djsly
join:2002-06-03
Lexington, MA
| $350 fee for no service! Help!
I was billed a $350 by DirecTV DSL for months of service they did not provide. This fee stems back a few year ago when my DSL provider (PhoenixDSL) went out of business and forwarded their customers to Telocity (which was acquired by DirecTV). THe forwarding process did not happen in the spans of 1-2 weeks like they promised, so I decided to move on to another IPS, EarthlinkDSL.
At that point, my single phone line was setup and connect through Earthlink before DirecTV was able to do theirs. However, after a few months of Earthlink service, DirecTV billed me a fee for service they DID NOT provide. I did not use one byte of service from them, yet they "believe that the fees are reasonable" even though my single phone line was connected and running through Earthlink. They use a debt agency to try to collect the "fee". I called that agency and ended up mailing DirecTV a letter saying that the fees are riduculous. I included in the mail, my first six months of invoices of EarthlinkDSL services proving that I was connected with Earthlink at the same period they are charging me the fee.
Now a couple of weeks ago, I just got another bill but this time from another debt agency. So apparantely my attempt to reconcile did not work. So here I am, asking anyone reading this what course of action should I take? As far as DirecTV DSL is concerned, the fee is reasonable because I was "with" them during that period and the fact that I didn't cancel the account justifies the fee.
Thanks for your time.    |
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sargeeld
Sgm Retired
Premium
join:2002-12-16
Raeford, NC
clubs: 
| You probably will not be able to avoid the consequences if you did not cancel their service even if you did not use it. Equate this to having cable TV but hooking your TV up to satellite instead. If you do not cancel the service they can continue billing you because their service was available even if unused. I think you are in a legal pickle here. 
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Sweet Witch
Be the flame, not the moth.
Premium,MVM
join:2003-07-15
Gallifrey
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to djsly
I'm having the same basic trouble with Columbia House and I just keep telling my story to each new agency that sends me a bill. Do you still have the terms of the DirecTV contract somewhere?
And do you have the written 'promise' that they'd have it switched over in two weeks?
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I'm a woman by the way . |
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djsly
join:2002-06-03
Lexington, MA | reply to djsly
Unfortuanetly I have neither because the forwarding to DirecTV was automatic. As far as I can remember, there was no written contract given?
Thanks for the replies! |
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MrFixitSC
Premium,VIP,ExMod 2001-06
join:2000-12-01
Moncks Corner, SC
·Comcast Formerly ..
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to djsly
I've gotten surprising results by asking for assistance here »www.planetfeedback.com/consumer/ , it works
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LissaKay
Different Name, Same Old Goddess As Ever
Premium
join:2001-07-06
Knoxville, TN
clubs:
| reply to djsly
A single phone line cannot be provisioned for DSL by more than one company at the same time. Your phone company should have records of who was provisioning your line during that time period. If the phone company can show that Earthlink was indeed the provisioned ISP, you have the ammunition you need right there.
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tiggerguy
Cuz I Am The Only One
Premium
join:2002-09-27
Niantic, CT
| reply to djsly
Even though you are not using their service, they have no way to know that you are not. Even though you showed them you weren't. You needed to inform them that you were not using them.
All they see is that you have an account so they charge you accordingly. They do this because you have the ability to use their system. |
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tiggerguy
Cuz I Am The Only One
Premium
join:2002-09-27
Niantic, CT
| reply to MrFixitSC
said by MrFixitSC  :
I've gotten surprising results by asking for assistance here »www.planetfeedback.com/consumer/ , it works
It actually depends on the company. Some companies do not pay attention to third party complaint sites. |
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djsly
join:2002-06-03
Lexington, MA | reply to djsly
I've written a letter at PlanetFeedback to DirecTV. Thanks for the provisioning tip, perhaps I'll look into that... |
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2kmaro
Think
Premium,ExMod 1 BC
join:2000-07-11
ColossalCave
clubs:
| Look into other, more standard, methods of expressing your displeasure also - Better Business Bureau, etc. While the BBB cannot (any more than PlanetFeedback can) make them do anything, these do serve notice to the business that you're not just laying down for them.
Also, serve official, written notice to any collection agencies involved in all of this that the matter is under dispute. That will help protect your credit "reputation" to a degree.
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djsly
join:2002-06-03
Lexington, MA
| reply to djsly
My thoughts on this is that althought I had an account with DirecTV DSL, they never activated it. It never actually gone "live". For the person with the TV cable analogy, the differnce is that the cable TV probably did go "live" and that you could simultaneously have cable TV and satellite tv. Correct me if wrong. With DSL, only one ISP can provision the line. Thanks for all your replies, I appreciate the help. |
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