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All,

I am new to these boards, and new to Dish Network as well. However, before you welcome me, let me give a brief history of my situation, and let you decide. And sorry for the length of the post, it's a LONG story.

This isn't meant to be a Dish bashing, but merely an outlet for my frustrations and a last ditch effort to illicit some help from these boards.

Last month, I moved from Northern Virginia to Vermont. When I to Vermont, I found that my DirecTV programming would not work, and that DirecTV did not offer locals in my area. I would also not qualify for Distance Locals because I (apparently) can receive a grade A signal for NBC and a grade B signal for CBS. This wasn't an option so... Dish Network to the rescue... or so I thought.

I called my local Dish retailer. Nice guy, willing to do anything for me. He told me that I wanted a 322 and 522 because there was a special DHP deal going on. I said ok, proceeded to give my information and waited. He also told me that the 522 was a good replacement for my DirecTV w/ TiVo.

After waiting about a week, and not hearing back from the retailer on an install time, I find out that the 522 is delayed and won't be available for another couple weeks.

So, I complain letting him know that that is information that I should have been told when I signed up. H says that he wasn't aware... long story short, he put in a demo model for me to wathc until the 522 was available.

So, Last Wednesday (Dec 3) I get the call, "The 522's are in." So I go to pick it up. Install it and call the number to get it all activiated. Well, things don't go as planned. I'm on the phone for about 3 hours trying to get BOTH the 522 and 322 activated. No go... It's after midnight at this point, so I give up and go to bed.

Next morning (Thursday) still nothing on the screen for both the 322 and 522. I call customer support again, we fiddle fart around and still no go. So, I actually decide that I need to do some work, so I give up until later that night.

Later Thursday night, I finally can give the situation the time it needs. After 4 hours of customer support, I finally learn that the CSR who originally put in the R00 and S00 numbers got the numbers transposed not just for 1 of the receivers, but for BOTH of the receivers.

So, I officially now have Dish Network after weeks of waiting, and 2 days of trying to get the receivers activated.

Even tho' it took a long time to activate, and I initially had problems, I was still excited. (I'm a geek... I love new toys).

So, I start surfing around the channels. I notice that I don't have my locals. So, I give a call back to the CSRs, and they tell me that it can take up to an hour to get locals activated. I say ok, and head to bed again.

It's now Friday evening, I finally get a chance to set down and watch my new dish. The CSR was right, it takes some time to get the locals activated. However, they have no guide data. I figure no big deal, DirecTV was the same way with their TiVo... I'll give it a couple days.

So, I'm surfing around and the first thing I notice is that the pixelation and PQ are just totally unwatchable on the locals. Even the movie channels are just horrible. (No, this is not an RPTV, it's a 32 TV)

I call my installer, he says that he's seen that pixelation before, and there is not a lot he can do about it. I ask about re-aiming, and he says he'll be out on Monday to take a look.

So, I'm now starting to get really pissed. The PQ is horrible, and to top it off, I can't seem to get my 522 in to Single Mode.

During this whole process, I asked every CSR I spoke with how to get the 522 in to Single Mode. Not a single person had a clue until I finally spoke with (I believe it was Greg) on Monday. According to him, the Single Mode won't be activated until late summer '04. I think to myself, this isn't what I was told, and is he sure. He says summer '04 at the earliest, and I figure, this isn't what I signed up for.

So, I had had enough. I am usually a pretty easy going guy, but I decided that if I was going to pay for bad reception and a DVR that wasn't what it was sold as, then I was going to cable and my HTPC.

So, Monday evening, I call to cancel. I tell them I am a DHP and that my 30 days are not up yet. The CSR laughs at me and tells me that I only had THREE days. I tell her, "No. My retailer told me 30 days to cancel." She laughs again and says no, DHP is 3 days, and you have been a customer for 5 days. I then proceed to tell her the situation (very calmly mind you) and she says that there is nothing she can do about it, she will note it in my account, and my retailer would have to call to get it canceled.

Well, my retailer is stuck in Boston or some such place, and won't be back up until Tuesday/Wednesday. I say fine, and leave it at that.

Tuesday, I get a call from my retailer. He has me conferenced in with the Dish CSRs. I say I want to cancel, she says, "OK. We'll charge your CC $240 for the cancellation fee." I start to dispute them, and she says, "It's in your contract!" Funny thing is, I don't have a contract with Dish Network. I haven't signed a single piece of paper.

So Tuesday, long story short. I CAN'T cancel. They won't let me go. MY retailer tells me not to worry, he still have a few tricks up his sleeve.

So, I'm not panicking, Wednesday, he tells me that he'll hear back by COB. Nothing.

Thursday, he calls me back and says that I can't cancel. He can't use his magic, and that he will call his distributor to see what they can do.

That brings me to this morning. I get a call from my guy. His distributor can't do anything, so now I am stuck.

That brings you up to date, so let me summarize for you.

- Promised that the 522 would replace my TiVo in functionality.
- I created my "Home Account" on Wednesday
- Didn't receive all channels until Friday
- Was told 30 day satisfaction guarantee by retailer
- Was told THREE days by Dish on my 5th day
- Never signed a contract
- Horrible PQ (in my opinion)


Feel free to bash this, flame this, praise this, whatever you want to do. This was my first Dish experience, and it will be my last. If anyone asks me what I think about Dish Network, I will tell them to steer clear of it.

Honestly, I think this is bad how they are handling this situation. They would rather have an forced customer than a non-customer.

-Casey

P.S. A derivation of this post has been sent to Charlie as well.