I don't know what to do about my service..

[kewk]

I've been having issues with my dish service and with the support staff. I love the dual hd dvd and they have good HD programming... the UFC fight the other night looked great! But I feel in principal alone I should cancel my service.


Here is the email I sent to them explaining my situation:


A few weeks ago I ceased to get any programming from your service. Both dishes lost sync with the satellite and would not sync up again. I was very busy with work and was unable to call right away. I waited a few days then called in and described my issues. The tech had me redo every troubleshooting method that I found and tried from your site. She established that someone needed to come out and made an appointment for 8-12 a week later. I was very upset that being a new customer I was going to be without service for over a week but with no choice I accepted.

The day arrived. I took the first half of the day off from work and waited for the tech. 12:00 hit and no sign of the tech. So I head into work and call support to find out what happened. When I reach a support rep and explain the situation the tech informs me that the appointment was rescheduled. She said that they tried to reach me but couldn’t so they left a voicemail. I told her I had no voicemail. The tech repeated the correct number back to me then offered a new appointment. The next appointment was half a week later. Again I am very upset at this but accept it, again.

Later in the week I somehow get HD programming. I also get a voicemail from support saying that they have to reschedule my appointment for a week later.

Today was the appointment day. I waited until 12:00 just like the last time and no one showed up. I went into work and forgot about the whole situation. 2:00 and I get a phone call from a tech saying he is at my front door. I told him that he was late and I am already at work. He then informs me that the appointment was scheduled for 12-5. I told him I would never schedule such an appointment because that is far to long for me to wait when I have work to do. In a very angry voice he asks me if I want to reschedule. I reply yes. He then hangs the phone up on me.

What am I supposed to do here? The support I have received is by far the worst I have ever experienced.

Please tell me what I need to do to get out of this contract. I do not wish to support a company that treats new customers like this.

 

[ItsMyLife]

Switch to DISH.

 

[MikeD-C05]

Dish .

 

[kewk]

lol damn it! I must have been thinking about moving to direct tv when I was typing the top portion of the msg

I currently use dish.

 

[Claude Greiner]

The appointments are either from 8AM-12, or 12 to 5PM.

If you have an appointment from 12-5PM, it doesn't necessarly mean the technician will show up at 12. He can show up anytime between 12 NOON and 5pm.

You need to be there the entire time! If you can't wait then you need to schedule on a day you will be home or on the weekend!

 

[kewk]

The appointments are either from 8AM-12, or 12 to 5PM.

If you have an appointment from 12-5PM, it doesn't necessarly mean the technician will show up at 12. He can show up anytime between 12 NOON and 5pm.

You need to be there the entire time! If you can't wait then you need to schedule on a day you will be home or on the weekend!

I don't think I made that part clear enough. He said the appointment was from 12-5. The appointments have always been 8-12. I would never schedule 12-5 no matter what because that is far too much time for me to wait and not be at work. I go into work at 10 so 8-12 is fine.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I understand, didn't mean to say it like I said it. As a dealer I get alot of people who think 12-5pm means the installer will be out at 12:01 PM.

Nouthing pisses me off more when an appointment is between 12-5pm and I got the customer on the phone bitching up a storm because its 12:03 and the installer has not shown up yet, and then they call back like every hour asking where the installer is at and finally around maybe 4pm they call again and the installer is knocking at their door when they are on the phone wanting to know why they did not show up yet!

I just feel that if an appointmet is between 12-5pm, the customer should not be calling until 5:15PM or if they missed the previous appointment.

 

[kewk]

I understand, didn't mean to say it like I said it. As a dealer I get alot of people who think 12-5pm means the installer will be out at 12:01 PM.

Nouthing pisses me off more when an appointment is between 12-5pm and I got the customer on the phone bitching up a storm because its 12:03 and the installer has not shown up yet, and then they call back like every hour asking where the installer is at and finally around maybe 4pm they call again and the installer is knocking at their door when they are on the phone wanting to know why they did not show up yet!

I just feel that if an appointmet is between 12-5pm, the customer should not be calling until 5:15PM or if they missed the previous appointment.

Definitely, I stayed the duration of the time that appointment was scheduled for.

 

[cebbigh]

I can't speak first hand on what happened in your situation but I must say I have had many installation appointments and have never had any problems. They always call a day in advance to confirm the appointment and always have showed up within the time frame specified. While I do think there are a number of areas where they can improve customer service by training their call centers better, installations have always gone well in my experience. I'd give them a second chance. If you feel wronged I'd suggest sending an email to ceo@echostar.com ...

 

[KE4EST]

No matter what service you have you are going to run into this same human error or lack of comunication or whatever you want to call it. Like stated above send an email to ceo@echostar.com and in a nice but firm way explain your situtation and make sure you include your phone # at home and work and Cell if you have one. With your account #.

 

[minnow]

Why is it the installer can't call ahead on the day in question and give the subscriber a more precise time frame. If the installer is on job #1 and is 75% completed, why can't the installer call the subscriber for the next job and tell them
I'll be there in approx. 1/2 hour or 1 hour whatever. It's BS that they can't narrow this window down more than 5 hours.

 

[cebbigh]

Why is it the installer can't call ahead on the day in question and give the subscriber a more precise time frame. If the installer is on job #1 and is 75% completed, why can't the installer call the subscriber for the next job and tell them
I'll be there in approx. 1/2 hour or 1 hour whatever. It's BS that they can't narrow this window down more than 5 hours.

That's pretty much what happened on my last appointment. The Dish tech (was an official Dish truck) was scheduled from noon to 5pm. I got a call at 11am from the tech that he was just wrapping up his last morning job and could get to me approx 11:10 if that was okay with me. Worked out great for me. He did a great job. Installed a 24 inch dish at no charge (ceo.echostar.com arranged it for me) and that appears to have cleared my 129 trouble. He also worked on my 500 dish (alignment was off a hair). When he was getting ready to go I tried to slip him a $20.00 for his efforts. He declined the tip. There are many good techs out there and a few bad ones. I think you can say that at almost any company.

 

[hometheaterman]

When my dish was first installed I had nothing but great service. I really liked the installer. He was good and did good work. I was happy. Now when I had my Dish 1000 installed it was a differn't story. I couldn't be there so my mom was waiting there. I get a call from her because he couldn't figure out how to turn the satellite reciever and tv on. Well after explaining it and him insisting he had it all turned on right and that it didn't work I started getting a little frustrated. Finally after me telling him it worked when I left and if it didn't now it must have been something he did. I did this as nice as possible but about that time he got it working. Well the rest of the day I knew something was going to be wrong. Well I got home and my local channels didn't work. I called to make another appointment. Well He missed the first one and maybe the second one too. I can't remember if he missed 1 or 2 but I really think it was 2. Only after me calling trying to cancel my service because of this did they get him back out. He came out and said he couldn't figure out what was wrong that my 721 must be too old to recieve the 129 satellite. He wanted permission to exchange my reciever. I wouldn't do this as finally they all of a sudden started working. I still don't know what it was but to this day I still haven't had too much of a problem. All in all it was just a hassle and like you made me think of switching to D*. I guess it really depends on the installer you get. Mine wasn't really bad I think it was just a lack of communication between the company and the installer. All got worked out and I ended up happy.

 

[rustamust]

Last week on thur. I called for upgrade to a 622 and set up install for mon. 12-5 on mon. 1120 am tech called to say he was on his way. Arrived at 1140 and installed 2 new cables from my DP34 switch to the 622 (saved me 200.00 for a 44 switch) and had it all done and activated by 1230. Great attitude and very professional, clean install and everything works great. No complaints on all three of my installs in the last year (211 Feb. 06, 500 dish for 129 May 06 and 622 Feb 07) very happy with dish.

 

[csmk6]

Hard to satisfy

I understand your frustration but it sounds like nothing will make you happy. Even if you switch to Direct or cable they all have 4-5 hour windows because YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY APPOINTMENT THEY HAVE THAT DAY. Each appointment is ususally lined out for an hour and I am sure that more appointments per day net the installer more money. But each job is not an hour job, for instance I had a 622 installed last Saturday and the tech was to be there from 12-5. He actually called at 10:30 and came early because the appt. ahead of me was a quick job. He turned what probably should have been a 30 minute job into an hour and a half? It seems like some of the techs that they are subcontracting through lately are not very good. I am extremely pleased with me Dish service and their technology is 2ND to NONE! I used to have cable and the dumb cable company did not even have enough DVR's to go around? I was put on a waiting list and NEVER did get one. I love my DISH HD and will never leave.