CONFIRMED(?)- Dish Discontinuing Absolute HD Package
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My answering machine takes all my calls, unless I recognize the Caller ID. Life is less stressful that way.
hall,
The number that showed up on my Caller ID was 800-333-3474. However, I found that there is another number for the special team on this project, 888-672-8452.
Interestingly enough, the CSR that I worked with was probably the best Dish CSR that I have spoken with. Very knowledgeable. No hesitation or guessing. Located in Denver. Spoke english with no perceivable accent, a far cry from the HP tech support person that I dealt with earlier this week regarding the hard drive failure on my 5 week old mini pc.
Joe
The number that showed up on my Caller ID was 800-333-3474. However, I found that there is another number for the special team on this project, 888-672-8452.
Interestingly enough, the CSR that I worked with was probably the best Dish CSR that I have spoken with. Very knowledgeable. No hesitation or guessing. Located in Denver. Spoke english with no perceivable accent, a far cry from the HP tech support person that I dealt with earlier this week regarding the hard drive failure on my 5 week old mini pc.
Joe
The package lasted 2 years after they discontinued it.
Interestingly enough, if you became a new sub with the pack (like myself) and didn't do anything to necessitate re-upping your contract (unfortunately I did)... then they maintained the package until the contract would have expired.
If you guys remember, they did nearly the same thing when they said we had to switch to "turbo HD".
They got rid of a lot of HD absolute subs back then.
Only thing different that I can think of was that they didn't call. They sent out letters.
My letter offered me 3 months of HBO and showtime plus 6 months of HD platinum for free, just for the inconvenience.All I had to do was call in and verify my account information.
I just ignored it and nothing happened.
I kind of feel thats whats going on now.
They got rid of a lot of HD absolute subs back then.
Only thing different that I can think of was that they didn't call. They sent out letters.
My letter offered me 3 months of HBO and showtime plus 6 months of HD platinum for free, just for the inconvenience.All I had to do was call in and verify my account information.
I just ignored it and nothing happened.
I kind of feel thats whats going on now.
I'm an Absolute sub and I have not gotten a call. I actually expected something to happen to get rid of the Absolute package--my price actually went *down* after the last price changes (I only have 1 DVR and no other receivers) and I've been getting new channels like EPIX.
I'm going to be traveling to a funeral tomorrow so I coached my wife about how she should respond and what offers she should get from Dish. Thank you to the people in this thread that have talked about what Dish has offered them.
I'm going to be traveling to a funeral tomorrow so I coached my wife about how she should respond and what offers she should get from Dish. Thank you to the people in this thread that have talked about what Dish has offered them.
I am another "Absoluter". This has probably already been asked, but I am not going to read 400 posts to find it. If you get the call and say, "OK, I am going to switch to DTV" I wonder what deal you would get? I wouldn't switch but I might bluff.
Absoluters got a great bargain for years. Now that it is over man up and realize you got to save a lot of money while you had it. You are free to change providers if you think someone else will give you a better deal. No one will have any sympathy for you claiming Dish is ripping you off by not continuing a special forever. It is not like they sold it to you last week and this week you are in a 2 year contract with no package.
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:up
....though I wouldn't call it a "special". It was/is a package. But it was certainly priced as a "promo" package and those subs got to enjoy that price for years. At some time you knew this was going to end.
"man up" ? Dish offered a package and people subscribed to it. It's not like people got it through some glitch or error on Dish's part.
Next time Dish raises rates or fees, I expect you to "man up" and keep your mouth shut. Yes ?
It was the threat of going to the local news complaining that they were being ripped off by Dish that was over the top.
So, if there isn't a timetable, and they are not leaving messages, why even bother answering?
I'm going to wait to the very, very last minute.
I'm not volunteering to give up my Absolute
"I am Locutus of Dish. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service us." "You will be assimilated."
Ghpr13
"I am Locutus of Dish. Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been, is over. From this time forward, you will service us." "You will be assimilated."
Ghpr13
I'm an absoluter, and I don't like the sound of that!
no call, yet...
I'm a sub that had Direct tv for primary service, but maintained Dish's HD Absolute pack for the last few years because of the presumption that a Dish honored Grandfathered packages. No joke, I figured I could afford the $35 a month and when I moved out on my own would have the best/cheapest way to get ESPN in HD. I feel suckered, but just last week got a new HD DVR through direct and put the "old 21" in my room. The only thing Direct is missing is the Arts channel and CCTV News, they even added Travel HD recently. I figure if I preempted them and cancelled now they may try and charge me something; plus it may not filter into the pissed off former HD Absolute subscriber category.
It wasn't a special, it was just a new package.
A lot of you apparently don't understand the history of the Absolute package. Not sure when it was first sold but I thought around February of 2008 and only sold through August of 2008. It wasn't the bargain it seems now as it was early in the adoption of HD by the sat & cable companies. The first ones that signed up had very few channels. Even in Aug of 2008 there were not that many channels and the Platinum package was not that attractive. Since it was still early in the HD adoption, PQ was questionable on many of the channels and there was still mostly SD content on some of them. While it ended up being a great deal, it wasn't that at the beginning. Even the hardware was new and
While it was a nice gesture for Dish to include all HD channels added through Feb of 2009, it wasn't totally altruistic on their part. Understand that the early adopters were taking a risk with a 2 year contract and the pricing was about all the market would bear at that time. This package gave Dish a jump start on HD marketing and helped put them far ahead of cable and D*. While it worked out well for us subs it worked out even better for Dish.
oggusfoo said:
You paid 35 dollars a month for the past few years to save money. That makes absolutely no sense... Pun intended.
And for further historical info....check out this poll in Feb of 2008. A total of 37 early adopters responded that they had subscribed to dishHD (only). And BTW one of those 37 was me
posted 2-3-08...
"I just switched to the $29.99 dishHD (only) package with locals via chat. All up $40.97 + taxes. It's nice to know my monthly Dish bill in 2008 will not be higher than my average monthly electric bill last year
I applaud Dish for realizing that many of the folks who have invested in HD equipment don't see HD as an "add on" to SD anymore. This new dishHD (only) package allows us to get all of the Dish HD content without the burden of the SD baggage.
FWIW my contract ran out in January. I was ready to switch to D* to get my locals in HD when E* announced this HD only package at the CES. I'm glad I held off D* is still stuck in the "HD is an add on" business model. So getting ANY HD w/ DVR capability costs a lot more with D*."
OBTW as we witness the demise of this great HD experiment/package, my goal remains the same --- maximum HD with the minimum SD. I'm still fed up with paying for junky SD channels I don't watch.
Talon Dancer
