Charged for VOD that I didn't order

[Ghpr13]

Thank you for your supportive comments. TheKrell found one 6.99 charge after my post (I think). If one person finds an erroneous charge, then I haven't wasted my time here.

I still can't believe that this happened and the tone of the CS people who insist I just don't know who did it. I say, "well it is true it was someone I don't know, but it wasn't someone in my house". That should matter! I don't know what happened, but it does seem startling that SOMEONE hasn't been able to start some sort of investigation in to why this happens. That is almost as surprising as DISH not caring to. Gheesh...

My husband keeps saying, just drop it, that there is nothing more I can do and not to get so worked up about it. I just think 24 movies times 6.99 for one person? And I am supposed to feel grateful that 11 got credited back and just suck it up for the other 13!
hmmm.... What is wrong with this picture! We had 6.5 weeks of glorious time on our motorcycle, all through the west, and I am not going to let DISH steal away all that R and R factor... but I still cannot believe it. I am dead certain no one here did it. I feel like calling some media show that might want to investigate.

KarenO,
Have you thought about contacting a local consumer help advocate? Here in Louisville, KY, two of our local TV news shows have a consumer help division and in our newspaper we have "Lemme Doit", which gets very good results in these kind of situations. For the amount you've been charged, and the fact that others on here have stated they have had the same problem, I think it would be worth it for you.
Good luck, and let us know if anything else happens.
Ghpr13:up

 

[tulsa agent]

i am telling you there is a known issue here. we agents at dish have been hounding out managers and our employee message boards about this, but they stick their ground saying there is no issue. they refuse to address that there is a spike in calls regarding this situation and reply that it is just our imagination and it may feel like its higher as we are getting different type of calls routed to our center these days since they closed mckeesport. in the workds of penn and teller, "bullsh*t". this issue arose the day they stuck all the VOD on channel 1 and made it impossible to lock them them out and protect them.

this needs to go to the FTA. dish is stealing from their customers. even if i as an agent believe the customer, i cannot adjust the cost. if i do, i will lose my job.

the only solution is to remove the phone cords and ethernet connections. yank them out.

 

[r10fret]

You aren't wrong about that, but there is another solution, cancel dish network all together if you don't want to have to deal with this kind of DDDCs~. The dish IT (information technology) dept in CO knows all about this screwup.

 

[tulsa agent]

charlie has no problem financing this screw up though on the backs up unsuspecting subscribers and firing the employees who adjust this off when they know the customer did not order it. well, he doesnt fire them. he has his hench men/women do it. i saw one account with a VOD order where the only rec is a 322 on the account. manager still refused to allow to be adjusted off. i got the account number saved and when my term date comes, which will, im dropping this account number and name of refusing manager and dates and notes of call in to the FTA.

 

[TheKrell]

i saw one account with a VOD order where the only rec is a 322 on the account.

Unbelievable! (I mean that rhetorically.) Do Dish SD receivers show the channel 1 crap?

 

[RussTC3]

I knew it.

We were charged for two VOD orders ($6.99 x 2 + tax) for the SAME movie. I knew no one here ordered it so I contacted customer support. The only thing I could figure is that someone changed the channel and accidentally hit 1 which put it to the VOD channel which would have made it possible to order.

But they would have still had to actually put in the order and go through the process (and we've never ordered a PPV movie through DISH in the 14 or so years -- yeah, I think it was 1996 -- we've been with them).

Anyways, I contacted DISH through their online chat and they said they would waive ONE movie as a "one-time courtesy" but couldn't do both. I said okay, pushed further, got nothing and just accepted that.

Should I inquiry further about getting the second one waived? I knew there was an issue but their policy is so horrible when it comes to crediting a PPV transaction.

Very annoying.

 

[Andrewwski]

I'd try calling and asking for the Loyalty department (even if you don't have intentions of canceling), and if that doesn't work, try the ceo AT echostar DOT com address.

What they did is completely wrong, they should fix it.

 

[Ghpr13]

I knew it.

We were charged for two VOD orders ($6.99 x 2 + tax) for the SAME movie. I knew no one here ordered it so I contacted customer support. The only thing I could figure is that someone changed the channel and accidentally hit 1 which put it to the VOD channel which would have made it possible to order.

But they would have still had to actually put in the order and go through the process (and we've never ordered a PPV movie through DISH in the 14 or so years -- yeah, I think it was 1996 -- we've been with them).

Anyways, I contacted DISH through their online chat and they said they would waive ONE movie as a "one-time courtesy" but couldn't do both. I said okay, pushed further, got nothing and just accepted that.

Should I inquiry further about getting the second one waived? I knew there was an issue but their policy is so horrible when it comes to crediting a PPV transaction.

Very annoying.

So far for the 13 months I been with Dish I've been pretty happy, but this VOD charges showing up on subscribers bills is very worrisome to me. With the # of posting in this thread, there does appear to be a problem somewhere. A problem the subscriber is left "holding the bag" while Dish "holds all the cards".
What bothers me the most is Dish refusal to even take a deeper look into the problem when someone calls into complain. Even with Insight when I had a problem right after getting my DVR where my teenage son watched 6 Adult movies in two nights, when I called in to discuss my bill and those PPV charges, Insight went ahead and credited my account for all 6 movies and then proceeded to tell how to lock out the PPV so it would not happen again. Now I have to say that Insight didn't have to do this...in my situation this was truly my fault for not making sure those channels were locked out in the first place.

Scott, do you have any comments on this issue? Do you feel it is a issue with Dish? Isn't there any recourse a subscriber can take if this happens? What kind of "evidence" does Dish have to prove that the charge was made by the sub?

Thanks.
Ghpr13
BTW: Even though I got all 6 movies credited back, I made my perverted son pay for all 6 of them anyway! You got to pay to play!!!

 

[KarenO]

Today we are having DirecTV installed in our home.

While DirecTV was being installed, and as I tried to figure out the best way to cancel DISH, I went to the online account and couldn't see where to cancel. I ended up in a chat with an agent again. This time, right off the bat, the person offered to reverse the charges on two more PPV. This is interesting, because the person who reversed the 11 (out of 23 or 24 all together), said it was a one time for life thing and that no one could reverse any more ever.

Now, two days later, suddenly someone is able to reverse two more at 6.99. They said it would take up to 48 hours to show on my account and I'll be surprised if it is there. That would leave 10 or 11 still that I am expected to pay for, when I know that no one in this house ordered them. When this person asked me if there is anything more they could do, I said thanks for the two more reverses, but yes, please tell me how to cancel the service and they said I'd need to chat with the loyalty department.

I did end up talking with the "loyalty" department via the online chat. The guy there "Gary" actually said that it could have been the neighbours UHF remote if it were on the same frequency as ours. (Their adult daughter said not, but I'd still like to find out if the parents say not too when they return from Hawaii. She said they had left for Hawaii about a week ago, and coincidentally that is around the time the last couple of movies were charged to our account.)

Gary (from loyalty) said we could change the frequency so this won't happen in the future. It is too late for us!

If somebody had said this on Friday, I might well have stayed with DISH. Instead, after talking with seven or eight people all together (four on the phone and the rest on chat), I have been so disappointed in the lack of concern for what has happened in our situation that I really think I'd think about giving up TV all together rather than staying with DISH. Even though "Gary" suggested the remote issue might be the problem, he didn't offer to credit back the rest of the VOD.

 

[articos]

I'd try calling and asking for the Loyalty department (even if you don't have intentions of canceling), and if that doesn't work, try the ceo AT echostar DOT com address.

What they did is completely wrong, they should fix it.

I'd say don't bother with Loyalty on this issue, go directly to CEO at echostar IF the front line reps or supervisors aren't able to fix it first. CEO tracks the number of calls they get on issues in order to escalate issues that need attention, and they are aware of this one. Be polite and patient, and they'll get it fixed. The more the higher levels report this issue, the better chances it gets looked into.

 

[Ghpr13]

...Scott, do you have any comments on this issue? Do you feel it is a issue with Dish? Isn't there any recourse a subscriber can take if this happens? What kind of "evidence" does Dish have to prove that the charge was made by the sub?...

Scott, please forgive me, I know you are busy, but I still would like to know your thoughts on this issue.

Respectfully,
Ghpr13

 

[Jhon69]

So far I see alot of subscribers getting pissed off because a Dish CSR can't reverse the charges.Well first you need to understand their are several departments of CSRs If you get the wrong one they will tell you they cannot do it! They are not authorized to do it!.For any charge reversals you need to be speaking to Dishnetwork's executive office and the only way to do that is to email ceo@dishnetwork.com,OK?.

And for all of you who got pissed off and switched to DirecTV? It's the same way over there except that department is called DirecTV's Retention department.So try to understand the way the system works and hopefully you won't get too pissed off.

 

[singkwan2004]

Sitting on their receivers and refusing to return them after you discontinue service is theft.

Charging VOD from customer with their receiver has no such feature also is theft.

 

[kazuma05]

This has been a growing trend that me and my fellow agents have noticed lately. Unfortunately dish has forbidden all normal customer service agents from waiving these charges. However there are a couple of effective methods that will help to you to get these charges reversed.

The first way is to tell an agent that you want to cancel because of the invalid VOD charges. They will transfer you to our loyalty department (WinBack/Retention). They are the only agents who have the authority to waive charge for VODs and service calls. This is the first year that dish has lost customers, so they will do what they can to try and save you.

If you have already talked to the loyalty department and they won't help you to your satisfaction, there is one more thing you can do. This is a last resort tactic, but if you tell dish that you are going to contact the BBB, an attorney, or a media outlet (such as a newspaper or TV station) in this matter, they will transfer you to the ERT department (executive resolution team). For those that have been charged for VODs without a phone line or broadband connected, or a VOD capable receiver should remind ERT these charges shouldn't have applied to your account in the first place. They will do what they can to avoid another lawsuit or more bad publicity.

They best way to avoid any PPV or VOD charges is to tell dish that you want the PPV credit limit on your account set to zero dollars (but only if you don't want any PPVs or VODs at all). If you also want to block all of the Adult channels you can request to have a code added to your account. Its called the "Adult Hide" code. If they don't want to add that code, then you should remind the agent you are speaking with that he or she is refusing to assist you. Refusing to assist a customer can lead up to termination for an agent.

 

[tulsa agent]

right on kazuma. perhaps we should give them ERT's direct number? im considering it. still up for that rematch on a game of pool in the break room? loser has to posts ERT number here lol.

 

[gdarwin]

They best way to avoid any PPV or VOD charges is to tell dish that you want the PPV credit limit on your account set to zero dollars (but only if you don't want any PPVs or VODs at all).

Just called in and did this. Don't want to go through this hassle...

Just to document. No hassle, no problem, done....

 

[kazuma05]

The process of setting a customers PPV credit limit to zero dollars is no longer an option for front line customer services agents anymore. We always had a way to lower the limit at the customer's request until this year. It can still be done, but in order to it now the agents have to hunt down a supervisor and explain to he or she why the customer wants to lower the PPV credit limit. I really wish they would give us (the agents) that and and all the other abilities we had before back.

 

[TheKrell]

I just had it done this morning via chat. The agent had to get a supervisor to reverse my single erroneous VOD charge, and she set the credit limit to 0$ right away. Perhaps her supervisor was still looking over her shoulder.

 

[red hazard]

Purchase History Incorrect

I just checked my purchase history and they show I ordered VOD on 7/29 Hot Tub Time Mac $6.99. I never ordered or saw this movie and don't care for this type of genre anyway. I assume that VOD is PIN protected just like the PPV movies, correct? I asked the CSR in Chat that question twice but never got an answer. Anyway, there are two adults in the house and only I know the PIN. When I went to Chat, all they said was that they would put a note in my account which did not leave me with "warm fuzzies". I see that those who got this straightened out had to spend a lot of time (40 mins). I won't do that. I will just quit and go to DirecTV. Wish others would do the same. I cannot reward Dish Network's arrogance in handling these problems. My next bill will be the "acid test".

 

[pabeader]

i drive around with my uhf remote. i press the number 1 button, followed by select and then select again. you now have a VOD coming in on tv2. unless you are viewing tv2 you will have no way of knowing it's happening.