Dear Friends... (A Note about the Sling Adapter Promotion)

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Scott Greczkowski

Scott Greczkowski

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Cutting Edge
Sep 7, 2003
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Newington, CT
Dear Friends,

This morning I work up in a good mood, I then headed to work in a good mood and when I got to my office my good mood got even better.

Overnight a number of my contacts sent me a document which was sent to DISH Network retailers regarding the Free Sling Adapter deal which is starting on May 18th. One of the email even said "I think they heard you guys."

This made my day especially because after Team Summit I did not expect them to extend the Free Sling Adapter offer to existing customers. But there it was in print from DISH Network I was happy. To cover my bases I logged into the DISH Network retailers portal and found the very same document that so many people sent to me overnight.

In the document it said ...
Who does this affect?
- New residential customers
- Existing residential customers
(It then went on to say...)

When will the customer receive their Sling Adapter?
New customers will receive their Sling Adapter when the installer comes to their home to set up their DISH installation.
Pre?existing customers will need to call DISH Network to request the offer.
Click to expand...
With this documentation and verification in my hands I posted the good news. I was really excited to post the news!
You see I am a technology lover, and I love this stuff, I am also a lover of Sling technology, I actually purchased a Slingbox before they went on sale to the public! Technology and helping others is what keeps pushing me to run SatelliteGuys for you, so you could understand why this news made me very excited. Since the news was sent to all retailers I didn't even post this one as a rumor, that's how excited I was!
Besides that I was also excited as I felt it could drive some business to Claude at DISHstore.NET. Up until now Claude has been one of the biggest sellers of these Sling Adapters anywhere, I felt this news could be good for Claude as sales for DISHSTORE have been really slow the past few months. Because the document did not specify the procedure for existing customers I went to the DISH Retailer Portal and posted the following question...
So does an EXISTING customer need to purchase the Sling Adapter from DISH directly? Or can the customer purchase the Sling Adapter through us the retailer?
Click to expand...
I quickly got a reply back as follows.
Hi Scott,
That's a great question. Existing customers can purchase the Sling Adapter for $99 from you the Retailer. They do not have to come to DISH Network corporate directly.
Thank you
Click to expand...
I followed up the question with another one..
So how do they sign up for the marketing emails to be eligible for the rebate if they buy the Sling Adapter from the retailer? Also how will they be notified by DISH when they can apply for their rebate is DISH does not know they purchased the adapter froma retailer.
I am just trying to get this clarified now so it dont come back and bite me in the butt. :)
Click to expand...
And quickly got another friendly reply...
Scott, we definitely don’t want you to get bitten. J

Beginning on 5/18 there will be a new option in R*Connect that allows the Retailer to sign up a customer for the marketing email.

Once the customer is activated and signed up for the marketing email, it will be up to 45 days before the rebate will be visible in their account. The customer will receive an email from DISH directing them to create and login to their account when the rebate is available. Once the customer is eligible to redeem the rebate, they have 30 days to do so to receive their $99 pre-paid American Express card. It usually takes between 4-8 weeks for them to receive their card.
Does that help?
Click to expand...
No it didn't help that was the procedure for new customers, not existing customers, so I wrote back again trying to get clarification... because if people can get them from Retailers instead of DISH then I felt we needed to order a bunch of the adapters for DISHSTORE.

So I wrote...
Thanks for the reply, but no that does not help as thats the procedure is for new customers not existing customers.

What is the procedure for existing customers? If a existing customer comes into my shop on the 18th and wants a Sling Adapter, whats the procedure to make sure he gets his rebate?
I assume he pays ME the $99, but how does DISH know to give the customer a rebate?
I just want to get this correct as we do a lot of sales of these adapters and I dont want no egg on my face with my customers.
Click to expand...
And then I got back another reply...
Scott,
I’m sorry I didn’t address existing customers previously.
This promotion is for new and former customers only and does not apply to existing customers. If an existing customer wants to purchase a Sling Adapter from you, or any Retailer, it will cost the normal $99.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Shortly after that was posted a new copy of the document retailers received was posted a V2 of the document. This new document had no mention of this promotion being for existing customers. :( (I am posting both documents below so you can see for yourself what I was seeing.)
Then after that I get a call from Claude at DISHSTORE telling me that he got a call from an Executive Vice President at DISH instructing me to stop posting at the DISH Retailer Portal.

Huh I wasn't trying to do anything wrong, I was trying to get clarification on the documentation that THEY posted. And as an employee of Claudes I hold a valid account on the DISH Network retailer portal. My questions were not to cause trouble for anyone.
The feedback we have received since announcing this has been outstanding from our members! I haven't seen you guys this excited by DISH Network in a long time. And to be honest I was very excited to!

And now I sit here upset, actually very upset.
First I am upset because Claude got yelled at for my postings at the DISH Network portal. I was asking legitimate questions in order to try helping him sell DISH Network product.
Secondly I am upset because it feels to me like they are blaming me for them notifying all the retailers that this offer was for all DISH Network customers (New and Existing). If you would have asked me last night (and some of you did) I would have told you this promotion was for new customers only.
I am sorry that I have upset some at DISH, that was not my intention at all. My intention was to pass the news along that they gave their retailers. My intention also was to help Claude sell some product at DISHSTORE, as I said hes had a few bad months lately and I was trying to help him out.

Finally I am upset because I feel bad if I have let any of you down just incase this offer has been pulled from existing customers. Many of you guys were excited like me with the news. And if it does not come true then you are going to be upset. And quite frankly I don't blame you for being upset.

I know many will be upset at DISH and many will be upset at me. And for that I am truly sorry, that was not my intention at all. I know in talking with many of you that you put your trust in what I say and for that I thank you and I am sorry if I may have let you down.
At this moment I don't know if DISH will extend this offer to existing customers or not. After all your positive feedback today I would really hope they would. You can bet I will keep my ear to the ground

I am just a satellite geek, I love this stuff and was really excited with the news. If there is exciting satellite news I love reporting it no matter which company its from.
Again I am sorry to all those I may have upset, that was not my intention at all.
I am sorry. :(
 
I am sure many will be disappointed that they have been left out of the promotion. Maybe too many were excited over here and Dish thought that the promo for current customers would cost them too much. This was not a single line error, or a bad sentence implying the offer to existing customers. They made several changes to the document to remove existing customers. They must have changed their minds, not a typo.
 
It's not your fault, Scott. It seemed that Dish just gave you some bad information, but if they really changed their mind about the promo for existing customers, then yeah it's going to anger us Dish subs. But hey, this isn't the first time Dish screwed us, right? I mean we'll get over it eventually. I think what DISH needs to focus on right now is releasing the sling extender and the XIP receivers ASAP and once that happens, we'll all be happy DISH subs again and most likely, we'll forget about this whole fiasco.
 
So whats New!! Charlie is doing what he does best. Pi$$ing off his customers. He's either removing popular channels, forcing customers into upgrades (i.e. eastern arc) or stupid moves such as this.
 
Dude....honesty is best, you are a big man and I have to hand it to ya!!!!! You are honest hard working man trying to do your best....and my hats off to you!!!!!!!
 
Scott, it would appear you did your homework before posting. I am not in the market for a Sling Adapter, but I feel it is a huge mistake to not make it available to current customers for free if they are going to offer free to others. To me this is a little different than offering $10 off for a year for a new customer but not to current ones, that I understand. Is Dish sure the second version is the actual correct one??
 
Scott, you can easily make up for this by purchasing everyone a Sling Adapter. ;)

But seriously, looks like Dish made a goof. Unfortunate, but sometimes it happens. Personally I'm glad I didn't see much benefit with the adapter for me. Makes it easier not to be let down.
 
Wow, that really bites. :(
I had already called 4 family members and informed them of the great news.
Looks like Dish has found yet another way to piss off existing customers.
 
Yespage said:
Scott, you can easily make up for this by purchasing everyone a Sling Adapter. ;)

But seriously, looks like Dish made a goof. Unfortunate, but sometimes it happens. Personally I'm glad I didn't see much benefit with the adapter for me. Makes it easier not to be let down.
Click to expand...

This. DISH has already given me hundreds of $$$ in freebies whether it be promotional pricing or free channels. It more than makes up for any shortcomings in the Sling Freebies Department.
 
I never understood this gimmick that Dish does..You pay so much for something and then they return it to you in monthly allotments or in Debit/Credit cards. Why they heck do they do that other than getting to keep the money if the customer does not redeem it? Why not just give it to customers free with out all the hoop jumping?
 
Well, letting the cat out of the bag before Dish itself lets it out is always a risk.

It DID have a ring of untruth to it (out of Dish character). We just wanted to believe it.
 
Don't want to add fuel to the fire but engadget posted about Scott's post on here about the offer being extended to existing customers, that's actually how I heard of this. Maybe they should retract that statement as well.
 
I don't blame you one bit Scott, you're just another victim of dish misinformation. They can keep thier sling adaptors, anyway, maybe they can put those prepaid American express cards to better use and just pay off Disney.
 
This is a bad business decision for Dish. They need do a better job of looking for ways to maximize this kind of offer for existing customers but doing it in a way that benefits them. If I was running Dish (go ahead an laugh :D) I would extend this offer to existing customer just like it was originally stated but I would also require the customer to commit to extending their contract to 2 years. If the customer just signed up in the past 6 months I might make them wait or pay for it.

I think that is a fair offer. It gets the existing customers a free sling adapter and it gets Dish a contract extension.
 
Thanks guys...

I just want to give you guys the most accurate information possible. And honestly there is still hope here, since posting I have heard some rumblings but nothing 100% solid. So keep your fingers crossed.

It was great seeing people excited about DISH Network again today. You guys dont know how fantastic this Sling Technology is. I do hope they let existing customers in on it even if they don't advertise it.

Goodnight everyone and keep those fingers crossed.
 

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