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DIRECT TV BULLIES HARRISON SMALL BUSINESS
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This was sent into TIMC from Howard Landkrohn of
Tappan Lake, Ohio
Penny and Travis Warren have worked seven days a week for three years to keep the Express Café on Rt. 250 at Tappan Lake open and providing great meals and a warm atmosphere for their customers. This past fall they even began offering free soup meals on Tuesdays to any person or family that was hungry. It hasn’t been easy as margins in any food business are slim, and despite the struggle they have even stayed open through the winters – no small feat at Tappan Lake.
Thursday, December 29th, their Direct TV connection was shut down. Their bill was not in arrears and in fact has a $31 credit balance. A call to Direct TV would not be accepted by a company rep and the call was forwarded to a sarcastic and verbally denigrating attorney at Lonstein Law Office in Ellenville, NY. That same day they opened a letter from that attorney saying they had been audited on August 20 and were found to have the wrong type of receiver for the business – they had the unit from their home and not a commercial contract / unit – and they had until 4:00PM the next day to anti-up $2500 in settlement or go to court. The Warrens, like any small and struggling business do not have access to that kind of cash. They called back and sent an e-mail indicating they did not know, nor were ever advised by Direct TV that they were in violation of a policy, nor did the so called auditor ever identify themselves back in August. The Warrens offered to change to a com mercial unit and offered to set up a payment plan of $700 now plus $200 a month for ten months for the penalty (assuming it was justified). The New York attorney refused to negotiate and threatened to take them to court.
Travis’ and Penny’s small business can neither afford the penalty nor an attorney to fight it. They are closing their doors this weekend. The irony of it all is that they paid the consumer rate of $60.99 per month for years; the commercial rate offered is $49.99 per month.
All of our county and township officials, civic organizations and agencies work diligently to bring new businesses to Harrison County and encourage entrepreneurs to build their business here and hire residents as employees. Most of our citizens try to support local businesses when we can. Direct TV’s CEO and management should be ashamed of a policy that hires a New York “ambush” attorney, and does not at least have the integrity to send a direct representative of the company to call on a good paying customer to explain any program that may be misunderstood and properly set up the account. Because of Direct TV’s thug-like tactics, Harrison County loses another business, 5 to 7 jobs, sales taxes the business generates, the income those employees spend in the county, and offers another empty building for visitors to the county to see.
Terry Stewart of Cadiz Ohio emailed DirectTV with a link to this post. This is the reply that was recieved.
From: Terry Stewart
Subject: Look what you have done to this small business
Greetings Mr. Terry Stewart
DIRECTV appreciates your feedback. Thank you for bringing this link to our attention. After reading this editorial, research lead us to an account that is currently being monitored for fraud. Therefore, we are not at liberty to address the issue since it is now a legal matter. At DIRECTV we strive to provide the finest in satellite television entertainment and outstanding customer service. If you have any additional concerns, please contact us at 1-888-388-4249. Our Customer Service Representatives are available 24 hours and 7 days a week.
Thanks in advance,
Nyamekye Daniel
DIRECTV Commercial Customer Satisfaction
Lead Representative
From: DIRECTV Commercial Care <directvcommercialcare@DIRECTV.com>
Subject: Goto the link and see what you have done to this business [Incident: 120105-000004]
Short URL: http://thisismycounty.com/?p=8304
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Larry Bertolino is a 29 year old, U.S Navy Veteran, and the owner of myLocalPCpro which is located in Cadiz, Ohio.
He is also member of the American Legion, The Cadiz Business Association and a member of the Tappan Lake Volunteer Fire Department.
Find mylocalpcpro on Facebook 
Sadly this is the way people think now days! How sad, that a small business would be treated like this. I had a run in with Direct TV – I now have Dish Network. I wish things would work out alright for this business and they could keep their doors open. Prayers for you!
I also have had run ins with Direct TV! I was a Harrison County resident for 13 years, and now live in Myrtle Beach, SC. I think this is appalling! that they will not work out a satisfactory agreement with Penny and Travis. I currently have Time Warner Cable and have been debating to switch to Direct TV here. This certainly made up my mind, I WILL NOT be switching to Direct TV! I also will tell all my friends the underhanded business Direct TV practices.
I think everyone in Harrison county who currently has DirectTV should cancel their service and no one should give them their business. How terrible of them to treat a small business like that. And look at the name at the end of the reply to Terry’s email. Probably doesn’t even live here in America. Well this has convinced me never to get DirectTV. I live in New Jersey and I am going to tell all of my family and friends just how terrible DirectTV is.
Corporations like this use these tactics to scare and to browbeat folks. Nine times out of ten, the victim on the other end of this absurd behavior is intimidated and will not stand. They bank on the fact knowing most will just accept their behavior and threats and deal with it.
This is nonsense first and foremost.
I live in a suburb of Detroit MI, but grew up in Harrison County. I, like many who have written, have had bad experiences with DirecTV. I contacted them about a billing dispute and was so disappointed with their reply that I told the customer service manager that they would loose me as a customer. His reply was “You will be charged an early termination fee, so we will get our money one way or the other”. That was just this week and I have been trying to decide if I should dump them. Your article has helped me to decide. Any company that treats their customers as bad as DirecTV does not deserve my money.
This is totally ridiculous. my parents had them and they keep changing the bill every month. So my parents swithed to dish. This is uncalled for because I used to live at tappen lake also and was an employee of the Eagles Nest Restaurant and know how hard it is to find a job in harrison county. I feel for you travis and penny and I’m very sorry you have to shut your doors because of direct tv not telling you the proper service you needed for your business. Let alone installing the improper equipment and letting it go on so long. They should be the ones responsible to pay the fine and court costs. Also pay you and your employees for your loses of wages and jobs.
Direct tv blows. I install direct tv for my day job
They are horrible to deal with. Customer service sucks,everything about them sucks. Come Monday morning i’m calling them and telling them where to go
I am also going to see if anything can be done with penny and Travis’s situation
I lived in Harrison Cty for 15 years and i have seen many small buisness come and go.It is time that we stop this. Stand behind them and get rid of Direct Tv . I have seen Cadiz, Jewett and Hopedale come to the aid of many people,so why can’t they help this buisness.? Stand up for whats right. Dish Tv has great bundles right now for new customers.
We as a family ate here often, our daughter has Cerebral Palsey and it was east access, friendly service and she liked to watch the boats. We do not live in Harrison County, we live in Carroll County. We also had a run in with Direct TV, we called them for installation at our home, they took our credit card number (we we;re not to be billed untill installation was complete). Their tech came out but was unable to find a clear view, and suggested we cut down some of our neighbor’s trees (LOL). 3 weeks later, our bank account was minus $220. I called them and explained that the work was not complete, and they took the money anyhow. This was in July, waiting on a refund. Here’s the kicker, Our home already has one of their dishes on it, from a previous owner, they said they couldn’t use that dish, or the spot that it was located. WHAT A SCAM!! So sorry to hear we lost a great place to eat.
We moved to Harrison Co. from North Canton several years ago where a restaurant is on every corner. After many years we finally got a much needed fantastic restaurant in the Tappan Lake Area that is open year round with good ole homemade country cooking. We are now losing that. Penny & Travis have worked many long and hard hours to provide this for our area. They are kind and honest people who do not deserve what DirectTV is saying and doing. The guall of DirectTV to not even consider their offer for an unintentional misunderstanding. How sneaky to send an auditor who did not have the courtesy to identify himself=then turn it over to a rude out of town lawyer. We have had DISH network for over 10 years without one problem whether it be billing, repairs, etc. THINK ABOUT IT PEOPLE!!!!!!
How truly awful .
When I lived in Maine years ago, I had Directv and they were always shutting off my service even when it was fully paid up to date. They did this several times and eventually I finally dumped them and refuse to use their service to this day. They were wicked then and they have not changed. It’s time people boycot them and dump their service and go back to simple cable which is what I have now here in Pa. I admit that the cable company has it’s issues but at least the company can be reasonably dealt with unlike Directv!!