# Sling TV Woes



## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

I just thought I would vent. I have been a sling tv advocate for about 6 months. I paid 19.99 a month. Last month my account got hacked or something and they charged me 192.00. My bank is looking into it and Sling wont give me my money back. They will only credit it for next months service until it is used up. Something must have happened because they canceled me today. Its funny they can tell me what to do with my money. Anyway, I would think twice about subscribing to Sling TV. Googleing Sling tv hacked and a lot comes up. Just venting


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

just4fn44 said:


> I just thought I would vent. I have been a sling tv advocate for about 6 months. I paid 19.99 a month. Last month my account got hacked or something and they charged me 192.00. My bank is looking into it and Sling wont give me my money back. They will only credit it for next months service until it is used up. Something must have happened because they canceled me today. Its funny they can tell me what to do with my money. Anyway, I would think twice about subscribing to Sling TV. Googleing Sling tv hacked and a lot comes up. Just venting


Typical for dealing with Charlie and Dish. He doesn't care about what you think. He only loves his lawyers.

This also goes to show what happens with autopay people who were proclaiming how great it was in another thread. Without it, you would still have your money.


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## tenthplanet (Mar 5, 2004)

just4fn44 said:


> I just thought I would vent. I have been a sling tv advocate for about 6 months. I paid 19.99 a month. Last month my account got hacked or something and they charged me 192.00. My bank is looking into it and Sling wont give me my money back. They will only credit it for next months service until it is used up. Something must have happened because they canceled me today. Its funny they can tell me what to do with my money. Anyway, I would think twice about subscribing to Sling TV. Googleing Sling tv hacked and a lot comes up. Just venting


 Did they explain why you were charged that amount, did they provide a list of charges? Mis-billing is not hacking, they are legally required to tell you what you( or what they think you bought). Work your way up the customer service ladder, all companies make billing errors. Be proactive and get to the bottom of it. And they owe you an explanation as to why you were cancelled.


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

Um, TiVo has been as hard nosed as experiences posted on this forum. As for TiVo charging each month even when TiVo KNOWS the box is NOT "phoning home" or not connected for use, about 95% of people on this forum side with TiVo because it is part of the service agreement. And no, TiVo will not give your money back even though they know you have been charged while receiving NO SERVICES. Just because it is part of the agreement we all agree to does NOT make it a MORALLY correct action. I have complete faith that if that part of the agreement were challenged in court as Class Action (TiVo conveniently forces arbitration) , TiVo would LOSE and pay pretty big for it.

My take is that like all companies, none of them want to part with money. In the case of SlingTV, what evidence do they have the account was hacked? While, in truth, this can happen, but it is also the claim of the century when people don't want to pay for what they have received in exchange. While not re-assuring, SlingTV's response is predictable.

In the case of TiVo, they know without a doubt they are taking money from a person when TiVo knows the customer has not received the benefits of the charge. Which of the two companies is _more_ _immoral?_. SlingTV for not believing the claim of not being "hacked," or TiVo for knowing full well they are taking money from someone when TiVo knows that person is not received ANYTHING in exchange for that debit.

OK, for all those people who make excuses for TiVo putting the responsibility on the customer to know the TiVo agreement and not complain about TiVo charging them when they do not have that TiVo box connected, are you now going to chime in and tell us it is the responsibility of the SlingTV subscriber to no get hacked by following some rather simple PC/cyber security protocols and habits? That would be the fair response if the TiVo apologists were to be consistent, not a post that is evidence of some sort of feud one may have with Charlie Ergen. I don't know of cable companies or just about any company who just accepts a claim of being "hacked" before they let go of the money. In fact, most members here would also be saying one should be monitoring their account for such problems as unusual charges. Uh, yeah, Google just about any company and "being hacked" comes up, even Linkedin!

Of course, we are to presume the appropriately named SomeRandomIdiot must believe TiVo is wrong to charge for boxes that are not connected for service, otherwise his post above is not logical nor makes sense. Well, it makes no sense regardless. I hope he and Charlie can work it out, one day. Geez. .


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## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

tenthplanet said:


> Did they explain why you were charged that amount, did they provide a list of charges? Mis-billing is not hacking, they are legally required to tell you what you( or what they think you bought). Work your way up the customer service ladder, all companies make billing errors. Be proactive and get to the bottom of it. And they owe you an explanation as to why you were cancelled.


No explanation. They would only credit it towards next services. Since The bank has put a hold on the 149.00 bill. They took away my login and I can't get on anymore. No emails no nothing.

This was not a billing error. When I was talking to them, someone was on my account watching sling. They had to kick them off so I could change my password.

The explanation was someone added all the shows they could. What sling doesn't do is send an email saying your account has changed. I didn't realize until I saw my bill which was 2 week later.I did see the added channels but I thought it was a promotion. I went to their website and saw no mention of a promotion and that's when I went to my online banking and saw the charges.

This was their email:

We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. Unfortunately, we will be unable to refund any charges for the services on this account . You will receive a prorated credit for this package for the remaining days of this bill period. This credit will be applied to next month's charges.


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## mcf57 (Oct 19, 2012)

One solution I have for you (& others) for possible future billing with a similar service is to use a prepaid credit card. American Express seems to have the best ones out there right now, but there might be others as well. Specifically their "Bluebird" (Walmart) and Serve (various) lines. 

They allow you to use services that require a credit card, but you can easily control how much is on the account at any given time. for example, if you have only $30 on the card (to cover a Sling charge of $20), a charge attempt of more than $30 will be rejected/denied (in this case, $192). And therefore avoid any hassle of trying to get the money back. I think you can even get emails or text when a charge is declined so can then know something is up. 

I have used this approach ALL the time and it works well. Also, if you forget to put funds on the account in time for a bill, the company will contact you about needing payment. There are then several options (online and/or a local location) to get money on the card.

This has also worked well for "trial" accounts (which I have done with Sling). I have used it for something that might have a 30 day trial. I then need to cancel it if I don't want to be charged, but I tend to forget when the renewal date is. The burden of collection is now on the seller instead of the burden of cancellation on the buyer. And something like this has NEVER affected my credit either & they don't try to send you to a collection agency (like some have suggested). They generally just cancel the subscription/service for non-payment (what I usually want anyway)

Just some food for thought.


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## SomeRandomIdiot (Jan 7, 2016)

mcf57 said:


> One solution I have for you (& others) for possible future billing with a similar service is to use a prepaid credit card. American Express seems to have the best ones out there right now, but there might be others as well. Specifically their "Bluebird" (Walmart) and Serve (various) lines.
> 
> They allow you to use services that require a credit card, but you can easily control how much is on the account at any given time. for example, if you have only $30 on the card (to cover a Sling charge of $20), a charge attempt of more than $30 will be rejected/denied (in this case, $192). And therefore avoid any hassle of trying to get the money back. I think you can even get emails or text when a charge is declined so can then know something is up.
> 
> ...


Use Shopsafe from Bank of America which lets you generate and cancel Credit Card numbers on the fly, with maximum amounts that can be charged on them - and let you setup autopay once per month up to a certain amount it cannot be over.

Other banks have similar features.

But again, I hate Autopay for the problem you found yourself in.


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## mcf57 (Oct 19, 2012)

SomeRandomIdiot said:


> Use Shopsafe from Bank of America which lets you generate and cancel Credit Card numbers on the fly, with maximum amounts that can be charged on them - and let you setup autopay once per month up to a certain amount it cannot be over.
> 
> Other banks have similar features.


Yea, I have used similar features with Brinks and ACE Elite prepaid cards as well. They call it "virtual cards", but essentially the same principal and works good as well.


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## tampa8 (Jan 26, 2016)

just4fn44 said:


> No explanation. They would only credit it towards next services. Since The bank has put a hold on the 149.00 bill. They took away my login and I can't get on anymore. No emails no nothing.
> 
> This was not a billing error. When I was talking to them, someone was on my account watching sling. They had to kick them off so I could change my password.
> 
> ...


How do you know your account was hacked VS someone who knows you obtained (not hacked) your password? BTW I can google Netflix and find posts about being hacked.


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## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

I guess we have a different definition of hacked. My definition is someone using my sling account and password, which was not given out, without my knowledge. I don't even know if anybody knows I had a slingtv account. Whether they used a program to hack or somehow found my account and password, its all the same outcome. Hacked to me. Like I said, slingtv had to kick somebody off so I could log on and change my password. Then they canceled me.


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## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

I have to post this now as a resolution. Sling TV came thru. I don't know why but they must have found a mistake or it went to a higher court,

We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. We have been able to find and resolve your payment issue. We have refunded all of Januarys charges. In addition we would like to offer you a free month of service for the inconvenience this is knotted on the account if you would like to take advantage of it.

The disputed charges are being refunded back to your Credit/Debit card and should appear on your statement in 5-7 business days.

Please let us know if you have any further questions or comments.

Regards,

Sling TV Customer Service 
1-888-893-9069 
[email protected] 
www.sling.com


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

just4fn44 said:


> I have to post this now as a resolution. Sling TV came thru. I don't know why but they must have found a mistake or it went to a higher court,
> 
> We apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. We have been able to find and resolve your payment issue. We have refunded all of Januarys charges. In addition we would like to offer you a free month of service for the inconvenience this is knotted on the account if you would like to take advantage of it.
> 
> ...


Was the money refunded because of the actions you took with your bank or did Sling really refund the money on their own?


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## just4fn44 (Dec 28, 2006)

We will never know. I did write to "Get Jessie" the day before but that would have been too quick. I also e-mailed the ceo but I doubt that had anything to do with it. I'm just glad they did the right thing. My bank said there was nothing they could do because of Slings no refund policy.


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## Edmund (Nov 8, 2002)

just4fn44 said:


> I guess we have a different definition of hacked. My definition is someone using my sling account and password, which was not given out, without my knowledge. I don't even know if anybody knows I had a slingtv account. Whether they used a program to hack or somehow found my account and password, its all the same outcome. Hacked to me. Like I said, slingtv had to kick somebody off so I could log on and change my password. Then they canceled me.


In your OP you said you were a Slingtv Advocate for 6 months, so most told someone you had Slingtv?


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