Service Suspension

[shodobe]

I posted this question buries in another post but can't find the answer. Can you and if so how long can you suspend service with Direct? I onlyh use Direct for my MLBEI package and don't watch it for anything else. When the season ends I want to basically shutoff service and start it back up in April 2008 when the season begins again. I really don't want to pay monthly on something I won't use. I have been with Dish for 11 years and they haven't given me any reason to switch so I won't be leaving them. I always had the AEP with Dish but downgraded to save money when I had to get Direcet for the baseball because Dish didn't get it. I will upgrade as soon as the last pitch is served up. So, can I suspend and save the monthly bill? Thanks

 

[Brewer4]

Just call Directv and have them hold the account. Cant remember the number of concurrent months but I think it was 6.

 

[iceturkee]

nope, its 9. after my ongoing tiff with colbert i emailed directv and asked. two different csr's told me 9 months was the max and it did count toward your contractual obligation.

 

[shodobe]

So, when baseball is through I just call them and tell them that I want my account suspended. Do I still have to pay a minimum a month or not? Then in April call them to re-instate the account?

 

[atp1313]

So, when baseball is through I just call them and tell them that I want my account suspended. Do I still have to pay a minimum a month or not? Then in April call them to re-instate the account?

IIRC, there is a very low fee to suspend your account. I think it is either $5 or $10/month. A friend of mine in Miami does this very same thing during the baseball off-season months and fires it back up in late March.

 

[cariera]

I have been with Dish for 11 years and they haven't given me any reason to switch

I guess if you don't count not having MLBEI.

Anyway you can suspend your account for up to 9 months without a monthly charge. If you have a contract you still must fulfill the length of that contract. So if you have a year contract and use the service for 4 months, suspend for 9 months, you will still have 8 months remaining on your contract.

It didn't used to be this way, but I guess some things have changed in the last few months.

 

[shodobe]

Not having MLBEI isn't a breaker. The picture quality with Dish in my opinion is far better than Directs and even if they were to come up to par with Dish I would still stay with Dish because, like I said no real problems in 11 years and I DO believe in some loyalty, even though that sounds a bit hokey!. My wife loves her DVR and can't stand the Direct reciever and if she is happy so am I! I do like the option of suspending the service for the time baseball is off then starting up again. Thanks

 

[iceturkee]

So, when baseball is through I just call them and tell them that I want my account suspended. Do I still have to pay a minimum a month or not? Then in April call them to re-instate the account?

this also may have changed but i believe you are responsible for keeping your account balance at zero while your account is suspended. however, i don't think you are billed anything during that time frame.

 

[maineenginer]

There's no charge, monthly or otherwise, to suspend your account with DTV (Dish charges $5.00 per month, cleverly calling it putting your account on "pause"). Your current account balance however must be zero, or show a credit in your favor, to suspend.

 

[colebert]

I read somewhere that D* maybe changing this longstanding policy of counting suspended months against your 2yr service commitment. If so, this is a very recent development.

I have placed 3 calls to D* in the past 2 weeks.

Call #1: "Contract ends Sept 20"
Call #2: "Contract was supposed to end Sept 20 but since you suspended that adds to your obligation."
Call #3: "Contract ends Sept 20"

So I don't know what's going on. I also read on a different forum that D* has very recently changed the policy. It could be that they are still working out the mechanism that computes the remaining service committment in light of the new policy and that in the meantime CSRs are doing the calculations manually. Or it could mean nothing and some idiot was just giving me a hard time for trying to cancel.

But until this point, no one had ever added to my contract because of the suspended months.

So be aware.

 

[j0nnyhb]

Well, I've got 2 different answers as well. I emailed D* and they said the suspened time does NOT count toward your contract (it suspends as well, and you have to make up that time).

When I ordered D* a couple days ago, the guy on the phone told me the clock keeps ticking on the contract even when you have suspened your account. I asked him again, to make sure I got a clear answer, and he seemed very confident that this is the way it works. Not sure who to believe ...