Free DirecTV due to spam fax settlement?

[jgoggan]

Anyone have any details on this:

http://www.directvfaxsettlement.com/

I got a fax about it a couple of days ago. At first, I thought that the fax was just spam -- but the more I look into it, the more that it seems legit.

Basically, if it is real, a company was sending faxes to people in 2001 trying to get them to sign up for DirecTV. A class action lawsuit was brought against the company saying that they were in violation of the TCPA, among other things.

In any case, there is a proposed settlement: you give them your information along with a signed statement that you think you were sent this junk in 2001 and you get a certificate to redeem or to give to a friend to redeem.

The certificate entitles you to "a standard one-room DirecTV-compatible satellite system", "complete home installation", and "six free months of Total Choice Plus programming package, with no contractual obligation that the redeemer maintain his/her DirecTV service for any additional term."

It also says that if you already have DirecTV, then you can instead redeem the certificate for six months of the Showtime package for free.

I know it sounds crazy, but it seems legit in everything that I could find so far.

- John...

[BobJ2004]

Seen it before.

It is a scam. Ask them to send you the fine print of the details.
There is a contract for one year required with Direct TV, when the receivers are activated.

[jgoggan]

Again, I've done quite a bit of research on this so far and have been unable to find anything indicating it is a scam. If you have something, please share it -- but blanket statements that "it is a scam" with nothing to back it up don't really help us much.

If it IS a scam, it is incredibly elaborate and has been planned for years. The company behind it is "Garden City Group" -- a legal administration company. If they've managed to fake that also as part of the "scam", then they were bright enough to register the domain back in 1998, have a professional looking site developed, and have been faking press releases for real life legal matters (which were picked up by pretty much all major news sources) for 6 years now...

:rolleyes:

- John...

[Mainstreet]

Again, I've done quite a bit of research on this so far and have been unable to find anything indicating it is a scam. If you have something, please share it -- but blanket statements that "it is a scam" with nothing to back it up don't really help us much.

If it IS a scam, it is incredibly elaborate and has been planned for years. The company behind it is "Garden City Group" -- a legal administration company. If they've managed to fake that also as part of the "scam", then they were bright enough to register the domain back in 1998, have a professional looking site developed, and have been faking press releases for real life legal matters (which were picked up by pretty much all major news sources) for 6 years now...

:rolleyes:

- John...

The Garden City Group, Inc is a real company. You can see information on them here: http://www.gardencitygroup.com/

Also, some of the motions in the suit (Gold Seal Termite v. DirecTV) mentioned can be found here: http://207.41.16.152/opinions/AM3670O1.pdf

The litigation supposedly involves PrimeTV, LLC. They had their DirecTV retailer agreement terminated a few days ago.

It's all very interesting. As far as I know, DirecTV does require an annual agreement to be signed before any new access card is activated.

[jgoggan]

The Garden City Group, Inc is a real company. You can see information on them here: http://www.gardencitygroup.com/

Exactly -- which is why I was saying that it was legit. :)

It's all very interesting. As far as I know, DirecTV does require an annual agreement to be signed before any new access card is activated.

Well, it looks like this would be a special case, of course.

- John...

[kwajr]

Seen it before.

It is a scam. Ask them to send you the fine print of the details.
There is a contract for one year required with Direct TV, when the receivers are activated.
maybe not i have dish got a 301 and 510 superdish with 4 months free top 100 with hbo cin and no contract yes i am sure in fact when i called to down grade something they cut one off buy mistake sytem would not have let it happen if i had contract and its not the dhp either

[jgoggan]

Well, we're talking about DirecTV, not Dish Network... But, I still believe that he is incorrect -- I don't think it is a scam, surprisingly.

- John...