BBB coming thru!

Well a call from dish came from customer service rep Christina. They were willing to refund me my money, wave the LMBF fee, and send me the box to ship the receiver back to them!

They refered to my BBB complaint, talk about an organization pulling thru! I am happy about it and verified the inof, 7-10 business days for my refund. We shall see...

must be an isolated incident, right?

Here are even more people just like me. Some of the issues are shockingly similar and boy is there an issue with local stations....

http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2006/07/17/dish-network-customer-service-sucks/

http://www.my3cents.com/search.cgi?criteria=Dish+Network

http://www.highdefforum.com/showthread.php?p=278723

http://forums.treemedia.com/fb/showthread.php?p=5538#post5538

http://www.firewheeldesign.com/sparkplug/2006/February/the_dish_on_dish_network.php

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070403104702AAkvjR6

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/cable_tv/dish_network.html

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/dish-network-c7378.html

http://www.hmtk.com/archives/285-how-to-get-your-satellite-company-to-give-you-free-upgrades.html

http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/ripoff211163.htm (He said I never called and talked to anyone about this matter.)

http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/dish-network-c1453.html

http://forums.treemedia.com/fb/archive/index.php/t-910.html

http://sg.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070403080505AAKD2Ln

http://bb.gethuman.com/viewtopic.php?t=2944&sid=de2e87c7852bddf4c5fbeef6e108d056

http://bb.gethuman.com/viewtopic.php?t=28

still par for the course

I have recieved two letters trying to get me to come back to the great programming...which I never was able to experience...and a bill for next month, which shouldn't exist since I cancelled. But still no box to send it back, as was promised, or call for the technician to get a part off the dish that dish owns, not me (anyone know this part?). I am worried this is some billing ploy by them, you know "why haven't you sent the equipment back"

Oh and my fav, I went back to comcast and it is cheaper than my Dish bill by about 4 dollars.

Dish Corporate Number

Here is a number for the corp line, wasn't helpful to me (source of the last post) but might be to others...

EchoStar and the Denver BBB encourage consumers to contact EchoStar's designated customer relations contact at their Executive Offices, who can be reached at 1-866-319-4564 prior to filing a complaint through our office.

BBB suggested customer service number, same company line

So I found a number suggested by the BBB of Denver to reach Dish Networks corporate service line. I figure that there is no harm in trying it, thinking it might be more helpful. I call and explain the issues to a technician that is happy to help. He totally sounds like he gets it. He even says "If I can give you all of the services you originally wanted, would that be a good solution." I am shocked at this point, I tell him if I can get everything working I would gladly accept that and my $101 back from my "cancelation" fee. This can all happen, I just have to sign into an additional 18 months.

They love falling back on that in a classic "cover their ass" move. The contract is what got me where I am with this fee in the first place. I explain to him, the same way I have multiple other reps, I have yet had tow months back to back good now, why sign on for more. He can' understand why it matters. If I can get what I originally wanted, why wouldn't I sign. I ask him if he knew what a lemon was. He said yes, which I followed with "If you lease a car for 18 months and every month there are issues that arent resolved, would you re-up your lease with them?" At that point, he was tripping on his words. He was very frustrated that I wasn't interested in getting all I wanted originally, which I explained was the services I wanted in August. He started practically yelling which I told him to lower his voice. I then stated I would be more than happy to recieve the equipment that would make the services I originally signed for happen without signing an extension for a contract that hsould have had those same services covered.

Here is my fav, did you know that a contract from Dish Network does not cover programming? That is what I was told next. That the contract does not cover programming just hardware and service. I asked what service do you provide, the obvious answer being programming. He had no response. I elected to end the call and continue on with my complaint to the BBB...

Another incident, same issue....a coincidence

From http://whydoesdishnetworkhateme.blogspot.com



To Whom It May Concern:

What started as an optimistic relationship with a company that I had received only stellar reviews from has taken a complete turn to the worst experience with a service provider that I have ever encountered.My # 1 reason for choosing Dish Network is the fact that when I signed up (June 2005), Dish Network was paired with the then SBC - a company that I had family members working for. My theory has always been to support your family's employer, as you are supporting your family. I only wish that companies that you support thought that of their customer family.My concern is that after 2 years of being a faithful customer of Dish (through AT&T or SBC), and subscribing to all of AT&T's services (landline, DSL, Cingular), the customer service and scheduling departments of Dish continue to treat me and my wife like complete idiots, and make outlandish lies and accusations.My request: I would like to receive my local market channels in High Definition. Nothing more, nothing less. This has been the biggest struggle of my life, leading to numerous fights stemming from "why have I done this and caused all these problems!"Issue # 1: My originally scheduled appointment is cancelled due to high winds...not a problem. We reschedule for the next Saturday 8-12. After waiting around until noon, I make a call. I find out that the appointment is not for today; rather it was for Monday (5 days earlier). The rep then proceeds to tell me that the change was made by me, it is my fault, and too bad.Issue # 2: My newly scheduled appointment (8 - 12) is also a no show. After waiting around half of the day, I decide that we are going out. Out of curiosity, I leave my cell number on the door to see when the installer arrives. Sometime between 1:30 and 2:00, I receive a call asking if I am inside of my house for the appointment. At this point, I am done for the day.Issue # 3: The Sunday following the 2nd no show, I call to see what had happened, and reschedule the appointment. A very rude man states that there is no one available to expedite a new work order for that day. In fact, there are no dispatchers available on Sundays. Apparently, I'm way out of line to expect that someone would want to help me reschedule an appointment, and he was more than willing to let me know and hang up. I call a few more times, and get a new appointment for the next Saturday.Issue # 4: The installer finally shows up....2 hours late. I had almost given up on him. But, he does not come with the correct equipment. We had been promised that we would receive the upgraded dish, replacing our hideous 2 dish monstrosity on the roof, which I have never been able to understand why we had installed. (I have received a lot of differing opinions.) He does the install. He also uses my phone, and paces the hallway into our bedroom (only once) without even considering asking my permission. But we have HD finally!Issue # 5: Let's just lump sum all the lies I've heard up to this point as one problem. It always seems like a rush to get me off the phone, and I've been told what I want to hear numerous times to quiet me. The most recent being on the above installation day. A kind rep told me she would enter in a work order to replace our 2 dishes with one for the following Monday. Of course, it never happened (and led to a 2 hour phone call...again).Issue # 6: I call to ask again for one dish. The man snidely says I cannot get this. Period! I remark that my friends have it, and it exists. He denies. I explain further. He denies. I say the neighbor has it. He then changes his story from a lie to that we must pay an extra fee, since he's not sending a tech to do this for free. I argue a bit with him, since I'm pretty annoyed, and he hangs up.Issue # 7: I call cancellations. I have had enough, and decide they have one last chance before I cancel to make it right. A very nice rep does everything he can. He assures me that all the right equipment will be available for the tech to choose from. The install is free, and he's taking care of it. The next day comes, the installer hasn't shown up at 5, which is ok, but I see the local channels are completely gone now. I call, and my work order is blamed. And they note it's been moved to the next day. I ask for a manager, and lobby to get my locals back, but I will lose my work order. At this point, I'm just pro whatever will make my TV functional again. I agree. He does something, mumbles and then asks if there's anything else he can do and starts to hang up. This starts a discussion of how I cannot have it both ways. Either I have locals, and no work order, or a new work order is issued and I lose locals. Ridiculous! He then hangs up.Here's the fun part. Fifteen minutes later, the original installer for today calls. He's 20 minutes away, and will be right here. What? He comes, and completes the order. We have one dish now. Our locals still were not back on when he finished, and he had to again call CS to turn them on. Out of skepticism, I would not sign his order until the locals were on. How am I to approve the HD channels, if they are not present?My point? I don't like to be lied to. I don't like to be belittled. I do not appreciate being blamed for Dish Network's mistakes. I, for one, would like some sort of sincere apology from Dish, and to see that something is being done to prevent future customers from being treated in this way. I would also like AT&T to be made aware of their partner's inappropriate practices, as this will most likely cost them our service in all forms. I hate to leave them, for family reasons, but I can't be a part of this any longer.I look forward to your future response to the above issues, and the dialogue that will stem from it. Please also be aware that this letter is being forwarded to numerous sources, email and websites.Thank you for your upcoming prompt response!Nic

Where to begin...

We have all had issues at one time or another with services supplied to us, be it for a price or not. I have had multiple issue with cell phones, television programming, and internet services. Most times it is worked out and all parties are happy. For me that has been the case...until now.

I am making this in an effort to bring light to the terrible service provided by Dish Network and also to give others a place to share such experiences. I feel that this companies lack of 1st party service techs is just inexcusable. I have seen efforts like this on digg and other tech posts yield great results for people like me, a consumer getting no place with big business. So here's the rundown...

This past August I received a mailing showing a great price deal on Dish Network services. Comcast had moved into my area and prices were going sky high, something many of us can sympathize with. I mainly watch sports, and in High Def. I figured if I can get my locals and espn's in high def and save $25-$30 a month, what the heck. I contacted the retailer and started getting the wheels in motion.

At the time I wasn't to up to speed on my Dish Network equipment setup, that's what the pros are for right? I just new what services I wanted. They set me up with a HD receiver and dish. I was told I would lose no services and would love this compared to cable. The retailer even told me, " I have two tv's next to each other. One with cable's hd and one with standard def Dish. You can't tell the difference". At this rate I am super pumped about this. Plus Dish bought out the zoom hd networks.

So one guy comes out to install it, puts it on my roof. He is testing signal and is getting really low signal. In the area of 30-40 percent. He says it is like that for everyone in my area and not to worry. It was ok with no cloud cover but I started to find it would get choppy to unviewable on some of the high def channels. Not to mention I can't find my local hi def anyplace. I called the retailer back and they referred me to Dish Network customer support.

Dish began to troubleshoot and said that my dish needed re-aligned to get a better signal and a tech would be out to service it. According, to Dish this never happened. There is no record of this call ever happening. At this rate, there is no record of a total stranger coming into my house to service my equipment. It was adjusted and a few days later, the same issue came back a day or so later. I still had no local hi def.

Again I called Dish Network's customer service. This is roughly December at this point. Originally a call was scheduled for a Monday between 12-5. I took off from work that afternoon and waited 5:30 no tech, 6:00 no tech, 6:30 no tech. I call Dish about my appointment and they transfer me to service dispatch. Once there someone answers and ever so politely says "Customers don't be calling the dispatch". Oh, I am sorry, I didn't realize that being transferred to get the status of a service call now two hours overdue was my fault. When I ask for his name and his supervisor I am put on hold which quickly turns to a busy signal. When I finally get the status< class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_14">isn't that the "My dog ate my homework" of service calls? It needs rescheduled. Oh, and there is no record of this with Dish.

A week later a two man crew comes and re-adjusts my satellite. Signal gets into the 50-60 range, still not a great signal. I ask about the locals and they say they are not sure and contact Dish. I do so two days later because my original loss of signal is back. They are going to send out a "Pro Team". This is their first party techs who really know their stuff. They will certainly fix my issue.

Well the "Pro Team" is the same two techs from the last time who laugh that they have been resent for this. They blatantly tell me that I should never of had this installed. My shot to the HD satelite is borderline at best. They look to pole mount it but there is nothing they can do. So they get in their van for twenty minutes and tell me that the senior installer has to come out. Dish is to contact me that day to have this happen. Dish has no record of this service call either.

I contact them two days later to explain what is happening. This is all they have on record. A tech came out this past Saturday. He is not a regional installer or "ProTeam" and laughs when I ask him if he is. He gets on the roof, readjusts and I get a mid 70 signal, the best I have seen. I was pleased since no one else has come close. He comes back in and I ask him about my local hi def. He isn't sure of the stations but says to call Dish and they can tell me.

I get on the phone and of course I don't have hi def locals, my dish isn't capable. WHAT! Why didn't someone tell me this months ago when I called? Why didn't I have that when I had it installed? Why did the retailer inform me I would have this from the beginning? And why, after numerous calls, is this the first time this has come up?

I am told that an installer can come out and put up the new dish no charge and I will finally have what I wanted in August. You just need to sign up for another 18 months. Excuse me? I haven't had one month back to back with full service and I am supposed to just go along with this? I explain this to her and I get "I understand your frustration, but that is all I can do." I ask to be transferred to the cancellations department, enough is enough.

There they try to talk me out of cancelling for twenty minutes. They offer ten dollars off a month for the remainder of my service, which I decline. I am informed that since I signed for 18 months an early termination fee of $10 dollars per month of service is to be charged. I tell him no way, and again explain the situation. If I am to be charged I am not cancelling in case that happens. I tell him give me the new dish and get it working for free and I will stay, a very reasonable request. He says "well, we cancel you then sir". I ask him if this will not have a fee attached and he mentions the contract again. Just so happens as well that my tv set is not authorized. Without my approval he has terminated my service with time remaining on the existing month. I am livid at this rate. I just called to get the numbers of my hd local channels and this is where my call has gone. Great service guys!

His manager informs me that there has only been one report of an issue at this point. What about my service calls, he stated there is no record. No record of techs coming to my house. No record of numerous calls for issues since September. I ask if technicians often drive thru neighborhoods looking for dishes and stopping to see if there just might be a problem then, and he states must be sir cause there is no record. I tell him this makes me want to cancel most of all and I will take them to the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. I tell him I will not be paying this fee until then which he responds "we already have you card number sir and that will be charged".

I filed a report with the BBB yesterday in both Colorado (Dish HQ) and Pennsylvania (My area). So here is my question to you, what else can I do? All I want back is the early termination fee charged to me. That is it. Am I wrong here, if so let me know. I still have their receiver, should I keep that until there is a resolution?

I am looking for any feedback possible, please help me out!