Beware When Upgrading!

[godwheel]

This is a note to those who are thinking of UPGRADING.

Been a loyal DISH customer for five years. Last week I called to see what offers they had for me and the lady on the phone offered me a killer deal:

Free Installation + Free Upgrade to VIP 722.
$9.99 for Turbo HD Bronze (6 months)
$5.00 locals
$10 loyalty discount for 12 months
Free HBO + Starz for 3 months
$0.01 Cinemax with auto-payment enrollment.
After six months package goes to $29.99 + locals

I check my recent online activity:
$100 upgrade FEE
Classic Bronze + Turbo HD instead of just TURBO HD Bronze
No honor of the $9.99 for 6 months

I call to find out what is going on and "there is nothing in my notes here about any of that." After 30 minutes on the phone with the rep, they remove the upgrade fee as a "courtesy" (it was promised!) and switch me to Turbo HD Bronze only (great). They did not want to give me the 6 months for $9.99 that was promised.

I inquire about canceling and they tell me I am now under 24 month contract! Don't I have 30 days to cancel without paying fees? This is absurd.

I hate that they don't send a summary of your conversation via email OR when the person comes to install they don't give you a summary as well so you can stop the process.

I'm so livid because they promised something and as a customer you are entirely tied and its your word against theirs, but your word means squat because "its not on the notes."

What can I do? Can't I still cancel? I'm still getting a fair deal, but I find it a bit of an abuse that they do this to people and just on principle alone I rather pay more to another company.

Anyway, just be aware of what they are offering you and RECORD YOUR CONVERSATIONS with their reps.

Sorry for the rant guys

 

[nstraughn@yahoo.com]

I feel your pain

 

[brotato]

DISH doesn't have a grace period for canceling a commitment.

 

[godwheel]

DISH doesn't have a grace period for canceling a commitment.

Wow. That is crazy! Isn't there customer protection laws at the very least for this kind of stuff? There is gotta be :\

 

[brotato]

Wow. That is crazy! Isn't there customer protection laws at the very least for this kind of stuff? There is gotta be :\

I think there might be state laws for stuff like this, but it would vary from state to state and you'd have to look yours up.

 

[all4jo]

i would email ceo@dishnetwork.com.

 

[pugmom]

This would be a good reason to use live chat, then you could save the converstion and email it to the ceo office.

 

[jdmacor]

I think on the initial contract you do. But I think it was much shorter. Maybe three days...

 

[Carl B]

Wow. That is crazy! Isn't there customer protection laws at the very least for this kind of stuff? There is gotta be :\

If I were you I'd contact the BBB first and see if you can gain any satisfaction. If that fails, contact your state attorney general's office and file a complaint. Some states are more aggressive in pursuing unscrupulous vendors than others (e.g., New York). Since Dish is headquartered here in Colorado, they won't get much heat from this state.

 

[godwheel]

I just emailed the CEO email address. I doubt anything will come off it, but it was worth the shot. Next time I think Ill just cancel my account altogether and have my wife sign up to avoid any of these hassles.

Why do they make it so hard to be a happy customer when extending your service with these companies. I went from being OVER THE MOON about DISH to becoming completely BITTER about the company. If they would have told me $29.99 from the get-go it wouldn't be an issue.

Sigh :tux:

I'll see what I can do about filing a complaint with the BBB, but in reality there is no "proof", just my word against theirs. I'll probably have better luck contacting the Miami Herald's customer complaint column

This happened with Tmobile a year ago and after my contract is up I won't ever go back to them as well. Over the phone upgrades are just asking for trouble I suppose.

 

[Laddyboy]

The loyalty discount of $10 per month for a year, the Cinemax, and HBO-Starz are the standard offers for existing subs with a 24-month commitment. The Turbo Bronze for $10 and free 722 are only for new subscribers. Did you not also get the $10 per month off for 12 months? If you did, you still got a decent offer. Most existing subs are paying bucks to get a 722 upgrade.

 

[tomyo10]

This would be a good reason to use live chat, then you could save the converstion and email it to the ceo office.

I guarantee the live chat gets you nothing but more confused. But, you are right- if you save it and email it, it'll show them how clueless the people online are.

I think with all the promises going on, there are some that eventually fall through the cracks. I'm hoping this is the case. I hope they don't promise things they can't deliver purposely. It's happened to me and a friend I know. As well as at least two here in the past week.

 

[godwheel]

The loyalty discount of $10 per month for a year, the Cinemax, and HBO-Starz are the standard offers for existing subs with a 24-month commitment. The Turbo Bronze for $10 and free 722 are only for new subscribers. Did you not also get the $10 per month off for 12 months? If you did, you still got a decent offer. Most existing subs are paying bucks to get a 722 upgrade.

Yeah I got the $10 off. I'm not saying the deal is bad, what upset me is they told me something and I got something else (not to mention the wrong package: requested HD only, got HD + Standard + installation fees + upgrade fees, which were supposed to be free).

There is still no $100 credit for the fee that the supervisor said he would remove, so I'm still holding my breath for that.

 

[Laddyboy]

Yeah I got the $10 off. I'm not saying the deal is bad, what upset me is they told me something and I got something else (not to mention the wrong package: requested HD only, got HD + Standard + installation fees + upgrade fees, which were supposed to be free).

There is still no $100 credit for the fee that the supervisor said he would remove, so I'm still holding my breath for that.

Yeh you go a poor CSR who didn't know what they were doing. Par for the course at E* for the past few years.

 

[cjwct]

This would be a good reason to use live chat, then you could save the converstion and email it to the ceo office.

Exactly . . . save their conversations and then email attachments to Dish. It has worked wonders in my arguments

 

[KenSoren]

In my many years of working with local county government we were constantly being reminded by our county council that a conversation that is not documented never happened. Whenever possible use email or on-line chat to make changes that involve money, then save the chat or email to support what you did and what promises were made. Otherwise, as you are finding, you will be SOL if challenged.

 

[jself1982]

This would be a good reason to use live chat, then you could save the converstion and email it to the ceo office.

Exactly, thats what I do and I ask several times when upgrading and such "am I under contract?", then I save the whole conversation in Microsoft Word.

 

[godwheel]

In my many years of working with local county government we were constantly being reminded by our county council that a conversation that is not documented never happened. Whenever possible use email or on-line chat to make changes that involve money, then save the chat or email to support what you did and what promises were made. Otherwise, as you are finding, you will be SOL if challenged.

Its just a sad thing that they gained a customer for 24 months, but will lose a customer for life after that. Specially since I've been a customer for 5 years before that (and 3 years at another location before I moved). Eight years total.

Oh well.

 

[KenSoren]

Its just a sad thing that they gained a customer for 24 months, but will lose a customer for life after that. Specially since I've been a customer for 5 years before that (and 3 years at another location before I moved). Eight years total.

Oh well.

Hopefully your email to the Dish ceo will produce something, but you will be at their mercy. I agree that they would be stupid to let a long standing customer go away mad - not good for long term growth.

 

[jwgreen68]

This would be a good reason to use live chat, then you could save the converstion and email it to the ceo office.

Just because you saved a live chat doesn't mean that they would accept it as proof. You can easily edit it to say that the CSR promised you a pony and snickers bars for life!