My folks live near Evansville, IN and have had Dish for about 10 years. They've got AT-250 with Free For Life HD; the HD-Platinum package; and two DVR's (a VIP722 and a SD Duo 522).
As you may know, a couple months back Dish finally launched HD-Locals for their area, BUT, they put them on a satellite that requires another dish to receive. I had a lengthy chat with a Dish rep yesterday (after a useless phone call, but that's another issue), and confirmed that my folks qualify for a free upgrade to get the 2nd dish installed so they can receive the HD local feeds. But, if we place an install order, Dish will remove the current SD local feeds at the time the order is placed and all locals channels will be gone until the new install is complete. Sounds crazy, but apparently it's the only way to process the install. So, even if they can get a next day appointment for the install, the local channels would be gone for at least a day. Stupid!
Secondly, I also wanted to get the folk's 2nd DVR upgraded from a SD Duo 522 to a HD Single VIP 612. There's a $95 install fee for that upgrade, which is steep but would actually pay for itself in about a year since the lease fee $7 less per month ($10 vs $17). BUT, we can't get the HD Locals dish upgrade install at the same time as we get the receiver upgrade install. We would have to set up TWO SEPARATE INSTALL APPOINTMENTS! WTF!! Gotta set aside two days with 5 hour appointment windows where we have to wait for the installer? That's just crazy! :rant:
Thirdly, after learning about all this hassle we'd have to go through to upgrade Dish, it seems equal to the hassle of having a complete new install of Direct, yet switching providers would yield several hundred dollars in promo savings over the next year. So with that, in addition to the loss of several FOX and ABC/Disney-HD channels due to contract disputes, I explained that we needed to think over our options before moving forward. I complained a bit about the loss of channels and asked if there were any service credits available. I recd a few pre-scripted messages from the rep about the negotiations with FOX. After a few more back and forths about the missing channels, we were getting nowhere and no discounts were offered. But, after a few minutes the rep came back and offered 3-months of HD Platinum for free (with autopay and electronic billing, which we already had set up). While this offer may be available to anyone, and not specific to the channel loss issue, a $30 discount over three months was at least some small consolation.
As you may know, a couple months back Dish finally launched HD-Locals for their area, BUT, they put them on a satellite that requires another dish to receive. I had a lengthy chat with a Dish rep yesterday (after a useless phone call, but that's another issue), and confirmed that my folks qualify for a free upgrade to get the 2nd dish installed so they can receive the HD local feeds. But, if we place an install order, Dish will remove the current SD local feeds at the time the order is placed and all locals channels will be gone until the new install is complete. Sounds crazy, but apparently it's the only way to process the install. So, even if they can get a next day appointment for the install, the local channels would be gone for at least a day. Stupid!
Secondly, I also wanted to get the folk's 2nd DVR upgraded from a SD Duo 522 to a HD Single VIP 612. There's a $95 install fee for that upgrade, which is steep but would actually pay for itself in about a year since the lease fee $7 less per month ($10 vs $17). BUT, we can't get the HD Locals dish upgrade install at the same time as we get the receiver upgrade install. We would have to set up TWO SEPARATE INSTALL APPOINTMENTS! WTF!! Gotta set aside two days with 5 hour appointment windows where we have to wait for the installer? That's just crazy! :rant:
Thirdly, after learning about all this hassle we'd have to go through to upgrade Dish, it seems equal to the hassle of having a complete new install of Direct, yet switching providers would yield several hundred dollars in promo savings over the next year. So with that, in addition to the loss of several FOX and ABC/Disney-HD channels due to contract disputes, I explained that we needed to think over our options before moving forward. I complained a bit about the loss of channels and asked if there were any service credits available. I recd a few pre-scripted messages from the rep about the negotiations with FOX. After a few more back and forths about the missing channels, we were getting nowhere and no discounts were offered. But, after a few minutes the rep came back and offered 3-months of HD Platinum for free (with autopay and electronic billing, which we already had set up). While this offer may be available to anyone, and not specific to the channel loss issue, a $30 discount over three months was at least some small consolation.
