Another new cord cutter!

Straybeat

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Sep 4, 2007
155
14
Phoenix
Well everyone, I did it finally. I wasn't even thinking about it until a girl at Dish named Kiana decided to screw me on my bill.

For the last whole year Dish kept telling me I was a month behind on my bill and hence charging me late fees every single month, making the already over-priced bill even worse.

So I finally get Kiana, who speaks plain English, and ask her what the problem was. She tells me that I missed various bills here and there, this month and that month. I said I absolutely did not. She asked how I so sure?

From the experience of getting burned by a few companies who have bad bookeeping I have built a running spreadsheet over quite a few years of every bill I have ever paid. (I'm a retired engineer, I'm really anal about details and it's what I did for a living). So this is a really easy exercise for me to keep up.

So I said, "Pick a year and a month you wish to start at and I'll run through the payments I made, date, and confirmation numbers from there.

She starts at September 2014. So I answered all the payment questions, October, November, December, January 2015. "Wait Mark, you're missing a payment in there." So again I name the date, amount, confirmation and guess what? They have no record of a payment. I say, "I have YOUR confirmation number, so someone there applied it?"

In comes the run-around, "Can you tell me what card you used?"
"No I can't. I have 10 cards and half of them have been replaced for interent fraud in that time. I can't even guess at a card number that far back. It would have been a Visa, that's all I can tell you."

"Well, unless you can give me the exact card number I can't help you."

We end the call.

Not 3 hours later I get the onscreen banner saying I have to pay in 48 hours or Dish will be shut off. And it was.

So we purposely go a week without Dish in order to tell if any of us would swell up and die with no TV? Guess what? No one exploded, nobody lost their appetite, the kiddo's grades didn't drop in school. All is well.

In the meantime we went out and bought the new Tivo Bolt for $299 with the 500 gig drive and a year's fees paid. We can get about 50 channels off antenna for it and we also have 3 Roku's, one for each TV. So we are set for entertainment, let alone the hundreds of DVD's we have. And Redbox if something totally cool comes out. Better still, the Tivo has all the same functionality as the Hopper, but it's better. It has Autohop on 20 channels, which works instantly and takes you right to the first second of the show instead of half-way through the last commercial like Hopper does.

The starting and ending times for the programs are right on the money. No more shows stopping 2 minutes before they are over! And our next purchase will be $123 apiece for 2 Tivo minis (the Tivo equivalent of Joeys), then we'll have whole home DVR.

The outcome of all this?

For the cost of 2 Dish payments I got a box that will operate like the Hopper for a year. No more monthly gouging. And Dish lost a 14-year customer for $100 that they wanted to overcharge me a second time because someone there made a typo.

Bye-bye Charlie, it's been real, it's been fun...
 
From a soon to be cord cutter, good job. It can really get to you when issues like this happen. Great record keeping can sometimes help. About the only good part was you had someone that was not on the other side of the planet and could not be understood.
Looks like you have a good bunch of equipment and will get along just fine. I wish I had more OTA channels here, but a least I have the networks and the dish farm, so all will be OK. It is not that I don't like Dish, it is my money tree lost most of the leaves.....
 
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Did you verify that your credit card company didn't reverse the DISH charges as part of one of your many credit card cancellations?

Spreadsheets are only good if you keep track of everything; otherwise, they can wreck you.
 
Did you verify that your credit card company didn't reverse the DISH charges as part of one of your many credit card cancellations?

Spreadsheets are only good if you keep track of everything; otherwise, they can wreck you.

FWIW, I started my career 37 years ago on the space shuttles and just about everything else aerospace that you ever heard the name of. Credit card bills aren't beyond my scope. ;)
 
FWIW, I started my career 37 years ago on the space shuttles and just about everything else aerospace that you ever heard the name of. Credit card bills aren't beyond my scope. ;)
I learned a long time ago (35 years ago using Visicalc on an Apple /// in Apple ][ emulation mode) that spreadsheets are GIGO.

Spreadsheets are for those too lazy to identify and use the proper tool.
 
I'll be joining you soon.

They tried to screw me over too. I called to cancel service. When they asked why I told them I was tired of the high bill and old Hopper. They transferred me to another department and she offered me new Hoppers and to lower my bill without losing any programming.

I asked several times if I did so would this extend my contract, because if so I was not interested. I was assured over and over that I was not singing an extension to my contract.

Installer comes out and hooks up the Hoppers, tells me I need to sign his electronic form to say what work was performed. I sign.

The next day I get an email saying my new 2 year contact was starting.... WHAT??

I call to complain and was told I signed the agreement and had to live by it. I asked for a superior, he told me there was a note in the file saying I would NOT being asked to sign a 2 year agreement!

Had I not paid attention to that email, nor called to address the issue, I feel I would have been locked it.

I am sick of these companies taking advantage to everything they can.

We have Netflix, Fire TV with Amazon Prime and 45 local channels - Once I get my TiVo's bought Dish Network can jam it.
 
I'll be joining you soon.

They tried to screw me over too. I called to cancel service. When they asked why I told them I was tired of the high bill and old Hopper. They transferred me to another department and she offered me new Hoppers and to lower my bill without losing any programming.

I asked several times if I did so would this extend my contract, because if so I was not interested. I was assured over and over that I was not singing an extension to my contract.

Installer comes out and hooks up the Hoppers, tells me I need to sign his electronic form to say what work was performed. I sign.

The next day I get an email saying my new 2 year contact was starting.... WHAT??

I call to complain and was told I signed the agreement and had to live by it. I asked for a superior, he told me there was a note in the file saying I would NOT being asked to sign a 2 year agreement!

Had I not paid attention to that email, nor called to address the issue, I feel I would have been locked it.

I am sick of these companies taking advantage to everything they can.

We have Netflix, Fire TV with Amazon Prime and 45 local channels - Once I get my TiVo's bought Dish Network can jam it.

That was exactly my thoughts too. They offered me the sun, moon and stars not to leave. I looked at the wife and said loud enough for them to hear, "Do you want to keep giving Dish money?" And she answered Hell no! That was it.

I was tired of paying for 230 channels I didn't watch, tired of having to call Dish asking why my bill was screwed up again this month? Tired of boxes that can't record on the right times with lame excuses from them. But mostly paying for 230 channels I didn't watch.

These Tivo Bolts kick ass too!
 
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The money goes in his wallet, right? I'm not speaking to Kiana the CSR. She's Charlie's problem.
To this, I laugh, only because people say they are leaving, and Dish will suffer. Then I look at last years financials with less customers and greater revenue. Basically, although a customer base is important, you are not taking ANY money from his wallet. And while any of us may see ourselves as financially successful... I am sure Charlie does not blink an eye, as he knows he is one of the richest men in the country... His billions will keep him warm at night. And the best part... Let's pretend Dish fails completely... He will sell it off, if he so chooses, and still have billions.
 
To this, I laugh, only because people say they are leaving, and Dish will suffer. Then I look at last years financials with less customers and greater revenue. Basically, although a customer base is important, you are not taking ANY money from his wallet. And while any of us may see ourselves as financially successful... I am sure Charlie does not blink an eye, as he knows he is one of the richest men in the country... His billions will keep him warm at night. And the best part... Let's pretend Dish fails completely... He will sell it off, if he so chooses, and still have billions.

I know I won't hurt Dish, not when Charlie can spend a couple of billion dollars buying all the wi-fi bandwidth, Hughes Satellite, Blockbuster, etc. My problem is when he blows all that cash and cries that he has to raise the rates again. If he can buy all of those things then we're paying him way too much every month.
 
HughesNet was bought by Echostar. The cash that he "blew" was a business investment to grow the business more. That would have to be done unless you want Dish to still be in 1996. And the whole channel situation... Again a business move to better the company, by still being able to offer the best price. One day, maybe, consumers will stop thinking of companies as consumer buyers, and more as organizational buyers. Criteria is completely different, and the proposed statement is preposterous.
 
I'll be joining you soon.

They tried to screw me over too. I called to cancel service. When they asked why I told them I was tired of the high bill and old Hopper. They transferred me to another department and she offered me new Hoppers and to lower my bill without losing any programming.

I asked several times if I did so would this extend my contract, because if so I was not interested. I was assured over and over that I was not singing an extension to my contract.

Installer comes out and hooks up the Hoppers, tells me I need to sign his electronic form to say what work was performed. I sign.

The next day I get an email saying my new 2 year contact was starting.... WHAT??

I call to complain and was told I signed the agreement and had to live by it. I asked for a superior, he told me there was a note in the file saying I would NOT being asked to sign a 2 year agreement!

Had I not paid attention to that email, nor called to address the issue, I feel I would have been locked it.
When I was upgraded from 2 hopper 2000s to 2 HWS, I was told by the loyalty rep not to sign the electronic thing. When the installer was done he asked me to sign and I explained to him that I was promised no contract extension. He called it in and verified and that was it. 2 hopper upgrade and no contract extension.
 
Charlie has other people running the company for him while he goes after other ventures. Stop worrying about him.
To be fair, he did take the reigns of CEO back over. Also, back in the president seat. He is big boss man in all regards once again. But I do agree that he is occupied in other, more important ventures and growth ventures. A good comparison to what he is doing outside of Dish would be Marcus Lemonis. I don't think he is doing exactly what Lemonis is doing, but if we don't think he is building a business and personal portfolio, we'd be stupid. I agree as well though that we should stop worrying about him as a single entity of Dish. Dish is Dish. Dish is not Charlie, and Charlie is not Dish. Even WHEN someone else took the reigns, the same business model was applied.
 
...She starts at September 2014. So I answered all the payment questions, October, November, December, January 2015. "Wait Mark, you're missing a payment in there." So again I name the date, amount, confirmation and guess what? They have no record of a payment. I say, "I have YOUR confirmation number, so someone there applied it?"....

You didn't get late charge back then, when you could easily deal with a missing payment that may have had nothing to do with Dish? Confirmation numbers mean that you authorized payment, not that payments were made. There are 2 institutions involved, if something went wrong you should have dealt with it right away.
 
That was exactly my thoughts too. They offered me the sun, moon and stars not to leave. I looked at the wife and said loud enough for them to hear, "Do you want to keep giving Dish money?" And she answered Hell no! That was it.

I was tired of paying for 230 channels I didn't watch, tired of having to call Dish asking why my bill was screwed up again this month? Tired of boxes that can't record on the right times with lame excuses from them. But mostly paying for 230 channels I didn't watch.

These Tivo Bolts kick ass too!
Are you sure it isn't a ROAMIO?
 
That was exactly my thoughts too. They offered me the sun, moon and stars not to leave. I looked at the wife and said loud enough for them to hear, "Do you want to keep giving Dish money?" And she answered Hell no! That was it.

I was tired of paying for 230 channels I didn't watch, tired of having to call Dish asking why my bill was screwed up again this month? Tired of boxes that can't record on the right times with lame excuses from them. But mostly paying for 230 channels I didn't watch.

These Tivo Bolts kick ass too!
Are you sure it isn't a ROAMIO?