You are ALWAYS a Former Customer

[jibaro29]

I do not think you will ever be able to get off the list, but as a former customer they will give you the best deal possible. I left Dish 2.5 years ago. When I called two days they offered me a hell of a deal. Three DVRs receivers two of them HDs plus 200 + channels including 50 HDs and the best thing no upfront money. $54.00 + tax for 12 months. I almost took the deal but loyalty to Directv got the best of me. I went back and talked to them and to my surprise they lower my monthly payments by $20.00, gave me 5 months of premium channels and NFL ticket for free. Be nice and polite to your CSR. It can take you a long way.

 

[dishcomm]

I called dish today to sign up for service and here is the situation:
I had dish network from january 2006 to january 2007. i moved in with a roomate and we signed up for comcast from january 2007 to august 2009. i am now moving into an apartment by myself and called dish to schedule new service. they said since i was a customer 2.5 years ago, that i am not eligible for new service. also, their computer showed them that i only had service for 5 months, and i needed to have a 6 month minimum to be eligible for anything. (no one ever told me this) so i asked them how much longer i had to wait to be considered a new customer again, and they said they didnt know. i said, how about 5 years or 10 years, and they said they didnt know how long. so they transferred me to customer service and they told me the ONLY way i can get dish network service now is to BUY the equipment, and pay higher rates as an existing customer! this is completely wrong, and they are now losing a customer because of it. i will be calling direct tv to sign up as a new customer. i asked to speak with a supervisor and after being on hold for 47 min, finally was disconnected without ever speaking with a supervisor. what a horrible operation they run over there!

Did you somehow feel entitled to Dish service?
Look, you shopped around and got the best deal. You made a choice.
Where's the problem?

 

[yaz96]

Did you somehow feel entitled to Dish service?
Look, you shopped around and got the best deal. You made a choice.
Where's the problem?

Now that is some really helpful and useful information, and definitely answers his questions. THANKS!

 

[dishcomm]

I'm not sure this is related to this thread but here it is. I am a former Dish costumer. I've been gone for over 3 years. I called them today and they offer me a pretty good deal better than Directv however I didn't take it because I was asked for my ssn# and credit card# to see if I qualify for the promotion and established my account. Is this a Dish network policy? I'm confused .

Yes. Under The lease program they will run your credit to see if you are eligible.

 

[dishcomm]

A SSN isn't necessarily needed for a credit check.

Seems like everywhere these days wants your SSN but I'm not a fan of giving it out everywhere.

You are not required to submit your SSN. But good luck getting any credit without doing so.

 

[dishcomm]

I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on tv, and its been a while since I looked it up, but my understanding is that the legislation that authorized SS DOES prohibit requesting the SS# as a form of identification. Of course today it is used for everything from you driver's license to school id, and instead of getting it when you apply for your first job as was the practice when I got mine, your # is all but assigned at birth. (For all I know, it is now assigned at birth, its been 21 years since my last child was born.)

It is now assigned as soon as the parents apply . This must be doen in order to claim the child as a dependent. Our son has had an SSN since he was 3 months old

 

[dishcomm]

Now that is some really helpful and useful information, and definitely answers his questions. THANKS!

and your point is?
He asked a question but has already made a decision which makes the query moot.

 

[Bogy]

It is now assigned as soon as the parents apply . This must be doen in order to claim the child as a dependent. Our son has had an SSN since he was 3 months old

Then things haven't changed in the past 21 years.

 

[Claude Greiner]

NO, i did not have to pay any cancellation fees, back in those days, dish was allowing you to opt out of the 18 or 24 month contract by paying the $99 installation fee, which i did to avoid a contract. so that shouldnt have affected it.

All the $99 did was get you out of signing a committment when you origionally got the service so you could cancel without penalty, its still has something to do wether or not they will allow you to come back as a former customer.

To qualify for formers, 3 things need to happen...

#1 Old service must have been active for 6 months

#2 You must be gone from Dish for 6 months

#3 You must not owe a previous bill with Dish

Look at it this way, I had a customer today who was denied a former customer promotion because they owed a previous bill. I told the customer to call 800-333-DISH and deal with them directly. He called Dish, they talked him into paying the $200 and then called me back and he still did not quality.

This guy was pretty ticked off because he claimed Dish tricked him into paying the $200 he owed him telling him thats all he had to do to get a former customer promotion.

The question is who is right here?

The customer was pretty much F U Dish when it came to paying his past due ballance on his account from a few years ago when he didn't pay his bill and switched to Directv.

Now that the customer has got a problem with Directv he wants to come back and is trying to use the same argument we got here.

Do you blame DISH Network for doing this? This customer screwed over Dish the last time he had them and stuck Dish will the bill for his programming, do you think Dish wants to put themselves in the same position with this guy so he can leave him again with another bill?

The issue with the account in thie thread is the same, the customer signed up and it cost Dish money when he cancelled 5 months later. This is why Dish requires 24 month committments on former customer accounts and does not give these customers the option of doing no committment. Dish figures these customers cancelled once, they are more likely to cancel again than a non former customer.

 

[light200]

There is something which is not correct. i had dish service for 12 months, not 5 like their computer says. knowing that, i now qualify for all 3 of your points to be a new customer, so why am i getting the bad treatment?

 

[navychop]

Maybe time for an email to ceo at dish dot com or echostar dot com. Be nice. REAL nice.

 

[Slamminc11]

There is something which is not correct. i had dish service for 12 months, not 5 like their computer says. knowing that, i now qualify for all 3 of your points to be a new customer, so why am i getting the bad treatment?

You do understand that whether you had Dish for 5 days, 5 months, 12 months, or 5 years, you will never be a new customer with Dish again...right????
As far as what you say compared to what their computer says. Unless you have something to back up that you really were there for 12 months, then you aren't going to win that argument. But either way, you are a former customer, not a new customer...

 

[Zero327]

There is something which is not correct. i had dish service for 12 months, not 5 like their computer says. knowing that, i now qualify for all 3 of your points to be a new customer, so why am i getting the bad treatment?

1. Did you pay your bill on-time when you were a customer? It's moot to ask that on a forum, you'll always answer yes; you can lie on a forum but not to DISH.

2. You will NEVER be a NEW customer again. At best, a CSR will tell you you're new because you seem to be reacting to the word "former". So they'll give you the best formers deal they can, and tell you that yes you're a new customer to get off the phone. Just about everything is tracked about you, and no smart retailer will put you through (and any dumb ones will get termed if they do).

3. There's something you're not telling us. You didn't pay your bill, didn't pay your cancellation charges, damaged the equipment, or account stacked; but whatever you did you made DISH angry. They're under no obligation to cut you a deal. At best, you might be considered an existing customer with a good history and given one of those deals, but you can forget free equipment and credits left and right.


Now, is the grass still greener at DirecTV?

 

[Claude Greiner]

There is something which is not correct. i had dish service for 12 months, not 5 like their computer says. knowing that, i now qualify for all 3 of your points to be a new customer, so why am i getting the bad treatment?

If you want to send me your information Via a private message I will research it further with retail services to get the real reason...

Name
Address
Phone
City, State, ZIP
Account number

The only other issue I can think of is if you went into non-pay disconnect, and depending on how many days you went without service that will actually change the entire service billing date on the account and will make it seem in the computer you started from Day#1 when you reconnected.

Every month I get a residual report from my DISH Network customers which is 1200 pages long. Everymonth I got customers who I signed up several years ago now on the top page showing as if they are new. The non-pay disconnect changed their account start date, making them look like a newer customer than they where actually are.

Other than that, non-pay disconnects are like poison in DISH Networks billing system. If the account goes into soft disconect for the first 15 days than there is no issue, but its the hard disconnects that occure after the 15th day without service that are held agenst you forever.

My experence has been once there was a non-pay disconnect on the account, you loose all special treatment and are given the most expensive upgrade options

 

[Totoro]

Yes it is. Dish uses the SS# as a credit check.

IT was optional for me when I signed up a few months ago. I did not give them my SSN #.

 

[Awohar]

You are not going to get the help you need from front line agent. like you say, retailer screw up your service dates. that is not dish's fault. that is retailer fault. you angry with wrong person.

as for the guy that pay $200 past due balance and still can't get dish, tell him to take it to a small claims judge. he'll get laughed out of court