Customer Service is Clueless

[ROLLTIDE]

I called Tonight to ask them to downgrade my package from the everything pack to AT 150 at my next billing date that is at the end of Dec and the next thing I know I lost all my movie channels tonight. I asked if she would turn them back on and she said that she couldn't . I then called back again and was told that that they couldn't reverse it .
Also they wouldn't give me a superdish but I will let that one go for now .

 

[Stargazer]

This is why you should wait until the time comes to call in and do such a thing because if you dont, things WILL go wrong in most cases, such as this.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

 

[Neutron]

I ordered a downgrade from the AEP to the AT150 with HBO/Cinemax so I could accomodate the HD Pak and the Regional Sports Networks and since I have an active workorder for the 6000u they told me that the change would take effect once the 6000u was activated.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

I did what the card that came in the mail said .. Now i'm without movies. Maybey I should go month to month instead of paying a year in advance. Thanks Dish Network your CSR's are almost as bad as Dells

 

[ROLLTIDE]

I take that back dell just upgrade me to a 19 in planor flat screen for free. So Dell is #1 when it comes to customer service this week

 

[Stargazer]

OK, we did not know that you was paying a year in advance for the programming. I have read where you was not allowed to make programming changes if you paid one year in advance but if you did lower your programming then it would leave an extra balance on your bill and you should be allowed to add those channels back before the end of the year (but will be sent a bill for the difference in price from what you paid ahead).

However, they will have charged you the monthly rate instead of the annual rate for those channels that you have dropped so that will take away from the credit you will receive on your balance on your account so if you were to have those channels added back it will cost you more as a result because you would be charged the monthly rate instead. Perhaps this is the reason why they said that it could not be reversed. If it was a mistake on their part then they should be made to fix it and you might be able to talk to the CSR to get that arranged and sometimes it takes several calls to find one that will.

If you had the annual payment plan it is cheaper to pay for AT150 at $43 x 11 = $441 and the four premium movie packages at $37 x 11 = $381 than it is the AEP $75 x 11 = $825. Lets compare ... $441 + $381 = $822 than $825. You save $3. There is no advantage for paying for the AEP package at $75 a month one year in advance because they do not give you the one month discount because they say that have already given you a discount in the bundled package.

If you had a price lock before the prices had gone up then that could also effect this causing you to not have enough in your account to pay the new package pricing vs. what the old package pricing is but it should not be a great enough of a difference that would prevent them from being able to send you a bill for that difference.

I would try calling back another CSR and see if they can turn them back on for you until the end of December for the amount you was originally paying for it with a credit for the time you did not receive those channels and if that fails then have them send you a bill for the difference in which should not be that much.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

Thanks Stargazer You covered it all

I told them I wanted to downgrade to At 150 at the end of DEC and pay in advance for the next year . I didn't think that it would be so hard to do .

 

[Stargazer]

Whenever you pay one year in advance things can get a bit more complicated than they already are when it comes to billing. Basically when they shut you off early on an annual account and you was charged for 11 months instead of 12, they go back and charge you the monthly fee for each month over the past year instead of the pro-rated annual fee. This means that if you paid for 12 months in advance and you call in when 11 months is up it would cost you the same as it would be if it were prepaid for 12 months. If you are not getting much of a discount anyways like in this case where you only save $3 a month, then it would not be much of a concern.

Make sure when you prepay the one year of AT150 that if you downgrade at some point during that year then you will receive the credits for the remainder of the months you did not receive the service but will be charged based on the monthly service instead of the annual service.

If you upgrade during the annual prepaid period then you would have two choices, to add the additional services to pay monthly until the next annual bill comes on the other programming that you paid annual for or to pay annually on those services but it would not go along with the same time you paid annual for the other programming.

Basically you would end up paying annual for Top 150 at the end of December and paying annual for the other packages that you selected at that time, so if it was February when you added services, you would have to pay the annual amount everytime February came around or pay the monthly fee until December come around so you can put it all together for an annual all in the same bill.

Of course, you could prepay into your account before the annual bill would come around and it would cover that amount for the annual bill. If you added additional services after that and wanted to do it on a monthly basis until the next annual comes then you could prepay the amount it would be for all those months until the annual bill comes out again so you would not have to send money in each month. This is why credit card autopay is so much more convenient, it could just be prepaid and if there are errors on the bill then the credit card company could help handle it for you.

 

[ROLLTIDE]

At least they answer emails quickly

Dear ROLLTIDE,

Thank you for your e-mail. Unfortunately, we do not have the ability to post
dated programming disconnections on your account. Please contact our
Customer Service Center at 1-800-333-3474 to have the channels added back on
if you choose. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause.