I think it's legitimate to point out when a company charges a fee that other companies don't.
Directv and most cable companies don't charge you to ship their equipment back if you cancel. In Directv's case, it's an apples to apples comparison- both satellite companies, both want you to ship equipment back when you cancel, one pays them shipping cost themselves and the other doesn't.
In the case of cable companies, they usually have local offices where you have to drop equipment off, and Dish doesn't have local offices, *but* it is interesting that Dish finds a way to get you the equipment to begin with through a local person and yet doesn't have the same local person pick the equipment up when you cancel or let you drop off the equipment at wherever his office is.
People can argue that the charge is justified or that it's not all they want, but what is going to stick out to many consumers is two things. The first thing is that this is a charge that's unique to Dish (And thus is a negative to be considered when choosing a provider). The second thing is that this is a charge that hits when you've cancelled your service, which one often does because one can no longer afford it, which makes it a double whammy, or when one is moving and having to deal with a bunch of other expenses.
The other thing that comes into play is the pure logistics of getting the shipping label and box (In my case, they were not shipped at all, and I only became aware of that because I followed up to see what was going on), packaging them up, getting them to the local parcel place, and getting them mailed up, which often comes as you are trying to get a bunch of things done for a move or whatever. I'm already on like day 14 after cancelling and don't have the label and box in hand yet. I'm glad my move got delayed (Well, not in general, just when it comes to this specific issue), because otherwise I'd have had to take the equipment with me to mail out or have bought my own box and addressed my own label. Had I simply not followed up and forgotten in the general chaos, I would have never received a box or label, because they weren't sent when they should have been, and been charged for equipment and gotten a big fat overdraft fee and maybe not had money I need to eat or pull off the move. Now when and if the label and box do finally arrive, I will have to get them turned around and out the door very quickly to avoid that.
You contrast that with the cable company where, when I quit, I simply drove a few blocks to the local office a day or two, dropped the equipment off, and took a receipt home- no charge. The cable company actually (Granted a few months later) mailed me a check. So, yeah, the cable experience was better there. Less potential balls to get dropped on their end, less potential balls for me to drop on my end, an easier simpler process, and *no charge*.
Of course, signing up for Dish was easy as pie and signing up for cable the last time I did turned into a long involved saga that wound up as an article in the Consumerist. So, to the guy that said all these companies have issues, that is absolutely true. However, I don't think the fact that "they all have issues" is a good reason to bar people from complaining. They don't all have *the same* issues. Cable is harder to get started with, Dish is harder to leave, in my experience, for example.
All of these companies can do better. But the guy who started the thread is dealing with Dish right now, so of course he is going to be talking about Dish. And, you know, this was not a fee Dish had when he signed up or I signed up. We signed up thinking we'd be able to mail our equipment back for free should we ever have to/decide to cancel. They changed that on us midstream.
I wasn't going to complain about this. My thread down the page is purely about logistics and delivered in a non-complaining "How do I get this done?" sort of way. However, I see all these people piling on this poor guy who has, I feel, a fair complaint, and I felt like I should jump in and defend him.
Also, just looking at this from the perspective of Dish as a business, I think it might be one of those things that they aren't thinking through long-term. They save like $20 a customer as said customer leaves. But how many of those customers *would have* come back and paid Dish tons of money for years to come if not for their last memory with Dish being unpleasant? A lot of people just cancel because they can't afford TV for a while, are moving temporarily to a place where they can't get a good line of sight or are splitting a television bill, want to explore other television options for a while (Many see how the cable company is in their new town, etc.), etc.; and are likely to return. They aren't permanently lost to Dish, at least not necessarily, but this type of nickel and diming at a bad time might be something that they think about when they are considering returning and tilts them toward not returning.
I got an offer after leaving that would have given me $150 worth of credits from television bills if I uncancelled my cancellation and possibly upgraded equipment (It was unclear, they said free HD for life, but I don't know if that came with equipment). So they were ready to spend at least $150 to retain me now, but they couldn't pay $20 to have their own equipment shipped back and be in my good graces in case I consider signing up again later? It's kind of weird, really. In my case, I am not sure this fee will stop me from signing up for Dish again one day, but I know some people it almost certainly does stop, and with me it'll be one of many factors I will consider.
Plus, from Dish's perspective, think about the negative word of mouth this creates. They are the one television company that does this. I mentioned it to a relative of mine, not to complain, just in a general discussion about the logistics of moving, and I could visibly see that he was shocked and appalled and then he asked me what company it was, presumably to make sure he doesn't do business with them himself in the future. This is the same company that sends out all those "refer a friend" cards to subscribers several times a year. And I'm not even actively trying to complain or spread bad word of mouth, I just happened to mention it while discussing other things. The guy who started this thread and people like him are probably actively complaining loudly to everyone they know. But Dish is saving a $20 one-time expense. I don't see how it's worth it to them given the bad will and bad word of mouth it creates.
