I've worked for two Dish retailers in the last 10 years and have seen a lot of changes in the last 5 years. I must say some of these have been for the better, but most have only made selling their Dish harder. Its this reason that I've moved away from selling their products.
In the old days Dish treated their retailers like they were their customers (their money makers). Today they treat their retailers like they are second class. In the old days we could call to make modifications to work orders. Now they require that the retailer have the customer on the line. Even for simple things like adding a second phone number we have to have the customer on the line. You can imagine how the customer see's this. I just got their credit card number, social, DOB and probably the same pin they also use for their ATM and now Dish is treating me like I'm a stranger calling. I've had more than one customer cancel the whole order over this. I know some retailers were stealing deals from other retailers, but as long as its our customer and we can verify the information it shouldn't matter. I could easily call and pretend that I'm the customer and Dish wouldn't know differently. I must admit I was less likely to go though the hassle of calling the customer back and I was more likely to just let the installer deal with it. I totally see their theory, but their theory lacks logic. For every rule there are unintended consequences.
With Dish's long list of disclosers that have been added over the years retailers HAVE to read, they also have to state that they are an authorized retailer for Dish. Dish request a list of recorded calls and if disclosers are not read verbatim they fail the call and can possibly lose their retailer status. This is all for legal reasons to avoid being sued and to reduce customer churn. Dish wants to distance themselves from their retailers so if they are sued they can pin it on the retailer.
Most retailers have moved to selling ancillary products because they can no longer make it on selling Dish alone. Advertising cost combined with Dish's restrictions such as not alowing certain cards, requiring first bill up front, jacking up credit requirements in apartment, not letting addresses without 911 go through, requiring credit card autopay and getting online bonus credits, not letting former customers with a small bill sign up, having rates close to Directv and much more make selling their service too difficult. In the old days I could get double digit sales everyday. Today a Dish sales person is lucky to get 6. The retailer I worked for can't train people fast enough for the number of people quitting.
I think Dish is shooting themselves in the foot and without their retailers they wouldn't be where they are.
In the old days Dish treated their retailers like they were their customers (their money makers). Today they treat their retailers like they are second class. In the old days we could call to make modifications to work orders. Now they require that the retailer have the customer on the line. Even for simple things like adding a second phone number we have to have the customer on the line. You can imagine how the customer see's this. I just got their credit card number, social, DOB and probably the same pin they also use for their ATM and now Dish is treating me like I'm a stranger calling. I've had more than one customer cancel the whole order over this. I know some retailers were stealing deals from other retailers, but as long as its our customer and we can verify the information it shouldn't matter. I could easily call and pretend that I'm the customer and Dish wouldn't know differently. I must admit I was less likely to go though the hassle of calling the customer back and I was more likely to just let the installer deal with it. I totally see their theory, but their theory lacks logic. For every rule there are unintended consequences.
With Dish's long list of disclosers that have been added over the years retailers HAVE to read, they also have to state that they are an authorized retailer for Dish. Dish request a list of recorded calls and if disclosers are not read verbatim they fail the call and can possibly lose their retailer status. This is all for legal reasons to avoid being sued and to reduce customer churn. Dish wants to distance themselves from their retailers so if they are sued they can pin it on the retailer.
Most retailers have moved to selling ancillary products because they can no longer make it on selling Dish alone. Advertising cost combined with Dish's restrictions such as not alowing certain cards, requiring first bill up front, jacking up credit requirements in apartment, not letting addresses without 911 go through, requiring credit card autopay and getting online bonus credits, not letting former customers with a small bill sign up, having rates close to Directv and much more make selling their service too difficult. In the old days I could get double digit sales everyday. Today a Dish sales person is lucky to get 6. The retailer I worked for can't train people fast enough for the number of people quitting.
I think Dish is shooting themselves in the foot and without their retailers they wouldn't be where they are.
