DirecTV's Expensive Week
from the pay-up dept
The FTC today announced it was fining DirecTV $5.3 million for violations of the Do Not Call list, after several telemarketing companies it hired racked up 1.4 million complaints. In the announcement, the head of the FTC emphasized that although DirecTV didn’t necessarily make all the calls itself, it’s still liable for other firms’ calls made on its behalf and selling its services — highlighting that companies hiring telemarketers have something of an incentive to make sure they respect the DNC list (although one might argue that a $5 million fine after a two-year investigation isn’t very powerful motivation). The fine from the FTC comes just a day after DirecTV said it would pay another $5 million to 21 states to settle an investigation into its marketing and advertising practices. So what will tomorrow’s $5 million fine be?
Comments on “DirecTV's Expensive Week”
They'll just sue more techies
That’s about $3.50 per reported offense (not per illegal call because many people won’t have complained). And it’s peanuts compared with the $3,500 that DirecTV has demanded from anyone they believed had bought a smart card, possibly entirely innocently, leading to 15,000 lawsuits.
“DirecTV has sent over 150,000 letters demanding settlements of $3,500 and up from individuals who purchased smart card technology. The company has followed this up with over 15,000 lawsuits claiming that mere possession of these devices is unlawful. As a result, those caught in DirecTV’s dragnet have been forced to choose between paying for a lawyer and paying for a settlement” – DirecTVDefense.org
Dammit! Now the rates will increase!
There go my sat tv rates – up up up!
Re: Dammit! Now the rates will increase!
Switch to Dish.
Re: Dammit! Now the rates will increase!
…and because of DirectTV’s errors, they may now “punish” it’s subscribers by increasing the subscription rates. But they probably already planned on doing such, if in the event they should ever be caught — which they now have been.
This is all just wasted money.
NOTE TO DTV: Were the additional $$$ customers you gained by telemarketing worth the $$$ lost by these fines?
1.28 gigawatts!!!!!!
wow. 1.4 Million complaints. one…point…four. just wow.
Someone outsourced to the wrong dang companies. It’s not like the DNS and the DNC lists are new or anything. I’d be interested to know during what period of time those 1.4 mil complaints were racked up.
Whiney Kids
As fuel prices sky rocket all that you guys can find to complain about DIRECTV is the fact that they raised rates a whopping $3. How retarded do you have to be to realize that satellite launches cause BILLIONS of dollars per satellite.. How many satellites did they launch so you whiney cry babies could have more HD?
I am willing to bet that if DIRECTV said, “we will lower the rates back down by $3 but we are taking away ALL of those extra HD channels that were just provided”, that all those whiney cry babies that think they are tech savy would be clamoring to pay the $3. get real.. Its called inflation and its a part of our economy that is here to stay.
And BTW… if any of you read up on the lawsuit for the DNC (DOCETS are public records) you would find that DIRECTV only agreed to settle if given the right to claim no fault. In other words, in lieu of a lengthy court drama they agreed to pay 5 mil and get to say “We didnt do anything wrong”. MUCH CHEAPER and saves face. read up before you post like a wool brained farmer with six teeth.
DISH Network Sucks and they have no HD channels… so keep the low prices and the crap service and customer service… LOL.. you all know that DIRECTV and DISH are owned by the same people right? ROFL. Most likely to make DIRECTV look better by making DISH so sucky.. Just because you have one bad experience with a company does not mean the company sucks.. maybe its you. You have no “RIGHT” to have service, its your choice, accept the terms and deal with it.