CONFIRMED(?)- Dish Discontinuing Absolute HD Package

[Timpanogos]

A Dish subscriber since April 1997, with these changes I will be leaving. My married son has Netflix and streams Hulu on his LCD with a small Apple PC and it is slick. I may just do that now. Netflix is the ultimate 'a la carte and at $9 a month a no-brainer.


Alas, I have been pissed off for quite some time now with dish charging me monthly rental fees for three receivers I own outright. This is the straw that broke the camel's back.

Goodbye Dish, hello Netflix and Hulu and Youtube.

 

[lparsons21]

A Dish subscriber since April 1997, with these changes I will be leaving. My married son has Netflix and streams Hulu on his LCD with a small Apple PC and it is slick. I may just do that now. Netflix is the ultimate 'a la carte and at $9 a month a no-brainer.

I love Netflix, but Hulu PQ and sound are just not that good, imo. On all my equipment that will allow me to see Hulu, the picture is a bit jerky while every other stream from Netflix, Amazon and others is smooth and very much better.

 

[DodgerKing]

make you your mind, do companies "never" force a sub to change packages, or do they "pretty much always" allow a customer to grandfather. there is a lot of space between never and pretty much always.

There is? Never forced to change and always allow to keep mean the same thing, don't they?

my wife only eats at mcdonalds when they have the mcrib. its the only thing she likes there. i guess they should never discontinue it and sell it to her year round at our local McD's, but not to everyone else. they should grandfather her into it since its all she ever buys from there.

Yeah, that is the same thing.

Just when I thought the medical and auto insurance analogy was one of the worst I have seen in another thread, this one just topped that.

Can you enlightenment me to how the McDonald's comparison is even remotely similar to this? Keep in mind, one requires a contractual agreement, the other does not. One require monthly fees for a particular agreed service, the other does not. And, when this package was started, did they say anything about, "For a limited time only, at participating localities"?

This analogy is so far out in left field, I don't even know how to respond.

 

[yaz96]

there is no difference if the subs and dish agreed to the terms of the commitment, which states very clearly that programming and price is subject to change. the commitment does not say anywhere on it that hd absolute will be here for the full 24 months at 29.99. nor does it guarantee the grandfathering of any package.

it is very clear that the removal of hd absolute falls under the commitment terms since programming is subject to change.

I would never do business with a company run by you.

 

[DodgerKing]

It's not so different than the Cell Phone Co's getting ready to dump their unlimited data plans. Another gravy train about to be derailed.

Really? I guess you missed a previous post of mine?

The cell phone companies still allow those who currently have the unlimited plan to keep the unlimited plan. How is this "not so different"?

 

[DodgerKing]

I would never do business with a company run by you.

Exactly. People are excusing it because they are ALLOWED to do so. I am arguing the point, SHOULD they do so. Good customer service is key to a successful business. This is no way to treat subs that have agreed to terms that they set.

 

[tulsa agent]

I would never do business with a company run by you.

yet you did business with dish. who by all means has reach levels of evilness way beyond what i could ever dream of.

 

[tulsa agent]

There is? Never forced to change and always allow to keep mean the same thing, don't they?
Yeah, that is the same thing.

Just when I thought the medical and auto insurance analogy was one of the worst I have seen in another thread, this one just topped that.

Can you enlightenment me to how the McDonald's comparison is even remotely similar to this? Keep in mind, one requires a contractual agreement, the other does not. One require monthly fees for a particular agreed service, the other does not. And, when this package was started, did they say anything about, "For a limited time only, at participating localities"?

This analogy is so far out in left field, I don't even know how to respond.

yeah, the mcdonalds analogy was completely in jest. i was trying to find the most out there disconnected analogy i could. success.

ok, you want a real fair comparison? how many cable companies across the united states this past year have told their customers they are ending the analog plans and requiring them to upgrade to a new digital tier service and to get new digital equipment?

 

[DodgerKing]

Last note before I leave. As a DirecTV sub, this bother me because I want to see Dish do well. Competition makes my DirecTV service better and keeps my prices down as well. Since all companies allow grandfathered packages to continue for the life of a service, I don't want to see anyone do away with this practice. Once one does it, it opens up a door for others to follow.

 

[tulsa agent]

Exactly. People are excusing it because they are ALLOWED to do so. I am arguing the point, SHOULD they do so. Good customer service is key to a successful business. This is no way to treat subs that have agreed to terms that they set.

what terms are there that are set that state anything about grandfathering? the only terms i see are the ones that protect dish that say packages pricing blah blah blah.

by the terms of the contract agreed to by the customer and by dish, this is the proper way to treat customers.

i am not defending dish. i know it seems i am. but in reality i am hoping to point out these terms so that others may see it before hand and see how the company is before making any commitment choices.

 

[Bob Haller]

Last note before I leave. As a DirecTV sub, this bother me because I want to see Dish do well. Competition makes my DirecTV service better and keeps my prices down as well. Since all companies allow grandfathered packages to continue for the life of a service, I don't want to see anyone do away with this practice. Once one does it, it opens up a door for others to follow.

YEP and so much for HD for life........

E can no longer be trusted, and charlie is a pick pocket. espically since I still havent got a refund after cancelation.......

wonder how long that will take? with all the churn the refund department is probably overwhelmed

 

[3HaloODST]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but since DISH is discontinuing one grandfathered package, does that mean my grandmother who still has DISH Family, will be told it is discontinued? If so, F*********** DISH for real.

I mean, overall I like DISH a lot, but this is pretty crappy for them to do IMO.

 

[yaz96]

make you your mind, do companies "never" force a sub to change packages, or do they "pretty much always" allow a customer to grandfather. there is a lot of space between never and pretty much always.

my wife only eats at mcdonalds when they have the mcrib. its the only thing she likes there. i guess they should never discontinue it and sell it to her year round at our local McD's, but not to everyone else. they should grandfather her into it since its all she ever buys from there.

That's completely different, try using some logic if you want to enter an argument.

 

[tulsa agent]

in my opinion, if i had absolute and was losing it, i would jump ship. i would find myself a non subscription required dvr, and use netflix, torrents, and hulu and OTA. plain and simple. its crappy that the choice closest to what you had will cost you 40 bucks a month more. it sux, but what can you say. dish is allowed to do it. but you are also allowed to leave.

 

[tulsa agent]

os p

That's completely different, try using some logic if you want to enter an argument.

i already posted that analogy was in jest. geeze. there is a real one i did post about the cable companies though ending their analog services and requiring digital tier subscription and equipment.

 

[Hall]

Well, I think it would be crazy to cancel on principle. If they offer you a deal for 12 months, just take it and cancel afterwards.

But if people start cancelling when Dish tells this, they could re-consider. If people take the 12-mo deal and then cancel, Dish won't realize (nor care) that it's because they dropped Absolute.

 

[yaz96]

os p

i already posted that analogy was in jest. geeze. there is a real one i did post about the cable companies though ending their analog services and requiring digital tier subscription and equipment.

There is no additional cost for the subs. The cable companies are providing converter boxes for free. So, your analogy there is incorrect as well.

 

[yaz96]

what terms are there that are set that state anything about grandfathering? the only terms i see are the ones that protect dish that say packages pricing blah blah blah.

by the terms of the contract agreed to by the customer and by dish, this is the proper way to treat customers.

i am not defending dish. i know it seems i am. but in reality i am hoping to point out these terms so that others may see it before hand and see how the company is before making any commitment choices.

This, is where you are wrong.

 

[tulsa agent]

There is no additional cost for the subs. The cable companies are providing converter boxes for free. So, your analogy there is incorrect as well.

they are providing one digital set top box and two additional digital adapters for free. anything else beyond that will have a monthly rental cost. so for some customers it will be free, for others, it will not.

 

[zim2dive]

No phone call yet for me... any idea how long we have left on Absolute? I've only seen details of what 1 person was offered as a replacement.. anyone else?

I've said all along, that I'd stay with Dish as long as they kept Absolute (even if they did not add any channels.. I have all the ones I care about already) .. but once they discontinued it, I was back on the market and would evaluate all competitor offerings... based on a very non-thorough look at the current packages/channel mixes it is unlikely I'd stay with Dish without significant discounts that do not lock me in to any long term contract.