Dish Network: don't use them...

[GReedDiamond]

I have been a customer of Dish Network for several years. I am paying now over $100/month for the services I receive, which includes $25/mo for TV Japan for my girlfriend, who is Japanese.

A little over two weeks ago, I called to tell them I wanted to transfer our account to a new address. The deal is, you pack up your receiver equipment and bring it to the new address, they send the technician out, he hooks it all up and makes sure it is working. The technician came out, hooked everything up, and all was good -- until I got the new bill and they added a "Dish Antenna Kit" charge of $199.95 for a new dish. Now, the "old" dish (it's less than a year old), is still on the roof of the old address, and I have found out that I (or the new tenants) are expected to remove it and DISPOSE of it, even though it is in perfectly fine condition and is, again, less than a year old. AND I am expected to pay and additional $100+ (after some credits were applied), to put a new one on the roof of the new address.

I called their "customer service" and was repeatedly lied to that it had been "disclosed" to me about the additional charges for an unneeded new dish, and that they would not remove the charge. And if I cancel the service, the new version of which is less than two weeks old, I will still be charged for the new dish I wasn't told I would be charged for. Plus, obviously, if I refuse to pay the charge, they will take it to collections, there is no doubt about that.

So, to summarize, they insist that I should pay this outrageous charge for a new dish, but they don't care what happens to the old (less than one year "old", perfectly fine dish). In fact, either I, or the new tenants are supposed to be responsible for removing/disposing of their property, which apparently has zero value to them, but they just GOTTA get that extra $100+ outta me for the new one...

FUCK DISH TV! If you're thinking about getting satellite TV, go with Direct TV -- FUCK DISH TV!

On edit: corrected the name of the charge on my bill which I am disputing.

[Elwood P Dowd]

1. I have received wonderful service from Direct TV for almost 10 years.

They have promptly replaced two receivers that were hit by voltage surges during thunder storms, and they replaced an LNB and all my cables coming into the house when I was having some minor issues last fall. All of this at no charge!

[GReedDiamond]

2. I'd switch to Direct in a heartbeat...

...but the scum at Dish will still come after me for their bogus "DISH antenna kit" charge.

I did get a dispute resolution address, so I can play footsie with these assholes and see if they waive the charge...I suspect I'll be wasting more of my time by filing the dispute, but I will give it a try.

[Dappleganger]

8. Same here.

We switched from Dish to Direct many years ago and have never regretted it.

[nonconformist]

34. I could have written your post. Verbatim.

Exact same situations with us. DirecTv has been good to us, great service.

Also, I haven't moved since I've been using DirecTv, but they have commercials that sound like they move you at no charge as well, and give you 3 months of HBO for free or something for continuing to be a customer.

[tabasco]

3. DishTV is excellent.

I have an HD package that is very reasonable and the service has been excellent.

The same package with Direct would cost twice as much.

So, no.

[GReedDiamond]

4. How do you feel about them lying to me...

...about "disclosures" which were never disclosed, and how "we" (their customers) are supposed to remove/dispose of the equipment they no longer give a shit about?

I was generally satisfied with them too, until they showed their true colors. Just be forewarned, should you ever have to transfer your service to a new address.

[ohheckyeah]

31. I would ask to speak to a supervisor and keep going up

the ladder.

We have had extremely good service from Dishnet. They recently lowered our bill because my husband called and told them we were thinking about moving to Cable. LOL

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. These guys are a fucking riot

They disclose that a fee will be charged for the technicians visit to the new home, they don't disclose anywhere you have to pay for the new dish or what it will cost.

My girlfriend fought this out with them a few years ago when she moved, so she just did it herself. Which led to a dish contractor at her door threatening to have her arrested, although he couldn't explain for what.

Fun times,

Dish likes to insist that the old dish be left behind so they can solicit the new homeowner,

[GReedDiamond]

6. Yes, I WAS told about a $15 "Technician Visit"...

...but NOT about the $199.95 "DISH Antenna Kit" charge. They are weasels and liars.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

15. same for her,

So she just went back to the old house, took the dish and pulled out the cabling and re-installed the dish herself which Dish Network did not appreciate.

She has a raging hate-on for DirecTV because they threatened to sue her employer for shipping a product with a built-in smartcard programmer years ago so switching to them is out of the question.

[Tesha]

7. If you're certain of your position, sue them in small claims court.

But you might first *WRITE* them a nice (polite!) letter denying
the charges and when they argue, call the home office and ask
to speak to their President/CEO/whatever, then explain the
situation to the person they connect you to. The CEO usually
has flunkies who can fix problems such as yours.

Tesha

[GReedDiamond]

10. I will be submitting a letter to their "dispute resolution"...

...address which I was provided. I have also considered the small claims approach as well, thanks for that suggestion. I can easily show a judge in such a case that Dish abandoned a perfectly good dish antenna and then charged me for a new one I did not need.

[Skidmore]

9. I categorically refuse to contribute income to Rupert Murdoch, who

owns Direct TV. We switched to DISH when he bought Direct. We've never had problems with Dish and have been satisfied with it all around.

[LiberalAndProud]

12. Rupert owns DirecTV too?

Is there a media outlet that he doesn't have an interest in? Concentration of media doesn't even begin to describe this. Can we bring antitrust litigation against this man? Seriously!

[GReedDiamond]

13. I hear ya, I hate Murdoch too...

...but DISH Network abuses their customers, and they have now repeatedly lied to me. I'll look into available cable services rather than Direct TV.

[Trekologer]

17. Murdoch does not own DirecTV

He bought a controlling stake in 2003 from General Motors but then sold it in 2008.

[Elwood P Dowd]

20. Liberty Media has owned Direct TV for 3-4 years.

Murdoch is no longer involved.

[havocmom]

32. Yep

No problems with Dish. With Direct TV, was on the phone to support at least once a month. BUT, I got a lot of reading done, because one had to wait FOR HOURS for support. If one were to hang up and call back, one was back at the end of the line.

We went through 5 receivers in 2 years. They just sent someone else's returned, non functioning receiver when ours went down. We live in a very remote small town, so sending bad receivers back was a chore and cost money.

When Rupert bought it, we were glad to be done with them.

[Elwood P Dowd]

36. Rupert doesn't own Direct TV. He held a large share of stock at one time,

but that was several years ago.

BTW, I have never experienced any problem with Direct TV support in the 10 years I've used them.

[havocmom]

38. And it was several years ago that I ditched Direct

Too much bad service. Then Rupert bought in and I waved bah-bye

[City Lights]

47. Rupert no longer owns DirecTV.

We love DirecTV.

[Touchdown]

11. I guess it must be the moon. I moved with Dish and had none of your problems

They hooked up my old one, and only charged me a basic hookup charge. No hassles.

Sorry this happened to you, but I think this is far from their normal operating procedures.

[GReedDiamond]

14. That is not what I was told by "customer service"...

...I was told they NEVER transport the old dish to the new address, because it could be "damaged," resulting in possible "multiple service calls" to "resolve my complaints." If what you say is true (which I do not dispute), they are fucking liars, AGAIN.

[Touchdown]

16. Then take it up the chain of command. Everybody has a superior.

This certainly isn't the first time a cust. service rep has pulled things out of their asses. And yes, that's a load of shit about "damage" to dishes if they're moved. You know how much a Sat dish actually costs? $25. The real guts is in the receivers. If there's even a question about a Dish's reliability, they'll just replace it with a new one.

I''m not trying to get you to change your mind. If you are soured on Dish, then you should switch (I feel this way about Earthlink now). All I'm saying is go up the ladder until you get satisfaction, as you are the customer, and you are ultimately right. They can do math. $200 in gouging once, vs. $90 a month for 10 years from a satisfied customer. Few managers there are willing to risk that.

[GReedDiamond]

19. I spoke to a "supervisor" who blew me off...

...she was a worthless, condescending, smarmy, aggravating liar.

How to get higher up the corporate chain, I'll have to look into that.

[WeekendWarrior]

18. Yeah, I've been using DirecTV for years

They're great. Never had any problems with them and if I have trouble with the equipment, they replace it, no questions asked. Of course, it helps that I pay an extra five bucks a month for that kind of service, but worth it to me, as I've had the dish and other equipment replaced a few times. Oh, and every time they do, they give me the newer, upgraded versions. So no complaints from me.

I've heard of people having problems with Dish Network, but never anything specific. Thanks for letting us know how much they suck.

[csziggy]

21. I've had both DirecTV and DISH

And I found that any time you want to change anything - receivers, dish, location, etc. - other than minor programming changes, it pays to get an offer from the one you currently don't have. Since you were with DISH, you could have gotten a "new installation" deal from DirecTV along with free premium channels for a few months. There is a slim chance DISH might have matched the DirecTV offer, but it's doubtful.

I had DIrecTV and all I needed to do was move the location of the dish - a service call would have been over $100. But DISH offered multiple, new receivers, free installation, free premium channels for three month, AND a $50 rebate. DirecTV would not match that deal, so I switched. When we moved, DirecTV offered DVR, more receivers, HDTV, even more free channels, and a $100 rebate. DISH would not match the deal.

Now I am with DirecTV. When my equipment gets old or the trees get tall enough I need the dish moved, I will get an offer from DISH. If it is a good one, I will be back with DISH.

Over the years, I have found the customer service to be nearly equal, the channel selection pretty much the same with minor variations and the costs about the same. SO if the companies will not match their competitor's offers so that they can keep steady customers, the customers should take advantage of their offers when it is in their best interest.

[EFerrari]

23. That's good advice, imo.

:thumbsup:

[librechik]

41. cute moves worth remembering

I especially appreciate the last paragraph. Skol!

[Rectangle]

50. Channel 9415 (DishTV) is "FreeSpeechTV" a Liberal channel I didn't know about.

It is on Dish Network and cable systems- didn't say anything about Direct-TV.

"Pretty cool!

http://www.freespeech.org/

[EFerrari]

22. Sounds like a local scam. Our Dish guys are much better

the the DirecTv guys that work this area.

What a bunch of bs. I hope you keep fighting this.

[GReedDiamond]

24. It is a steaming pile of BS, yes indeed...

...and I will dispute the charge, and failing that, I will pay it (so they don't sic the collection agency on us), then sue in small claims to get it back. I am going to remove the "old" dish from the roof of the old address, and save it so I can drag it into court as evidence, should I have to sue the bastards.

[EFerrari]

30. Does your small claims dept have a counselor?

Because you might be able to cancel the deal instead of paying them and trying to get your money back.

[havocmom]

33. That's what I was thinking: local contractors are the problem

We live HOURS from where the Dish guys come from and we had no problems, no special charges and the chap wanted to make sure I was comfortable with how it all worked before he left.

edited to add: Dish did 3 follow up calls, one the day after installation, one a couple weeks later, one a couple months later. All calls were just to make sure we were satisfied with the system. Absolutely not sales calls to try and sell upgrades. Fabulous service

[davidwparker]

25. I have DISH and have had a couple of outages. The last person who was

here seems to have fixed the problem.

However, if there is another outage, they will come and get it. Then, it I will replace it with DirecTV, but installed by a purveyor of home theater systems in my area.

No unknown contractors, which may be sent. There is one group which Dish Network sent to my house on 3 occasions who will never be allowed back.

[Foo Fighter]

26. If you don't get a satisfactory resolution,

try sending your story to Consumerist. That site is great for spreading the word about crappy companies and as an added bonus, you'll probably get some good advice on how to get the issue resolved.

[GReedDiamond]

27. Thanks for the reference Foo Fighter. I'll do that. n/t

[katandmoon]

28. Contact the consumer protection unit of your state attorney general's office

[GReedDiamond]

29. Good suggestion, thanks! n/t

[havocmom]

35. and any consumer advice/protection program on local TV or radio stations

Sometimes they can put a bit of pressure on bad businesses and get resolution pronto ;)

[RayOfHope]

37. Wow, I've moved with Dish 3 times in 3 years and have nothing but excellent service.

Some of the places had the old dish, some the dish tech had to install 2 dishes, but I was never charged anything like you were (and the last installation we had was in Feb of this year). I'm sorry you had such awful service, but I've always received top-notch service from them, no matter what the issue.

[miyazaki]

39. I can only add that Directv doesn't carry TV Japan. n/t

[GReedDiamond]

40. UPDATE: Sunday...

I called this time to tell Dish Network that I was going to pay the amount they were demanding, including the disputed (though never firmly established) amount of at least approximately $100+, and that I was also going to:

1) Cancel my account, effective the exact date my account would be paid through when I paid the full disputed amount;
2) Have DirecTV here to install their equipment on the last day of my Dish account's activity;
3) File a claim with the Dish "dispute resolution" center;
4) Register complaints with the Better Business Bureau and the State Attorney General's Office;
5) Sue to get back the disputed amount of money and for the extreme aggravation they caused me.

I was put on hold for a few minutes, than told they were sorry for the misinformation I received (which I got from at least four "customer service" reps in previous phone calls), about how it was my, or the new tenants' responsibility to remove the "old" dish antenna from the old address and dispose of it because they did not want/need it, and they also agreed I should not have to pay for a new one (the disputed charge).

So, just like that, after arguing with me yesterday for over an hour, refusing to bend even a millimeter, they waived the fee, and reduced the bill by almost $200.

I am now left with the mystery of why they had to put me though so much grief and aggravation, for no apparent reason...?

Thanks to all the DUers who gave me their good ideas on how to approach this problem, you are all THE BEST!

[ohheckyeah]

42. All companies have idiots working for them.

I'm sorry you had so much aggravation but it sounds like you got a couple of people who didn't know what they were talking about. We've been with Dishnet for about 6 years. We went to cable for a couple of days, found we hated it and Dishnet came out right away and hooked us back up with no charge. They installed a second dish for local channels when we asked for it with no charge.

My brother has had a lot of trouble with DirectTV so I think it all depends on who you deal with within each company.

I'm glad you got it straightened out. Congrats on your perseverance!

[GReedDiamond]

43. Thanks ohheckyeah...

...I hope this holds true, and they don't try to sneak the charges in somewhere down the line.

I was lied to repeatedly, and I have virtually no trust left in Dish Network. In 2009, they already had agreed to pay $5.9 million back to customers in 46 states, because:

The states alleged that DISH Network: Refused to accept responsibility for misconduct by its third-party retailers and installers; violated do-not-call rules; failed to disclose all key terms and conditions of their customer agreements; did not disclose that purchased or leased equipment was previously used and/or refurbished; charged customer credit cards and debited bank accounts without providing adequate notice and obtaining appropriate authorization; and committed other violations. The company denied any wrongdoing.

http://consumerist.com/2009/07/dish-network-will-pay-59-million-back-to-customers.html

So they will now have to earn back my trust and continuing loyalty to their brand, which may take some time to happen.

[ohheckyeah]

46. I understand and I don't blame you.

Subcontractors can be a real problem with these companies.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

52. no...the people aren't idiots

they are just trained to not give you anything...knowing full well that most people will just bend over and take it. it is a matter of policy that front line agents are empowered to do very little.

sP

[laughingliberal]

44. Same basic strategy insurance companies use

If you keep fighting you will probably win in the end. Meanwhile, a whole hell of a lot of people give up before then (it is a pain in the butt) and they increase their profits.

[Missy Vixen]

45. We've had Dish Network for over fifteen years

We moved three times in a year in 1995 and could not use the "Dish Mover" program as a result. We lost ABC for a year two years ago while Dish was squabbling with the local ABC affiliate. They're not perfect, but we have been consistently happy with them. Any problem we may have had with Dish is through third party providers, and they're quick to fix it when they discover it.

I might also add that Dish carries Free Speech TV and Current. Good luck getting either with DirecTV, which is owned by Murdoch, as other people have already noted.

[Dinger]

48. We Looked At Switching To DirectTv A Few years Ago, And One Reason I Stayed

with Dish was because they had FSTV, and a few more channels than Direct TV did, and the price was a little less. But I hate the way they move channels to "make" you pay for an upgraded package, and when we got the 3-month free HBO package for being good, long time customers, and when I had to complain big time to get a paper statement mailed to my house, that did piss me off. When the three month time was up, they charged us a lot more, even though we did not sign up for a more expensive package, that pissed me off too. We were told that we needed to call and let them know we didn't want it (We were NOT told this previously). Oh well, I'm ranting and it doesn't make much sense, so I better stop.

[GReedDiamond]

51. On the contrary, your rant makes perfect sense...

...while Dish Network's treatment of you makes zero sense, if they had any real concerns about maintaining a loyal customer base. Your being upset with them is completely understandable.

[Dappleganger]

53. See post #32, Murdoch no longer owns DirectTV

and you can get Current on DirectTV as well.

[nonconformist]

56. Uh, I have DirecTV and I also have Current.

[Greyhound]

49. Sorry to tell you, but DirectTV is just as bad.

My sister pays for their garbage and has had both her bill and the term of her "contract" magically double. Their response; "sue us".

[senseandsensibility]

54. kick

eom

[B Calm]

55. I switch back and forth from Dish to Direct every two years, I save

many dollars doing this!