How do I get a credit to my bill for the espn channels that dropped out on 9/12 and 9/13.

Not sure if you will be able to get the credit now that the channels have been restored.  You should have called or applied for the credit when the channels were still out!  Good Luck the only way to get it now would be to speak to a customer service agent and even then I doubt you would be able to get it.  Over all it is your bad and not Directv's bad as the channels were out for 2 weeks and you could have asked for the credit.

Thank you for the information.    

I don't really think this is "my bad".   Of the 4 ESPN2 recordings,  one was from this morning.   Only a few hours later, they are back, and the link for the credit gone ? Common on.     I called Customer service and they understood the issue but cannot offer any credit ?  They have to transfer the call to a different department.   Bad business.  

This has me looking for alternative services. 

"They have to transfer the call to a different department."

That's on you if you didn't allow the call to be transfered. Sometimes the billing department can see stuff that technical support can't (and vice-versa.)

I just called and got the credit immediately

Glad you got the credit, but that was a bit of luck. Perhaps a little leeway they are giving their reps at the end of the situation.

In the future if a credit is being offered, don't wait to take advantage of it. Otherwise if you miss out then it is "your bad" for sitting on your hands for a couple weeks.

I tried all week online. Did not have time to wait on the phone. And regardless, I did not have the service I paid for, they owe me the credit and it is ridiculous that we have to ask for it 

If it wasn't working online, fair enough. It was a courtesy credit, not something that they owed you. Terms of Service do state channels can change at any time. All TV providers have this clause as they don't own the channels and carriage negotiations can happen at any time. They are not obligated to credit any time a channel decides to go dark for a bit.

As for having to ask for it (online or calling), not everybody cares about those channels (or enough to throw a fit when they are off for a few days). So the courtesy credit (again not something they owe) goes to those that it matters. From a business perspective, why throw away money when you don't have to kind of thinking.

I am glad they were still providing it at the end to those that waited for negotiations to be complete. And if they ever again have an online option during any future negotiations I hope they have the technical issues figured out.

I highly suspect the reason people need to request the credit is because they don't want people confused when their bills randomly get a $30 credit. If the credit is pushed out to all customers at once, it's gonna be in the middle of the billing cycle which will definitely confuse people when their bills go down and then seem to randomly go up.

Google did this when YouTube TV lost the Disney channels. I suspect it's a different thing there since their customer base skews younger and is more "plugged in" to what's going on.

Let's see, I pay $10 plus regardless if i watch the channels, so when i don't get them I need to ask for the credit.... seems like good business to keep that during negotiations when I still pay... seems like breach of contract even though they write the contract to cover their (Edited per community guidelines)

and why are you defending their corporate greed?

No TV provider can guarantee you will have any specific channel all the time or even through the length of your service agreement. That would be impossible. Carriage agreements with networks can expire at any time, this was just Disney's turn. So yes all TV providers have a clause that covers this.

So "seems" and what the terms actually are is a huge difference. There is no defense of corporate greed, only pointing out the reality that what you claim is a breach or what you think is obligated is not the reality. Hopefully going forward this makes you a more informed consumer, no matter what company you deal with.

So they are not obligated to supply the channels they advertise and list in the package I am paying for ?   Forget terms of service fine print.  Legally you are correct.   I may not be able to take legal action.  My comment is that it is bad business to fully charge for a partial service.   They should credit all customers that have a package that includes the Disney channels for the time they did not show them and do it automatically.    

My main reason for posting this thread is in the hope that someone at the company may actually read these areas and see that customers are not happy.   If they get enough comments, calls and letters,  they may rethink how they handle this in the future. 

Ultimately, they can do what they like.  I also can move my business to another service.  Thank goodness our service is via internet and not via satellite. 

*someone at the company may actually read these areas"

Nope. 

It's always been up to the customer to call in for that discount.

@tmiller33011 

The point it that is impossible to provide such an obligation. If they were to waive ECF or give credit every time a channel does this at carriage negotiation time, then channel owners would have more leverage to do this even more.

Fortunately networks tend to be multi-year deals, which most complete without it reaching this state. So channels aren't be affected day to day. And this is essentially the same with all TV providers as this is how the industry is setup.

Since the credit is a courtesy, giving it automatically to all customers would not be good business. That would be throwing money at many who don't care about the channels. Those it matters for would contact DirecTV themselves. Making it available online as opposed to calling in was a nice gesture (though yes any technical issue with it was annoying).

This is a public forum for customers to help each other out, even if only giving a realistic perspective. It is not for contacting official support. For that you call, or if you really are in a twist to file a BBB complaint that goes to corporate. However what you want requires a change to the entire industry so as long as channel owners operate this way with carriage negotiations then TV providers will stay the course.

So yes they do what is right for them as a business, no matter how much you dislike it. Go wherever you like but don't expect it really any different at another provider in these situations.

I didn't even hear about a credit until today. Directv is really digging themselves a deep hole with policies like this. I'm very close to canceling my service after almost 30 years with them. 

To top it off, tonight I was looking for something to watch. I noticed that the L.A. Kings were playing the Utah Hockey Club on the NHL channel. For some unknown reason, Directv had it blacked out here in Phoenix. Why would a game between CA and UT be blacked out in AZ???