Dish won't even answer their phones now / pissed football fans?

[HipKat]

I am way out of contract. At end of month my internet term comes up with Comcast. They've always offered me sweetheart deals for 2 years to come back to cable. Been with DISH for 15 years now. Way out of contract.

I only watch about 9 channels, so if I can't get those channels at all at DISH, it does not really help me one bit, does it?

DISH has a choice and I do too. End of month will see something happen as my internet costs change....so at that point we'll see. I believe DISH better find some resolution, or at least credit us back for the lost channels....it's just patently wrong to make even more money off of this, and you know it.

End of week has MLB playoffs on FS1. That's going to be the moment of truth. Already missing lots of college football. Basketball soon to be in the mix. Local RSN games in the mix soon too. I don't do hockey.

I'm pretty sure that other than the Support people (and maybe Claude) not one person on here cares what you do or about these swan song posts - which on many forums, are prohibited. Personally, seeing a grown man throw a tantrum on a public forum over baseball games is pathetic, but that's just me. In approx. 13 months when your bill with Comcast has doubled, at least you'll get to see Baseball!

 

[P 51 Student]

As a new DISH customer for 3 months I was aware of the cut off date for free "pacs". After trying to call Dish and speak to a real human I heard "your wait time is 30",,35",,46". I thought I had called DirecTV by mistake (a former 22+ year customer-left after AT&T bs). I've run across your EXCELLENT site looking for alternate phone numbers for Dish but your members have explained why the long wait= dropped Fox Ch.
I tried to DC free trial channels on my account/preferences and data took; only to reappear the next day (I had checked save changes and logged out/log in to make sure of change). Next day-3rd of input-2 days to expire; I see my proposed next bill is $ 91.00 ! Called customer service rep.-only 20" wait-can handle since I need surgery on BOTH hands due to rare Arthritis. On 9/30/19 @ 12:36pm talked to Christine in Philippines for customer service. All went well and she changed my monthly bill back to $ 61.00. Today 10/1/2019 my proposed bill is $ 91.00 again. Only way I see it is to BLOCK DISH TV THROUGH MY CREDIT CARD AND HOPEFULLY THEY WILL CALL/TEXT ME etc. I originally asked install tech to bill through MY CHECKING ACCOUNT=easier to monitor; not done.
Thank you my fellow members for the education (I never thought a site dedicated to Dish existed) ,the ying/yang between members, and the general intelligence level within. DrJames

P.S. Have tried to contact Dish 11+ times via phone,phone to Mr McKay, chat=is down, feedback through Qualtrics,and more=zero.

 

[HipKat]

If you have a Hopper and it's connected to the internet, try to do it in My Account. Go to My Programming and counsel the Premiums, then review changes and submit

 

[P 51 Student]

For a couple of members above: Winegard makes the biggest OTA/TV antenna available. It has 60-100 mile range and is excellent for stereo FM,,,AM and regular TV. With a rotor you can dial in super reception; I have used one for 30 years. Real similar is Channel Master "Quantum" with a little less range- have used both-both are very good. You can score a 1/2 price deal if you look hard enough . Just FYI Dr James

 

[dare2be]

I hear your point, and won't argue it isn't valid. But honestly, when my wife and I get home from work and we want to watch our favorite TV shows, and we can't, we just aren't interested in "making a stand" or sacrificing watching the TV we want to watch for some amorphous hope that it will make things better in the long run. We just want to turn on the TV and watch TV. If we didn't get a lot of enjoyment out of watching our favorite shows together, we wouldn't be paying Dish $120 a month. And honestly, we don't give a damn whose fault it is or which of the billionaires is proving how big their stick is. If we can't turn on the TV and watch the network show we follow or the sports game of the team we follow, we will simply change something to be able to watch the TV we want.

That is how 99.9% of viewers feel.

I went to the bar to watch the game that I couldn't at home. I've seen this writing on the wall for a long time regarding this unsustainable model. I'm not necessarily "taking a stand", but I am standing by as I watch this play out.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I'm pretty sure that other than the Support people (and maybe Claude) not one person on here cares what you do or about these swan song posts - which on many forums, are prohibited. Personally, seeing a grown man throw a tantrum on a public forum over baseball games is pathetic, but that's just me. In approx. 13 months when your bill with Comcast has doubled, at least you'll get to see Baseball!

He has a right to get the channels he is paying for.

Obviously you don’t care about HBO and Sports, or you would dump dish also.

Even though pricing, packaging and programming are subject to change, this is not normal loosing over 20 channels in some cases.

 

[dishcomm]

Why with the calling? Use the chat option.

Yes, it blows losing channels even if temporarily. Dish definitely has a bit of a dubious record with sports. But Dish also provides programming plans that are cheaper than the competition. You get what you pay for.

I HATE chat...Text just does not equal the spoken word.
I want someone on the phone. Period.
I was able to get through to Dish on another matter today. I worked an end around using a phone number given to me by someone WAYYYYYYYYYY up the Dish flagpole.
Ive been with Dish for over 20 years.
I'm not happy losing channels, but I get it. I don't want to over pay for services. If Fox doesn't come back, so be it. I don't care. It will be an inconvenience for a couple weeks, then I'll just forget about it.

 

[dishcomm]

Dish is horrible with sports channels especially, I'm in NY and I haven't had SNY (Mets) for many years (I'd guess 7-8) because they said SNY wanted an unfair amount and then recently we lost YES (Yankees) for a similar reasons. If it wasn't for the fact that my roommate is the one who pays for TV so he chooses what provider we get, i would have switched years ago.. I will say that I haven't been affected by a dispute that removed channels in several years. That being said it happens on all providers cable, satellite, fiber TV.

I'm shocked ANY sports fan viewer located within the respective territories of the Pro teams in New York would be a Dish customer.
YES, MSG and SNY are NEVER going to be in the Dish lineup.....The rift is just too wide.
BTW, YES went away a few years BEFORE SNY was bounced. MSG was gone before YES

 

[dishcomm]

Great post...I feel the same
Dish uses the excuse for these disputes as a means to keep prices lower, yet they increase every year for less channels
Are they going to issue customers credit during these disputes....of course not

What are message boards for if not to vent.....freedom of speech.....remember

Yes message boards do offer a means to vent. However, freedom of speech does not apply here,
In fact it doesn't apply exclusive to the federal government.
The US Constitution states "Congress shall make no law......... abridging the freedom of speech".
That doesn't apply here.
The owner of this site can silence you by deleting your posts ...for any reason he/she sees fit.
Now, you have the right to choose your pay tv provider, If you find your present provider isn't giving you the value you seek, you are free to move on

 

[dishcomm]

Looks like for sports, Hulu Live, Youtube Tv would be good streaming choices.
I would not reccoment ATT anything right now; sounds like they don't even know what service provides what, of if they want to sell parts, etc...

https://www.suppose.tv

In a recent article on cnet, AT&T was reported to be looking to spin Directv off or sell the asset.
AT&T looking to ditch DirecTV, report says

 

[comfortably_numb]

 

[dishcomm]

Ummm.. reality check... ultimately it's up to the "provider" to provide the channels. You're so sensitive that you call others "ignorant" and wishing them to cry... bwaa ha ha..
Lost in the fact of trying to keep costs down that if they don't provide channels that people want.. they'll look elsewhere.

When long time customers leave ... channels leave.. little will be left.

"ultimately it's up to the "provider" to provide the channels."
This is true but not accurate.
As I understand rules and regs of broadcasting , once the contract ends, and if the two entities cannot agree, it is ILLEGAL for the provider to distribute the property( video/audio signal).
Essentially, the provider does not have the right or permission to "take" the property of the producer and offer it to someone else.
So, its not Dish deleting channels, It isn't the owner refusing to offer the channels. It is the absence of a contract.

 

[dishcomm]

Because I don't want people in my house that do a jack leg job. The dish installers were bad enough taking every short cut they could, leaving cable laying on the ground in the crawl space, scratching up the walls. Things that maybe wouldn't bother you.

You wanted a clean install, you could have stopped the tech, called Dish and asked them to send another more professional tech to complete the job.
You ate the steak. Now you come back after the fact and complain about the steak. Can't have it both ways.
Now you're leaving yourself in an impossible situation.
You are unhappy with Dish.. But you won't change providers because you have no trust in the field personnel.
Can't help ya there. Unless of course, you A) install the cabling yourself. B) hire a structured cabling company at your expense to install to your specs C) do nothing.

 

[dishcomm]

As I recall YES wanted to be on the lowest level and be paid for every single sub DISH had, kind of like ESPN. While there are many Yankees fans out there all over the country there aren't enough of them outside the NY area to even think about that being fair to the vast majority of the subs. They wouldn't back down on that demand and DISH said no thank you as did most of the DISH subs...

Nearly ALL owners of Regional Sports Nets and the local Pro teams that own their broadcast rights want pay tv providers to place their channels in the lowest tiers.
ESPN is the only one that got away with it.
When ESPN was a fledgling channel , the company was giving the signal away to providers under the agreement that the channel would be placed in the lowest priced programming tier.
Now ESPN is STILL a "basic" tier channel but also costs somewhere in the neighborhood of $10 per month.

 

[dishcomm]

Yeah lowest rates because they don’t carry half the channels your supposed to get. If all you want is Tv, the price might be lower, but most people have this service called INTERNET, which last time I checked DISH does not offer.

So in most cases, after you buy your internet from a 3rd party provider such as Comcast, AT&T, Spectrum or Cox and combine it with Dish Tv service, the price is actually more money than if you got everything from the cable company.

I can do Comcast right now for about $115/mo including (2) televisions, DVR, 125 channels, 200 meg internet (including regional sports) after taxes and a rental modem for $115/mo.

If you have your own modem it’s $102

Can Dish do that?

When the 2 years expire, they will let you do another 2 year agreement.

Will Dish do that? Or do they want to play their existing customer higher prices game?

No HBO, No Fox Sports, No Big Ten... Too many channels to try to list.

When I started selling Dish back in 1997, it was truly an amazing company. $19.99 was the every day low price, and people where lining up at my door to sign up.

Over the past 22 years, what once was a young boy from Tennessee who wanted to own a satellite company, turned into a corporate multi billion dollar greedy millionaire.

You may think your getting a low price, but the fees will suffocate you to death.

I never heard of customers paying $5 for not having a receiver connected to a phone line, or better yet a $5 fee if you don’t have a DVR.

The turning point for me was when they simplified receiver fees and charged $17 for a 722. My bill went up $50 since I had 6 on my account.

The best Dish could do for me was suggest they downgrade me to 612’s

Quit trying to defend them... you know they screwed up this time. It’s no longer the great company it was 10 years ago.

"don’t carry half the channels your supposed to get"
Supposed to get?. Explain that. Per the contracts with respective producers, viewers will be permitted to subscribe to the level of programming they wish. They are "supposed" to have access to those channels.
That has nothing to do with rates. Dish management negotiates rates with each producer.
I'm not defending any one here. All pay tv providers have issues. Some more than others.
Its a business model that for the majority of Americans who reside in regions where reliable high speed internet is available, will eventually lose out to streaming TV.
Satellite and to a lesser extent, cable will always have a place in the pay tv market. However, especially satellite, only in far flung rural areas where High Speed Internet will never be built

 

[Claude Greiner]

 

[Claude Greiner]

"don’t carry half the channels your supposed to get"
Supposed to get?. Explain that. Per the contracts with respective producers, viewers will be permitted to subscribe to the level of programming they wish. They are "supposed" to have access to those channels.
That has nothing to do with rates. Dish management negotiates rates with each producer.
I'm not defending any one here. All pay tv providers have issues. Some more than others.
Its a business model that for the majority of Americans who reside in regions where reliable high speed internet is available, will eventually lose out to streaming TV.
Satellite and to a lesser extent, cable will always have a place in the pay tv market. However, especially satellite, only in far flung rural areas where High Speed Internet will never be built

I sell these packages every day. When we are trained we are supposed to ask all potential customers “what are your must have channels” and then suggest a package that includes those channels.

People are buying these packages based off the channels offered as part of the package. If the channels did not matter, then there would be no reason to upgrade beyond AT120.

Granted all providers have in their agreements that prices, packages and programming are subject to change, but that is only expected.

At what point do you drop enough channels, where the packages changed so dramatically it’s different then what you originally agreed to.

No HBO, No Fox Sports regional channels, no Fox network, FS1 etc.

How many more channels do they take away until people had enough?

What if the Viacom channels went away tomorrow? Disney? Where do you draw the line, when do you finally cancel and move on?

 

[dishcomm]

Yup... hey they can still DVR 16 channels of junk at the same time. Done here, off to watch sports on my new provider. That provides channels I want.

Until our new provider has its bout of contract disputes. Or you can pay more than market rate because

The problem is that we have never seen the actual numbers.

Not once have they said they did not have to raise rates due to holding out in a dispute.

I honestly think ALL the content providers are sick and tired of dealing with Dish every time a contract comes up for renewal and that’s why we see these disputes getting more nasty by running messages and ads every 10 minutes and channels going away for longer periods Of time.

I think it’s at the point where content providers don’t care about the 9 million Dish Network subscribers.

If customers really want HBO for example they will subscribe to HBO online. If they want fox sports, maybe a subscription to YouTube Tv, or maybe the customer switches providers.

I still see the same $5 price increases on Dish every year, as I do Comcast and Directv.

If Dish is really fighting for you, then why raise rates the same every year?

Like I said, I think they are bickering over pennies, nickels, dimes and the occasional quarter.

They do not raise their rates $4.75, it’s always an even amount of money.

These pennies, nickels and dimes that are being saved, get multiplied by 10 million subscribers and are profit for Dish.

If Dish cared about you, they would be automatically issuing a credit for several dollars not just for the loss of a single channel, but the inconvenience of not having the entire package of channels in which you subscribe to.

Sure it’s just 1 or 2 channels, but I have to pay for 20 other channels which i don’t care for or watch to get the 1 channel I do.

You take away that 1 channel, you might as well remove the other 20 your forcing me to take. That’s why the credit should be several dollars.

When HBO went to $20 per month, I dumped it. Dish offered me incentives to keep it. I declined. I don't miss it at all.
If Fox doesn't come back, I'll be upset. After a few weeks, I won't miss it....I'll just change my viewing habits. If Dish caves and the rate goes to a level I deem inappropriate, I'll dump that too. I'm not paying more than the value of the service.

 

[HipKat]

For a couple of members above: Winegard makes the biggest OTA/TV antenna available. It has 60-100 mile range and is excellent for stereo FM,,,AM and regular TV. With a rotor you can dial in super reception; I have used one for 30 years. Real similar is Channel Master "Quantum" with a little less range- have used both-both are very good. You can score a 1/2 price deal if you look hard enough . Just FYI Dr James

I'm looking for a better OTA, too so I can pull some other markets that are nearby. Good tips!

 

[dishcomm]

I sell these packages every day. When we are trained we are supposed to ask all potential customers “what are your must have channels” and then suggest a package that includes those channels.

People are buying these packages based off the channels offered as part of the package. If the channels did not matter, then there would be no reason to upgrade beyond AT120.

Granted all providers have in their agreements that prices, packages and programming are subject to change, but that is only expected.

At what point do you drop enough channels, where the packages changed so dramatically it’s different then what you originally agreed to.

No HBO, No Fox Sports regional channels, no Fox network, FS1 etc.

How many more channels do they take away until people had enough?

What if the Viacom channels went away tomorrow? Disney? Where do you draw the line, when do you finally cancel and move on?

Losing the Fox regionals doesn't bother me all that much.
I just watch Fox Sports Go on line.
As far as the 'line'....I'll decide when the time is right to switch or not.
I hate Spectrum TV, so they are never going to be an option.
Directv equipment is inferior to that of Dish. And it is possible ( at&t looking to spin off direct tv - Yahoo Search Results) Directv may get gobbled up by another company...Could even be Dish. Although, I do not see the federal government permitting a merger of the only two DTH Satellite providers. Directv is in potential turmoil.
Our incumbent phone company, Windstream, is primitive. No fiber capability. Fastest speed available is 25/2. And it costs more than Spectrum internet, which I do have. For $65/month its 200/20.......