# Unfair. How to contact DTV corp. Wont install?



## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Hello all,

My exwife had directv when we got married 9 years ago, always in her name. We bought home together and then she needed a boyfriend so we split up a year and a half ago. I moved out and after 8 months moved in with a new GF. All is well in that dept.

Well she stayed in home until last Jan and then vacated home and it sat vacant till divorce was final in Sept. My GF and I moved in 3 weeks ago. I had to refinance the home and hook everthing back up. I chose FIOS and off air antenna for TV. I wanted more channels and FIOS will no longer install (FRONTIER) service for FIOS TV in Seattle. 

I called Directv yesterday and setup new service and paid for it on my CC. I setup autopay. They are scheduled to install Wed.

Today I got a call saying I needed to call Directv about my installation. I did and was told they would not install as my wife had left a balance and not returned a DVR. I told them I have not been here in a year and half and have proof of that and divorce awarding home. 

They said they will rollup to some dept but most likely will not install. Is this legal? I am not my ex wife. I looked and customers are considered new after 1 year. I can prove I did not live here for over a year. I was seperated legally when we seperated. As much as Directv tries to keep customers, I am perplexed as to why as a good risk I am being not taken care of. 

Has anyone else had luck going up the ladder with them to corporate for this type problem? I guess I could put in my GF name but I own home not her.

Thanks.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

Let them handle it with their processes. This isn't that uncommon of a situation. I read a story last week about a daughter having service and the parents being flagged because she didn't pay her bills. They'll get it cleared up if everything is on the up and up. You might have to provide some documentation of the divorce but there's no reason they won't clear this up if it's that straight forward. Calling someone else isn't going to help either because most companies fraud departments are who you would call "corporate".


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Hi- I'd check your credit scores too. 

Typically, a divorce just doesn't make things go away easily.


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## Blankman2k5 (Oct 21, 2010)

papamojo said:


> Hello all,
> 
> My exwife had directv when we got married 9 years ago, always in her name. We bought home together and then she needed a boyfriend so we split up a year and a half ago. I moved out and after 8 months moved in with a new GF. All is well in that dept.
> 
> ...


I understand you are frustrated but the situation will be resolved. For the record it takes 2 years without service to be considered a new customer. There is a special department that can clear your account to be activated if there are no more underlying issues. I know it's rough but just be patient while it is sorted out...


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Thank you. Interestingly the DTV salesperson told me just one year and you can qualify for new customer. I did call this morning and they were flat out rude.

There so called special dept person said that she will research and get back to me. I offered her proof (divorce paperwork, copy of new mortgage, rental agreement from the apt I was living in when we seperated.) She declined and said they need to research. WTH can they research?

Well even with her rudeness I kept calm and told her that if they can not do it to please let me know asap so I can choose an alternative direction. She was just so blunt and unfriendly.'

Thanks


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Oh and my credit is no issue. I have decent credit an passed there credit check when I placed order. I looked and there is no DTV on my credit from my wifes account.

Another intesting note from the Best Buy csr. He told me this happens all the time when a residense has had DTV over the years with a balance left on account. He said sometimes they dont care, sometimes they make it a pain.

He said if I wait for cancel from DTV installation and have my GF put in her name they will do install as name is no match. But I should not have to play this game. Jeez its just :nono2:tv.


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## jdspencer (Nov 8, 2003)

Maybe an email to Ellen Filipiak (sp?) would help.
Her email address is around here some where.
She's a VP in public relations.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Sorry to hear you are having such an issue. As to the 'research', frankly that sounds to me like they just wanted you off the phone.

Here's an email to use to get to the real special customer service area:
[email protected]

email her and tell her just what you've said here in a polite manner. Make sure to give them your phone number and email address. They will respond (Ellen won't as I don't think she's even there anymore). If anyone can help you, these people can.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

thank you for the information I just sent her email do you know how long it usually takes for that office to respond thank you.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

If your name and info was never on the account, the I don't see how you don't qualify for new customer right away, you've never had it.

Did they say they where blocking you because of you or because of your address? That's what they could be researching.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

papamojo said:


> thank you for the information I just sent her email do you know how long it usually takes for that office to respond thank you.


My experience was the next day. Others indicate anywhere from same day to 3 days later. So it varies, depending on how many requests they are getting at any one time.

I will say that they handled my issue quite well


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

And now by going to another department, it may take longer with 2 working on it instead of one.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

RobertE said:


> And now by going to another department, it may take longer with 2 working on it instead of one.


I doubt it. The Office of the President's people get the priority.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

lparsons21 said:


> I doubt it. The Office of the President's people get the priority.


Ever try and cut in line in a bureaucratic operation? :lol:


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

RobertE said:


> Ever try and cut in line in a bureaucratic operation? :lol:


Ellen Filipiak's Office has handled all of my problems quickly and they Override the other departments because they are operating out of the President's Office and they have always treated me fairly and quickly and they can do things that other departments do not have the "Power" to do.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

inkahauts said:


> If your name and info was never on the account, the I don't see how you don't qualify for new customer right away, you've never had it.


A good question that the OP didn't mention: was his name ever on the account?


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

Ms. Filipiak is still with DIRECTV. I was on a conference call with her myself three months ago and a friend of mine was in a meeting with her last week. 

Let's not start rumors.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

lparsons21 said:


> ...
> (Ellen won't as I don't think she's even there anymore)...


Why are you making this up? She's still listed as one of the corporate officers: http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/officers.cfm

Cheers,
Tom


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Okay what a nigthmare! Update.

First off to answer the other poster. NO my name was not on account. However my ex-wifes was. I was not even a authorized user on her account.

Well I emailed to Ellen. I got a call back within 4 hours from a sweet woman. She was extremelly polite and did her best to sound like she felt bad and understood. HOWEVER!!!!!!!!!!! She claimed her dept while the final stop on the customer service trail is not alloweed to overstep the Special conditions (fancy word for credit dept) dept. She said I must call them at
800 880-8695 and get them to release account so she could rebuild it. She said that I was flagged as there is some criteria for new accounts that will flag for manual approval once order is placed. 
1.Address has had prior unpaid service or any service within 1 year of new order placement. (She did confirm they will offer new customer deals after 1 year not 2)
2. Name either first or last matches name on defaulted account or last past account at residence.

So I was flagged on both. I had nothing to do with ex-wife and was not at residence when she and her boy toy went bad. However my last name is same.

She said her hands are tied till I call other dept.

I call the other dept and am put on hold for 38minutes and hung up on.
Then I call and again no person answers and I am on hold for 1hour and 49 minutes. I know as my office phone has timer and speakerphone thank goodness. When she finally answered the first thing she does is to tell me they are closed and we will have to make it quick. Its 2pm PDT ! WTH! They are on east coast and close at 5pm. 

She quickly tells me that I live in a community property state and since my divorce was not final (have legal seperation paperwork and rental agreements showing I did not live in home at time in question) I am just as libal as my ex wife in and until the old DVRS (said my wife never returned old HD DVRS 3 of them) and balance of $1284.62 is paid I can not have service.

I am calm but educated so I finally start to lose my cool. I tell her This is not the law. Legal seperation in Washington stops any co contract ownership at the time of file with court. In this cast 8 months before her default on account. She says Directv reserves the right to refuse anyone and that they are envoking this right. I am besides myself and she then rudely tells me that unless I pay or wife returns boxes and pays balance I am out of luck!

I then called our corporate attorney at my office and went over this with her. She said I could drive this further with state attorney general, however at the end of the day I they still do reserve right to refuse.

I then call back the advocacy group and the same woman assigned to my account said she was sorry but could not over rule that dept. I then ask her, Well what if I have my roommate ( rented room to co-worker downstairs) call and sign up as his name is not mine and not on account. She would not commit but said I am free to try other options. I could tell in her voice this was an approval of sorts.

So when my roommate Dan got home he simply called, passed credit and got installation date. 

So based on what she told me flags. I am sure it will still flag as home has service just under a year ago before wife abandoned home. However name and all information and phone numbers and email is Dans. So there really is no reason to stop installation again.


Wow what a bunch of BS! If it was not for wanting the free NFL thrown in for rest of season and better price then Dish we would have went to them.

THanks for all your help
Mike.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

So what did she do with the 3 DVRs? Cant you get them and return them? Since billing is month in advance, all but about $100 is probably the DVR's.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Davenlr said:


> So what did she do with the 3 DVRs? Cant you get them and return them? Since billing is month in advance, all but about $100 is probably the DVR's.


We do not speak so my adult son called her and that brain surgeon donated them to Goodwill store when she was forced to vacate home. So nothing I can do there. Thats her problem. I am not liable there. They said the 3 recievers made up approx 2/3rds of balance.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

One more clarification for the site, I did ask why they can not just check my social to see its never been on file. She said for privacy Directv NEVER records any social security numbers on your account. They have a third party credit check and you either pass or fail and no ss is on fille with them. This is what came from her.


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## frogg (Nov 18, 2005)

It seems that D* just does not want your business. Choose another provider that won't raise your blood pressure. Corporations invented the word "obstinate".


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## DawgLink (Nov 5, 2006)

I keep reading this thread and I keep feeling like I am missing something major because if your name was not on the account or an authorized user....it would seem clear to me that someone moving in after her....would be able to get new service with no issue.

DirecTV obviously has you tied to her. Are you sure you have no connection to her account?


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

DawgLink said:


> I keep reading this thread and I keep feeling like I am missing something major because if your name was not on the account or an authorized user....it would seem clear to me that someone moving in after her....would be able to get new service with no issue.
> 
> DirecTV obviously has you tied to her. Are you sure you have no connection to her account?


The OP followed up with information that the account was under his ex-wife and because he and she shared the same last name, that was the 2nd flag. The 1st flag was the address, which had an account with a balance due.

Unfortunately this is not unique to the OP. I've seen similar threads and complaints about this several times here. When DIRECTV signs up a new account they check the address, and if the address had a balance due, even on an account owned by someone else, it's not always easy for the new account to proceed.

I don't necessarily agree with this policy, but my guess is DIRECTV does it because there could be some scammer who builds up a balance and then tries to sign up at the same location as a new customer using someone else's name.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

Tom Robertson said:


> Why are you making this up? She's still listed as one of the corporate officers: http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/officers.cfm
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom


Why are you accusing me of making it up? Note that I said "I think", I didn't say it was a fact... 

Of course, you can feel free to jump all over me as I can take it, mostly 'cause I don't let message boards of any sort really get my goat. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff!


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Drew2k said:


> The OP followed up with information that the account was under his ex-wife and because he and she shared the same last name, that was the 2nd flag. The 1st flag was the address, which had an account with a balance due.
> 
> Unfortunately this is not unique to the OP. I've seen similar threads and complaints about this several times here. When DIRECTV signs up a new account they check the address, and if the address had a balance due, even on an account owned by someone else, it's not always easy for the new account to proceed.
> 
> I don't necessarily agree with this policy, but my guess is DIRECTV does it because there could be some scammer who builds up a balance and then tries to sign up at the same location as a new customer using someone else's name.


You know I am in agreement here as well. I even told the advocate that I fully understand they need for Directv to protect there investors by having policys in place. HOWEVER, I also offered definate proof I am not tied to or liable for my ex wifes failures in life and I forget to say I even offered to prepay 3 months in advance. They just would not budge. I agree they seem to not want my business!

I find this even more puzzling as I talked last night to a fellow city council member who said when he left Directv last year to go to Dishnetwork, Directv called and more then once said they would pay the $200.00 early term fee to Dishnetwork if he came back. He is only a subscriber to there $24.95 family plan. So guess they will throw away money where they see fit. Otherwise they do not care to make money makes little sence.

UPDATE.

As I posted last night we put in order for my room renter Dan. Everthing looked good with a Sat installation this week as of midnight last night. Today I logged into Dans account and while it still says installation on Sat. When I went to try and change to morning both months were x out and it said installation choice not avaiable and to call. This is same thing it said Sunday when they did not contact me but had put my install on hold. So I am guessing they have froze this one as well. The most amazing thing is if I do not call like I did yesterday. We could be waiting here on Sat with no one showing up. Directv makes no attempt to call or email you to tell you there is a problem. What a poorly run company. Murdoch is an ass.

They have no reason to freeze on Dan. However they still have that wonderful right to refuse anyone.

Ugg, off to schedule Dishnet instead.

Thanks again for everyones help

Mike.


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## HarleyD (Aug 31, 2006)

papamojo said:


> You know I am in agreement here as well. I even told the advocate that I fully understand they need for Directv to protect there investors by having policys in place. HOWEVER, I also offered definate proof I am not tied to or liable for my ex wifes failures in life and I forget to say I even offered to prepay 3 months in advance. They just would not budge. I agree they seem to not want my business!
> 
> I find this even more puzzling as I talked last night to a fellow city council member who said when he left Directv last year to go to Dishnetwork, Directv called and more then once said they would pay the $200.00 early term fee to Dishnetwork if he came back. He is only a subscriber to there $24.95 family plan. So guess they will throw away money where they see fit. Otherwise they do not care to make money makes little sence.
> 
> ...


I understand your frustration and I agree with it. I even agree that Rupert Murdoch is a cretin.

However Murdoch and News Corp sold their interest in DirecTV to Liberty Media a couple of years back. Rupert has no dog in this fight.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

HarleyD said:


> I understand your frustration and I agree with it. I even agree that Rupert Murdoch is a cretin.
> 
> However Murdoch and News Corp sold their interest in DirecTV to Liberty Media a couple of years back. Rupert has no dog in this fight.


Thanks. I was unaware and almost sent his office an email. I will now send one to Liberty Media with my displeasure.


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## Xsabresx (Oct 8, 2007)

Tom Robertson said:


> Why are you making this up? She's still listed as one of the corporate officers: http://dtv.client.shareholder.com/officers.cfm
> 
> Cheers,
> Tom


To their defense while it may not be accurate info (her leaving), they didnt make it up. There was discussion on this board about her no longer serving in the same capacity.


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## wallfishman (Dec 31, 2008)

You have to look at it in directvs point of view. you and your wife were married living in that house with directv service and basically stopped paying them, and stole 3 of their dvrs. now instead of paying the debt, your saying no it was all my ex wifes fault resign me up in same house that we defrauded you in before with same last name. they dont care about all the stories , divorce , when you moved. hell could I run up a 1000 dollar bill and send them a letter that i was living with my buddy somnewher else and they will just forget about it ? The bigger thing you could do is include all this with your divorce attorney and get Directv their money in your divorce settlement and clear your name at that address. Im not saying your scamming them , but in their eyes they almost have to deny you service in my opinion. and the one year you are talking about does not include Fraud . I have seen them refuse to activate receivers on accounts for people that owed them money from 6 years ago. you and your name , and that house are flagged now.


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## wallfishman (Dec 31, 2008)

papamojo said:


> You know I am in agreement here as well. I even told the advocate that I fully understand they need for Directv to protect there investors by having policys in place. HOWEVER, I also offered definate proof I am not tied to or liable for my ex wifes failures in life and I forget to say I even offered to prepay 3 months in advance. They just would not budge. I agree they seem to not want my business!
> 
> I find this even more puzzling as I talked last night to a fellow city council member who said when he left Directv last year to go to Dishnetwork, Directv called and more then once said they would pay the $200.00 early term fee to Dishnetwork if he came back. He is only a subscriber to there $24.95 family plan. So guess they will throw away money where they see fit. Otherwise they do not care to make money makes little sence.
> 
> ...


 actually as a technician Im glad they cancelled it now instead of another dumb thing they do about once every other month. That is they send out the work order anyway, let the technician drive out and install dish and rewire your whole house. Then when he goes to activate your receivers they fail and a message on his handheld says to call that same exact number you posted which is the fraud department. they want the customer to pay in your case 1200 dollars on the spot with a credit card or they will not activate receivers. we have to take all receivers back and leave and dont get paid for any of it.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

wallfishman said:


> actually as a technician Im glad they cancelled it now instead of another dumb thing they do about once every other month. That is they send out the work order anyway, let the technician drive out and install dish and rewire your whole house. Then when he goes to activate your receivers they fail and a message on his handheld says to call that same exact number you posted which is the fraud department. they want the customer to pay in your case 1200 dollars on the spot with a credit card or they will not activate receivers. we have to take all receivers back and leave and dont get paid for any of it.


First off thank you for taking time to respond. However you are not accurate. Legal statute in Washington state is that once you serve your spouse with legal seperation paperwork the credit and financial responsibility seperates. I ALSO WAS NOT IN HOUSE WHEN SHE DID GO BAD and offered proof by my condo rental agreement and cancelled rent checks for the period she went bad in. So I am legally protected to not be responsible for her debt from that date on. SO NO DIRECTV can not attempt to collect from me (in fairness they have never asked for any money from me) Next, I WAS NOT IN HOME when service was rendered or defaulted. So the only thing that connects me is my last name.

Directv is just playing sour grapes as they got burned (like myself and others) by my Ex.

Now they are being obsurd by not letting a person not connected by ANYTHING get installation of service. This is where they cross the line. I made a report with the state attorney general and they do agree with me.

If companys could do this at will believe me they would. They as in gas, electric, or phone do this and they would have a field day frustrating peoples lifes. Yes I am sure there is plenty of fraud from family members using there names to circumvent paying old or high bills. However the only legal way a company could refuse is by marriage. Legally anyone not married has right to call and get power turned on in there name as in a son, daughter or relative.

Example is when I was restoring my Gas service. The clerk had to clear my wifes account at my address. She and I got to talking and she said and I quote, " We have familys that will have every relative besides the spouse sign up when the bill gets to large and pretend the person on account has moved. We can not do anything if they pass credit and are not on account or married. So again, Directv if doing this is setting there own stage for more suits.

And again, what could the legal argument be for not allowing my renter to setup? How about if I sell my home next month (wishfull thinking) and a nice old couplemove in and are given this same run around unfairly as I and Dan are? What if this was your family that bought home and have to go through this. Again, Directv is ready to give people hundreds of dollars to pay off early term fees of Dishnet or Cable. However they even with a large deposit or prepay refuse many people just wanting service that have done nothing wrong? Just because they can! Glad this is not used by other companies I have dealt with. In fact my ex left a bill of over $1400.00 for power. No problem me setting up in my name. Did not even blink an eye. Verizon she owed over $500.00 again they were more then nice to me. Directv LOSERS!

I can tell you work for Directv as you are in protectoin mode. However think about if this was your friend or relative. THis is utter bull cr#p and is not done by anyother utility company I have ever heard of.

As for them doing this to you upon installation completion. Another example of how they are very rude. You should NEVER have to be in the middle of this. Plus it ends up costing your time. Where is there defense to that?'
WOW!


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## wallfishman (Dec 31, 2008)

papamojo said:


> First off thank you for taking time to respond. However you are not accurate. Legal statute in Washington state is that once you serve your spouse with legal seperation paperwork the credit and financial responsibility seperates. So I am legally protected to not be responsible for her debt from that date on. SO NO DIRECTV can not attempt to collect from me (in fairness they have never asked for any money from me) Next, I WAS NOT IN HOME when service was rendered or defaulted. So the only thing that connects me is my last name.
> 
> Directv is just playing sour grapes as they got burned (like myself and others) by my Ex.
> 
> ...


im not in protection mode , i just deal with this alot. also you want to hear one better? about 6 years ago i had a sales job at comcast for like a year. direct sales door to door. They would flag accounts for Fraud by the name, by the address, by whatever the hell they wanted basically. It would go like this. some scammers would live in an apartment building and run the bill up to 500 dollars until comcast disconnected their service. a flag gets put on their account and no one and i mean no one gets service at that address without going through 2 days of drama. Ive personally been involved in them denying 100s of sales for this. Little old lady moves into a unit that people before did this to them and they want her to go through so much nonsense that about 90 percent of them would just say forget it. They would want her to bring down in person, lease, social security, drivers liscence , elerctric bills from new address, bills from old address etc. 
and your renter dan likely would have been fine had you not tried to sign up first in your name, which is the same name as the last people that lived at the same address that scammed them out of 1200 dollars. he got turned down because hes trying to get service at the same address that was just cancelled for fraud days ago. its nothing personal its all numbers to them.


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## bixler (Oct 14, 2008)

wallfishman said:


> its nothing personal its all numbers to them.


Well said and this is something the OP needs to understand and keep in mind. There are 20 million customers in the US and how many thousands signing up each day....you are only a number to a company like this and they follow very strict rules, especially when it comes to fraud. They are too big to handle this on a case by case basis.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

WOW I AM FLABERGASTED! 

First off Mr. Fish man. You just saved an installer with your post. !

I pull up and find not one but 2 Directv trucks in front of my house. ( My installation was to be today, Not my roommates).

The installers were meeting as one guy was giving the other guy a box for my house. I polietly explain my plight and how DTV told me they would not approve my install. He says Jeez, Gets on some phone and goes to van. Both guys huddle and he comes and tells me I need to call a number (same one I called) and have them approve install. He says he will go down the street and do an upgrade and come back if I can. I say it wont happen! He thanks me and leaves. This poor guy would have went thru just what the poster above said.


Your know what you speak of! Is this company wack or what? Do they make it a policy to not only not communicate when they cancel an install but also do not communicate to there own installation teams?

As for Comcast, I have heard similiar horror stories. My nieghbor is a Supervisor in field and even with his free basic Comcrasp he has Directv as well. 

So in your view how long could we wait till my Roomie tries again? Or is my home now flagged for good?


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

bixler said:


> Well said and this is something the OP needs to understand and keep in mind. There are 20 million customers in the US and how many thousands signing up each day....you are only a number to a company like this and they follow very strict rules, especially when it comes to fraud. They are too big to handle this on a case by case basis.


As an Economics major I can tell you very few large company's use this standard of operations. It only takes 1 mad customer to turn into 10 and then 100 and then 1000. So this is not accurate. I am sure they very much care about customer retention and sign up as witnessed by the aggresive attemps to pay off early terms. No company that wants to survive basis there sales plan on turning people down to keep fraud down. All company's have a built in bad debt threshold on there P&L. Plus turning down people for precaution can lead to class action suits. From what I understand they are simply in my case being rude and making it personal. I have read on BBB (they do not belong) and Consumer affairs plenty of worse off stories then mine> However many have been rectifyed by then faster them my case. What is happening is they feel (the person in the fraud dept) that I am liable. I AM NOT! I lose. However I will tell all on our city council my plight and that will trickle down. This kind of bad business kills companys.

I helped my son do a mid-term last year on the most succesful business concept that is Jim Sinegals (CEO FOUNDER) Costco corp,. They even in the current state of affairs have turned a 100 billion dollar profit and kept there world class RETURN ANY ITEM at any TIME Return Policy. They could care less if a person returns a 10 year old $1000.00 leather chair saying the arm wore down as an example. Jims proven theory is you build your business towards the 99% of your customers that are honest and wont abuse there liberal return policy. That way they do not lose sleep over the other 1%. Directv could use some better managment.

best run company's have the best rated customer service.


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## Justin23 (Jan 11, 2008)

papamojo said:


> There is a reason the best run company's have the best rated customer service.


Check the latest J.D. Power's report...


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Justin23 said:


> Check the latest J.D. Power's report...


Justin, as an Economics major I will not go into how JD powers completes there rankings. Its been considered a joke for years. There longest running champion of customer servive is Verizon. The reason is phone samples of customers. They no longer do full reviews by customer complaints as well.

Its skewed towards big companies. Example. Directv has approx 20 million customers. So when they call homes of course those people will be happy. Dishnetwork actually has held that title more then Directv. It also is skewed by prices. Comcast used to always be on top. However with old boxes, bad HD offering and such and huge price increase pulled them off the top.

again, go to BBB or Consumer affairs site. Directv, Comcast and Adelphia have the most complaints. Directv and Comcast have the most unresolved customer complaints.

JD power is no more then a sales tool. Much like Kelly blue book and others have become.

A true survey are consumer sites. Every company will have complaints. The good ones have a very small ratio of unresolved complaints. Seems Directv and Comcast rule in the high percentage of unresolved complaints.

Peace.


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## wallfishman (Dec 31, 2008)

papamojo said:


> WOW I AM FLABERGASTED!
> 
> First off Mr. Fish man. You just saved an installer with your post. !
> 
> ...


 how long ? that im not sure of, an insider from that department would have to answer that one. I just deal with the technician end of it and am just reporting some BS I see in the field. 
My boss and I have gotten into some pretty heated exchanges over it I know that. One was just 2 weeks ago and was basically the same deal as you, an ex wife that owed money. This guy was trying to sign up with same last name, same address and same phone number that was on her account. when you tried signing dan up did you use the same phone number ?
For any technician reading this once youve looked around and went over job with customer and know that the job is going in, get your handheld and try to close a line item on their account. close the dish, the multiswitch, the lnb anything. If a line item closes then proceed with the job. If it fails and says to call the number, start packing up . at least this way you will not waste hours installing all kinds of stuff only to have this happen at the very end. also when you do call the number get the customer to call from his phone. I had some guy flipping out on my phone to directv . i had to cut him off and basically take my phone back and it almost got physical over it. At one point he was screaming at them and acted like he was gonna throw my iphone. In the last 5 years Ive had this happen to me at least 10-15 times. And not one of them paid on the spot, so once you get to the call the number part i basically leave. Its stupid man I think they send us out sometimes just to put the person on the spot in an effort to try to collect the debt or something.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

wallfishman said:


> how long ? that im not sure of, an insider from that department would have to answer that one. I just deal with the technician end of it and am just reporting some BS I see in the field.
> My boss and I have gotten into some pretty heated exchanges over it I know that. One was just 2 weeks ago and was basically the same deal as you, an ex wife that owed money. This guy was trying to sign up with same last name, same address and same phone number that was on her account. when you tried signing dan up did you use the same phone number ?
> For any technician reading this once youve looked around and went over job with customer and know that the job is going in, get your handheld and try to close a line item on their account. close the dish, the multiswitch, the lnb anything. If a line item closes then proceed with the job. If it fails and says to call the number, start packing up . at least this way you will not waste hours installing all kinds of stuff only to have this happen at the very end. also when you do call the number get the customer to call from his phone. I had some guy flipping out on my phone to directv . i had to cut him off and basically take my phone back and it almost got physical over it. At one point he was screaming at them and acted like he was gonna throw my iphone. In the last 5 years Ive had this happen to me at least 10-15 times. And not one of them paid on the spot, so once you get to the call the number part i basically leave. Its stupid man I think they send us out sometimes just to put the person on the spot in an effort to try to collect the debt or something.


Damm I feel for you. Safety and for your patience and anxiety. How dare they treat you or customers like this!

Thanks for sharing.

Dan signed up with his name. (no relations)
His Phone number
His Email
His Password
His SS

So yes he signed up totally new. Only thing mathing is address.

FYI when I tried I signed up on all new infromation as well. Only thing matching on me was last name and address.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Add an apt number to end of Dan's address? Worth a shot. He does rent Apt 1A doesnt he? Dont know if that would match on the computer or not. 

Actually, I would like to have you followup after your Dishnetwork install, and let us know what, if any, action your attn gen's office took, and what the results were.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

Unfortunately, too many people have screwed the system to many times that they have to be hard on everyone, even when they don't deserve it in these situations. Especially when it comes to things dealing with divorce. People just flat out lie. I'm not at all saying you did, but others do. Unfortunately, that means the people in the right like you have to jump through all kinds of hoops, kind of like when someone steals your id. The biggest issue IMHO is they don't have a good enough way to get these things resolved easier.

As for the installers, I am not surprised, I have never once heard of Directv having a good system in place to communicate with their installers on anything, anytime.

I have a feeling that your x will be hounded by creditors for this, because I do think Direct goes after people and hits their credit and sends it to collections, if that's any solace that she will have to deal with this issue big time as well.

Quick side story, worked retail for a decade and saw all kinds of things. One time a couple came in and bought a 7k system in cash, and we know they got it home and hooked up and liked it. Three weeks latter the wife comes in and says they need to return it, sorry about that. So we did. Needless to say, when the husband came by a couple days latter asking if she had returned it he was mad. Found out she had cheated on him, they where getting a divorce, and she basically returned it so that she could get the money on the return and screw him even though he had actually paid for it. It was complicated, but trust me, that's what she did even though we refunded it to the same credit card that was used to pay for it. That's one of the reason the only way to return stuff was the way it was originally paid for. Fraud. Fraud is everywhere.

I honestly don't know what you can do to get your situation resolved, other than calling the fraud department back again and talking to their supervisor and asking them what you would need to do. I get being mad at DirecTV, but honestly, I would not really be mad at them, they didn't cause this situation, your x did. 

I'd hate to see what happens someday when someone buys those old ones your x gave to good will and tries to activate them. Man, will they be mad.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Davenlr said:


> Add an apt number to end of Dan's address? Worth a shot. He does rent Apt 1A doesnt he? Dont know if that would match on the computer or not.
> 
> Actually, I would like to have you followup after your Dishnetwork install, and let us know what, if any, action your attn gen's office took, and what the results were.


Hmm, I hate to play games since I have done nothing wrong. However I feel like I am being treated very unfair.

Wonder if this would work. Yes he does rent my complete downstair in a tri leval home. However there is not an apt. Would the installer be ok with this when they show up?


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

inkahauts said:


> Unfortunately, too many people have screwed the system to many times that they have to be hard on everyone, even when they don't deserve it in these situations. Especially when it comes to things dealing with divorce. People just flat out lie. I'm not at all saying you did, but others do. Unfortunately, that means the people in the right like you have to jump through all kinds of hoops, kind of like when someone steals your id. The biggest issue IMHO is they don't have a good enough way to get these things resolved easier.
> 
> As for the installers, I am not surprised, I have never once heard of Directv having a good system in place to communicate with their installers on anything, anytime.
> 
> ...


You know I get it. However while I was not mad at first as I know they are faced with lies and fraud daily> I was confident as I have very confirmable proof I am not at fault. This does make me very mad at them. I have offered proof in many ways, up to and including pictures of all the boxes still unpacked in my home LOL. The Fraud dept was no help> She said NO was final.

I am interested in having Dan email Ellens office as he is no way connected to billing. She said only Fraud dept she could not overule. But this is not a fraud dept issue I think.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

papamojo said:


> You know I get it. However while I was not mad at first as I know they are faced with lies and fraud daily> I was confident as I have very confirmable proof I am not at fault. This does make me very mad at them. I have offered proof in many ways, up to and including pictures of all the boxes still unpacked in my home LOL. The Fraud dept was no help> She said NO was final.
> 
> I am interested in having Dan email Ellens office as he is no way connected to billing. She said only Fraud dept she could not overule. But this is not a fraud dept issue I think.


Worth a shot just to see. I am with you though, there has to be a way to get it fixed. Like i said, I'd talk to a sup in the fraud dept, and keep asking for the next ones boss till someone could get it fixed, because you know someone can get it fixed.

I wonder if they have sent it to collections yet. I wonder if you'll hear about it when it does go there, just in terms of people trying to get a hold of her. Keeps us informed, let us know if you get it worked out. I am curious, and i hope you do get it working!


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

inkahauts said:


> Worth a shot just to see. I am with you though, there has to be a way to get it fixed. Like i said, I'd talk to a sup in the fraud dept, and keep asking for the next ones boss till someone could get it fixed, because you know someone can get it fixed.
> 
> I wonder if they have sent it to collections yet. I wonder if you'll hear about it when it does go there, just in terms of people trying to get a hold of her. Keeps us informed, let us know if you get it worked out. I am curious, and i hope you do get it working!


Thanks alot for your help and words of wisdom. I see your post count and you must be lots of help here. THanks!

On a side note, I wonder if the office of Pres really has to answer by the Fraud dept wishes. You would think they would be the final word. But seems not from what they told me.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

papamojo said:


> On a side note, I wonder if the office of Pres really has to answer by the Fraud dept wishes. You would think they would be the final word. But seems not from what they told me.


I'm guessing that the fraud department is following regulations from Sarbanes-Oxley and therefore the President's office can't overrule them.


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## wesmills (Apr 7, 2003)

papamojo said:


> I had to refinance the home and hook everthing back up. I chose FIOS and off air antenna for TV. I wanted more channels and FIOS will no longer install (FRONTIER) service for FIOS TV in Seattle.


Not that it relates to DirecTV in the slightest, but Frontier will install FiOS TV service; I got it installed on the Eastside a month ago and without the installation fee. If DirecTV can't get it worked out, PM me.

(I don't work for Frontier, and I still have DirecTV service for baseball.)


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

> I am sure they very much care about customer retention and sign up as witnessed by the aggresive attemps to pay off early terms.


Except they never pay it.
I currently work at Dish network, I used to work at D* want to know something?
D* never pays off the early term fee, part of the stipulation to get the early term fee paid for is to present a final bill that explicitly states "Early Termination Fee" with the associated amount due.
Dish network canceled accounts dont say "Early Termination Fee" on them anywhere, even if there is one and D* knows this. So you call up E* ask for the bill, a CSR tells you you cant get it. You get pissed off, call D* and they tell you you cant get the money back without that bill and just blame E*.
So in the end, they get there new sub and dont have to pay anything more aside from the cost of acquisition.
Sorry for derailing the topic, i just saw you post this a few times so i felt like addressing it.

Anywho, back to topic.
Its unfortunate that you are going through this, and i know you feel like you are being wronged by the system. And i agree, you are being wronged.
But as said earlier you're just a number.
The address got flagged and from this point on you're just going to have to play CSR roulette at the fraud department until you get someone who isnt willing to be a dick.


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

trh said:


> I'm guessing that the fraud department is following regulations from Sarbanes-Oxley and therefore the President's office can't overrule them.


No. SOX is designed to protect shareholders by ensuring a company's financial statements are accurate and free from fraud. It requires control over financial transactions and events.

Personally, I think D* is correct in this case, and it's all about risk management. Simply stated, your name/address pose too high a risk for D* at this time.

Put yourself in their shoes, and you may understand their point of view.

This is why telephone companies require certain customers to put down a big deposit and others have zero deposit requirements. Actuaries make a lot of money helping companies make similar risk management decisions.

Be patient, and understand that it's D*'s right to choose not to take you on as a customer.


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## mnassour (Apr 23, 2002)

inkahauts said:


> I'd hate to see what happens someday when someone buys those old ones your x gave to good will and tries to activate them. Man, will they be mad.


Papamojo, just a thought....I don't suppose you've tried recovering those boxes from Goodwill? If there are three of them at $300-$400 each, it might be worth visiting some stores.


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## RMBittner (Mar 28, 2011)

Papamojo:

I know this isn't a great answer, but: It seems that you _really_ want DirecTV -- otherwise, you'd have moved on by now. So have you considered just biting the bullet and paying the fees to clear up the account? You may not be responsible for the bills _legally_, but maybe that's beside the point.

It sounds like there was no love lost between you and your ex-wife. But I think that might be clouding things for you. Look at it this way: If your parents had owned the house -- and they passed away, having overlooked six months of bills from DirecTV -- and you moved back in, would you treat this situation any differently? Would you refuse to settle their account? I'd guess that you _might_ settle it, even though you had _never_ lived in that house before and would have no direct responsibility for their bills.

And consider how much your time and energy are worth. How much effort have you already expended on this? It sounds like a lot. And it sounds like it's been a real headache as well. Are you up for enduring more of the same, or would it actually be a relief at this point to just pay the fee? That's a call only you can make.

Bob


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Thanks for all the replys. 


1. FIOS- I have Frontier for internet and phone. I talked to them and they said they will install for $500.00 and very high new rates. She would not admit but I found on consumer sites and on DSL reports that Fronter is not wanting any new subscribers so they will do everything they can to not have you subscribe. Plus there contract ends in a few months and they plan on shutting the TV side down completly. It will be challenged legally due to there contract with Verizon and the approved sale back when it was approved.

2. I have always said I can understand Directv protecting the bottom line by using strict measures with a fruad dept. I am not naive and think just due to people lying and barking at them they would back down. That said..... When proof is offered to show honesty they MUST and even by LAW follow law and good faith. In my case proof shows I am not at fault and by law not responsible So therefore I should be approved. What they are doing is against the law up to the point that they do reserve the right of refusal. HOWEVER>> Any business can refuse an african american or Skin head to shop at there store if the are rude and ignorant. But you can be sure it could end up as a lawsuit and a judge would be hard pressed to rule in there favor. Right is right and wrong is dead wrong. In my case they are dead wrong.

3. The example of parent home having a bill is a perfect example of what I explained the power companys due. They must provide service to a son or daughter with no deposit if they pass credit profile. There parents are only the same by name. It only is a stop gap legally if its a spouse. As told by utility dept to me and by my research. 
Bottom line is you are assuming and though they may be correct, you can not blanket stop everyone by name. Research is involved and fair. But I had to hook up all my services and believe me there was high balance left on them all. NONE OF THEM took the attitude DTV Has.

4. Thank you from the Dish and Ex D employee. I did a search and found there are people complaining about the tactic Directv uses for that promised payment of early term. I did find when it has gone to Office of Pres they have almost always paid it or put service credit on persons account. HOWEVER again, this shows you Directv is really looking for legal trouble and operates against the grain. ONE QUESTION TO YOU? Does my Address get a flag forever or how does it work since my renter has nothing to do with this and they should not be stopping it for him? Thanks!

5.In closing we have talked this to death. NO I WILL NOT PAY her balance. YES I would like Directv as the offer is great with NFL. Can I live without it, YES! Why am I fighting so hard, PRINCIPLE! I have no issue with there protective nature, I HAVE HUGE PROBLEM being not listened to and my proof not being even looked at by them. Remember, they are breaking law and telling me its a community property issue and I am resposible. I HAVE PROOF I did not live during contract break at my home, I have proof where I lived, I have divorce decree showing by law I am not and was not responsible for my ex in any financial way. It is not on my credit report and they are not asking for money from me. So I only fight at this point as I am very pissed off.

Last,
Your all very smart people here and have given me great help. Much apprieciated!

I am still not sure if Dan my roommate was turned down. It still shows installation scheduled for Friday this week. My fear is that when he goes to pretend he wants to reschedule on the website it gives him a closed off screen and says not available and a csr will call within 72 hours to schedule. However on order screen and accounts it still shows installation for this week. When he calls it transfers him to live csr. He has hung up to this point not to cause alarm. Maybe they will show up? If they do not and never notify him they cancelled he is going to for cause serve them with a small claims suit for the $270.00 he lost to day of work without them notifying him of cancelation. I do not agree with this but he is a bulldog of a constuction foreman and is even more upset them I . This was advice he got on a legal page about no show installations. Seems companys do not like being served. Turnabout is fair play I guess.

So the saga continues. I will keep you informed.


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## RMBittner (Mar 28, 2011)

I think you should just bear in mind that DirecTV is able to legally refuse service to anyone. They aren't breaking any laws here, and they aren't robbing you of any legal rights.


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

papamojo said:


> Thanks alot for your help and words of wisdom. I see your post count and you must be lots of help here. THanks!
> 
> On a side note, I wonder if the office of Pres really has to answer by the Fraud dept wishes. You would think they would be the final word. But seems not from what they told me.


I would never expect anyone to be able to go above the fraud department, but I do however think they should be able to help sort it out with the fraud department in getting them to see that you are not connected to the past account.

And thanks, I try. But I definitively don't know everything!


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## inkahauts (Nov 13, 2006)

RMBittner said:


> Papamojo:
> 
> I know this isn't a great answer, but: It seems that you _really_ want DirecTV -- otherwise, you'd have moved on by now. So have you considered just biting the bullet and paying the fees to clear up the account? You may not be responsible for the bills _legally_, but maybe that's beside the point.
> 
> ...


I would never even consider paying her bill. Chances are if its been long enough, it may already be on its way to collections, and I can't see any reason to ever get involved in that process. Why make her life easier after all he's been through?


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

RMBittner said:


> I think you should just bear in mind that DirecTV is able to legally refuse service to anyone. They aren't breaking any laws here, and they aren't robbing you of any legal rights.


They are actually almost or a judge could interpit breaking the law. Now if fairness to DTV (funny how I am fair they are not) no one person has asked me to pay her balance. IF they did they would be breaking the law. Its found under class 2 collections laws for Federal guidlelines. A creditor may not ask, require or persuade a person not in contract or spouse in a community property state for payment of a past due or current due collectable debt. However in theory that is what they are attempting with me.

Next, while yes any company or person has right of first refusal. Just like I said, MOST LARGE comanpanys legal depts are very concerned of fair, unbiased and without predudice treatment of customers. I could find enough people in theory to file a suit or class action on predudice based on this an similiar to cost them in legal fees and embarrasement.

This is why if I really wanted to take the time to write there legal dept and include copies of my proof I am sure it would be cleared. However I am not willing yet to do this.

So yes your right, Safeway, Costco and Directv can refuse people to walk thru there doors. But bad publicity NONE will want as an example.

UPDATE>..........................

I like a stupid fool spent 2 hours on hold and talked with a supervisor at there Advocacy dept. (Fraud dept they dont want to call it that )

The woman was again as rude as the other two. She said that they did there investigation into the account and I am in community property state (again using this and it is not accurate) and that unfortunatly they need my ex to return the boxes and they would waive the balance for unpaid service as the best they could do.

I told her that she gave them to a Goodwill and I called and the store no longer has them. (was months ago). She said that without them she could not clear service for me.

I told her I have proof. She said thats not the issue. I said why yes it is. Maam your not even listening to my side and my proof. She was a total BITC#!

I then said, I am now going to send your office of pres and legal dept all my notes with my proof as well as follow up to my already call to state attorney general office. She said find us our boxes and it will all be fine.. I said, MAAMMMMMMM Did I not just tell you I dont have them!

This is not a Fraud dept. This is a circle jerk of fools.

Off to call Dishnet and AG office again.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Okay now this is funny,

Dan (my renter) feels really bad for me. He was buying new cell at Costco today and I guess they sell Dishnet. He got to talking with manager of Kiosk and told him about our plight. Of course he tried to push Dan to order Dishnet and promised a $75 gift card to him but Dan held off. Here is the funny part.

He said they sold Directv up to a few months ago. He said Directv is so backwards that like the other poster said, They would get a turndown at lets use for example

121 Mockingbird Lane. 

So they would re enter as 

121 Mockingbird LN or 
121 Mockingbird st
or 121 Mockingbird Lane Apt 1

He said it worked everytime.

Heres the kicker. They were wink wink told this way to get them thru by there local Directv rep! He said they are so stubborn on clearing old accounts and flags. Yet there system is so old and poor that a simple character change in address would get by a flag. Installers just want there spiff so they could care less even though most notice it.

He said it worked 100% of time and never got fixed. He said his DTV rep commented how they could be so intense yet have such easy ways to get around it. So here honest people like me wont do that. But many have and probably have ripped them off. SAD but funny about now.

He said now with Dishnetwork they tie the social to address check so its much harder. Said Directv only uses outside company to give ya or na on credit approval and does not store SS in there database. Glad they dont. Probably get ripped off by lowely mad csrs.

Thought I would share this.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

papamojo said:


> Okay now this is funny,
> 
> Dan (my renter) feels really bad for me. He was buying new cell at Costco today and I guess they sell Dishnet. He got to talking with manager of Kiosk and told him about our plight. Of course he tried to push Dan to order Dishnet and promised a $75 gift card to him but Dan held off. Here is the funny part.
> 
> ...


Those sales reps taht pull that kind of crap are the scum of the earth. Those little changes do get caught and create a good number of problems.


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

> 4. Thank you from the Dish and Ex D employee. I did a search and found there are people complaining about the tactic Directv uses for that promised payment of early term. I did find when it has gone to Office of Pres they have almost always paid it or put service credit on persons account. HOWEVER again, this shows you Directv is really looking for legal trouble and operates against the grain. ONE QUESTION TO YOU? Does my Address get a flag forever or how does it work since my renter has nothing to do with this and they should not be stopping it for him? Thanks!


If D* still operates in the same manner as when i worked there, then i would i say that that account will stay flagged until someone manually removes it. And of course that means until you clear things up with the fraud department.
Mainly because they want to prevent any chance of someone signing up service under a different name at an address with a substantial balance/unreturned equipment.

Whats perplexing to me is how persistent D* is being about this at E* we have pretty much the same policy and will have to contact our Fraud team (FACT ACT) to get anything resolved. The thing is at E* the sales agent wont even be able to build the work order for the tech/new account without getting the address cleared, and in most cases we just get some info, verify that you are some one else and thats that. It takes all of 2-5 minutes.

Something to keep in mind is not one supervisor call pretty much anywhere ever gets recorded. This is why in most cases most supervisors you will ever run into are rude and more readily willing to jump into a shouting contest with a customer and more with non-customers. If you are going to continue to follow this through, record every call. Get the full name, City/site they work in and operator ID. It could be useful for legal purposes, or if anything something to post online on how ass backwards D* can be.

Also regarding the slightly different address thing.
Its true.
At the end of the day the program used to make and look at accounts is just that, a program. It uses 0's and 1's. 
So "mocking bird lane 1" would have a different amount of 0's and 1's then "Mocking bird lane 1a" and the program would just go forward and not pick up a flagged account because its assuming its a completely different address.
In fact, honestly this is what the fraud team would probably end up doing to make your account so that you can get your set up while still being able to pursue billing your Ex-Wife and what not.
edit:
Also just throwing this out there, if you guys do sign up for Dishnet via that retailer keep in mind that gift card is through him and not Dish(so calling dish and asking for it will lead no where). And dont forget about the 49$ activation fee retailers always charge.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Inkosaurus said:


> Also regarding the slightly different address thing.
> Its true.
> At the end of the day the program used to make and look at accounts is just that, a program. It uses 0's and 1's.
> So "mocking bird lane 1" would have a different amount of 0's and 1's then "Mocking bird lane 1a" and the program would just go forward and not pick up a flagged account because its assuming its a completely different address.
> ...


This makes sense. Not to rule out the one reply before yours. I too think its very wrong of the DTV rep to teach his clients how to get around the rules. However the manager said not once was it caught as he got all his spiffs. So I think it must work as you are saying here. Again not that I would do this. HOWEVER. If they are flagging and wont let my Roomate get service then I would not feel I did something wrong by it.

I mean its not lying. 
My address is a
123 123rd PL SW
Would it be wrong to enter as
123 123rd Place Southwest

I mean this is still the honest address. Wonder if there system would auto abbreviate and catch this. Again. no flame intended. Just interested.???

One more thing since you know much, Dan (my renter) has not been told they are not installing. I am just guessing as it wont let him change date at my account on DTV site. However under orders it still shows install for this Sat 8-noon. As example under my account it shows no orders pending anymore. Do they let him know he needs to call in or are we just to wait and see if they show up?

Last, You have been great help. If I go Dish, I will PM you if signing up with you makes you some cash. Just offering.


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

papamojo said:


> This makes sense. Not to rule out the one reply before yours. I too think its very wrong of the DTV rep to teach his clients how to get around the rules. However the manager said not once was it caught as he got all his spiffs. So I think it must work as you are saying here. Again not that I would do this. HOWEVER. If they are flagging and wont let my Roomate get service then I would not feel I did something wrong by it.
> 
> I mean its not lying.
> My address is a
> ...


The "Place" and "Southwest" Should be shortened by default by the program, so that wouldn't work. In order for it to work there has to be an additional entry in the address. 
In the scenario you posted earlier only the "121 Mockingbird Lane Apt 1" would have worked.
Generally though just adding a "#a" to the end of an address will do the trick, this is what most fraud agents do anyway to avoid having to manually over ride and clear off an account.

It does get caught somtimes though, its risky. Now whether the agent who finds it will do anything about it is a completely different question all together.

In most cases an account is caught when the customer calls in and for some reason the CSR cant find the account and lets say in this scenario they run the address.
Lets assume the account was built by a retailer and the retailer put "#a" at the end of the address but never told the customer. So you run your address without the "#a" and bingo, the CSR found an old closed account.

In most case the CSR probably wont do anything and just say "Oh i found an old account with this address, lets try your receiver ID instead".

edit:
In most cases there should be a courtesy call the day prior to the install to give you a heads up its still ready to go.
I would call up, and contact a normal CSR and see what they can find on the account to be honest.
edit:
Oh and i dont get commission for new accounts since i dont work in the sales department lol so sign up with any method you prefer.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Inkosaurus said:


> The "Place" and "Southwest" Should be shortened by default by the program, so that wouldn't work. In order for it to work there has to be an additional entry in the address.
> In the scenario you posted earlier only the "121 Mockingbird Lane Apt 1" would have worked.
> Generally though just adding a "#a" to the end of an address will do the trick, this is what most fraud agents do anyway to avoid having to manually over ride and clear off an account.
> 
> ...


Thank you!


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## B_H (Sep 24, 2003)

I guess I'm confused. Directv's TOS says they can legally refuse service to anyone just because they want to? I thought that refusing service was illegal. That is based on the fact of having lived in Birmingham, Alabama 50 years ago. Refusing service didn't work in Birmingham too well.

So what services are legal to refuse and what services are not?


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

B_H said:


> I guess I'm confused. Directv's TOS says they can legally refuse service to anyone just because they want to? I thought that refusing service was illegal. That is based on the fact of having lived in Birmingham, Alabama 50 years ago. Refusing service didn't work in Birmingham too well.
> 
> So what services are legal to refuse and what services are not?


Your actually correct. Its a state by state thing. I looked it up and there are provisions that must be made in most states before refusing service.

Some states are very clear about it. Things like theft have to be proved by conviction and such to refuse. Most states however simply go by the fed guidlines that are mostly just protected class protections. Cival rights so to speak.
http://www.lifescript.com/soul/self/well-being/the_right_to_refuse_service_or_discrimination.aspx


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

I would highly recommend just going with another provider. If you go around the system knowingly and then get caught you're going to be the one who's held responsible. I won't get into every post but the bottom line here is you clearly want them more than they want you. They have legal grounds to stand on and contacting you AG and everyone else isn't going to change their right to deny service to anyone. As RobertE stated those sales people/merchants who change information to get a sale pushed through are usually the ones who are dealing with a screaming customer when DIRECTV turns their service off after they are installed, charged them every fee because they went around the system intentionally, and lose their commission for that sale plus fees.

A company cannot discriminate against you, that's the law. So if they said that you can't get service because of race, religion, creed, age, weight, color of hair, drug user, or anything else then you would have legal backing. Right now they're just saying "We don't want you as a customer."

The department that you're dealing with isn't going to be very customer service oriented. They are the fraud department and deal with fraud. They're not going to believe you because in their experience you would be in the small minority. As I stated earlier the people you were dealing with were what you wanted in terms of "corporate". 

FYI your room mate can get flagged as well and it can happen after the installation. They can turn off the account and demand everything back. If they can prove that you did something to intentionally go around the system they can also file legal recourse. 

So again I would just find another company and move on. You won't have to deal with anything like this. If you want the NFLST you can get a PS3 and subscribe to it on there. You're starting to make this personal and nothing good will come of it.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Shades thank for the help but I am very versed on collections laws in my career. I was at one point the director of collections for a local office for Bank of America a few years out of college. You are absolutley incorrect in a few area's 

1. I can NEVER by law be held liable for ANY moneys owed by account of my ex wife or anyone as I am not on contract. This can NEVER change! I could (and I would not) lie and have a chimp get service and it is cival first off and not criminal. Based on cival collection laws they can not come after me for past amounts based on any way I get service. They CAN come after me if I used fraud to get service by said chimp. I will never be linked or liable for any of my ex wifes accounts.

2. Dan my roommate if installed is a new customer. He too can not be held liable for anything other then his account. So if they do show up and install this week he will not be disconnected down the line. I am sure of that from private discussions online here and on Dtv forum. Dan once installed would not be flagged. There is no dept going door to door and his information given was accurate. There is nothing to research to show different. We are not using fake information here. This is completely cival and I am sure DTV is not going to file in small claims court to say,. Sir magistrate. Dan signed up and used the word Lane instead of LN, then he paid all his bills on time. But SIR, his landlord and roommates ex wife owed lots of money to us. No Sir we were informed the landlord was not liable for his ex wife by divorce decree, But SIR THEY TRICKED US! We want all the money..... Get real. Not ever going to happen. Once system is installed and we are on autopay. Our account will ever be flagged. This coming from a DTV employee by PM as she feels so bad for me. 

3. IF I give correct address that is not fraud. If there operating system is outdated and allows installation so be it. Then we have service. Again we are not ever liable for past accounts. I am fairly certain no one will be coming to remove system as that is ILLIEGAL without a court order! Yes they could turn off service as its there right to do. However I am sure once its put in they are not looking at 20 million accounts to see who they can turn off. 

From talking now to people in the know. Directv Fraud dept is very poorly run. They flag accounts and get a charge off not following proof of the not minority as more then 70% of flags are not fraud ( this coming from ex fraud dept csr on forums PM to me), They do not go out and search for fraud on active accounts. They only flag by new requests and they have in past linked by full name match but it got them in trouble by too many mistakes so they stopped.

again, I know the laws. I am not afraid to use a new spelling to use it if I need to, I am being treated like a criminal and from working in a much bigger banking collection bad debt industry can tell you that we would always start nuetral and go by facts we were given and proved or not. Your theory is incorrect. Or this company is in big trouble. 

I do thank you for your advice. Just flat out disagree with you in theory. THEY MADE IT PERSONAL!! and I will win! One way or the other in honest fashion. You can bet that all the way to the winners circle!

Sorry for the hard reads as I am doing this on my Blackberry in the train.

Peace.

Thats enough for now. Will report back any new progress. No more need for armchair law advice.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Ok, New UPDATE! 

Found out the reason I thought Dan was turned down was incorrect. I thought he was flagged and turned down as when going to MY ACCOUNT, then ORDER screen it shows install for this weekend. However when choosing to change installation date, it gives a greyed out two month screen and wont let you change.
My bad! We found out on Directv forum on there website that you can only use that screen to change installation date for about 24 hours after order. In Dans case he ordered Monday night and it worked till Tuesday morning. After 24 hour the invoice work order is sent to installation group and to keep it smooth at that point you can only reschedule by live talk by phone. So basicly the online reschedule tool page is useless after about a day of new order.

Next, to test Dan just called DTV and asked if his installation was for AM or PM just to check what they say. The CSR polietly said all things are a go and installer will arrive Sat from 8 to noon.

So it seems i may have jumped the gun on Dan being cancelled. Guess DTV is smart enough not to cancel someone who is a new resident in an old bad account house! We shall see if they show or call to confrim tomorrow sometime!


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## RMBittner (Mar 28, 2011)

inkahauts said:



> Why make her life easier after all he's been through?


Actually, he'd have made his own life a whole lot easier by writing a single check. He could have spent a total of five minutes on this problem and saved himself a lot of frustration and hours of his time.

Bob


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## wilbur_the_goose (Aug 16, 2006)

Papa,
If you were a plumber that did work for your wife in that house and your wife owed $500, and her ex-husband moved in, would you do work for him?

I feel for you, sir - you're in a tough spot. And, I think Washington is a community property state, which complicates things.

Anyway - good luck - I wish you all the best as you get your life back together!


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## bixler (Oct 14, 2008)

wilbur_the_goose said:


> Papa,
> I feel for you, sir - you're in a tough spot. And, I think Washington is a community property state, which complicates things.


Yes, I think that is a major problem in his situation.

In the United States there are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

bixler said:


> Yes, I think that is a major problem in his situation.
> 
> In the United States there are nine community property states: Arizona, California, Idaho, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Washington and Wisconsin.


Sorry the post got so long you probably missed the point. Yes its a CP state. However I was legally seperated from being tied to her as of almost a year before she and her boyfriend got DTV service. I have nothing legally to do with her. So I am being unfairly hung out to dry. They are not asking for money from me as they can not legally and they are smart enough to know this. However that could old RIGHT TO REFUSE that you only see Joes Smoke shop use in this country is there legal out. And boy do they love to use it!'

And again, I see there point. However when a perspective customer such as myself show or offers to show proof, they are un american with a GUITLY first attitude. Even worse, They wont budge to see your now.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Final Update!

Well its over, Directv has won!

Got call this morning automated notification that my installation was cancelled. Called our fav Fraud dept one final time.

Wow what aggresive rude folks! Dan let her have it back this time with nothing to lose.

Here is the most important part for all of you! 

DO NOT POST HERE WITH REAL NAMES AND CITY AND STATE!!!!!!!!!!

They used my thread here against me! They are not stupid! Rude yes, Stupid no!

Amy told me that they know I am friends with the old account holder based on there research. She did not quote anything from here. However this thread is the only way they could have known Dan is a friend and roommate. She said since Dan is trying to get service at home of a delinquent friend. (My ex is not Dans friend) They were not going to unlink him to allow install!


Well that is there right and can not be disputed. 

So I have made the call to Comcast as I called Dishnet and they do not have 3d channels.

Comcast will be out tomorrow to install new 500gig whole home system. Bundle is good price and $250 visa card free.

Thank you all for your help. I hold no ill will to Directv as I can understand there protection of there investors. I think they could have been more receptive. However it really is my ex fault and my fault for ever being with her.

Thanks all and I will continue to use this great site with its great people!

Mike


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

If you are in the new Concast Xfinity TV market, you will get more HD channels than DirecTv has anyway. Just be aware they charge $ PER OUTLET for HD, where everyone else charges a one time HD fee for the whole house. They also charge an outrageous monthly fee for their DVR. Check into a Tivo Premier with Cablecard, or a used Tivo Series 3 HD unit instead of renting their box. After buying the Tivo, they only charge (in some markets) a small cablecard fee. 

Enjoy.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Just be aware they charge $ PER OUTLET for HD, where everyone else charges a one time HD fee for the whole house.


Comcast simply charges a higher monthly rental fee for their HD boxes, which is actually what most cable companies do. There is no separate HD fee, and unlike DirecTV there are no upfront "lease fees" either.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> Comcast simply charges a higher monthly rental fee for their HD boxes, which is actually what most cable companies do. There is no separate HD fee, and unlike DirecTV there are no upfront "lease fees" either.


Depends on your market. In my market, there is a $8.95 HD fee for everything. If you rent their HD cablebox, its $8.95, if you need a cablecard for your owned Tivo, its $8.95, if you want their DVR, its $17.95 for the HD version. There is no way, even owning your own box here, you can escape the $8.95 per outlet. I had two Tivo's I own, and one leased cablebox, and Comcast was charging me $26.94 on top of the subscription, and that didnt include any Tivo subscription fees.

With DirecTv, assuming you dont get free HD, it would be $7.00 DVR, $10 HD, $12 extra receivers/DVRs would be $29.

For my setup, Free HD with D*, Directv is cheaper.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

papamojo said:


> Final Update!
> 
> Well its over, Directv has won!
> 
> ...


Chances are you can thank facebook, email, or any other social outlet for them being able to link it. Companies make billions of dollars compiling databases that can link real data to people. Have your settings wrong on FB and people can link real names to you by doing legal searches. Do you get mass forwards of jokes and so forth? Well if a company gets one sent to them they can do the same thing.

I did some work for an insurance company once and the person I was dealing with showed me their lookup system. It had more information about me than I liked this was before social networking and the internet being main stream. It had names, alias's, salary, family relationships, friends, known contacts.

Have you ever read the terms and conditions of CC and loans? They can do the same thing as long as they tell you about it. When they want to share it between "only their companies". Well if they own one of these companies then you're out there.

This isn't tin foil hat stuff it's just standard stuff that's been going on for as long as marketing has existed.

DIRECTV, just like any other company in service industry, will have an account with such companies and then it's just a matter of some database queries.

Good luck with Comcast.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Davenlr said:


> If you are in the new Concast Xfinity TV market, you will get more HD channels than DirecTv has anyway. Just be aware they charge $ PER OUTLET for HD, where everyone else charges a one time HD fee for the whole house. They also charge an outrageous monthly fee for their DVR. Check into a Tivo Premier with Cablecard, or a used Tivo Series 3 HD unit instead of renting their box. After buying the Tivo, they only charge (in some markets) a small cablecard fee.
> 
> Enjoy.


This was my exact reason for not even considering Comcast. I had it back in 07 and luckily there was no contracts back then. I remember paying like 19.95 per DVR and I had 3 of them. OUCH! Plus they were old Motorola 7200 series 20 hour HD machines that were slow as molasess. I paid like 240.00 for my bundle and left within 30 days and went to Clearwire and a smaller cable company we have here called Wave broadband.

But hey, WOW they have changed. While looking at my options of Dishnet or Comcast what wooed me was there new prices. Yes I am in Xfinity area and wow the HD list is much bigger then Directv. Plus has my 3D on both package and by OnDemand.

Here is the prices in my area. Kind of hard to seperate as I did a bundle. I can say as the poster above that its not the awful 19,95 per box in Xfinity area with Whole home HD service. THe HD if free and in the package for one. Then the Whole home HD DVR 500gig new box is just $10.00 a month for full 2 year contract and then just 8.00 for each of my other 2 rooms. Very affordable compared to Direct or Dish.

My package is for 2 years and does not have the after one year big increase of the satellite packages.

Mine is,
2 year contract

Included,
Whole home new HD DVR system 
2 other HD units for total of 3 rooms
Unlimited Home phone service
Middle package Home internet at 15 down 5 up.
HD preferred Digital 170 channel plus package with on demand.

Total per month for first year $142.95 per month
Total per month for second year $ 152.95 per month. ( the $10.00 whole home DVR credit is only for fist year)

That is excellent!

Example here on Frontier Fios that would for simliar but not as good bundle cost would be $185.00 a month.

My package with Directv was to be with no phone or internet approx $92.00a month for first year then much more second. My current FIOS phone and internet is $105 a month. So I am saving almost 50 bucks.

Hope Comcast HD has gotten better. I remember lots of tile digital effect and slow HD locks in the past. They claim they new fiber they layed took care of this here. We will see. Its 30day money back trial.

Heck ya!

Thanks guys.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Shades228 said:


> Chances are you can thank facebook, email, or any other social outlet for them being able to link it. Companies make billions of dollars compiling databases that can link real data to people. Have your settings wrong on FB and people can link real names to you by doing legal searches. Do you get mass forwards of jokes and so forth? Well if a company gets one sent to them they can do the same thing.
> 
> I did some work for an insurance company once and the person I was dealing with showed me their lookup system. It had more information about me than I liked this was before social networking and the internet being main stream. It had names, alias's, salary, family relationships, friends, known contacts.
> 
> ...


Thanks Shades, Good info. When I worked in the collection side of BofA back 20 years ago we did not have all these tools. Must make it much easier to collect and reduce bad debt.

It is kind of scary at the same time. Dan talked to the CSR not myself. He is a construction foreman and not a savy business person. So he did not fully understand what she meant. But after looking at your post he agrees, she must have used some tools. Dan said she was extremelly cocky and said something to the effect that " Sir, I know everything I need to know about your relationship with the other party trying to get service and the party that defaulted. He is sure they monitored this post and still might be as we speak. Scary world. I have FB but have my settings so other can not. Even friends of freinds can not. I can see it being used against you if you open youself up.

Great feedback!


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## ffemtreed (Jan 30, 2008)

papamojo said:


> Final Update!
> 
> Well its over, Directv has won!
> 
> ...


SOunds like one of the fanboys here who work for DTV ratted you out. They probably got a bonus check for it to.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

ffemtreed said:


> SOunds like one of the fanboys here who work for DTV ratted you out. They probably got a bonus check for it to.


http://zapatopi.net/afdb/


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## ffemtreed (Jan 30, 2008)

Shades228 said:


> http://zapatopi.net/afdb/


Personal attacks are against the terms of service for this site. Please go and read the rules.

Having said that.

There is very clear evidence that a lot of people who run this site are linked up with direct tv, how do you think the whole secret beta test program runs? you don't think there are connections to DTV corporate here? I don't think you should be personally attacking me and implying I am crazy because I posted a reasonable argument on what happened to the poor OP.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

ffemtreed said:


> Personal attacks are against the terms of service for this site. Please go and read the rules.
> 
> Having said that.
> 
> There is very clear evidence that a lot of people who run this site are linked up with direct tv, how do you think the whole secret beta test program runs? you don't think there are connections to DTV corporate here? I don't think you should be personally attacking me and implying I am crazy because I posted a reasonable argument on what happened to the poor OP.


http://zapatopi.net/afdb/


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

ffemtreed said:


> Personal attacks are against the terms of service for this site. Please go and read the rules.
> ...


Ironic...



ffemtreed said:


> SOunds like one of the fanboys here who work for DTV ratted you out. They probably got a bonus check for it to.


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

ffemtreed said:


> Personal attacks are against the terms of service for this site. Please go and read the rules.


Are you saying this to remind us or yourself?


ffemtreed said:


> Having said that.
> 
> There is very clear evidence that a lot of people who run this site are linked up with direct tv, how do you think the whole secret beta test program runs? you don't think there are connections to DTV corporate here? I don't think you should be personally attacking me and implying I am crazy because I posted a reasonable argument on what happened to the poor OP.


Please be careful with your public accusations. DBStalk does not share information about its members without asking first. And DIRECTV does not share information about their customers with DBStalk staff or members. We do not cross those privacy boundaries. Ever.

Yes, from time to time, DIRECTV will ask us to ask if a member is willing to share his or her private information. And we are happy to act as a go between, generally so a customer can be helped. But we won't share without the member's approval. (Nor do we share which members are DIRECTV people.)

Cheers,
Tom


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## ffemtreed (Jan 30, 2008)

Tom Robertson said:


> Are you saying this to remind us or yourself?
> 
> Please be careful with your public accusations. DBStalk does not share information about its members without asking first. And DIRECTV does not share information about their customers with DBStalk staff or members. We do not cross those privacy boundaries. Ever.
> 
> ...


I did not call out anyone or imply anyone by name, therefore no personal attack.

I would hardly consider public posts on a message board private information. All it takes is one of the fanboys who have relations with DTV to nark and say this guy dave from the this city posted on a public message board that he is using his tennants name to get an account.

A quick search of scheduled saturday installs in that town with a first name of dave will quickly yield lots of targets to further search on and narrow down to an address which is in dispute.

No one accused anyone of sharing any private information.

Just the facts!


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

I agree that is most likely what has transpired. Dan said the CSR Amy was so jazzed like she had the deer in her sights. She could not even keep her enthusiasm while talking to him like they were lying in wait.


That said, I put my information here on forum. That is my issue not this sites. I really find the people here awesome! I am sure if one did turn this in, it was not one of the people posting here and that is there karma. But in the end, I too am at fault for trying to go around the horn in wanting to win this battle. Shame on me as well.

So for now its Comcast. Maybe someday DTV


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

ffemtreed said:


> I did not call out anyone or imply anyone by name, therefore no personal attack.
> 
> I would hardly consider public posts on a message board private information. All it takes is one of the fanboys who have relations with DTV to nark and say this guy dave from the this city posted on a public message board that he is using his tennants name to get an account.
> 
> ...


 http://zapatopi.net/afdb/


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## Tom Robertson (Nov 15, 2005)

ffemtreed said:


> I did not call out anyone or imply anyone by name, therefore no personal attack.
> 
> I would hardly consider public posts on a message board private information. All it takes is one of the fanboys who have relations with DTV to nark and say this guy dave from the this city posted on a public message board that he is using his tennants name to get an account.
> 
> ...


Your implications are not nearly as sanitized as you suggest. You are implying a group of people who have a relationship with DIRECTV people are sharing enough information that could uniquely identify someone. If the information is public, then no one needs to share it. It is already there in public threads, so there is no need for a fanboy to feed the info. So you don't need to imply fanboy or other staff intervention.

If the information is not public, then know that the staff won't share it. So you don't need to imply staff intervention.

Ergo, please be very careful with accusations of the staff, personal or group.

Cheers,
Tom


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## Taintedahab (Oct 2, 2011)

Sounds like an exceptionally unfortunate circumstance, unfortunately we're only able to hear one side on this.

I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt and is being up front and honest but the situation also has other parties involved. Without access to account notes it can anything from an overzealous fraud department toeing the party line to an account who's activity notes read like a Steven King novel. There were other parties involved in this and we already know that they're goofballs in the fact they gave leased equipment to goodwill, god only knows what else happened while the account was still active. There could be a swarm of ppv charges added to the bill and the ladies boyfriend could have called in constantly harassing and threatening the csr's while claiming to be the husband and ended up piling numerous red flags and warning tags on the account. In the end when the fraud department shook the magic account 8-ball it gave them an answer between "are you frigging kidding me" and "Oh Hell No!". 

Just pure conjecture at this point of course, but I'm guessing the fraud department think they have good reason to deny.


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Taintedahab said:


> Sounds like an exceptionally unfortunate circumstance, unfortunately we're only able to hear one side on this.
> 
> I'll give the OP the benefit of the doubt and is being up front and honest but the situation also has other parties involved. Without access to account notes it can anything from an overzealous fraud department toeing the party line to an account who's activity notes read like a Steven King novel. There were other parties involved in this and we already know that they're goofballs in the fact they gave leased equipment to goodwill, god only knows what else happened while the account was still active. There could be a swarm of ppv charges added to the bill and the ladies boyfriend could have called in constantly harassing and threatening the csr's while claiming to be the husband and ended up piling numerous red flags and warning tags on the account. In the end when the fraud department shook the magic account 8-ball it gave them an answer between "are you frigging kidding me" and "Oh Hell No!".
> 
> Just pure conjecture at this point of course, but I'm guessing the fraud department think they have good reason to deny.


I can see your point and if I was on the other side as just a forum member I might just have written the same.

Allow me a second to answer what I can to clear some of this.

The account was setup when we were still married. My ex while not the sharpest stick in the pile is not really a tv person. She only watched the damm shopping channels about 18 hours per day and loading up my AMEX:eek2: I moved out after not being able do deal with her journey back to her teenage or college years of night clubbing and such. While I moved out I did appear at the home to pick up my kids every weekend. She was not even turning on anything other then her beloved QVC. I do not think she even knows what a PPV is.

She did not pick up the boyfriend until right before she moved out by court order of the divorce decree. Her boytoy never lived in the home.

The balance is broken down by DTV as follows,

Total approx 1200.00 owed.
Of this approx 900.00 of this is the damm HD DVRs that she along with lots of great stuff I would have like to have were donated to Goodwill.

The paltry 300.00 balance was for approx 3 months of service with no PPV. 
The ironic thing is even though it would have pissed me off. I would have gladly paid the 300.00 to get the service.

I researched with Goodwill and the manager told me they are not allowed to sell used Cable, Satellite or cell phones. However he admitted they really lots of time do not know (as in there employees) what is a cable or satellelite box. They are supposed to turn them down at the donation area. So they screwed up as well.

The botton line the first go round with the fraud dept was flat out incorrect no matter what there defense it. They refused solely without excepting my fax of my my divorce decree, or lease from my condo. The reason from what I am told is the high amount for the lost boxes. However they should have at least flattered me by accepting my fax. Still could of said no but jeez.

ON the second attempt by my roommate. I do not blame them at all. I was told by Best buy to try in my roomates name. I too if I was the Fraud dept have been like. WTH are these guys trying to do! I knew once this attempt went to them we would look very bad. So I do not blame them except in the first attempt.

As for notes, The told me there were no notes on the account. I never called them in the very short time we had it while I was in home. I know my ex would not have called them. My elder son sitting next to me watching the BB game said her Boyfriend never even watched TV, just gambled online and looked at Facebook. So I am certain there was nothing on the account.

Simply was there judgement and I lost. Too bad as I would have added approx 150.00 a month sales by auto pay to them. I even offered to buy my HDDVR and not lease as it says I can do on website. THey refused.

So again, in fairness no you do not have there side of story. In fact I would love to hear there side as well. Might make me sleep alittle better

The only thing that keeps me wondering is what happens when someone tries to hookup those HDdvrs? Will DTV then take that out of total? Or will those saps be ordered to return them and then be taken off total. Intersting.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Shades228 said:


> http://zapatopi.net/afdb/





Shades228 said:


> http://zapatopi.net/afdb/





Shades228 said:


> http://zapatopi.net/afdb/


How is this appropriate or within the rules?


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## Joe C (Mar 3, 2005)

papamojo said:


> Once system is installed and we are on autopay. Our account will ever be flagged. *This coming from a DTV employee by PM as she feels so bad for me.*


You sure your PM's were not read by anyone with the "capability access them" ? Was a lot of personal identifying info shared ? Something to consider, this site is very protective of Directv.


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## ffemtreed (Jan 30, 2008)

Tom Robertson said:


> Your implications are not nearly as sanitized as you suggest. You are implying a group of people who have a relationship with DIRECTV people are sharing enough information that could uniquely identify someone. If the information is public, then no one needs to share it. It is already there in public threads, so there is no need for a fanboy to feed the info. So you don't need to imply fanboy or other staff intervention.
> 
> If the information is not public, then know that the staff won't share it. So you don't need to imply staff intervention.
> 
> ...


No, I was saying that someone here tipped off direct tv to the existence of this thread, and it more than likely was one of the people on this board who have direct relations with DTV as they would be the only ones to really get into the right dept. I highly doubt DTV sits there are reads all these threads on their own, if they do they should fire those people and get more people on the negotiation team so we quite losing channels.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

Joe C said:


> You sure your PM's were not read by anyone with the "capability access them" ?


I've actually had that happen to me on a different forum. It's a very creepy feeling knowing that someone read your "private" messages. But I cannot imagine the admins here going through other people's PMs.


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## jtudor (Feb 24, 2008)

I want to comment on one of the earlier posts here that is one of my own personal pet peeves.

The person in the "President's office" that the OP talked to said there was nothing they could do to over rule the "Fraud Department". That is an outright lie. The president or his authorized representiative "can" overrule anything in the company but they may choose not to do so.

There is a big difference between "Can't" and "Won't".

In this case the President's office decided to exercise the "Won't" but instead said "Can't" which is a lie designed to smooth things with a customer. 

Just my $0.02 worth, YMMV.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

jtudor said:


> There is a big difference between "Can't" and "Won't".


Who cares? The end result is the same: DirecTV doesn't want this person as a customer.


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

jtudor said:


> I want to comment on one of the earlier posts here that is one of my own personal pet peeves.
> 
> The person in the "President's office" that the OP talked to said there was nothing they could do to over rule the "Fraud Department". That is an outright lie. The president or his authorized representiative "can" overrule anything in the company but they may choose not to do so.
> 
> ...


Unless you currently work in said department it's amazing to hear you factually speak on behalf of it. Just because this department can do some things that others can't it doesn't mean they can do anything they want. Ellen is a Senior VP not a President. DIRECTV has many people with the title of President. So the OOP reports to people that are aligned with customer service and that's what they deal with. This was a matter of fraud which has nothing to do with customer service. So for them to say it was outside of their authority is not surprising.


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

Excellent point Shades228. And if I remember correctly, Ellen, as a Senior VP, has a level of Executive VPs above her. Where the Fraud department falls, I have no idea. 
But another point: in the past year, there have been about a dozen other threads where someone had to contact Ellen's office. Each one of those reported back that they were contacted very quickly by someone in that office and they got their problem resolved to their full satisfaction. This is the first time someone has said things didn't get resolved. So I have no doubt that Ellen's office tried, but this was something that was beyond their ability to fix.


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## n3vino (Oct 2, 2011)

To the OP. Their side of their story. Mind you, I'm not an attorney, but I did go through a divorce 25 years ago, and I learned this from experience. Not with D*, but with another creditor. This is what I had to deal with. 

A divorce decree is a contract where you can stipulate who will pay for what after the divorce. If the Direct TV payment was not mentioned, you might have no recourse. Sure DTV was in her name, but it seems you are in a community property state, or even if you are not, you both shared D* while you were married, and that is probably what D* is looking at. When the address was flagged, and I am speculating here, they probably ran a credit check on you, and found that you lived there for a few years. To them, you are just as responsible for the bill as your ex-wife, and they don't care what your divorce decree says. A creditor told me that they do not have to honor a divorce decree, since they are not part of the action. They will go after either party including taking you, her, or both to court.

Had the D* account been awarded to her in the decree, your recourse mgiht have been to sue her for what D* is holding you responsible for. My decree said that if either one of us defaulted on our debts, that we had the right to sue them in court for it. You might want to check yours.

Like I said, I'm not an attorney, so you might want to check to see if you can sue her in small claims for at least half, or all of the debt. 

Disclaimer. I am not an attorney so you might want to check with one.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

n3vino said:


> Had the D* account been awarded to her in the decree, your recourse mgiht have been to sue her for what D* is holding you responsible for.


DirecTV isn't holding him responsible for anything. They're just refusing to provide service.


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## RobertE (Jun 10, 2006)

Jeremy W said:


> DirecTV isn't holding him responsible for anything. They're just refusing to provide service.


Thats why it was a hypothetical.


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

RobertE said:


> Thats why it was a hypothetical.


Was it really? 


n3vino said:


> you might want to check to see if you can sue her in small claims for at least half, or all of the debt.


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## RMBittner (Mar 28, 2011)

Jeremy W said:


> DirecTV isn't holding him responsible for anything. They're just refusing to provide service.


They're refusing to provide service due to an outstanding bill for equipment/services that the OP refuses to pay. If he had simply settled the account -- an account which he used for some time during his marriage -- I believe he'd have DirecTV service today.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

RMBittner said:


> They're refusing to provide service due to an outstanding bill for equipment/services that the OP refuses to pay. If he had simply settled the account -- an account which he used for some time during his marriage -- I believe he'd have DirecTV service today.


I believe you need to re-read all posts from the OP.

In no time did he ever use the DIRECTV service. The OP moved out of the house as part of a legal separation and his future ex-wife and her boyfriend started DIRECTV service at the address, and it is THEY who used the service and gave the receivers away, leaving a balance due at that address. The OP is not liable for their irresponsibility, yet because he shares the same last name and now lives at the house again (with the wife now gone), he can't get DIRECTV service now because of the wife's actions.


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## RMBittner (Mar 28, 2011)

Drew2k said:


> I believe you need to re-read all posts from the OP.
> 
> In no time did he ever use the DIRECTV service.


Well, it's been rough battling through the misspellings and grammatical mistakes. But I _have_ read them all.

The OP has stated the situation multiple times, most recently in Message #92.

Here's the relevant content: "The account was setup when we were still married. My ex while not the sharpest stick in the pile is not really a tv person. She only watched the damm shopping channels about 18 hours per day and loading up my AMEX I moved out after not being able do deal with her journey back to her teenage or college years of night clubbing and such. While I moved out I did appear at the home to pick up my kids every weekend. She was not even turning on anything other then her beloved QVC. I do not think she even knows what a PPV is. She did not pick up the boyfriend until right before she moved out by court order of the divorce decree. Her boytoy never lived in the home."


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

RMBittner said:


> Well, it's been rough battling through the misspellings and grammatical mistakes. But I _have_ read them all.
> 
> The OP has stated the situation multiple times, most recently in Message #92


most recent was 92, but it started with his initial post.



> My exwife had directv when we got married 9 years ago, always in her name. We bought home together and then she needed a boyfriend so we split up a year and a half ago. I moved out and after 8 months moved in with a new GF.


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## dirtyblueshirt (Dec 7, 2008)

Davenlr said:


> Add an apt number to end of Dan's address? Worth a shot. He does rent Apt 1A doesnt he? Dont know if that would match on the computer or not.
> 
> Actually, I would like to have you followup after your Dishnetwork install, and let us know what, if any, action your attn gen's office took, and what the results were.


That would be tough since some systems won't see it as a valid address if the residence isn't listed as a multi-unit with the post office. For example; I have a friend whose apartments changed numbering schemes awhile back, so the Post Office lists it as #102, and the door says #2, and most of the time billing systems (AT&T and Comcast are both examples) will not accept 2, but will take 102.


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## n3vino (Oct 2, 2011)

Jeremy W said:


> DirecTV isn't holding him responsible for anything. They're just refusing to provide service.


They are refusing to provide service until he pays the bill owed at the address that he shared with his wife while subscribed to D*. If that isn't holding him responsible, what is it? Look at the part high lighted in red.

Here's the Washington State law, where he lives. Once married, spouses become a marital community in Washington, according to the Washington State Bar Association. All property, such as automobiles and real estate, bought with earnings during the marriage or domestic partnership become the equal property of both spouses or partners. Any debts or other expenses assumed during the marriage are also the joint responsibility of both spouses. They did subscribe to D* while they were married.

Read more: Community Property Laws in Washington State | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_7747780_community-property-laws-washington-state.html#ixzz1cHCYS8lg


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

n3vino said:


> They are refusing to provide service until he pays the bill owed at the address that he shared with his wife while subscribed to D*. If that isn't holding him responsible, what is it? Look at the part high lighted in red.
> 
> Here's the Washington State law, where he lives. Once married, spouses become a marital community in Washington, according to the Washington State Bar Association. All property, such as automobiles and real estate, bought with earnings during the marriage or domestic partnership become the equal property of both spouses or partners. Any debts or other expenses assumed during the marriage are also the joint responsibility of both spouses. They did subscribe to D* while they were married.
> 
> Read more: Community Property Laws in Washington State | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_7747780_community-property-laws-washington-state.html#ixzz1cHCYS8lg


Let me clear some of this up.

1. YES we did have service during time I was married and lived at home. HOWEVER I had been gone a year and legally seperated 11 months before service was disconnected. Service was paid and up to date thru and up to my legal seperation.

Washington law and the Judge on my Divorce decree stated I WAS NOT and AM NOT LIABLE for any debts occuring on or after a certain date. That date fell 11 months before she defaulted. So your both correct.

This means based on my judgement and final divorce does NOT include being responsible for Directv payment.

So like I have always said, NO Directv has NEVER asked me to pay> They know they can not! I wish this person would stop saying IF THE OP paid. I AM NOT LIABLE BY LAW and JUDEGMENT to pay!

However we all know that Directv can refuse service to anyone. They know they can not get money from me. As well my EX claimed Bankrupcy so they can not claim from her. So they are essentially thumbing there nose at poor me as sore losers and trying to inflict mental pain on me!

What N3vino is missing is that in Washington as soon as you file Legal serperation you stop some responsibility, then on your final Decree the judge deceides what you are and are not responsible for. In Washington you list depts and credits and usually anything that is abused debt gets put on the abuser. My Ex got handed responsible party for so many debts she had to claim BK cause she is a loser.

Had my Comcast installed yesterday and minus the Sunday Ticket I am LOVING IT!

So all is good!

Thanks folks!


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## Jeremy W (Jun 19, 2006)

papamojo said:


> So they are essentially thumbing there nose at poor me as sore losers and trying to inflict mental pain on me!


Inflict mental pain? Really? It's not like they've been calling and harassing you, if anything it's the opposite.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Thinks whatever mental pain the OP is induring would go away if he put a amen to this.


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## n3vino (Oct 2, 2011)

papamojo said:


> What N3vino is missing is that in Washington as soon as you file Legal serperation you stop some responsibility, then on your final Decree the judge deceides what you are and are not responsible for. In Washington you list depts and credits and usually anything that is abused debt gets put on the abuser. My Ex got handed responsible party for so many debts she had to claim BK cause she is a loser.


 The point is moot now, but what you are missing is that Direct TV does not care what your decree or the judge says, as they are not part of the action.

However, based on what you say the law is in your state, that you are not liable, that is probably why they haven't gone after you. But until that account is cleared up, you won't get any service from them.


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## Richierich (Jan 10, 2008)

MysteryMan said:


> Thinks whatever mental pain the OP is induring would go away if he put a amen to this.


Yes, but sometimes it is a lot of Fun to Beat The Dead Horse Into Horse Pate while getting sympathy!!! :beatdeadhorse: :lol:


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## SPACEMAKER (Dec 11, 2007)

So the bottom line is that DirecTV doesn't want to risk future losses on the OP. I can't say I blame them. Personally I'd just pay whatever they say I owe and move on.


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## Drew2k (Aug 16, 2006)

Well, I was wrong in my recollection about when the OP Started service - as was pointed out, this is a long thread with a lot of posts by the OP.

I want to give the OP credit for sticking around though. Too often someone comes here, posts a complaint, gets asked questions and offered advice, and never comes back to answer or simply to follow-up. The OP here didn't cut and run - he stayed and even multiple times thanked us for assisting.

That's a welcome change from the normal thread that starts with a complaint...


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## papamojo (Oct 24, 2011)

Drew2k said:


> Well, I was wrong in my recollection about when the OP Started service - as was pointed out, this is a long thread with a lot of posts by the OP.
> 
> I want to give the OP credit for sticking around though. Too often someone comes here, posts a complaint, gets asked questions and offered advice, and never comes back to answer or simply to follow-up. The OP here didn't cut and run - he stayed and even multiple times thanked us for assisting.
> 
> That's a welcome change from the normal thread that starts with a complaint...


Thank you!

I apeiciate you saying that. I am not at all looking for anything other then advice. That is why I came to this great site. I have learned lots about satellite TV and have gotten lots of understanding on how DTV works.

I did say an AMEN a few times, however there has been some missinformation so I chime back in at times. I am perfectly satisfied with the Comcast that got put in. No complaints. I will never pay this debt. However someday if I sell this home when the economy returns, I may yet get back my DTV at a new address. They did tell me its the address holding me back not me.

So until then,

Much love and happy holiday.

I will continue to read here.

Peace


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## NewForceFiveFan (Apr 23, 2010)

Sounds kind of silly but why don't you pay it, then have D* document why you had to pay it, then have your lawyer send her lawyer a bill for it.


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

> I want to comment on one of the earlier posts here that is one of my own personal pet peeves.
> 
> The person in the "President's office" that the OP talked to said there was nothing they could do to over rule the "Fraud Department". That is an outright lie. The president or his authorized representiative "can" overrule anything in the company but they may choose not to do so.
> 
> ...


Anyone who has ever worked as a CSR anywhere and at any department will tell you that "Cant" and "Wont" lead to the same thing in most cases.
The customer wanting to speak to whom ever is above you.
Good try though.


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## dubber deux (Mar 8, 2009)

Regarding the possible relationship of some individuals here with D* I would say that it is LIKELY that some of the members on this site may have some relationship directly with D*. And my own personal experience here posting on this forum tells me that yes, that dbstalk.com is protective of D*. A number of my posts which were correctly less than flattering of D* were "mobbed" by a small posse D* fanbois, and even though these members were clearly violating the forum rules in my own thread they were able to get the last word before the thread was locked.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

dubber deux said:


> Regarding the possible relationship of some individuals here with D* I would say that it is LIKELY that some of the members on this site may have some relationship directly with D*. And my own personal experience here posting on this forum tells me that yes, that dbstalk.com is protective of D*. A number of my posts which were correctly less than flattering of D* were "mobbed" by a small posse D* fanbois, and even though these members were clearly violating the forum rules in my own thread a moderator convieniently locked it, with the rule breakers getting the last word.


Another thread hijacked by you to make yourself heard. :nono2:


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## dubber deux (Mar 8, 2009)

sigma1914 said:


> Another thread hijacked by you to make yourself heard. :nono2:


The subject I mention clearly was broached by others here.

You are "always" there within MINUTES after I post ANYTHING!

So sigma1914 do you have my sn on "auto flag" ? :lol:


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## n3vino (Oct 2, 2011)

NewForceFiveFan said:


> Sounds kind of silly but why don't you pay it, then have D* document why you had to pay it, then have your lawyer send her lawyer a bill for it.


The bill that was incurred by her after they separated is $1200.00. I don't blame him for not wanting to pay it. Paying it and sending her a bill won't do any good. She'll only use it as toilet paper. Based on what the OP said, she filed for bankruptcy. Besides, the OP already has service from another provider.


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