FTC Sues Echostar For Do Not call List violations.

[HDRoberts]

While the calls may not have come from Dish Networks corporate offices, if they have come from "authorized" retailers who are empowered as authorized agents of Dish Network, it may have some merit. Though I would think this is very much a gray area. And while Dish may throw the blame at the feet of the retailers, the FTC makes it sound like they have been trying to address this issue for a long time and Dish has failed to either co-operate or address the situation.

Who knows. As the age old saying goes....there's three sides to every story. Your side, my side and somewhere in the middle is the truth.

I agree there may be a gray area. But just because they are "authorized" retailers doesn't authorize them to do whatever they want.

Could be the FTC wanted Dish to do their policing work for them, hence the disagreement.

 

[mruk69]

The DNC is the biggest bull$hit there is. We get about 10 calls a day, most with fake caller ID info. I have all my numbers registered on the DNC list.
So, how the hell am I suppose to find out who the heck is calling me. Some of the calls have international caller id info.
I have had some calls from foreigners trying to sell Dish Network but they were not from Dish directly.

I just re-verified that my numbers were registered and they show that they were since 2006.

Your phone number with the last four digits xxxx was most recently registered in the National Do Not Call Registry on June 22, 2006. Most telemarketers will be required to stop calling you 31 days from your registration date.

Visit https://www.donotcall.gov to do any of these things:
-- to renew your registration
-- to file a complaint

I got this reply for all three phones, my home number, and both cell phones.

 

[fredp]

I agree there may be a gray area. But just because they are "authorized" retailers doesn't authorize them to do whatever they want.

I wonder how many of these people complaining have not checked off the box in their account profile(if they have an id) that says Do not share my information . Seems to me some of these calls could be avoided.

 

[dishcomm]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Satellite TV provider Dish Network is being sued by the federal government for alleged violations to the national Do Not Call Registry.
The Federal Trade Commission says the company, formerly known as EchoStar, has made thousands of phone calls to people on the Do Not Call list. Dish Network is the biggest violator, the FTC said, based on the number of complaints the agency has received.
The FTC says Dish Network refused to settle the case, so the government filed suit. It's the first time the agency hasn't been able to get an accused company to settle Do Not Call allegations.
Since the registry began in 2003, the FTC has brought more than 40 cases against companies for Do Not Call violations. The biggest case to date involved satellite television provider DirecTV Inc., which paid a $5.3 million settlement.

In it's statement Dish claims that the calls are from individual retailers and not the company itself.

 

[GaryPen]

...it's an attempt at customer service!!!

Actually, that describes Dish's actual Customer Service to a tee!

 

[nmoulton]

It's been reported before that many independent retailers call and identify themselves simply as "Dish Network". They don't disclose the fact they are independent retailers.

 

[smikolaj]

Dish was calling me 10 times a day trying to get me to sign up. It was from the number 888-285-9984. If you want to avoid the menus just call this number and I think it connects you to a customer service rep. Every time they called I filed a complaint, took months to get them to stop bothering me.

 

[HDRoberts]

Dish was calling me 10 times a day trying to get me to sign up. It was from the number 888-285-9984. If you want to avoid the menus just call this number and I think it connects you to a customer service rep. Every time they called I filed a complaint, took months to get them to stop bothering me.

Remember, just because the answer the phone as "Dish Network" does not make it Dish Network. Plenty of retailers have toll-free numbers and menus.

Interestingly, a Google search showed a thread here on this very number.
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/91326-who-number.html

 

[Roxor]

Here we go again!!! My crystal ball says a rate hike will be needed soon, but in the meantime write/call your congressperson and senators to stop this outrage.

 

[OneSickPup]

My exact same experience.....

Dish was calling me 10 times a day trying to get me to sign up. It was from the number 888-285-9984. If you want to avoid the menus just call this number and I think it connects you to a customer service rep. Every time they called I filed a complaint, took months to get them to stop bothering me.

I am not a DishNetwork subscriber and was getting 3 to 5 calls a day from that number back last Oct/Nov/Dec timeframe. I found this info over at DBSTalk:

These calls are dialed by a computer - a Predictive Dialer. If you answer, they are supposed to transfer the call to an agent to give you the sales pitch. If an answering machine or voice mail picks up, the dialer is supposed to hang up. Sometimes it gets confused and you get the agent or whatever noise from around the agent on your answering machine/voice mail.

I got tired/frustrated/whatever and finally just answered and waded through crap to finally talk to a CSR in person. I gave them HELL and demanded to know who they really were. I don't remember the company name but they alluded to being an authorized agent of DishNetwork.

 

[televisionarchives]

Man, Charlie can't catch a break. Time to invite Hillary over for a visit again

 

[riffjim4069]

Does this surprise anyone?

Dish has to be the most sued company in the world...

What I find to be incredible is how Dish Network is the ONLY company that would not settle when confronted by the FTC. Does this company ever play by the rules? It's bad enough when you get caught with you hand in the cookie jar, but pay the damn fine and be done with it already. Although it is possible, but highly unlikely, that Dish Network is an innocent victim, I will side with the FTC on this issue since EchoStar has such a tarnished reputation.

 

[riffjim4069]

Remember, just because the answer the phone as "Dish Network" does not make it Dish Network. Plenty of retailers have toll-free numbers and menus.

True, but it is Dish Network who has the responsibility for safeguarding their customers privacy. They must exercise due care by not sharing a customers personnal information with scumbags and miscreants, and they must demonstrate due diligence by monitoring how customer information is being used by retailers and business partners. Sorry Charlie, but if your retailers are running amock with your customer's information, you have a legel responsibility to remedy the situation.

 

[wolfjc]

People, read Dish's statement. This is retailers calling non-subscribers trying to get them to sign up. Is it telemaketing? YES. Is it illegal to call those on the do not call list? YES. Was it Dish making the calls? NO.

Sue the retailers, not Dish. Heck, I wonder if this was part of the reason some of the terminated retailers have been let go.

I have Dish and I get calls all the time wanting to sell me Dish service so they are not only calling non-subscribers.
I don't believe that Dish is the one who is doing the calling if they were then they would know that I already have Dish service and would waste time and money calling me.

 

[yaz96]

Who's gonna sue these guys next, the Girl Scouts?

 

[Claude Greiner]

It is 3rd party callers, period. Just added a new VOIP number. Within minutes of turning it on telemarkers with blocked and unidentified CID were calling to sell Dish. I would tell one company to add me to their DNC list, hang up the phone and receive another call selling Dish from a different company. It was way over the top telemarketing. After signing the DNC list, I started reporting phone numbers.

Thats because there is a list you can buy on a daily basis of new voip numbers that are put into service.

Even if you do sign up for the DNC list, they still have 90 days before your registration is valid.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Heres the deal, if your a retailer doing telemarketing your susposed to use a company called "Possible Now" to scrub all your leads to make sure they are not on any state, national or local do not call list. Possible now charges the retailers a fee to do this, and the way it works is that once Possible Now scrubs out all the numbers they give you a list of good numbers to call. If you call a number on the list that possible now sent you back as "Clean" and it was on a do not call list, then its Possible Now's problem to deal with any potential violation.

The issue is that using Possible Now, and other lead scrubbing services is not cheap and can add a significant cost per sale, so there are bad retailers out there who continue to violate the rules and not properly scrub their leads.

But believe me when I say this that Dish takes every DNC complaint seriously, and they do take action when they can identify the retailer making the calls that are in violation.

Im sure Dish does some telemarketing in their direct sales department, but I can almost bet you that they are 100% compliant and are using Possible now...

But why should Dish settle with the FTC when it was not them making the calls directly? The case is very simple, the FTC has to prove that DISH Network is making these calls and identify the source of the calls. Once the source of the calls has been identified by the FTC, Dish Network can identify the retailer and the FTC can go after the retailer directly.

Now on the other hand, Dish has policies in place for telemarketing in addition they have terminated retailers that do not follow their policies and procedures.

With all that said, I hear people complain all the time that they get these calls several times per day, and I used to get them also. Ever since I put my name on the national do not call list, I don't get them at my house anymore, nor do I get them at work

 

[papalittle]

What I do not understand is why Retailers from several states away call here looking for sales. You can not tell me that these retailers will drive 500 miles to install a dish! BTW we do not call anyone to sign them up we use mailers and only send these out to 4 or 5 surrounding counties.
I get mailers from as far away as atlanta and texas!

 

[bruin95]

Does this surprise anyone?

Dish has to be the most sued company in the world...

Ain't that the truth. I was just thinking the other day that no one has sued Dish in awhile and that is was about due to happen again. Well, there you go.

 

[HDRoberts]

True, but it is Dish Network who has the responsibility for safeguarding their customers privacy. They must exercise due care by not sharing a customers personnal information with scumbags and miscreants, and they must demonstrate due diligence by monitoring how customer information is being used by retailers and business partners. Sorry Charlie, but if your retailers are running amock with your customer's information, you have a legel responsibility to remedy the situation.

It's also every subs responsibility to check the little "do not share my personal information box"

Plus, who's to say they are getting the numbers from Dish. Heck, they could be using random dialers in some cases.

I have Dish and I get calls all the time wanting to sell me Dish service so they are not only calling non-subscribers.
I don't believe that Dish is the one who is doing the calling if they were then they would know that I already have Dish service and would waste time and money calling me.

My response was toward some of those earlier in the thread thinking this was Dish calling to set up service calls for low signal or LNB drift. They are calling anyone, subscriber or not.

Heres the deal, if your a retailer doing telemarketing your susposed to use a company called "Possible Now" to scrub all your leads to make sure they are not on any state, national or local do not call list. Possible now charges the retailers a fee to do this, and the way it works is that once Possible Now scrubs out all the numbers they give you a list of good numbers to call. If you call a number on the list that possible now sent you back as "Clean" and it was on a do not call list, then its Possible Now's problem to deal with any potential violation.

The issue is that using Possible Now, and other lead scrubbing services is not cheap and can add a significant cost per sale, so there are bad retailers out there who continue to violate the rules and not properly scrub their leads.

But believe me when I say this that Dish takes every DNC complaint seriously, and they do take action when they can identify the retailer making the calls that are in violation.

Thanks for the insight, Claude.