Quote from Savings Beagle on January 31, 2020, 3:57 pm

If you've read my post "My 2019 DirecTV Retention Call Was a Mixed Bag, But in the End I Saved - and Made - Money" you know a portion of the discount I received relied on an HBO, Showtime, Starz and Cinemax 3-month package.  That free package and associated discount were initially set to drop off at the end of December 2019.  The result was going to be an increase of approximately $12 to my DirecTV bill...significantly more if I failed to cancel the 4-movie channel package.

Well, it turned out, canceling the movie channels package was the least of my worries.

I've read and heard of a number of DirecTV billing SNAFUs over the years, but had not experienced one myself until my first bill hit following my 2019 retention call.

For those who haven't read the post, my bill was supposed to be $53.48 for the Choice package and the 4-movie channel package for the first three months.

What greeted me on my first bill was absolutely no discounts and a bill of approximately $190.

Needless to say, I wasn't happy.

My first call after seeing the no-discount-bill resulted in a discussion with an overseas call center representative.  It didn't go well.  I finally decided to cut my losses and try calling again during business hours.

My second call went much better.  Although it did take a while to get my problem understood.  You'd think it would be as easy as seeing what retention discounts were offered and what was applied - or not applied as in this case - to the bill.  Once it was realized on the DirecTV end what was going on, changes to my bill were made.

I could go into agonizing detail over what happened with my next three bills with regard to billed amounts and credits, but, to be completely honest, I'm not even sure I know.

The variety of bill credits - both initially offered and new as a result of my follow-up call - coupled with monthly lump-sum credits to my DirecTV balance was something to behold.  Even if I had a Master's Degree in Accounting, I'm not sure I could have figured it out.

I decided to not even bother deciphering the monthly bills, and just looked at how much I actually had to pay over the few months period and compare that number to what I should have had to pay when factoring in my initial retention deal.

The actual cash outlay was close enough to the initial $53.48 per month that I let it go and decided to focus on what the end result would be once I canceled the movie packages.

Because the billing was so out of whack, I actually had an extra month of the movie channels, the cancelation of which came just last week.  So, I guess that was a positive.

I called a few days before my billing date and requested that the 4-movie channel package be removed from my account.  An offer was made that I could keep the package with a $20 per month discount...bringing the per month movie package price to about $34...I thanked her, but said I would pass.

Now came the time to see what my "new" bill amount would actually be.

She said my new monthly charge for the Choice package would be $65.48 plus tax.  So, about what I was initially told it would increase to once the movie channel package was removed.

To be honest, after all the billing issues, I was happy to hear that number.

Still, in the interest of covering all bases, I asked if there were any offers on my account which might lower the bill.

There were not, but she said to check back in a few months since offers can be added at any time.

My main reason for the call completed - removing the movie channel package - I thanked her for her help and hung up.

My DirecTV retention deal this time around was a trying one to say the least.  Luckily, in the end, it worked out, but there were definitely some frustrations during the first few billing cycles.

Am I completely happy with my $68ish monthly bill...no, but it's within my "doable" range.

I'm currently using YouTube TV as my benchmark.  It provides much (not all) of what I want when it comes to live TV.  And its monthly price is $49.99 plus tax.

DirecTV provides all of what I want when it comes to live TV, and I'll allow a price premium to have everything in one spot with an easy to use, integrated DVR system.

The only question is how much of a premium will I allow for those things?  Right now it's about $15 or so a month...or around what I'm currently paying.

I might inch that up to low $70s per month, but I sure won't tell DirecTV that!

After that amount, I'll definitely be considering a move to streaming.

So, I'll continue to make occasional calls to the DirecTV retention numbers to see if any offers have been added to my account to lower my monthly bill a bit more.

And, meanwhile, be assured I'll watch my monthly bill like a hawk to ensure additional issues don't arise.  And I'd encourage you to do the same.

Thanks for reading, and thank you for contributing to the comment sections of my posts and to this DirecTV Discussion Board topic.  It's your updates and experiences that can help us all keep our DirecTV bills reasonable.  And if you have an interest in other money-saving topics, be sure to check out the other areas of the Discussion Board.  You never know what tips or tricks will save you big.