I hate Dish Network (this isn't a flame starter)

[Neutron]

I thought when I paid my remaining balance after switching to Directv I would be done with them. Well, the guy who bought my 510 from me has had nothing but problems with getting them to activate it. First it was because of my remaining balance (which I paid in full, and even asked the CSR multiple times if this would clear my account and release the 510 for him to activate, which she said no problem, and even put his name in the notes) I knew I shouldn't have believed her. I told this guy, who has been very nice and understanding about this whole thing, that if they gave him crap to please let me know. Since this was an ebay auction, I treat this as a business transaction and want him to be satisfied. Well, DISH even told him that my balance was cleared, but low and behold, since I cancelled my contract they couldn't release the receiver until it was paid. So he gets me in a conference call with him and DISH and I tell them why I cancelled it. I told them the Viacom fiasco with them dropping channels I PAID for cancelled my contract with them. I even told this to the retention CSR last month. When I mentioned the Viacom thing the guy who bought the 510 from me did say that I raised a good point. Oh, I also mentioned the turner channels. I said, right in front of the CSR, that DISH is threatening to drop the turner channels. The CSR lied and said they didn't have any issues with turner. Well, just to tell you guys, the guy who bought the 510 is having second thoughs on DISH, and would drop them if it wasn't for his D-VHS. I have to say it again, this guy is very understanding about all this.

I'm on the phone now, irrate with another CSR trying to get the $240 removed from my account since they were in clear violation of their contract last month. I'm on hold, but the CSR told me the Viacom scrolls were sufficient enough of a warning according to their contract. My understanding is DISH is the one responsible, not Viacom, on letting us know when channels will be dropped.


This right here makes me SO damn happy that I switched to Directv. Their CSRs have been nothing but nice and courteous to me.

By the way, I hope yall get your money back on your 921s since DISH is going against their advertised features.

 

[awax]

Hope you got your firesuit on because the "Dish Homers" will burn you alive.
That said my DTivos are on the way and so far I have had a good experience with DTV.

 

[Neutron]

Like I said, this isn't to start a flame war. This is to inform DISH customers of how badly this company is being run. I have nothing against someone having DISH, but I care enough to post my horrible experience with people so they know what to expect.

 

[marko]

Come on now, it doesn't take a dish homer to say the viacom situation was not a sufficient enough reason to cancel your contract with dish. You played with fire and you got burnt, and worse, you involved a third party in the situation. Hopefully you do get lucky and dish let's you go without paying the $240 fee, but my guess it they will not.

 

[Neutron]

Oh they're not. Fortunately the third party saw exactly how DISH acts, because he felt the same way I did. I'm going to refund him what he paid me for the 510, but he is considering dropping them as well. The fact of the matter is, they LIED to me when I asked earlier what my TOTAL ammount due is, to pay off my account and I paid what they told me. Now they throw this on there as well. Screw DISH.

I hope they get what they deserve from the 921/No firewire fiasco.

 

[Unthinkable]

2 or 3 days without a few channels and its a "fiasco"? Thats stretching it quite a bit imo. Dish did compensate everyone for their losses and went above the call of duty with additional free PPV coupons. How is that technically a fiasco when some cable systems are down for days at a time to a degree where all channels are lost? Seems kind of weak to me. Maybe if it was blacked out for a week or two perhaps, but come on. A handful of channels were off the air for less then three days total time correct? All things in their proper perspective, thats a pretty strange defintion of "fiasco".

 

[Claude Greiner]

Heres your solution!

Re-activate your account, with another receiver besides the 510. This will fulfill the programming obligation and allow you to sell the 510.

Let them put the 510 on the other customers account, since there should no longer be an issue with your account not being up to date.

Call Dish and Cancel again

 

[Neutron]

Heres your solution!

Re-activate your account, with another receiver besides the 510. This will fulfill the programming obligation and allow you to sell the 510.

Let them put the 510 on the other customers account, since there should no longer be an issue with your account not being up to date.

Call Dish and Cancel again

Would that really work??

 

[btbrossard]

I don't blame you for being mad at Dish. I was rather ticked as well over the Viacom channels as well.

With that being said, however, you should have sent the 510 back to Dish instead of selling it on EBay. You were just begging for problems like this. You can't expect to enter into a 1 year agreement (or 2 year depending on if you paid $99 or got if free) and expect to cancel your account a few months later and still keep the equipment.

If I were in your position, I would refund the buyers money and return the 510 to Dish. Chances are good they are going to come after you for the $240. Chances are even greater if Dish thinks your trying to profit off of equipment you don't own yet.

-Good luck

/Benjamin

 

[bcshields]

Heck with that, I'd pay the 240 fee with the EBay sale... smart buisness. Besides, he can't send it back, unless he was DHP/A anyway, he owns it.

As much as i cringe with Neutron's occasional dish bashing... he does have a point. The company has a tendancy/habit/reputation for bending someone over if they don't follow the contract to the letter, no matter if it's Dish's fault or not...

and you won't find a single installer who will disagree.

Dish needs a 10 week Customer Service boot camp. They're becoming comparable to AOL.

 

[snathanb]

I told them the Viacom fiasco with them dropping channels I PAID for cancelled my contract with them.

I'm on the phone now, irrate with another CSR trying to get the $240 removed from my account since they were in clear violation of their contract last month.

Looking at the contract... it seems the only one who is in "clear violation" of the contract is you. The wording of the contract clearly states that the channel list can change at any time.

Not only did DISH provide alternate programming during the brief outage, they also supplied appropriate compensation, which they were under no obligation to do.

DISH may or may not have broken their contract (I don't think they did..), but there is absolutely no doubt that you did.

 

[Juan]

What's your plan of action if D* drops ESPN?

 

[boba]

Neutron you signed a contract if you don't want to honor it that is your problem just accept the consequences. You don't own the 510 until you complete the 1 year contract. So you are selling DISH'S equipment, the contract says that you must subscribe to the minimum programming package AT-50 probably at the time you signed up. There is no gaurantee what programming is in the package life isn't always fair but it is goverened by rules and you agreed to the rules.

 

[AcuraCL]

.... I told them the Viacom fiasco with them dropping channels I PAID for cancelled my contract with them. ...
I'm on the phone now, irrate with another CSR trying to get the $240 removed from my account since they were in clear violation of their contract last month. I'm on hold, but the CSR told me the Viacom scrolls were sufficient enough of a warning according to their contract. My understanding is DISH is the one responsible, not Viacom, on letting us know when channels will be dropped.


....

I'm sorry, can you post a copy of the contract where Dish agreed to provide the channels you expected to receive?

You broke a contract. A contract is a contract. Pay up. No court in this country would even hear your case.

And btw, I'd say the same thing if it were DirectTv with whom he broke the contract.

 

[dbronstein]

I'm confused - you signed a ccontract with Dish and now you're complaining they are holding you to it? Read your contract - taking the Viacom channels off the air in no way violated it. You don't have a leg to stand on. Dish has many flaws in their customer service, but they are right on this one. Either do what you need to do to clear the receiver or give the guy his money back.

 

[GaryPen]

In the contract, it clearly states that Dish must notify the customer. As such, THEY are in breach.

Neutron's Dish "bashing" is perfectly justifiable based on his experiences. Quite frankly, I and many others have experienced the same or similar, whether it be with their service or products. We also choose to relate our experiences and express our feelings.

I often wonder if Dish beams some secret signal that causes some people to completely ignore their shortcomings and mistakes, and automatically attack anyone with a negative opinion about some or all aspects of Dish. (Not really, for those who are humor-impaired.)

It's like those morons who start yelling "You're unpatriotic!", if you disagree with the President.

 

[dbronstein]

From the agreement posted at http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/aboutus/RCA/index.shtml :

Section 1G says:

"Changes in Services offered. DISH Network reserves the right to change the Services that we offer, and our prices or fees related to such Services at any time. If the change affects you, we will provide you notice of the change and its effective date. The notice may be provided on your billing statement or by other communication permitted under Section 9B. In the event of a change in the contents of any programming, programming packages or other Services, you understand and agree that we have no obligation to replace or supplement the programming, programming packages or other Services previously offered that have been deleted, rearranged or otherwise changed. You further understand and agree you will not be entitled to any refund because of a change in the contents of any programming, programming packages, or other Services previously offered."


Section 9B says:

"Notice. If we send you notice, it will be considered given when deposited in the U.S. Mail, addressed to you at your billing address or hand-delivered to you. Our notice to you will also be effective if provided on your billing statement or by telephone. If you give notice to us, it will be deemed given when received by us at the address listed on the first page of this Agreement."

I don't recall getting anything in the mail about it, although it's possible I may have tossed it, and I know I didn't get any notice by phone. So Neutron could be right that Dish did in fact violate the contract.

However, the question then becomes if Dish did breach the contract, does that make it void? I'm not a lawyer, but my recollection from the contract law class I took in college is that it doesn't. Dish just has to compensate you for damages caused by the breach, and it would be hard to argue that a $1 credit and a free PPV isn't fair compensation for losing the channels for 2 days.

I'm sure someone with more legal expertise can weigh in.

 

[GaryPen]

Good argument.

Personally, I think he should pay the $240. I fully expect to, if I leave early. (Which I've contemplated often.) However, I will show patience, wait out the year, save the $240, and make that much more money when I sell my equipment if I switch, which I fully expect to do. (Depending on whether I can get a good shot at all 3 D* birds. 101 is questionable.)

 

[snathanb]

Neutron's Dish "bashing" is perfectly justifiable based on his experiences. Quite frankly, I and many others have experienced the same or similar, whether it be with their service or products. We also choose to relate our experiences and express our feelings.

I often wonder if Dish beams some secret signal that causes some people to completely ignore their shortcomings and mistakes, and automatically attack anyone with a negative opinion about some or all aspects of Dish. (Not really, for those who are humor-impaired.)

It's like those morons who start yelling "You're unpatriotic!", if you disagree with the President.

Unhappy with the service or not, I think it's somewhat dishonest to use the 36 hour viacom outages as an "out" to the contract. Did he leave DISH because of the outage? No... he was trying to use it as an excuse to get out of contract because he wanted to move on to something else. Puh-lease.

People bashing DISH don't bother me..... People who refuse to take responsibilities for their own actions do.

 

[Neutron]

Okay, this just goes to show how low DISH kiss-assers will go. I was just stating an experience from DISH. Thank you GaryPen for a positive response. It clearly states that DISH must provide written warning before making programming changes. I also do not thing $1 justified the cost for dropping that many channels.

I'm sorry, but when DISH starts whining about fee increases which was their basis for the Viacom, and now Turner issues, I see it as a double standard. They increased their fees more than 6 cents 2 months ago.

I could care less if Directv dropped ESPN. I watch FSN for my sports anyway.