# Getting Divorced - Need to Cancel Service



## DavidLM (Apr 18, 2007)

I have had DirecTV for more than 7 years and am currently going through a divorce. As part of the divorce proceedings, I was forced to vacate my house within the past week. I have moved into an apartment that does not allow a satellite dish, thus must switch to cable. My wife is staying back in the house, however because of the divorce which is requiring us to finance two separate households, neither her nor I can afford to pay the DirecTV service at the house.

I had obtained a high-def DirecTV receiver back in December, so still have approx. 1.5 years remaining on my contract. We did not pay the last DirecTV bill and the service has been shut off. Does anyone know what my options are? Will DirecTV allow me to send my equipment (receivers) back to mitigate the damages? Will they allow me to suspend my service for 6 to 12 months until the divorce is settled? Will they allow me a settlement payment?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Earl Bonovich (Nov 15, 2005)

Call them...

You situation is very unique to you, and only a one-on-one conversation with their Retention/Customer service areas is going to get you the proper answers.

The only one option you listed, that I can say they "would" do... is the suspension of service for 9 months.

After that... it is between you and DirecTV


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

Welcome to the forums. :welcome_s

I'm very sorry meeting this way, I wish you good luck. As Earl said, account suspension is likely the very best answer; but a call to the right people is the only way to find out.

Good luck,
Tom


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## StangGT909 (Mar 9, 2007)

Who's name is the Bill (contract) in?


If it's in your name then you call them and tell them you're moving (mover's connection thing) then you tell them you cannot have their service at your new residence (which probably is common) so I'd hope they would let you out without issue.

If it's in her name and she isn't moving, I wouldn't think they'd let you out because you call them and say you just can't afford it. But then that wouldn't be your problem anymore......... 


But if it's some how associated with the "household" I'd think there would still be a way to "move" to an area you can't have service


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## raott (Nov 23, 2005)

DavidLM said:


> I have moved into an apartment that does not allow a satellite dish, thus must switch to cable.


The apartment cannot tell you that you cannot have a satellite dish. They are rules on where you may place it, and you may be out of luck because of line of site due to those rules, but they cannot have a blanket rule not allowing the dish.


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## DavidLM (Apr 18, 2007)

Thanks for your replies at this difficult time. The account is in my name, so I will try the moving to a place that does not allow a satellite dish strategy first. The suspension of service is a good fall back position.

I will miss DirecTV tremendously and have been a huge supporter over the last 7 years. I currently have 4 receivers (high-def and 3 DirecTivos) at the house. I will be switching to the Time Warner "triple play" at the apartment and am very worried about the high-def and DVR capabilities.


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## FenixTX (Nov 11, 2005)

DavidLM said:


> Thanks for your replies at this difficult time. The account is in my name, so I will try the moving to a place that does not allow a satellite dish strategy first. The suspension of service is a good fall back position.
> 
> I will miss DirecTV tremendously and have been a huge supporter over the last 7 years. I currently have 4 receivers (high-def and 3 DirecTivos) at the house. I will be switching to the Time Warner "triple play" at the apartment and am very worried about the high-def and DVR capabilities.


Your apartment complex has to allow you to have a satellite dish. The only thing they can tell you is where you can and can't place the dish.


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## Herdfan (Mar 18, 2006)

FenixTX said:


> Your apartment complex has to allow you to have a satellite dish. The only thing they can tell you is where you can and can't place the dish.


Yep. If you have a balcony/porch with a southern view, all you need is 5 gallon bucket, a pole and a bag of Quickrete. They also make a very thin 2 coax wire meant to be shut in windows and doors for this purpose.

The FCC's OTARD rules allow you to have a dish/antenna on any non-common space such as a balcony or porch. The complex can prohibit you from drilling on their buildings.


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## hambonewd (Feb 7, 2007)

the installer can lay flat cable that will go under the door if you can not drill. the 5 gallon bucket will work if you are on a balcony. but i think putting it on the balcony itself will be more stable against wind. they probably wouldnt let you drill into the balcony but they should let you attach with a couple of U-Bolts.


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## simonkodousek (Feb 20, 2007)

Hi,

First off, I'm very sorry to hear about your divorce. Now, there are a few options with Directv:

1) Downgrade your service to DVR or HD only, whichever one is more important to you and keep only 1 receiver. 

2) Go with Time Warner's "triple play" (I must warn, their DVR is AWFUL compared to TiVo)

~Simon 

PS: Your apartment cannot say that you can't have a sat. dish.


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## DavidLM (Apr 18, 2007)

Unfortunately the 3-story apartment building I am moving into is older in design with no balconies or patios. My 1st floor window faces to the south, however an asphalt parking lot and driveway surrounds the building. There are probably 50units in the building and noone has installed a dish to this point. I am reluctant to be a trailblazer but will give it some thought.

Simon says Time Warner's DVR is not good, how is the quality of their high-def programming?


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

The apartment complex is allowed to restrict your dish placement to only in your own personal space. So without a balcony, the only place that would be an option to you would be INSIDE :eek2: your apartment.

So I would try that approach with Dtv. They may send out a technician or two to verify that it can't be done, but they should let you out of the contract. (With the emphasis on the word should.)

If not, you can always do the account suspension as the others have already said.

Good luck.

JJ


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## hambonewd (Feb 7, 2007)

david i live in dayton----and i actually like time warners dvr a lot. i think it is a lot better than the r15 for sure. from my experience it is a lot more reliable. a lot better usability too. i prefer directv over time warner but i think their dvr is better for sure. if you have the directivo---i cant speak for that. time warner's dvr also has the autocorrection that everyone complains about directv not having. time warner may use different equipment in different areas of the country but here in dayton the dvr is good.


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## topcats69 (Oct 5, 2004)

hello,

here what you got to do, call retentions and tell them what going on they cancel out your account and have them note the account that you are going to depute the charges. ask or look on the back of your bill for the ADDRESS for disputes. White a letter to disputes and tell them you story and ask them if you can get the fees waived. 

This how I had my fees removed when I was unable to get service.

2 years later I'm back and happy.


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## coldsteel (Mar 29, 2007)

you can suspend for 9 months, that'd drop the potential ETF.


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## teebeebee1 (Dec 11, 2006)

Maybe her new boyfriend that makes more money than you can pay for it??

At least explore all your options


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## n3ntj (Dec 18, 2006)

raott said:


> The apartment cannot tell you that you cannot have a satellite dish. They are rules on where you may place it, and you may be out of luck because of line of site due to those rules, but they cannot have a blanket rule not allowing the dish.


Absolutely true. Federal legislation was passed back in the 90's regarding this issue. I think it was called "The Satellite Viewers Act".


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## ClubSteeler (Sep 27, 2005)

I've seen apartment complexes that have a farm of dishes on tripods out on the lawn. You can fight this dish thing. They can prevent you from drilling holes in their structure, but they can't stop you from putting a dish up.


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## simonkodousek (Feb 20, 2007)

DavidLM said:


> Simon says Time Warner's DVR is not good, how is the quality of their high-def programming?


Hi,

The main reason I don't like TWC's DVR is because of the interface. It is faulty and overall doesn't look good if you've had TiVo. It also doesn't hold enough.

The quality of TWC's HD programming is pretty good, I've never experienced any problems, however there aren't as many channels as Directv or Dish. Honestly, if you don't watch HD that much it isn't even worth it.

~Simon


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## lguvenoz (Aug 23, 2006)

Here's the real deal on getting out of the contract and the dish.

1. The federal laws do not force an apartment complex to provide a place to install the dish.
2. Based on your description of the apartment the only viable option is to have the dish INSIDE your apartment (not acceptable).
3. If you move to a location without service, D* can NEVER charge you a termination fee. The DSL companies already tried to fight this battle and lost big, and now you'll notice huge exceptions in the DSL TOS from all the major companies that allow you to cancel at anytime if you move somewhere without service.


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## topcats69 (Oct 5, 2004)

lguvenoz said:


> Here's the real deal on getting out of the contract and the dish.
> 
> 1. The federal laws do not force an apartment complex to provide a place to install the dish.
> 2. Based on your description of the apartment the only viable option is to have the dish INSIDE your apartment (not acceptable).
> 3. If you move to a location without service, D* can NEVER charge you a termination fee. The DSL companies already tried to fight this battle and lost big, and now you'll notice huge exceptions in the DSL TOS from all the major companies that allow you to cancel at anytime if you move somewhere without service.


3 is correct but you must send your request in writing as your request is handled by a group higher up in *D


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

DavidLM said:


> I have moved into an apartment that does not allow a satellite dish, thus must switch to cable.


David, if they are telling you that you can't have a satellite system, print this out and give it to them. It explains the FCC regulations rights for antenna and satellite systems. They may just not know that they can't refuse you a satellite system. Sometimes they just need a little education on the issue.

http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

loudo said:


> David, if they are telling you that you can't have a satellite system, print this out and give it to them. It explains the FCC regulations rights for antenna and satellite systems. They may just not know that they can't refuse you a satellite system. Sometimes they just need a little education on the issue.
> 
> http://www.fcc.gov/mb/facts/otard.html


As I stated earlier, the apartment has every right to restrict the placement of the dish. If the tenant doesn't have a personal space like a balcony (and DavidLM already stated that he doesn't) then he is s.o.l.

From the OTARD link:


> The rule applies to individuals who place antennas that meet size limitations on property that they own or rent and that is within their exclusive use or control, including condominium owners and cooperative owners, and tenants who have an area where they have exclusive use, such as a balcony or patio, in which to install the antenna...
> 
> ...The rule does not apply to common areas that are owned by a landlord, a community association, or jointly by condominium or cooperative owners where the antenna user does not have an exclusive use area.


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## loudo (Mar 24, 2005)

TigersFanJJ said:


> As I stated earlier, the apartment has every right to restrict the placement of the dish. If the tenant doesn't have a personal space like a balcony (and DavidLM already stated that he doesn't) then he is s.o.l.
> 
> From the OTARD link:


I am aware of the other circumstances that prevent you from having dishes, but my point was, they just can't tell you you can't have one, because *they* don't want you to have it. The original statement was, "I have moved into an apartment that does not allow a satellite dish". I was referring to the *does not allow*, statement.


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## TigersFanJJ (Feb 17, 2006)

loudo said:


> I am aware of the other circumstances that prevent you from having dishes, but my point was, they just can't tell you you can't have one, because *they* don't want you to have it. The original statement was, "I have moved into an apartment that does not allow a satellite dish". I was referring to the *does not allow*, statement.


:righton:

Sorry, I wasn't commenting to you personally. I meant to quote only the link that you posted.


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