Complaint Review: DirecTV - 2230 E. Imperial Hwy California

DirectTV is trying to collect $774.24 on an account that has been on disaster suspension since October of 2018. My husband and I placed our Direct TV account (DTV Account No 10315378) on a Disaster Suspension on October 2, 2018, after an FPL feeder line that runs along a canal in my community disconnected and sent the full charge through my home the evening of September 12, 2018.

The electrical current was so strong that it blew fixtures off our home inside and out, melted parts of the metal fence and screened enclosure attached to our home, started a fire in the yard and created a smoldering hotspot in our attic that.

FPL pulled the meter from the home that night, and the home has been uninhabitable ever since.

The disaster suspension was to expire in March 2019, but no repairs had been authorized at that point, so I called and requested it be extended, which I was told was approved.

I called again on June 6, 2019 after seeing a charge on the suspended account and, again, requested the disaster suspension be extended. I spoke with a Direct TV agent named Ian who gave me a case ID of 1-24502825197R2 and said the suspension would be extended another 6 months - through December of this year while we waited for some movement from our insurer or the courts on the status of repairing our home.

I provided the following supporting documentation to that effect:

- The Riviera Beach Police incident report (091218PoliceReport2019-09-19-075325)

- The Riviera Beach Fire incident report (091218FireReport2019-09-19-075434)

- The hotel receipt from the Hampton Inn - September 12-17 (hampton12-172018-09-20-090729),

- The 3-month lease for the second place we had to move while we waited for repairs to begin (NancyEdwardsLease0917-01102019-09-19-073204)

- The year lease (which we are currently still in) for the third place we have had to move while we continue to wait for repairs to be authorized from our insurer (2018 1-19 Skalka-Pounds signed lease 403)

- The video inventory confirmation of the return of the items taken for testing by the engineering firm SDII Global - https://youtu.be/uOYCrNk9Q3Y

- The official Mediation Summary filed from September 13, 2019 in reference to the lawsuit over the damage to the residence (Mediation Summary).

Further documentation of the event that left our home uninhabitable includes:

- The claim number with Heritage Property and Casualty is HP188944

- The FPL claim number on this case is 2018033504

- The FPL account (Account No. 7186938200) for the residence was closed on October 5, 2018

- The lawsuit filed in the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County, Florida on April 10, 2019 -- the case number is 502019CA004637XXXXMB

I returned the Direct TV equipment via UPS as instructed in June 2019.

I received an email October 2, 2019 from [email protected] that DirectTV 'creditor believes that the charges on your account are valid'.

The charges are not valid and could not possibly be, as the home has been uninhabitable and without electricity since September 12, 2018, the account was on disaster suspension (and extended) and DirectTV confirmed to Credence that their equipment was returned. I am happy to provide all documentation needed if you have a mechanism for uploading them.

Can anyone please help?

Thank you