2021 Dish Prices

dweber · May 3, 2021

Today I received my latest Dish bill. My 2 year contract expired so I called the Dish loyalty number 888-496-1260. After a 22 minute hold I connected to a Dish agent in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I told him I wanted to renew another 2 year contract. I also told him I am paying $15 for my purchased Hopper3 receiver instead of the $5 for owned equipment. He saw all the notes on my account from February where the agents had tried unsuccessfully in the past. The call lasted 1 hour. He got several other agents to research the problem.
1) The existing 2 year price guarantee promotion gives a $5 monthly discount on the Hopper3 receiver.
2) But the owned equipment $5 instead of $15 for the Hopper3 receiver appears to remove the previous $5 discount.
3) He tried different ways to get the first $5 monthly discount on the leased Hopper3 and the $5 purchased on my purchased Hopper3.
4) He reduced my Dish Movie Pack from $10 to $5 for 6 months.
5) He reduced my STARZ from $10 to $5 for 6 months.
6 He was in the process of adding in my 2 year price guarantee promotion when my battery died on my phone and I got disconnected.
7) I have now called back using a different phone but I am now in a 25 minute hold. I can only hope that I get the same agent. After all of his work I hope he isn’t mad that the call got disconnected before we could finish.

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dweber · May 3, 2021

After another 25 minutes on hold I connected to a different agent in El Paso, Texas. I apologized that my previous call was dropped when my phone battery died after 1 hour. Fortunately he saw all the notes from the previous agent in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1) The notes claimed that they had found a solution so that my purchased Hopper3 would only be billed at $5. But they said it would take 24 hours for the correction to post to my account.
2) I then accepted my new 2 year agreement by inputting my Dish security code.
3) He then authorized the 50% off for 6 months of STARZ and 6 months of Dish Movie pack.
4) My Dish bill went from $153.98 per month to $126.99 per month.

Of course I will wait and see if what he claims is true. If so I am well pleased. This whole transaction with 2 calls took 1 hour 55 minutes. It is a good thing I am retired and since it is raining I have the time.

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mwdxer1 · May 3, 2021

DJ Lon said:
Hey crodrules looks like the decision to buy a wireless Joey has been made for me LOL

Shouldn't be any price increase this year IMHO but at least everything else remained status quo

No Receiver fees, but I presume the DVR fees will continue?

charlesrshell · May 3, 2021

dweber said:
After another 25 minutes on hold I connected to a different agent in El Paso, Texas. I apologized that my previous call was dropped when my phone battery died after 1 hour. Fortunately he saw all the notes from the previous agent in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1) The notes claimed that they had found a solution so that my purchased Hopper3 would only be billed at $5. But they said it would take 24 hours for the correction to post to my account.
2) I then accepted my new 2 year agreement by inputting my Dish security code.
3) He then authorized the 50% off for 6 months of STARZ and 6 months of Dish Movie pack.
4) My Dish bill went from $153.98 per month to $126.99 per month.

Of course I will wait and see if what he claims is true. If so I am well pleased. This whole transaction with 2 calls took 1 hour 55 minutes. It is a good thing I am retired and since it is raining I have the time.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

Thanks for sharing

mwdxer1 · May 3, 2021

crodrules said:
No RSN fee this year because Dish is going to be dropping the remaining RSN's.

If that $8 includes the $3 increase for locals, I think you will be pleasantly surprised. The fine print still lists the cost of the locals add-on package as $12.
"Package prices do not include $12/mo. Local Channels price."
What is new is that, for the first time I have seen on these price charts, there is a Locals Only core package for $15 that does not require any other base package. The chart listing that as a $3 increase is confusing, since it is comparing that price to the price for the locals add-on, which is apparently not changing. (However, the fine print also fails to mention that the price of Welcome Pack already includes locals. Last year's chart made the same omission, until I pointed it out here, and the fine print got updated. So, it is possible that the fine print is still outdated this time.)

So, my questions about the Locals Only core package are:

Is it already available now, or do we have to wait until 1/14/21 before we can switch to it?

Does Locals Only also allow you to add Latino Bonus Pack? (Latino Bonus Pack was recently made available to Welcome Pack subscribers, after a long period of Welcome Pack not qualifying to add Latino Bonus Pack.)

If the answer to that last question is yes, then this could lower my bill considerably.

Currently, I subscribe to International Basic for $15 per month. This package is not a stand-alone package, so I also have to have another international package to qualify for it. I chose the cheapest option of Portuguese: RTPI for $9.99 per month. The end result made my total core package price $24.99 per month, which is cheaper than Welcome Pack. In addition, I added Latino Bonus Pack (when Welcome Pack still did not qualify for that add-on) for $10 per month. This made my total programming cost $34.99 per month, which is the same as the old price of Welcome Pack. Since it does not look like there are price increases scheduled for any of my packages, that makes my price $5 per lower than the new Welcome Pack price. (It would also be $1 lower than the new grandfathered Welcome Pack price of $35.99 per month listed in the fine print.) However, if I could switch to Locals Only and still get Latino Bonus Pack, then my total cost would only be $25 per month, and I could drop that Portuguese channel that I do not really need.

Combined with the lower equipment fees for purchased equipment, this option could also save me a lot of time and hassle. Since I own all of my receivers, I have been using the mydish website to micro-manage my account. I activate additional receivers on the days when I need them, and then deactivate them again to avoid the equipment fees. Since International Basic also gives me the option of adding and removing the locals as often as I want with no programming change fees, I have been doing the same thing with that pack. I add the locals on the days when I need them, and then remove the locals in order to avoid paying for them. However, with a $15 Locals Only option, and a new $5 receiver fee for my ViP211k, I could keep both of those things active all of the time for a total of only $20 per month. ($30 per month if I can also keep Latino Bonus Pack.) This would eliminate the need to micro-manage my account (adding and removing stuff to keep the same price) and my bill would still go down.

Now, as to how this all affects my sister's account. She currently has Welcome Pack, with a $7 per month fee for her purchased Wally, which is the only receiver on her account. So, it looks like her programming is going up by $5, but her receiver fee is going down by $2, for a net increase of $3 per month. However, she has already been complaining about the cost, and saying that she mostly only watches the locals. So, she could switch to Locals Only for only $15 per month ($20 per month including her receiver fee) and more than cut her bill in half. That is certainly worth considering.

THere is a fee for the 211k now? Mine is owned, so no problem. I like having everything together with no fees.

Yespage · May 3, 2021

As an FYI, Starz and Dish Movie Pack have been and always seem to be available for $5 each for 6 months (Showtime is $5 for 3 months). I just have Welcome Pack and those are always available (and often taken advantage of) under My Offers.

TheKrell · May 3, 2021

Yespage said:
Starz and Dish Movie Pack have been and always seem to be available for $5 each for 6 months (Showtime is $5 for 3 months).

I attempted to log into MyDish to see if I could use the attempted package removal ploy to reduce my Movie Pack down to $5/mo. But alas, it won't let me log in at the moment.

Yespage · May 3, 2021

TheKrell said:
I attempted to log into MyDish to see if I could use the attempted package removal ploy to reduce my Movie Pack down to $5/mo. But alas, it won't let me log in at the moment.

You can try calling in and waiting 30 minutes... or do a Dish Chat thing and take a few minutes. The website is quicker, when it actually works, though.

dweber · May 3, 2021

dweber said:
After another 25 minutes on hold I connected to a different agent in El Paso, Texas. I apologized that my previous call was dropped when my phone battery died after 1 hour. Fortunately he saw all the notes from the previous agent in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
1) The notes claimed that they had found a solution so that my purchased Hopper3 would only be billed at $5. But they said it would take 24 hours for the correction to post to my account.
2) I then accepted my new 2 year agreement by inputting my Dish security code.
3) He then authorized the 50% off for 6 months of STARZ and 6 months of Dish Movie pack.
4) My Dish bill went from $153.98 per month to $126.99 per month.

Of course I will wait and see if what he claims is true. If so I am well pleased. This whole transaction with 2 calls took 1 hour 55 minutes. It is a good thing I am retired and since it is raining I have the time.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

The Dish agent must have removed my purchased Hopper3 receiver from my account and then added my purchased Hopper3 receiver back on my account because the activation date is now 5/03/21. They must have done this to try to get the price of $5 instead of $15. They had also done this back in February but it did not reduce the cost.
Unfortunately my Living Room Hopper3 has no authorized programming. I went to the my.dish.com tried the wake up receivers button and waited 10 minutes but it did not work.
I then called Dish technical support and they sent the wake up signal but that also did not work. He then had me reboot the Hopper3 and that worked. I am now updating the Guide from the tools menu.

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TheKrell · May 3, 2021

TheKrell said:
I attempted to log into MyDish to see if I could use the attempted package removal ploy to reduce my Movie Pack down to $5/mo.

Yespage said:
The website is quicker, when it actually works, though.

MyDish allowed me to log in this time, and I went through my ploy of trying to remove it online. It kept trying to scare me out of removing the Movie Pack, including this little gem.

Packages No Longer Sold cannot be restored once removed.

I ignored that and went all the way to the end where I had a Submit or Cancel button. I did not hit the Submit because that ploy no longer works. At least it didn't for me. I still pay $10.

DialgaChampion · May 3, 2021

dweber said:
4) He reduced my Dish Movie Pack from $10 to $5 for 6 months.
5) He reduced my STARZ from $10 to $5 for 6 months.

Yespage said:
As an FYI, Starz and Dish Movie Pack have been and always seem to be available for $5 each for 6 months (Showtime is $5 for 3 months). I just have Welcome Pack and those are always available (and often taken advantage of) under My Offers.

That is correct. In fact, you can often get Starz and Showtime for free from loyalty. The catch is you have to keep calling back every 3 and 2 months respectively to have them re-add the promo. The $10 savings you're getting is good, but it's not a special discount.

pattykay · May 3, 2021

mwdxer1 said:
No Receiver fees, but I presume the DVR fees will continue?

mwdxer1 said:
THere is a fee for the 211k now? Mine is owned, so no problem. I like having everything together with no fees.

Sorry, I should have clarified that in my post from many months ago. My ViP222k is the receiver that I keep active all of the time, and there is no fee for that one. The ViP211k fee I mentioned was the additional receiver fee for my purchased ViP211k. I have since sold that ViP211k (traded it for a Roku, to be more precise) and then purchased a Hopper 3 that I now use basically the same way I had been using the ViP211k. I only activate the Hopper 3 on days when any of my favorite shows air (usually only a few days per week) and deactivate it the rest of the time, to eliminate the additional receiver fee. There is no DVR fee when I activate the purchased Hopper 3, either. The trade-off is that there is also no DVR functionality. Technically, it is a "Hopper 3D" whenever I have it active. (I have posted about this in multiple threads, so do a search for more info, if interested.) This "D" tag, and the lack of DVR functions, is a side-effect of having the Hopper 3 and the ViP222k active on the same account at the same time. Although there is no DVR fee, activating the Hopper 3 does add the $10 "access for two add'l TV's" fee for the ViP222k temporarily, until I deactivate the Hopper 3 again.

pattykay · May 3, 2021

dweber said:
After a 22 minute hold I connected to a Dish agent in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

dweber said:
I have now called back using a different phone but I am now in a 25 minute hold.

dweber said:
After another 25 minutes on hold I connected to a different agent in El Paso, Texas.

Yespage said:
You can try calling in and waiting 30 minutes...

Hold times have really gotten ridiculous lately. The funny part is that Dish is steadily losing customers. So, with fewer customers to serve, it should not be that hard for Dish to maintain the same number of employees, to serve each remaining customer even faster. Even if some employee cutbacks are necessary (due to the decreased revenue from having fewer customers) Dish could still try not cutting back their work-force quite as much as they apparently have done. This would allow Dish to provide better customer service by actually answering the phone faster. As it is, the long hold times may actually accelerate Dish's customer losses, by ticking off the remaining customers they have left.

Of course, the long hold times could also be entirely intentional. Dish may see it as an advantage to give an angry customer, who calls in to complain, a "cooling off" period before the customer actually gets to speak to an agent. Such a customer may decide that the call is not really that important (or that they don't have time to deal with long wait times on hold) so they hang up instead. Customers who do stick around through the entire long hold may have had time to calm down, making the conversation with the agent go more smoothly, thus resulting in better customer service. I personally don't buy that philosophy, though. Being kept on hold that long would tend to annoy me more than it would calm me down. Maybe Dish is hoping that if they leave customers on hold long enough, they will forget why they were calling in the first place.

dweber · May 3, 2021

crodrules said:
Hold times have really gotten ridiculous lately.

Keep in mind that the two long hold times were when I called the special loyalty number. The third call that I made to have them reactivate my receiver I used the normal Dish number and reached an agent within 2 minutes. But the third agent was definitely a foreign call center where the first two were US based.

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DJ Lon · May 4, 2021

mwdxer1 said:
No Receiver fees, but I presume the DVR fees will continue?

Not no but lower receiver fee on my Joey and I can also confirm I'm still paying the DVR fee for the Hopper

Yespage · May 4, 2021

TheKrell said:
MyDish allowed me to log in this time, and I went through my ploy of trying to remove it online. It kept trying to scare me out of removing the Movie Pack, including this little gem.

I ignored that and went all the way to the end where I had a Submit or Cancel button. I did not hit the Submit because that ploy no longer works. At least it didn't for me. I still pay $10.

That is surprising. Other than when Dish was negotiating with Epix, the Movie Pack has been 6 months for $5 for years, Starz as well. I set it to turn off after six months, and the offer has always been there. It might take a day or two, I don't know. It is one of the reasons I still stick with Dish. It is a quasi Welcome - All Premium package, for just $15 more a month, though I usually stick with one or two.

TheKrell · May 4, 2021

Yespage said:
That is surprising. Other than when Dish was negotiating with Epix, the Movie Pack has been 6 months for $5 for years, Starz as well. I set it to turn off after six months, and the offer has always been there. It might take a day or two, I don't know. It is one of the reasons I still stick with Dish. It is a quasi Welcome - All Premium package, for just $15 more a month, though I usually stick with one or two.

OK; it's gone. We'll see how long it takes for them to offer me the $5 deal.

TV Junkie · May 4, 2021

I called to activate HDD on wally receiver a few days ago. Dish Network DID NOT charge the $40 fee they publish...?

TheKrell · May 4, 2021

pattykay · May 4, 2021

TV Junkie said:
I called to activate HDD on wally receiver a few days ago. Dish Network DID NOT charge the $40 fee they publish...?

That is correct. It has been that way for around a year-and-a-half now, if not longer. The same thing happened when my sister activated her account with a Wally and external hard drive, at the beginning of last year. Just play dumb and don't mention the fee when you call to activate the EHD DVR functions, and the agent will likely push the activation through without charging the fee.

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