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

FCC Complaint

[PRMan]

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

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.

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.