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I'm so fed up with DishNetwork over this issue I'll never patronize them again. Long story short, my husband lost his job so we cancelled our DishNetwork service. Our contract had been up for a good long while, so that wasn't an issue (we'd been customers for over 4 years to my recollection). The CSM who helped me with the cancellation informed me that we'd need to return equipment (box, remotes) and they'd be sending boxes with instructions but that they were not prepaid so we'd be paying the return shipping. Ok, I'm a little miffed at this point, especially since I know we have old equipment they are going to heave into a dumpster the moment they get it (or perhaps a recycling dumpster, but same difference).

A week later I get the boxes. I let them sit a few days since I'm busy, then get a free day and open them up and read the instructions. Not only do they want my dual dvr box and both remotes which go with it (reasonable), they want me to climb on the roof of my 3 story (yes, three....we have a 2 story house from the front with a walk-out basement....and the dish is in the back) home to fetch chips from the satellite dishes. I call to complain about this last part, but the CSR seems unconcerned and insists the equipment must be returned. I also complain they are asking for a receiver we cancelled service on 3 years ago! At the time they asked for (and got) the chip out of the receiver, but nothing more. I inform the CSR I have no idea where this receiver is now, and that they should have asked for it back 3 years ago if they wanted it so badly. I tell her I will make an effort to look for it, but seriously, this is ridiculous.

A couple weeks or more go by before I can finally find the time to gather the box and remotes and get them all packaged up and shipped off (I used my own shipping carrier since it was cheaper than their "flat fee" labels). I was smart enough to get a tracking code on this package. That was back in JANUARY of 2012.

It's now JUNE of 2012 and I'm still dealing with this issue. After shipping the package off and getting confirmation from the shipper it was delivered, frankly I forgot about it. Then a couple months ago I get this lovely letter....from a COLLECTIONS agency, informing me that they are collecting a $185 debt I've not paid to Dish Network. Wow, really? I explain that we do not owe this, I returned the equipment, and yes, I do have tracking codes.

I call dish. I go around and around with the CSR. I had ONE dual dvr system, which I returned. I could not find the other box, but they can get over it since they didn't ask for it in a timely manner. No, I'm not climbing up on a 3rd story roof to retrieve some chip they don't really want anyway. If they would like to send out an installer to fetch it I'll gladly give them access to my roof. Since they aren't interested in doing that I can only conclude they really don't care about that chip so much. After at least 40 minutes of discussion and being put on hold so she can consult with higher authorities, she tells me she's taken care of everything. The collections people won't be calling me anymore, I don't owe anything, everything's wonderful again.

Mad, but forgot about it again after fuming for a couple weeks and telling quite a few people about the charming way Dish treats long time customers.

Then, while I'm out running errands yesterday, my husband gets a robo-call from Dish, saying that we have a past due balance we need to address immediately. He presses buttons to reach a live person and explains to them that I took care of all this, and they need to correct their system with the info. He is assured that it's all taken care of now. He requests a letter within a week verifying the same.

Now today, I get another robo-call, says the same thing. Finally reach a live rep, explain it all over again, tell him I'm really sick of discussing this. Now he's telling me it'll take two weeks for their system to update, so I may still get phone calls, but it's ok, I can ignore them. Really? I'm suppose to believe that?

DishNetwork may have good prices and programming packages, but it's hardly worth the harassment at the end of the deal. Since I was already mad at DirectTV from stunts they pulled on me years ago, and I don't like cable, I'm not going to go back to any of them when we are back on our feet. I may get some streaming thing off the internet, but for now we watch a lot of tv shows for free at network websites and our internet provider AT&T. Yeah, it's less convenient. But at least if I decide to "cancel" I won't get harassing phone calls for months and bills for $185 that I don't owe!