I get really tired of the advertising spam

So, why is it that it is okay for someone to blast post anonymous comments to blogs that are really spam - advertising? You would think that google could manage to filter these out. But they don't. So, I am reduced to requiring you to do more to comment. Not that that truly happens a lot but then....

Avoid Direct TV like the plague

Okay, so they seemed like a reasonable service. I did not like Cox Cable and satellite service was my alternative. I bought a receiver with Tivo from them and enjoyed it (though I was not happy about the damage their installer did to my wall). Then suddenly, it did not work. So I called to get a new one. They would charge me $400 or let me use one for "free" but I had to accept a 2 year service agreement. I saw no reason why I should not (although if I had know it cost $480 I would not have accepted it - they neglected that detail). So I get the receiver- it no longer is a TIVO because, it turns out, they have been illegally using TIVO's software code...

Fast forward several 10 months, my job is eliminated due to budget reasons. Every other provider is willing to work with me. Direct TV is willing to let me put my account on hold for 6 months. I have to sell my house and move in with family. I am unemployed a total of 10 months and end up making two moves of more than a thousand miles each. But I don't get a job and apartment that will let me resume the Direct TV. Direct TV insists that I either pay a monthly contract fee or a cancellation fee. They know I do not have a dish, just the "free receiver" but they still insist on charging me a programming fee for the receiver and they have moved me up to a more expensive (by $8 plan).

I call to cancel. I am bounced around till I get to a person who tries to talk me into remaining with them or coming back later. and this is when they start to lie. He tells me that if I will provide my credit card and pay the bill right now, he can reduce the bill to $48 and change. No other changes, including no cancellation fee if I just pay it today and return the receiver in the kit.

Yesterday, I got a bill charging me a cancellation fee and the receiver programming fee. The first person I got, Andrea, hung up on me. The second one, Paul, just told me that the fees were legal. The supervisor, John, told me that the person I talked to about canceling did not leave notes. In very indirect terms, he told me that I was lying and that the circumstances did not matter, it was a legal charge.

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH DIRECT TV UNLESS YOU ARE PREPARED TO BE TREATED AS A CONVENIENT ACCESS TO YOUR MONEY AND TO BE LIED TO BY THEIR PERSONNEL.