Don't get the AT&T/Direct TV bundle. It's a scam. This is the first negative review I feel called to write, I am both an electrical engineer and a media producer. I was deceived. This is a toxic company. Do not do business with them.
I signed up with AT&T internet (Uverse) and Direct TV Bundle because they sold me on the fact that if I got the bundle, I would have unlimited data. Being an avid phone user, I thought that was great! Even though I don't watch TV, I thought $89.00 for unlimited internet and phone data would be amazing.
They MEANT data on the internet, like, your computer. NOT your phone. Even though I have an AT&T phone, and asked (Oh, this will get me unlimited phone data?) So, I signed a 1 year contract with AT&T. Early termination fee is over $300.
It started with discovering that, in fact, my phone did not get unlimited data. They would actually charge you if you went over a gigabyte limit ON YOUR COMPUTER unless you had "unlimited data". Ok, that sucked, now paying more for DirectTV, which I don't want or care about, in order to not get charged for uploading and downloading a bunch of videos and media. Unlimited phone data is an option ONLY if you have the direct TV bundle with internet, but it's an extra $60.00/month. No thank you. That was not made clear.
After hours of phone calls, trying to cancel the service without the fee because I was mislead, being redirected to the Philippines, India, Mexico, being hung up on, someone finally found a way to get my phone to just become slower when I went over the 3GB limit. But essentially, unlimited data. At least that's something.
Now, the combined billing. AT&T bought Direct TV. But they still act like 2 different companies. Their systems are not combined, and they do not play well together. They glitch constantly. Trying to log into direct tv redirects me to AT&T.
AT&T can't see the Direct TV side, and Direct TV can't see AT&Ts side. They are basically still separate companies that pretend like they are one company in order to mislead you into buying bundles. If you ever have a technical issue, be rest assured that you will probably always have to talk to both sides, wait on hold twice, tell your story twice, and pay twice.
This means you cannot see your Direct TV bill online. And it is a separate bill, with a separate account number, associated with Direct TV. What's worse, you don't think you owe anything. Until they send you a bill in the mail and tell you that are overdue, and owe late fees. Try to log in online to view and pay, and again, you get sent to AT&T, where direct TV charges do not show up. They said it would take 2 - 3 cycles before the bill was combined. 5 months later, it never happened.
Today, I log onto AT&T to look at the bill, and notice my internet for my computer is no longer unlimited. What? I have done everything right. I call my husband to ask if he unbundled us. He says no. I call AT&T. They ask me "When did you decide to unbundle?" Never. I never did that. So, I say this is the last straw. If I can't have unlimited internet with you all, and your systems glitch in this way, I no longer trust your systems. I cancel. They try to hit me with an early termination fee. I have to talk to 3 people in three different countries before they assure me that they will suspend my account and my service until my contract expires, for $0./month. I just have to remember to call in December to terminate.
This is similar to when they made me have to remember to cancel the HBO channels I did not need or want that they gave 3 months free, and then charge when you forget. I couldn't even cancel those channels early. I said, "Hey, I won't remember to call because LIFE. Can I just cancel now? They say NO, you have to wait 90 days, and cancel on day 91, else you will be charged $50 for those channels. WOW. So I did cancel them, but I think I was a few days late.
Now, AT&T says "even though we don't see direct TV on your account because you were unbundled for a mysterious reason, you should call make make sure they are no longer giving you service." Ok, so now I call Direct TV. They tell me that they don't know why it was unbundled, and that they were never given the opportunity to fix the problem before I canceled with AT&T, therefore their "agreement" with me was still valid for a year, subject to a $360 early termination fee. What? Send the contract, I don't remember signing a contract with Direct TV, only AT&T who OWNS Direct TV. She sends me an invoice for the services installed. No signature. It says terms and conditions. I tell her this is not a contract, and she says by allowing us to install you agree to our terms. Also, they had no record of me setting up combined billing, at all, which I definitely did. And confirmed. Twice.
In the end, the Direct TV lady lowered the fee to $150. Plus remaining bill that I couldn't view. I took it, grudgingly. read more
