Charged for 1st Installment of Sunday Ticket

3417 Views 12 Replies 11 Participants Last post by la24philly, May 26, 2012

socal404

Discussion Starter · May 25, 2012

I received my bill today, and noticed that I've been charged the 1st installment of my 2012 NFL Sunday Ticket. Has this happened to anyone else?

I called customer service to inquire as to why. I was told that this is the way it's being charged now. I asked him why I'm being charged when the season doesn't start for another 4 months. I didn't get a satisfactory answer, and asked to speak with his supervisor. After waiting for a while, he transferred me to the super, who gave me the same answer. A little background, I've been a ST customer for years. When I noticed the cheaper annual fee of $200, I called to see if I qualified for it. I thought I wasn't signing up for ST, just renewing at the lower rate. Did I make a mistake here?

Anyway, the supervisor told me that the only way to get the charge off my bill was to cancel my ST subscription. I told him I didn't want to do that. I just want to renew and not make any payments until the season begins.

I sure would appreciate any enlightenment as to why this is happening.

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1 - 13 of 13 Posts

damondlt

· #2 · May 25, 2012

My guess its because you changed your package.

Once they cancelled your old one, then they signed you up for the new one thats what brought the charge. Sure its dumb, and most likly could have been avoided with a "smarter" CSR.
But look at it this way, Good to get it out of the way early.

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Boston_bill

· #3 · May 25, 2012

My feeling is once you order it they can start charging you. I don't see a problem with it. You have to pay for it anyway.

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joed32

· #4 · May 25, 2012

For me they always have started charging early and it's usually paid off by the time the season starts. I would expect a charge on my next bill.

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kaminar

· #5 · May 25, 2012

Customers are supposed to see a $0.00 line item for NFLST in the month prior to the first actual installment. I thought the $0.00 line item was starting this month, along with a reminder..with first installment to begin next month.

-=K=-

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hdtvfan0001

· #6 · May 25, 2012

The "clock" for charging appears to be based on when you choose the service.

If it's a renewal...you get the advance 00.00 notification it's coming the following month.

If you sign up online as a new or returning customer (not a renewal) ...they bill starting the next cycle.

I've already just seen my 2nd installment on my bill this past week.

This is pretty consistent with how billing for NFL ST has always worked. They never started charging in August or September...it always began sooner than that.

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HarleyD

· #7 · May 25, 2012

Since the previous incarnation of Sunday Ticket as we knew it no longer exists I have wondered how it could "renew" at all. Which package would they renew you for?

The MAX package is most closely equivalent to the old NFLST but you know there are those that would complain about being signed up for the more expensive option without their consent.

Likewise the base package is less money but then there would be those who would complain that they were renewed for less programming than they had last year.

And there is no finanacial advantage to "renewing" there is not a special renewal price as far as I know and no early bird special.

So I would expect that everyone would need to explicitly opt into one of the two new packages. And I don't find it unreasonable that you would start to be billed for it when you do.

I had NFLST last year but I went into the web site and explicitly subscribed to the NFLST base package when it was announced. My first installment hit my account balance that same day. My bill date is the 2nd so my second installment will hit in just over a week. My whole package will be paid off right about the time the season starts. I have no problem with that. If I decide to cancel before the season starts I'll have a sizeable credit.

So if the OP really does have a problem with starting to pay for it now I suggest as others have that he cancel it now and sign up again in late August. There is no financial advantage or consequence to doing it that way and his billing will be over the course of the season as he desires.

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RAD

· #8 · May 25, 2012

joed32 said:
For me they always have started charging early and it's usually paid off by the time the season starts. I would expect a charge on my next bill.

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Boston_bill

· #9 · May 25, 2012

I 've had ST for a few years now and it's not showing up as auto renewal. I havent ordered it yet because I knew once I did i would have to start paying for it.

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wahooq

· #10 · May 26, 2012

Some customers have it set for auto-renewal which is at a reduced price...this year....if you want the lesser priced package simply call and change...no biggie

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Shades228

· #11 · May 26, 2012

HarleyD said:
Since the previous incarnation of Sunday Ticket as we knew it no longer exists I have wondered how it could "renew" at all. Which package would they renew you for?

The MAX package is most closely equivalent to the old NFLST but you know there are those that would complain about being signed up for the more expensive option without their consent.

Likewise the base package is less money but then there would be those who would complain that they were renewed for less programming than they had last year.

And there is no finanacial advantage to "renewing" there is not a special renewal price as far as I know and no early bird special.

So I would expect that everyone would need to explicitly opt into one of the two new packages. And I don't find it unreasonable that you would start to be billed for it when you do.

I had NFLST last year but I went into the web site and explicitly subscribed to the NFLST base package when it was announced. My first installment hit my account balance that same day. My bill date is the 2nd so my second installment will hit in just over a week. My whole package will be paid off right about the time the season starts. I have no problem with that. If I decide to cancel before the season starts I'll have a sizeable credit.

So if the OP really does have a problem with starting to pay for it now I suggest as others have that he cancel it now and sign up again in late August. There is no financial advantage or consequence to doing it that way and his billing will be over the course of the season as he desires.

Most customers will renew at the Max level unless it was offered free as part of a promotion with an order. IE if you called in and received a credit or something that doesn't count. If you want to know the level for your account you could call in and ask.

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socal404

Discussion Starter · #12 · May 26, 2012

hdtvfan0001 said:
The "clock" for charging appears to be based on when you choose the service.

If it's a renewal...you get the advance 00.00 notification it's coming the following month.

If you sign up online as a new or returning customer (not a renewal) ...they bill starting the next cycle.

I've already just seen my 2nd installment on my bill this past week.

This is pretty consistent with how billing for NFL ST has always worked. They never started charging in August or September...it always began sooner than that.

I've always seen my first installment charged either in August of September, but I guess I'll start paying now, and as someone else has mentioned. It'll be paid off a lot earlier. The only reason I called was because I wanted to know if, as an existing customer, I was eligible for the $200 rate I saw advertised on TV. I didn't realize that I was "signing up" again for my ST. I guess it was worth it, though. I don't use the remote feature, and I can't see paying the extra $100 for the Red Zone, which I rarely used. Directv used to charge extra for the RZ, then stopped. Now again they feel they need to charge the extra amount for it. I guess I don't know why.

Thanks everyone for your insight.

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la24philly

· #13 · May 26, 2012

I saw the statement, and im already paid.

I choose to do the 1x installement and paid 317.95

I did it in feb

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