I'm guessing it will be credited back the following month ... they did tell me it would appear on my next bill and then be refunded .. let's see what happens 
Its Ok - Your call IS important to them !
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rightsize
Its called 'Right-Sizing' with DirecTV not downgrading. They would rather have a customer who can pay their bill as opposed to a customer who is cut off because they can't pay it. They have a 'movers connection' for a seasonal home or a move to a new location. ECHOSTAR SUCKS.
Its called 'Right-Sizing' with DirecTV not downgrading. They would rather have a customer who can pay their bill as opposed to a customer who is cut off because they can't pay it. They have a 'movers connection' for a seasonal home or a move to a new location. ECHOSTAR SUCKS.
iafirebuff said:
tengu79 said:
That is why Directv does not have me as a customer. I tried to sign up for their service but they showed up twice with the wrong equipment. They were not about to get a 3rd chance.
jokeworm said:Does life really have to be THIS difficult ?
Is my call REALLY that important to them ?
Sarcastic - sure - but hopefully someone will take pity on me.
===========================================
From: my.email.address
To: ceo@dishnetwork.com
Date: Sep 29, 2006 11:56 PM
Subject: Remove a Free Movie Trial.
Sirs, I signed up for Dish-network back on 17th July. At that time I was given a free 3 month subscription to HBO. Very nice it was too - thank-you.
A couple of weeks ago I called and sat on hold for around 25 mins to try and find out what date i needed to call in and cancel my HBO subscription by - so that you would not charge me any fee's for having this service.
The lady I spoke with said that I should call "at the end of the month" in order to avoid any fee's. (This means that I would have only actually had the free service for 2 1/2 months - but that's OK - i let that one slide)
Last night I tried calling back to remove HBO from my account as the lady had asked me to do .. and yet again i sat on hold for more than 25 mins listening to what can only be described as the most annoying "on hold" music I have ever heard in all of my life ... which was interrupted every 30 seconds or so by some breezy lady - who - without laughing once - told me that my call was important to her. (if it was really important - you would be answering my calls - not sitting me on hold while more of my precious life ticks by)
In the end I gave up holding. Is there anyone that I can speak with or write to that can remove the HBO "free" service from my account without me having to jump through hoops and sit on hold for the best part of an hour before someone decides to answer a call?
The key word here is decides... we don't decide to answer a call. You are in queue llike everyone else. When an agent becomes available your sarcastic call comes through. yay.
Other than a few early signal blips caused by the installer - I have so far really enjoyed the service. Unfortunately - the few occasions that I have had to deal with your customer "service" have reminded me of my younger days sat in the dentist chair just waiting for the drill to connect with the nerve that needed attention. Its quite frankly - that painful.
The "few occasions" you had to deal with customer service was on hold. So how is that a good judgment of the service. Do you always call during peak times? Evenings tend to be pretty busy esp between 5-9.
How hard can it be to allow users to downgrade online ?
We can upgrade easy enough - but downgrade and you have to sit on hold until someone who thinks that my call is important to them decides to answer and flip a switch.
Again, you are in queue like everyone else. I guess we could hire thousands of agents so that your important call could come in to the unlucky person that answers more quickly.
Please - help me end this nightmare.
I promise i will never again upgrade any of my service plans ... just in case I ever have to go through this "downgrade hell" I'm sure there is a very good reason for it - but honestly - I'm really not interested - I just want to get rid of HBO and go back to watching some HD content.
Thanks in advance for your help
My contact details.
====================================================
Your downgrade hell experience is absolutely nothing compared to cancelling AOL. You havent even reached more than one person, and that person was wrong. Cancel the day before the 3 month anniversary of your install and bam, bye bye FREE premium. Your phone call is a 30 second call, assuming you don't go on and on with sarcastic bs about your bad experience... that really makes someone WANT to help you...
Thank you for choosing dish network this is matt may i have your name please?
(Some sarcastic response and story about how hard it is for you to remove hbo.)
Ok I have removed hbo from your account is there anything else I can do for you?
Done.
Imagine you are the CSR or executive help, and some bleeper emails or calls in like you. Would you want to help them? What if your email was like this?
Hi I am a guy. I called the other night about removing hbo before the end of the 3 months. The agent I spoke with was unclear. Can you give me a date I should call by to avoid any add'l fees?
Thanks,
Guy
And that's hell....
That's all good and well if you can actually get through to someone - my main gripe was the fact that i was on hold for close to 30 mins on two separate occasions while all the time they were telling me that my call was important .. it obviously wasn't - else they would have more staff there answering them.
Why must I waste an hour of my life trying to do something that should take 30 seconds ? Your scenario would have been ideal .. had they actually got enough people to handle the call volume .. they didn't - and i wasn't not prepared to waste more of my life waiting for someone to press a button and turn off my service ..
My calls are generally made at 2-5am as I work nights and sleep days ..
hardly what you would call a "peak" call time is it ?
The sarcasm was directed at the pathetic attempt at Dish Network to staff a call center.
Had i called to add new service you can bet your arse i would have spoken with someone within 30 seconds.
I understand the fact that I am in a queue ... my problem is the claim that my call is important --- It was quite obvious to me after 30 mins on hold that Dishnetwork didn't give a damn about my call .. you make someone wait more than 30 mins before they get to speak with someone and all the time play a condescending and patronising message to them every 30 seconds telling them how important they are .. you should expect the customer to be quite pissed by the time they get to speak to you ..
Had the message said ... "thank-you for your call ... we are working on skeleton staffing levels to ensure we can bring you the lowest possible price for your satellite viewing experience .. your wait time will be approx 40 mins" I honestly wouldn't have a problem. But the bull about my call being important and someone would be with me soon was simple frustrating and a downright lie. Not saying that's your fault .. but I'd rather be told the truth then fed a line of bull while i am waiting.
You want to cut the call times - give the customer some control over their programming and let them check a box and click submit online - job done - i don't need to sit on hold for 30 mins to remove programming ... but DishNetwork would obviously rather I do so for some strange reason .. maybe they think you guys have noting better to do at 3am .. ?
Why must I waste an hour of my life trying to do something that should take 30 seconds ? Your scenario would have been ideal .. had they actually got enough people to handle the call volume .. they didn't - and i wasn't not prepared to waste more of my life waiting for someone to press a button and turn off my service ..
My calls are generally made at 2-5am as I work nights and sleep days ..
hardly what you would call a "peak" call time is it ?
The sarcasm was directed at the pathetic attempt at Dish Network to staff a call center.
Had i called to add new service you can bet your arse i would have spoken with someone within 30 seconds.
I understand the fact that I am in a queue ... my problem is the claim that my call is important --- It was quite obvious to me after 30 mins on hold that Dishnetwork didn't give a damn about my call .. you make someone wait more than 30 mins before they get to speak with someone and all the time play a condescending and patronising message to them every 30 seconds telling them how important they are .. you should expect the customer to be quite pissed by the time they get to speak to you ..
Had the message said ... "thank-you for your call ... we are working on skeleton staffing levels to ensure we can bring you the lowest possible price for your satellite viewing experience .. your wait time will be approx 40 mins" I honestly wouldn't have a problem. But the bull about my call being important and someone would be with me soon was simple frustrating and a downright lie. Not saying that's your fault .. but I'd rather be told the truth then fed a line of bull while i am waiting.
You want to cut the call times - give the customer some control over their programming and let them check a box and click submit online - job done - i don't need to sit on hold for 30 mins to remove programming ... but DishNetwork would obviously rather I do so for some strange reason .. maybe they think you guys have noting better to do at 3am .. ?
Last edited:
Actually your call isn't all that important - we will just pretend it is.
Guess what - it didn't - surprise !
email number two being sent to CEO as we speak .. is there anyone at dish able to just do something they say they are going to do .. .... the more times you can get a customer to call back - the longer they will all be in a job .. frightening.
Has ANYONE else actually ever had an issue resolved on the first call ?
Guess what - it didn't - surprise !
email number two being sent to CEO as we speak .. is there anyone at dish able to just do something they say they are going to do .. .... the more times you can get a customer to call back - the longer they will all be in a job .. frightening.
Has ANYONE else actually ever had an issue resolved on the first call ?
Currently, Dish hold times are insanely long because they're switching over to new enterprise software - called "DishSMART". Unfortunitely it doesn't work very well - wheras the old system was easy to navigate, and performed tasks in under a second or two, DishSMART is a complex web-based server system that takes sometimes over 5 minutes to accomplish a simple task such as "Remove Showtime". Unfortunitely they've spent over $130 million on it, so instead of dropping a bad system, they don't want to lose face and are going ahead with implimenting it full scale due to pride.
Back when I was a CSR, I was on the alpha team for this junk. On the same day we got praised for being the best performing dish-smart team, we also got written up for not meeting expectations. Yeah.
Dealing with this system pushed me over the edge, so I went elsewhere for employment (And wound up making more, which is a bonus!). It also seems to be pushing more and more of the experienced agents who had experience with the old system (and, experience with actually understanding how the equiptment works, etc) away as well. So right now they've got huge signs outside of their call centers, and are hiring anyone with a pulse. As a result, you tend now to wait about 30-45 minutes to get someone who is fresh out of training and has little clue where to even begin addressing real problems, and navigating DISHsmart is difficult at best. Often it errors out, and shows it's removed something when it hasn't, until you reload from the database the next week. (or the next emergency refresh whenever comes first. when I left we usually had an emergency refresh once every few days.)
Right now if I have to call in, I ask to be transferred to 2nd level support - they've been around longer and usually have access to the old (PROMO) system, just to make sure things happen correctly.
That being said, the dish system itself is still the best TV solution I've yet found. Of course, I know how to fix my own problems and, more importantly, set it up correctly to begin with, so I rarely have any problems with mine. Last time I had to call was 6 months ago to get a reauthorization signal sent after a power outage.
Back when I was a CSR, I was on the alpha team for this junk. On the same day we got praised for being the best performing dish-smart team, we also got written up for not meeting expectations. Yeah.
Dealing with this system pushed me over the edge, so I went elsewhere for employment (And wound up making more, which is a bonus!). It also seems to be pushing more and more of the experienced agents who had experience with the old system (and, experience with actually understanding how the equiptment works, etc) away as well. So right now they've got huge signs outside of their call centers, and are hiring anyone with a pulse. As a result, you tend now to wait about 30-45 minutes to get someone who is fresh out of training and has little clue where to even begin addressing real problems, and navigating DISHsmart is difficult at best. Often it errors out, and shows it's removed something when it hasn't, until you reload from the database the next week. (or the next emergency refresh whenever comes first. when I left we usually had an emergency refresh once every few days.)
Right now if I have to call in, I ask to be transferred to 2nd level support - they've been around longer and usually have access to the old (PROMO) system, just to make sure things happen correctly.
That being said, the dish system itself is still the best TV solution I've yet found. Of course, I know how to fix my own problems and, more importantly, set it up correctly to begin with, so I rarely have any problems with mine. Last time I had to call was 6 months ago to get a reauthorization signal sent after a power outage.
Doccers,
DISHPromo had problems of its own, frequent downtimes and behind the scenes issues that CSRs were never informed of. There was a 25-person team that was dedicated to nothing but fixing the orders CSRs using DISHPromo put through each day. DISHSmart's conversion as a new system is complete, although the estimation of $130 million is far off. I would expect the number is closer to between 3-8.
Call center handle times are so high due to the sheer number of subscribers over the number of CSRs to handle the calls. Multiply that by the number from 12.46 million customers that are writing ceo@echostar.com or demanding to speak to a member of the board everytime they call, and it's not surprising what's happening. Again, the last public figure was 12.46 million subscribers. That means that if even 1/10th of that figure calls into the call centers for whatever reason (How much is it to add HBO? My girlfriend next door got a free 622, can I have one too? I just got this in the mail, what's this about? Is my DVR going to be shut off like DTV says? etc, etc.) then the company is quite simply outmanned and outgunned.
The next comment posted will be "well then hire more people!" Hiring is costly and turnaround can be high. Think about what you see posted on these forums, then imagine taking calls for nine hours a day straight listening to it, trying to reassure the customer and then running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to make sure the customer is taken care of. THEN, you might have a slight incling about what several thousand call center reps have to go through to take care of 12.46 million customers. As a CSR (former or otherwise), you should know these things. Especially considering you yourself immediately request escalation without giving the front-line CSRs the chance to help you. That used to be you on the other end.
DISHPromo had problems of its own, frequent downtimes and behind the scenes issues that CSRs were never informed of. There was a 25-person team that was dedicated to nothing but fixing the orders CSRs using DISHPromo put through each day. DISHSmart's conversion as a new system is complete, although the estimation of $130 million is far off. I would expect the number is closer to between 3-8.
Call center handle times are so high due to the sheer number of subscribers over the number of CSRs to handle the calls. Multiply that by the number from 12.46 million customers that are writing ceo@echostar.com or demanding to speak to a member of the board everytime they call, and it's not surprising what's happening. Again, the last public figure was 12.46 million subscribers. That means that if even 1/10th of that figure calls into the call centers for whatever reason (How much is it to add HBO? My girlfriend next door got a free 622, can I have one too? I just got this in the mail, what's this about? Is my DVR going to be shut off like DTV says? etc, etc.) then the company is quite simply outmanned and outgunned.
The next comment posted will be "well then hire more people!" Hiring is costly and turnaround can be high. Think about what you see posted on these forums, then imagine taking calls for nine hours a day straight listening to it, trying to reassure the customer and then running around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to make sure the customer is taken care of. THEN, you might have a slight incling about what several thousand call center reps have to go through to take care of 12.46 million customers. As a CSR (former or otherwise), you should know these things. Especially considering you yourself immediately request escalation without giving the front-line CSRs the chance to help you. That used to be you on the other end.
Finally !
finally done and dusted ...
HBO removed on 19th ... (after my email to ceo) and a $5 credit also applied ...
Took a while - 3 phone calls ... more than an hour on hold ... and two emails to ceo to get HBO removed from my account ..
THIS is my complaint ...
simple stuff that should have taken the first CSR 5 mins to setup and clear - ends up taking so much time and effort. If they had their stuff together .. Dish would have saved themselves a LOT of CSR time and two emails to ceo - and i would have been happy ...
complaining that the CSR's are overworked is NOT a valid excuse - they don't need to hire more CSR's to cover the amount of calls they are getting - they just need to make sure the first person who gets the call deals with it as they should. If they did - they would have more than enough CSR's to take the calls that are coming in - the problem is that they have to do everything 4 or 5 times ... this is why they seem to be "overworked"
This is not the first time i have had to cal multiple times to get something very simple actioned. If it is happening to me - i can only assume that its happening to the majority of people who are calling in.
finally done and dusted ...
HBO removed on 19th ... (after my email to ceo) and a $5 credit also applied ...
Took a while - 3 phone calls ... more than an hour on hold ... and two emails to ceo to get HBO removed from my account ..
THIS is my complaint ...
simple stuff that should have taken the first CSR 5 mins to setup and clear - ends up taking so much time and effort. If they had their stuff together .. Dish would have saved themselves a LOT of CSR time and two emails to ceo - and i would have been happy ...
complaining that the CSR's are overworked is NOT a valid excuse - they don't need to hire more CSR's to cover the amount of calls they are getting - they just need to make sure the first person who gets the call deals with it as they should. If they did - they would have more than enough CSR's to take the calls that are coming in - the problem is that they have to do everything 4 or 5 times ... this is why they seem to be "overworked"
This is not the first time i have had to cal multiple times to get something very simple actioned. If it is happening to me - i can only assume that its happening to the majority of people who are calling in.
Easiest way to do anything through dish is to call the special installer line at 1-888-233-3474 press 1, then 3, then two, this will say this account does not have an open work order. At this point you'll get a dish csr in under 30 seconds, since you have them on the phone they can't just hang up, you then have full access to your account. Your Welcome People.
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