An Open Letter to DIRT. Is this a scam? - Resolved

I tried. Here was DIRT's response:

comfortably_numb,
I do understand you want to cancel your DISH service and we never want to lose a customer for any reason.
For the ETF that will usually be charged on the account. When dealing with a cancelation or disconnect of an account we ask you the customer to speak with our Account Specialist.
We prefer that you call us and allow us to review all of the options available to you. You can reach an account specialist at (888) 496 – 1260, who will personally handle your request and ensure that we cover all of the necessary information needed to cancel your account.
Thanks

So I called the number and got somebody in Pakistan who had no clue about anything.
 
Yeah they require you to cancel over the phone. I got a retention specialist in the Phillipines when I called last week. Whether he spoke perfect English or not, he was able to give me a far better deal than I expected.

I'm sure DIRT would be able to handle your box issue though. Again, if you give them a chance, I'm sure they will get back with you as soon as they can give you answer.
 
Yeah they require you to cancel over the phone. I got a retention specialist in the Phillipines when I called last week. Whether he spoke perfect English or not, he was able to give me a far better deal than I expected.

I'm sure DIRT would be able to handle your box issue though. Again, if you give them a chance, I'm sure they will get back with you as soon as they can give you answer.

I hope so. Still waiting.
 
Hi, I apologize in the delay in a response from DIRT. We have received the customer's information via PM and the boxes have been shipped to him. Our system is designed to auto-ship the return boxes FOUR days after the account has been disconnected for most receivers. Customers have 30 days to return this equipment. For obsolete receivers it is a 70 day timeframe for return. The CSRs do have the ability to ship boxes immediately if the customer requests. Customers can also chose to ship the equipment back on their own and can be shipped to any of the following locations:

DISH Network Service, 90 Inverness Circle East, Englewood, CO 80112

DISH Network Service, 1285A Joe Battle Blvd., El Paso, TX 79936

DISH Network Service, 525 Dunnett Court, Spartanburg, SC 29303

If you have any additional questions or concerns, please let us know. We do wish you the very best in the future, comfortably_numb!
 
I will advise you to keep copies of your shipping receipts and tracking numbers -- even if the boxes come directly from DISH. I deal with a different provider, and returned some rental receivers using their boxes and shipping labels. Four months later, I noticed a $99 fee for non-returned equipment. Checking the tracking number, the packages arrived two days after I shipped them, and have been sitting in their warehouse for over three months.

It was quite the ordeal getting the CSR I spoke to, to admit that _they_ were in error with the $99 charge.

"Just pay the $99, and we will credit you $99 on your next bill." --- I don't think so! You can remove the $99 charge, and I will pay you what you are OWED, and not a single cent more!
 
The day your account is cancelled is when you stop being charged . You'll have the ETF prorated etc and you might get prorated credits on the bill depending on the bill cycle. They most likely wait longer when cancelling so that in the scenario where a customer changed their mind, fish can start them right back up. You send the equipment back then decide you want to restart your service, it's a much more complex Process.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!
 
The day your account is cancelled is when you stop being charged . You'll have the ETF prorated etc and you might get prorated credits on the bill depending on the bill cycle. The most likely wait longer when cancelling so that in the scenario where a customer changed their mind, fish can start them right back up. You send the equipment back then decide you want to restart your service, it's a much more complex Process.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!

I get that and it makes sense. However, delaying the box delays the equipment return and increases the possibility of non-equipment return fees for customers who might otherwise not had them
 
I don't think anything gets charged to a card, for quite some time after the account is cancelled and only if the balance isn't paid. Once the box is returned, any non equipment charges are credited back and balance out on the account. I don't know all the details but I'm sure there is a time line and the delayed box shipping more than likely will still leave plenty of time for dish to receive the box and clear it from the account before any equipment fees are charged.

Posted Via The FREE SatelliteGuys Reader App!
 
The early termination fee doesn't get applied to the account until 30 days after a cancellation. Day 50 is when the auto-collection attempts begin (charging the card on file) for the early termination charges and day 53 is when auto-collection attempts begin for unreturned equipment charges.
 
Betting you're serious?

There are no DIRT members usually on till sometime around now.

By your logic, every company is in trouble because virtually every company has billing irregularities from time to time. Direct TV just had one.

You are correct, but when the occurences become more & more frequent and the replies and actions increasingly asinine you do have a red flag. Even if you are relatively
young think of how many "too big to fail" entities are no longer with us. When an organization is in trouble a failing infrastructure is an important symptom.
 
Your theory that DISH has ongoing billing problems, different than most any larger company is just wrong. Most all (not all of course) posts here are about the way DISH does billing, not that the billing is wrong. I can honestly say in all the years (as much as about anyone here) I have had DISH the number of times the billing was wrong is about zero. There may have been one like Direct TV currently has where a certain promotion caused an error, but DISH corrected it as Direct TV is now.

I have seen how some of the Cable companies show billing, it would take a team of people to figure it out. Dish has a clear way of not only showing your bill, but even if you make online changes it shows the exact cost before you make the decision. Again, way ahead of Comcast in Ct. for instance. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but making accusations that a company has serious ongoing billing problems and may be in serious trouble is something else.
Now if you want to point towards ongoing tremendous CSR deficiencies, who give the ridicules information, I'm with you.
 
Last edited:
Well, it's been 35 days since I disconnected my service and there isn't any ETF fee. All the posts in this thread and the PM's I've received indicated it would post by now. Not that I'm complaining; I hope it never posts. I've been proactive in contacting DISH to try to pay it, which I feel is my due diligence, but once again, either they don't respond at all or each rep gives me different answers. I want to pay that ETF before they start going after my credit cards and bank accounts. I will never deal with DISH as a company again and I advise you all to be VERY CAREFUL if/when you ever cancel service with them.
 
Be careful because DISH didn't charge the ETF fee? Of be careful because you hypothesize they perhaps, possibly, may, "go after" your credit cards and bank accounts?
 
Be careful because DISH didn't charge the ETF fee? Of be careful because you hypothesize they perhaps, possibly, may, "go after" your credit cards and bank accounts?

It's not a hypothesis. Their terms and conditions state that they can and will go after any and all credit and debit cards and bank accounts you ever used with them. I am trying to be proactive and pay my portion of the "buy out." Nothing sinister here, nor did I imply that. I'm simply advising people that cancelling with DISH is not "cut and dry," and that information given by CSR's is inconsistent.

Quote from Maryb@DISH via PM: "You will receive your first notification of the ETF fee 30 days after the disconnect. We will attempt to charge to card on file that you qualified your account with. If the ETF is denied, then DISH will use any other method of payment used on the account. If we are unable to collect on any of the payment methods, the account will be sent to collections. I just wanted you to be aware of the full process on the ETF collection process. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or concerns."

Would YOU want a collection account on your credit report?
 
Last edited:
Unless you cancelled your card, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Before anything goes to collections you're going to see something in the mail. Something that says that you owe us this money that we were unable to collect in the normal manner and you have 30 days, or so, to remit..... You are making a mountain out of a hole in the ground.....
 
Unless you cancelled your card, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Before anything goes to collections you're going to see something in the mail. Something that says that you owe us this money that we were unable to collect in the normal manner and you have 30 days, or so, to remit..... You are making a mountain out of a hole in the ground.....

Ok, but that's not what they told me. They said if they can't get it off my credit card, it immediately goes into collections.
 
***

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 1, Members: 0, Guests: 1)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 2)

Latest posts