Talk to me about cancelling DirecTV

[Lumpy1106]

Since COVID started we have managed to add on Netflix, HBO, HULU and Disney+, as well as all of the "free" channels you get with ROKU. In the mean time, we have been with DirecTV long enough to be able to cancel without penalty, and, oh yeah, our contract has gone up $40/month as the signing discounts fell off. What we are noticing is the one thing we are not using DirecTV very much especially for the price we are paying, but we have some concerns;

• How do you watch local and network channels - should you want to? Right now we don't - there's almost no new programming and news is depressing.
• How do you watch sports? Not a huge fan of any particular sport. I have been a big hockey fan in the past and I do like to watch some NFL if I have time to kill on a Sunday, but would not miss either. I do find myself watching soccer more than anything; mostly Premier League, but also MLS, but wouldn't call myself a "fan"
• To anyone who has done it, any regrets?

 

[disneychrista]

I use Hulu to watch network primetime the next day (execpt CBS, which isn't available on ad-supported Hulu). For the not-so local news I use the CBSN News App. You can also use the Locast app for access to your local stations for live TV. You can access it for free, but they ask you to pay $5/month. The trick with this is to back out at the commercial breaks and re-enter, otherwise they cut into your program with them asking for donations.

I don't watch sports. You can likely get a paid subscription to watch sports if you really want to.

My only regret was that I didn't do it sooner. Cancelled last November. The only thing I miss is access to CMT & CMT Music stations. But with YouTube, I can still watch music video.

 

[sam_gordon]

Since COVID started we have managed to add on Netflix, HBO, HULU and Disney+, as well as all of the "free" channels you get with ROKU. In the mean time, we have been with DirecTV long enough to be able to cancel without penalty, and, oh yeah, our contract has gone up $40/month as the signing discounts fell off. What we are noticing is the one thing we are not using DirecTV very much especially for the price we are paying, but we have some concerns;

• How do you watch local and network channels - should you want to? Right now we don't - there's almost no new programming and news is depressing.
• How do you watch sports? Not a huge fan of any particular sport. I have been a big hockey fan in the past and I do like to watch some NFL if I have time to kill on a Sunday, but would not miss either. I do find myself watching soccer more than anything; mostly Premier League, but also MLS, but wouldn't call myself a "fan"
• To anyone who has done it, any regrets?

First, Locast that PP mentioned is only available in certain markets. I believe most people who have "cut the cord" either put up an OTA antenna and use their TVs to watch the local channels, or use a streaming service (YouTubeTV and Hulu+ are the big ones) that not only provide local channels, but often live sports (ESPN, FS1, etc). Most will give you a seven day free trial to find out if you like them. Yes, there is a charge, but (for now anyway), it's about 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of satellite/cable.

 

[Jennasis]

We have an antenna for local channels. Everything else is streaming.

 

[Befferk]

We have Hulu Live and *LOVE* it. Even with paying for that, it's half the cost of what we were paying for satellite. We switched off satellite exactly a year ago.

 

[marybet]

If you call and tell them you want to cancel they will offer discounts to keep you. You can always do a smaller package that offers basic channels, plus locals.

 

[Lumpy1106]

If you call and tell them you want to cancel they will offer discounts to keep you. You can always do a smaller package that offers basic channels, plus locals.

Yeah, and I know if I call Customer Care they would re-up my commitment and I'd save $40/month right off the top. Problem is, we really can live without it and even at that it's a huge cost. Seems like now is as good as any to rip off the Band-Aid.

 

[disneychrista]

Yeah, and I know if I call Customer Care they would re-up my commitment and I'd save $40/month right off the top. Problem is, we really can live without it and even at that it's a huge cost. Seems like now is as good as any to rip off the Band-Aid.

Yep. When I called they kept offering a cheaper package, lower package, etc. I just keep telling them sorry, no, I just want to cancel. For me it was a cutting cost thing. I needed to cut $300 from my budget. That was one way to eliminate $80 of it.

 

[rwdavis2]

Most streaming services, fubo, hulu, youtubetv offer local channels.

 

[Disneefun]

Yeah, and I know if I call Customer Care they would re-up my commitment and I'd save $40/month right off the top. Problem is, we really can live without it and even at that it's a huge cost. Seems like now is as good as any to rip off the Band-Aid.

You might as well go for it. We left DirectTV two years ago after ATT bought it. At that time, they weren't doing anything to retain customers. I called, said I wanted to cancel and was basically told not to let the door hit me on the way out. Asked for the upper departments, did the same dance, and got the same attitude. ATT is on a mission to kill DirecTV, I think.

I love cord cutting, though. We get our locals through an antenna (and a live feed of local CBS through CBS all access). We rarely watch the locals, though, because we can get the news online on the local websites in small, less rage inducing bites, and most shows are on Hulu the next day, or CBS All Access. And I pay for the ad free options on those, so I'm spared the commercials!

We also rotate through Netflix, Amazon, and the Disney+ Hulu bundle, and free Apple TV. (I also get Frndly TV right now for the Hallmark Christmas movies, but I don't keep it year round.) We do drop subs from time to time when we feel like we've watched all the good stuff and re-up when something new comes out.

We had YouTubeTV for a while, but after all their price increases, decided we didn't really need it. This year mostly finished off our already declining addiction to sports, and we can get locals OTA. If I do need a sports fix (rare), the locals usually have some game or other on and since I'm not passionate about any particular team, it's enough. That and ESPN+ comes w/the Disney bundle so I can usually find something to put on in the background, even if it's lower league stuff.

Cord cutting gives us more content than we can ever watch (and it's better quality and I do pay for the no-ad option for stuff if it's offered), no contracts, and we're saving about $90 month.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I was one of those people caught up in that 2 year contract scam when they were bought by ATT that ended up in a giant class action, what a nightmare. Only disentangled myself last year, it took a year to end the relationship and I ended up paying the off to go away. Not only did they not follow through on the things promised but when I tried to leave after the contract was over it was another giant nightmare, make sure you document every single thing no matter how small, and take screenshots of every communication. Take pictures of the setup before you cancel.
First, I had only like 30 days to return the equipment to them after canceling without penalties but they wouldn't tell me where to send it, I was asking for months.
Eventually I got an address, thank goodness I took a picture of the box and the tracking number because they tried to say they never got it, lots of charges accumulated but most were refunded with the tracking number. Don;t leave UPS or whatever without a receipt with the number and take a photo of the box & what you put in it.
They insisted I rented their router and it wasn't returned, which I didn't, but in the end I ended up paying for it anyway because I just wanted them to go away.
Oh, and they charged me a month past when I cancelled insisting my second call was the first, and in the end I just paid to make them go away.
Never ever ever again, I'd watch shadows on the wall first.

 

[Lumpy1106]

You might as well go for it. We left DirectTV two years ago after ATT bought it. At that time, they weren't doing anything to retain customers. I called, said I wanted to cancel and was basically told not to let the door hit me on the way out. Asked for the upper departments, did the same dance, and got the same attitude. ATT is on a mission to kill DirecTV, I think.

I love cord cutting, though. We get our locals through an antenna (and a live feed of local CBS through CBS all access). We rarely watch the locals, though, because we can get the news online on the local websites in small, less rage inducing bites, and most shows are on Hulu the next day, or CBS All Access. And I pay for the ad free options on those, so I'm spared the commercials!

We also rotate through Netflix, Amazon, and the Disney+ Hulu bundle, and free Apple TV. (I also get Frndly TV right now for the Hallmark Christmas movies, but I don't keep it year round.) We do drop subs from time to time when we feel like we've watched all the good stuff and re-up when something new comes out.

We had YouTubeTV for a while, but after all their price increases, decided we didn't really need it. This year mostly finished off our already declining addiction to sports, and we can get locals OTA. If I do need a sports fix (rare), the locals usually have some game or other on and since I'm not passionate about any particular team, it's enough. That and ESPN+ comes w/the Disney bundle so I can usually find something to put on in the background, even if it's lower league stuff.

Cord cutting gives us more content than we can ever watch (and it's better quality and I do pay for the no-ad option for stuff if it's offered), no contracts, and we're saving about $90 month.

That's about what I had in mind - glad it's working for you. FWIW - we switched from Verizon FiOS to DirecTV when it changed to Frontier and they made such a mess of things. We kept the WiFi because we were lucky enough to still have a decent signal but dropped the TV service (after A LOT of threatening to take them to court over the loss in channels and DVR storage so we could get out of the contract). We recently upgraded the Frontier WiFi and the installer confirmed what we had suspected was happening - TV service through Frontier is no longer a thing. The only option with Frontier is to bundle with DirecTV or DISH.

 

[NannyBeBe]

We bundled our cable TV, land phone, internet, and cell phones all under the same company and have saved a lot of money.

 

[mrodgers]

• How do you watch local and network channels - should you want to? Right now we don't - there's almost no new programming and news is depressing.
• How do you watch sports? Not a huge fan of any particular sport. I have been a big hockey fan in the past and I do like to watch some NFL if I have time to kill on a Sunday, but would not miss either. I do find myself watching soccer more than anything; mostly Premier League, but also MLS, but wouldn't call myself a "fan"
• To anyone who has done it, any regrets?

For the 3 questions, I don't, I don't, and I don't, LOL.

I didn't really cancel cable/sat, I was out of a home for 2 years and didn't have TV. Then I just didn't sign up to anything.

Local/network you can get with an antenna and tuner box if you need it. I need a tuner and haven't bothered with it yet (3 years). I only miss the local news and weather, there isn't a thing on network television that I would watch and I hadn't watched network TV for 20 years anyways.

I have tried to stream sports (none of it is legitimate.) Garbage quality and constant buffering, I haven't watched sports in 2 years.

I have every specific detailed content I want to watch at the touch of a search button. I don't even watch streaming services much any more. I mainly watch Youtube and have so much content and subjects I specifically want to watch rather than watch what's on that I don't have time to watch it all. Most of my TV viewing now is hobby related whether it's computer gaming, motorcycles, kayaking, camping, bushcraft, bicycling, photography, travel, firearms, knives, cars, etc, which most of that list all ties together with what I do when I'm not working.

 

[hertamaniac]

I cancelled Direct TV immediately after the contract ended. We use an indoor antenna for local channels and stream everything else.

 

[mousefan73]

Just as a tip when I called to cancel my cable eons ago it was so painless. All I did was say hey I’m moving overseas which was true and so the person on the line had no reason to try and down sell me. I have friends who have canceled and they spent forever on the phone saying no and a o again as a customer service rep was trying to down sell them cheaper packages. So my tip just say you’re moving overseas.

 

[mousefan73]

double

 

[BlueStarryHat]

We dropped DirecTV months ago for Firesticks and now we stream everything and we love it. We have recently added YouTubeTV because we missed local channels. We have never looked back. It seemed like after DirecTV was taken over the quality really went down, satellite was constantly freezing or losing the signal. Called many times to see what was going on and was told they couldn't do anything about it. Then the bill shot up, and that was that. My aunt was a subscriber for decades and called to try and get a better deal but they weren't interested. So we checked into cable but Comcast's prices were outrageous, and then someone suggested Firesticks. We were skeptical, but now we really enjoy it.

 

[yoopermom]

We have DISH, which is currently in a fight with CBS, so we had to try and watch the Packer game last weekend on CBS All Access. All it did was buffer, break up, and break down, so we ended up listening to it on the radio . DH has been wanting to cut the cord for months, but I think this proved to him that until we can get better internet service (we are stuck with satellite since we live in the middle of nowhere), DISH isn't going anywhere.

And I called last month to try and get DISH to lower our bill, and since we are out of contract, the best they would offer was $40 less and to go back under contract. I think not.

 

[RamblingMad]

Since COVID started we have managed to add on Netflix, HBO, HULU and Disney+, as well as all of the "free" channels you get with ROKU. In the mean time, we have been with DirecTV long enough to be able to cancel without penalty, and, oh yeah, our contract has gone up $40/month as the signing discounts fell off. What we are noticing is the one thing we are not using DirecTV very much especially for the price we are paying, but we have some concerns;

• How do you watch local and network channels - should you want to? Right now we don't - there's almost no new programming and news is depressing.
• How do you watch sports? Not a huge fan of any particular sport. I have been a big hockey fan in the past and I do like to watch some NFL if I have time to kill on a Sunday, but would not miss either. I do find myself watching soccer more than anything; mostly Premier League, but also MLS, but wouldn't call myself a "fan"
• To anyone who has done it, any regrets?

I watch soccer myself. Mainly La Liga. I get BEINSPORTS via SlingTV. I tired to follow EPL and La Liga, but I found it was too much of a time commitment. And EPL tends to move around networks. Right now, you can catch some matches on Peacock, which is NBCs new streaming service. There is also a NBC sports package you can find as well.

Here's a how to watch soccer site:

https://www.livesoccertv.com/
For local channels, I have a antenna. You can get one for around $50.