How Dish lost me as a customer

[skierrob]

I recently called Dish to inquire about re-signing up for service after having been gone for a year (I was with FIOS, which I haven't been very happy with).

I spoke with someone about current HD packages, and was told I could get a free HD DVR and also $15 off my bill for 12 months as a returning customer.

I told him that I needed to think about it. He said "do you still have your 301 receiver from before?" I said yes. He said "well, why don't we activate that right now with a package and then you can get the free HD DVR and add HD programming later?" So I said ok, what the heck since there's no commitment, and agreed to turn on the 301 with the Dish Family package. He said there would be no $15 discount at the moment without commitment, but that I could get the $15 discount when I got the free HD DVR with a 24 month commitment.

Fast forward a week. I call Dish to get my free HD DVR and the $15 discount on the Top 250 package with HD. They tell me I can't get it. That I'm an existing customer and not eligible for that offer.

I explain what's happened. They say no and transfer me to the loyalty team. I explain me story. Get told "the computer wont' let me. You have to pay $100 for the DVR and you can't get discounts on programming".

Eventually, I get to the Executive Offices, and get told the same thing by people at CEO. They agreed that I was offered the free DVR and $15 discount a week arlier, but said that I was no ineligible since I had already signed up.

So I cancelled my recently restarted service and am back with FIOS. Dish did nothing to keep my business.

Oh well. *shrug*

Robert

 

[lern4483]

I recently called Dish to inquire about re-signing up for service after having been gone for a year (I was with FIOS, which I haven't been very happy with).

I spoke with someone about current HD packages, and was told I could get a free HD DVR and also $15 off my bill for 12 months as a returning customer.

I told him that I needed to think about it. He said "do you still have your 301 receiver from before?" I said yes. He said "well, why don't we activate that right now with a package and then you can get the free HD DVR and add HD programming later?" So I said ok, what the heck since there's no commitment, and agreed to turn on the 301 with the Dish Family package. He said there would be no $15 discount at the moment without commitment, but that I could get the $15 discount when I got the free HD DVR with a 24 month commitment.

Fast forward a week. I call Dish to get my free HD DVR and the $15 discount on the Top 250 package with HD. They tell me I can't get it. That I'm an existing customer and not eligible for that offer.

I explain what's happened. They say no and transfer me to the loyalty team. I explain me story. Get told "the computer wont' let me. You have to pay $100 for the DVR and you can't get discounts on programming".

Eventually, I get to the Executive Offices, and get told the same thing by people at CEO. They agreed that I was offered the free DVR and $15 discount a week arlier, but said that I was no ineligible since I had already signed up.

So I cancelled my recently restarted service and am back with FIOS. Dish did nothing to keep my business.

Oh well. *shrug*

Robert

Curious, Ive heard wonderful things about Fios..

Why did you want to leave in the first place?

 

[skierrob]

FIOS picture quality is great (awesome, in fact). It really can't be beat. Nothing is compressed. No HD Lite.

But everything else about FIOS TV stinks.

1. Billing is absolutely terrible -- it's never correct. You have to fight for hours every month to get your bill right. They either forget your bundle exists and charge you full price for everything, or they charge you for channels you don't get, or they do something else crazy. This is a fairly commonly known problem with FIOS customers.

2. After one year, my rates went up $20 a month because they no longer offered the same $79 "Extreme HD" promotion. That package now costs $99 a month. Which doesn't include the $15.99 monthly DVR cost.

3. Channel ordering is terrible. Standard def channels are in one range, HD in another. If I want to watch MTV in HD, I tune to channel 610. If I want to watch MTV2 in SD, I have to switch to channel 210.

4. The DVR stinks compared to the 622. And Tivo is not a competitive option really price wise.

And yes, I love the Dish product and the Dish price point. However, Dish will not keep me as a customer if they tell me one thing and then a week later pull a 180 and tell me I can't have it.

Robert

 

[boba]

Cry some more alligator tears I'll lend you my shoulder to cry on but YOU SCREWED YOURSELF. Did you get the OFFER in writing that they would honor it after you became a customer again. Once you became a customer you were no longer a returning customer elligible for promotions.

 

[STL]

It's pretty obvious to me they the CSR just wanted to get you to sign up (because they probably got some bonus for it) and was feeding you a pack of lies. Why activate the 301 and get the family pack right away? It seems like that would be nothing but a waste of time and effort for you -- not to mention the obvious potential of not allowing you to get the new/returning customer promo. I just cannot imagine why you did that...

 

[yomama]

It's pretty obvious to me they the CSR just wanted to get you to sign up (because they probably got some bonus for it) and was feeding you a pack of lies. Why activate the 301 and get the family pack right away? It seems like that would be nothing but a waste of time and effort for you -- not to mention the obvious potential of not allowing you to get the new/returning customer promo. I just cannot imagine why you did that...

:up:up

 

[skierrob]

Why did I sign up for Dish Family? To have SOME programming until my partner and I discussed what HD package to sign up for and which DVR to get (722 vs 612).

Why does it seem obvious to everyone but me, obviously, that by signing up without a contract, using my own equipment, that I would then be ineligible for the free stuff I would get anyways?

End result isn't that I'm out any money. I had no commitment by using my own equipment with Dish Family. The only one that LOST anything was Dish Network. They lost a customer because of their strange policies.

 

[sam_gordon]

Cry some more alligator tears I'll lend you my shoulder to cry on but YOU SCREWED YOURSELF. Did you get the OFFER in writing that they would honor it after you became a customer again. Once you became a customer you were no longer a returning customer elligible for promotions.

Except in his OP, the executive office confirmed he had the offer. So Dish isn't denying that.

To the OP... when you say "recently" are we talking you were back w/Dish for a month before calling to upgrade to HD? Or just a couple days?

Isn't there a "Dishin' it Up" promotion? After all, even though he's a "current" customer, he'd upgrading from SD package to HD.

Bad move on Dish's part.

 

[yellowcanary73]

Why did I sign up for Dish Family? To have SOME programming until my partner and I discussed what HD package to sign up for and which DVR to get (722 vs 612).

Don't worry anytime someone comes down on dish here they get slammed.I went from being with dish 10 years to Uverse really like the system not so much for their boxes had thought of going back but keep thinking about the way I was treated when returning my equipment so don't know that I will.But they all have their good and bad.

Now for the slamming..

 

[Jonhern]

FIOS picture quality is great (awesome, in fact). It really can't be beat. Nothing is compressed. No HD Lite.

But everything else about FIOS TV stinks.

1. Billing is absolutely terrible -- it's never correct. You have to fight for hours every month to get your bill right. They either forget your bundle exists and charge you full price for everything, or they charge you for channels you don't get, or they do something else crazy. This is a fairly commonly known problem with FIOS customers.

2. After one year, my rates went up $20 a month because they no longer offered the same $79 "Extreme HD" promotion. That package now costs $99 a month. Which doesn't include the $15.99 monthly DVR cost.

3. Channel ordering is terrible. Standard def channels are in one range, HD in another. If I want to watch MTV in HD, I tune to channel 610. If I want to watch MTV2 in SD, I have to switch to channel 210.

4. The DVR stinks compared to the 622. And Tivo is not a competitive option really price wise.

And yes, I love the Dish product and the Dish price point. However, Dish will not keep me as a customer if they tell me one thing and then a week later pull a 180 and tell me I can't have it.

Robert

+1

might go back to them once dish contract is up if they switch to the Cisco boxes, my brother still has them so I will be able to try it out if they make the switch from moto. I hope my dad was not being over charged while we had fios, not sure how closely he reviewed his bills, i am paying the dish bill and go over it with a fine tooth comb.

What dish did is just bs, they even admitted you were told that and still will not bend, that is just awful. I would even go ahead and file a complaint with your ag and BBB for misleading or false selling practices, they recently settled with several states on similar complaints.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

FIOS picture quality is great (awesome, in fact). It really can't be beat. Nothing is compressed. No HD Lite.

But everything else about FIOS TV stinks.

1. Billing is absolutely terrible -- it's never correct. You have to fight for hours every month to get your bill right. They either forget your bundle exists and charge you full price for everything, or they charge you for channels you don't get, or they do something else crazy. This is a fairly commonly known problem with FIOS customers.

2. After one year, my rates went up $20 a month because they no longer offered the same $79 "Extreme HD" promotion. That package now costs $99 a month. Which doesn't include the $15.99 monthly DVR cost.

3. Channel ordering is terrible. Standard def channels are in one range, HD in another. If I want to watch MTV in HD, I tune to channel 610. If I want to watch MTV2 in SD, I have to switch to channel 210.

4. The DVR stinks compared to the 622. And Tivo is not a competitive option really price wise.



Robert

I believe all of this.:up
This sounds exactly like the Verizon I know.

Verizon sucks as a land line service,as well as its customer service for Internet and Cell phone service.
So I find it hard to believe they would be any different with the TV service.

 

[TigerpounceTN]

FIOS picture quality is great (awesome, in fact). It really can't be beat. Nothing is compressed. No HD Lite.

Actually that is wrong. FiOS has compression, they just don't always REcompress their channels. For some channels distributed in MPEG4 they have to though. It is still likely the best available for picture quality in the very few places where people can get it though.

 

[Jonhern]

Actually that is wrong. FiOS has compression, they just don't always REcompress their channels. For some channels distributed in MPEG4 they have to though. It is still likely the best available for picture quality in the very few places where people can get it though.

yeah, it also depends on the source. I have found ABC family to be bad on Dish and could not remember what it was like on fios, but when i went to my brothers i tuned to the channel to see and it was just as bad as the dish feed. I was lucky that it was showing the same show, Gilmore girls, so it was apples to apples.

 

[bebop]

Except in his OP, the executive office confirmed he had the offer. So Dish isn't denying that.

To the OP... when you say "recently" are we talking you were back w/Dish for a month before calling to upgrade to HD? Or just a couple days?

Isn't there a "Dishin' it Up" promotion? After all, even though he's a "current" customer, he'd upgrading from SD package to HD.

Bad move on Dish's part.

He said he was back w/ Dish for a week.

He also was only gone from Dish for under than 9 months (even less depending on how far back this happened), unlike the year mentioned in the OP. I've heard that it takes being gone longer than that for the 'new customer' deals. http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/174598-dish-vs-fios.html#post1818950

 

[TigerpounceTN]

He said he was back w/ Dish for a week.

He also was only gone from Dish for under than 9 months (even less depending on how far back this happened), unlike the year mentioned in the OP. I've heard that it takes being gone longer than that for the 'new customer' deals. http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/174598-dish-vs-fios.html#post1818950

He was also blatantly and admittedly lied to by a Dish Network representative. I don't blame him one bit in this case. That CSR on the other hand... Dish could have had a customer with a 2 year commitment. They, meaning the CSR, took the low road and he cancelled. Who wouldn't? Dish apparently didn't care to lose business.

 

[DishSubLA]

Yes, the CEO CSR's could have approved this, as they have approved many other such "freebies" when the computers won't let low level CSR's do anything. I think the word from on high--Mr. Ergan, himself--is cut those costs and no giveaways or discounts whenever possible, even if it means losing a returning customer (how big of a fish were you to Dish in the past, OP? That may have made a difference).

This is evident in the new fee structure and increase and in some of the attitude reported on this forum from people who are trying to Dish to help them receive the new HD channels. This appears to be the new, meaner, leaner, Dish of the crappy economy, and Charlie finally making certain customers--probably low monthly bill people--pay or get lost as from his view those people cost him too much money, especially when upgrading them.

Not your fault, OP. It is sad that once Dish knew that you were "lied" to and yet refused to some how make things right with you after you had been fooled by a Dish employee. If that can't motivate Dish to do the right thing, what, in heaven's name, will? This is the new post fee structure Dish.

 

[sam_gordon]

He said he was back w/ Dish for a week.

He also was only gone from Dish for under than 9 months (even less depending on how far back this happened), unlike the year mentioned in the OP. I've heard that it takes being gone longer than that for the 'new customer' deals. http://www.satelliteguys.us/dish-network-forum/174598-dish-vs-fios.html#post1818950

Dish acknowledged he was told he could get the new customer deal then reneged. So instead of having a customer for two years (if not more), paying HD rates, they had a customer for a week. Tell me how this works in Dish's favor.

 

[bebop]

Dish acknowledged he was told he could get the new customer deal then reneged. So instead of having a customer for two years (if not more), paying HD rates, they had a customer for a week. Tell me how this works in Dish's favor.

Sam - Dish does a lot of stupid things. I'm just saying the facts and what I was told.

 

[Scherrman]

Should have just signed up the correct way and got all the promotions and free equipment without any hassels. I know the CSR fed you some BS and that sucks. I'm kind of surprised Dish didn't honor it since they acknowledged the fact that the CSR told you they could give you the upgrade. Should have talked to a retailer.

 

[RandallA]

Don't worry anytime someone comes down on dish here they get slammed.
Now for the slamming..

It wasn't like that before. But in the last couple of years, there's been a lot of whining and complaining so some members think that people are just complaining and whining.

Continue the slamming.