Dish customer service....getting better :)

[Mr Tony]

Well I havent had to deal with Dish in almost a year (and the cluster that was to add a receiver). Well today my grandma wanted to add another receiver. So I got a secondhand unit with a purple card. Was active until recently. This should be easy right?

well not really......but after 2 bad call we got it right

Get it all set up and call Dish. Get a lady who kinda sounded Indian but not the super heavy accent. Gave her all the info on the account (R & S #'s) and right away she says "thats not right. Smart cards start with S19" (it showed S00 on the screen). Explained that the smart card # on the card was S19 but the receiver showed S00. They said smart card bad and will send a new one for 49.99 + 14.95 s/h. I was like no way. Put me on hold and then said "oh we'll waive the fee". uh ok

Hung up and thought "the receiver aint reading the card". Tried the other 2 purple cards in the house and the receiver wont read them. Shows the embedded S00 #.

So I call back and get "John" who was useless. Exaplined what I tried and he wanted me to do "Tech help 101". I explained again what I tried and he said the new card was shipped then put me on death hold....ugh!

Call back...not gonna get mad. Get a very nice lady from Oklahoma (she mentioned it during the call). She listened to me. I explained what I had done already (tried other cards) and we started doing troubleshooting (actual troubleshooting). Reboot. Read R&S #'s. Tried again. Nothing. Then she asked something that nobody else did. What is the software #. Read it...oops

old software....why the hell didnt anyone else mention this? Let it upgrade to new software and then rebooted. Hey it shows S19 now under smartcard
yay!
Got 4 or 5 different error screens as we worked on it.

-Had free channels...nothing else
-then got "you have updated your smart card"
-then got free chanenls and nothing else but new card shows
-then we got "you're not activated" as the rep took the receiver off the account
-then got "you're being activated"
-then we finally got TV...yay!

The last lady was awesome! She listened to what I had already done (which made her job easier as she didnt need to do the stupid "try this" things) and actually thought outside the box instead of repeating the same 3 or 4 things. Sure it took 62 minutes but we got the receiver working and grandma is happy.

So even though I dreaded calling Dish after the last time I dealt with them (15 calls across 6 days with new smartcards and receivers) I was actually happy and relieved that Dish has turned around their customer service with people who want to help

I know folks have had bad calls with c/s but I will say the last call and the helpful rep made up for the 2 blockheads before her

 

[tigerfan33]

It is too bad csr's are NOT all on the same page. Hell sometimes they are not even the same book!!
I'm glad things finally got worked out.

 

[Mr Tony]

I agree...Whats crazy is I asked the 1st rep if the software was right and they said yes

 

[gadgtfreek]

I love Chat. All 4 times have been an easy experience.

 

[Mr Tony]

Grandma dont have internet (or a computer for that matter)

 

[gadgtfreek]

Hehe.

 

[paulnm]

just tried chat and love it-especially where i can get a transcript emailed...now i need to use it again cuz my new 722k just installed is showing triple!!can't say the same thing for email-sent a msg Fri afternoon and STILL no reply or acknowledgement!!

 

[rajmarie]

Well...I had called them in the past...& always get good CSRs...never had to call back. Recently called for Fox Soccer Channel & upgrade from Classic 200 to 250....& got someone in India.....Was very nice conversation. Once he upgraded my package...I asked once again (despite knowing what his answer will be)...if I can get HD......same Dish response...I need to talk to local retailer since I m in PR (why Dish...why u cant deal with us directly).

then he told me that I qualify for free HBO & Showtime for 3 months. Wow...I know it was there.....& that this offer had been taken by many users....but for a CSR to tell me that....I was like...well....if it free...then he can add to my account.....Free is Free....even for 3 months (wife is also happy with HBO hope not too happy in 3 months otherwise will end up paying for it)

All in all....had a very pleasent conversation with the Indian CSR. I guess I m lucky...everytime I call Dish..which is not offen...I get good CSR.

 

[ryotgz]

I had the same issue. Bought a receiver with a purple card. I called in and gave them the smart card # (not from the device on the TV). I called back in and was told to leave it one for about an hour to update and see if it works after that. They never asked for the software version, but I assume he thought it needed to update.

 

[SlyFerret]

I my line of work (network admin for a company that makes software), I can understand how it can be very difficult to keep all of your tech support reps on the same page, especially considering the turnover rate in that type of position, and the fact that the really good ones tend to move on to better positions.

I'm a recent dish subscriber (had the service for just under 3 months now), and so far, I've been VERY happy with Dish customer service. I usually dread calling just about any company's customer service number, but I have been pleasantly surprised by DISH.

-SF

 

[priester68]

I just signed up with Dish today and let me tell you that the 3 different people I've talked to at Dish about equipment, programming, and joining have all been the nicest people I've spoken to in the sat business in years. This is the main issue I had with Directv that led me to Dish. Getting installed on Saturday. So far excellent customer service from Dish Network.

 

[SlyFerret]

Not to mention, I've found Dish to be VERY accessible via Twitter as well. I'm glad to see them embracing new communications channels like that.

-SF

 

[Mr Tony]

Had to call them back today.....when they removed the receivers and readded them yesterday because of the glitch one receiver they forgot to add back on....whoops.

Called and got a guy named "Chris". I explained what we did yesterday and he said "how many receivers are you suppose to have?" I said 3 and he apologized that he only showed 2. Gave him the R & S #'s and he said "oh I see they removed it yesterday. I'll add it back right now" and bam TV was back on that one

total time on the phone timer 5:21 from start to finish (including the auto prompts...I guess when you call them enough times I can get past those by saying "yes" and "no" before the prompt is done

 

[Mr Tony]

I had to bump this up. Gramma called me over the weekend. She got her bill and on 11/1 she was charged 49.00 for "equipment charges"

Called them tonight and talked to a nice guy named Frank. Explained the situation and he thought it was a receiver we bought. Explained we added a 2nd hand receiver on 10/5. Put me on hold and came back a couple minutes later. That was for the smartcard they sent for that reciever.

Explained that we didnt need the smartcard as the purple one was in. He asked "are you sure you didnt get one". I said "If my grandma got one, she would have called me asking what the heck that was" He did mention if we got cards before and I mentioned "when you did the upgrade to the new encryption system to stop the people who steal in their tracks yeah we got new cards but that was sent to us automatically". He did chuckle about that

Also, I said "if we activated it 10/5 why did it show up on the acct 11/1?". They wouldnt activate the receiver until the card was in, right? He had no answer for that

He removed the charge...all and all 6 minutes on the call.

So DIsh is getting better

 

[MikeInAlaska]

So far I get either "This CSR call is going nowhere." or the "This person knows exactly what they're doing." There doesn't seem to be an in-between. Sometimes its just insane crazy, like the CSR who tells me the DVR feature of my 211k can only be activated by a tech local to the receiver.... cookoo! cookoo!

mike in alaska

 

[tlc1145]

So far I get either "This CSR call is going nowhere." or the "This person knows exactly what they're doing." There doesn't seem to be an in-between. Sometimes its just insane crazy, like the CSR who tells me the DVR feature of my 211k can only be activated by a tech local to the receiver.... cookoo! cookoo!

mike in alaska

No offense, but isn't that true for just about all service related people?

 

[hyperguy]

I know when I was in one of our yearly training the boss sends us to with Dish they stated that the CSR has a 300% turnover rate so its no wonder a lot do not know whats what.

 

[DishSubLA]

Iceberg, your experience was similar to mine (well, I've had such experiences 3 times). The old CSR Roulette, and for some reason the 3rd time always get the great CSR.

I'm not beating-up on the offshore CSR's, but they are a long way away and constantly read from the script of the book to solve problems and just can't relate to our situation thousands of miles away. It's as if they aren't listening, but it's just that they trying their best, but don't really know anything about a Dish Network system.

I always hang up until I get a USA CSR. 100% of the time for the last year, USA CSR's, for me, have always known what they are doing and a far more helpful and understanding, especially if we aren't going to move the massive entertainment center to do one of the troubleshooting.

I think Charlie stated in a previous quarterly earnings conference call that Dish was going to expand USA CSR centers because of complaints regarding problems not being solved by offshore CSR's. I hope Charles follows through on that.

 

[dishcsr]

We do have a really high turnover rate... I won't go into the reasons why. Much of the reason why you sometimes get a really good CSR or a really bad one is that the training is short and not comprehensive. We have to learn a lot out on the floor just by taking calls. We do the best that we can with what information we are given, and we get better as time goes by. But there are a ton of freshly trained CSRs out there who just don't have a clue. It's not their fault, and they are doing their best. Of course, there will be idiots or people who don't care in any customer service organization. Dish is trying to improve customer service as best they can with weekly training, but sometimes, you're just gonna get a CSR who is pissed off because they're working an 11 hour shift and told they have to stay 2 hours over. Or they've already been there for 12 hours and their brains are just fried. I really try to do everything I can for my customers, and if I am not sure of something, I double check it. I try to keep customers from paying for anything they don't have to. We have credit restrictions that we have to worry about, so some people will just refuse to give anything for free to make sure they don't go over their budget. I could go on, but I'm afraid this is long enough already