Slashdot Mirror
AT&T Denies Refunds For DirecTV Now Customers, Despite the Service's Performance Issues (techcrunch.com)
A number of consumers report they're unable to get a refund for their subscription to AT&T's recently launched streaming service, DirecTV Now -- something they've requested after being unhappy with the new service's performance. From a report on TechCrunch: According to several postings on AT&T's official forums, customers found the only way to get help was through a hard-to-find chat feature, and when they asked the AT&T reps about refunds, the customers were told they were not offered. Writes one user with the handle EIUdrummerboy, after attempting to get a refund via chat, the rep told them specifically: "We do not currently have a policy in place to offer any refunds."
AT&T are pretty much just crooks
As with everything AT&T, they only respond to FCC complaints. People who file FCC complaints HAVE been getting refunds.
Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
in Seattle, and they sold quite a few customers that didn't have south-facing apartment in my two buildings. They knew damn well that anyone without a south facing apartment couldn't get DirectTV and even the people with south-facing apartments couldn't get it either due to a taller building to the south that was two stories taller than our own building couldn't either, but they still tried to hold them to a contract. Dial-up and ISDN are the fast connections we can get, but that didn't stop them from still trying to collect.
However, AT&T also knows that any punishment is likely to be a slap on the wrist and an order to comply in the future and is deemed an acceptable expense, and possibly lesser than the expense to set it up right, and respect customers.
Silence is a state of mime.
I gave it up before trial was over, due to reception issues.
We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.
The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
As a business owner, it had never occurred to me to present such a clever argument.
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
It's not DrectTVNow, it's DirectTVNom (nom). It's tasty!
I have a pretty large yard to the south, but that still isn't low enough to the horizon to get DirectTV so I'm stuck with ISDN and per minute charges.
Have you tried Exede internet?
I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
I tried to return my season ticket, but they wouldn't give me my money back. They said THEY wanted it.
--Lenny
As with everything in life a Simpsons quote captures the heart of the issue. AT&T will say that they *can't* give you your money back, but in reality it just boils down to the fact that they want to have your money more than they want you to have it.
Now 47N is "so far north"?
it's 2017 and stupid people still pre-order expensive electronics without seeing it in the store, pre-order games that don't work cause of bugs or service issues for weeks at a time and now they sign up for streaming services at release without seeing other people's experience
you get what you deserve
Go to your card provider (Visa/MC/Discover/Amex) and tell them to remove the charge because the service was not rendered and/or the charge was improper.
They will.
Once AT&T starts getting a lot of chargebacks, they will do something about it.
I had this sort of thing happen do me years back in NYC with Verizon. I called to cancel, was given a confirmation # and everything, and was still billed again the next month. When called again, furious, the manager I was escalated to said that they could not offer a refund because they did not have that policy. I said I don't care about policy, give me a refund, and he said there was literally no way for him to do that in the system and suggested (of course) that I accept the service for a month, since I'd already paid for it, and then if I didn't want it next month, I could call and cancel [n.b. AGAIN] then.
I hung up on him, dialed Visa, and had them charge it back. Of course THAT got Verizon's attention and a day or two later I was called by retention or some similar department to offer me a discount if I would stay on, along with a lot of apology garbage.
I told them I'd rather eat a bug.
STOP . AMERICA . NOW
Yep, I ditched "Ma Bell" too several years ago. Had their DSL back in the day, and at&t as my cellphone. Dropped them both! Now, it's just a 50 buck charge for my smartphone, and the kicker is I get to use the at&t towers with my MVNO. Their coverage is better where I live than anyone else. Amazing, I remember "Ma Bell" being broken up in the early 80's and it's been a little over 30 years, and they along with Verizon, have pretty much gobbled up everyone else. Oh, if you were ever a fan of WKRP in Cincinnati, "Dr. Johnny Fever" can clue you in on how Ma Bell works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Satellite TV can work just fine in Seattle... you just need a bigger dish if a dinky 18" round or 30" toroidal dish won't do the job for you.
(and/or... you might need to put the dish on top of a pole if you're on the low side of a hill. Yes, you CAN do that with a dish, just like you can do it with a terrestrial antenna).
they dont tell new customers singing up that about half the channels with DirecTV is all home shopping channels! or some other sort if infomertials (spam) yup, that right when you buy DirectTV subscription you are basically paying them to spam you
Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
Yeah, I haven't asked for a refund YET; but was thinking about it. It is horrible. It only works with IE or Chrome and then only sometimes. It keeps giving a wrong browser page even saying only works with Chrome or Internet Explorer 11 - gives the error page when running IE11 or Chrome. Then, when it does come up in the browser, it won't actually start streaming - only timing out. I have Comcast internet and I have tried to use it everyday for a week; but it has only started streaming one default show ONCE and even that stopped after 2 minutes. So yes, it is a PoS right now, so wish I hadn't prepaid the 1st month and just taken the free month trial. Hopefully they will fix it in the next week or so. If not, then it will have to be one of those 'learning experiences' in getting bent over by AT&T which I should have already known.
Now 47N is "so far north"?
Given that I originally hail from 70N, I see your point.
But here, the "so far north" is only with the perspective of being able to get decent transmissions from a satellite that sits above equator. Which you should be able to - the size of the dish and need to be able to aim it closer to the horizon increase as you go north, but at 47 degrees, it's still doable.
A class action lawsuit is needed to get AT&T to pay up. No one individual is going to sue for a couple hundred bucks. Go get 'em lawyers.
You'd probably be better off with Kodi and a subscription to one of the IPTV services. Hundreds of channels for less than DTN costs.
Sig for hire.
I understand that some high-rise building sitting south of you might shadow you, specially if you live in the lower floors, but to me, as an European, it seems already weird that you have to resort to satellite internet in a city. I read in other comments of people still on dialup in freaking Seattle, and that frankly scares me. Is it possible that there's not market even for a DSL operator, let alone fiber? In Seattle?
No, it sucks. Period. No DVR, can pause live TV on Fire Stick/TV but can't fast forward or rewind, error 40 almost every time you try to watch in the evening.. junk. I dropped it even with the promo pricing and just kept my PlayStation Vue service running. While Vue currently has less channels in their $35 package, I can stream on up to 5 devices at the same time AND IT WORKS. The fact it has working features that would be considered standard anymore while DTN doesn't is also a plus.
Don't let the shiny price fool you. DTN sucks, they've had enough time now to work the issues out and haven't. It's a beta.. or even alpha stage product that was dumped on folks with this great sounding price, but what in the hell is the point of even paying $35/month when it just doesn't work?
Now that you know I'm being honest, we're talking about a phone company that doesn't even know it's own phone numbers. I can't tell you how many times their business support people have transferred me to non-existent internal phone lines, leaving me to call back and go through it all again.
Pretty sure there are none of those on the directv now service. Not that regular cable channels are much better content wise than rotating infomercials anyway....
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
DirecTV Now does not require Silverlight on IOS. It does not require Silverlight on android. It does not require Silverlight on my Fire TV.
I was an original SlingTV user and I can say the trouble they had early on was worse than what I'm seeing on DirecTV Now. Except for the first 2 days. That was horrible.
But that would require a professional installation. And DirecTV only offers free "professional" installation.
From article:
Another, who tried to cancel their 7-day free trial was denied a refund even though they cancelled within a week. (The rep told them they had to cancel by 7 PM EST, and the customer was on central time, making them an hour late).
...and this, ATT, is why having globalized and outsourced call centers, with machine making decisions that Humans can't override costs, more money than just fucking paying people to do a job and make rational decisions in customer service.