Dish has serious intergrity issues....i would not trust them

[steve4810]

I'm too poor to pay an EFT, so I'm sticking in out-- and have issues several times a month, it seems like.

I honestly hate saying this but if you are that close not being able for Dish you really need to cut back. Maybe basic cable until your situation stabilizes. Or even free over the air TV.

I have a very close friend who dropped a pretty fancy cable plan and got an amplified antenna from Walmart and just lives with what he gets free over the air. And since he had to replace his TV a couple of years ago he had small but none the less real HDTV that he had never been able to afford HD cable for. Now he is continuely amazed at the picture quality.

The apartment building dish problem is a tough sitiuation but not Dishes fault. That is why I couldn't even help my buddy get Dish. The local dealer called it a difficult installation and wanted a bunch of money to install the equipment. That added to his bad credit scores and it was more cash out to just get started than we both agreed it was worth.

Bite the bullet and go to cable. Dish will be there when things pick up for you.

 

[Yespage]

RE
My satellite is far from a phone jack, so i bought a $60 wall jack device that connected the reciever to the phone jack. Dish sells the item on thier website

RE:
'Dish willing to give you a free HD receiver '
I am a customer of 7 years. Everywhere you look there are ads for FREE HD reciever ,FREE HD FOR LIFE, etc., for new customers. If your a longtime customer,they charge you.

RE: my inlaws got $$$$$. they buy just about all programming,even tho they do not watch all programming. Plus movies on demand stuff

Like I said, you seem to have a single legit gripe. But I do recommend PM'ing the DIRT person in this thread. They are ridiculously successful in resolving Dish issues.

 

[JayStil]

That $5 "non phoneline" charge wasn't handled the best. I had my receiver hooked up via ethernet forever and of course that avoided the charge. Then the wireless bridge setup I had was giving me problems for awhile. I was busy and didn't get around to fixing it for a few months. After the first month of the receiver not being able to connect I was charged the $5 fee. The second month I was out was when they supposedly did away with the requirement & fee (it was actually just rolled into the extra receiver fee IIRC), I was still being charged. By the third month I'd fixed the bridge. That month's bill came and still had the $5 charge. I called them and was basically told that since I wasn't hooked up when they did away with the charge it was now there for good irregardless of my phone/ethernet connection status.

Since I was one of "their very best customers" they'd be happy to remove the fee as a one-time courtesy if I signed up for paperless and autopay. Which I did.

So it wouldn't surprise me if the OP is still being charged that fee. DISH has a funny way of keeping people on their old policies if it means more fees for them. My mother was being charged a lease fee on her single receiver, long after it was supposed to be included for the first receiver. DIRT helped me get rid of that.

I'm happy with DISH, but they don't always implement changes smoothly and uniformly.

 

[dare2be]

It is weird though...my experience has been that I never had a phone line connected (no landline), I was always charged the $5 fee, but then when they rolled the fee into the package/receiver fee, it went away on its own. This occurred in Feb 2009. Here were my bill details from back then. Package price went up $8 but the $5 fee was dropped, for a net increase of $3:
Jan 2009

AT250 Bonus Pak 10.00
DishDVR Advantage, You Saved $5.98! 49.99
Multi Sport 5.99
Programming Access Fee - Save $5 By Connecting Receiver To A Phone Line / Broadband Service 5.00

Feb 2009

Classic Gold 250 10.00
DishDVR Advantage Classic Silver 200 - You Saved $0.98! 57.99
Multi Sport 5.99
Duo Receiver - (You Saved $5 With DishDVR Advantage!) 0.00
.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

I honestly hate saying this but if you are that close not being able for Dish you really need to cut back. Maybe basic cable until your situation stabilizes. Or even free over the air TV.

Thanks for the free unsolicited financial advice.

Just FYI: A lot of the long-term poor find things like TV and Internet are very important because they can't afford to do things like take vacations or go out on the town and spend a lot of time at home living in small apartments in bad neighborhoods. A lot of folks who aren't in that type of situation long-term don't think about that, but once you're in it for the long-term, you definitely do. You cancel your basic entertainment stuff and you find the frustration mounts awfully fast. People need stuff to take their minds off the fact that their overall life isn't going so well or they go nuts.

Also, a lot of us can't get OTA signals- amplified antennas or not.

I switched to Dish from cable because cable wasn't cutting me a break (Even though they are consistently quoted in the press as saying the majority of their customers are on promotional discounts, they wouldn't give me a long-time customer a break) and I thought Dish was the low-cost low-hassle more-channel alternative. Turns out there's more of a hassle, and a choice between either the channels you want at a greater cost than cable or a really slim channel selection as a slightly lesser cost (And forget about significantly viewed channels from secondary markets with key football games). Once you get past that first year anyhow.

So, you're right, probably back to cable with their promotional new customer bundle when my Dish contract expires. There's one channel they're missing that I need, and I'm working on lobbying to get it added. Then when cable tries to raise my rates beyond what I can pay, I'll give Directv a call. It's the television roulette game. Everyone's regular prices suck, but everyone offers incredible new customer discounts- so it makes sense to just keep on jumping as much as you can.

 

[SQUEEZON]

$1400 per Month-Normal

Offer ended? They stopped charging that charge. More importantly, paying $60 for something to do that?!


Dish willing to give you a free HD receiver (probably DVR as well).
This is perhaps the most alarming thing. What Dish rep would claim that changing your package would improve your picture?! That is absurd.

So you wanted to get a free HD receiver with no cost anywhere to you... but didn't. Your parents had Dish and then didn't, and this is Dish's problem because of what they were paying. At $1400 a year, they must have been getting a ton of programming or had a ton or receivers. And finally, you note that Dish helped you out when you were defrauded by a retailer. And this is somehow Dish's fault?

The whole programming upgrade thing sounds terribly dishonest. I've never heard of someone even claiming that before. So out of the entire post, you seem to have one legit gripe with the company.

I pay $1380 per year for the AT250 plan with HBO price so his parents paying $1400 per year seems quite normal

 

[Teehar]

Now i'm not coming to the defense of dish,they do have problems all I can say is the facts of being a longtime customer.We also had experience with dtv.Both companies have the good and bad but our overall experience with dish has been a really good one.Do the reps make mistakes sure they do just like reps of att dtv and prob most cable cos.We also know many satisfied dish customers.There are some that have had bad experiences and switched to dtv some were happy some came back to dish.To sum it up in a nutshell not every dish customer is a dis-satisfied customer.

 

[R0ss]

I pay $1380 per year for the AT250 plan with HBO price so his parents paying $1400 per year seems quite normal

Exactly

Ross

Sent from my rooted DROIDX (Liberty Gingerbread) using SatelliteGuys

 

[steve4810]

Thanks for the free unsolicited financial advice.

So, you're right, probably back to cable with their promotional new customer bundle when my Dish contract expires. There's one channel they're missing that I need, and I'm working on lobbying to get it added. Then when cable tries to raise my rates beyond what I can pay, I'll give Directv a call. It's the television roulette game. Everyone's regular prices suck, but everyone offers incredible new customer discounts- so it makes sense to just keep on jumping as much as you can.

Sounds like a plan.

Good luck.

 

[steve4810]

Thanks for the free unsolicited financial advice.

And it's worth every cent.

 

[Yespage]

Everyone's regular prices suck, but everyone offers incredible new customer discounts- so it makes sense to just keep on jumping as much as you can.

That's bull. Dish has a few packages that are very well priced. If one is a well rounded sports fan, Directv offers a large bang for the buck. It isn't cheap, but you get your money's worth. Do I wish it cost less, sure, but the regular prices don't suck. Stuff costs money.

 

[stardust3]

That's bull. Dish has a few packages that are very well priced. If one is a well rounded sports fan, Directv offers a large bang for the buck. It isn't cheap, but you get your money's worth. Do I wish it cost less, sure, but the regular prices don't suck. Stuff costs money.

That is strictly matter of opinion. I personally feel prices are out of hand for both providers. They both are almost equal in price(2013 will have big surprises from dish), they both have promo offers that are deceiving until further research, they both advertise regular prices based on 1 TV with no extras. The regular consumer has a lot of research before making a decision & a hap hazard csr or retailer that is under educated can lead someone in the wrong direction in a big way which results in a lot of the negative threads we see here.

 

[Coach Knight]

I only know of (Through my real life acquaintances), one long-time happy Dish customer.

Wait...you mean we're not real life???? [Pinches self] Darn...I was sure we were all real people. These aches and pains sure feel real enough at times.

 

[The Fat Man]

It's threads like this I love for two reasons. First, when people ask me about having Dish and I tell them that I'm satisfied with their service, I can use the thread as a reference of the other side's opinion. I believe that when shopping everyone should do a little consumer research.an appreciate my service a little more.

Second, at least I c

 

[Scherrman]

I must say, some of these rants are entertaining. My only defense for Dish is that they have the same issues any large company has. They make mistakes and are in the wrong just like many retailers are. It happens. The only reason I back up a company is when some people make huge rants about the subject and start their own personal vendetta against them. Some issues can be handled in a very simple and civilized way.

 

[dare2be]

I think the OP has serious intergrity issues as well.

 

[Yespage]

That is strictly matter of opinion. I personally feel prices are out of hand for both providers.

I'm paying about $55 including tax for my Dish... that includes a kick bass HD DVR. That doesn't seem ridiculous. It is not if I'm just receiving my locals, CNN, and few other channels. I'm getting good channels for this price.

They both are almost equal in price(2013 will have big surprises from dish), they both have promo offers that are deceiving until further research, they both advertise regular prices based on 1 TV with no extras.

Based on 1 TV? You mean 1 receiver. I have my 722k hooked up to three tv's (1 tv to output 1 and 2 tv's on output 2).

The regular consumer has a lot of research before making a decision & a hap hazard csr or retailer that is under educated can lead someone in the wrong direction in a big way which results in a lot of the negative threads we see here.

That has nothing to do with price. The overall customer service is one thing, but someone made a statement that regular prices were ridiculous, which I think is a silly claim. At least for Dish or Directv, based on what the viewer wants.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

That's bull. Dish has a few packages that are very well priced. If one is a well rounded sports fan, Directv offers a large bang for the buck. It isn't cheap, but you get your money's worth. Do I wish it cost less, sure, but the regular prices don't suck. Stuff costs money.

I don't know, if I want a package that includes NBC Sports Network, which includes some exclusive regular season games from my local team, plus exclusive playoff and even Stanley Cup Finals games, That's close to $75 with tax. I could get that cheaper with Directv or Comcast, and in Comcast's case, they'd give me a secondary local that would help with a few of my team's football games a year.

Now, if I want to go to just AT120+, losing NBC Sports Network and my favorite news channel, MSNBC, then that's a little cheaper than the competition, but I'm getting a lot less. And a lot more stupid advertising channels to filter through (At least relative to cable, I don't know if Directv does that kind of stuff). And, if I went to cable, I'd get a bundling discount on my Internet when my Internet deal expires. Of course, cable is missing an RSN alternate that's important to me, locally anyhow.

I don't know, really, they all cost too much money. They all provide too poor of a service. And they all nickle and dime you. And they all punish you for being loyal, giving the new customers the best deals, and also for not calling them and threatening to quit to try to get discounts.

But the alternative is no television. So you make do. But you don't have to be happy about it. I think we as customers deserve better than we get. Lower prices, better programming, fewer outages, less overcharges, less BS, etc..

 

[CK SatGuy]

I don't know, if I want a package that includes NBC Sports Network, which includes some exclusive regular season games from my local team, plus exclusive playoff and even Stanley Cup Finals games, That's close to $75 with tax. I could get that cheaper with Directv or Comcast, and in Comcast's case, they'd give me a secondary local that would help with a few of my team's football games a year.

Now, if I want to go to just AT120+, losing NBC Sports Network and my favorite news channel, MSNBC, then that's a little cheaper than the competition, but I'm getting a lot less. And a lot more stupid advertising channels to filter through (At least relative to cable, I don't know if Directv does that kind of stuff). And, if I went to cable, I'd get a bundling discount on my Internet when my Internet deal expires. Of course, cable is missing an RSN alternate that's important to me, locally anyhow.

I don't know, really, they all cost too much money. They all provide too poor of a service. And they all nickle and dime you. And they all punish you for being loyal, giving the new customers the best deals, and also for not calling them and threatening to quit to try to get discounts.

But the alternative is no television. So you make do. But you don't have to be happy about it. I think we as customers deserve better than we get. Lower prices, better programming, fewer outages, less overcharges, less BS, etc..

So in your view, you think all pay-TV providers are evil and everyone has to go with the one that's the least evil to them.

 

[stardust3]

I'm paying about $55 including tax for my Dish... that includes a kick bass HD DVR. That doesn't seem ridiculous. It is not if I'm just receiving my locals, CNN, and few other channels. I'm getting good channels for this price.
Based on 1 TV? You mean 1 receiver. I have my 722k hooked up to three tv's (1 tv to output 1 and 2 tv's on output 2).
That has nothing to do with price. The overall customer service is one thing, but someone made a statement that regular prices were ridiculous, which I think is a silly claim. At least for Dish or Directv, based on what the viewer wants.

I am glad your happy with what you have, your the kind of customer providers want. Still doesn't change the fact I think things are way over priced & those that provide are greedy.