Blockbuster Stores may serve as Dish Customer Service locations

[sparc]

Reuters: Dish to shut more Blockbuster stores than planned

if they offer a way to swap out receivers or even return old receivers at local Blockbusters, it could potentially save customers a lot of money in fees.

Excerpt of pertinent info....

Dish Network Corp will be closing more U.S. Blockbuster stores across than it had originally planned, and will turn the remaining outlets partly into Dish customer-service points, Chief Executive Joe Clayton told Reuters.

Clayton, who became CEO of Dish last year when billionaire Charlie Ergen stepped down to focus on Dish's wireless strategy as chairman, said the stores that stay open will sell Dish subscriptions and may one day provide customer support for its television customers.

"If a consumer has a problem, just bring your box in and we'll give you a new one so you don't have to stay at home and wait for an installation," he said.

Subscribers to Dish's Latino service may also be able to pay their TV bills in stores in metropolitan markets, he added.

 

[Jimmerinwi]

They would never do this. Dish would lose all that profit from the $15 fee for returning equipment.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[Bobby]

As each Blockbuster store lease runs out, they are not being renewed today. I don't see that changing.......

 

[Hall]

What a novel concept.... I have to admit, with Time Warner and I presume most cable services, you can often simply take your dead set-top to their local offices, tell them what's wrong, and say you want a replacement. It's a much, much better option ! You're out of service for an hour or two vs 3-4 days.

Problem is, what Blockbuster stores ? I used to have 6-8 within a 10-minute drive of my house. They announced the closing of (3) more recently, one of which I thought surely would 'make it'.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Unbelievable.

A couple of months ago technicians were blasted in a company video for returning so many receivers as "defective". Dish claims that approximately only 2 out of a 1000 receivers are found to be defective (and thus almost all the time the problem lies elsewhere in the system).

Yet, now Dish contradicts themselves by planning on opening these customer service stores. I mean if Dish really believes their own stats, then what good does it do for the customer to bring back a receiver because he's having a problem? If Dish's stats are correct, then in almost every case the customer is going to take home the new receiver, hook it up, only to find there's still a problem. And then really get pissed-off.

Or, maybe corporate has decided to stop fooling themselves (at least in this case) and recognize that a good-bit higher percentage of their receivers crap-out.

 

[Hall]

Some scenarios you can clearly point the blame at the box. Hard drive errors being the main one...

 

[r10fret]

"Subscribers to Dish's Latino service may also be able to pay their TV bills in stores in metropolitan markets, he added."Why not say any or all subscribers to dish service, why specifically say/imply latino? It seems like he is calling them deadbeats, which is mentality at dish.

 

[stardust3]

Other than most folks here, how many dish customers are out there who could actually jump through the required hoops of swapping out their own receiver? Hooking it up the way it came apart, check switch, activation, etc. I see many potential frustrated customers with wasted time which = churn. This is a bad idea.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

Some scenarios you can clearly point the blame at the box. Hard drive errors being the main one...

Exactly. One of the few cases where going to a CS store would be beneficial and not require a tech visit afterwards to find the real problem.

 

[sparc]

Other than most folks here, how many dish customers are out there who could actually jump through the required hoops of swapping out their own receiver? Hooking it up the way it came apart, check switch, activation, etc. I see many potential frustrated customers with wasted time which = churn. This is a bad idea.

to save money, a LOT of customers wouldn't mind the hoops or ask a friend for help to get it done.

if it's a swap of the same receiver, it's not exactly rocket science. Giving customers options to save money on basic stuff, is good customer service. Also, the setup of the new Hopper/Joey system seems simpler with fewer requirements like diplexers. Those should be far easier to swap out in the long run.

Even just returning equipment would cut down on some costs and hassle for everyone involved.

The key problem here is going to be how well trained these employees are going to be at Blockbuster to deal with Dish customers.

 

[KAB]

Another OMG "would" be CEO thread.

 

[stardust3]

There are many here who work out in the field that would agree with me. Most customers could not touch their butt with both hands let alone change out a receiver. I do agree it is a simple task & not rocket science. The only true way to see if it works is to just try it, but give people the option of having a tech if they're not comfortable with the task at hand. Dish has customers from all walks of life including disabled folks, elderly, etc. This forum has less than 200,000 members & only a fraction of that are active members. Even when taken into account all members of this site alone it still is a dimple of overall dish customers. My point is most people here are the techie type to begin with, not the average customer & would be comfortable with changing out a receiver. Reality is most people could not do this simple task & will expect dish, because they pay their bill to service them for free.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

There are many here who work out in the field that would agree with me. Most customers could not touch their butt with both hands let alone change out a receiver. I do agree it is a simple task & not rocket science. The only true way to see if it works is to just try it, but give people the option of having a tech if they're not comfortable with the task at hand. Dish has customers from all walks of life including disabled folks, elderly, etc. This forum has less than 200,000 members & only a fraction of that are active members. Even when taken into account all members of this site alone it still is a dimple of overall dish customers. My point is most people here are the techie type to begin with, not the average customer & would be comfortable with changing out a receiver. Reality is most people could not do this simple task & will expect dish, because they pay their bill to service them for free.

Yep, the people on this board are by far the exception and not the rule.

 

[sparc]

The only true way to see if it works is to just try it, but give people the option of having a tech if they're not comfortable with the task at hand. Dish has customers from all walks of life including disabled folks, elderly, etc.

absolutely, i don't think Dish's plan here is to just dump everyone off on Blockbuster stores. They're going to have to find some balance to make the customer feel as comfortable as possible. Good employee training at the stores could minimize a lot of things.

Another thing I just realized is that my town is now down to one Blockbuster. Looking at recent articles, a lot of cities the size of mine are losing all of them. It might be a moot point for me very soon anyways. lol

 

[Scherrman]

I would have to say that 90% of customers have no idea how to swap out a receiver or care to try. Most people don't feel they should have to do it since they are paying for a service.

 

[P51-SN95]

too bad I no longer know where the nearest BB store is, they just closed the last one that I know of on Jan 1st. They had already shut down all the ones in surrounding towns and the second one here. Now the last one is gone.

 

[samedaysatellite]

If a company were to have wireless phones in there services, they most definetly will need regional stores. Take verizon for example. Yes they have retailers as well. But just like dish's retailers, they are limited in what they can do when it comes to storefront customer service. Many times they have referred me to my closest metropolitan verizon cs store because their hands are tied in many scenarios. Tmobile. That's all im sayin.

 

[satjay]

We still have a Blockbuster close to us, but I do wonder if its going to make this waive of being a "proftable" store.

 

[gcs_78]

Currently if you have a bad receiver Dish sends you a new one and you send the old one back. You then connect the new receiver. I don't see how this proposed change would suddenly make people need a tech to do the connection for them.

 

[eacalhoun]

Yep, the people on this board are by far the exception and not the rule.

I wish that "we" could be flagged as such on our DISH accounts, so that we could be auto-escalated to customer service for your "smarter than the average bear" DISH customer. I've usually done all of my troubleshooting and made notes prior to making that phone call. Then again, I guess that's why we have DIRT - and I'm thankful for you DIRT folks!