Called on 2/1/2006 arounf 9:30am. Was told by the customer service rep that I has 2 options for upgrading. Pay a fee of $49.00 and commit to a 18 month promotion to keep the HD service along with a $6.50 monthly equipment lease fee. Or purchase the VIP622 outright for $299.99 with no commitment or monthly lease fee. I chose to purchase outright (obviously). Then the rep proceeds to explain that the equipment will arrive within 10 days. She asks me what HD package I would like. I state the Platinum Package is closest to what I currently have (Americas Everything), so this is the package I will want. She then begins to disable my current programming and to switch me to the HD Platinum! I quickly stop her and have to explain to her that if she continues to do this I may be unable to view any channels as I do not have the proper equipment! To which she replies "Oh...yeah..." Am I missing something? Who is Dish hiring?
On 2/8/2006 I went on to dishnetwork.com to pay my monthly bill. I now realize that the $299.99 I thought was being charged to my card has been applied to my monthly bill!?? What gives?
On 2/9/2006 I call Dish. Wait on hold for 30 minutes. Finally get a customer service rep. She tells me that this is normal and that when I get my bill it will be slightly higher. What? I ask why, she says that it is because the $299.99 is for a promotion and that is the price to lease the equipment. I explain that, what was explained to me was that I was purchasing the equipment and that there would be no additional fees other than that for the HD Platinum package charges. She then tells me "That is how it is, if you don't like the promotion you can cancel your service. Please hold and I will transfer you to the Account Cancellation Dept." What??!!! So she does just that! Next thing I know I am being transferred!
I hang up and call back. Wait 45 minutes. Get another rep. She explains that the $299.99 is a promotion. That I need to keep the service for 18 months. That I need to Upgrade to an HD package, if not then I will be charges $6.50 per month as a lease fee of the equipment. Once again I explain that I was informed that I was told that the $299.99 was to purchase the equipment. She apologizes and tells me that is not the case. I then tell her to cancel as I do not want to take part in this promotion as it was not properly explained to me.
Dish definately does not have their act together on this. I do not appreciate being told one thing and then have another happen. If I had not noticed the charge being applied to my monthly bill, I would have been locked in to this. Then probably been told if I found out later that there is nothing they could do about it. Not to mention that I authorized what I thought was a "purchase"; not a fee for taking part in a promotion. Is it Dish's practice to mislead their customers? I have been a customer since 1992!
Way to go Charlie!