getstuff4less said:
Too bad this person also has a pending account that cannot be used for referrals. I know, I tried to use that number and that's the error code that came up. I just used google and found a number that works.
Losing HD Absolute. Any suggestions?
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Too bad this person also has a pending account that cannot be used for referrals. I know, I tried to use that number and that's the error code that came up. I just used google and found a number that works.
So should the future install trick work? What should we do? Anyone plan to e-mail them? I figured it might as well help med bills vs a random person. Guess it hasn't been installed. That's why it not working.
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same here, no change yet, I did get an OTA antenna and I'm preparing to cancel if I have to...I will wait to see what happens though...
I called in like the letter said to...the guy told me about the deal and switched it. If they now offer some better deal i am going to call back and ask for the same deal...kinda sucks...otherwise this is the last straw for me.
Did they actually use the word 'cooking'? (Reminds me of the aprons!)
Does that mean on 2/2 they'll release the details for all of us who got changed to Top 200 and it's too late...?
I canceled Absolute on 1/13, I went with Direct choice xtra pak. I was able to get the $180 Costco card (it arrived Fed Ex yesterday), the $100 referral discount, the 29 for first 12 months, and 14 for months 13-24, discount. I got the $5 off additional for the first 12 months. I'm not sure if I signed up the way you did, but it worked!
Dish called Tuesday evening, I wasn't available; called back Thursday & said "Charlie wants you back", well, not exactly in those words. I 'splained that I had cozy'd up to Direct, I guess I could have listened to the offer.....but just in case
it might have made me mad for switching, I didn't
; I can't go back now, well for at least two years
I'm wondering if the combination of losing Absolute subs & other subs because of the price increase 2/1 is having them scramble to save subs? I know it's been posted before that Charlie wasn't making money on us but I know from the posts that not all the Absolute subs were like myself, Absolute & one hd dvr. Seems like some of them also had premium movie packs (yeah, I'm not talking Skinamax here), and more than one hd dvr (cha-ching on the addl receiver fee).
Maybe more of a backlash than expected and it's hard to put a positive spin on lost sub numbers.
Just some random thoughts.
Dish and DirectTV both have so many packages that its only objective would have to be to keep people confused.
I think Dish would have been a lot better off by just raising the fee for Absolute package by $10. Keep it simple.
DirectTV has a better promo package for new subscribers than the Dish promo packages for former Absolute subscribers. So if Dish finds it necessary to jumble things up, might be the best time to change providers.
Doesn't DirectTV have better picture quality than Dish?
Why should I stay with Dish?
Thinking this through, I'm inclined to cancel Dish on Feb 2. Hold off on subscribing to DirectTV for a few days to see if I get a call from customer retention and see what they're willing to offer. All I want to do is to keep the channels I have and not have to pay double after the promo prices expire.
Dish and DirectTV both have so many packages that its only objective would have to be to keep people confused.
I think Dish would have been a lot better off by just raising the fee for Absolute package by $10. Keep it simple.
DirectTV has a better promo package for new subscribers than the Dish promo packages for former Absolute subscribers. So if Dish finds it necessary to jumble things up, might be the best time to change providers.
Doesn't DirectTV have better picture quality than Dish?
Why should I stay with Dish?
Thinking this through, I'm inclined to cancel Dish on Feb 2. Hold off on subscribing to DirectTV for a few days to see if I get a call from customer retention and see what they're willing to offer. All I want to do is to keep the channels I have and not have to pay double after the promo prices expire.
IIRC you could switch _between_ channels using PIP and both would remain recording.
Talon Dancer
This is part of the promo that's been running for several years now, but I read where SoCal doesn't get the $14 for the second year. I went to directv and used zip code 90210 and sure enough, the $14 didn't appear in months 13-24. I dunno if that's the only area not getting it. I think directs current offers expire 2/9/11.
So you for the $5 off they advertise+ $5 MORE using the cookie trick? Before it gets outta hand. I'm the sick guy. I was shy before and being sick made me worse. I can prove what I'm saying (scar pic with thread, med report, chair, etc... ) I figured it might as well help me with med bills vs. a random nobody. Now I'm thinking to wait till 2/2. I still think we should get it in writing. I think this is a trick to get people off Absolute + they have an excuse to switch you. I seems everyone is lazy, so I will post a google spreadsheet we can edit. What zip gets $14 more off?
I've had Absolute since the very beginning and I'm disappointed to see this day come even though I figured it was inevitable at some point.
I'm more disappointed with the way Dish has chosen to handle the transition. We've thought about it for the past week or so and decided like many others to switch to DirecTV on the current promo. Adding the $180 Costco card to the mix sealed the deal. Factoring in all the discounts including the Costco cash and averaging it over 24 months, I'll be paying almost exactly what I was for HD Absolute - and getting a whole lot more.
Excited about the whole-home DVR service - I've been waiting and waiting for Dish to come up with a multi-room HD DVR solution and have been continually disappointed. Thought maybe we were finally getting somewhere with the 922 and the whole "Sling Extender" thing, but that's vanished without a trace from Dish's site and I'm done holding my breath.
I'm more disappointed with the way Dish has chosen to handle the transition. We've thought about it for the past week or so and decided like many others to switch to DirecTV on the current promo. Adding the $180 Costco card to the mix sealed the deal. Factoring in all the discounts including the Costco cash and averaging it over 24 months, I'll be paying almost exactly what I was for HD Absolute - and getting a whole lot more.
Excited about the whole-home DVR service - I've been waiting and waiting for Dish to come up with a multi-room HD DVR solution and have been continually disappointed. Thought maybe we were finally getting somewhere with the 922 and the whole "Sling Extender" thing, but that's vanished without a trace from Dish's site and I'm done holding my breath.
Dish should really take note of this thread, not only for how they are losing customers over Absolute, but how they have been alienating customers in many other ways, and this is just the last straw.
Well said. That Costco plan for DirectTV is clearly better than the Dish promo plan for absolute subscribers.
Absolute vs. Choice Extra
I can't do all the work. Feel free to compare avg monthly cost + more . I'm sure there are some new absolute channels I missed. So if you count the Costco card, referral, plus exploit. Then it's $340 more off DTV advertised price. No rush till Feb 1st. I will rush my install if you want to help me.
I can't do all the work. Feel free to compare avg monthly cost + more . I'm sure there are some new absolute channels I missed. So if you count the Costco card, referral, plus exploit. Then it's $340 more off DTV advertised price. No rush till Feb 1st. I will rush my install if you want to help me.
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Entertainment spending fell in 2010 - latimes.com
To paraphrase Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert, "Hollywood, we have a problem." (Cable and Satellite too)
Broad swaths of the entertainment business declined in 2010. DVD sales were off 13%. Music CD purchases plummeted 19%. Video game sales as well as concert and theater attendance also fell. Even the turnout for America's favorite pastimes — baseball and NASCAR — was down. And swift changes in technology will make it difficult for Hollywood to capture pre-recession levels of revenue.
So much for the value of escapism.
But perhaps most ominously, last summer the pay-television industry suffered an unprecedented net loss — for the first time — of customers, a yellow warning light that consumers may no longer regard cable TV as a must-have utility on par with electricity and phone service.
Cable and satellite subscriptions, DVD sales and video rentals long have been the profit pillars that supported Hollywood. Although media executives continue to boast "content is king," recently released year-end data suggest entertainment companies are vulnerable to the same disruptive forces that imperiled the music and newspaper industries.
"The studios and the content companies have become increasingly aware of the problem, but they seem collectively paralyzed about what to do about it," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
2010 now looks to be a watershed year in the confluence of two powerful trends.
The first of those forces, technology, is enabling people to get entertainment in cheaper and easier ways.
And the second, the anemic economy, is widening the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, making it tougher for some consumers to justify paying for cable or tossing a new DVD into the shopping cart.
"Right now it is a tale of two cities," Moffett said. "On the high end, people can't go up-market fast enough," he said, referring to affluent consumers who are buying the latest in mobile phones, portable tablets, or Internet-connected TV sets. "Then you have this other half of the country that is being largely ignored in this discussion."
The "other half" encompasses the lower 40% of American earners, who, after paying for food, housing and transportation, are left with just $100 a month to pay for healthcare, clothing, phone service — and entertainment, Moffett said.
As far as Absolute I was told to wait till 2/1 when the news broke as things were still in play.
To paraphrase Apollo 13 astronaut Jack Swigert, "Hollywood, we have a problem." (Cable and Satellite too)
Broad swaths of the entertainment business declined in 2010. DVD sales were off 13%. Music CD purchases plummeted 19%. Video game sales as well as concert and theater attendance also fell. Even the turnout for America's favorite pastimes — baseball and NASCAR — was down. And swift changes in technology will make it difficult for Hollywood to capture pre-recession levels of revenue.
So much for the value of escapism.
But perhaps most ominously, last summer the pay-television industry suffered an unprecedented net loss — for the first time — of customers, a yellow warning light that consumers may no longer regard cable TV as a must-have utility on par with electricity and phone service.
Cable and satellite subscriptions, DVD sales and video rentals long have been the profit pillars that supported Hollywood. Although media executives continue to boast "content is king," recently released year-end data suggest entertainment companies are vulnerable to the same disruptive forces that imperiled the music and newspaper industries.
"The studios and the content companies have become increasingly aware of the problem, but they seem collectively paralyzed about what to do about it," said Craig Moffett, an analyst with Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.
2010 now looks to be a watershed year in the confluence of two powerful trends.
The first of those forces, technology, is enabling people to get entertainment in cheaper and easier ways.
And the second, the anemic economy, is widening the gulf between the haves and the have-nots, making it tougher for some consumers to justify paying for cable or tossing a new DVD into the shopping cart.
"Right now it is a tale of two cities," Moffett said. "On the high end, people can't go up-market fast enough," he said, referring to affluent consumers who are buying the latest in mobile phones, portable tablets, or Internet-connected TV sets. "Then you have this other half of the country that is being largely ignored in this discussion."
The "other half" encompasses the lower 40% of American earners, who, after paying for food, housing and transportation, are left with just $100 a month to pay for healthcare, clothing, phone service — and entertainment, Moffett said.
As far as Absolute I was told to wait till 2/1 when the news broke as things were still in play.
I don't think they care one bit. They'll just charge the remaining customers more $$$.
Kind of like what happened to the 4DTV crowd. But, with Charlies so called 2 yr price freeze on rate hikes. Which we all know he just about added 2 years worth of increases on the initial year to offset the second years "no increase".
I would say his remaining customers will be safe for a while.
