Sassy-ness

It definitely runs in my family. We are a sassy group. It should be no surprise that when a certain member of my family called to inform of the need to set up service in her new abode, she showed every bit of sarcasm and sassiness that was shown to her. Apparently the oh-so-friendly customer service rep was taking some information about service starting dates then asked for the "code". When my family member replied "Pardon" the customer service rep said "Code. You know, as in Zip Code. Z-I-P." My family member replied with "Do you want the new N-E-W or old O-L-D code." The customer service rep paused before continuing; with less sarcasm.

That's why I didn't hesitate to contact anyone and everyone I could when DirecTV wouldn't give us our money back. On July 17 we called to cancel service and request a refund (as we had paid for the year of service), which we were told would take 4 to 6 weeks. On July 18 or service was shut off. On September 9, I called to inquire about the refund and was informed that it is actually 6 to 8 weeks, and the request wasn't entered until July 24th. I told Latoya that it was not my fault that the request was not entered until a week after it was requested. Service was terminated, they obviously got that part right, and we were 7 weeks and 3 days from the date it was terminated, so even if it is 6 to 8 weeks we should have the check within the next 4 days. She "escalated" the order. On September 11th (the day before the 8 weeks was up) I spoke with Angel and told her that I was calling to confirm the check would be in my mailbox by tomorrow... she transferred me to a supervisor. Joyce told me she would again "escalate" my request and follow-up with me in 8 days (apparently it was going to take her that long to hear back from whatever department she was contacting). On September 19th I spoke with Michelle who told me the check was released, but she couldn't give me a check number. Instead, she gave me the number of the billing department, which I happily dialed. I spoke with Ruth, who tried and tried to pull up my account to get me a check number but just couldn't get in to the system. She did assure me that the check had been written on the 14th and it would take 7 to 10 business days for it to reach me. But she couldn't give me a check number. I politely informed her that if I didn't have a check number I was assuming that a check had not been written and if a check had not been written at this time (9 weeks from the date of request) I was contacting the Better Business Bureau. Eventually (about 45 minutes later) I spoke with her supervisor Jason who told me that the check had been done on the 14th and I had to wait 3 to 7 business days from the 14th. I told him that I had just been told 7 to 10 and inquired as to why nobody could give me a check number if one has been written. He told me I had to wait. I told him I had already waited 9 weeks and if I did not have a check number when I got off the phone, I would be filing complaints and contacting an attorney (my boss told me to write a letter stating I had retained his services and he would sign it... I love working for attorneys) The conversation ended with "You will just have to wait." So I went home and filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. And the next day I filed a complaint with the FCC. Then I received a voice mail on the 24th indicating that the amount was credited to my account on the 20th. I was pretty upset. After all, we had already received 2 statements showing the credit balance and I was supposed to be getting a check. So that evening I contacted them again and explained everything I had gone through, and that I had retained an attorney and filed a complaint with the FCC and the BBB. To my surprise she gave me a check number. And told me the check had been written on the 20th. So I filed a complaint with the company about Jason (I had his ID#) and indicated that he had outright lied to me and told me the check was written on the 14th. Then I received my check. 10 weeks to the day.

DirecTV's customer service is very polite, but that does not make up for keeping my $500.00 for 10 weeks. If I hadn't paid my bill for that long they would have sent me to collections. I am following through with these complaints and hopefully, maybe, someone else won't have to wait an unrealistic amount of time to get their refund.

And if you experience problems File a Complaint. We should not be punished because they can't manage their money. That is exactly what is happening here. And if you feel up for some interesting reading simply google the phrase "Directv refund" and you will find hundreds of similar stories. If everyone of these people would file a complaint, something might change.