Annual Paid Programming Ceased

[avchong]

I pay for my programming on an annual basis and I have just received a letter from DISH as follows:

"April 20, 2013

Dear Valued Customer,

On 5/22 there will be some changes happening to your account. To ensure your full understanding, we
wanted to take the time to describe what those changes will be. You currently pay for some of your DISH
programming once a year.

Beginning 5/22, DISH will no longer offer annual billed services. As a result, you will now be billed
monthly.

Since you already paid for 12 months of service, any unused portion of what you previously paid will
be credited back to your DISH account to be used toward future monthly payments.

For each annual billed programming package you subscribed to, an additional credit of one free
month will be applied to your DISH account. This will ensure you receive the full 12 month benefit
for the annual service that you signed up for."


Has anyone else received such a letter? Why is Dish discontinuing the annual billing?

This seems fair, unfortunately, my annual biling began in January 2013 before the prigramming increases in February 2013, which means that I will now be billed the increased monthly prices.

 

[harshness]

This seems fair, unfortunately, my annual biling began in January 2013 before the prigramming increases in February 2013, which means that I will now be billed the increased monthly prices.

That you can no longer exploit a loophole shouldn't be considered unfair.

 

[dare2be]

Why is Dish discontinuing the annual billing?

...unfortunately, my annual biling began in January 2013 before the prigramming increases in February 2013, which means that I will now be billed the increased monthly prices.

I believe you just answered your own question. 5/22 is also the date of the presumed hikes in Hopper fees...coincidence? Ha. Dish does not want both sets of price hikes to be left on the table.

 

[dare2be]

That you can no longer exploit a loophole shouldn't be considered unfair.

It's not a loophole. Dish is getting a year's guaranteed income from a customer in exchange for a reduced rate. No different than say, MLB.tv charging a higher price monthly versus a one-time annual subscription. Many subscription-based services do this.

 

[Teehar]

This seems fair, unfortunately, my annual biling began in January 2013 before the prigramming increases in February 2013, which means that I will now be billed the increased monthly prices.

You did answer your own question.That ensures Dish will be able to get the higher fees on everyone now.They sure seem to be getting greedy in 2013.

 

[catnap1972]

You did answer your own question.That ensures Dish will be able to get the higher fees on everyone now.They sure seem to be getting greedy in 2013.

Nono...only that dastardly Directv is "greedy". The commercials said so, so that MUST be true!

 

[Mochuf]

That you can no longer exploit a loophole shouldn't be considered unfair.

Please explain how paying an annual fee, that the company itself is offering, considered a loophole?

 

[GaryPen]

This seems fair, unfortunately, my annual biling began in January 2013 before the prigramming increases in February 2013, which means that I will now be billed the increased monthly prices.

Kinda the reason they're doing it. A little low, if you ask me.

I can understand not offering new annual subscriptions. But, for those who already paid, Dish should stick to the agreement, and ride it out until the end of the term.

Maybe the customers should charge Dish $10/mo for each month remaining in the annual agreement as an early termination fee. Seems fair.

 

[Stargazer]

I dont see why the company would not offer this anymore unless they plan on increase rates more than once a year or if there are not enough people doing the annual to make it worthwhile. They do not really advertise it in which they should have. They are guaranteed the money for a year from the customer. They can invest it in their own company and make up for a lot of the discount that they give the customer. It locks the customer in for a year without much cost to Dish. They probably figure that these two year contracts for equipment upgrades are good enough for locking customers in.

 

[waylew]

Hmmmm,another example of giving the customer what he wants??

 

[jbrooks987]

Just got the same letter today. The savings that the annual payment allowed has been shrinking the last few years but it did let me postpone several of the price hikes for a few months each year. At least I won't see the latest price hike until January.

 

[mike123abc]

I had the annual prepaid until the end of last year then I switched to monthly. I was kind of sad to have the annual pre paid gone (once I gave it up I knew I could not go back), but I see that it is now gone all together.

I think it is a mistake for Dish to get rid of it, what better way to lock people into Dish for a year than annual pre paid, but I suppose the number of subs was so small, it was probably more expensive to maintain the accounting software than to just convert the subs even if they lose them.

 

[CK SatGuy]

When has Dish ever really promoted the annual prepaid option? Call me blind but I have never seen it on their website. I'm sure if it was promoted more, A LOT more subs wouldn't mind going for that option.

 

[Scherrman]

I thought they got rid of annual payment years ago. They just had people grandfathered in.

 

[mike123abc]

I believe it ended in 2011 unless you had it grandfathered. Now I guess they are giving everyone the boot.

They used to promote it when Dish first started. Over the years they cut the program back. I used to get the Mega Movie Pack which was HBO/SHO/MAX/Starz for a year.

You had monthly billing on fees though, but they would calculate them for a year for you and you could prepay them. But, if they changed fees you would get billed for the difference.

 

[Kraven]

Just over pay your monthly biil by a year. However you're on the hook for all fee increases.

 

[mike123abc]

Just over pay your monthly biil by a year. However you're on the hook for all fee increases.

In the olden days they used to give you one free month when you paid up front...

 

[harshness]

It's not a loophole.

Paying in advance ahead of a rate increase may be considered a loophole.

 

[Tampa8]

"It's not a tumor." .......or a loophole

 

[Claude Greiner]

The annual programming packages came from the c-band days when paying the entire year upfront was considered normal.

I used to pay annually myself for several years until Dish forced me to just sign up on credit card auto-pay as the annual savings where not there with the way they structured their prices.

Why give them a years worth of programming when there was no advantage? That's when I stopped paying annually.

I think the last straw was that they wanted the pre-payment to sit as a credit balance on the account and not be tied to any specific package.

Even though the discount was nice, I think Dish figures these customers will pay their bill anyways so why bother discounting their bill when they can get it in 12 monthly payments and make more money at the end.