Finally Got Something From Dish

[str8poolbanger]

Got them to finally give me a box for free. Been fighting for weeks since I got the new TV. They first wanted me to send back my 522 and pay them 200 for a 811. I refused of course and cried and moaned, then I called back and tried again, this time I had them send me to retentions. I was quoted the box for $148. I call in yesterday to go ahead and do the order, my account WAS not noted, so I told the guy cancel me, Im not intereste into any games that it seems that Dish Network likes to play. He tells me to hold on and comes back and tell me that he can let me KEEP the 522 and send me the 811 for FREE and that he has a saturday install available in my area. So of course I jump all over it and ask that the tech call me tonight for tomorrows install. Gotta make sure Im first on his route, seeing Im also a tech with DTV and will need to be outta here quickly. So tomorrow I can be welcomed to the world of HDTV.

 

[Juan]

Hope you realize that you are leasing the 811!!!!

 

[mdonnelly]

...They first wanted me to send back my 522 and pay them 200 for a 811. I refused of course and cried and moaned, then I called back and tried again,... so I told the guy cancel me, Im not intereste into any games that it seems that Dish Network likes to play. ...

Looks like Dish Network isn't the only one playing games.

 

[GaryPen]

CSR Roullette is no longer a game for Dish customers. It's standard operating procedure.

 

[mdonnelly]

CSR Roullette is no longer a game for Dish customers. It's standard operating procedure.

Even when the intent is to avoid legitimate equipment charges? Sounds unethical to me.

 

[mikew]

If it was unethical, Dish could always tell the guy to quit service and not offer him anything. The guy is trying to get the best deal and Dish decided free equipment was worth keeping him. It's business...not ethics....

 

[bpickell]

maybe if dish offered the same deal to everyone, we wouldn't have to play csr roulette to get the best deal. Then ethics would be a non-issue.

This crap with "lets charge him 150 and the next guy that calls in 50 and hell lets give the 5th guy that calls in free equipment" is for the birds.

 

[bpickell]

Its no different than going to Circuit City to look at TV's and the salesmen quotes you 1000 dollars, then you run over to best buy and the same TV is on Closeout for 650 dollars. Which one would you buy?

It's just shopping around. You may be shopping around at the same company, but its still shopping around.

 

[boba]

If it was unethical, Dish could always tell the guy to quit service and not offer him anything. The guy is trying to get the best deal and Dish decided free equipment was worth keeping him. It's business...not ethics....

Actually they made $15 per month off the deal $5 lease fee and $10 HDTV package.

 

[mdonnelly]

It's more like going from clerk to clerk in Circuit City, looking for one stupid enough to just give him the TV. Legal, sure. Ethical, nope.

 

[mikew]

It's more like going from clerk to clerk in Circuit City, looking for one stupid enough to just give him the TV. Legal, sure. Ethical, nope.

Your analogies are so baseless it is laughable! The retention department has deals suited for customers that have been around a while and who have decent programming packages with good payment history. D* quotes it takes them 650.00 to obtain one customer. This is why there are retention people. Not a single Circuit City employee has the authorization to give away a TV set. What are you smoking?

 

[mdonnelly]

Your analogies are so baseless it is laughable! The retention department has deals suited for customers that have been around a while and who have decent programming packages with good payment history. D* quotes it takes them 650.00 to obtain one customer. This is why there are retention people. Not a single Circuit City employee has the authorization to give away a TV set. What are you smoking?

So, if I've been a Sonic customer for awhile, and I pay them for my food all the time, then sometimes I should go in and threaten to go across the street to MacDonald's if they don't give me some free food.

The fact is, this guy's playing more games than Dish is.

 

[Stargazer]

The Sonic/McDonald's situation is different than the Dish/DirecTv situation. With Dish/DirecTv you get the money each month and have proof of where payments were made during the past. It is an investment in the customer.

 

[bpickell]

You want an analogy here we go. If you are a long time cell phone customer and threaten to leave if they don't give you a certain cell phone for free, I'll bet you will get that cell phone.

 

[Van]

Sprint wont give you a free phone, atleast not free in the way you think, you may get the phone free but once you agrea to it and activate it your on a 2 year contract and they dont tell you this. Any time you call to make a change to your package this changes your contract by renewing it to a new 2 years and again they dont tell you this. I found out the hard way after having to replace a damaged phone while out of town on an emergency, then again when I called to add my fiance onto my account. Neither time was I told about the 2 year contract or that it would be reinstated when I made a change to the account.

 

[robert393]

Just face it, not everybody can be as good and have the (obvious?) high ethical standards you have.....lol

Look, the guy said "yesterday you offered me the 811 for $150, and today you tell me it was not notated in my records and you are quoting me $200, so.....tell you what, just cancel my service". The Dish rep says "tell you what, I apologize for the misunderstading, and I understand your reasoning for wanting to drop service. How 'bout I send you the 811 free of charge". What is the customer supposed to say "oh no....that would be a violation of my ethical standards to accept your generous offer"?

Get real........bet you love the ethics of your Presidential pick now too!

It's more like going from clerk to clerk in Circuit City, looking for one stupid enough to just give him the TV. Legal, sure. Ethical, nope.

 

[David Dietzel]

In this case, I see no violation of "ethics", although the notion of what is unethical can be quite subjective.

In business, one has to determine what the company is willing to do to keep a customer. With no hard policy in place, various company representatives may have the ability to offer various retention options to an unhappy customer -- so, talk to different people, get different offers or responses.

In dealing with any company, one always sells their situation with the expectation that a pre-determined goal will be achieved. Basic human decency, politeness, persistence and negotiating skills come into play.

I did this in my effort to obtain a 942 lease and prevailed.

This is also done between companies -- at work we play vendors off one another and deal with various accounts reps to negotiate the very best contracts -- or, to even re-negotiate contracts when our budget goes south.

As long as one does shove briefcases of money at people or threaten them in some personal way, ethics are often not an issue.

 

[SimpleSimon]

Yeah - I'm on the side of the "dealing is good business" side of things. It's a way of life. Some years ago, I saved my company $100K per year by playing two phone vendors against each other. They both knew what I was doing, and bid against each other until one gave up. That's fair.

What I do NOT think is fair is this "sealed bid" crap that a lot of government agencies use. THAT's unethical - and a waste of our tax dollars!

 

[David Dietzel]

What's even worse than the sealed bid is the no bid -- the government doles out the bucks with no bidding whatsoever.

Seems to be alot of that going on with the current administration in Washington -- at least, more than I ever recall with previous administrations going back to Johnson (I was a little kid during Kennedy and an infant during Eisenhower).

It pays to have powerful friends in the right places, that's fer sure, fer sure.

 

[emdawgz1]

Look, this is "free market" economics at its best.

Thomas Paine opined that in a free market, each party will act in "it's own self best interest". This is what makes the system work. E* is doing whats best for them as a company. Now did he hold a gun to his head, threaten the CSR's family? No, he negotiated a deal.

All is fair.