Vent about Dish Network

[phragmipedium]

I'm frustrated with Dish Network and have decided that venting to the internet will make me feel better.

We received a flyer in January about some specials that Dish Network had. I ran through the online cart what we would want and discovered that it would cost 42.99 for the package we wanted, plus $5 for local channels and $5 for a second receiver. The installation/activation fee would be waived and we'd get a $50 credit on our first bill. We needed to sign up for a two-year commitment, which was fine. My husband called and confirmed the pricing on Jan 28, and they told him there was an even better special so it would only cost $49.99 per month all told, with no taxes or other hidden fees - so we signed up that day. They told us someone would be out Feb 7 to install it for us. We were excited about this because we've been paying $70 with taxes to Charter each month, so we cancelled that.

So they come today (they appear to be contractors because they are not in a Dish van or anything) and install all the equipment. They leave the contract after everything's all finished, which my husband assumes is the same as he received over the phone when we confirmed in January. It's all the fine print, like how much it costs to break the contract, but it's not specific to us other than that and doesn't even show our monthly price on it. He does sign up for the DVR and the people tell us it will be $5 extra per month - they ask if we have a phone line and we don't, so they do something special to make it work and tell us it will still be just $5. I get out of the shower after they've just left and realize some aspects of the contract sound different than what we signed up for in January - a higher contract break fee, more money per month for the DVR, no $50 credit mentioned, etc. I ask my husband to call and check that everything is still as we signed up for in January.

Apparently, now our monthly price is $79.99 instead of $49.99. I was expecting it to be $49.99 plus $5 for the DVR. They tell us it's $10 extra since we have no phone line plus the prices went up for all Dish customers because it's February. What the heck? I fully expect the "prices may change at any time" caveat but not before you even get it installed at a special rate! My husband argues with three different lower-level employees and two supervisors who tell him that's just the way it is, the fine print says prices may change at any time and they don't know why someone else quoted him a different price related to a special in January when we signed up (when he specifically asked for the final price after any hidden fees AND told them we had no phone line to make sure it wasn't a problem). Finally he has to hang up because one of them asked him to go find his flyer. When he calls back he gets a nice lower-level employee who offers to lower the price but it's still not what we agreed to and received comfirmation for - it's a lower level of channels and they can only guarantee it for 12 months, but we still have to commit to 24. Plus at this point I don't trust them, so my husband thanks him but tells him if we can't get what we agreed to and confirmed, we need to cancel our service effective today. Luckily the nice employee waived the cancellation fee without our asking (we fully expected to have to pay it and it would have been worth it) and authorized some boxes to be sent out so we can return the equipment - though I'm tempted to drive the hour to return it myself so I can be SURE they receive it and don't charge us an arm and a leg for "lost" equipment.

Anyway, we're escaping unscathed so far and are planning on trying to do without and just watch what we like online for awhile - we'll throw the television money on the mortgage each month. But I just had to share that magnificent bait and switch with everyone! I've heard good reports, so apparently Dish is either very very good or very very bad - but it wasn't something I was willing to stick with after all of that.

 

[LisaR]

I feel your pain. I think everything the sales person on the phone told us about the install and the bill was a complete lie. I could go on for days about the problems we had in the beginning. Now that we have had it for a few months, it is skipping like crazy. They have sent a technician out twice (three times if you count the fact that he is coming back on Monday). They have replaced the receiver. It still skips and stutters. I am starting to think that the $70 we paid for cable was worth it.

 

[CajunDixie]

I'm probably in the minority but we love Dish Network except for their choice of local channels. Our old neighbors used to complain all the time about their cable being out. But it's rare that Dish Network has no signal, usually when that happens we're having a bad storm and most likely losing power. As for the local channels we are in a small town and would prefer the channels from the bigger city to our southeast (where we shop and where we are from) rather than the city to the northwest (where we go maybe 3 times a year).

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Yep, same thing happened to us with DISH in TX. We also cancelled it asap.

We had DISH for many yrs. before that and I will never go back to them. There were other things that bugged me with their service and this was our deciding factor to not use them again.

The big thing I hated was the refusal of ON DEMAND for your subscribed movie channels. I love that feature and it is hard to give up.

 

[Planogirl]

We've been mostly pleased with Dish. We have three receivers and no problems of any kind with the equipment. The only issue has been when paying online, it doesn't always take correctly. I've learned to double check now.

 

[luvmy2sams]

Sorry that you've had such a bad experience. Sounds like it is hit and miss regarding their customer service.

We've had Dish Network for years, and our only complaint is that we'd prefer to be able to choose the market from which we receive our local channels.

 

[phragmipedium]

Yes, we also were unhappy that we'd have to get Washington local channels instead of the Portland networks (we're in Oregon and they are more applicable to us even though Tri Cities is closer). But we were willing to deal with it as long as everything else worked out.

For now we'll try internet-only - if we really miss TV, we'll go back to Charter with a basic package. $70 for television just felt like too much money but I think we can get a basic 40 channels or so for $20 so that would be worth it.

Glad to hear we're not the only ones who've experienced something so bizarre - and glad for those of you who have good service too.

 

[piglet50]

we've had dish for years. we recently upgraded to hd dvrs. i had to speak to about three different people to accomplish this. the upgrade was finally done when i quoted the info. i got from dish network to change to their service. i immediately got a "supervisor" who made the change for us with no fees and some freebies thrown in. i think both companies will promise you the moon to sign up but then customer service goes out the window. it's sad.

 

[Maridw]

When we had Dish network, we couldn't get CBS because the local network would not grant the waiver to allow the national network to be broadcast. They said that we could receive it using an outside antenna. I sent them numerous emails stating that we could not install an outside antenna because we lived on a military base. They kept saying that we could get the channel if we used an outside antenna. I asked them "What part of we can not put up an outside antenna due to military regulations do you not understand?" So for 2 1/2 years we had no CBS.

We would not go back to any type of satelitte service for anything.