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."

Comments

and my dsl $50 rebate never arrived either

[Anonymous Coward]

AT&T are pretty much just crooks

FCC Complaint

[PRMan]

As with everything AT&T, they only respond to FCC complaints. People who file FCC complaints HAVE been getting refunds.

Re:FCC Complaint

[Anonymous Coward]

Also file a complaint with you state's AG office.

Re:FCC Complaint

[LeftCoastThinker]

This first, file the FCC complaint, and this is also why I pay for these services with my credit card. You can do a charge back and block them from further charges with a simple note to your credit card company. It costs AT&T $35 a pop plus all the involuntary refunds. If a few million users did this, it would definitely get some attention at very high levels. Enough charge backs and the vendor may also lose their accreditation with that credit card (i.e. Visa/MC/American Express) which is a huge deal for them.

I'm a maintence guy in an apartment building...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

This is by design

[wbr1]

This of course runs afoul of many countries consumer protection laws. And, any corporation this size has enough funds and legal staff to know this. It also has the ability to set up proper policies before launching a service. Even when rushing to be third to market.

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.

I hope I can spell "Epiphany"

[rmdingler]

...the rep told them specifically: "We do not currently have a policy in place to offer any refunds."

As a business owner, it had never occurred to me to present such a clever argument.

don't buy stuff on Day 1

[known_coward_69]

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

Credit card chargeback.

[aussersterne]

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.