Retailer Chat Recap 12/12/13

[Scherrman]

I love my Hoppers way to much to switch to another provider and I wouldn't be able to just cut the cord because I would miss out on way too much sports. If anything I'd just have to downgrade my package to the AT200 in order to save money.

I don't see how Dish is making more money by increasing prices ever. I use to have the Everything Package until the last price increase and then I downgraded to the AT250. Dish just lost $45 of my bill right there.

 

[mike123abc]

I am doing the same but have also added a new TiVo Roamio to the mix for OTA DVR capability.

I did that got the 4 tuner version so that I can do OTA or cable. The cable company gave me a great deal for 12 months, so switched from Dish to cable, at the end of 12 months, I have the option of going back to OTA. But, currently internet+cable is only $30 more than just internet (normal price not the special where I got all the movie channels for free for a year), hard for Dish to offer AT250 for $30, and no box fees (lifetime on TiVo).

 

[Scherrman]

No way in hell I switch to Mediacom here. I prefer not to have crap equipment with a crappy picture and when I happen to lose my service, not knowing when they will get it back up running. My uncle got talked into the cable bundle and he regrets it so much. Last week his service went out, all of it. The internet, phone and TV all went out and Mediacom said it wasn't on there end but they could look at it the next week. Finally more people had the outage after him so they came out a little sooner to fix the issue but he still went days without it.

 

[nelson61]

This is a big step BACKWARDS. HD Is the norm now , not the exception with most households. This is as stupid as charging $10.00 fee for SD or Color tv. With all the cord cutting going on out there and all the subs are just looking for a reason to switch providers when their 24 month commitment is up , why give them even more reason to quit DISH by jacking their price another $10.00 a month? After all the price on the programming is going to go back up to regular price and add to that the yearly price hikes that come and that add anywhere from $5.00 - $10.00 on your bill and add any new DISH fees that they think up to you bill + the new HD FEE and you can see that CHURN will be the word at the end of the second year of all new subs.

WHAT A STUPID MOVE!!!

It is like the Bells with your phone way back. If your significant other wanted something other than black, they tacked another fee on your phone line.

I also think it is not the brightest idea. I have the lifetime HD so will not see an immediate hit but HD has become the de facto standard. Customers will see a repeating extra line item on their monthly statement for "standard" service. They are choosing to milk an old cash cow (marketing 101) but will pay the price as their old customers die off.
It's like Claude wrote. Dish is tossing out something "special" that gave them an extra marketing edge.
It will be irritating at the least and probably will result in more cord cutting (switching to streaming or other venders). Not a good way to build your customer base.
A better plan would be to bite the bullet and hide any extra HD costs in the basic plans.

 

[satjay]

I love my Hoppers way to much to switch to another provider and I wouldn't be able to just cut the cord because I would miss out on way too much sports. If anything I'd just have to downgrade my package to the AT200 in order to save money. I don't see how Dish is making more money by increasing prices ever. I use to have the Everything Package until the last price increase and then I downgraded to the AT250. Dish just lost $45 of my bill right there.

I agree with you exactly, will have to see once the dust settles on what gets dropped package wise if anything does. One way for me to save is on the premiums, even though they offer half off most the time it ads up, that may be my way

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[navychop]

I had decided a couple months ago that I am going to ditch the dish (cut the cord) as my New Year's resolution. I am canceling my Dish subscription at the end of this month. I am just going to do OTA with Netflix/Hulu to supplement my viewing needs. I am tired of getting nickeled and dimed with all the fees and constant price increase. I do not even watch half the channels that I am forced to pay for

Why not put your Dish account on hold for 2-3 months and see how cord cutting works? That way you don't lose any grandfathering or recorded shows you have, if you decide to stay with Dish.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[dwarren2]

Is this hard and fast, or was it a trial ballon run up the flag pole. Didn't Dish do that earlier this year with dvr fees? If they get enough flack, they may reconsider. Time will tell.

 

[Gobucks]

I love my Hoppers way to much to switch to another provider and I wouldn't be able to just cut the cord because I would miss out on way too much sports. If anything I'd just have to downgrade my package to the AT200 in order to save money.

I don't see how Dish is making more money by increasing prices ever. I use to have the Everything Package until the last price increase and then I downgraded to the AT250. Dish just lost $45 of my bill right there.

I'm right there with you. We love our Hoppers and college football way to much. What will do is go to Top 120 after the bowls are over. We also had everything pack till the extra $15 was added on. Then it was bye bye. $15 extra and nothing added not even HD for the SD only premiums. Oh well. It's only TV.

 

[lparsons21]

I agree with you exactly, will have to see once the dust settles on what gets dropped package wise if anything does. One way for me to save is on the premiums, even though they offer half off most the time it ads up, that may be my way

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

I've been taking advantage of the 1/2 off premiums all year long. But HBO/Sho expired yesterday and the best offer was $5 off for each for 6 months. Because of the way they do these things that makes it about $5/month more for the 2 of them than I was paying for 1/2 off both of them. Not an earth shattering difference.

I looked at dropping to the T200, but FS2, NBC sports and BEin are in the T250 and they have some very good (and some awful!!) boxing on them, so that won't happen.

What most likely will happen is dropping BB@Home when the 1/2 off expires in a few days unless they still offer it for 1/2 off again. Multi-sports also expires in a few days, but I won't renew that one as it doesn't have much value to me once football is over or nearly so.

 

[Bobby]

It is like the Bells with your phone way back. If your significant other wanted something other than black, they tacked another fee on your phone line.

Not quite right Nelson. Color phones were a one time charge of $5.00 each. Now, if you wanted a Princess or Trimline there was a $.75 to $1.25 monthly charge.....

 

[dishrich]

When new customers sign up, their contracts will be over when they will have to pay $10 for HD. At which point you call and threaten to cancel your service, they send you to a supervisor, and you get the HD fee waived. You can still get "HD Free For Life" but you'll just have to call once a year to threaten to cancel to get it.

That's apparently how it works with DTV too.

But NOT a 100% rule; I'm sure with both E* & D*, it's on a case-by-case basis...nobody should assume this will ALWAYS work.

 

[catnap1972]

I've been playing the numbers this morning as I usually do at the 1 year mark, to see what is in my best interest. Staying with Dish just makes more sense at this time. My total bill for the next few months will be right around $100/month and here's what I get for it:
T250
HBO, SHO, Max, BB@Home
2 Hoppers

Promos?

I've only got a single 622 w/ just 250 and BB and mine is close to $100 as it is (and most likely over that once February rolls around). How are some of you getting by so cheap?

 

[Scherrman]

Promos?

I've only got a single 622 w/ just 250 and BB and mine is close to $100 as it is (and most likely over that once February rolls around). How are some of you getting by so cheap?

Usually people are getting some kind of discounts or they have a price that my be grandfathered in. I myself pay just over $130 for 2 Hoppers, 2 Joeys, 211k receiver, HBO, Multi-Sports pack and the AT250. Right now I'm getting HBO for half price, Multi-sports pack for half price, and I have the grandfathered price of $10 for the DVR fee and $7 for the secondary Hopper fee.

 

[Scherrman]

We talked to our Dish rep earlier today and asked about a price increase, she knows what it is but said she couldn't tell us. I'm not very thrilled about this as it's been hard enough to get new sales as it is. This is just going to hurt our sales even more and cause us to lose more existing customers.

 

[lparsons21]

Promos?

I've only got a single 622 w/ just 250 and BB and mine is close to $100 as it is (and most likely over that once February rolls around). How are some of you getting by so cheap?

It is a combo of some discounts that are readily available or were just days ago. In my case with the next bill, here's how it works out:
DVR+Whole Home = $10
2nd Hopper = $ 7
T250 = $74.99
HBO = $13.00 ($5 off or next 6 months)
SHO = $ 8.00 ($5 off for next 6 months)
Max = $ 6.50 (1/2 off for next 6 months)
BB@Home = $5.00 (1/2 off now, probably will get another in a few days)

Total : $124.49

Discounts :
$10 ( 2 referrals)
$5 (Price Protection last one of these)
$5 (agent discount, don't remember what for)

So final bill = $104.49
February bill will go to $114.49 unless some new discount comes available.

Most of the months in this first year I've just finished have been about $70/month because of the new/returning customer discount.

 

[lparsons21]

We talked to our Dish rep earlier today and asked about a price increase, she knows what it is but said she couldn't tell us. I'm not very thrilled about this as it's been hard enough to get new sales as it is. This is just going to hurt our sales even more and cause us to lose more existing customers.

I'm figuring about a 5-7% increase overall in base subscription pricing though they might not be even across the board. I think that is about right considering the change coming to HD Free.I

I don't expect that premiums will increase as there is lots of resistance to subscribing to them at the current pricing as evidenced by the continuuing of so many discounts on them.

Of course, I may be totally wrong!!

 

[dare2be]

Promos?

I've only got a single 622 w/ just 250 and BB and mine is close to $100 as it is (and most likely over that once February rolls around). How are some of you getting by so cheap?

722/AT200: 64.99 + 7.00 DVR fee + 4.?? tax = ~$76

I dropped sports pack and AT250 that brought my bill down from $95 that had climbed over $90 after the latest round of price hikes. I miss NBCSN but it's the only channel I miss from AT250.

 

[TheKrell]

Maybe they'll throw us a bone and introduce some new/improved packages. I feel stuck at AT250 because of only two channels, Science and H2. I used to love all the Discovery family of channels and History too, but there's nothing but reality programming pap on the rest these days.

 

[dare2be]

Science is now in AT200.

Speaking of throwing bones, maybe that is what is being referred to as Super Powers...hybrid ala carte. One can dream.

 

[dishrich]

Well while I do think this is NOT going to help E* get new subs & is going backwards in their growth, I guess I'm glad I picked the right time to switch all (primary) service to E* & upgrade to H/J's:
As of now, these are all the grandfathered/promo deals I'm on now:
- grandfathered supers (yes, I do still watch them)
- grandfathered (2) additional Hopper prices
- grandfathered FREE HD for life
- another 2 years of FREE DVR service (was on one of the waived DVR fees from legacy DVR's I had)
- multiple runs of reduced/FREE premiums & BB

Honestly, I never got deals like this out of D*