# Canceling DirecTV Stream service



## rwmair (Nov 16, 2006)

Has anyone successfully canceled DirecTV stream service?

I picked it up for a few months for a summer house, but now am done with that so want to cancel. I thought that was a benefit of streaming services - easy on, easy to shut off. The listed method requires you to go thru "chat to cancel", the button to chat to cancel does not work in three different browsers. I don't have time for the phone option. Fortunately I subscribed with a burner card so I presume they'll cancel my service when they can't charge me anymore?


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

Which they will turn over to a collection agency after your don't pay for so long and that will affect your credit rating. You need to cancel properly.


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## litzdog911 (Jun 23, 2004)

Just give them a call to cancel. Is it really that hard???


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## rwmair (Nov 16, 2006)

litzdog911 said:


> Just give them a call to cancel. Is it really that hard???


 From the inquisition I went thru to cancel my DirecTV satellite service 2 years ago, the 1.5 hours I spent on hold with my bank after a fraud alert recently, and the non-functioning "chat-to-cancel" button on the DirecTVstream website, I was expecting the worst. But it did only take 5mins and they accepted my reason for canceling without trying to change my mind or up-sell me on anything.

Thanks guys


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## evotz (Jan 23, 2014)

b4pjoe said:


> Which they will turn over to a collection agency after your don't pay for so long and that will affect your credit rating. You need to cancel properly.


I thought DirecTV Stream was a prepaid service. You pay for the service... then you get the service.

So if you don't pay for the service... you don't get the service. There's nothing to collect.

I agree, consumers should properly cancel the service. But if the service wants to make canceling a jump-through-hoops challenge, then I don't have a lot of sympathy for them when people just cut off a payment source.

But also, as a consumer, don't assume a "I stopped using the service" argument as a means of cancellation. A service can't know that you aren't using their service unless you tell them you're not using the service. Another words, don't stop using a service, never cancel, and then do 3 months of chargebacks on the service because you "cancelled" the service by not using it.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

evotz said:


> I thought DirecTV Stream was a prepaid service. You pay for the service... then you get the service.
> 
> *So if you don't pay for the service... you don't get the service. There's nothing to collect.*
> 
> ...


Well I suppose you could try that route but if you don't have evidence of actually cancelling you might be faced with problems down the road and even if you could eventually prove your case why risk it and go through all of that trouble?

Also reading the DirecTV cancellation policy it says:

"To cancel service: The account owner should sign in and go to Manage my TV Subscription. Choose Cancel my subscription and follow the prompts. Once your DIRECTV STREAM service is cancelled, you can continue accessing your service through the end of your monthly billing cycle."

so they are lying there anyway because it isn't possible to cancel via that way.


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## WestDC (Feb 9, 2008)

rwmair said:


> Has anyone successfully canceled DirecTV stream service?
> 
> I picked it up for a few months for a summer house, but now am done with that so want to cancel. I thought that was a benefit of streaming services - easy on, easy to shut off. The listed method requires you to go thru "chat to cancel", the button to chat to cancel does not work in three different browsers. I don't have time for the phone option. Fortunately I subscribed with a burner card so I presume they'll cancel my service when they can't charge me anymore?


Should use the service or NOT after you cancelled you will be billed for the remainder -NO matter if your card is no longer active --you will still be on the hook latter rather than sooner


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## techguy88 (Mar 19, 2015)

During the winter season when bad weather strikes or when there is a show I want to watch live (which is rare) I will get D* Stream then use chat to cancel. Its the easiest way for me and takes only a few minutes.


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## leww37334 (Sep 19, 2005)

Call them and blame it on covid


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## evotz (Jan 23, 2014)

b4pjoe said:


> Well I suppose you could try that route but if you don't have evidence of actually cancelling you might be faced with problems down the road and even if you could eventually prove your case why risk it and go through all of that trouble?


Well... if they are providing a service without getting paid... who is the fool in that scenario?

Anybody here ever run a business? How much service do you give someone that doesn't pay?

I agree with you on principle. You should always properly cancel a service. But how can they send collection agents out to you when you refuse to pay for a prepaid service? If my due date is September 2, and I cancel a card or PayPal subscription or remove card from autopay on September 1, I don't get charged on September 2, and if I still have service on September 3... who is the fool? What is DirecTV's argument going to be? "You didn't pay on September 2 like you were suppose to, so we're sending collections out to get you because you still had service on September 3." If that argument stands up in court then there is something seriously wrong with the judicial system.

I tested DirecTV Stream for a month a few months ago. I paid with a PayPal subscription. No, there was not an easy way to cancel on DirecTV's website (this is a hallmark of DirecTV's aim to keep you as a customer). So I cancelled my PayPal subscription ... they weren't going to get any more money from me. I finally did get a hold of someone on chat and cancelled the account.



b4pjoe said:


> "To cancel service: The account owner should sign in and go to Manage my TV Subscription. Choose Cancel my subscription and follow the prompts. Once your DIRECTV STREAM service is cancelled, you can continue accessing your service through the end of your monthly billing cycle."
> 
> so they are lying there anyway because it isn't possible to cancel via that way.


Indeed. Adds more fuel to the flame if they are allowed to send collection agents out to you for refusing to pay for a prepaid service AND they are allowed to state this without honoring this.

The bottom line for me is I don't see where it is necessarily a problem to remove an autopay subscription for a prepaid service to prevent further billing. If a service wants to keep giving you a service after your billing date has passed - then that's on them. Yes, every effort should be made to properly cancel the service, but there's nothing wrong with going the extra mile and cancelling the autopay subscription (however that is done - cancelling a PayPal subscription, removing from autopay in OLAM, informing your credit card company not to accept charge requests from that service, or cancelling the card altogether) to insure that you're not charged for the service.

This is partly why I like PayPal for subscriptions. Because you're always able to log into your PayPal account and manage each individual subscription without any intervention with the subscribed to service. Log into PayPal account, go to your subscriptions, cancel the one that's for DirecTV Stream and boom, they're not going to get any more money from me. I don't have to waste hours of my time trying to get on chat to cancel the account.

To be clear - if a service is a postpaid service - i.e., if I'm paying on September 2 for services rendered from August 3 to September 1, if I don't pay that bill on September 2 then yes, they can send me to collections - because I did have service that I did not pay for. But my recollection of DirecTV Stream is that it's prepaid.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

leww37334 said:


> Call them and blame it on covid


You don't need to provide a reason to cancel. That you have to endure a questioning is one of the reasons that people will walk away from DIRECTV.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

evotz said:


> Well... if they are providing a service without getting paid... who is the fool in that scenario?
> 
> Anybody here ever run a business? How much service do you give someone that doesn't pay?
> 
> ...


Agreed with everything you said. However this is AT&T who has a history of such shenaigans so I would be sure to cancel anything AT&T rather than just revoking my payment system. How many stories on this website have we heard of AT&T telling a person they don't have to return equipment and then charge them a no return fee. I have enough crap going on in my life without having to argue with AT&T.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> However this is AT&T who has a history of such shenaigans so I would be sure to cancel anything AT&T rather than just revoking my payment system.


Why is it when DIRECTV does something that someone doesn't like, it is automatically attributed to AT&T? DIRECTV has long required a personal contact to terminate.


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## b4pjoe (Nov 20, 2010)

harsh said:


> Why is it when DIRECTV does something that someone doesn't like, it is automatically attributed to AT&T? DIRECTV has long required a personal contact to terminate.


Because on their website it says:



> *To cancel service:* The account owner should  sign in  and go to *Manage my TV Subscription.* Choose *Cancel my subscription* and follow the prompts. Once your DIRECTV STREAM service is cancelled, you can continue accessing your service through the end of your monthly billing cycle.


Which is not the way you have to cancel. Typical AT&T....

And AT&T still owns 70% of DirecTV. And I'm sure are stilling pulling the strings.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

b4pjoe said:


> Which is not the way you have to cancel.


They certainly bury a lot of detail in the "follow the prompts" phrase.


> And AT&T still owns 70% of DirecTV. And I'm sure are stilling pulling the strings.


If they wanted to pull strings, they wouldn't have ceded management. If DIRECTV isn't taking advantage of they independence they've been granted, that's on DIRECTV.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Don't forget:


rwmair said:


> I was expecting the worst. But it did only take 5mins and they accepted my reason for canceling without trying to change my mind or up-sell me on anything.


 The issue is resolved. The customer was able to cancel their service by the method listed in the terms and conditions.

There is also a clause in the terms and conditions that notes that DIRECTV will cancel service due to non-payment.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

James Long said:


> There is also a clause in the terms and conditions that notes that DIRECTV will cancel service due to non-payment.


The possible failing here is that cancellation may not be the only result of non-payment. DIRECTV has all manner of "may" and "up to" language that is far from definitive.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Feel free to read the terms and conditions if you want to know and not just guess.
Penalties are noted for customers who somehow end up with a commitment.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

James Long said:


> Feel free to read the terms and conditions if you want to know and not just guess.


The last three times that I've visited, I've received a 404 error.


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## leww37334 (Sep 19, 2005)

I do not understand why directtv streaming is so expensive. They have eliminated equipment costs and satellite up front costs, They also reduced programming, but they are still not as cheap as many other services. I still like the services, but the cost is an issue


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## Bender The Lab (7 mo ago)

leww37334 said:


> I do not understand why directtv streaming is so expensive. They have eliminated equipment costs and satellite up front costs, They also reduced programming, but they are still not as cheap as many other services. I still like the services, but the cost is an issue


The other services, You Tube TV for example, do not have the the majority of RSNs.

For that I am quite glad, I am a transplant from Michigan to Florida ( moved in 2020), I have no interest in the RSN here, so I am glad I do not have to pay for another channel I do not watch ( there is enough of those already).

Also glad I do not have to pay a Broadcast Channels Fee, never watch the locals, I have internet from Charter and they charge $21 a month for locals, will never use them for TV service because of that.

Their ads show you get those channels in the package, but read the fine print, you have to pay, no way out.


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## Daniel loomis (10 mo ago)

Ok I have had streaming a few times, once We be had to cancel my debit card and at the end of the month they emailed me saying they had trouble trying to charge the card..and that was it…I have had no trouble whatsoever “Down the road” or with any “Collection agency” the bottom line, ITS A PREPAID SERVICE Of you do pay, it don’t play..PERIOD!


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## NashGuy (Jan 30, 2014)

leww37334 said:


> I do not understand why directtv streaming is so expensive. They have eliminated equipment costs and satellite up front costs, They also reduced programming, but they are still not as cheap as many other services. I still like the services, but the cost is an issue


Yes, if you compare DTV Stream's entry-level Entertainment package at $70/mo vs. YouTube TV's $65/mo package or Hulu with Live TV (which includes Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN+) for $70/mo, it's true that you're paying the same or more for less channels/content on DTV Stream. (All of them now offer an unlimited cloud DVR with 9-month storage at no extra cost.) However, you are getting superior picture and sound quality, plus the option of buying a dedicated box/remote for a more traditional cable-like user experience. DTV satellite always positioned itself as the "premium" option for live cable TV, with better PQ and (in the past anyway) better equipment and customer service. So it doesn't surprise me that they're still trying to do that -- charge more but offer a higher-quality user experience.

The other thing to keep in mind is that cable TV service is all that the little DTV company sells. (Yes, they're still 70% owned by AT&T but they're their own separate company that keeps their own non-publicly-reported books.) Compare that with YouTube TV that's owned by super-rich global tech behemoth Google. And also Hulu with Live TV, which is owned by the biggest most successful Hollywood studio Disney, who uses Hulu Live as a way to also sell and hook consumers on their next-gen products Disney+ and ESPN+ (which is what they are using to gradually replace their cable and broadcast channels). Those big companies can afford to sell their live cable TV services at low prices with thin profit margins. But DTV doesn't want to do that. If they structured and priced their DTV Stream packages to be completely price competitive with those big guys, they know it would cannibalize their higher-profit satellite TV service and leave them with a business that's overall much less profitable.

The only other direct competitor to DTV Stream is little Fubo TV, which, like DTV, has no business other than selling their cable TV service. Their entry-level channel package is no better than DTV Stream's entry-level Entertainment package (some would say it's worse given that it lacks CNN, TBS, TNT, History, A&E and Lifetime) and they recently increased its price from $65 to $70/mo. And guess what? Fubo TV has yet to turn a profit. They've been losing money since day 1. Their supposed plan to get out of the red is to make more ad revenue from the use of targeted ads, plus start running sports betting inside their app. I'm skeptical that they'll ever become profitable and have been predicting that Fubo TV will cease operations by the end of 2023, if not sooner.


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## the2130 (Dec 18, 2014)

harsh said:


> You don't need to provide a reason to cancel. That you have to endure a questioning is one of the reasons that people will walk away from DIRECTV.


Yes, it's ridiculous that you can sign up online but you have to call in and speak to someone to cancel. Other streaming services don't operate that way.


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

leww37334 said:


> They have eliminated equipment costs and satellite up front costs, They also reduced programming, but they are still not as cheap as many other services.


The programming costs are the main driver of high prices.

Just because there are fewer channels doesn't mean that there is less programming. A lot of what is "missing" is the same content presented fewer times.

For their part, I'd imagine DIRECTV can't afford to set unreasonable pricing expectations so they're starting with something that all of the competitive live TV services are working towards. Fubo used to be pretty cheap but they're almost $70/month now for the base package (it hit $96.99 before they started giving away the 1,000 hour DVR and ten screen limit).


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

the2130 said:


> Yes, it's ridiculous that you can sign up online but you have to call in and speak to someone to cancel. Other streaming services don't operate that way.


While this used to be the hew and cry of the streaming services, I think you'll see more of them wanting to give them a chance to talk you down as consumers realize that the services aren't providing year-round entertainment.


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