Canceled because I'm Moving and they didn't even try to keep me

[mulesqb]

Been a long time customer. From 2002 to 2010, and from 2012 til now. My account is in good standing. Been on auto payments. Never late once. Have 9 receivers in the house (we have a Brady Bunch, 6 boys). Bill has fluctuated from $130 to $190 per.

Been trying to get them to come to an agreement within the $170 range, willing to give up programming. They constantly come to an agreement with me and say it's ironclad for 6 or 9 months only to have it automatically change the next month. I have to constantly call to remind them of the credits they "guaranteed" me.

This month they charged me $260. I just paid it as they gave me ST for free last year and I figure I'm still ahead of the game and quite frankly tired of calling them. I am moving next week and called to cancel. They didn't even try to keep me. Too bad. I have been a very happy customer for a long time up until the last 6 months. It just seems to me they have had an overall change in philosophy. I didn't make any threats, just said I haven't been very happy with the treatment I have received.

Too bad, there are a lot of options these days. I tried to be loyal. They just didn't want me.

 

[mdram]

ive said it once, i'll say it again.

no company should give out money to keep customers, they should just adjust prices for everyone.

now that said what jumped it from 190 to 260? sunday ticket costs?

9 receivers is @ $50 on its own

 

[mulesqb]

ive said it once, i'll say it again.

no company should give out money to keep customers, they should just adjust prices for everyone.

now that said what jumped it from 190 to 260? sunday ticket costs?

9 receivers is @ $50 on its own

They were giving me credits that they said were 6 months but only lasted one. And yes 9 receivers is nuts. I was willing to adjust things on my end. A few of my kids are going to college, I can cut down to 6 or 7 at the most.
Was just shocked that after such a long relationship they just said goodbye. I have been off contract with them since last December.Didn't offer to "move" my service to my new house, start a new 2 year agreement, etc..

 

[fred555]

9 receivers is @ $50 on its own

From what I understand when I cancelled, I inquired about the monthly charges per receiver.
This was a little over a year ago.

I was told the charge is a voluntary maintenance fee. I told them they had to be kidding, This charge was never really disclosed or clarified. So for receivers I bought on Ebay for $10 each, I was paying a $5 maintenance fee monthly.

The fee was supposedly for them to come out and fix things. I self installed my system and purchased my own receivers. Why would I need to pay that fee? If they fully disclosed it, I would have argued and gotten that fee taken off, but just cancelled instead.

EDIT: Now its a little different as far as ownership. You have to pay full price ($$$$) for the receiver from them and then you can waive the monthly fee is the way I understood it.

 

[mdram]

From what I understand when I cancelled, I inquired about the monthly charges per receiver.
This was a little over a year ago.

I was told the charge is a voluntary maintenance fee. I told them they had to be kidding, This charge was never really disclosed or clarified. So for receivers I bought on Ebay for $10 each, I was paying a $5 maintenance fee monthly.

The fee was supposedly for them to come out and fix things. I self installed my system and purchased my own receivers. Why would I need to pay that fee? If they fully disclosed it, I would have argued and gotten that fee taken off, but just cancelled instead.

its $6 a month now per receiver, but the first is free
every provider has this fee, many are higher

 

[fred555]

But the way I understood it from the rep, there are ways of not paying the fee.
See EDIT above.

 

[mdram]

good luck with that

 

[fred555]

Here is how their scheme works. They have a published price to "buy" a receiver on their website.
What there is no mention of on the site is this a told to me by a rep:

You can pay an unpublished full price", for a $65 receiver is about $165, then opt out
of the monthly receiver "maintenance fee." I took me about an hour of questioning and prying on my part and diversion on their part to figure it out. You can actually pay the difference on what you paid for the receiver and the full unpublished price even if you had the receiver for a while. I actually paid the difference just to own the one receiver that was not mine. I cancelled after that, and did not enjoy the dropping of the monthly fee however. I did not have to return the receiver either as I now owned it.

If you have a couple of hours to waste, pry out of them the true nature of the fee and you may be able to drop it after you pay full price for all receivers.

I was told the fee was not required and they just add it to the bill because "most people want it."
As in most people don't know what to do if the system does not work and just automatically assume you don't either, and desire for a tech to come out. But its not optional unless full unpublished price was paid for receivers.

Or the rep was talking out of her Butt just to retain me? I am just repeating what I was told.

 

[mdram]

pretty sure you cannot opt out of the receiver fee


you can of the equipment protection fee

 

[fred555]

She did talk in big evasive circles for an hour or so, I could have misunderstood.

 

[raoul5788]

There is no way to not pay the monthly fee. You might get a credit to your account, but that's not the same thing.

 

[harmlesslyfatal]

The monthly additional receiver fee (and for accounts activated after July 24th, 2014 this includes the primary, but no HD costs), it is a simple mirroring fee.

There is no way to simply not pay it, regardless if the receiver is owned or leased. $6.50 per receiver..

 

[goober22]

... it is a simple mirroring fee.

There is no way to simply not pay it, regardless if the receiver is owned or leased. $6.50 per receiver..

This is correct. If you "Buy" you are actually paying an offset fee to get the receiver. It is then a LEASE fee you pay from then on. If you really do buy a receiver (which I understand is not done anymore), then you pay a MIRRORING fee to mirror the programming. Either way, you pay.

It is cheaper overall then most other providers. Plus you pay a single HD/DVR/WHDVR fee for ALL receivers on your account ($23 in my case). Most others charge this PER RECEIVER! I had 9 STBs at one time myself. I am down to 6 HD/DVRs. My local cable provider would charge me $90 ($15x6) for just the HD/DVR fee plus the programming. Just my .02 cents.

 

[harmlesslyfatal]

This is correct. If you "Buy" you are actually paying an offset fee to get the receiver. It is then a LEASE fee you pay from then on. If you really do buy a receiver (which I understand is not done anymore), then you pay a MIRRORING fee to mirror the programming. Either way, you pay.

It is cheaper overall then most other providers. Plus you pay a single HD/DVR/WHDVR fee for ALL receivers on your account. Most others charge this PER RECEIVER! I had 9 STBs at one time myself. I am down to 6 HD/DVRs. My local cable provider would charge me $90 for just the HD/DVR fee plus the programming. Just my .02 cents.

You can still purchase the receivers through D* or even through eBay/Amazon (but should validate that the receivers are owned and not leased), but the only difference it makes is not having to return the receiver once it's deactivated. It makes a lot less sense to do this now a days though.

I like the fact that they only charge the account fee for the ARS/HD/DVR/MRV fee for the entire account instead of per receiver. It's much more cost efficient to go that route for the customer than as you said, paying $90 for just the HD/DVR fees. I also like that it doesn't matter what kind of receiver you have, it's the same price for the mirroring fee.

 

[mulesqb]

I am not complaining about the receiver fees. I knew what I was getting myself into when I signed up. I was willing to give up some programming to help cut the costs.

I do get up upset when they tell you they are giving you 6 month credits, you get the email confirmation and then the credits don't show up the very next month. Every time they assure me that it is in the system. That is a problem they haven't been able to correct with me. I guess when I called to cancel (and fully expected to renew with them when I get to my new house in a month or so) I was surprised they didn't even try to offer any kind of moving deal. The last time I moved 3 years ago they offered me a great deal which I took.

 

[harmlesslyfatal]

The thing with the credits though:

They apply the same day FOR the following billing cycle. For example: Your billing cycle is on the 25th, you call in on the 2nd of the month and are given a $10 off for 12 month credit. The credit will apply immediately for the following billing cycle from the 25th through the 24th (or 23rd if a 31 day month), then the billing cycle after, it will continue for the remainder of the period that it's active.

It doesn't apply on the 2nd, then again on the 25th.

 

[Jimbo]

They were giving me credits that they said were 6 months but only lasted one. And yes 9 receivers is nuts. I was willing to adjust things on my end. A few of my kids are going to college, I can cut down to 6 or 7 at the most.
Was just shocked that after such a long relationship they just said goodbye. I have been off contract with them since last December.Didn't offer to "move" my service to my new house, start a new 2 year agreement, etc..

You have to inquire about the Movers plan.

You should be able to call them and say I am moving to such n such address on whatever date and they will come out at the closest date and set you up.

Moving your bill from 190 to 170 is easy, you just said you can do away with some recvrs, thats basically 3 recvrs and its covered.

 

[Jimbo]

But the way I understood it from the rep, there are ways of not paying the fee.
See EDIT above.

Yes there are ways of not paying that fee, its called changing the game plan where you use to pay 6 for the recvr and 10 for the DVR and 10 for the HD and 3 for the Whole Home, its now 1 fee ... so your not paying THAT fee, but you are a different one.

 

[Jimbo]

Here is how their scheme works. They have a published price to "buy" a receiver on their website.
What there is no mention of on the site is this a told to me by a rep:

You can pay an unpublished full price", for a $65 receiver is about $165, then opt out
of the monthly receiver "maintenance fee." I took me about an hour of questioning and prying on my part and diversion on their part to figure it out. You can actually pay the difference on what you paid for the receiver and the full unpublished price even if you had the receiver for a while. I actually paid the difference just to own the one receiver that was not mine. I cancelled after that, and did not enjoy the dropping of the monthly fee however. I did not have to return the receiver either as I now owned it.

If you have a couple of hours to waste, pry out of them the true nature of the fee and you may be able to drop it after you pay full price for all receivers.

I was told the fee was not required and they just add it to the bill because "most people want it."
As in most people don't know what to do if the system does not work and just automatically assume you don't either, and desire for a tech to come out. But its not optional unless full unpublished price was paid for receivers.

Or the rep was talking out of her Butt just to retain me? I am just repeating what I was told.

You were told Wrong ...

 

[mulesqb]

You have to inquire about the Movers plan.

You should be able to call them and say I am moving to such n such address on whatever date and they will come out at the closest date and set you up.

Moving your bill from 190 to 170 is easy, you just said you can do away with some recvrs, thats basically 3 recvrs and its covered.

I want to go from the $260 to $170..