102-year-old woman dies, DirecTV charges for early termination fee
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SAN LORENZO, California (WTVO) – DirecTV comes under fire for claiming a 102-year-old woman, who passed away premature termination fee.
According to WLS, Isabel Albright died in December last year. When the family prepared their house for sale and closed all of its services, they discovered that satellite provider DirecTV had charged her an additional $ 160 on her bill, as a "early termination fee".
"They told us … we're going to charge you $ 160 for an early termination fee," said son-in-law, John Manrique. "She's gone. No one lives (here). We sell the house. You are going to tell us that we must keep the service in a house that is not ours? ”
It turns out that when a caregiver moved in, the family added a DirecTV box in the back room, which started a brand new two-year contract.
"No one told us that," Manrique said. "And in fact, we made it clear when we put the TV in the extra room that it was a temporary thing … We say my mother-in-law is on hospice, we're not going to pay, you know, two-year contract."
DirecTV said that because the bill was in the name of Albright's daughter, Linda, the family had to pay.
Manriques called DirecTV for proof that they had signed the two-year agreement.
And they had no evidence other than that you started this new service on that date … and it starts a new contract whether you signed it or not, ”Manrique said. “Every time you hiccup, they start you off with a new two-year deal basically. It will run the rest of your life if you accept one feature or another. They got you. ”
AT&T, DirecTV's parent company, finally sent an apology letter and agreed to waive the termination fee.
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