Early Termination Fee - No Line of Sight after Moving

[marty45714]

Anyone who has been through this, please share your experiences. I'm both disappointed and angry right now.

I had an appointment over the weekend to get Dish service installed, after moving into a different house.

The technicians arrived and started doing their site survey and couldn't find the satellites from the yard. So they went to the roof and still could not get a signal.
So they proceeded to call their manager on-site, who confirmed that there was no line of sight and told me to contact Dish and that I could cancel my service.
I was feeling okay about this at the time. I have a Hopper system and absolutely love it, but I could deal with the alternatives, whether they be cable or satellite.

All of these "okay" feelings ended, once I called Dish and was told that I still had to pay the early termination fee on my account even though I could not receive Dish service at my house. As you can imagine, I was borderline irate... I asked to speak to a supervisor and did. He, however, explained the same thing to me, that the early termination fee could not be waived no matter how unfair it seemed. He proceed to give me a snail mail address for Dish dispute resolution, and suggested that I write a letter.

I'm asking for experiences and advice from anyone who's been through this or something similar. Am I screwed? I still have 18 months of contract left, which is quite a bit of money in termination fees!

 

[Teehar]

I strongly disagree with Dish's policy on this.Only 2 shots you have,and they are slim.Contact Dirt,contact dish loyalty.If that fails call DTV,who knows maybe they will pay the etf for you.

 

[Brian Fuller]

I strongly disagree with Dish's policy on this.Only 2 shots you have,and they are slim.Contact Dirt,contact dish loyalty.If that fails call DTV,who knows maybe they will pay the etf for you.

If he doesnt have LOS on dish then dtv isnt very likely either but i know comcast for a while in my area would pay etfs for transfers

Sent From My Samsung Hercules

 

[Teehar]

If he doesnt have LOS on dish then dtv isnt very likely either but i know comcast for a while in my area would pay etfs for transfers

Sent From My Samsung Hercules

Possible,but they are at different orbital locations.Won't know for sure until someone checks it out.

To the op,do you know if the dish installer checked both arcs?Also,what is blocking the los?

 

[osu1991]

Did they try to get LOS on both arc's?

This is why I don't like contracts and will always buy my equipment, never know what my come up, however if this is Dish's policy now, I would be pissed off too.

edit: I really should refresh these pages before posting, got beat to the question while reading another thread

 

[stardust3]

Worst case scenario put on pause as long as possible. Drop the hopper/joeys & go with 1 211/311 with the welcome pack. It will still be nearly the same price as the etf, but at least not all at once & will be spread out.

I agree with the others, wa is different than ea as far as los. Even directv is higher across the horizon than dish's wa.

 

[KAB]

PLEASE,OP, PM a DIRT member...the first and final answer to your problem.

 

[navychop]

I will not casually accept that you have no LoS. There are tools, even for smartphones, that will allow you to look around to find an acceptable spot. I've found LoS when installers said no. Heck, for my in-laws it was on top of their garage! Too bad they moved shortly thereafter. Of course, I have no Los where I have my RV, so there are such locations - but only heavily wooded or very urban.

If you want Dish, you may be able to keep it, but with some effort on your part. Did the guy on site impress you that he knew what he was doing? Or maybe he was not up to speed, or looking for an excuse to go to his next, perhaps easier, job?

 

[osu1991]

Also did the installers think about a 2 Dish setup? Perhaps you can hit all 3 sats with a couple of Dishes instead of a single Dish.

 

[stardust3]

I have to agree with navychop. However many available options are beyond what most are capable of or willing to do.

 

[Stargazer]

Some installers are lazy. I have went out to do installs where other installers said it was not possible to get a signal. I've only had a few out of 250-300 installs that could not get a signal and that was due to the trees being on a hill close to the house. Not bad considering the terrain and trees of WV.

If you could take some pictures in the southwest direction where you are located then we might be able to give you some insight of whether you can get a signal or not unless privacy is a concern.

 

[Zero327]

You signed a commitment. They just don't use the verbiage "until death do you part". Although I think they do part with you if you croak.

 

[TNGTony]

Initially, installers said there was no LOS at my house. After talking with different installers, I was able to get one that took his time and found one spot in my house where he was able to get all three sats. Been this way for 3 years and still working (knock on wood)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0pul1ch5481xgn1/IMAG0386.jpg

 

[Tampa8]

Dish should put it right up front, in easy to read words you are responsible for payments for two years, Dish is not obligated to allow the contract to be broken. Maybe offer another plan with less incentives, but you can cancel the contract after X amount of months and/or with a smaller fee.

I realize this won't be popular, but I do understand why Dish won't always just cancel the contract. The acquisition cost is high getting a new subscriber. There are incentives in the contract, especially in the first year many times and of course installation costs. I have no idea how much Dish will make with a typical subscriber who completes their contract with incentives, but it's an excellent bet they will lose money if someone quits after getting everything installed, and getting programming costing tremendously less than it normally would. The answer is don't accept the deal/contract and buy your own equipment and install it. You can sell the equipment later if needed.

That all said, the advice to make certain it is true you have no line of site is excellent advice. Find out your self if needed, it's easy and think about two dishes if needed.
This may be a reminder of why all the carriers should start looking at keeping their subscribers with incentives and less incentives to getting new subscribers. The cost of keeping someone is much less.

 

[Scherrman]

I have a friend who put his Dish on a pole with a tripod on the peak of his roof in order to get it above the trees in his yard. I can see a Dish Tech not wanting to do this since he may not get paid enough but you could find a local retailer that may be willing too, as long as you are willing to pay for the time and material.

 

[harshness]

It is possible that there is LOS, but it won't be trivial to set up. Some of the installation companies have policies prohibiting installations that are too high off the ground or anchored to chimneys and the like.

Other times, the customer is so demanding that it is readily apparent that they'll never be satisfied.

The main lesson to take away from the OP's experience is to always check to see if the service you want is available. Houses aren't exactly hard to come by in most areas and you need to find one that meets ALL of your needs.

 

[harshness]

I have a friend who put his Dish on a pole with a tripod on the peak of his roof in order to get it above the trees in his yard.

There are some very nice peak mounting kits available as well.

 

[Smwoodward]

The main lesson to take away from the OP's experience is to always check to see if the service you want is available. Houses aren't exactly hard to come by in most areas and you need to find one that meets ALL of your needs.

I kinda disagree with this. The only true thing that I would consider being part of the house buying decision could be the availability of internet. TV service would never make me pass up a house of my dreams, and I bet to most people's line of thinking they would think "it's satellite, I can get it anywhere" which is basically what I thought when I bought my house. I wasn't worried about a local cable provider because I figured I could get satellite anywhere. I now know differently, but still.

The other thing I would also think about. When we moved into our new house, a contract with Dish would have NEVER been a consideration of which house. We choose the house that was right for the family and price and went from there. I do see and understand both sides... There is a contract with Dish, and I understand it's contract. At the same point in time it would irritate myself and I bet anyone else that may have moved mid contract with Dish, to the house of their dreams especially if it was due to necessity, then being forced to pay $$$ to cancel contract or pay for a service that you can no longer use.

I personally don't feel that Dish would even be a consideration for ALL my needs. But there again, different people have different priorities.

 

[Tampa8]

I would be surprised if most people took their TV provider into the equation beyond perhaps a glancing thought. But I am going to be doing just that very soon. We will be living full time in Florida (Finally) but not at the house we currently own. Wherever we end up in a Condo or otherwise getting Dish will be a consideration. Perhaps more accurate getting Satellite will be a strong consideration.

 

[dare2be]

When I moved in 2007 my biggest concern was how strong my cell signal was. Every house we looked at I had my phone out checking signal strength. I wasn't going to go back to landline.

Luckily, I had a decent line of sight on WA and when I upgraded to HD I had to have the dish moved to be able to get EA, but it was doable.