What happened to Dish's "tech support"?

[Mr Tony]

Ok this is part question part rant (ok...mostly a rant)

I havent had dish in 18 months now so I havent dealt with them. But my grandma has them. 2 301's...she gets new smart cards. One works, one doesnt.
So she calls them 3 weeks ago and they have to send new smart cards....
didnt get them...she calls back and they resend them....
5 days later nothing...so she calls back and they tell her the receiver is shot (huh???) and they will send a new receiver and she'll get it in....5 days....
well still nothing so she calls back and the guy tells her that box should be fine (the original one).

So tonight I go there to fix it. Hooked the box back up, insert new card and rerun check switch...download the guide and all I get is the freebie channels

so I call Dish and...there is no option for tech support(?????) what happened to option 2 tech support?????

so I get someone who cant even give their opening right so I hang up call back
2nd person hangs up on me after I give my name and explain that its my grandmas account but she is here to verify if need be
3rd time I get someone who has to transfer me only to get "if you'd like to make a call please hang up"

4th time I get someone. I explain the issue..now the fun begins. Because either they have no memory or they truly read off a list. I explain I put the new smartcard in and all I get are a couple channels...here is the questions I was asked

what channel are you on?
dish 101
do you get a picture
yes I do but I only get a few channels like 101,213,240,262. The rest are in green
oh but you have a picture?
yes on 101 and a few others
so whats the issue?
I dont get the channels we pay for. They are green in the guide
but what is on your screen now?
channel 101

she tells me to hit channel up and I explain from 104 it goes to 156 then 213

oh so you're not getting all your channels
correct
when did this problem start?
3 weeks ago with the new card
oh ok

I explain that it probably needs a programming rehiit as the other box works fine...so she has me read off the R# which I do. I ask if she wants the S# too but "no thats not necessary"

Now she asks me what I see on the screen when I select a channel in green.
"this program is available for purchase.....message 371"
what message?
371
what channel do you see that on?
all the channels I pay for except for the 3 or 4 free channels

again I explain that it just needs a rehit

what message do you get on the other channels
371 (for the 3rd time I mumble under my breath)
when did this start
3 weeks ago when we got the new cards. One box works fine but this one doesnt work

now she wants me to go back into the system info to read the R & S #'s again (ugh!!!) which she proceeds to f up twice as I read them off.

She puts me on hold and comes back and says they need to do a "smartcard update in their system"....wait a minute...YOU HAD THE WRONG SMARTCARD IN THE SYSTEM FOR 3 WEEKS?????

So she comes back and now the channels work....yay!!...but no locals. I tell her which locals and she tells me she has to run a local check to see if my grandma qualifies for locals....I tell the lady "please tell me you're kidding. She has had locals for 8 years". So she asks for the address and says "yes you qualify" (huh no crap) but maybe I dont have satellite 110 and asks me to hit 9900. By this time I'm just like "yep its there"

Lady screws around and finally the locals come up...huh only 1 hour and 4 calls to do a simple thing

The folks I feel sorry for are the customers who dont know what they're doing and actually follow along with these jokers. I knew what had to be done but this lady still read from a book

so now I ask...what the hell happened to "option 2 tech support" to get a dude in Virginia or something???

(sorry for the rant)

 

[Liquidforce88]

Thats Dish stupidity for you. Try being a field Tech and having to deal with that crap.

 

[rsmith7]

Just like a true dysfunctional (normal) family.

 

[hokiecb]

probably just new.. I recall being on the other end thinking "what an idiot installer." Everybody has to learn.

 

[mediafury]

Bots, Droids and Noids

probably just new.. I recall being on the other end thinking "what an idiot installer." Everybody has to learn.

True. I work in a call center and understand that feeling.

But when EVERYONE you speak of sounds like drones reading scripts in the same monotone, distant singsong delivery, you get the feel IMMEDIATELY that the turn over at that call center is so bad that there are nothing BUT learners on the phone who will make you pay dearly for the time you took to call their Award Winning Customer Service Representatives.

Says a lot about DISH, if you ask me. I no longer bother calling the Echostar Robotoids. I am getting great input HERE.

 

[paja]

The whole customer service aspect of DISH is one of the main reason s I dumped them for AT&T U-verse. The customer service with AT&T is so good it is truly like night and day.




FOX NEWS HD now on U-verse

 

[Smith P.]

Dish cut tech support positions due $100M fee for illegal DNS sells and another $100M for TiVo patent infringement.

 

[NotMe546]

I have have E* 10 years and what I hate most is call them. I just called them about an "error code 04", which I got when I went to play a DVR event. Well they kept trying to tell me they only have 3 digits error codes. Well 2 techs later and supervisor who didn't have a glue got it right, I think. Well at least she told me what error 04 was. A corrupted event on the HD.
I only called cause if it happens to much I would want my 622 replaced.
So yes E* customer service sucks!!!
That will be the number one reason why I give up on them.

 

[trumpit]

I called E* yesterday re: my 722 constantly rebooting randomly every half hour or so. After running switch test, unplugging from surge supressor directly into wall, etc., "tech" concludes "There is too much electricity stuck in your receiver somewhere, and you need to unplug it for 20 minutes to let it drain out." I hung up, called another "tech", and got agrerement to swap out the receiver after about a 1 minute description of the problem.

 

[Smith P.]

Oh man !

 

[Mr Tony]

My dad called me yesterday to tell me his 4 smart cards arrived for the upgrade and I have to do it

oof da....hope it goes smooth

 

[vegassatellite]

I called E* yesterday re: my 722 constantly rebooting randomly every half hour or so. After running switch test, unplugging from surge supressor directly into wall, etc., "tech" concludes "There is too much electricity stuck in your receiver somewhere, and you need to unplug it for 20 minutes to let it drain out." I hung up, called another "tech", and got agrerement to swap out the receiver after about a 1 minute description of the problem.

You just have to unscrew the drain plug from the bottom of the unit. When the electricity runs out, just sweep all the electricity that fell on the floor into a dustpan.

 

[Pepper]

For future reference there is a link printed on the letter that comes with the smartcards DISH Network

(if your grandmother doesn't have a computer or internet, well never mind then)

You can login there with account number and a PIN (also printed on the letter) and there is a tech support menu there, I remember it containing an option that would send a re-hit to your receivers for just such a problem as you were experiencing. The card upgrade went fine for me but being the curious type, I logged on the website and poked around, sent myself a re-hit just for fun.

 

[DishDave]

Try calling Verizon Fios

 

[topcat0399]

You just have to unscrew the drain plug from the bottom of the unit. When the electricity runs out, just sweep all the electricity that fell on the floor into a dustpan.

is the drain plug that little black screw on the bottom??? theres many of them, exactly which one is it???????

 

[Mr Tony]

For future reference there is a link printed on the letter that comes with the smartcards DISH Network

yeah I found that after watching the smartcard upgrade channel

(if your grandmother doesn't have a computer or internet, well never mind then)

no on both....she has a hard enough time figuring out what to do when she accidentally hits a channel that is blacked out (which is funny as I nuked all those channels so she WOULDNT do that)

 

[greg47]

SUPPORT

The whole customer service aspect of DISH is one of the main reason s I dumped them for AT&T U-verse. The customer service with AT&T is so good it is truly like night and day.




FOX NEWS HD now on U-verse

You think Dish support is bad, lol try Direct and its worse. Snotty not helpful and plain just do not care and always want to upgrade you for a small fee (yea right)!

 

[kb7oeb]

I had my 622 hard drive fail, the level 1 CSR must of got fed up with me because the error I saw didn't match her script and she dumped me to tech support or level 2 without warning. I mentioned to the new person on the line what happened and she apologized and after she determined my HD had failed she waived the shipping and handling fees without my asking. I'm guessing it was because I told her about the first person I talked to.

 

[Zero327]

Remember the instructions that were posted on numerous forums showing what keys on the phone to hit quickly to get tech support for an in-states call center?

Bet ya regret posting that now huh? Next, I'm thinking a change of address for CEO@echostar.com.

 

[Techfizzle]

best thing to do...
play "CSR roulete" till you find someone that doesnt sound like apu
or ask them to speak to upper level tech support
or ask to speak to someone that has worked there 5+ years
customer support now-a-days is made for slow people who cant get the tv turn on due to it being plugged in backwards or there remote dont work becuase they thought the batteries were tootsie-rolls.
I have heard bad customer support from both Dish and Directv they outsourced the call center to the phillpines and india. They hire people who dont know anything about satellite tv they are handed a peice of paper with a schematic diganostics.
I remeber 5 years ago you could call someone and they knew what they were talking about then there comes the dee-dee-dee era that plugs up all the call centers.

THEY SHOULD have a option on the prompt asking if there problem is simple or complicated. that would route the dee-dee-dee's to the dee-dee-dee's call center and people who have a little knowledge on what there talking about to the people that know something.