Local BBB’s biggest complaint getter: DirecTV
March 15th, 2010, 9:04 am · 38 Comments · posted by Tamara Chuang, a.k.a. The Gadgetress
When it comes to TV or mobile phone service, consumers aren’t shy about saying what they don’t like. That’s not only true here on this blog, which made me refocus the content to cover TV and mobile heavily last year, but to the local Better Business Bureau.
The Better Business Bureau of the Southland reports that mobile phone service and TV service were the two categories with the most complaints last year (see bottom chart). But by far the top offender? DirecTV, based in El Segundo. The satellite TV service received 15,367 complaints, well above second place Federal Loan Modification Center in Northridge, which had 858 complaints.
The BBB said that DirecTV issues are related to billing disputes, early cancellation fees, inadequate disclosure about the cost of service and the inability to contact the company.
| Southland BBB’s 10 companies with most complaints | |
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The organization — the go-to site for Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties,– also pointed out that DirecTV has faced government scrutiny for violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule and the Washington state Consumer Protection Act for “false or unfair use of the word “free,” among other issues.
The BBB named DirecTV its top 2009 Pluto Award recipient, which calls out the area Orange County and Los Angeles businesses that use “underhanded business practices and ambiguous advertising to augment their riches and defraud the American public of billions of dollars each year.”
“DirecTV is a well-known satellite service provider, and its number of complaints might not be quite so striking if you took its complaints-to-customers ratio into consideration. Nevertheless, its practices and rating prompt us to urge extreme caution in doing business with DirecTV,” warned the BBB.
DirecTV spokesperson Jade-lin Ekstedt acknowledged the issue and said that the company is working on improving the poor rating.
“The overwhelming majority of our more than 18.4 million customers are happy with our service. But, as with any other company that deals with such a large number of customers, we don’t always get it right every time. We appreciate the need to address customer complaints effectively and timely and we are working with the southern California BBB to help us do a better job at that. Providing excellent customer service is something we have always prided ourselves on so we are redoubling our efforts to identify and act on opportunities for improvement. Through this effort we hope to see our rating improved in the near future,” she said in an e-mail response.
Regardless of the low rating, DirecTV still remains the nation’s largest paid-TV service with its 18.4 million customers. And the company continues to grow, according to its last earnings report. Customers may be complaining but they continue to stick with the company.
Tell me: Any DirecTV customers getting better results with customer service and other issues? Leave a comment (thanks!)
As a reader courtesy, here are the customer service numbers for the various TV services available in Orange County:
- AT&T U-verse: 1-800-288-2020 and say ‘U-verse
- Cox Communications: 800-234-3993, 949-240-1212
- DirecTV: 800-DIRECTV, @directv on Twitter
- Dish Network: 888-686-2388, @dishnetwork on Twitter
- Verizon FiOS: 888-553-1555
- Time Warner Cable: 1-888-TW-CABLE, @alextwc and @jefftwc on Twitter
And here’s a look at the industries garnering the most consumer complaints last year. According to the BBB, the cell phone and TV industries received more complaints then banks and auto dealers. One bright spot? The number of complaints for cell phone and TV service didn’t grow as fast as banks. Cell phone complaints were up 2.1 percent over 2008, while TV was up 8.7 percent. The number of complaints received by the banking industry was up 42.3 percent.
The BBB also points out that both industries did have high resolution rates. Cell phone companies resolved 97.4 percent of complaints while the cable and satellite TV industry resolved 97.2 percent. Banks resolved 95.2 percent. To file your own complaint with a company, go to the BBB’s local website at www.la.bbb.org. Here’s a shortcut to the complaint page.
Top 10 industries by volume of consumer complaints with BBB in 2009 Industry Total Complaints Rank by complaints % change over 2008 % of Resolved Complaints Cellular Phones Service & Equipment 37,477 1 2.10% 97.40% Television – Cable, CATV & Satellite 32,616 2 8.70% 97.20% Banks 29,920 3 42.30% 95.20% Auto Dealers-New Cars 26,888 4 -2.40% 84.10% Internet Shopping 21,494 5 9.40% 71.70% Collection Agencies 15,797 6 -3.30% 86.60% Auto Dealers – Used Cars 13,686 7 2.50% 70.80% Telephone Companies 13,470 8 11.20% 96.10% Furniture – Retail 13,158 9 -2.90% 78.30% Auto Repair & Service 12,736 10 9.50% 65.90%
For more on TV services, see the following links:
 * Time Warner Cable* Cox Cable * Verizon FiOS * AT&T U-verse |
* DirecTV * Dish Network * Web TV * All TV |
More Better Business Bureau-related stories:
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Here's a list of TV/mobile companies helping consumers one tweet at a time. 
I totally agree. Directv has the most incompetent sales force of all time. When I called to sign up, they had no knowledge of current promotions and promised me everything at a certain price. For example, they said the I could get AAA discount of about $10 per month. I think it had something to do with getting use of an extra receiver for free and the discount added up to about $10 per month. So I went ahead and signed up. The sales person gave me a number to call to get my discount. I called that number and this operator knew nothing about the AAA discount. She had to look it up while we spoke on the phone. After a while on the phone I had to leave because I was getting no where. So now im signed up. I eventually get my bill with no AAA discount. I try to fix but now directv says I can’t get discount because I didn’t sign up for the discount properly. What a nightmare, i just wanted a pickle and i get nothing. I am canceling first chance I get. I just hope I don’t get ripped off on the way out.
Remember folks: this is the company that sued its customer base as a business strategy.
I had the same problem and had to cancel the service before they came for the installation.
I had DISH TV for ten years and they were great.
I haven’t used DirecTV, so I can’t comment on their service. I can, however, comment on Time Warner Cable. Ridiculous prices, awful service, and repair people who have to be stepped through the process of hooking up service….by the customer!
The only reason DirectTV is of any value is they have sole rights to show NFL games (NFL Sunday Ticket). If they lost those rights, you’d see a ton of mini-dishes overloading trash cans across the country…
You are absolutely right DanaFB. If it wasn’t for the NFL Sunday TIcket, no one would go with DirecTV.
How true. I switched to DirecTV back in 2008 just to get the NFL Ticket package. I paid a $234 early termination fee before the season even started, just to get away from their terrible service and (IMO) fraudulent tactics.
And they still tried to hit me with a $59.95 charge a couple months later because I supposedly was late returning the tuner. That charge was reversed the next day on the DirecTV account, but no credit to my Amex account. When I called they said they’d “send a check in 6-8 weeks”, while they earned interest on MY money (as well as on everyone else’s’ money that they had done this to).
My response? I gave them 48 hours to credit my Amex account, after which I planned to file a complaint with the OC District Attorney’s Consumer Fraud Unit. And lo and behold… my Amex account was credited the next day.
I had Time Warner which SUCKS big time! I have Directv now, and so far the service has been great. I would not have Time Warner if it was free!!!
The OLD Bait N Switch.
Direct TV is great at getting folks to sign up with their come-ons, like I fell for, then as soon as the deal expires jacks up the cost THREE TIMES!! Try to get out an notice the $450 early cancellation fee. My “contract” expires in a month, and I can’t WAIT to rid myself of these crooks.
What is needed is a law the forces them to provide the early termination fees as boldly as the come-on deals.
Direct TV, you are CROOKS!!!
Cable TV does the same thing only worse. They dont tell you that there infrastructure is poorly built and try to add channels. They have to remove channels to add channels. Cable TV should have been out of business a long time ago. Someone sold their sole to keep it afloat.
I threatened to cancel when my contract was up as I was super frustrated with their prices and service. My only option was Time Warner or DISH and I’ve heard terrible things bout Time Warner. They did price match DISH promotions and lowered my package costs. Although I am mad right now as I have a bad receiver that that they won’t replace.
I first got Directv in 1997 and they were great until a couple of years ago. They just raised my rates without notification. One of my remotes is broken (less than 2 yrs old) and they will only replace it if I pay them another $15.00. They just ended a contract with Sirius XM that provided great music. Their phone tree is rediculous when you try to call in. Good luck getting a live person. Their HD picture is great but their customer service has deteriorated over the years. My contract is up on May 29 and I intend to try Dish Network. BTW, I had Time Warner at one point and they were the worst.
DirecTV doesnt care about customers or employees. I worked for them and was really disappointed at how they treated their employees and they wanted us to treat our customers. If they hire 60 techs a month they will only end up with 3-5 of those techs working past 3-5 months. Really sad!
Wow. It’s DirecTV and then 9 other obvious scam artists… that pretty terrible.
DirectTV is by far the worst. I’m a hockey fan, so having Versus dissapear really chapped my behind. Plus they wanted to charge me for a new box when it broke. I then complained enough to where they were going to give it to me for free….but then wanted to charge me to ship it out! SUCH BS!!! I hope DirectTV goes down…hard.
I have also had Directv since 97. They used to be so good at customer service. They’ve grown beyond their means. The nickel and dime you for everything. $5 here, $10 there for HD Service. As an NFL Sunday Ticket subsriber, when I switched over to HD I was not able to get the games in HD unless I wanted to pay another $150 – even though I was paying for the HD service. As soon as they lose the rights to Sunday Ticket, I’m gone.
I signed up with direct over 2 years ago…Except for one bad receiver, I havent had a problem. As a former Time Warner employee I can tell you this much. The cable industry cares nothing for its customers. They are in trouble now because the bandwidth they need to expand is slowly depleating. They will not be able to compete with satellite and they will die a slow painful death. I cant wait. Time Warner and other cable companies will raise your rates every year by at least 4% and not give you any new programming. Ive had the same 250 channels of DirectTV and my bill has never increased. I hope cable television is in its last days. Time Warner has incompetent managers who are out to save their own jobs. The treat their employees like dirt and the are one of the lowest paying industries around.
We’ve had Direct TV since 2002, and we’ve never had a real problem with service. Occasionally we’ve had to wait to get a technician to the house, but that’s seems to be the case with most repair services. We like the quality of the pictures, the HD availability, and the wide channel selection. I would be interested in knowing the percentage of complaints per total customer base as opposed to numbers of complaints as stated in the article. A percentage comparison of complaints on that basis with the other TV services would be very interesting, I think.
Boy, I could tell you some wild stories about my experience with Direct TV over the years (as a customer since 1999). LIke for one, the time they kept showing up OVER AND OVER AGAIN at the wrong address (that was somehow in the computer) to install my direct TV. Each time when the technician called, I would have to say, no, I am not at that address in the computer. Yes, I have called the office and they keep assuring me it will be changed. OK, you can’t come today because you are at the wrong address and are behind schedule. This went on for like 5 times.
But I will agree: Time-Warner Cable is THE WORST OF THE WORST. I wouldn’t be surprised if Bernie Madoff is running that company!
I had a terrible experience with DirecTV just this weekend.
First, they did a terrible job installing an additional line in one of our bedrooms. They say they will professionally install lines through an outside wall but they actually strung multiple cables through another bedroom, the closet, and then into the bedroom. It looks terrible and hokey.
I recently upgraded to HD DVR receivers. Have had nothing but problems with one… jerky recordings, static on the top of the screen and even worse the fan inside the unit starts screaming. Literally, the thing is screaming and has woke us up three times in the middle of the night. I’ve reset the unil three times in a month.
I called tech support and they told me they can’t do anything unless I hold the phone up to the unit and they can hear it. WTH??? I told her it doesn’t do it constantly so what I’m supposed to call them at 3am in the morning the next time? Yup, that’s exactly what she expects me to do. She also told me to put the phone up to the unit so she could “hear the jerky” recording. And the static? I asked her how are you going to “see” the static? All of the this and I’m paying for the protection service. After speaking to a supervisor for 45 minutes, she ran us through wiping out the entire unit – lost everything – and said this should work. If it happens again within the next few days, they’ll replace it. This is supposed to be a BRAND new unit which shouldn’t have this many problems within a month. Any other store would have exchanged it. If I have one more problem, no matter how minor, I’m filing a complaint against them!!!!!
I have direct TV they advertise HD so I wanted to get an HD box paid for it. Then I found out that after spending 150.00$ my contract was extended by two years.The box did not work was informed I would have to pay someone to come out to fix it another 75.00$ Refused spent three hours on the cell phone had to pay Verizon 120.00$ over usage charge. Finally got a hold of someone in Florida that authorized a new box, gets better,the send me a new box my wife tried to hook it up call direct TV, the box like my first one did not work sent me another one did not work got another, that is box #3, box # 4 worked, had to pay Verizon another 72.00$ still have 9 months left on my contract I will leave direct TV.
complaint to customer ratio? how many “customers” does this shyster bankig place have?
i have not had cable or sat tv in 4 years….only netflix. screw these companies for raping their customers and forcing them to watch channels (bundling of channels) that nobody want to see. why should i have to pay for the negro channel BET or all the asian and hispanic stuff, let them pay for it!
I had to cancel the service within an hour of signing the contract and scheduling for the installation because of their worst behavior including the supervisor!
I’ve had Directv for about 7 years and never had a problem. I think everyone should read the fine print in things….like we should do with EVERY company. And yes, like with every other company if you leave early and don’t fulfill your contract they will charge you. So pay your bills and you’ll be fine.
I can’t stand DirecTV. I’ve had nothing but problems with them since I originally made the call for service back in January. After hours on the phone with morons they set me up on the wrong type of account so the first guy who came to set it up couldn’t. It took three more installers and a month before I FINALLY got service. They charged us twice for the installation then after all the headache they charged me $20 more than agreed to on the first bill– oh that promotional price only kicks in after the first month. Called BS and they took it off.
Then I learned today that they are INCREASING their fees another $4 a month. I haven’t even had my service for a month! When I first called they said $45, then it was $65 then it was $70 then they tried to charge me $90, now this? Luckily I finally found someone with sympathetic ears and he made that increase go away and actually cut $5 off my bill… who wants to bet that come next month the price is wrong again?
If it weren’t for that early cancellation fee I would have canceled it already.
When I got DirectTV I was told I would get a $50.00. They said I would get it with my first bill, I never got a first bill. I had to keep calling. They told me they were not the one to give me my $50.00. I was to call this other place. I called them, they said no DirectTv was to give it to me. This went on for over a year and a half and I never did get my $50.00 rebate. I should have turned in for false advertising. They out and out lied about. I must say though the TV service is great, I have never lost service like I was always loosing with cable. My bill did keep going up. For basic service it went up to $63.00 a month.
The problem is that if you don’t have satellite and you want to use the converter box, your reception goes out everytime someone sneezes!! What bugs me more than anything is that people have no choice.
I have NEVER had any real troubles with D-TV… the few times I lost service were do to high winds that blew my dish “off-line” or that my equipment was out of date. Each time the problem was resolved quickly! I have been courted by times warrner & at@t many times. I won’t change regardless of the cost(s) OK… maybe if at@t got The NFL Ticket. But TW… Never!
I used to pay my monthly billing statement using my computer linked to my checking bank account thru electronic pay bill. Now I can not use it because DirecTV wants to deduct the payment automatically on my credit card or bank checking account. I demand to pay it myself so I can control the flow of money on my account like I use to. So instead, I pay it by mail with my checking, it’s very inconvenient and time consuming.