Let's make up OUR own rules, shall we?

     In an effort to downsize the drain on our finances, I decided that it wasn't worth $80 a month to pay for 500 channels of nothing worth watching on Direct T.V.  Yes, I miss a very few select shows, but there are alternate ways to get to them if I wanted to see them badly enough.....only for the most part I haven't wanted to.  Now, I want to state up front that as programming goes, I did not have much to complain about, and yes, there are worse things in your life than losing your signal every time a thunderstorm passed anywhere near the vicinity, but it can be irritating when it's right in the middle of your favorite show.  So, I hooked the boob tube back up to the rooftop antennae, and bought a ROKU, a tiny little internet video streaming box that allows you to watch all sorts of subscription and free content over the web.  And I cancelled my satellite.

     I paid my final bill, and like a good little consumer, I placed their receiver in the box they sent me to ship it back in, and thought that would be the end of it.  Boy, was I wrong!   Next thing I know, I'm getting another bill charging me $187; this after I had payed off my final bill.

     The first thing that becomes obvious after numerous tries is that Direct TV doesn't answer the CUSTOMER SERVICE number.......first it runs you thru the 87-odd choices on it's never-ending menu, and then sends you to a busy signal.  Yes, I know, they only have about 23 operators standing by in New Delhi, but the only way I managed to get to one of them was by dialing the ORDERING number; you know, the one they answer right away in order to get your bill inflated by more movie channels and such.  I told them up front that no, I wasn't calling to order anything, I just wanted to speak to a human to find out why they were charging me more money, which the bill didn't explain.  Of course they didn't sound to pleased being  tricked into actually DEALING with me, but I was put through to a person who should have been answering the phone over there at "customer service".

     He cheerfully informed me I was being charged for a "non-returned" receiver.  I told him in no uncertain terms that I HAD returned them their receiver, and that once I had put the thing into the loving arms of the U.S. Postal Service, it was no longer MY responsibility.  I left that agent with the impression that they needed to track down that receiver from their end.

     Then that $187 disappeared from my checking account.  Man, was I livid, and after about 15 tries in and around their menu, finally managed to get another human being on the line, and asked them what they were doing mucking around in my checking account.  The guy checked, and said it was for the receiver, but then he checks and acknowledges that yes, they DID receive the equipment, and promised to refund my money with 72 hours.  OK.  Fine.

     So four day later, no money.  So today I call and am informed that yes, they credited MY ACCOUNT the $187, but as for any actual REFUNDS, well, that would take at least 30 days to "process".  Yep, you heard it here, folks.  First they will charge you for the receiver whether they get it back or not, and then they will keep the money they steal from you for a month, collecting interest in their corporate bank accounts.

     I asked to speak to a supervisor, and of course after being on hold for another forty days and forty nights was informed that keeping my money for a month was "policy" and there was nothing he could do about it.  Oh really?

     So here I am stuck waiting for them to send me back my money, and already one lawyer has politely decided he would not make enough money suing them in my behalf.  However, there IS one thing I can do which will inflict at least SOME small measure of justice in this regard.

     Post this for all to see.

     Folks, we have seen what consumer outrage has done to Bank of America.  People are saying "enough is enough" and moving their accounts in droves to small banks and credit unions.  Enough that Bank of America has suddenly got religion and have gone back to the drawing board to figure out how to milk their customers (new, diabolical hidden fees you won't notice unless you really stay on top of your account) for more money.

     This is MY message to corporate America.  No, you are NOT a person, and no, you cannot just run us over with no consequence.  Direct TV, the consequence today is that maybe someone will read this and decide it's not worth the possibility of having their bank accounts broken into and raided just so they can watch HBO.  You did WRONG by me and karma will have it's day, one way.

     Thank you all for listening to my rant and may you have a nice day.  Perhaps next time I will have something nice to say about somebody.  Gods know the nice people in this world could use some illumination too.