How Dish treats its customers

[Fotograffiti]

I don't want anyone to think I am writing this as a flame or to be a troll. I have Charter cable right now and was looking to switch to D* or E* and after going back and forth I settled on E* because it is a better deal and decided I can do without the Sunday Ticket. I have read the forums alot in the last few months and it seems that there are more complaints in this forum about the way customers are treated than in the D* forum and with hardware in general. I know that most people don't write about positive experiences and so you get the negative alot more but is bad customer service and treatment much different between the 2 companies? Also, are there still alot of issues with HDMI problems with the HD-DVR cause this is how I would want to connect my TV. Thanks for you input.

Robert

 

[cablewithaview]

I'll remain neutral by saying this, every provider (satellite, telco or cable) all has issues, likes or dislikes. It's a matter of what fits you best. contract or no contract, upfront fees or no upfront fees, etc. you need to consider. as for the HDMI, there has been some issues from both sides, however I haven't had a problem with mine.

 

[Fotograffiti]

Yeah I have been going back and forth for months and driving my wife crazy. I tend to analyze and research things to death before buying something and there are good and bad for both services. It was a little easier when I came to my senses and realized that although I like football, I would have to be a pretty big fan to spend $400 to get the Sunday Ticket in HD.

 

[cablewithaview]

me personally, for the price they ask for the NFL Sunday Ticket, I could use that money for something better. It's just unreal to me why they ask that much when our brothers and sisters of the north gets it for well over 1/2 price.

 

[boba]

Customer service goes to D* without any hesitation, Lower cost goes to DISH, at least for programming packages. E* will nickel and dime you just like a cable company, they still aren't charging for rental of remotes but that probably isn't far off.

 

[Bill R]

I have had a lot more customer service problems with DirecTV than I have had with DISH Network but DISH's service is FAR from perfect.

One thing that bothers me about both vendors is their overseas call centers. The people at those centers are very poorly trained and language skills sometimes cause even more problem. The fact that the overseas call centers use contract employees doesn't help either. DirecTV has been moving a lot more of their support to U.S. call centers run by them (instead of an outsourced center). This is a good trend and DISH needs to do the same.

 

[Slamminc11]

Let's not forget, the people here represent around 1% of dish customers, and the majority of those people here are a bit more tech savvy than you basic customer, and this forum (as well as Direct) are used a whole lot more to b*tch than to praise. It feels better to get things off your chest than it does to take the time to praise something, hence your reason for the more complaints. Now, I am not saying that Dish CSR's are beyond reproach, far from it, but at $11 an hour, they aren't in it for a career. I will be the first to say that Dish has a long way to go in the customer service area, but you have to remember that using this forum (or any forum) for that matter as a gage is far from accurate.

 

[hobojoe]

my experience has been good with dish network. there tech support and warranty is really good to me. the customer service is OK not fantastic just OK. there audit team should be hung for the outrageous way they treat us its very cruel and barbaric. they have the best programing to me. but nickel and dime you to death with fees. the end result though is slightly cheaper than directv. i would recommend dishnetwork! good luck in your decision. i just spent 2 months deciding if i wanted a new contract and leased equipment to get hd. after owning everything and being free for 7 years now. so here we go 18mo and counting down to freedom! I'll change my countdown timer to reflect it. lol

 

[Wylwrk]

People generally report negative feedback than positive.

It has been my (unpopular) observation that most of the negative feedback results from the customers' failure to understand the product, actually read what they sign or human error.

There are of course, exceptions

 

[SHADO 1]

People generally report negative feedback than positive.

It has been my (unpopular) observation that most of the negative feedback results from the customers' failure to understand the product, actually read what they sign or human error.

There are of course, exceptions

Yes, like us here on the St. Louis market cannot watch the local HD channels that went up almost a month ago because they put the channels on the odd satellite that requires a dish that no dealer here has. My install has been pushed back 3 times, it took 3 weeks just to get my SD locals turned back on without having to cancel the work order. Dish has no long range planning when it launches a new product or service (i.e 622 orders when first came out).

 

[Wylwrk]

/boggle

No one in the St. Louis area has a D1000 or a 300 and a dual LNBF?

Or are you after the D1000/500+?

 

[SHADO 1]

/boggle

No one in the St. Louis area has a D1000 or a 300 and a dual LNBF?

Or are you after the D1000/500+?

In order to receive the 118.75 Sat you have to have one of the newer dishes with an FSS LNBF, so none of the standard E* equipment will work.

 

[Fotograffiti]

If I pay the $199 do I have to commit to 18 months?

When I go through the Dish Builder and select everything , I have the option to commit or not to commit to 18 months to save $50. Obviously it is worth 50 bucks to not be locked in but I am pretty sure that I have heard of having to fulfill a commitment regardless. If select not to commit and I decide 4 months down the road that I don't like it do I just have to return my/their leased HD-DVR and the dish? I guess even in that situation it would be less than ideal to spend $200 dollar on the equipment lease and have to give it right back to them.

 

[Parlyle]

Having a ball.........

Well, I have been with E* for a number of years. I have gone through the bad experiences and the good, and I think that the good really outweighs the bad. If you consider how much E* has grown in the few years that it has been around, you must realize that this company has had to deal with a lot of growing pains. Sometimes they are a little lax in customer service, but, in the long run, they have always come through for the customer. If a person just goes a little slower when they talk to those foreign assistants, and it is hard sometimes, they can help. Lately, I have had local people to talk to, so I guess that problem is being addressed too.

Also, you have to realize that there are a great number of challenges that we put on E*, with our wanting everything yesterday, and not realizing that there more people that want the almighty royal treatment everytime they have a problem. Loosen up and enjoy what you have!

I'm getting off my soapbox now, and wish everyone a pleasant satellite experience with whomever your with. Enjoy the run, as it might not be around forever.

Lyle