DISH gave me the hard sell not to cancel

[dsclark]

I was with Direct since day one back in '94. I went to DIsh in 2001 because Direct took away my locals, but DISH still offered them. I have been using a 501 for the longest time and it has been pretty buggy., but I wanted HD PVR. The 921 souned like another nightmare, the tivo too pricey. But, when the price dropped down to $550 plus rebate, I couldn't resist. Also, Direct offerred me HBo and showtime for 6 months for $24, $30 off HD package for six months and a $150 programming credit. So hey, I went for it.
So, my wife called yesterday to cancel DISH. She was referred to someone else who gave a hardsell that would make any time share sound pleasant.
She asked several times "Are you going to let me cancel, or do I have to contact my CC?
My wife passed me the phone and the woman wanted to know why we wanted to cancel and who we are going with.
I told her that I am tired of DISH crappy equipment and with Direct, I am gettting a real tivo for under $500 with rebate.
She told me "Did you know that DISH also has a HD PVR product? It is called the 941 and it can be installed for only $749".
I said "Uh, that is still over $300 more than my tivo."
She- "This is a wonderful product and you can watch two different shows on it at the saqme time. Just think about it- you can watch it in your bedroom for no extra feed.
Me-" I don't care"
Her- "It really is something to think about. It goes along well with our HD programming, the best in the business."
Me- "I am not going to spend over $300 for something that I don't want, espeically something that is not compatible with mpeg4".
Her- "well, we also offer the 921 which is an more affordable HD pvr" (she ignored the mpeg 4 issue).
Me- That is a F***ing piece of $h**! Why would I want that buggy hunk of $h** in my house?
Her- "Sir, I will have to ask that you refrain from profanity"
Me- And I will have to ask that you stop trying to sell me equipment and let me cancel!"
Her- "The 921 is a fine reciever and if you have any problems, our tech dept. can be contacted to assist you. We also offer the 811. With the *** PVr (I forgot the #) you can watch HDTV and record in sdtv."
Me- That's as big a piece of $h** as the 921. I want to cancel!
At that point, I handed the phone to my 11 year old daughter and told her to sing into the mouth piece. My wife snatched the phone away and asked to talk to a supervisor. She then asked for a refund for the service we haven't used. The CSR told her that we would get a programming credit!
My wife now flipped. "What good is a programming credit if we are cancelling." Finally, she was told we ould get a check.
There are other details I have probably left out. This phone call took over 45 minutes. It took my wife a while to get through the telephone tree to get a person, then the hard sell person burned 30 minutes of our cell time.
When I decided to go back to direct, I told my wife there was always the chance that we could go back to DISH in a few years. Now, I'll never go back. Oh, during the whole time that she was trying to talk me out of dumping DISH, not once was I offered any incentive. I had been with for five years, bought all my equipment,monthly bill of around $75 never late on a payment. No free HDTV, no reduced cost packages, nothing. The "offer" of being able to use a 941 for more than a new subscriber is not imho, a deal. And, before anyone accuses me of trying to get some sort of freebies from DISH, as I said before, I wanted to cancel my service. This hardsell hassel has turned me off from DISH. It is my right to cancel, right? Furthermore, thinking back, it is none of their business to have to explain why I am dumping them- as a grown adult, I don't have to answer up to them. Had DISH had a quality HD PVR for under $500, I probably would have stayed.

 

[kavula]

You joined today and told us this so that we'd all feel bad for you, right?

 

[dsclark]

Actually, I joined sometime ago another a different name, dclark, but when my old pc crashed, I lost my password. I wasn't able to retrieve it as I have a different isp, so getting a password mailed to a dead email won't work.
I still have read posts from time to time mainly to help me decide which way way to obtain and record HDTV, but I resigned up today so I could post. In other words, I am not some troll. Also, I don't want anyone to feel sorry. If you want to cancel DISH, be prepared for a hard sell not cancel, that's all.
I debated whether to put this in the Direct HD forum as I went from Dish to Direct and now get their service, but I posted it here as I feel it is more relevent, unless you never cancel with DISH. :

 

[DWS44]

Sounds like what I went thru a few weeks ago cancelling my old America Online account.

 

[rtt2]

If you want your email from a defunct email address just sign up with retrun path: www.returnpath.com it is free and easy. You get all the email that is getting rejected from your old email account forwarded to your new email address.

 

[mattyro]

I found the story very interesting. Dish did the same to me... "yes we want to keep you as a customer; no we wont offer you anything you actually want". IMHO if a company really wants to keep someone who has paid consistantly and well over the average for a long time, it is well worth it to lose money on a piece of equipment.The programming fees combined with the changing of programming fees combined with 2nd and 3rd box fees all add up to at least $1000 over the first year. Actuallu, the firstr 5 months pay for the 942--the rest is all profit to Dish. As I write this I am starting to seethe over the fact that they couldnt do me a 942 after screwing up my distants for life.

 

[David Dietzel]

I contacted Dish in May regarding my "situation" in which I had been offered an excellent 12-month offer from a cable competitior that included a HD-DVR. I explained how much I had been enoying Dish over the previous five years and that I had refered several friends, neighbors and colleagues to Dish. I politely discussed that I felt compelled to leave Dish unless they could offer me, as a very loyal and happy customer, the opportunity obtain a contemporary HD-DVR and HD service at a reasonable price. They offered to me the new customer deal for the 942 and programming. Importantly, I had made sure I was not communicating at this point with a CSR low on the food chain.

Keep in mind that I was extremely polite and respectful and business-like and undemanding in tone.

I knew that Dish had the best SD and HD picture quality and the most HD content at the moment -- so I did not want to destroy my chances with profanity or other displays of frustration.

I've had my 942 since the third week of June and it is sooooo worth all the effort. Between my HD-DVR, live TV and my upconverting Sony DVD player with its HDMI connection we have brilliant home entertainment options galore.

 

[SteveC]

I had similar problems when I canceled Charter Cable after I got Dish. They kept insisting I tell them why I was leaving and I kept refusing to discuss and demanding that they cancel my service. They offered me better deals, free equpment upgrades and more, but I kpet insisting that they cancel service. After a long while, they finally agreed to cancel service.

Two weeks later, I got a bill as if I was still a customer. When I called they said they couldn't disconnect me, because I wasn't home when they came. Keep in mind that they never informed me of any service date, I had no Charter equipment inside my house, and my wife was home all day on the day in question.

Since Charter was being investigated by the SEC for fraudulently increasing subscriber numbers by delaying disconnects, I sent a letter to Charter, with a copy to the SEC, stating that they were still trying to inflate subscriber numbers by delaying disconnects, and also demanding a refund retroactive to the day I first called. That seemed to get their attention, and I got a refund check within a week.

I get simlar BS when I close any credit card accounts too.

Steve

 

[JH1949]

I had a similar problem when I tried to cancel an internet site that offered a 60 day trial for $1.

Thankfully I learned alot from people here in their discussions about E* CSR's.

I took their advice and tried it for my problem and it worked great! -- just hangup and call again until I got someone that would cancel my account without an argument.

 

[dsclark]

I was starting to feel that I was cursed. If we tried to leave Dish, bad things would happen. When we got VOOM, it couldn't pull in local hdtv and the machine kept locking up. It took months to get our "money back guarantee".
We then tried Charter. They had an offer that, on paper, could pull in any long time sat subscriber. For me, they offerred one year of every channel, all premiums (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starrz, etc.) hdtv, one extra room AND a HDTV pvr, all for just $60 a month!
So, I called up DISH and ask that they put my account on hold. If you are getting cable, DISH will let you get a hold on your account(no service, no fee to resume) and at the time (last Jan) they gave it to me without fuss. In fact, when I called the other day to cancel, they asked if I wanted a hold.
The Charter service was so bad that it almost turned me off TV! Every 16 hours or so, the channels in the program guide would disappear until the box would start locking up. It wouldn't reliably record programs as a result.Then we would have to unplug it and let it reboot. We went through two new moxi boxes , then finally some "techs" show up and told me that they are having trouble with these boxes and don't know why.Even if it worked right, the moxi was cursed with the inability to ff or skip through commercials even when watching record material.The skip button was programmed at a 30 minutes, quite useless.Charter didn't give me a hassle about canceling. Maybe that was because I was with them for only about a week and a half.If you are thinking of switching to your cable company and if HDTV is still new to them, I'd suggest a DISH hold, and see if the service from cable company is adequate. SOme people have great cable that blows away DISH and Direct in price, offerings and service, others (like Charter in my area) are horrible.I have been asked by a few friends why I signed up with XM and Sirius. While I prefered the programming on XM, the over riding reason was the quality of equipment- I have a Myfi which is small and portable, something SIius doesn't make. That is also the reason why I went from DISH to Direct. In the same thought, it is what sent me running back from cable (horrible moxie box!) to Dish. Instead of thinking about Mpeg 4 and more channels, maybe DISH should just find a company that makes good eqiupment.

 

[hdaddikt]

Keep in mind that I was extremely polite and respectful and business-like and undemanding in tone.


I've had my 942 since the third week of June and it is sooooo worth all the effort. Between my HD-DVR, live TV and my upconverting Sony DVD player with its HDMI connection we have brilliant home entertainment options galore.

I commend you on your professional attitude. I never found the opposite to be constructive at all, unless, you are just looking for one of those "Haha..I showed you!" levels of satisfaction.

But what deal did you really get? I would love to trade in my 811 and 510 for 942, but would still like to lease it and not come up with some $700.

dsclark does make a good point about Dish, and other provider equipment in general. I would like to see a petition to the FCC requiring all providers develop a standard interface, so all the other major electronics companies could manufacture and sell cable and satellite receivers at more reasonable prices, and likely better quality, in a competitive marketplace.

 

[dsclark]

"But what deal did you really get? I would love to trade in my 811 and 510 for 942, but would still like to lease it and not come up with some $700."

I was never offered any deal. Also, I never swore at any csr until I was in the 30th minute of a hard sell. All I wanted was for them to cancel me, nothing more. I did call last Jan and they offered me a free 811 if I stayed with them for at least a year, but that was it.
If you want to lease (and I really don't like the idea of paying $250 just for the privilige of renting equipment), you might try cancelling (experience the horror I went through) and have your wife sign up for DISH.
Actually, I did consider that, until the Tivo plopped in price. With all the rebates and program incentives to come back, that tivo is costing me $350. Assuming that DISH were to allow me to lease the 942, after one year, the 942 lease route would now cost more. I won't even throw the mpeg4 issue into the mix as I bet that will take a long time to occur.Had DISH offered me a deal on a 942 comparable to what I got with Direct,I'd probably be with DISH for another 5 years.That's like taking $5000 from Dish and giving it to Direct. Whether you want to stick with DIsh, or split to Direct, I say get a HD pvr! I waited so long. I remember all the delays with the 921, then all the subsequent problems for a $1000. I have seen the tivo for sale in a lot of places but never seen a 942. The only place I have ever seen a 921 was at my local Costco, selling for $489.Anyhow, I mostly watch ota hd, Discovery and HBO, so I could care less about the DISH Voom package (had VOOM before, wasn't impressed with the movies) or Direct's highlIy regarded season pass football package (I am not a sports fan)but I do like the ota reception of my tivo (better than my LG HDTV/DVD combo) and the season subscription feature.I bet there are a lot of Dish owners that are debating whether to spend more on a 942, or split to DISH for the cheaper hdtv tivo. Fall season is coming, there's some good programming to watch, get something to record it!

 

[hdaddikt]

"But what deal did you really get? I would love to trade in my 811 and 510 for 942, but would still like to lease it and not come up with some $700."

I was never offered any deal.

I was asking David Dietzel, but thanks for the info.

 

[JohnC]

A Better Deal from E* Should Be Available Soon!

I have been reading posts on the D* forum that indicates that some current customers are now getting the HD10-250 DVR for $250 or less. Sounds like the D* MPEG4 HD DVR is imminent. I got the E* 6000 receiver with 8PSK and OTA modules for $149 (down from $649) right before the 811 and 921 were announced. It would certainly seem that E* should be holding a closeout sale on the 942 shortly. A 942 for $250 or less might be a good deal.

 

[JohnC]

Maybe no deals on MPEG2 HD receivers

I have been reading posts on the D* forum that indicates that some current customers are now getting the HD10-250 DVR for $250 or less. Sounds like the D* MPEG4 HD DVR is imminent. I got the E* 6000 receiver with 8PSK and OTA modules for $149 (down from $649) right before the 811 and 921 were announced. It would certainly seem that E* should be holding a closeout sale on the 942 shortly. A 942 for $250 or less might be a good deal.

From another point of view, Charlie said in the the recent earnings conference call that it is not a good idea to give HD customers good upgrade deals with the present receivers when they will need to be replaced in 3 months with MPEG4 equipment.

 

[John Kotches]

I do wonder if the 6000 is as dead as we are assuming. Is it possible that the 8PSK module could be swapped for an 8PSK + MPEG4 module + Software to be kept current.

Any thoughts?

 

[Purogamer]

...but it's a good idea to keep inventory high and gauge anyone who bothers to ask for a 942...c'mon charlie, do something for the people for once. Drop the price, actually have the CSR's mention "You know this will need replaced soon, right?" to the customer, and if they still want it despite that, go ahead.

I'm sure your inventory clerks will be glad you did...

 

[Grandude]

I do wonder if the 6000 is as dead as we are assuming. Is it possible that the 8PSK module could be swapped for an 8PSK + MPEG4 module + Software to be kept current./QUOTE]
I would bet that they could do it if they wanted to but I expect that they will not even try or even look at the possibilities. The 6000, I have one, is just too old for them to worry about. IMHO

 

[dsclark]

DISH called us back the other day, wife answered. It had been about two weeks since they did the long hard sell when we asked to cancel.
Well, they asked my wife why we cancelled. She told them it was none of their business and not to call back. Hopefully, we won't hear from them again.

 

[Zookster]

In order to avoid all the hard sell hassle when cancelling, I once read in an other thread some time ago the suggestion that you tell DISH you are cancelling because you are moving to a new apartment building that has no South facing windows or balconies and that the landlord won't allow a dish to be installed on the roof. What can they say?