DirecTV Rebates--Problems

If you are a DirecTV customer and have had a problem with the rebate process you are not alone. The problem with the rebate process at DirecTV is that they have one goal in mind and that is breakage. This is dooming new customers on their first bill and first experience with the Satellite TV Provider.

Customers have to select a package that fits both a family's budget and viewing preferences. They are informed in depth the disclosures and guidelines DirecTV sets forth, including Landlord Permissions, install procedure, pricing and promotions, contract terms and conditions and the dreaded rebate process.


The outline of the rebate is fairly simple as the rebates are heavily advertised (normally a 21 dollar monthly savings). The promotional price is always reflected after the full price is crossed out. This is so tempting that current customers of the Satellite TV provider have called to take advantage although these are strictly available to new activations.

This rebate is a proactive rebate. It is solely on the customer to make sure the correct procedures have been followed. At one time there was an actual 800 number a customer could call. This was often busy, long hold times, or if successful need to be called within a specific time for the rebate to be activated. On the phone you generally receive no confirmation number or no proof your rebate has been activated.


The time for this rebate to take affect was an ongoing problem. The average 21 dollars in savings would not appear on the first month or sometimes the second month either. A new DirecTV Customer's first few payments would be at the full price before promotions and often higher than what they were paying with Dish Network or a cable provider. Then one day the toll free number stopped accepting calls. A rush of calls from confused DirecTV customers began . They are advised to call a DirecTV customer service 800 number, which is a Five-dollar per call charge. I cannot imagine the amount of consumers within that period that had difficulty with the process. It had to be hundreds to thousands. Which when you consider a 21 dollar per person increase in payments I assume this adds up to quite a bit.

So to ease call volume and increase website driven customer service, It then became mandatory for a rebate to be activated on line. These were the steps...Register for a DirecTV online account, verify that your email address works, and submit your rebate.

Sounds simple enough.

A lot of problems arise before the process even starts. Many customers have dial-up internet (a majority of rural America). If someone used your email address before (ex boyfriends, girlfriends, or immediate family members) DirecTV detected these as active accounts and ineligible for new customer promotions. Customers with old accounts who activated an online account 3-4 years ago are also detected as existing. Some people just don't have the ability to access the Internet or email addresses. There is an alternative mail in rebate process that takes 3-4 months to activate.

Once registered there are a series of sent confirmations, customers had to consent to receive emails from DirecTV; if they did not consent they would not receive an email. Emails from DirecTV were sent to a spam or junk folder. There are two emails sent to customers, one to thank them for registering and one to confirm the email address. The correct email then has to be confirmed. This leads customers to believe the process was complete. The thank you email is a congratulatory format even though there are still a few steps left.

The process is usually 15 minutes on a good day...if a customers type fast and have a vast knowledge of the internet. Finding the actual rebate tab is difficult (as it is buried on their home page).

If you made it past step two and are brought to the actual rebate activation DirecTV now attempts to halt halting the process by blaming it on Technical Difficulties (The main reason I decided to write this article).

You are presented with a 16 or a 21-dollar rebate and by clicking submit your rebate is activated. However, clicking submit would result in an error message. This occurrs 100% of the time and too often to be an actual error. The website would say they were experiencing difficulty please try again later! My belief is this is not an actual error, but another stepping-stone DirecTV implemented to make the process more difficult. A quick click of the back button or the refresh screen would immediately fix the DirecTV rebate website issues. This, in my belief, led to a lot of less experienced users halting their activation, resulting in additional breakage.

It normally takes two statements / billing periods for the rebate to take affect. Even if all these steps were taken a customer was still at risk of paying full price for their first few statements.

You also have 60-90 days to activate these rebates or they will be unavailable

In addition new customers receive 3 free months of Starz, HBO, and Showtime. They are promotional and complimentary however, there is no way to remove these free trial periods. The correct timeframe to remove those before the billing cycle starts charging a customer is still a timeframe I unaware of.

Any changes in programming will result in the loss a rebate. The rebate you worked a minimum of twenty minutes to activate can be taken away in a five-dollar phone call to DirecTV customer service because you are paying too much for your free Showtime. DirecTV's promotions will always rely on breakage and an assumption that a customer will have too much difficulty completing the process to actually appreciate the level of quality the TV programming does provide you. New Customers should enjoy their first few months of service too often this is not the case. The moral of the story here is if it appears too good to be true it probably is.