They tell you upfront that once you give them the card that they can debit it for charges you owe. There is no scam.

When a hold is placed on your card at the time of purchase, that hold is an authorization that cannot be revoked. Quit trying to scam them, be an adult, and pay attention to your obligations you opted for. You may get your money back but guess what, so will they. But their credit won't be affected.

Directv debited my checking account $547.21 on 12/12/11. It has taken 3 months to dispute it with my bank, but I finally got my money back from them. Those a**wipes should be put out of business! I don't care what they say about their so-called contract, you can't go dipping into somebody's pocket without their authorization. It's called stealing and if we the general public were to do it to them, we would be locked up and the key thrown away.

Just a word of warning-if you use credit card or debit card payments to Direct TV-you allow them the ability to take money out of your account even if you verbally deny them access. Read your contract carefully as they are not able to produce a signed copy of it if you disoute it. My bank told me basically not to bother filing a complaint as they rarely win. So Direct TV is out to rape the public-please consider using an alternative.

You do give DirecTV permission to automatically debit your account, but it is a permission that can be revoked at any time, despite what DirecTV thinks. Your bank has a responsibility to reverse charges you did not authorize. They probably told you that just so they wouldn't have to go through the trouble. Many people have gotten their stolen money back from DirecTV by disputing it. You may just have to be persistant and insist they refund you for an unauthorized charge.