234 year customer and DISH won't give free DVR

[Zero327]

My forefathers came to this country on a big boat, and paid their corn every winter solstice on time... We go to the Reverend's church every Wednesday and Sunday, and we do our best to burn witches before they eat the villlage's children.

Well today I called DISH and ordered the Blair Witch Project DVR for four easy payments of $49.95, and I was shocked to find out they want me to pay for it. Can you believe that? PAY for it?

Why my second grandfather furthest removed used to breathe the same cigar smoke as his majesty King George himself!

234 years in this country, and they won't give me one free DVR. I think I'm canceling and switching to Australia. Does anyone know how good their Boxing Kangaroos are? Do they get the Sopranos?

Should I try calling the Royal Court of King Charles and see if they'll give me a discount or credit me a free ship?


Seriously, NO ONE cares how long you've been a D* or E* customer. You pay your bill on-time, good for you. If you don't they turn you off. And guess what, you're paying FOR WHAT YOU BOUGHT.

*hugs and kisses*

--You're a Dime a Dozen

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

The problem with the satellite industry today is they advertise all this stuff FREE FREE FREE. So now people want everything free. They don't realize that this equipment and technology sometimes costs more to make then what they are selling it to the customer for.

There is no such thing as brand loyality anymore, people switch on the drop of a hat to get whatever todays best deal is. I find it funny at times that some of these consumers move to other providers when they are locked into a contract and then whine when their old provider charges them an early temination fee.

I find this sad, because I see it happening all the time. It is like many folks don't know what the word commitment means anymore and can not honor the agreements they made.

 

[boba]

Commitment? What are todays divorce statistics?

 

[hvarma2008]

DVRs are already yesterday's technology. The future is moving towards on demand streaming video, and you can pause, rewind and stop and replay and do everything a DVR can do and more without needing to store video on a local hard drive!
Netflix has it right, DISH and Direct don't! The cable companies might have a leg up as they are usually provide cable internet service anyway as far as revenue models are concerned. Most new TVs are now wireless internet capable, and many people are giving up cable TV for the internet feeds already, although the content is currently spotty.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

DVRs are already yesterday's technology. The future is moving towards on demand streaming video, and you can pause, rewind and stop and replay and do everything a DVR can do and more without needing to store video on a local hard drive!

Dish and DIRECTV do have that now and look for more of that in the future.

The issue now is bandwidth, the cable and telcos dont want you using that much bandwidth so now bandwidth caps are being put in place to prevent this type of technology from truely moving forward.

Even on Comcast's own XFINITY online service, watch shows on their still count against your Comcast cap.

 

[Laddyboy]

Dish and DIRECTV do have that now and look for more of that in the future.

The issue now is bandwidth, the cable and telcos dont want you using that much bandwidth so now bandwidth caps are being put in place to prevent this type of technology from truely moving forward.

Even on Comcast's own XFINITY online service, watch shows on their still count against your Comcast cap.

I'll just add there are many people not on fiber so they will not have the bandwidth and infrastructure even available to them to enable HD streaming using current tech. I live in a rural area and have DSL service only because I live beside a main trunk. My best bandwidth is under 3mbs which is insufficient for true HD streaming. My neighbors have dialup, HughesNet, or area wireless all of which will not support HD streaming. I live outside a small town that has cable. Unfortunately it is not fiber-based so no high bandwidth for them either. Our Netflix experiences are less than robust.

 

[Scherrman]

Hey Zero, I absolutely love your post. Couldn't agree more. I find it funny that people complain about prices and how there are not enough jobs, but are not willing to pay for anything. If you want something, and something good, you need to pay for it.

 

[primestar31]

It could be worse, you could have CHARTER CABLE!!

Absolute WORST company in the history of man.

 

[hvarma2008]

It could be worse, you could have CHARTER CABLE!!

Absolute WORST company in the history of man.

I think Mediacom takes the cake for being the worst, my experience as well as Consumer Reports concur on that point.

 

[mmmason23]

think where the problem lies is they offer free HD hookups for up to four rooms. Then most people may only have one or two HD tvs. Then they buy another HDTV and want a free receiver that they could have had when they signed up.

 

[mike123abc]

This is where cable has the advantage. Now that Dish charges the same per month that cable does, they should rent these boxes to the customer instead of doing this funky lease arrangement.

It is just a way to hide the real price of the service. Dish wants to advertise a low montly rate, but if you want more than one box you have to pay, Pay, PAY, PAY!!!. Even going to the point where you have to buy your own box and then pay the outragious monthly fees on your own box.

If Dish is going to charge $17/month for a 722 why do they care how many you have? In less than a year of payments you have covered their costs on the box and they still get it back when you leave as a customer. They used to have a point when the cable company charged you $17/month to rent you a box which they would pay to repair and Dish only charged $7. Now that they are the same, Dish should rent you as many as you want to pay for and cover the repairs to the box. If Dish is really worried, they should have a deposit which you get back on the rented boxes.

 

[yaz96]

I can't believe you've stayed with them for 234 years!

 

[cosmo_kramer]

His account number must be 1.

 

[vaylon]

Like Scott said , brand loyalty is gone. Both on the consumers side and the companies side.

If someone really wants a new receiver from dish or direct, do like everyone else does.

Either buy a receiver.
or
Start a new account in someone else's name and get all new equipment with a commitment.

My current account is in my sons name, because dish wouldn't let me have HD without a huge cost as a existing customer because of all the new dishes and receivers. So I canceled one month and the next month started a new service with dish in my sons name. Got all new equipment, all the perks, and dish absolute for Zip, nada, zilch, nothing. FREE. Plus they gave me 175.00 cash and every 3 months I get 20 bucks taken off my account. Was suppose to be only for a year, but their still doing it.

It's just like with credit cards.
Stick with a card long enough and your rates will go thru the roof, regardless of your history. Try calling them up and asking them to lower your rate and see what happens.
Most of the time it's easier and financially more sound just to cancel and start a new account.

 

[riffjim4069]

Dish and DIRECTV do have that now and look for more of that in the future.

The issue now is bandwidth, the cable and telcos dont want you using that much bandwidth so now bandwidth caps are being put in place to prevent this type of technology from truely moving forward.

Even on Comcast's own XFINITY online service, watch shows on their still count against your Comcast cap.

I agree with the bandwidth caps. If Satellite wants bandwidth, they should launch additional satellites or build their own cable and fiber infrastructures. Other than that, D* and E* should have to pay infrustructure providers for delivering video to customers, and be subject to having those video streams taxed and paying franchise fees...just like cable and the telcos. Satellite customers should not be taxed for video delivered over-the-air (that's why DBS leases spectrum from the FCC), but they should pay for each and every VOD and PPV packet delivered over infrustructures built by others. I feel it is only a matter of time before Netflix, Blockbuster and Youtube video streams will be taxed for video delivered to their customers. There is nothing fair about these freeloaders getting a free ride.

Now, as far as long-time customers not being offered various "freebies" such as the DVR in question. The way I see it...the customer has every right to demand as much as they can from their provider - however, it is also up to the provider to determine if the additional cost is worth it to retain the customer (capitalism at its finest). If the customer doesn't like the offer they should walk and find another provider. This concept forms a basic tenant of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 where customers are able to choose between video (cable) providers and purchase devices based on interoperable standards. Heck, I still have three 622 HD DVRs sitting in the closet. I would gladly sign-up with E*...they just need to provide real HD (not HD-Lite) or discount their programming package price 40% for 2-years. Otherwise we're happy with out current provider. Double-heck, I would love to be able to use these devices with D* or even Cable. Thankfully, the National Broadband Plan is attempting to address this situation by bringing DBS into the regulatory fold.

Anyway, this is just another example as to why we need the FCC to mandate that a gateway device, based on open-standards, be installed in every customer home (this includes cable, telcos and satellite). This way customers will finally be able to purchase their own set-top-boxes based on open and interoperable standards (not Cablelabs or D* or E*'s standards). This will [hopefully] have a revolutionary effect on the set-top-market as CE manufacturers (Sony, Samsung, LG, etc.) can offer consumers creative and affordable set-top-box products that can be operated with any provider of their choice.

Just my two cents from the cheap seats...

 

[damjr]

The problem with the satellite industry today is they advertise all this stuff FREE FREE FREE. So now people want everything free. They don't realize that this equipment and technology sometimes costs more to make then what they are selling it to the customer for.

There is no such thing as brand loyality anymore, people switch on the drop of a hat to get whatever todays best deal is. I find it funny at times that some of these consumers move to other providers when they are locked into a contract and then whine when their old provider charges them an early temination fee.

I find this sad, because I see it happening all the time. It is like many folks don't know what the word commitment means anymore and can not honor the agreements they made.

:up:up:up:up

Thank You Scott !! You said it perfectly !! Saved me a ton of angry typing.

 

[andrewj0781]

I see the point the eqipment isn't cheap but come on how much money donthey save a year by equipment returns. I know you have equipment not returned or out dated equipment no one wants that's when dish should have a yard sale and people
could buy them and let them still work.