When we moved out of the Metropolis I called to cancel our DirecPath internet service. I made the guy repeat the date I wanted to discontinue service and he assured me everything was set. I asked if there was anything else I needed to do.
A month or so later our credit card statement reflected another billing.
I used DirecPath's contact form to get in touch with a representative but didn't hear back in any way.
Michelle called and we found out that they hadn't canceled the service at all. It was actually difficult to explain our situation.
We were told we'd get a refund and that we'd be called back in a day or two.
That didn't happen and so Michelle called again to check on the refund. She was told a refund of $4 was in the process of being issued.
There was another misunderstanding about the date of disconnection. They thought we wanted to cancel our service when we last called. They still didn't understand that we were calling to complain about our service not being canceled a month prior.
I submitted another customer support request via the DirecPath site and got this message back:
Hi Mr. Romej, We apologize for the delayed response, nevertheless, here is what we have come up with regarding your concern. We have personally checked your account and, as per order history, the disconnection of your services will proceed on the 29th June. Yes, you have requested for the disconnection of your services back in 16May, however, system did not generate any dates available then as to reason that it (the disconnection) is only scheduled for tomorrow (29June). For the reason that a ticket or special request to out billing department has been forwarded for further research and to process necessary adjustments regarding the charges on your account. Should there be any questions, do not hesitate to call us for further clarification.
Michelle had been told that a proper refund would be issued in 24-48 hours. The support manager told her this.
We waited a couple days and didn't hear back or see a credit on our credit card statement. It was time to call again and explain the situation again.
We spoke to another manager. I don't even remember the details but the gist was that things would be sorted out and that it'd take some more time (say, another 48 hours), and that they'd call us back to let us know.
More waiting and no calls. We called again and were given a story about the $4 refund. No way. They finally dug up the notes they had written about the appropriate refund. It was in process and Billing would have to take a look at it.
We also began a dispute case with our credit card company to get this fixed. After awhile we heard back from them stating that DirecPath said we didn't need a refund or something. They apparently bandied the old dates of "cancellation" about.
I think we waited more and called again. I talked to the female manager, Nathaniel, and she told me it'd take a week or two this time. She assured me she'd call. She seemed nice and helpful, but then again, she and others seemed that way in earlier calls and no promise had ever been kept, so the niceness is irrelevant.
I asked Nathaniel why we were told on several occasions that it'd take 48 hours and now, two weeks later, it was going to take 1-2 weeks to process. She sympathized but said billing had to process.
In the intervening times I sent several support requests via email to DirecPath, hoping someone would see my questions and be able to get the issue fixed. I never received any responses except the one above.
To this day we haven't heard back from them. I'll update this if we do.
Their basic infrastructure in Atlanta is decent. We enjoyed our service while we had it. But I always hated calling them. And canceling service with them is a nightmare. It makes me sick to think that some execs are sitting around proud of how they're running the place, proud of their cheap outsourced support, and their incompetent billing department, which always seems to need 24-72 hours to "process" things.
I liked them better as PurDigital, when their employees seemed to be in one location and were able to comprehend their roles and knew who to hand the phone to when there was an issue.
It's interesting to read other accounts of DirecPath's ineptitude. The comments are golden, and there's another account of someone having trouble canceling their service.
To quote my friend above, I guess system did not generate any dates available then.
update More time has passed but we have yet to hear from DirecPath regarding our issue. You cannot get through to them, and they will tell you blatant lies ("we'll call you back, I assure you", "this will take 24-48 hours...") to get you off the phone (reduce AHT and other call center metrics). If you have an issue, you're on your own.
I hate bitching about how much DirecPath sucks, but when you're that powerless to get issues fixed and you waste more than a few hours explaining the same things over and over, others deserve fair warning.