Dish Extended Warranty - Not All Dish Equipment Covered?

[DJ Rob]

I thought I would pass on what I found out today about the $5.99 a month Dish Network Extended Warranty...it seems not everything Dish is covered after all.

I signed up for the extended warranty last year because a Dish Tech Support person suggested I add it to cover the $1,200 Dish 34" HDTV I bought from them after having problems with the first one they gave me and eventually having it swapped out.

I bought the monitor directly from Dish in Nov '04 and it was swapped out in the summer of '05 after sitting dead in a repair shop most of that time waiting for parts that never came.

I was told at the time the manufacturer's warranty only covers a year from the original purchase date so the Dish Tech said after Nov '05, the Dish extended warranty would cover the monitor as long as I paid the $5.99 a month.

The Tech at the time also said that the extended warranty covers any Dish equipment that has the Dish logo on it (including monitors).

Today, I called Dish because the monitor they gave me last summer died after just 8 or so months of light use.

The first Tech I talked to told me that they changed their extended warranty to not include the monitors they sold because they had so many problems with them. Say what???

He said the current exclusions are on their web site and they can make changes at anytime to their warranty. He also said there was provision in the exclusions that says that equipment not currently stocked by DISH Network are not covered either.
WHAT???

I didn't ask further about that but it makes me wonder if that means any receiver that isn't currently being produced is not covered either...

I asked to speak to a supervisor and she confirmed that Dish monitors are not covered under the extended warranty. As I talked to her, I looked on the Dish web site and their monitors were listed under exclusions. The supervisor said that Pocketdish units were also not covered under the extended warranty.

I do not know if Dish has changed their exclusions on their extended warranty since last year. I never got an official copy of it at the time. I do know why I signed up for it and what I was told by them last year it would cover.

After talking to the supervisor and being told I was out of luck, I asked to talk to the Executive Office.

The person in the Executive Office said that technically I got the swapout monitor only a few months ago and it was well within the manufacturer's one year warranty - so it's covered. He said he had to send an email to Thomson, the manufacturer of the monitor and I'll hear from them in the next 48 hours to get it repaired.

This whole experience makes me wonder how good the extended warranty really is and what it is they really have to cover legally....if any receivers/dish equipment are discontinued or have a high failure rate, can they be excluded from the warranty at any time?

 

[riffjim4069]

The 2nd biggest factor in my not purchasing a 7" PocketDish is due it is not covered under the DHPP warranty.

 

[DJ Rob]

I got a 2 year extended warranty on my iPod for $50.
Dish can make that in less than a year on what they charge...

I hope that they are making sure to have the CSRs inform people that the pocketdish is not covered.

I called Dish again today about a billing issue and another CSR told me my monitor is covered under the extended warranty. So they are still 'misinforming" customers about it.

Can anyone verify the info the Tech person at Dish told me about how Dish can make changes at anytime to their exteneded warranty? And how the equipment that is discontinued can be denied (like older receivers)?

 

[Doccers]

I got a 2 year extended warranty on my iPod for $50.
Dish can make that in less than a year on what they charge...

I hope that they are making sure to have the CSRs inform people that the pocketdish is not covered.

I called Dish again today about a billing issue and another CSR told me my monitor is covered under the extended warranty. So they are still 'misinforming" customers about it.

Can anyone verify the info the Tech person at Dish told me about how Dish can make changes at anytime to their exteneded warranty? And how the equipment that is discontinued can be denied (like older receivers)?

I can't comment much about the monitors, because honestly I know very little about them and have yet to get a call reguarding them (Luck of the draw I suppose).

As for DHPP and not covering things, with the pocketdish we were trained pretty thoroughly that DHPP does NOT cover it, nor do we do any support on it - it's Archos' product. I am going to contact the training department to make sure that everyone in my center gets the heads up about the monitors, and see if there's any reccomended way to get them repaired outside of warranty.

As for receivers being denied, I can only think of one, and I'm not 100% sure it's completely denied - the JVC. it was a VHS recorder built into a receiver sold directly by JVC (the home shopping company). I've only seen one (the one we have in the training department - I don't even know if it still works), and I've never heard of anyone in my entire department getting a call about one.

We did have a run awhile ago with 7100/7200 receivers, where we ran out of them at the warehouse, so any that were coming back under warranty were being replaced with 501's, unless the customer specifically asked for a 7100/7200 back. (we now have enough 7100 7200's so we are no longer doing that AFAIK).

The model 2000 we also discontinued during the smartcard upgrade - we just replaced them directly with upgraded receivers, warranty or no.

Those are the only real exceptions I can think of, and I can't imagine anything else being dropped from under DHPP, as we make everything else ourselves. (We did have a series of DP Twin LNBF's we were using for awhile made by ChannelMaster, those wound up going bad pretty consistantly on us. It's not covered under DHPP, but we will replace any CM-DP-Twin's reguardless of warranty status).

And of course pocketdish, but we never had that under DHPP to begin with, and it's been drilled into every TSR's head that it's not covered by DHPP, don't give our customers the impression that it's covered under DHPP, have them contact Archos, etc etc etc.

I'll see what I can find out about the monitors though.

[edit] The only other thing I can think of, is with receivers and software versions. We don't keep every software upgrade we've ever written available on the sats, because, uh, we've done alot of those through the years. If you have an old model 1000 with software from 1997, and you plug it in and try to download the upgrade, you'll find it won't download - and you'll also find that we won't cover that under warranty. I beleive we only keep software versions about 2 years back or so available on the sats, but please don't quote me on that as I don't know for certain.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I had a customer back in September with a simmilar issue on a DISH 34 inch HD monitor.

Origionally the guy called Dish, and Dish inturn told the customer to call back the origional retailer and have me swap it out

So the customer calls me back and wants it replaced, I told the customer that when he purchased the monitor I sold it to him at a discounted price, and part of the discount was the understanding that I did not provide warranty service on the monitor and any warranty work would be through Thompson.

So the customer calls Dish back and they inturn had someone from Executive offices try to call me to get me to swap out the monitor. They said they had no way of shipping one directly to the customer. So I told them no problem, ship me a replacement monitor and I will give it to the customer and you can pay to ship the defective one back. I am not buying another monitor to swap out because I don't want to be stuck with the same problem this customer is going through.

So finally Echostar gave me a $1200 equipment credit on my dealer account, and I inturn simply cut a check to the customer. The last I heard, Thompson still had the Tv at one of their repair facilities.

 

[Claude Greiner]

As far as DHPP extended warranties, it covers all your receivers, DISH Network branded switches, Remotes and LNB's

Heres a list of Subsituted equipment that I have been seeing when Dish cannot replace the product....

DISH 921-------------------------------------> DISH 942
DISHPlayer 7100----------------------------> DISH 501
DISH 522--------------------------------------> DISH 625
Model 1000/2700/2800/3900/3000------>Model 3900 or DISH 301
DISH 301---------------------------------------> DISH 311
DISH 501---------------------------------------> DISH 508
Model 4000/4700/5000---------------------->DISH 501/508
JVCDVHS----------------------------------------->DISH 508
Model 6000-------------------------------------->DISH 811
Model 2000--------------------------------------->DISH 301

 

[DJ Rob]

Thanks for the info. I have a little more confidence about keeping the extended warranty at least for my receiver. Maybe the CSR was trying to make an excuse for me being told the monitor was covered.

I wish I had never bought the monitor. It is junk and Thomson when contacted directly, tries to duck the warranty work since their name is not on it and refers you back to Dish. I wonder how many were sold? It sounds like Dish maybe got burned carrying those.

My replacement monitor is doing the same thing as the one I had last year. The picture is shrinking on one of the sides. That one had a bad voltage transformer. According to the repair shop, the replacement transformer is unavailable from Thomson. And it's become a very common problem in that model. That's why I had the swapout in the first place.

The CSR in the Executive Office said I would hear from Thomson or him about a solution today but I never did get a call. At this point, a check would be great so I could buy something I know will last more than a year.

 

[Doccers]

Thanks for the info. I have a little more confidence about keeping the extended warranty at least for my receiver. Maybe the CSR was trying to make an excuse for me being told the monitor was covered.

I wish I had never bought the monitor. It is junk and Thomson when contacted directly, tries to duck the warranty work since their name is not on it and refers you back to Dish. I wonder how many were sold? It sounds like Dish maybe got burned carrying those.

My replacement monitor is doing the same thing as the one I had last year. The picture is shrinking on one of the sides. That one had a bad voltage transformer. According to the repair shop, the replacement transformer is unavailable from Thomson. And it's become a very common problem in that model. That's why I had the swapout in the first place.

The CSR in the Executive Office said I would hear from Thomson or him about a solution today but I never did get a call. At this point, a check would be great so I could buy something I know will last more than a year.

we definately got burned selling those, which is why we stopped.

Not only did we have problems with quality, but the plan that we sold them under, people were figuring out how to abuse it so they'd spend a grand total of $600 to get a 40" HD LCD tv. (I will not elaborate as to how.)

It was not a good move on our part, Sorry that you're getting burned by this. :/

 

[DJ Rob]

Just to update this thread about the warranty work on my Dish 34" monitor...

The person at the Echostar CEO's office told me to go ahead and get the monitor repaired. He said he would also refund me everything I had paid for the extended warranty. They told me which repair shop to call and that Thomson had had already talked to them to okay any repair work.

When I called the shop, they said they had never heard from Dish or Thomson and would not do the work because the original invoice says the monitor is out of warranty. I have called the person at the Echostar CEO's office back many times and left messages over the last month but I never get a return call. I have also called other reps at that office and they say they can't do anything since this one rep is "handling" it. I also haven't been refunded the fees I was paying for the warranty.

Anyone have any suggestions about what I can do next? Is there anyone at Dish that cares anymore?

 

[Van]

I have heard of other customers dealing with a executive csr that plays a similiar game, at this point you can send an email to the ceo@echostar.com address, cancell, or contact your lawyer.

 

[Stargazer]

I have the $1.99 warranty. They used to waive the $14.95 Advanced Exchange S&H fee if you have credit card / checking account auto pay but not anymore according to the last CSR I talked to about it.

 

[NightRyder]

I have the $1.99 warranty. They used to waive the $14.95 Advanced Exchange S&H fee if you have credit card / checking account auto pay but not anymore according to the last CSR I talked to about it.

Stargazer:

I'm also on the $1.99 warranty and just had the remote for my 501 replaced. Technical support CSR said no S&H fee because I had CC autopay. Didn't have to pay anything when I had my 508 replaced a few months back either. I refuse to deal with the regular CSRs anymore, only technical support.


NightRyder

 

[Kagato]

I found Dish became EXTREMELY responcive once you file an official complaint with your State Attorny General office. State AG offices routinely extract $10+K from companies that violate the Magnuson Moss Warranty Act.

 

[DJ Rob]

I have left a message with the executive office and emailed the CEO address again. I think if I don't hear anything by the end of the week, I will be making a visit to their offices in Englewood.

I can't believe they make their customers go through this kind of hassle over something that would be so easy to fix on their part.

 

[Stargazer]

I guess the best thing for me to do is hang up and try again if someone is not going to waive the fee. It should not be charged to begin with!

 

[willyryu]

I also bought the dish HDTV in a box for $1000 in Nov 04 and have the $1.99 dish warranty. In Feb 06, I noticed the picture tube going bad, which is covered by a two year warranty (labor not included). I paid local RCA repair shop $95 for pick up and delivery. By the time they picked up the HD34-310 TV there was no picture just sound. Upon examing the tv, they determine it isn't the picture tube, but a small signal board. Repair estimate $550. Call dish, sorry your warranty doesn't cover your DISH TV. I take a week to ponder my dilema, fight dish, just pay for repair or trash TV. As I am going through all my paperwork for this tv, I realized I had charged the HDTV in a box to my wonderful American Express, automatically extending original manufactures warranty. I filed a claim with am ex at the end of March, they approved the claim for parts, labor and pick up and delivery. Called repair shop on April 14th and okayed repair. Got a check from am ex on 18th. Yesterday I called the repair shop and found out they were installing the new part as we spoke and I should have my tv back no later than early next week, testing, adjustment, etc. GREAT! So I thought. Yesterday afternoon got a call from the tech who installed the new part, he tells me that after turning on the tv it looks like it's a bad picture tube. DUH! Tube is covered under origanal warranty, so now have to wait another couple of weeks. Oh well, at least no money out of my pocket. This brings up a question, if the picture tube shorted out the signal board, like the tech said, should I be charged at all? What do you guys think? Sure could use the $650 from American Express for a VIP 622.

 

[DJ Rob]

I would tell the shop to bill Thomson for everything and see what happens.

I got a call from Dish today. They wanted to know why I hadn't upgraded to the new HD paks. I told them I would think about it if they would help me either fix their crappy HD monitor or give me my money back so I can go buy one that works. The CSR hung up on me.

I'm still waiting to hear back from the Executive Office after 3 emails and 9 phone calls over the last month...

 

[chadzx11]

The person in the Executive Office said that technically I got the swapout monitor only a few months ago and it was well within the manufacturer's one year warranty - so it's covered. He said he had to send an email to Thomson, the manufacturer of the monitor and I'll hear from them in the next 48 hours to get it repaired.

There's your problem right there. Thomson/GE/RCA/Proscan TVs are crap. That's a professional opinion formed after thousands of satellite installs. I'd rather have a sanford and son black and white 13" emerson with knobs and dials than a thomson product. Hope you get it fixed, but next time do yourself a favor and get a real TV.

 

[kvhollis]

As far as DHPP extended warranties, it covers all your receivers, DISH Network branded switches, Remotes and LNB's

Heres a list of Subsituted equipment that I have been seeing when Dish cannot replace the product....

DISH 921-------------------------------------> DISH 942
DISHPlayer 7100----------------------------> DISH 501
DISH 522--------------------------------------> DISH 625
Model 1000/2700/2800/3900/3000------>Model 3900 or DISH 301
DISH 301---------------------------------------> DISH 311
DISH 501---------------------------------------> DISH 508
Model 4000/4700/5000---------------------->DISH 501/508
JVCDVHS----------------------------------------->DISH 508
Model 6000-------------------------------------->DISH 811
Model 2000--------------------------------------->DISH 301

What about the 721?

 

[Stargazer]

I just got done telling one of my good customers that just bought two el cheapo 52 inch Wal-Mart $900 RCA televisions that she may very well have problems with them. Her and someone else said that they have bought many televisions from Wal-Mart and never had any trouble with them.