Better Business Bureau Spotlights Satellite Service Complaints

The Better Business Bureau (BBB) shined a spotlight on consumer complaints about satellite TV service.

"In the past three years, more than 53,000 customers have complained to the Better Business Bureau about satellite TV providers, with 39,000 of those complaints filed against DirecTV and 13,000 filed against Dish Network," the BBB said in a release, advising consumers to read their contracts closely before signing up. Given that DirecTV has 18 million subs and DISH 14 million, that works out to fewer than one complaint per thousand customers per year for DirecTV and one per 3,000 customers for DISH. But that still makes them "one of the most complained-about industries," said a BBB spokesperson in promoting the stats. The BBB said many of the complaints were about early termination fees (BB said the complaints were about paying more than $600 to cancel), as well as service issues, upgrades that extended contract periods, and low-cost introductory offers that either didn't come through as advertised or morphed into regular prices higher than the customer was expecting.