Pricing Update from Dish Network

**paultry** · 01-21-2010 11:37 AM

Originally Posted by probinson

"Now that Dish is increasing the early termination fee, I'd be looking at a penalty of $245 to make the switch to DirecTV."

I think the early termination fee you agreed to at the time you became a subscriber (or upgraded) will govern how much you will pay for an early departure from your commitment.

**Scott Greczkowski** · 01-21-2010 11:41 AM

Originally Posted by eacalhoun

But in another breath, they now have these tiered additional receiver fees with "duh" DVRs being the priciest. The "sales pitch" to us is that it simplifies your bill's appearance. As some others have stated, it IS -- for multiple DVR customers -- double dipping, and wreaks of unethical.

Actually for some folks its triple dipping, because Dish charged them a fee of $99, $199 or in some cases $299 to lease a HD DVR. That money was not a deposit on the hardward. WHAT WAS THAT MONEY USED FOR AND WHERE DID IT GO TO?

The same for people who purchased their receivers. They paid for them, so why are they now paying more for hardware that they already OWN.

In those cases I feel Dish is triple dipping.

**powerhouse1960** · 01-21-2010 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Actually for some folks its triple dipping, because Dish charged them a fee of $99, $199 or in some cases $299 to lease a HD DVR. That money was not a deposit on the hardward. WHAT WAS THAT MONEY USED FOR AND WHERE DID IT GO TO?

The same for people who purchased their receivers. They paid for them, so why are they now paying more for hardware that they already OWN.

In those cases I feel Dish is triple dipping.

Thats what happen to me, changed to dish in sept after 15 years with direct tv
with the aep the second 722 was only 7.00 per month and the installer talk me into it so i payed the 199.00 now 5 months later its going to cost me 17.00 .
plus the 6.00 dvr fee less the 2.99 price drop
To say the least I am not happy. I will drop some programing..
it is triple dipping

**Stargazer** · 01-21-2010 12:02 PM

Dish decided that they wanted to capitalize on having the best hardware, knowing that many wouldn't switch providers because the others do not have as good of hardware as they do. When their hardware does improve though, Dish will have to adjust their prices accordingly if the competition is cheaper.

Dish knew they could do this because of what competition does charge. Dish is trying to make as much money off of one receiver where the other providers require two.

**Stargazer** · 01-21-2010 12:11 PM

Yes, it is triple dipping. Do the cable companies charge an upfront fee to use their DVR? Wow, if $17 per month can't cover their costs then something is wrong here. That is $204 per year. They break even in probably 2 years after paying an installer to install it (which they are getting paid less soon). WIth an upgrade fee they probably break even in just a little over a year. After that its $17 in their pockets. It takes $30 worth of programming for them to equal that much they get to keep after paying the stations their money.

And yes, it is a $3 DVR fee. What else could it be? Its a DVR, it costs $3 more. Its $1.50 per tv whereas the first is $3 per tv. This is probably why Dish think's its ok, because the cost for the DVR per tv is low. The thing is, Directv charges a TRUE $7 per account fee which makes it ZERO for each additional one, just pay the $5 fee for the additional box. A Dish Network version of a single tv output DVR receiver would be $10 per month (can't compare it to the $17 one because they do not have a dual tv output receiver to my knowledge). I heard that they tried those and had too many problems from what an installer told me a while back.

**TravelFan1** · 01-21-2010 01:05 PM

Originally Posted by Scott Greczkowski

Actually for some folks its triple dipping, because Dish charged them a fee of $99, $199 or in some cases $299 to lease a HD DVR. That money was not a deposit on the hardward. WHAT WAS THAT MONEY USED FOR AND WHERE DID IT GO TO?

The same for people who purchased their receivers. They paid for them, so why are they now paying more for hardware that they already OWN.

In those cases I feel Dish is triple dipping.

That's something that I forgot in my comments, and you are 100% correct. The fact that Dish and Directv charge a initial lease fee for their top-of-line receivers. To charge a fee for a receiver one owns, that's something else that, it's my belief, could be further discussed with Dish, but one would need to read the contract that s/he signed originally at the time of the purchase. Either case, it appears to me, it's the price some people are willing to pay to have the latest/greatest technology, similar to those that paid over 100k for Plasma Tvs something like 10 year back or so - I still recall a Pioneer Plasma TV being offered at J&R for like 120K or so....

Then again, it's a free country, so you made a decision of putting up the monies to lease the receiver from Dish. You could easily have stayed with cable instead. Or, if it's available to you, you could have subscribed to the teleco tv. You just thought that the, say, 299 lease fee was worth it.

fyi>> In my case, I got one 722k and one 211k without having to pay an initial lease fee. Then I paid the 39.95 to add a HD to the 211k and have my 211k behave as a single HD DVR. Again, advantage Dish when I compare to my other available option, Comcrap. I used to have 2 HD duo DVRs with Comcrap, now I have a single one and a duo one and i'm still saving, even considering new fees, +- 20 dollars, maybe 19.

Now one thing that I am not understanding on various comments here: Is Dish increasing their contract breakup fee for their existing customers? It's one thing to start charging, whatever, 1000, for their future customers, but increase that fee for existing ones, that's something that, it's my belief, can be easily legally challenged(although it's probably one of those that would have to be dealt on a state-by-state basis).

**RedWings** · 01-21-2010 01:36 PM

After reading through this i'm pretty confused at what, if any, the changes to my account will be. This is my current situation:

Clasic Gold 250: $57.99
Gold HD: $10
DC Locals: $6
DVR Service Fee: $5.98
HD Solo Receiver: $7.00
DVR Advantage Credit: -$3

My Equipment:
VIP 622 (Leased)
VIP 722 (Own)
VIP 222 (Own)

**whatchel1** · 01-21-2010 01:49 PM

Originally Posted by RedWings

After reading through this i'm pretty confused at what, if any, the changes to my account will be. This is my current situation:

Clasic Gold 250: $57.99
Gold HD: $10
DC Locals: $6
DVR Service Fee: $5.98
HD Solo Receiver: $7.00
DVR Advantage Credit: -$3

My Equipment:
VIP 622 (Leased)
VIP 722 (Own)
VIP 222 (Own)

New pricing would be 6 DVR fee then program price and 17 for the 622 & 14 maybe for the 222. I could be wrong on the last one.

**STL** · 01-21-2010 02:43 PM

Originally Posted by RedWings

After reading through this i'm pretty confused at what, if any, the changes to my account will be. This is my current situation:

Clasic Gold 250: $57.99
Gold HD: $10
DC Locals: $6
DVR Service Fee: $5.98
HD Solo Receiver: $7.00
DVR Advantage Credit: -$3

My Equipment:
VIP 622 (Leased)
VIP 722 (Own)
VIP 222 (Own)

Looks like your current bill is not showing any fees for the 622 (or 722), and also it appears to be calling your 222 an HD Solo rec'r (when it is really a Duo rec'r). With so many inaccuracies with your current bill, it makes it hard to know what your new bill will be like.

**Mike_H** · 01-21-2010 09:02 PM

My whole problem with this is not the reality of it, it's dish's trying to pretend like they are not screwing their existing customers over with some fairly significant cost increases. Until they fess up, i've put them "On Notice" and they are pretty damn close to my "Dead to me" list. If IPTV matures too much in the next year, I'll dump dish fast.

I thought the DVR fees when they started it up were bad. But this b.s. about only raising receiver prices $1 is all I can stands, and I can't stands no more.