge. You are told one thing and they do something different, the old bait and switch, and then they don't honor what they told you. I loved the NFL package but I don't like to be lied to.

So...you were warned on your bill that you were going to be charged for a new season of NFL Sunday Ticket, apparently didn't read your bill, noticed the charge for it when your bill went up...and then called and fussed at DIRECTV, threatened lawsuits, etc because you don't pay any attention to your bill. Sorry, but you can't do anything to DIRECTV due to you not paying attention to your bill.

I had the same promo, left NFL Sunday Ticket on my account even though nobody in the house watches football, saw on my bill that it was going to automatically renew unless I canceled, I called to cancel, they asked me why, I said "we never watch football", they took it off auto renew, I wasn't charged anything, end of story.

When he asked them in 2012 to not put it on his bill or give it to him again, I think he has a legitimate complaint.

Correct. But he was warned this year that it was going to auto bill again. that would be clue number one to call in and say someone screwed up

If he says "don't bill me or add it to my bill", there is 0 reason they should even BE adding it back on, THAT IS THE POINT...