Better Business Bureau calls out Dish, satellite TV

[macongasub]

Has anyone ever thought that there are indian people living in the US and may work at these call centers. There are plenty of times I have called in to Dish and get someone in the US that I just can't understand. I have troubles understanding people with southern accents a lot of times on the phone.

People need to slow down when they talk on the phone and learn to annunciate.

It can also go the other way. There are times when I get someone with a heavy northern accent and can't understand a word they're saying.

 

[Bobby]

Has anyone ever thought that there are indian people living in the US and may work at these call centers. There are plenty of times I have called in to Dish and get someone in the US that I just can't understand. I have troubles understanding people with southern accents a lot of times on the phone.

People need to slow down when they talk on the phone and learn to annunciate.

See there you go enunciating the word incorrectly and them southerners can't understand what you mean...

Enunciate | Define Enunciate at Dictionary.com

 

[wiredwingszero]

The Customer Service still has a long way to go... for Dish Network

I have called 3 times to dish support the last 2 months... every time being a guy sounding like he is from india... hard to understand... and just reading screen prompts.

If dish is going to promote HD for life for Dish Customers.... then charging existing customers $200 to upgrade if you have a dvr and want the HD box with dvr is just not right at all.

It is obvious that if they truly care about their customers who pay them every month.... and want them to renew their contracts when they expire... then they need to give customer service to everyone who is a dish customer.... not just the new ones to sign or renew a contract and everyone else has to pay a fee.

Its just not right....

Does not sound like you want good service, sounds like you want FREE service. Neither company Dish or Direct will upgrade you for free.

I didnt say anything about wanting free service... What i am saying is if they are advertising "free hd for life" then i would expect a company who cares about its customers to give it for free to all their customers... not just the new sign ups....

charging $200 is like obama promising free healthcare to everyone who starts right now to pay taxes... but then all the people who always have been have to pay money when the others didnt....

of course their customer service should include it for all their customers... not for additional fees.... to their loyal customers

 

[sundrop]

I dont understand? People say.....there transferred to an overseas call center? How do you know? I can not be the only one that has been outside in public? There are hundreds of thousands of "American citizens" who can not speak fluent english. They are typically hired before your "true bred americans" because of the tax breaks.

 

[Mike0616]

Has anyone ever thought that there are indian people living in the US and may work at these call centers. There are plenty of times I have called in to Dish and get someone in the US that I just can't understand. I have troubles understanding people with southern accents a lot of times on the phone.

People need to slow down when they talk on the phone and learn to annunciate.

Huh? Did you mean enunciate? As into pronounce correctly?

Nice grasp of the English language there, for a critic of others.

 

[Bob Haller]

Feds should pass law when calling any company they would be required to disclose where the call is being handled by.

Like thanks for calling E in houstn texas

Or thanks for calling E in Russia

 

[Mike0616]

I think this is part of the pendulum swing. Right now with the economy a lot of people are trying to cut cost. Cable and AT&T have pretty much zero start up cost, no securing of equipment, and without any contracts it a simpler way to go. Also right now E* & D* may appear rather stagnant compared to cable & At&T because both E* & D* have a lot more HD channels and the other two are playing catch up. But consumers don't always compare apples to apples, and when first comparing pricing, it seems as if those other two are cheaper than D* & E*, so people are turning to them to save. When the economy starts to shift again (hopefully soon), I think you will see D* & E* subs increasing again.

Ghpr13

While I agree with you for the most part, the part re: HD availability is not correct. The "Official AVS National HD Channel Lineups - Cable/DBS/Fiber/IPTV - Updated 8/22/10" (Official AVS National HD Channel Lineups - Cable/DBS/Fiber/IPTV - Updated 8/22/10! - AVS Forum) shows the following tally of channels (including premiums available):

ATT 168
TWC 162
Brighthouse 161
Verizon 156
Cablevision 140
Comcast 137
Dish 132
DirecTV 113
Cox 94
Charter 69
Suddenlink 63
Insight 59
MediaCom 56
CableOne 26

So the argument by some that Satellite offers more HD kind of flies in the face of facts, notwithstanding Diwrecked TVs apparent offering of at least 47 PPV channels in HD.

Cable and IPTV may have been behind before, but that is ancient history, in most of America.

 

[Ghpr13]

While I agree with you for the most part, the part re: HD availability is not correct. The "Official AVS National HD Channel Lineups - Cable/DBS/Fiber/IPTV - Updated 8/22/10" (Official AVS National HD Channel Lineups - Cable/DBS/Fiber/IPTV - Updated 8/22/10! - AVS Forum) shows the following tally of channels (including premiums available):

ATT 168
TWC 162
Brighthouse 161
Verizon 156
Cablevision 140
Comcast 137
Dish 132
DirecTV 113
Cox 94
Charter 69
Suddenlink 63
Insight 59
MediaCom 56
CableOne 26

So the argument by some that Satellite offers more HD kind of flies in the face of facts, notwithstanding Diwrecked TVs apparent offering of at least 47 PPV channels in HD.

Cable and IPTV may have been behind before, but that is ancient history, in most of America.

I stand corrected. I guess my input is a little skewed. I live outside of Louisville, KY. Our only cable provider is Insight...look back at your list and you can understand why. Thank God I switched to Dish!
Ghpr13

 

[navychop]

Hindi and ENGLISH are the "official" languages of India.

Ever go in a convenience store? Flag a cab in a big city? We are a multicultural society, let us revel in the variety!

 

[mike123abc]

Hindi and ENGLISH are the "official" languages of India.

Ever go in a convenience store? Flag a cab in a big city? We are a multicultural society, let us revel in the variety!

Some of it has to do with the accent, the rest has to do with the fact that the person on the other end of the line has never used Dish service, never really worked with Dish equipment, is unfamiliar with a lot of US installation issues, etc.

They range from hard to easy to understand, but if you jump off the script most are lost since they really have no idea what you are talking about. I think that is why most people find foreign call centers so frustrating, you are both talking English but without the common frame of reference communication breaks down.

 

[maximum]

I didnt say anything about wanting free service... What i am saying is if they are advertising "free hd for life" then i would expect a company who cares about its customers to give it for free to all their customers... not just the new sign ups....

The "Free HD for Life" is free *IF* you sign up for a 2 year contract -- meaning you plan to stay with Dish for at least 2 years anyway. That's what I did. Now I wish I paid the $100 instead so I could get out of my contract.

I had a 625 DVR receiver that had worked flawlessly for a couple of years. Then we upgraded to HD with the 24 month contract. Multiple problems caused me to call Dish several times this past month. I never talked to anyone with a strong foreign accent but a few of them got frustrated when I took them off their script. They seemed to just send out a new receiver pretty quick rather than transfer me to advanced support.

After four receivers and three service calls in less than a month I've gotten to the point where my expectations of service from DISH is so low I probably won't call to complain until my receiver completely craps out ... again. :rant:

Maybe that's their plan -- lock you into a contract and lower your expectations so you eventually will stop complaining.

 

[Bob Haller]

The "Free HD for Life" is free *IF* you sign up for a 2 year contract -- meaning you plan to stay with Dish for at least 2 years anyway. That's what I did. Now I wish I paid the $100 instead so I could get out of my contract.

I had a 625 DVR receiver that had worked flawlessly for a couple of years. Then we upgraded to HD with the 24 month contract. Multiple problems caused me to call Dish several times this past month. I never talked to anyone with a strong foreign accent but a few of them got frustrated when I took them off their script. They seemed to just send out a new receiver pretty quick rather than transfer me to advanced support.

After four receivers and three service calls in less than a month I've gotten to the point where my expectations of service from DISH is so low I probably won't call to complain until my receiver completely craps out ... again. :rant:

Maybe that's their plan -- lock you into a contract and lower your expectations so you eventually will stop complaining.

or complain to the BBB, where E tends to settle disputes fast.

If any contracted service doesnt work well a federal law should protect the customer and cancel the contract.

I went thru #%^#$U with verizon FIOS, my phone didnt work and they really didnt care

 

[Zero327]

or complain to the BBB, where E tends to settle disputes fast.

If any contracted service doesnt work well a federal law should protect the customer and cancel the contract.

I went thru #%^#$U with verizon FIOS, my phone didnt work and they really didnt care

Actually, these days filing complaints over BS non-legit problems will likely get you shut off by E*. They don't want to deal with it anymore. Can't really blame them.

 

[harshness]

hopefully sat companies faced with losses to cables no contract model will be forced to follow along....

For its part, Comcast seems very happy with its uptake on 24 month contracts in my area.

 

[Bob Haller]

For its part, Comcast seems very happy with its uptake on 24 month contracts in my area.

locally they offer both a nice stable no contract price

and a teaser rate combo with gift cards and all sorts of goodies, with a contract......

I prefer no contract, no teasers, no gifts. but thats my preference.

others dont appear to mind contracts.......... i guess thats ok for them its their choice

 

[Tomboy257]

Some of it has to do with the accent, the rest has to do with the fact that the person on the other end of the line has never used Dish service, never really worked with Dish equipment, is unfamiliar with a lot of US installation issues, etc.

They range from hard to easy to understand, but if you jump off the script most are lost since they really have no idea what you are talking about. I think that is why most people find foreign call centers so frustrating, you are both talking English but without the common frame of reference communication breaks down.

Called Dell once, got a foreign call center. When I told them I was in an RV Park the CSR had no idea what I was talking about or where I was.

 

[Scherrman]

Ooops. I spelled the word right, but it looks like I use the wrong word. Annunciate means to announce.

I wasn't trying to say that all southerners are hard to understand. It was just an example from my experience. Basically any person with any kind of thick accent that talks too fast on the phone and doesn't enunciate is hard to understand.

See there you go enunciating the word incorrectly and them southerners can't understand what you mean...

Enunciate | Define Enunciate at Dictionary.com

 

[Dah-Henny]

Scherrman, we need to get one thing straight.

1. NO true southerner talks too fast, only the northerners who have moved down here so that they can learn how to speak, and just haven't gotten the hang of it yet.

 

[navychop]

:haha :up :up

 

[whatchel1]

4 shore :up:up