Direct Tv ???

[Luvmy4boys]

If we cancel Directv for a few months (it's just gotten too expensive for our current situation) can we be considered a new customer later and be eligible for the greats deals they offer new customers?

 

[plutotek]

I know that, in the case of cable companies, if you call up and let them know you're leaving and why, they will sometimes offer you a 'save' deal, one they have set aside to keep you as a customer. I don't know if Directv does it or not, but it's worth a shot. As for how long you have to be away, I would suspect it's something like 6 months to a year.

 

[doxdogy]

Yes you can get new offers. We canceled a couple of months ago and switched to U-Verse. We were not happy with U-Verse and were in the process of calling them back to switch back, when they called us. Back to Directv we went.

 

[Jennasis]

Call them and tell them you are considering cancelling and see if they offer you a deal. They almost always do.

But yes, if you cancel, they will consider you a new customer if you resign later on.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

Call them and tell them you are considering cancelling and see if they offer you a deal. They almost always do.

But yes, if you cancel, they will consider you a new customer if you resign later on.

My husband did call. Our receiver broke a few weeks ago. So they sent us a new one and we sent them the old one. So on this months bill was a pay-per-view charge. We hadn't ordered any so dh calls. Directv tells him that charge goes back to movies we had ppv in April 2008. When they got our receiver back they discovered by the card in it that they had never charged us for 2 movies. It is too long ago for us to remember clearly and we don't have copies of our 2008 bills. The rep he spoke to was unwielding and offered to just connect dh with the disconnect dept.

So beside all that...it has just over-all gotten too expensive.

 

[bicker]

Generally, service providers will contact you shortly after you cancel service (if not earlier) trying to get you to come back. If you contact them, though, it may not work as well. I don't remember where DirecTV fits in the spectrum, but generally service providers have a specific period of time before they will consider you a new customer, vis a vis taking advantage of their deeply-discounted new customer promotions - some as long as 18 months, but others as little as 4 or 6 months. I'll try to track down the specifics for DirecTV if I have a chance.

EDITED: Official policy is evidently one year, or a change of address. Note that you would not really be a new customer; so if you had encumbrances on your old account, they would be carried over to your new account.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

Official policy is evidently one year, or a change of address. Note that you would not really be a new customer; so if you had encumbrances on your old account, they would be carried over to your new account.

Thanks bicker. We would not leave our current account unpaid. It is so bizzarre though that they would argue over an $8 ppv charge they supposedly missed back in 2008.

 

[bicker]

The way I understand it, it is partly-driven by the fact that there are ways that subscribers may get PPV, which perhaps they intended to pay for, but for various reasons never get billed for, at the time. (I believe this is because, unlike with cable, satellite service providers often do not have fail-safe means of establishing secure connections to host devices, especially for older host devices.) In recognition of this, they build into their service terms and conditions the right to bill for charges years later, once the error is detected. This is essential, since the failure mechanisms that bring about this situation can be made to happen by sophisticated miscreants, allow those folks to steal PPV. While it is not a perfect system (miscreants can simply elect to never engage in any actions that involve returning their old equipment), it does help cut down on some abuse.

With the Internet becoming more pervasive, hopefully such situations will go away in the future. (Perhaps PPV via satellite would always require a secure Internet connection to the host device.) Of course, the Internet may make satellite service, itself, an unnecessarily expensive and complicated way of distributing video entertainment.

 

[Dan Murphy]

My husband did call. Our receiver broke a few weeks ago. So they sent us a new one and we sent them the old one. So on this months bill was a pay-per-view charge. We hadn't ordered any so dh calls. Directv tells him that charge goes back to movies we had ppv in April 2008. When they got our receiver back they discovered by the card in it that they had never charged us for 2 movies. It is too long ago for us to remember clearly and we don't have copies of our 2008 bills. The rep he spoke to was unwielding and offered to just connect dh with the disconnect dept.

So beside all that...it has just over-all gotten too expensive.

Has your husband talked to the 'disconnect dept yet? If not, maybe he should. That dept is a specialty dept to try and get you to not leave, so that is where any 'deal' would come from.

When I left DirecTV, they tried to bend over backward to keep me, but did not. And ever since, for years, I get probably at least one mailing a month trying to get me back, with great 'deal' offerings.

 

[Luvmy4boys]

DH is calling them this morning. There is such a HUGE gap between what they charge new customers for monthly service and what they charge current/old customers. I realize it is not only Directv that does this.....entice you with a really low rate for a year then jack it up.

It was so much easier when I was a young child. Antena and 3 channels. When you bought the tv that was the only thing you had to pay for.