The BIG Kahuna

I am a technology freak. When DirecTV came out I was one of the first to subscribe. I was with DirecTV for many, many years. Most of them without complaint. I became a DirecTV brand ambassador, referring them to anyone that would listen.

When HD came out a few years back I wanted in. DirecTV was slow to react but as soon as they did I asked for a new HD box. After 4 attempts to get a box working I was forced to cancel my service and I moved to cable.

When I called DirecTV to cancel I was informed I’d have to pay a cancellation fee. I said I would not. The scripted customer service person explained that my contract was not up and it would cost me $300 to breakaway from DirecTV. I informed the (I can’t say anything other than what’s written in front of me) customer service person that I had been one of the ORIGINAL customers and that I had been with them for like 8 years. Furthermore the reason for me leaving was because their product wouldn’t work.

Her response? Stay or pay the $300. I wrote a letter to the President and I was allowed to leave without paying. But many people don’t have that pit bull attitude, read about the problems here.

The company maintains it is “careful to disclose to customers all relevant terms and conditions of their agreement with DirecTV.” But based on the amount of complaints on the issue it’s not clear their message is getting through. More than 20,000 customers filed complaints with the Better Business Bureau - www.bbb.org - over the past three years, many on the same issues.

Let’s look at it from a branding perspective. This is yet another case of a big company making a policy that works against the brand and the brand promise. Instead of charging customers upfront for installation (the transparent, honest thing to do) they wait for customers to want to leave them and then hit them over the head with a cancellation fee.

Now we know why they don’t charge upfront (heavens forbid they lose a sale) but what they inherently do to leaving customers is loose them forever. Leave us and we whack you! Of course it’s all in the fine print so that legally they’re covered. But no one remembers 4 years later when something changes (like products that don’t work or bad service).

It’s sad that companies make these horrible?policies not even considering the branding implications. In my opinion it’s just pure and simple greed. In most cases subscribers are with them for many years (all the while DirecTV collects the monthly bill) before they choose to leave. They’ve made their money so why?add insult to injury for people who want to leave?

So consider this before making a decision to buy DirecTV. This will absolutely become your problem if you decide to leave them.? Read more about it here.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 1st, 2008 at 9:19 am and is filed under Branding Blunders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.