Contract up, big price increase

stinkyweasel

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 4, 2006
23
0
I had a 2 year price guarantee from my local telco on a dishnetwork/Internet package. Well, my 2 years are up and my bill jumped $50/month on the dish side. I've got the USA 250 w/HD. I called dish but they weren't too helpful. I'm pleased with my service, but with 2 little kids the 250 is all that offers Noggin/Nick Jr, and a few other kids programming... The $50 increase a month is sorda hard to swallow... Should I just tell the kids "tough" and cut to a lower package, or is there anything else I could do to get a somewhat lower bill. I asked about a re-commit contract but the girl said I would only save $7/month.
 
I had a 2 year price guarantee from my local telco on a dishnetwork/Internet package. Well, my 2 years are up and my bill jumped $50/month on the dish side. I've got the USA 250 w/HD. I called dish but they weren't too helpful. I'm pleased with my service, but with 2 little kids the 250 is all that offers Noggin/Nick Jr, and a few other kids programming... The $50 increase a month is sorda hard to swallow... Should I just tell the kids "tough" and cut to a lower package, or is there anything else I could do to get a somewhat lower bill. I asked about a re-commit contract but the girl said I would only save $7/month.

Mr. Weasel,


Dish has provided you with a Satellite receiver as well as installed it at their cost. They also provided you with service at a special price point for 2 years. Considering Dish has made little or no money by having you for a subscriber over the last 24 months, they are now raising the price of the programing package to its regular price as per the contract you signed.

Most here are not going to show much sympathy to you, as over the last 24 months you got getting special treatment, all the while we have been paying full price.

If you find the regular price to much then by all means either cancel or reduce your programing package accordingly.

John
 
Well Top 250 with HD and locals is only $73 per month, So your claiming you only used to pay $23 per month.:rolleyes:
Better explain !

Hemi,

I think he is confusing the issue for us. He mentioned he has a Local Phone Company with Dish Network Satellite TV bundle. I'm guessing his local phone company AND Dish Network both gave him special rates for service. Now that original promotional term of the contract is up, both companies rightly insist he pays the regular rate for both services, hence the $50 increase. I guess he should have read the contract and understood the rate of service would eventually been going up.

John
 
so do this mean i could do this??
i went to a grocery store the other day, I've been paying the same price for a box of Swaggertys sausage. and been paying only $5.99 a box for the last couple years or so but here recently it went to $7.99 a box.
do this mean i can go and complain to them and make them give it to me for the $5.99 price I had been paying??? they would laugh at me.....

people are always thinking they are entitled to something free or cheaper just because they dont wanna pay the price that it is.
If you dont like the price just go to a cheaper package or another provider, or just live with it!!
when i used to work with Dish at their call center i hated dealing with people like this. made the job difficult.. because if they give you another discount then you will just be under the impression that you can do thsi every two years and keep doing it...

i just wanted to give my two cents on this....!!!
 
Man you guys are a tough crowd, original post wasn't too heavy on the whining was it? Fact is OP may not find a good deal like that going forward. Maybe switching to the "other guys" would get some kind of killer deal again?
 
Drop down to just the Family pack and lose the hd pack.Your locals ,if they are available in hd ,will still come through in hd on your hd receiver. You can get a lot of the kid channels in that family pack. Its only $24.99 with locals included.
 
My prior deal/commitment through Frontier, my telco provider was $124/month + taxes for 3meg DSL/unlimited long distance/Dishnetwork America's 250. According to my current billing statement which is $180 + taxes. The only change was on the dishnetwork billing. So Yes, I was getting my dish for around $25 a month. The only extras is a 2nd receiver and the HD package ($10/month)

I didn't think I was whining or moaning in my original post, just simply asking if anything reasonable could be done. A lot has changed with the world in 2 years... I can't believe some of the responses to a simple question.

I thought I also asked what I could do to get a lower bill, options/changes/whatever, not how I could screw someone to get a lower bill and run off like a bandit... I constantly get mailers from comcast about ditching the "dish" and from local directv guys wanting you to switch and save... I just know some people you can talk and bargain with. When I go buy a vehicle I don't pay the window sticker, and if I went to the store and saw something that was $5.99 had went up to $7.99, the way things are now, yes, I would go to another store before I bought it, because that $2 every how often you purchase it adds up.

I mean it's nothing for me to change or lower my package, even service, I was just #1 looking from my kids viewpoint and the main channels they watch are only offered in the top 250 package. I didn't think it was out of line to ask a company for a discount if you re-commit to them for an extended period of time instead of possibly loosing your business all together. I know in my profession we give valued clients/long term clients discounts above and beyond to keep their business because we aren't the only game in town and we need their business.
 
I know in my profession we give valued clients/long term clients discounts above and beyond to keep their business because we aren't the only game in town and we need their business.

Dish doesn't seem to work that way at all. They give the best options to new customers, not people who've been with the company for 10 or 12 years.

The only way to get the best deals is to keep switching between providers and having the company you were with and liked a chance to beg you to come back.

A guy I work with switched from Direct to Dish simply because his Direct dish needed aligning and they wanted $50 to do it. He could get Dish for free so he switched. Now Direct calls him all the time asking him to come back. He tells them his story and they act like there was nothing they could have done differently...
 
Dish doesn't seem to work that way at all. They give the best options to new customers, not people who've been with the company for 10 or 12 years.

The only way to get the best deals is to keep switching between providers and having the company you were with and liked a chance to beg you to come back.
Not completely true...I was with Dish Network for 3-years and never once paid full retail price for my programming package. On average, I would say that I received $30-40 in credits each month because I called-in and asked for them. Of course, I was not happy with DishHD-Lite so it's only fair that they reduced my bill since E* filed to deliver one-third of my HD picture. Heck, I even had all DVR fees beyond the 1st waived for life because I complained that DirecTV only charge one DVR fee per account.

While having AEP and paying my bill on-time are important factors, I don't place much value on anyone being "loyal customer" with E* for 10 or 12 years. I think E* takes "their best" customers for granted and assumes they'll stick around.
 
E* was offering $10 month credit for 12 months (with 24 month commit) on their website for existing customers
 
1. the OP was not whining.
2. there is nothing wrong with asking about options here that is part of what the forum is for
3. the only way to keep service providers honest is to ask for and possibly receive a discount or rebate or something
4. the other day I contact dish about the fact that I was paying a seperate charge for the platinum hd service which does not seem to exist as a seperate service any more. It took talking to three different csr's before I found one that understood my question and fixed the problem. as a result I also received HBo and SHowtime for free for three months (which will cancel before the three months is up). SO even though i dind't get any credits for paying for a service that didn't actually exist I did get $66.00 in premium channel service for free.
5. all the experts in budgeting and saving money tell the consumer to call their service providers and ask for a discount or rebate etc. when there is competition often if you get the right csr on the right day you can get a deal.
6. think abiout it 2 satilite providers and at a minimum cable (maybe fios too) providing essentially the same service for different prices none of them want to loose customers so it is in their best interest to offer exisitng customers something when they ask for it.
7. i always look at the adds and do the math, the reason I'm still with dish is I
haven't found a better deal save just having OTA

so folks don't be so hard on the OP, those package deals can be a bit confusing even to the experieinced consumer. The writer that suggested the family package gave an honest answer tohis question. I think thats what he was looking for...

Just my $0.02 worth

Ross
 
stinkyweasel,
If you were getting AT250+HD+extra rec'r for that cheap then you were getting quite a deal (and likely an introductory offer or maybe even a price mistake in your favor) and not one you'll likely get from DISH ever again. That said, I don't believe you have to get AT250 to get Nick. I know I had it in their AT200/Classic Silver package. That said, I dropped down to the unadvertised-but-still-available HD-only TurboHD Silver package ($50/month with locals and DVR fee) and my son quickly adjusted to watching the plethora of kids programming on my local PBS channels.
 
I know that in some cultures, bargaining for the best price is a routine way to buy almost anything. But in the U.S. it used to be that you generally did not bargain for anything except when buying a car or shopping at a yard sale. Considering that many people hate buying a car because of the bargaining process, and considering that cable / satellite companies are already held in low esteem by many customers, I don't think the TV providers are doing themselves a favor by turning their product into something with no fixed price, where the least loyal customers get the best deals and everyone else ends up feeling ripped off. One of the reasons I have stayed with Dish is that traditionally they have limited their new customer promotions, and have clearly posted their regular prices - which tend to be a little lower than most other providers. Comcast and Verizon FIOS have sent me terrific offers for switching, but if you go to their websites and try to determine what your bill will look like after the promotional period, there's nothing to be found. (I've even heard that the Verizon CSRs tell callers that they simply can't predict what the price will be at the end of the contract because of the constantly changing nature of their pricing structure.) I guess we should be thankful that there is competition but I would rather see less of a focus on short term promotional deals, and more of a focus on long term value pricing and customer retention.
 
stinkyweasel,
If you were getting AT250+HD+extra rec'r for that cheap then you were getting quite a deal (and likely an introductory offer or maybe even a price mistake in your favor) and not one you'll likely get from DISH ever again. That said, I don't believe you have to get AT250 to get Nick. I know I had it in their AT200/Classic Silver package. That said, I dropped down to the unadvertised-but-still-available HD-only TurboHD Silver package ($50/month with locals and DVR fee) and my son quickly adjusted to watching the plethora of kids programming on my local PBS channels.

The HD was +$10 extra along with the receiver fee, the base price was $25 month.
--------------------------------
Again, I am or was in any way looking to get the same price. I know that will never happen. It was an intro price, but pricing schemes have changed from then till now also I'm just looking for the best deal for my money. True, I agree for a multi-billion dollar company I'm just a number, but I guess I just come from the school where if I care about my customer's I'll try to keep someone who's had service with me happy. Basically, when I called about pricing, I asked if I could re-commit for another 1 or 2 years and get some type of reduction. The girl said 'no', the only thing she could do is $7/month. She basically wasn't even going to give me the advertised price on dishnetwork's website. Which is like $4/month cheaper than my current pricing.

In my line of work dealing with contractors, businessmen, individuals... you constantly have someone coming in looking for "bulk" deals, or "the guy down the street can gimme..." That's just the way it's always been. Most people don't realize the average Joe can go to Lowe's/HD get a price from the contractor's desk and possibly save hundreds rather than buying the wood/nails/concrete/whatever straight off the shelf for projects. I've had clients who have been with me for 10 years constantly saying how or what they can get from other places or what they have already bought without asking if I could beat the other price. And no, I'm not commission salary either.

Lifeguy - in my part of the country (SW VA) it's mostly country farmers who always try to bargain with anyone over anything, literally. People always wanting a "cash price" or "cash discount". You honestly don't know what's out there if you don't ask. Even the local Sam's Club manager will give businesses a discount on bulk goods if they pay cash rather than credit just to avoid the card fees and such. What's the worst thing that can happen by asking, they say "NO"?
 

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