Getting the reimbursement runaround from DirecTV

Missing a single keyboard stroke caused an almost $15,000 error that recently pitted a pair of Lewiston residents against AT&T’s DirecTV in a more-than-monthlong battle they won to get their money back.

The mix-up, which AT&T acknowledged in a two-sentence statement, brought Ron and Judy Karlberg a new awareness of the potential risks of paying bills online and prompted them to take more precautions with their banking accounts.

“We investigated the claim and reimbursed Ms. Karlberg as quickly as possible,” said Brent Camara, an AT&T account manager, in an email. “We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The Karlbergs’ troubles began in late August when she sent money from a checking account to DirecTV for a monthly bill of $145.22.

A DirecTV customer for about 20 years, Judy has paid bills electronically for at least five years. She usually views a second computer page where she confirms everyone is getting paid in the correct amount. In this instance, though, she skipped that step as she and Ron, who are retired public school educators, hurried to start an Oregon Coast vacation.

Roughly two weeks later, she went to pay their next round of bills. It was then she discovered she had missed a decimal point and sent the multichannel service $14,522.

“I evidently didn’t hit the dot hard enough,” she said.

The mistake drained the Karlbergs’ checking account and a connected savings account.

“When I went in to pay, I couldn’t figure out why there wasn’t any money,” Judy said.

A call to their financial institution identified the problem, which initially they thought would take nothing more than a call to DirecTV’s customer service to fix. Instead it dragged on for weeks, forcing them to use money in other accounts until they were reimbursed as they navigated a confusing maze of dead ends.

Judy lost sleep worrying the refund wouldn’t materialize. Ron, who didn’t blame Judy for the mistake, tried to ease her concerns even as he wondered if they were valid.

Their first call to DirecTV’s customer service on Sept. 7, was promising. A representative told them they would have the money back in three to five working days. After four working days passed, they called customer service again, just to double check that the $14,376.78 would be in their account the next day.

That was when their anxiety went into high gear.

“They knew nothing about it,” Judy said.

She asked to speak to a supervisor and was placed on hold for about 30 minutes, beginning a frustrating pattern that lasted roughly two weeks. The Karlbergs would call customer service daily, and the representative who answered wouldn’t know anything about their problem. When they would request supervisors, the line would go dead or they would have to wait on hold for an extended length of time.

At the same time, their financial institution was involved making daily calls on the Karlbergs’ behalf.

Not knowing exactly what more to do, the couple found the telephone number for an AT&T executive that was shared on social media by others who were having issues with the company.

“I was really stressed,” Judy said. “I was not going to let them win.”

She reached the executive, but rather than helping, he asked her how she got his telephone number and hung up.

One of their next stops was the Lewiston field office of U.S. Idaho Sen. James Risch. An employee advised them to file a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission and walked them through the process.

The FCC gave them a case number and told the Karlbergs the agency expected the same executive who had hung up on them to resolve the issue. He did call, but referred them to an 800 number that seemed to be for a credit card company the Karlbergs had no business affiliation with.

The Karlbergs documented the interaction to the FCC. They had a few more calls with the executive during which he promised to return the money, gave no specifics about when it would happen and asked them to drop the FCC case.

They kept Risch’s office and the FCC informed and, eventually, the executive told them to expect the money in their account in two working days.

It arrived Oct. 10. The Karlbergs celebrated by taking one of their daughters out to dinner at Mystic Cafe in Lewiston and buying Judy a new lift chair.

But amid their relief was a new sense of caution.

They learned that, unlike many credit cards, the service they use to pay their bills online doesn’t alert them to or block large or unusual transactions. The Karlbergs pay all of their bills together now, something they haven’t done since the early years of their marriage when they took that precaution because they had so little money.

They have put limits on how much money can be automatically withdrawn from their savings to cover checks. They are still DirecTV customers because they like the service, but they pay with a check.

“We learned a lesson to be more careful,” she said.

Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.