Dish CSR Refused My Upgrade!

[mhenigan]

Here is my Saga as of earlier this evening...

I have been a DishNetwork Customer for several years now. I have caught the HD bug and gotten myself two brand new HDTV’s. I have been reading comments on what service is the best for HD etc. I usually make an astute decision when I buy or order new services for my home.

I decided that we would stay with Dish and upgrade ourselves to HD Content. I was preparing to buy a 921 for the living room tv (even thought the 942 has been announced) and needed to get the 811 receiver for my bedroom HDTV along with the HD Pack and satellite.

I called E* and after waiting on hold for over 10 minutes got a gentleman, named JT. I said I wanted to upgrade our service to HD and would need to have an install with the new equipment. He checked my account and then said I would not qualify for an upgrade as I had already used your “DishingItUp” service!

I was flabbergasted!!! I said I didn’t use the promotion as it never existed when I upgraded the 501 (which I had for years) to the 510 (as it had a larger hard drive space). He insisted I had and there wasn’t anything he could do?????

I repeated what he had just told me and I said...You are telling me that you can’t and won’t help me with getting upgraded to HD? He said that’s right you upgraded once and you can’t do it again!

Well, let me tell you...I was so mad and upset that I repeated this whole saga to my partner. His reaction? We are leaving to go to DirecTV. I said let me try to get this resolved before we leave Dish.

So I sent an email to ceo to resolve this matter. I want to stay with Dish, but if their company is not willing to sell us HD service and give me better customer service, then next week we will leave DishNetwork and go with a competitor, who are GIVING me $’s and a terrific sign-up package to leave them!

I am so mad about this, makes me want to just Dish the Dish right here and now and say...Screw em!

Mike

 

[korsjs]

welcome to satelliteguys.us make sure you come back and visit often. lots of good info and other stuff here.

i took this suggestion from scott (webmaster of this site) and it did get me better customer service with the regular reps. before you start talking to them, ask them for their customer service rep id. everytime i talked to them the id was three digits. that way you have a record of who you talked to and what they told you. it might come in handy.

 

[long_time_DNC]

You could also try talking to a different CSR...sometimes that works.

 

[Fgsilva]

You could also try talking to a different CSR...sometimes that works.

So, did you get a reply from the ceo? When I emailed them because I wanted a DVR upgrade I got a really fast reply. Also, if you're really serious about HD not sure if Dish is the best place to go, unless you're getting you're local OTA. Direct at least now has all four major US networks in HD (if you live in certain areas, although there's always ways to "move" to the right areas. if you don't...). Or you can do the "canadian solution" like I did and get Expressvu that has both East and West feeds of the US HD networks plus some other interesting channels like "pridevision". Where I live I can't get the OTA signal for the networks, so I had to resource to Expressvu for that, but still kept dish for their pathetic HD package.

 

[hpman247]

yeah the ceo works. Jason Utz got me what I need no problem.

 

[bcshields]

CSR Roulette.. one out of six has the gunpower of knowledge.

 

[mhenigan]

Got Results!

Hi,

thanks for the help and support everyone, will take those suggestions under advisement

Anyhow...I got a call just after lunch today by Exec offices staff person, Bee Griffin. She profusley apologized for the run aropund and rude reception I got. Then....

We are getting an 811 receiver to replace the 510 and we wil be buying a 921 as soon as we find a good spot to get one. There is an installation charge of $50, but after I paid upfront for it she gave me an immediate $25 credit and will give me another $25 when the 510 is received back. I have the installer coming on Monday Jan 31st for the install. I could have had the install done as early as this Wednesday, but that wasnt a good time for me.

All in all, a good response. I thank the boards for providing me the necessary info on who and when to email :0

You guys are a godsend to satellite customers!

Mike

 

[korsjs]

happy to hear you got results. make sure you come back and visit often.

 

[caesar gdi]

Mike,

If I was you I would try to sell that 510 yourself. it is a very popular receiver and you should be able to get 100 to 150 bucks easy.

 

[BobMurdoch]

I never get upset when I hit a brick wall with a CSR. I just dig in and demand that I talk to a supervisor. I had a problem reactivating a 4900 that I purchased because they say that the unit I had was leased. I had had two and returned the one that was leased when I had my account switched to the "non lease" variety. Bottom line, I returned the "owned" unit (they were both 4900s and I had no idea which was which). After 15 minutes of a CSR telling me they couldn't help me, I got to a supervisor who acknowledged that they had my original return on the account. They kept me on hold for 10 minutes, but by the end of the call all was fixed.

When you hear the word "no" just stick to your guns until you get the answer you want. Now if I could just get this technique to work with my wife

 

[thiggin2]

I had a problem reactivating a 4900 that I purchased because they say that the unit I had was leased. I had had two and returned the one that was leased when I had my account switched to the "non lease" variety.

Hmmm I didn't know they leased the 4900. I thought they started the lease thing when the newer generation receivers came out(3 digit).

 

[BobMurdoch]

I grabbed the first lease deal they had back in May 2000. It was called the "Digital Dynamite" plan and gave you a 4900 and a 2700 for the $5 a month lease charge. I added another 4900 that I purchased to cover 3 TVs. Eventually I added 4 PVRs to my account that I bought (well, one was free but is mine as I re-upped for two years back in 11/2003). I sent back the 4900 and the 2700 when I got off the lease plan (both receivers were sitting in my closet at that point), but evidently I sent back the 4900 I "owned" and kept the one I "leased" by mistake. I deactivated the one receiver but then reactivated this year when I added a TV to the basement. Big problem at first since they said it was a leased receiver that should have been returned. After 20 minutes they finally figured out what happened and switched them on the computer and activated my receiver.