BIG Thumbs Down for DishNetwork

[JRiddle]

I know a lot of you folks won't give a tinker's dam about this.  I just want to warn anyone who is considering going with DishNetwork to heed my warning, and also you can search and find many other stories on the net.  I won't go into any detail of my issue with them, but let me say, they have gotten this easy-going, level-headed guy fired up mad.  I will be glad to supply detail to anyone if they're interested.  I'm unfortunately going to have to wait a few more months before I cancel to avoid the 'breaking the contract' penalty.  I just wanted to throw this out, and if saves one of you guys from getting suckered in by this bunch, all the better.
JR 

[Old Syko]

OK fill me in.  I've used them since before they were dish network.  They were primestar back when I started.  I'm under no contract either since I bought my equipment outright originally.

If you don't want to post here shoot me a PM or email.

[JRiddle]

Well, since you asked, I'll post the short and sweet version here,,,in case others are interested too,,,if not, I guess they can scroll on past it.

It's actually over two issues, the first actually involved my mom.  When the installer came out, one of the receivers wasn't the right one,,,was supposed to have dvr, the one he brought didn't.  He said all you have to do is call, and they will make it right.  She had it installed because my father was sick and wasn't able to get out anymore, so he was watching a lot of tv.  One or two days after the install, his condition (cancer) worsened and he was hospitalized for about a week and a half.  He was then sent back home on hospice, and died about a week and half later.  Anyway, the whole 'wrong receiver' thing kinda fell to the back burner during all this.  We decided to call one day (just about a month ago) to get the situation straightened out.  She was told it would be $400 for the upgrade, of course we explained that this was due to their mistake in the first place.  She was told that because she didn't call within 30 days of the install,(it had been 42 days), it's considered an upgrade.  She explained the reason for not addressing it sooner, and for that they said then they would do it for $350.  She said no thanks. 

The other just happened today, my remote and receiver quit communicating a couple of weeks ago.  The sent me a new romote last week, still wouldn't work.  Decided I need a new receiver, these two seemingly simple things required over two hours on the phone with someone in a very foreign land.  I was told that moving the shows from my old dvr to my new dvr was a 'simple' thing to do.  Well I got the new receiver via UPS today.  Tried to pull shows from my old dvr, it gave some error message, so on the phone again.  After a half hour of 'try this' and 'try that', he finally told me that I would need to pay a $40 fee for them to 'enable' my dvr to transfer the shows.  I explained to him that the only thing that I needed to transfer were my 3 year old sons favorite cartoons that he likes to watch in the mornings.  Granted, it's nothing of great importance but my son is quite accustomed to his mickey mouse clubhouse, over grits and eggs.  I asked if there was any way he could waive the fee and just enable my dvr to transfer for 24 hours since this is all because THEIR equipment failed.  He put me on hold and (I assume) went to ask his boss what could be done.  Nothing....40 bucks if I want the transfer, I said no thanks.  That is just pure greed, when all it takes is a press of a button on their end.  I'm sure they'll offer me much more than $40 in incentives to stay with them when I call to cancel 
JR

[Old Syko]

Now do you see why I bought my own equipment?

Check out Satellite Direct.

[DDZ]

Usually what works is just tell them you are going to look at another provider like Direct TV, and they will most likely waive the $40 fee. 

[mcwoodduck]

I thought this was going to be about them dropping FX.
BTW.
If you log on to the website go to contact us and chat.
Ask them about FX.
Do not let them sell you about Fox being evil and say you have been watching X shows on FX and what is Dish going to do?
Tell them you are paying extra so you could get FX in the next larger package.
They will credit your account $3 a week per show so you can watch it on I tunes.  So far i have been credited $24 for Sons and Terriers.
Before you go to Dish.com got to FX network and get a huge list of shows to have them credit you.
Hope this helps

[JRiddle]

mcwoodduck,
thanks for the tip, never thought pressing them on that issue.  It would be nice for them to foot the bill for me now having to watch sons on the pc.
JR

[Graybeard]

Usually what works is just tell them you are going to look at another provider like Direct TV, and they will most likely waive the $40 fee. 

Not with Dish. They have you on a two year contract and could care less about such threats. In all honestly tho Direct TV is no better. They lie like a crosstie and will screw you just as quick as Dish. They are all crooks.

[bobg]

  GB has that right. I have direct tv through verizon. Verizon will screw you at the drop of a hat if they think they can get away with it. The last time i complained to Verizon they tried to pass the buck. I told them i would switch to Time Warner. Cable runs right up to my house. I was told good luck with them go ahead we don't really care. 

[JD]

 Not that it makes any difference, but Primestar was bought up by DirecTV about 1999/2000.
We have had DirecTV since then with no problem; maybe I'm just a lucky sob.
 To me, getting a satellite service through cable is just plain backwards. I truly hate cable TV providers. 

JD

[MGMorden]

I've had my share of headaches with them too.  Dumped them quite a few years back (probably 7 years ago).  Heck when the converter boxes were being sold a while back, I read reviews online and read that DISH network's was one of the ones with better reception.  You didn't need to be a customer to order.  I tried to place my order. Said there was a problem with it, and gave a number to call.  When I called, I was informed that because I had once (years ago) been a DISH customer, they wouldn't sell me a DTV converter box.  They would only offer to sign me back up for satellite service.  Informing them that I was now happily on DirecTV and didn't need another provider did nothing.

Needless to say, they got a not too nice response - I went to Circuit City and bought my converter box and stuck with DirecTV.

FWIW, though they've got their issues too, DirecTV has been a bit easier to deal with for me.  YMMV.  Of course with Hulu, Netflix, and iTunes on the computer, I envision a day pretty soon when I'll dump the satellite entirely.  Most of the shows I want to see are on the services mentioned, and most of the major sporting events are on free broadcast anyways.

[torpedoman]

Usually what works is just tell them you are going to look at another provider like Direct TV, and they will most likely waive the $40 fee. 

Not with Dish. They have you on a two year contract and could care less about such threats. In all honestly tho Direct TV is no better. They lie like a crosstie and will screw you just as quick as Dish. They are all crooks.

the bill for both companies go to the same building in Littleton Colo. Makes me wonder if they are both the same outfit in reality.

[squirrellluck]

Dump 'em all! Trust me you will love the peace and quiet

[Graybeard]

Dunno if the info is still current but at one time Hughes owned Dish Direct TV and Hughes.net internet service. I'd just about bet you they are still owned by the same folks.

[MGMorden]

Went ahead and looked some of it up.

DISH is currently a separate company.  Looks like in the past they used to be owned by Echostar, but were spun off completely in 2008.  They are not the remnants of Primestar as was stated. That service (formed in 1991) competed against both DirecTV (founded 1994) and DISH (founded 1996) for a time until all of it's assets were sold to Hughes Networks (which is indeed the parent of DirecTV and HughesNET) in 1999, and all subscribers were converted to DirecTV at that time.

You do really have a Duopoly in this market though.  DISH and DirecTV "compete", but not really.  The market is small enough that neither will really undercut the other by TOO much because they know that getting into a price war will just hurt themselves in the long run.  

I really do think the threat from IP/Internet based media delivery systems will force them to change eventually though - if that even helps.  Over the long term, schedule and channel based television is just doomed to fail.  People are already moving beyond it and have been for years with DVR's.  In the current age we'll be able to move past the need for the DVR though.  Instead, you can get access to content when it becomes available and watch it at your leisure.  Rather than catching "Friends" (or whatever show you like) on Channel 4 at 8:00, you'll have a subscription to that show, and each week (perhaps at 8:00) it'll start downloading to your system for you to watch when you want.  I've already done this for several shows via iTunes and it really works better for me.  Truth be told if it weren't for HBO I probably would drop the satellite service now.  Gotta have my True Blood (HBO doesn't make their shows available through official channels online until the current season completes).

[LONGTOM]

FWIW, I have been with Dish Networks for years and have not had a problem.
Maybe I too, have been lucky.



LONGTOM

[gypsyman]

I dumped Dish about 5-6 years ago. When I signed up, it was with the understanding that if I paid for a full year in advance, the 13 month was free. They shut me down at the end of 12th month. When I called to find out why, the person at the other end said that it wasn't wrote into the contract that way. I remember over the phone talking to the salesman and he had said no problem. Well, I threatened to leave, and was polilitly told that there would be no problem this time. Like a foll, I tried it again. A year later, the same go around. So I dumped them, and went back to regular cable, had my 'puter line changed over from the phone company, and ended up saving about $5 a month. So it worked out anyway.
I just wonder if anybody sells a descrambler that you can buy to pick up their transmissions. I remember a lawsuit back in the 90's where a court decided that if transmissions were in the airwaves, and you had the smarts to pick them up, it was legal. gypsyman

[MGMorden]

I just wonder if anybody sells a descrambler that you can buy to pick up their transmissions. I remember a lawsuit back in the 90's where a court decided that if transmissions were in the airwaves, and you had the smarts to pick them up, it was legal. gypsyman

If that did happen it would have been superseded by the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) in 1998.  In criminalizes breaking ANY method of content copy protection, or even distributing the tools used to do so - even if you never use them.  For a while you could get in trouble for even purchasing the equipment needed to decode the signals (a lot of people were claiming that they were buying for academic reasons and that held no weight).  

Used to be that you used a smart card emulator - a little card came with the unit and that card handled decrypting certain channels.  You could get one though that instead of just being a card, had a cable that ran out to a computer that you could use to decrypt whatever you wanted.  I don't think that method has worked for quite a while though.  

I don't know of anyone still doing it these days.  Everyone I knew way back when who was doing it had to keep changing software and such on a near-monthly basis to keep up with the encryption changes that were being made.  Seemed like more hassle than it was worth.  In any event, it's currently most definitely illegal under the DMCA.  

[mattmillerrx]

I have had my share of problems with them and dropped them about a month ago.  Most of my problems came while under contract and customer service always gave me the run around much like has been mentioned here. 

Now all I have is the antenna and Netflix.  Mostly, we watch the kids cartoons on Netflix, but I do enjoy a movie about every night when they go to bed.  As mentioned here, I am enjoying the peace and quite as I now watch less TV, but watch what i want when i want.

I am saving about 60 bucks per month now compared to what I had before.