A while back, I wrote about the impossibility of escaping DirecTV cancellation fees, and they really do not state in the fine print that every time one of their crap DVRs breaks down and they replace it, your contract automatically renews for another 1-2 years. Surprise – you’ll never be out from under that contract.
Turns out I have some really smart, savvy readers here at Snappy Living. Several of you tried various ways of getting out of your cancellation fees, or getting them refunded. Doug found the solution, and it has worked consistently for various readers (see the comments) for a couple of years now. Please note: this will probably not work if you’ve been with them less than two years. If that’s the case, they don’t care if you’ve been transferred to Pluto. They probably don’t even care if you’re dead. But there is a way to make them waive the cancellation fees – keep reading.
One last note: if it’s a practical option where you live, you might want to dump satellite/cable altogether and just go to streaming. I did it in 2009 and I haven’t missed it at all. Several of my friends report that the Roku Premiere HD and 4K UHD Streaming Media Player lets you access a ton of channels and streaming options. I still like Netflix because it has a lot of great current shows and documentaries, absolutely no commercials, and it lets you limit the HD quality so you won’t go over your bandwidth cap, if you have one. And of course there’s Hulu with a 30 day free trial if you click this link, with classics like The Mindy Project and Daria. And there’s Amazon Prime, which carries originals like Bosch and The Man in the High Castle and has lots of other benefits, like free two-day shipping. I have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime, and I still don’t pay half what I was paying for cable. And instead of 100+ channels of stuff I just flick through in a haze of discontent, I have a ton of shows and movies I can watch on my schedule.
Getting rid of bogus DirecTV cancellation fees
Don’t waste your time with their customer service department (800-531-5000). Forget billing dispute (the Colorado address you have to write to). Call or write their corporate headquarters in El Segundo, CA, and it’s like you’re dealing with a whole different company.
Doug got jerked around by Customer Service for a bit, then:
I wrote a letter to John Malone, who is Chairman of DirecTV in El Segundo, California, explaining my “frustration.” I have no idea what he’ll do, but I explained that I will do everything I can to make people aware of this ridiculous business practice. I also read about the class action lawsuit in California, and emailed the lead attorney to get some more information. If he writes me back, I’ll post here.
This worked for Doug, who received a polite response. The letter did not accept any blame or fault – they’re making a “business” decision to settle things “amicably.” Read: “Oh, noes, we’re already gettin’ class action sued! Better play nice!” But hey, he got his money.
My own experience
Around the time Doug got his lovely reply, I got a meaningless form letter back from Billing Dispute in Colorado refusing to waive the cancellation fees. I decided to skip the letter writing and just call the El Segundo number Doug found: 310-964-5000. To my surprise, the entire phone call only took about 7 minutes.
At first, you get a recorded greeting, and then it starts ringing. It may ring quite a few times – over ten both times I called. Then someone answers, and you say you’ve got a problem with a cancellation fee and Customer Service refuses to help. He puts you through to the “Office of the President”, where someone answers immediately. In my case, she listened to my complaint, and then put me on hold to review my account. She came back within two minutes to say they would refund the cancellation fee.
I was afraid it was too easy. She had also said it might take ten business days to show up on my credit card. I gave them that, and it still wasn’t there. I called them again, and this time the call took only about three minutes. They reassured me they were processing the refund that day and it would show up on my card in a couple of days. And so it did.
Getting in touch
Here is the contact info for the El Segundo office:
Phone:
310-964-5000
Address:
John Malone, Chairman of DirecTV
2230 East Imperial Highway
El Segundo, CA 90245
Good luck! If you care to share, I’d love to hear in comments how this works out for any of you who try it. This company really needs to be forced to revamp their policies. I don’t have a problem with contracts and termination fees in general, but with DirecTV: (1) their DVRs never last two years, and getting them replaced means your contract auto-renews, but nowhere in the fine print does it say this, and (2) cancellation fees should not be that high, ever.
If you’re still in the two-year contract
The above method probably will not work if you’re actually still within your contract period, but canceling for a good reason. Such as: you’ve moved to a place where satellites are not allowed and literally won’t have the service you’re paying for, or DirecTV lied to you about something when they signed you up. In that situation, the President’s office won’t help, but you can do what several of our readers have done – call the BBB and report DirecTV for their shady business practices. Within a few weeks, most of those readers got to quit without cancellation fees, or got their cancellation fees refunded.
Reader Lucia just mentioned the BBB and the class action suits to the customer service rep, stating that if the supervisor didn’t remove the cancellation fees, the call would end and Lucia would phone the BBB. That worked for her.
If you’re moving to an apartment that doesn’t allow satellite
Many people want to keep DirecTV, but have to move to a place that doesn’t allow satellite. Reader Sam Murch got out of a contract by having them come out to install it at the new place. Sam’s apartment did not have a “line of sight” to the satellite, so DirecTV had to cancel the contract. However, reader Rob reports being required to get two contractors out for a cost of $100 to confirm the line of sight issue, and they still insisted he pay the cancellation fees. Unbelievable.
Well directv charges you a month in advance so basically you are paying a month that isn’t even there yet so if you owe a bill just have them use the money that you paid in advance to pay on it that is why they do it so they don’t loose money but people don’t know that and att does that to att bought directv
Thank you. I am paying way too much for Our crappy Direct Tv internet bundle. 192$ month! Our contract is over in 4 months. I hope it works
Ihave been arguing with them for 3 months , so much stuff i ,i tired to cancel they wouldn’t let me because we were arguing bill, so they kept me on for 2 months with limited channels , charged me then for 3 months and earlyc cancel fee, how the hell they can say u can’t cancel then in 2 months let u cancel and charge u an additional 2 months , got no where with this number, they also charged me for sports channel at begining which i had specified no, then they charged repeatedly my credit card for monthly charges, i had to cancel credit card to get anyone to call me, the bottom line ,big business, tv, phone , internet, are all crooks , our only choice here is WHO we want to be screwed by.
I actually just dealt with this today. I found your blog after getting a cancellation fee of over $400. I was told when signing up I had 30 days to cancel. I cancelled my bundle due to a poorer internet bandwidth than promised AND my package not having ESPN even though the sales rep specifically asked me what channels I watched. It took about 3 hours, and I went in a circle, but someone in billing was finally able to credit my account. I received the credit email before we hung up. I believe I spoke with 1. customer service 2. billing 3. retention 4. some department for ex-customers(waited 52 minutes on hold before I got a person) 5. finally called billing back and I was very nice, but essentially refused to get off the phone without something being done. I’m still going to mail that guy in California. Good luck everyone.
I don’t think this number goes to corporate anymore. I have tried twice and it seems like they figured this out and routed it back to the normal asshats at DTV. This may be the worse company ever.
That happens sometimes, but it’s still working for others. Try calling at a different time of day/day of week.
Was with them for over 4 years. Also have ATT for wireless with combined bill. Got an additional receiver last fall at same time trying to get my bill fixed for the 3rd time since they had been charging me for NHL package that I cancelled in July (before it started again). Asked Rep specifically if it would start a new contract period since my agreement had been over and I didn’t want the extra receiver if it would. He assured me it wouldn’t so I got the extr receiver. Fast forward two months – bill still not correct from stupid NHL package so after repeated calls and wasted time I told them I was cancelling. That’s when they hit me with the cancellation fee and told me when I got the receiver it started a new 2 year agreement – TWO years….. they wouldn’t do any thing. I explained the Rep lied to me. They didn’t care. I cancelled anyway. Now ATT is trying to hold my wireless hostage because I haven’t paid the $400 fee. Been writing the complaint department in CA – head of consumer affairs. Nothing. I will try this phone number but my next order of business is to threaten to take them through their own arbitration process which will cost them at least $200 in the filing fee if it gets there. They have to pay that. Will see what happens. Done being bullied by companies like this with shady business practices. Funny thing – when I cancelled the girl actually told me they appreciate my business and asked if she resolved all my issues…. people really can’t think on their own – just reading their script. When I said something to her she was like well we do really value you as a customer – I said it doesn’t seem that way….. koolaid drinkers!!
What do mean by koolaid drinkers? Is that a racial slure?
Hey, I don’t allow racial slurs on this site! Jim Jones, a cult leader in the 70s, got all his followers to drink poisoned koolaid, which killed them. Many of them did it willingly because they were so brainwashed by him. So, “koolaid drinkers” basically means people who are so “brainwashed” about something that they won’t even consider it might not be true. You can read more about it here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid
I found a way to help DVR’s last longer: buy a USB powered laptop cooling pad and put it under the DVR. My current DVR is 6 years old. I am canceling and moving to streaming.
Oh, wow, that’s a good tip!
So glad to find this site with information on how to resolve an issue with cancellation fees! I too tried to call the normal customer service line as well as the 310-964-5000 number above but neither one would budge. Basically I had Direct TV since 2011 then moved out of state so I used their movers service. Their order e-mail stated that if I accepted new equipment then I would be subject to a new 24 month service agreement OR 12 months if I move my own equipment. I moved my own equipment and kept Direct TV for a year and then cancelled them because I could find better service locally. They still wanted to charge me a $225 cancellation fee! I ended up writing John Malone a letter explaining the whole situation and how I thought they were wrong in charging me. I spent the extra $$ and sent it certified with return receipt receipt so I make sure he received it.
I’ll report back my results as soon as I hear back from him.
The above method did not work. They instead forwarded my letter to DirectTV billing and collector. I received a letter from them along with copies of signed work orders telling me that they have reviewed my case and telling me that the charges have been verified. The issue with the work orders is that they had been signed by someone else. Neither my wife or I signed the work orders. Our names had been forged and weren’t even legible!
The letter provided a call back number to contact their customer service. They NEVER answered the number. I wrote them back again disputing it and calling them out on the forgery. This has been 3-4 weeks ago and I am waiting on a response. I’ve thought about finding a lawyer to write them a cease and desist letter to put this to a stop.
Will write back when I receive a response. Positive or negative.
Directv got &453:00 out of my account with out my permission I want it back I am under Bankruptcy and by law they can’t do that
Yeah Dish did that to me also I just called the BBB and my money was back in my account within 72 hours.
I went thru this similar issue and just finished finally resolving it and getting the fee waived. I stuck to the 1800 number and even the ISM Retention center at 18002882020. I had only been in my 2 yr contract for 6 mo when my landlord ordered satélites be removed from the building, I called and explained the issue and was offered uverse but when they checked, it wasn’t available to me. The woman then told me she could process my cancelation and would have to pay about $400 in early termination fees. I insisted that I had no choice and wished I could keep it and I told her I felt Was being penalized unfairly, I realized I wasn’t getting anywhere with her so I hung up and tried a different rep who told me just what I wanted to hear: we waive termination fees in 2 cases; if you move where we cannot offer our service or if your landlord is asking to remove our equipment. When I heard this of course I believed him, he quickly did my cancellation and waived the fee. BUT WAIT. Come the end of the month, I find out my account is STILLL ACTIVE. It took me all day, i was getting hung up on being told lies or truths that other reps couldn’t verify. I called one last time, this time to get a record of alll the reps I had spoken with, what they had told me and the days and times, this must have alerted the rep because she quickly came back and told me her supervisor just gave her permission to waive the fee and credit the account for the las month. I couldn’t believe how easy she told me this when they saw how serious I got. Once everything was finalized I refused to hang up until I received an email with PROOF stating that the service was indeed canceled and the fees would be waived, she couldn’t provide this to me right away and said it would take 48hrs but transferred me to her supervisor who guaranteed my account was closed and that the fees were waived.
Having that same exact problem and get nothing but no customer service. They won’t let me talk with a supervisor. My new apt complex doesn’t allow satellite dishes in their complex….. they are stating I have to pay $245 to get out of contract. This doesn’t seem legal. Why do I have to pay for a service that isn’t available in the area your moving
I initially installed Direct TV in December 2015 with the contract. I had to suspend service for a few weeks due to moving to another state. Apparently, I was issued another contract for 12 months. OK, but in November of 2016, I added a genie and unaware that I am not in a new contract.
I found a great deal with a local cable company, so I attempted to cancel my services. Guess what….$300.00 cancellation fee….
What a crock! How can I get this reversed?
The exact thing applied to me. I ordered a genie in October, 2016. Cancelled Direct TV on June 28, 2017. They are charging me a $300 early cancellation fee. Said when you get new equipment, it’s automatically a 2 year contract. I have talked with Kyle, Jeremy, Moesha and Mon and Clay nfrom Direct TV. They all gave me different answers. One said contract for new equipment is only 1 year, not two. Called the 310-964-5000 number and you get a customer service person. They won’t budge on the cancellation fee. We have been customers since 2006!!! I will now send a letter to Mr. John Malone. The reason we cancelled Direct TV was because they were getting way to expensive, plus every time we had a thunderstorm or it snowed, Direct TV would go out. We are now streaming everything. Much cheaper.
Thank you for this post!! It really helped us!!
I’m glad to hear it helped!
Thank you for this information!
So ok Ive been a DirecTV subscriber for 12 years and had only been on contract a couple times since the original contract, we had their premier package and our monthly bill was over $250.00 a month, so in December we bought our new home and moved and DirecTV says that they will move our service free so I say ok, there was no mention of a new 24 month contract, the service guy comes and installs the satellite dish and everything at the new home and then says that rather then run new cables to one room it would be easier to use the genie wireless minis instead of the regular minis, and again nothing mentioned about an upgrade or 24 month comittment so he finishes up and says sign this pda to show I did the work and everything is working how it should, so I signed the pda, we got tired of the high prices and extra charges we didn’t agree to and all that stuff, so it’s august now and we go to cancel service and the rep says that we’re under a 24 month contract and I say the hell I am, and that I haven’t been on a contract for at least five years and she says well you were put on a new 24 month contract in December when you moved service and that they emailed you and sent a letter saying they were putting me on that contract, neither of which I have seen and still never agreed to, and now we canceled and they were charging us for 7 total receivers when we have one main and two secondary televisions and they also added channels 565 through 575 without my knowledge or authorization, and now they’ll charge us a rediculous cancellation fee and billing for service we won’t receive and all this crap and they owed us credits already that we never received nor will we ever receive them, I argued for over an hour with a so called supervisor who would not cancel the illegal 24 month service contract that I never agreed to and would not give me their boss, saying he was the definitive authority as far as I was concerned and would not bump me up so now what do I do? I am a disabled US Army Veteran and if they take money from my account it could mean I don’t make my mortgage on my home or can’t pay my gas or electric or my car payment??? We’re trying to cut costs to get ahead and now DirecTV is trying to screw over a customer of over 12 years that had their highest package that whole time and to top it off and make it even worse we were also customers with att who now owns DirecTV, so we were with att too for ten years as well and we’re paying almost $200.00 a month for them too so it’s rediculous they treat customers like this especially ones that have been with them twelve years????????
This exact same thing just happened to me. They would let let me speak to another supervisor, they snuck in another 24 month contract when I moved and never informed me of it. They said they emailed me a receipt of the contract, never got it.
Direct and AT&T biggest scams. Changing checking account tomorrow. $89 bundle never happened. Liars and cheats. Scum employees.
I called this number and was told there was nothing I could do because I got a ‘movers special’ and they gave me an upgraded reciever which automatically came with a renewed contract. I was told by 3 different people that my contract would not be renewed, yet here I am paying over $400 in fees.
I just called to cancel service, no sense paying $125/mo when the only thing I watch is local channels that I can get for free. I was told that when I got a new receiver in fall of last year I entered into a new 24 month contract and there would be an early termination fee of $240. The best they can do for me is a $15 customer loyalty discount.
First off, it’s not really a loyalty discount when someone has to try to cancel service in order to get it! Second, I explained that our prior receiver didn’t work. When the installer put in the new one he said it wouldn’t affect the contract as the existing receiver wouldn’t work with the setup we had. So my wife signed for the installation under this assumption. The thing is, my wife wasn’t even on the account so I don’t see how this is enforceable.
After calling back to complain about customer service, the rep said that they would review the account and get back to us within seven days. From reading the comments here I’m not holding out much hope that they waive the cancellation fee. If not waived I think I’ll threaten to report them to the BBB and will dispute any charge to my account or report to credit bureaus. If that doesn’t work it looks like I can suspend service for up to six months without a charge, which would at least cut the fee in half. Has anyone tried that route and had any luck with it?
When you suspend your account, you don’t get credit for the suspended months. A conract is 24 paid months.
You all are so right about Directv and AT&T they are a bunch of money hungery people all about how much money are we going to make this month off our customers well the same here happened I have been with them for about 2 yrs and my bill was going up every month for something every time I called them they would tell me I am a loyal customer then when I would ask them if they have any special they would say o no we don’t every time I would ask them that if I was such a good loyal customer then why aren’t they helping me lower my bill so I can stay with them so I cancel my service and a week later this guy called me from directv asking me why did I cancel I told him then he said I apologize for the inconvenience that he would give me my service back with my three tv’s hooked back up and the new box that came out everything for 50.00 a month with no extra so I said ok well remind you that I just had it a week befor they came out to hook it back up when the guy got here he tells me you have no service I said why I just had it a week ago and now you tell me I don’t have service so I said fine I will do roku that is how dum they are thinking I don’t know any better so I get a bill in the mail zero balance then yesterday I get a bill for 200 something then they took over 300 out of my bank so I had to go make a dispute still waiting for my money so I know exactly what you all talking about