The question of loyalty to something, or someone, is often a matter of perception and experience. For example, those individuals who buy hundreds of Blu-Ray disks, and build up an enormous library of movies, concerts, etc. What are they loyal to? Sony? Or to the concept of having at hand an enormous variety of material to view whenever they choose, in the best format currently widely available? Either way, their choice, and they are happy with it.
My experience with Dish has been very good for almost 5 years. I upgraded from the 811 to the 622 to the 722 with no problems, and for years had the best HD experience available. For a short time, DirecTV has provided a programming experience that may have been slightly better, but I have a substantial DVR libray built up of my favorite shows, movies, and sporting events utilizing Dish equipment (plus, now, an external HDD). When I stay with Dish, am I loyal to Dish or to my ability to maintain my library?
The only area where I feel Dish falls down slightly is that of crediting rebates. I recently used the CEO email address to request the rebate I was entitled to when I upgraded to the 722, and got back an immediate reply (like next day) stating the rebate would start showing up on my next bill. That is an aggravation, but one I can live with. Regarding the intelligence of Dish CSRs, my experience has been that they are as intelligent as most people one deals with in the retail market--they know their subject and are as helpful as they know how to be when dealing with customers who sometimes don't know how to describe their problem.
Please forgive the philosophizing, there's not a whole lot of point in responding to rants. But how can one resist, occasionally?
Fitzie--not affiliated with Dish except as a happy customer.