/ Register

Access card flim-flam

Discussion in 'TiVo Coffee House - TiVo Discussion' started by DBCooper, Feb 6, 2011.

  1. Feb 6, 2011 #1 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...

    Advertisements

    DirecTV is giving me a load of garbage. I am canceling my service and they demand that I return both of my access cards from my purchased equipment. They say they will send me new ones, but if I sell the equipment, they will require the new owners to buy new cards.

    That is an outright lie! I bought an HR210 on eBay last year, with access card, and immediately added it to my account. What kind of rip-off am I up against this time?

    Right now I am on hold for a supervisor, but I don't expect to be treated kindly because I am gone from their clutches at midnight. Unfortunately, I am paid up through 31 January, so they can screw me around no matter what I do.
     
  2. Feb 6, 2011 #2 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    Well, I talked to the supervisor. He claimed this was a recent policy change and if I did not send the cards back, there would be a $300 penalty. He didn't say whether that was per card or not.

    I have absolutely had it with DirecTV. I have been a "valued" customer for seven and a half years, never late, paid them a total of about $5,000. And the cheap SOBs want to screw me out of another $60 or more.

    Never will I EVER sign up with DirecTV again and I will make certain that all my friends know what a garbage company they have become. They are no better than Dish, and that's as low as anyone can get.

    They clearly haven't a clue when it comes to customer service.
     
  3. Feb 6, 2011 #3 of 16
    SoBayJake

    SoBayJake Member

    407
    0
    Feb 6, 2002
    Los Angeles, CA
    If you are canceling, and you have to return them, and they are sending new cards, and a new user would get new cards, what's really the issue?

    Don't they provide the cards for free? What is your out of pocket expense? The stamps? Ask for a prepaid label.
     
  4. Feb 6, 2011 #4 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    The buyer has to pay for his/her new cards. That reduces the resale value of the boxes by $30 to $35 each.

    Asking for the cards back is of zero value to them. They know perfectly well whether I have ordered any pay-per-view. (I haven't in 7.5 years and I have never called in since the box was set up.) So how come after all these years they decided to ask for the cards back? Revenue!

    Sending me replacement cards is of zero value to me. It's an asinine move on their part.
     
  5. Feb 6, 2011 #5 of 16
    SoBayJake

    SoBayJake Member

    407
    0
    Feb 6, 2002
    Los Angeles, CA

    Advertisements

    That's news to me. However, the agreement from April 24th, 2010, mentions the $300 fee.

    http://www.directv.com/DTVAPP/content/legal/customer_agreement

    Cards are not always charged for, DirecTV can charge at its discretion. None of my friends have ever been charged for a card. YMMV
     
  6. Feb 6, 2011 #6 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    And, at their discretion, they could as well waive returning the cards.

    It's really their problem. I'm canceling. If they want to be a-holes, I'll simply ban them for life. Judging by the previews of the new DirecTV TiVo, that's a good idea anyway.
     
  7. Feb 7, 2011 #7 of 16
    magnus

    magnus Tivo User

    2,507
    0
    Nov 12, 2004
    Texas
    It's been there longer than that. I actually canceled my account when they did this (several years ago). Got tired of their games and did not want that kind of agreement.

    http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=357510


     
  8. Feb 7, 2011 #8 of 16
    lew

    lew Well-Known Member

    4,249
    83
    Mar 12, 2002
    The card is the property of DTV. They want it back. They don't know if it at some time you ordered PPV.

    The fact that in the past you were able to buy and sell the property of DTV is irrelevant.
     
  9. Feb 7, 2011 #9 of 16
    dilbert27

    dilbert27 New Member

    1,002
    0
    Dec 1, 2006
    The reason for the change I have been told is that if the box is not hooked to a phone line then they dont know if the customer has ordered pay per view and since that info is stored on the access card and the access card is the property of Directv they want it back to check it for pay per view that they might not know about.

    Also sometime last year they changed the policy where they would not activate old access cards that had been on someone elses account requireing the purchase of a new card anyway I know some was able to get them to activate an old card but the majority of the time they would not and require the purchase of a new card for $20 which they would sometimes waive that.
     
  10. Feb 7, 2011 #10 of 16
    patnmike427

    patnmike427 New Member

    33
    0
    Sep 8, 2002
    New Jersey
    Correct-and DTV lately seems to be in competition with the cable companies to see who can provide the WORST customer service.

    AND, here's the worst deal of all: If you are lucky enough to be in a position to terminate your service with DTV without early term. fees (as in month-to-month...your "commitments" have expired), be prepared for the "El Segundo Two-Step":

    1--First, the "retention rep" will play "good cop", and offer you ALL sorts of deals and giveaways...of course, most will have a year-plus hook with 'em; BUT-

    2--Should you stay strong and resist the temptation, the rep will flip instantly to "bad cop", demanding that you return everything and your first-born...more on that below.

    The issue is that the "new" user must pay DTV $20 per card-hence the OP's contention that this fee reduces the sale value of HIS equipment.

    Now, MY gripe with DTV on the return side is that just because they send you a return kit-whether for equipment OR cards-the method they use (that stupid Fedex Ground/US Postal Service partnership) is fraught with problems regarding tracking and/or receipt...when I returned a defective receiver to them via this method a couple of months before I dropped DTV, they claimed I never returned it...and sure enough, tracking it had no information. A close friend who is a supervisor in a major USPS facility informed me that IF you're lucky, these packages might get a scan on delivery-but beyond that, good luck finding out if it even made it into the system! When I got charged $250 for a non-returned HR2x unit, my contention to the rep was simple: What am I going to do with a dead receiver?

    I know it sucks to have to lay out $$$ to ship it back, but it's worth the peace of mind to ship anything back to DTV via UPS or USPS return receipt...at least you will have PROOF they got your stuff.
     
  11. Feb 7, 2011 #11 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    Huh? If I have no phone line, I can only order PPV by going to their website. They have no record of that?

    Nor can I buy that they sent me a PPV without any record of doing so. This is not MY problem, they are clearly responsible. And this has been going on since the beginning of PPV? Puleeze, I am not an idiot.
     
  12. Feb 7, 2011 #12 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    I discovered the real reason they want the cards back and are willing to replace them. They have no way of verifying that they actually cut off your receiver! One of my TiVos stopped getting signal, but the other one did not. So they really want the card back to make sure you can't get service anymore. :D
     
  13. Feb 7, 2011 #13 of 16
    dagap

    dagap New Member

    2,199
    0
    Dec 5, 2003
    Alpharetta, GA
    The other receiver will eventually lose authorization even if it didn't see the deauth message.

    The cards have memory that stores PPV purchases, transmitting them once the phone line is reconnected. Some shady people have unplugged phone lines, bought lots of PPV, then sold the equipment. Imagine how mad you'd be had you bought one of those.

    Are your cards old? Perhaps they're an older model that has been hacked by signal thieves? If so then it certainly makes sense for DirecTV to have policies that help remove them the market.
     
  14. Feb 7, 2011 #14 of 16
    DBCooper

    DBCooper New Member

    1,576
    0
    Aug 15, 2000
    Montgomery,...
    One is old. I bought it new 7.5 years ago. The other is an eBay purchase last year - an HR10-250 that I used without an HD sub. It has three PPV purchases listed for the years before I bought it. I suspect they were paid for long ago.
     
  15. Feb 7, 2011 #15 of 16
    MichaelK

    MichaelK Active Member

    7,308
    1
    Jan 10, 2002
    NJ
    gotta laugh when DB Cooper writes about flim flam.

    ;-)
     
  16. Feb 10, 2011 #16 of 16
    gastrof

    gastrof Hubcaps r in fashion

    7,486
    3
    Oct 31, 2003
    Potato and pen.
    Wrong forum.

    None of this is even a TiVo issue, since it involves the DirecTV end of things.

    It MIGHT have fit in one of the DirecTiVo forums, but again, it only involves the DirecTV end of things, not the TiVo side.
     

Share This Page

spam firewall

Advertisements