Lost signal, Dish wants $100 to look, my contract ends this week, unsure what to do...

[kjspylite]

I tried to sum it up in the title. Here is my issue in short bullet points:

*Been losing signal for a few seconds at a time for about a week
*Last 2 days, signal getting worse, almost unwatchable
*Yesterday, reset the receiver (VIP 622) and now no signal at all
*checked all my cables, looks good and tight
*Sat looks fine, no blockage, and has not moved
*called Dish. They wanted to send a technician to investigate for $100.

My contract ends this week, so I inquired about renewing my contract since I've been satisfied with my service thus far. They still want to charge me to have someone come look at it AND they were unwilling to negotiate on the price of service or the Hopper upgrade even though I was willing to do a new 2 year contract. Is this normal? So now I have NO TV service and I'd have to pay to have it fixed while still using my receiver that is 6 years old. Meanwhile, I could jump to DirecTV and get the latest technology and free installation along with new subcriber discounts.

What would you do? Am I missing something? Was hoping for some insight, but this seems like a no brainer.

Thanks, Nik

 

[Tampa8]

Assuming your not leaving anything out I would nicely tell a CSR you are dropping their service when the contract is up and see if retention can help. You should contact a DIRT member from Dish here and see if they can help. You can get the protection plan added then later drop it to get a much lower cost for them to come out. I am surprised they won't do something with Hopper when you are willing to go two years.

 

[lparsons21]

Yep, I agree. Both services are a pay for service and should be looked at that way. You can offer a valued 2 year contract for the service and/or equipment you need or want, they can either accept that or you can move to the other service. And since you are in the time position you are in, there isn't a better time to negotiate.

I'm not married to either service, nor am I particularly a fan boy of either. I always pick and use whichever is solely in my best interest. For me currently, that is Direct. That could and has changed at different times.

Check with the DIRT team to see if they can help, call and tell them to cancel you and get transferred to a retention rep. If after all of that, you don't get a deal you think is in your best interest, give Direct a call.

 

[Dishman1978]

Your options.....

Pay 100 bucks and get serviced.

Pay 7 dollars dmfor 1 month of protection plan plus 15 dollars for tech fee and have service.

Don't pay anything and figure out how to fix it yourself.

Or switch to direct and get new customer incentives. But pay for the second TV per month.


I would opt for choice number 2.
Since it doesn't come with a 2 year agreement like 4 and then you can figure out why your system is broken.

May just be a failing lnb.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I would opt for option 2 as well.

 

[wallyhts]

I would find a local dish retailer and do Dishin It Up Program to the hopper.

 

[kjspylite]

Thanks for your quick replies everyone.

The tech on the phone told me that it was likely my wiring or maybe a lnb as Dishman said. I checked the coax from outside to my wall connection and it passed. Couldn't check my exterior wiring because I was unsure how to access the wires at the dish. I'm thinking those are OK becuase it is fairly new and everything looks to be in good condition.

As far as the upgrade, the tech told me that I would have to pay the upgrade fee for the Hopper. I thought they would offer it free with a new contract as Tampa8 alluded to.

Staying out of a contract is nice, however, I am ready for newer equipment and if that requires a new contract then I'm OK with that. The DirecTV offers are pretty tempting right now, as it appears you can stack new subscriber discounts, a $150 best buy gift card, $100 refer-a-friend, and possibly more.

 

[dwarren2]

Add the protection fee for 4 months, then cancel it. No $95 visit charge.

 

[HanoverPretzel]

Personally, I'd switch under those circumstances. You're renting equipment and paying a monthly fee for programming, if you can't access the programming through no fault of your own, the company should come out and fix it for free. Since they won't and you're about to be out of contract anyway, you can call around and see what Directv, cable, etc. will do for you- sometimes not their advertised offers, sadly, due to credit checks and the like, but worth a phone call. See what your options are and take your best one. I'd say the same thing if someone were being charged a fee like this by Directv or their cable company, and were out of contract. It makes sense to evaluate your situation, unless you are really attached to one company in particular for some reason (i.e. a particular channel they have and their competitors don't, psychological attachment where you just love whatever company for subjective reasons, whatever).

 

[sparc]

As far as the upgrade, the tech told me that I would have to pay the upgrade fee for the Hopper. I thought they would offer it free with a new contract as Tampa8 alluded to.

you shouldn't be talking to techs about upgrade costs.

Talk with normal customer service about what promotions you qualify for when upgrading to the Hopper. When I upgraded earlier this year, they waived the install costs down to $15 if i signed up for the protection plan for a few months. With retentions, you might be able get even lower upgrade costs if you're considering switching to a competitor.

 

[Jim5506]

Add the protection plan - get it fixed, then IMMEDIATELY drop it, or keep it for 4 months.

It will cost you less than $30, because the service is prorated, so DHA for would be about $0.23 per day plus the $25 cancellation fee.

Compare that to $7X4 mos = $28 to keep it 4 months, it is a wash.

The only advantage you have is DHA for 4 months if you cancel after 4 w/o penalty.

What Dish is counting on is that you forget to cancel and they get more out of you than you planned.

 

[wallyhts]

I'm not sure if they will do this for you since you have only been a customer for 2 years. But I have heard and seen it that if you add the pplan they will give you a $5 credit for 6 months. you can cancel after 120 days and still get the $30 credit so you come out on top $2

 

[empiretc]

so if you add the DPP, can you request they install a new dish?

 

[Dishman1978]

Add the protection plan - get it fixed, then IMMEDIATELY drop it, or keep it for 4 months.

It will cost you less than $30, because the service is prorated, so DHA for would be about $0.23 per day plus the $25 cancellation fee.

Compare that to $7X4 mos = $28 to keep it 4 months, it is a wash.

The only advantage you have is DHA for 4 months if you cancel after 4 w/o penalty.

What Dish is counting on is that you forget to cancel and they get more out of you than you planned.

They have dropped the cancellation fee.

 

[kjspylite]

I'm not sure if they will do this for you since you have only been a customer for 2 years.

I've been a Dish customer for 6 years now, which is why I was a little surprised they wanted a fee to fix my signal issue.

I guess I have to decide if I want to add the protection plan and get it fixed or jump to DirecTV and get a fresh installation with new equipment, albiet at a 2 year contract.

 

[3HaloODST]

Perhaps when you go to cancel retention can do something for you.

Sent from my iPhone 4S using SatelliteGuys

 

[andy_horton]

Rentention, Rentention, Rentention Dept!!!! That's what you need.

 

[smoeke]

wait! you guys are saying that if the Dish equipment i lease from Dish is acting up, i have to pay for them to come look at it/ Fix it? WTH?

its not my equip. why would i pay to fix it? if i was with the crappy cable company and my box failed or i had bad connection i would not pay them to fix it.

How can a company "not" sell equip (they lease it) and then charge for a protection plan on equip they own?

i have been getting random sugnal dropout for a sec or 2 at a time and was planning to call Dish for service, and now i read this.....?????

 

[mdram]

wait! you guys are saying that if the Dish equipment i lease from Dish is acting up, i have to pay for them to come look at it/ Fix it? WTH?

its not my equip. why would i pay to fix it? if i was with the crappy cable company and my box failed or i had bad connection i would not pay them to fix it.

How can a company "not" sell equip (they lease it) and then charge for a protection plan on equip they own?

i have been getting random sugnal dropout for a sec or 2 at a time and was planning to call Dish for service, and now i read this.....?????

its covered if you have the protection plan only

 

[dwarren2]

They have dropped the cancellation fee.

It was reinstated and that was confirmed by DIRT. I was just hit with the fee when I dropped it a week or so before the 4 months were up. A csr canceled the fee when I called up.