We've been customers since late 1998. We haven't seen a contract, or signed ANYTHING, since that time....
I'm not arguing that DirecTV doesn't have a right to run their business this way but, after almost 11 years of loyalty and on-time payment, I expect more from a company I'm paying $160/month for service....
I will vote with my wallet and take my business elsewhere when my bogus "contract" expires. I have already cut our programming and turned off several receivers, so they've lost about $65/month of my money. If I could leave today, I would, which is what I told the person in retention when I spoke with them after asking to reduce my services.
You said in a previous post that your contract expires on 10/2010. Depending on how you figure this, it's either 11 or 12 months away. You have two options:
1) Cancel now and pay the ETF. At $20/month for the remainder of the contract, that will be $220 or $240.
2) Stay until 10/2010 and pay for a service you hate $95/month for 11-12 months, which will add up to $1045 or $1140.
Maybe I'm missing something, but it seems like selecting a new provider (hopefully with a 'new subscriber' deal) and cancelling Directv now would be the way to go...