Frustrated Dish Owner - I cant be alone on this!

This is what your bill should have been:
Top 250 $64.99
Duo Receiver $14.00
DVR Fee $6.00
Multisports Pack $7.00
Service Plan $6.00 (You can drop this plan)
Credit -$5.00

Total $92.99
 
HD 250 is $10.00. So take out the DHPP and you would be, with muti-sports and bundle discount, $96.99. Scherman, he is not Free HD for life.
 
I get that completely. I do not want to come across as elitist because I definitely remember my college days of Ramen thrice daily, 6 days a week and a 13" color TV!

But a company that wants to dominate the market as both Dish and Directv want to, had better find a palatable solution for several if not all demographics.

I would say that I am finding on the low end, Dish may be a better service (and by low end I mean 1-2 TVs, not income or anything) while Directv shines with a more flexible lease policy to accommodate 4+ rooms.

I say "would" because in comparing my current monthly charges versus what I am going to get from Directv, it is clear to me that Dish was not competitive. I paid $112.99 for 2 HD units, Americas top 250 and an HD signal while with Directv I get 5 HD's, whole house DVR service, HD signal, Sunday Ticket and their Premiere package (comparable to the America's Everything from Dish) for 79.99 and even after 12 months its only $8.00 more at $120.99.

I think my Dish deal is just not a measure of what most people are experiencing or they would have no customers. They are surely offering some great deals and service to some people out there and are a worthy competitor to Directv... just not for my situation.


Huh started looking at this but think the math is off a little.
Premiere is 114.99
NFL Ticket 26.24 (If you divide lump by 12)
Receiver Fees 20.00
Direct DVR fee 7.00

So really 168.23 a month if you do it that way not counting the rebates for the first 24 months.

But $127.99 for up to the first 24 months looks good

Dish

Can't even do the 5 hd on their site but with 3 HD and 2 SD all on DVR comes to 132.99 after promotion without NFL ticket.

So to me they are comparable and would like to know more about the whole dvr thing. I might have to look at going to Direct after being with dish since 1996.

I think Direct might be the way to go for you if you do not want to buy more HD receivers.
 
Well, I'm slow...if he had up'd for another two years with CC auto and paperless, he'd be down to $86.99 With his nearly 200.00 termination fee, he's going to be about even after the first year. So I hope he likes the change, and 1:1 second year.
 
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Perhaps this is where Dish and I got "off the rails".

Maybe that is unreasonable to some, it just seems to me that in 2010 when you barely even find a non HD set anymore that having 5 TVs you want in HD (we actually have 7 rooms with HD TVs) is quickly becoming common place with each passing day.

5 HD signals may sound like a lot, but in a 5000 square foot home, it really is not from my perspective.

WOW! Can you PLEASE adopt me :hungry::rolleyes:

BB468
 
Sure it does, but definitely not as much as the fees are garnering. The additional receiver fees are ther for additional profit only in the case of owned equipment.

Agreed. Fixing bugs in software isn't something that should be paid for by monthly fees. The cost should be built into the purchase price of the receiver. If that means more expensive receivers, so be it.

It's not an issue for me as I only have 2 receivers, and the second is only costing me $7, but there's no way I'd ever pay what they are asking per month for a second dual tuner (let alone purchase one AND pay a monthly fee).
 
.....SNIP>>>

To be fair, I did have to pay $297 up front for 3 HD receivers and I went ahead and ate the early termination fee from Dish of $195 plus the $15 shipping per unit back to Dish (which Directv does not charge upon cancellation). Tough pill but glad to put it behind me.

Just to make sure you understand, you still do NOT own those receivers from Directv that you just "paid for" you still LEASE them. You will have to return them if you cancel service. Even if you "buy" Directv receivers from Ebay, you still do not "own" them, due to their policy change of several years ago.

Unless this has changed yet again, and I'm not aware of it?
 
But a company that wants to dominate the market as both Dish and Directv want to, had better find a palatable solution for several if not all demographics.

I would say that I am finding on the low end, Dish may be a better service (and by low end I mean 1-2 TVs, not income or anything) while Directv shines with a more flexible lease policy to accommodate 4+ rooms.

You hit the nail on the head. Dish is perceived by the financial markets to be a lower level (compared to Directv) service. This is verified by subscriber profile comparisons.

This will probably always be the case as long as Charlie Ergin is the head of Dish. His philosophy is to provide a slightly less expensive service to attract lower income subscribers -- make it up on the volume, so to speak. He keeps rates lower by paying hardball with programming providers and is willing to allow channels to be removed for sometimes long periods of time to get his deal. If he can't get his deal, he will often just discontinue offering the affected channel(s). He expects subscribers to accept this modus operanda because he is theoretically saving the subscribers money.

Directv, on the other hand, is more subscriber oriented and its subscribers are more likey to demand and get top service. So you are much more likely to get better treatment from Directv, especially if you are a high level customer.

Just my opinion, having been a subscriber to both services for several years.
 
I recommend you go with a 722 for your "most used" TV and then lease 2 more 211's and buy 2 more 211's. Activate the EHD functionality for the 211's ($39.99 one time fee) and connect an external hard drive to each of your 211's - you now have 5 HD DVR's for 5 different HDTV's but the 211 is still considered just a receiver.

Additionally your fees will also be minimized with this solution. One $6 dvr fee for the 722, and $7X4=$28 for the 4 211's equals $32 in receiver/DVR fees.

Single tuner receivers are $7/month Dual tuner receivers are $14/month and dual tuner DVR's are $17/month on receiver fees.
 
Quite frankly this has proven again that DIRECTV caters to the higher end customer and Dish to the lower end customer. If you have 1 TV, Dish is lower priced. If you have a bunch of TVs you want service to, DIRECTV is lower priced.

I would say that it is a bad business decision of Dish to reject the high end customer, but they have made more money than DIRECTV over the years with their strategy.

The only thing that keeps me from ever subscribing to DIRECTV is their policy of renewing your contract over and over again if you change anything on your account. Neither provider is perfect.
 
New Directv Plan

1 HR-24 HD DVR Receiver
4 HD Receivers
NFL Sunday Ticket w/ Redzone (normally $314.00)
Premier Programming Package (normally 114.99/mo)
HD For Life
Whole Home DVR for 5 HD rooms
Protection Plan (no charge for service calls)
Cost months 1-5: 89.99 - 10.00 referral discount
Cost months 6-12: 96.99 - 10.00 referral discount (up to month 10)
Cost months 13 forward: 120.99 (no penalty to downgrade to Choice Ultimate which I will do since I have netflix)
Install for 5 rooms included
Setup for VOD to DSL included

Well I'm confused
I'm just not seeing this kind of deal available when I price it out.
Are you telling us they gave you sunday ticket for free???
Premier is $114.99 per month
DVR service fee is $7-$10 depending if you have the whole home DVR package
receiver Lease fees $25 per month.
This would put you at $146.99 per month before the first year promos are deducted. Deduct the $31 promo & $10 referral and your still at $105.99
if your getting sunday ticket for free.
Sunday ticket would add $44.99 per month for 7 months or $314 lump yearly fee
once the promos expire your going to be paying much more than you did with Dish.
Add in the early termination fee you paid Dish and the deal loses some of its appeal.
I was told by Direct that any extra hardware that is required for connection of the receiver to the internet would be at a extra cost. They just connect the internet cable and setup the receiver
for the $25 connection fee option during initial install.
I see your only getting one HD-DVR from Direct and 4 DVD receivers and you could have done basically the same type setup with DISH.
Others here showed you how you could have purchased three additional HD 211 receivers you wanted and reduced the fees involved instead of going with three HD-DVR units.
I agree with you that Dish Customer phone support is terrible. They treated me so poorly when I asked about HD upgrade that I felt my only option was to go with Directv.
The problem was once the promo discounts ran out I would be paying much more than I was with Dish so as a long term option it was not really a good move.
Dish Customer retention/executive department reviewed my account and made the proper adjustments based on my long and perfect account history with them.
I felt like a valued dish customer again and decided to stay with them.
 
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Interesting Comments from Dish CSR

So I just switched from Dish to Directv yesterday and when calling Dish to change my disconnect date to better align with the Directv install I had a CSR ask me why I was leaving Dish (the first time in over 9 calls that I have been asked that).

I was actually in pretty good mood so I explained the situation (need for 5 HD signals and discovering that I was really overpaying for service). When he asked for clarification and we delved into the discussion, I got these gems:

* "why would we (dish) remove your HD fee if you did not know about the HD for life promotion we offer?" - I guess from a letter of the law standpoint this tactic is to be expected and certainly is legal, but to be so blantant about having no interest in what is best for the customer is unsettling.

* "Directv lies to all customers" - Don't they both lie and distort? Like Dish using their VOD HD channels to say they have more HD than Directv or Directv saying that they provide NFL Redzone but avoiding mentioning you have to buy NFL Sunday Ticket to get it?

* "Directv has multiple law suits pending" - They both have SEVERAL law suits going and both have paid millions already in customer service fraud settlements.

And finally, the crowning jewel was telling me that when not if (yes he said that exactly) I come back, I will be required to pay first months service on a credit card before service can be activated".

I knew these companies did not like eachother, but wow this makes the the Pepsi vs. Coke rivalry seem almost friendly.

Good times!
 
Why would you call me a troll? I liked Dish network and up to that call, the CSR's were really nice and few really understood my situation and simply said that the current Dish policy just does not work in my favor.

I just thought it was unusual that a CSR would say those things. I simply needed a service that could comfortably give me 5 HD signals and if Dish could have I would have stayed.

I know you guys get touchy about Dish vs. Directv but I have maintained across the board in all my posts that Dish is a good sevice. My personal opinion is that (aside from specific programming wants) if you have a need for 1-2 HD signals, Dish is probably better while 4+ signals leans to Directv, with 3 HD signal needs beings the fence.

Sorry if my post seemed trollish... certainly was not my intention. Heck I didnt even post it in the Directv forum where I would think a troll might. :)
 
Some people need reassurance from others that they have made the right choice when making a life-altering decision, like switching TV providers. Here's hoping that starting this thread will have some therapeutic value....
 

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