The local telephone company is getting rid of their TV provider. They are offering DirecTV streaming as authorized reseller or you are free to use another service.
If you sign up for DirecTV through the phone company they discount the price by $20 the first year and $10 the second year, but they are charging $10 per month for unlimited DVR. There is a $10 charge per month for each TV box for the first 12 months.
If you go to DirecTV's web site they have two current offers. They do not charge a $10 unlimited DVR fee per month. Offer 1 is $10 off for the first three months with $10 per TV box for the first 12 months. The second offer is $10 off the first 5 months if you buy the TV boxes outright ($120 new / $49.95 certified).
We were looking at the Ultimate pack with 3 TV boxes and no premium channels. If you purchased this directly from DirecTV it would be $70 or $90 more expensive in the first year than going through the phone company. The second year would have the same cost. By the third year and every year thereafter it would $120 cheaper than going through the phone company because you are not paying for the unlimited DVR service.
I asked the telephone company why they are charging for this and they replied that they can't take advantage of deals you order by phone or through the website. After dong a little more digging I find that the actual process of signing up for DirecTV involves you making a initial registration with the phone company and they calling you back. They then set up a conference call with DirecTV to complete the order by phone. So we are in fact not ordering through the phone company but DirecTV so the phone company is lying. The registration process only lets you choose the package and not how TV boxes you want or other options.
So I attempted to place a order through the DirecTV's web site. I enter all the details and it displays an pink and red error box with an explanation box under the Payment Method that states "Oops, there was a problem. Please try again later". I cleared the browser cache, restarted the browser. I also used a different browser. I also used another credit card. Each card was charged a temporary of $30 multiple times which were then deducted of later in the day. There were also multiple charges of $0.00 from AT&T.
I called them to find out the problem and they offered to complete the deal by phone. You must give them your name, phone number, email, address and social security and indicate what product you want. They then send a confirmation code to your which you need to verify. Then they send a second email with a link to their website to confirm your agreement to their terms. Then they process the order. Their claim that you can order form their website is completely false and has nothing to do with the credit card.
I went through this process four times and each time they told me the credit cards were being declined. I tried four credit cards. I called the credit card company and they said their was no issue on their end and it was on DirecTV's end. In one call I had DirecTV setup a conference call with one of the credit card companies and they were told it was DirecTV's problem. In one of these calls I was told they would retain my information and call back in 30 minutes and they never did. No information was ever retained and I needed to tell them everything again.
Prior to having DirecTV set up a conference call one of these reps wanted me to call the credit card company on a cell phone while I was talking on a land line to DirecTV. Even after I told him this would require me to leave the home and drive a couple blocks away to get good reception he still thought it would be a good idea (so he could get a sales credit).
Then of course the deal in which you could get $10 off the first 5 months by buying the TV boxes outright was no longer valid even though its shown on their page for streaming. Another rep said this was only for satellite, which was another lie.
Then they tried to push me into buying satellite service. So exactly how would the same credit cards now go through if I ordered satellite instead?
I also called AT&T, but they did nothing and just reconnected me with DirecTV.
So what appears to be going on here is that they have granted the local phone company exclusive rights as a reseller in phone company service area and they want to force everyone to pay a higher price through the phone company. That is called price fixing and they have earned themselves a complaint with my state's attorney general.
One thing for sure is that this one dishonest horrible company. No wonder they went from 25 million users in 2017 to 15.4 million by mid 2021.
Avoid at all costs!
If you sign up for DirecTV through the phone company they discount the price by $20 the first year and $10 the second year, but they are charging $10 per month for unlimited DVR. There is a $10 charge per month for each TV box for the first 12 months.
If you go to DirecTV's web site they have two current offers. They do not charge a $10 unlimited DVR fee per month. Offer 1 is $10 off for the first three months with $10 per TV box for the first 12 months. The second offer is $10 off the first 5 months if you buy the TV boxes outright ($120 new / $49.95 certified).
We were looking at the Ultimate pack with 3 TV boxes and no premium channels. If you purchased this directly from DirecTV it would be $70 or $90 more expensive in the first year than going through the phone company. The second year would have the same cost. By the third year and every year thereafter it would $120 cheaper than going through the phone company because you are not paying for the unlimited DVR service.
I asked the telephone company why they are charging for this and they replied that they can't take advantage of deals you order by phone or through the website. After dong a little more digging I find that the actual process of signing up for DirecTV involves you making a initial registration with the phone company and they calling you back. They then set up a conference call with DirecTV to complete the order by phone. So we are in fact not ordering through the phone company but DirecTV so the phone company is lying. The registration process only lets you choose the package and not how TV boxes you want or other options.
So I attempted to place a order through the DirecTV's web site. I enter all the details and it displays an pink and red error box with an explanation box under the Payment Method that states "Oops, there was a problem. Please try again later". I cleared the browser cache, restarted the browser. I also used a different browser. I also used another credit card. Each card was charged a temporary of $30 multiple times which were then deducted of later in the day. There were also multiple charges of $0.00 from AT&T.
I called them to find out the problem and they offered to complete the deal by phone. You must give them your name, phone number, email, address and social security and indicate what product you want. They then send a confirmation code to your which you need to verify. Then they send a second email with a link to their website to confirm your agreement to their terms. Then they process the order. Their claim that you can order form their website is completely false and has nothing to do with the credit card.
I went through this process four times and each time they told me the credit cards were being declined. I tried four credit cards. I called the credit card company and they said their was no issue on their end and it was on DirecTV's end. In one call I had DirecTV setup a conference call with one of the credit card companies and they were told it was DirecTV's problem. In one of these calls I was told they would retain my information and call back in 30 minutes and they never did. No information was ever retained and I needed to tell them everything again.
Prior to having DirecTV set up a conference call one of these reps wanted me to call the credit card company on a cell phone while I was talking on a land line to DirecTV. Even after I told him this would require me to leave the home and drive a couple blocks away to get good reception he still thought it would be a good idea (so he could get a sales credit).
Then of course the deal in which you could get $10 off the first 5 months by buying the TV boxes outright was no longer valid even though its shown on their page for streaming. Another rep said this was only for satellite, which was another lie.
Then they tried to push me into buying satellite service. So exactly how would the same credit cards now go through if I ordered satellite instead?
I also called AT&T, but they did nothing and just reconnected me with DirecTV.
So what appears to be going on here is that they have granted the local phone company exclusive rights as a reseller in phone company service area and they want to force everyone to pay a higher price through the phone company. That is called price fixing and they have earned themselves a complaint with my state's attorney general.
One thing for sure is that this one dishonest horrible company. No wonder they went from 25 million users in 2017 to 15.4 million by mid 2021.
Avoid at all costs!
