re: Woman dies at 102, DirecTV charges early termination fee

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"Eary termination fee? frick them

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Like all women, she was a last word freak.

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By whom is it owed? Did the family sign that contract, or did the deceased?

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Turns out there's more to the story than was quoted above.

Isabel Albright of San Lorenzo was among the oldest people in America - living through two world wars, 18 presidents and six moon landings. Yet, ironically, she didn't outlive her satellite TV contract. And that was a problem.
By Renee Koury
Tuesday, October 1, 2019 9:15PM
SAN LORENZO, Calif. (KGO) -- Isabel Albright of San Lorenzo was among the oldest people in America - living through two world wars, 18 presidents and six moon landings.

She was born before television came into being.

Yet, ironically, she didn't outlive her satellite TV contract. And that was a problem.

"Everything was fine until we went to disconnect and that's when all the surprises happened,'' said her son in law, John Manrique of Hayward.

Albright died last December at the remarkable age of 102. The family has been repairing the house for sale, sifting through boxes, closing up a life that spanned a whole century.

Which was why the last bill from DirecTV seemed so galling: Although she lived more than 100 years, Albright still received an "early termination fee'' from DirecTV.

Or at least the family did - and they were stunned.

"They told us... we're going to charge you $160 for an early termination fee,'' Manrique scoffed. "She's gone. Nobody's living (here). We're selling the house. You're going to tell us we have to keep the service at a house that's not ours?"

Albright had DirecTV service for many years, so why the penalty?

Turns out, at the end of her life, a caregiver moved in, and her daughter stayed often. So the family added a DirecTV box in a back room for caregivers.

Little did they know that adding the service started a whole new two-year agreement with DirecTV.

"Nobody told us that,'' Manrique said. "And in fact we made it clear when we added the TV in the extra room that it was a temporary thing...We're saying my mother in law's on hospice, we're not gonna pay, you know, two year contract."

DirecTV said the family had to pay- even though Albright had died -- because the bill was in the name of her daughter, Linda. But John says his wife was paying all of her mother's bills.

"Because her mother couldn't do it anymore and a lot of people wind up doing that,'' Manrique said. "We were trying to make sure that all the bills got paid. "

The Manriques kept calling DirecTV asking for proof they'd signed a two year agreement.

"And they had no proof other than you started this new service on this date...and that starts a new contract whether you signed it or not,'' Manrique said. "Every time you hiccup they start you on a new two-year agreement basically. It'll run the rest of your life if you accept some other feature or other. They got you.''

Manrique contacted 7 On Your Side. We reached out to DirecTV and soon after, Manrique received a letter of apology from DirecTV's parent company, AT&T. It agreed to waive the early termination fee after all, telling us simply "We have apologized to the family and resolved this."

"This never would have resolved if I hadn't contacted 7 On Your Side,'' Manrique said. "It turned out to be fantastic, thanks to you.''

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By whom is it owed? Did the family sign that contract, or did the deceased?

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DirecTV said the family had to pay- even though Albright had died -- because the bill was in the name of her daughter, Linda.

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I mean I hate these big companies and their fees but they terminated the contract early. They also got the fee waved and an apology after they ran to the media.

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Why though? Having going through the pains of being an executor, usually one call to the company explaining the situation gets them to waive the balance entirely. That's just piss-poor management at DirectTV. This cost them well over $160 in brand management equity, that's for sure.

Stuff like this is semi-click bait IMO

This is about massive bureaucratic companies with no-authority underlings who follow a script. There aren't good ways to accommodate stuff like this because everything is structured such that nobody has any independent decision making.

Yes, it reflects poorly on DirecTV, but mainly because it shows that AT&T is big and clunky and stupid in 2019, not because there are big wigs deciding to screw over the families of dead customers (which is probably how the media could best generate page views).

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Having going through the pains of being an executor

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The bill was not in the name of the deceased. It was in the daughter's name.

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if I were stupid enough to get a plan that required it or was non-transferable

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You don't think DirectTV was stupid to sign a deal with a 102 yo that may not be around to pay it?
I won't be paying for any debts of the deceased. That's not my cross to bear if my name is not on the contract. The risk is on DirectTV.

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sweat the small stuff

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What $ amount is not "small stuff"?

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not publicly complained about it.

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I agree, this is trash.

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Family should have shut up and paid the $160 fee.

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Negative

When companies try to be corporate dicks you stand up to them. You sound like a little bitch.

Most high interest personal loan businesses will stop trying to collect after you die, so I think Directv is probably better off letting stuff like this slide

It was probably an automated system. Did they even bother calling the company, or did they run straight to the nearest journalist?

They signed another contract for the caregiver. If it was only a temporary situation, why even bother putting in a box?