Dish Programming Changes (Effective August 1st)

[TazmanianD]

Well, I managed to find a bit of a "No" case. I pay for the Classic Gold 250 package at the yearly rate which gets you about a month free. When I asked to add the Platinum Package, I was told I would have to switch to the monthly package first. I would say yes if I was near the end of the year, but I have paid up for the next 7 months and I'm not very confident that they will be able to rebate me properly.



Damon Lundin: It is my understanding that the Platinum HD channels are now available for free with the existing HD add on package. Can I have those channels added to my programming?
(03) Ted B.: Your patience is greatly appreciated.
(03) Ted B.: I'd be happy to assist you with that Damon!!
(03) Ted B.: How are you doing Damon?
Damon Lundin: I'm good
(03) Ted B.: Glad to hear that!
(03) Ted B.: I am sorry to inform you that you will not be able to add the Platinum HD on the account.
Damon Lundin: Can you explain?
(03) Ted B.: However, there is a way to add that.
Damon Lundin: I've read numerous chat transcripts of folks over at satelliteguys.us who were able to do.
(03) Ted B.: You will have to have the Classic Gold 250 as a monthly subscription.
Damon Lundin: I see.
Damon Lundin: If I did that, would I receive a rebate for the months I have already paid for?
(03) Ted B.: Do you wish to go with the monthly subscription?
(03) Ted B.: Please give me a minute while I check that.
(03) Ted B.: Thank you for your patience.
(03) Ted B.: Yes, you will receive the pro-rated fee for what you have paid.
Damon Lundin: I would like to think about this then. Please do not make any changes at this time.
(03) Ted B.: All right!

[KAB]

Well, I managed to find a bit of a "No" case. I pay for the Classic Gold 250 package at the yearly rate which gets you about a month free. When I asked to add the Platinum Package, I was told I would have to switch to the monthly package first. I would say yes if I was near the end of the year, but I have paid up for the next 7 months and I'm not very confident that they will be able to rebate me properly.

Damon Lundin: It is my understanding that the Platinum HD channels are now available for free with the existing HD add on package. Can I have those channels added to my programming?
(03) Ted B.: Your patience is greatly appreciated.
(03) Ted B.: I'd be happy to assist you with that Damon!!
(03) Ted B.: How are you doing Damon?
Damon Lundin: I'm good
(03) Ted B.: Glad to hear that!
(03) Ted B.: I am sorry to inform you that you will not be able to add the Platinum HD on the account.
Damon Lundin: Can you explain?
(03) Ted B.: However, there is a way to add that.
Damon Lundin: I've read numerous chat transcripts of folks over at satelliteguys.us who were able to do.
(03) Ted B.: You will have to have the Classic Gold 250 as a monthly subscription.
Damon Lundin: I see.
Damon Lundin: If I did that, would I receive a rebate for the months I have already paid for?
(03) Ted B.: Do you wish to go with the monthly subscription?
(03) Ted B.: Please give me a minute while I check that.
(03) Ted B.: Thank you for your patience.
(03) Ted B.: Yes, you will receive the pro-rated fee for what you have paid.
Damon Lundin: I would like to think about this then. Please do not make any changes at this time.
(03) Ted B.: All right!

Reads to me like you would not start getting monthly charges until what you already paid comes to an end. Not sure, though.

[Rob052067]

I would suggest that everyone check their account online after any upgrades to Platinum HD. I made the change yesterday from Turbo Gold to what I thought would be Turbo Gold + Platinum HD. I made it very clear to the CSR that I only wanted the upgrade if there would be no additional cost to me. I was assured that there would be no additional charges.

After viewing my bill on line I noticed that I had been upgraded to Classic Gold 250 which resulted in a $18 per month increase. I called Dish Network this morning and was told that the CSR who advised me that there would be no additional charge was incorrect. I was given a $18 credit on my bill for two months. ... Could it possibly be that difficult for everyone to get on the same page regarding this upgrade?

Sounds almost identical to what happened when I requested the free Platinum upgrade on my Turbo Bronze account (posted above):
http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-net...ml#post1910893

Regardless, as long as I'm getting the upgrade to Classic Bronze HD/Platinum at no extra charge for the next two months, I'm quite pleased for now.

I have been contemplating dropping Time Warner cable and upgrading my Dish to Classic Gold 250 HD for a while. This past year with TurboHD-only service was my first foray into satellite TV and was basically a test run to see how I'd like it. I really, really love the VIP722 DVR and I have had very few signal problems due to weather. Dish has almost all the channels I want, plus several more in HD than TWC (except ESPNU-HD).

But, I get a really great bundle price (total $138 with taxes) for cable, phone, and internet from TWC, including HBO, Showtime, & Starz paks at $5 each, and free basic-cable in the bedrooms (no boxes to rent). I will also have to find a new provider for phone & internet, since I will lose my bundle discount when I drop cable TV (TW phone & internet pricing will rise from $56 to $80 without TV), and nobody has 7 Mps Internet with unlimited local & long-distance at anywhere close to what I've been paying with TWC. So, it's been tough deciding what to do.

[Joewee]

I finally got them to add the platinum channels even
though all I have is Turbo Hd Silver. I contacted the
tech support chat guy, since tech support seems
more knowledgeable, and had him remove all
of my programming and then re add turbo HD
silver with the platinum channels. I guess this
is the only way they can get their computers
to do this.

[cwk3]

Just did the chat and everything went well. Got the platinum HD added plus the one penny cinemax. Didn't get the HBO/Showtime deal as he said I had already participated in a HBO/Starz deal (10-12 years ago) but I didn't complain.
Nothing has come on yet but he promised 10-15 minutes.

Ok, Scott, I've got a new one for you. My post above came late Saturday night and was told everything ok for free platinum upgrade but the channels never came on. Today, I checked and still no platinum adds so I chatted again and told that they were sorry and would take care of. I was assured it would be fixed and also told again it was a "free" no charge upgrade. I checked 15 minutes later and also checked my online account to discover that I was now on dish latino & playboy and all my hd channels, golf channel etc. all started going away. I paniced and immediately started another chat. By the time Jane got on, everything had been corrected and all my channels including platinum hd had come back up and I told her that everything was ok now. She said great and asked me if I understood that since I pay annually I couldn't add the platinum channels for free and I would be billed an addtional $10 ea. month.
I reminded her that I have been a Dish customer for 12 years and have been an annual pay customer for the whole time and even used auto pay for the monthly charges that can't be billed annually. I also reminded her that this was not a good way to treat a faithful customer especially one that you don't have to worry about getting paid. I then asked her to ask her supervisor and she said to give her a few minutes to do so. She came back and apoligized and her supervisor said that the systerm wouldn't allow them to add annual pay customers to this promotion. I thanked her for nothing and ended the chat session.
Scott, my question is, should I have waited to see if this "free" upgrade would happen naturally or did I mess up by using the chat to do it?
Anyway, unless I missed it, I didn't see anyone else in this particular thread complain about the annual pay customers and wondering if there will be some surprised customers on the next billing cycle. Any feedback will be appreciated.
Thanks for listerning.

[MikeD-C05]

DISH is taking advantage of existing subs that are paying for Plat pack for extra $10.00. They are hoping these people don't know about the new hd packs and that they don't read this board. IT should of been easy for DISH to add this option on their HD portion of the programming change pack on your accounts. You then could go to the hd section and select HD + Plat pack . Then it would of prevented a lot of unneeded calls and online chats. But I guess they wanted to keep making the extra $10.00 a month off of unsuspecting existing subs . So TACKY to keep charging for a pack that no longer exists ,but that is what happens when you let subs keep old programming packs ,when they change them to something new. So the only other thing they could do , would be for DISH to automatically make all old programming packs change to the newest option or name. Then there would be people pissed off that they changed them to another pack ,even if it was to provide them with an extra 11 hd channels for the same price as what they were paying for hd alone.

[Rob052067]

... However, I also inquired about an extension on the penny Cinemax as my first year is up later this month. The rep indicated that it is scheduled to expire in August and does not extend. I'm not sure why the other rep I talked to about my parents account saw that their promo would continue and mine will not. My account was new last August, and their account was an upgrade and commitment renewal. I'm assuming either the two reps have different info available to them, or Cinemax promo is ending for TurboHD customers, but not for Classic customers.

My August statement is now available online. There is a notice on the statement that my Cinemax for a Penny deal has been extended another year as a token of Dish's appreciation! Uh, OK! Sweet!

(Note: The statement was generated 8/1 and still reflects my original Turbo account only. Yesterday's change to Classic service with Platinum occurred after the statement was created.)

[Rob052067]

DISH is taking advantage of existing subs that are paying for Plat pack for extra $10.00. They are hoping these people don't know about the new hd packs and that they don't read this board. IT should of been easy for DISH to add this option on their HD portion of the programming change pack on your accounts. You then could go to the hd section and select HD + Plat pack . Then it would of prevented a lot of unneeded calls and online chats. But I guess they wanted to keep making the extra $10.00 a month off of unsuspecting existing subs . So TACKY to keep charging for a pack that no longer exists ,but that is what happens when you let subs keep old programming packs ,when they change them to something new. So the only other thing they could do , would be for DISH to automatically make all old programming packs change to the newest option or name. Then there would be people pissed off that they changed them to another pack ,even if it was to provide them with an extra 11 hd channels for the same price as what they were paying for hd alone.

I don't think we know this for certain yet. Wait a week or so for the dust to settle and see if: 1) everyone that was paying for Platinum HD is now getting $10 off their bills, and 2) every Classic HD customer has the Platinum HD channels added to their account automatically for free.

[Toddwsu2005]

I had TurboHD Silver till today, Had them switch me to Classic + HD/Platinum. No problems getting platinum free, I just added close to 20 HD channels.

[true]

i just got platinum added with the online chat. the tech rep said no more 10 dollar extra charge anymore its included in the 10 dollar charge for all HD.