Dish's LNB is defective and I have to pay?

[hyperguy]

They notified everybody. Hell Scott told everybody about that 3 weeks ago or so.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

They notified everybody. Hell Scott told everybody about that 3 weeks ago or so.

They didn't emphasize that quite enough. I never heard that. You mean I'm going to take another $25 fee hit when I drop the protection plan that they added on for a free 9 month period when I signed up? Ridiculous! I have already had three programming change fees that they refuse to drop and a TV2 fee that they also refused to drop when I had my receiver hooked to ethernet for the majority of the month and it was giving caller ID information on my screen every day. Dish is nickel and diming me to death here. Every time you try to save money they try to take more. I also believe that the plan should not even exist. We lease the receivers. LEASE. When their fail of their own accord, it was not my stuff that broke, it was theirs. This is all their stuff because they want the LNB back if you cancel. And they want people to pay them even more just to fix their broken crap...

 

[mitchflorida]

"Cancellation : You may cancel this Plan at any time by calling DISH Network at
1-800-333-DISH (3474). If You cancel this Plan within the first thirty (30) days
after receipt of this Plan, You will be charged a cancellation fee of $25.00. If this
Plan was inadvertently sold to You on a Product which was not intended to be
covered by this Plan, DISH Network will cancel this Plan and return the full
purchase price of the Plan to You.
10. Renewal: DISH Network will continue to bill You for the Service Plan on a
month-to-month basis at the then-current price until You notify DISH Network of
Your desire to cancel."



This makes it look like there is no $25 drop fee as long as you keep the Warranty for at least 30 days. Is this right, or is there always a $25 drop fee? I will probably have to call Customer Service and they will not know the answer either.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

"Cancellation : You may cancel this Plan at any time by calling DISH Network at
1-800-333-DISH (3474). If You cancel this Plan within the first thirty (30) days
after receipt of this Plan, You will be charged a cancellation fee of $25.00. If this
Plan was inadvertently sold to You on a Product which was not intended to be
covered by this Plan, DISH Network will cancel this Plan and return the full
purchase price of the Plan to You.
10. Renewal: DISH Network will continue to bill You for the Service Plan on a
month-to-month basis at the then-current price until You notify DISH Network of
Your desire to cancel."



This makes it look like there is no $25 drop fee as long as you keep the Warranty for at least 30 days. Is this right, or is there always a $25 drop fee? I will probably have to call Customer Service and they will not know the answer either.

That makes a lot more sense as a way to prevent abuse of the plan. I believe that is what it is meant to do then. Thank God. lol.

 

[Scherrman]

They will only charge $25 for dropping the service plan if you have just recently added it. If you have had it the whole time there will be no charge to drop it.

As for what the cable companies charge and do for free I can't speak for that. I do not have cable and do not plan on ever getting it. I had digital cable from Mediacom back in college and it was very bad.

 

[Awohar]

If you got dhpp as part of the 9mos free of it when first signing up, you can cancel it for free. But without it you will pay $95 for a tech.

 

[Stargazer]

When I canceled my Dish Service, they sent me a shipping box and asked me to send back both the DVR AND the LNB. If they consider this "their" equipment, It seems that they should fix it just like they do broken DVR's. They can't have it both ways... It's their equipment when we cancel, but it's our equipment when it's broken? I don't think so.

So if you lease the receivers but own your own dish (bought your own) then they would expect the lnb back anyways? I DONT THINK SO!

 

[Stargazer]

Another thing. Dish Network will not ship the lnb to you like they would a satellite receiver. THEY REQUIRE A TECHNICIAN TO COME OUT TO REPLACE IT!!! That's right, they require one to come out in order for you to get a replacement lnb. This goes for any lnb on a Dish 1000. They will ship out a replacement lnb for Dish 500 or older dishes though. By the time they charge for the cancellation fee you might as well go on ebay. Maybe that is what they want. They figure by charging the $25 fee they will save themselves a lot of money or break even with the cost to replace/fix the receivers that go bad.

 

[Jhon69]

If Dish puts in your satellite system they give you the DISH,LNB, cables and switches.The Dish service plan covers other situations also and now instead of $30 copay the copay is $15. for a service call.

Satellite Protection Plan - Customer Service & Support - DISH Network

 

[Stargazer]

The math is still $15 more than it was before since they charge a $25 cancellation fee.

 

[mjstraw]

The tech may have been a slacker, but the systems setup to insure all cost are carried on to the customer. Even if there was no charge for a service call the customer would still have a higher monthly rate to compensate.

There's an old axiom in business - "the customer pays for everything". It has to be that way or else the business will fail.

The "trick" is to make the customer feel like he's not paying for it

Kinda like "the governmen ought to pay for that" - where do you think the govt gets the money to "pay for that"?

Mark

 

[mrschwarz]

The real trick is to get the customer to pay for the same thing multiple times. You pay to support the infrastructure and then you pay again if it breaks. What a deal!

 

[Stargazer]

We are paying for it in price increases and monthly programming rates already. Then we still pay for equipment that fails that belongs to someone else.

 

[vaylon]

Dish has always been good to me about the equipment, but they also never sent a tech out either. Most of the time they send the parts for me to do the repair.
When my LNB went out, they sent me a new one and a switch.

But I live way out in the boonies too.

But if you look at the warranty papers for lots of electronic equipment now a days, the repairs only cover parts or replacement, not service and the majority of electronic equipment makers are sneaking in the new 90day warranty's.
I think most new PS3 and xbox 360's only have a 90 day warranty.

 

[busdriver72]

Plain and simple, folks....read the fine print.
We are Retailers, and we have a "Customer Affirmation Sheet" in which we explain everything to them. Know the terms of all agreements before agreeing to anything. We have a few that complain about service call fees, but since they know up front, they have a choice to make. They don't have to get DISH.
Others have had to have service calls later on and then they asked "Why should I pay for repair? It's not my equipment?" The answer from us is "Because that is what you agreed to."
We have the signed copies to prove it was explained to them and they agreed.

 

[dishcomm]

Dish gave me a "free" upgrade to HD about 6 months ago. In return, I upped my contract for two additional years. So far, so good.

Yesterday, the triple LNB on my satellite dish went bad after only six months. It was defective. So why the heck should I have to pay to have the damn thing fixed? The charge was either $95 one time, or $15 plus $6 a month forever . . or if I drop it another $25 drop charge.

With all due respect, this is a rip-off. Who else charges you fix their defective equipment during the first year??

I am a little bit sore, should I not be? I feel like complaining to someone, maybe via ceo@dishnetwork.com. Do I have a point??

Weird.
It is my understanding that under Dish's rules, anything electronic installed by Dish( recivers and LNB's) is covered. You should not have had to pay for the LNB.
I wouild bitch to the highest levels. Remeber to remind them you have the number to the BBB and your State Attorney General's office witten down and if you do not get satisfaction you'll start dialing.

 

[dishcomm]

that's not my point. Any new equipment that I have bought has a 1 year warranty on it. It should be covered by that warranty.

The "technician" who fixed the problem was really ridiculous. He was a contractor not an employee, first of all. He apparently doesn't believe in or understand "trouble shooting".

First thing he does is tighten something outside that was loose. He tells me to sign his sheet approving the "repair" without even testing whether he had fixed it. I refused to sign it and sure enough, the same problem was there . . he had fixed nothing.

Then he decides it is the Receiver, which has "old software" so he replaces my old receiver with a new one, but minus my 200 hours of programming. Of course that did nothing as well, except waste about 30 minutes of his time setting the new receiver up. I told him to put back the old receiver in so I wouldn't lose my programming, he balked, but I told him to fix it or I wasn't going to approve the repair. He claimed that the new receiver had better software than the old one, which I knew was completely wrong. How long was this guy on the job?

He finally replaced the LNB and it seems to work for now . . though I hate having to keep double checking this guys' work.

Ok.. Did you actually PURCHASE (you used the word "bought")the triple LNB with money? Or was it installed as part of your upgrade?
Please stand down with the blanket criticism of contractors.
A uniform does not a quality worker make. Remember that.
You posted here to get help.
You'll not go far in that endeavor if you decide to trash 75% of the field personnel doing the work.

 

[dishcomm]

No one works for free...but now that Dish is at least as expensive as cable...you would think they would include the cost of a truck roll to fix THEIR equipment....just like cable does.

This is an ongoing battle.
Problem is people who view pay tv as a public utility. It is not. It is a luxury item and not an entitlement.
I hear this complaint all the time. "Well, I pay x amount per month. Why I should I have to pay for repairs"...
Of course I don't care so I don't respond.
But in my mind I say "hey genius, how the hell do you think I make a living".
Point is , the monthly bill covers programming and fees.
When the customer sing the contract they agree to all terms and conditions.
That includes paying the truck roll fees. It also says the customer is responsible for any and all damage to the equipment, cables and dish(es).
Best ones are when a customer complains about having to pay for new cable after it is discovered that their pet chewed the crap out of it. Or they ran over their pole mounted dish with the lawn mower or car. Or their little kid dumped a glass of chocolate milk onto the receiver.
Cable tv compnaies elect to absorb these costs because they simply pass them along to the end user. So if you think cable tv custy's get "free" service calls, you are mistaken.
There is no such thing as "free".
If you believe Dish and cable are comparable in price you then have given yourself a choice. That choice os to go with cable or stay with Dish.
No sense in complaining if you have choices.

 

[dishcomm]

Cable, fios, & phone use contractors also. They still get paid to fix faulty equipment without charge to the customer. I don't have a problem with insurance, but extra charges on top of that is uncalled for.

Wrong..Once again, the people working for those outfits are not coming from far flung areas.
And the customers DO INDEED pay for service calls. Those costs are built into the rates.
With satellite, the customers do not pay for service calls unless they need them.
I have heard every reason on the planet as to why everything should be "free".
I don't buy any of it.
People have become so self entitled, so high maintenence. They use the excuse of having to pay a monthly bill and how that should cover all charges.
Maybe the charges should be increased five or ten dollars per month so no one would be charged for service calls. Because that is precisely what the entities you mentioned above do.

 

[dishcomm]

"Cancellation : You may cancel this Plan at any time by calling DISH Network at
1-800-333-DISH (3474). If You cancel this Plan within the first thirty (30) days
after receipt of this Plan, You will be charged a cancellation fee of $25.00. If this
Plan was inadvertently sold to You on a Product which was not intended to be
covered by this Plan, DISH Network will cancel this Plan and return the full
purchase price of the Plan to You.
10. Renewal: DISH Network will continue to bill You for the Service Plan on a
month-to-month basis at the then-current price until You notify DISH Network of
Your desire to cancel."



This makes it look like there is no $25 drop fee as long as you keep the Warranty for at least 30 days. Is this right, or is there always a $25 drop fee? I will probably have to call Customer Service and they will not know the answer either.

Correct. If you keep the Plan for 30 days, there is no charge to cancel the Plan.