Have you read your service agreements lately?

If you have a service contract, with anybody, and have a credit or debit card on file with that company, beware of some surprise charges to that account. In my case it is DirecTV, but I would imagine it's not a situation that's exclusive to them. Wireless Phone companies, Cable and Satellite companies, Internet Service, etc...basically anyone that you have a service contract with that it either billed to, or has on file in any way...even an online profile, a credit or debit card may be subject to some hidden fees that may or may not be charged to your card automatically and seemingly without your consent.

I say seemingly because apparently in the fine print (and I do mean fine...) of the service contract with DirecTV, there is a bit about giving them authorization to charge your account for any unpaid fees at the time of cancellation. They can do this immediately, even before sending you a final bill.

This happened to us and this charge over drafted our account and caused 5 other pending charges to be overdrawn as well, totalling 6 (including their original charge) overdraft fees from our bank. On top of that, about half of their original charge was for something that wasn't even owed. It was for one (of 3) receivers that we returned that they said they did not receive. Magically, while on the phone with them they found it and said they would return THAT charge within 4-5 days...which has come and gone and no refund. But that story is for a different day...

There is some question (certainly in my mind at least) whether this practice is even legal, regardless of what the contract says. Two different states have pending lawsuits against DirecTV for different shady billing policies. In September of 2009, a class-action suit was filed in Los Angeles Superior court to block DirecTV from automatically billing customer's accounts for service fees. In December of last year, Washington State Attorney General Rob McKenna's office filed a suit against the California based company for deceptive and unfair sales practices, stating several instances of items in the service contract that he claimed were intentionally hidden or misleading. He also reported that DirecTV has generated more consumer complaints (total of 375 in 2009 alone) to his office than any other company.

DirecTV is no stranger to legal issues. According to consumer advocacy site, ConsumerAffairs.com, DirecTV has been named in at least 300 lawsuits over the last 5 years, many of them class actions. Consumeraffairs.com also reports there are over 1400 complaints on DirecTV in their database alone.

To be completely fair, on the flip side of the "fine print" issue...sometimes there are items in there that would allow you to get out of your contract without an early termination fee. For instance, Sprint has historically had a policy in their contracts that if an item in the contract changes, for any reason, it nullifies the contract. This is with the caveat that you complain about said change within 30 days of being notified. So when you get those little notices in the mail or in your email about a "minor" change to your service agreement, it might be helpful to read those as it might give you an out. Now, that being said, given the sometimes shady business practices of some of these companies and their propensity to take money out of your account at their whim (and then in turn give it back at a much slower rate) attempt this at your own risk.

Since I am having a personal battle with DirecTV, my research has admittedly been exclusive to them. I would expect that there are other companies that have similar "fine print" in their contracts, so beware of what you are signing...or maybe have already signed. May not be much you can do about the contract you're already in, other than to be informed and to keep a watchful eye on your account. But, going forward, you might want to actually read those extensive, and very small font, service agreement contracts that nobody ever really reads.