DISH Has Made it Impossible to be a VIP211k Owner

Anony55

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Aug 10, 2010
472
13
USA
For quite a while now, people with a VIP211k have been losing their recordings on their activated external HDDs... even when there's nothing physically wrong with HDD. I believe this is an intentional and underhanded tactic that Dish is pulling in an attempt to force users away from the VIP211k.

They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.

Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.

On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.

It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.

I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
 
You didn't really read my post, or you would know the answer(s) to your question.

I did. You're using outdated equipment that is on the verge of being obsolete and it's time to upgrade. You can buy a Wally for $59, own it and install it just as you always have been doing. As with all technology, support ends and newer, updated options become available.
 
I did. You're using outdated equipment that is on the verge of being obsolete and it's time to upgrade. You can buy a Wally for $59, own it and install it just as you always have been doing. As with all technology, support ends and newer, updated options become available.
Well... they can tell themselves what you said all the way to the bank.
 
For quite a while now, people with a VIP211k have been losing their recordings on their activated external HDDs... even when there's nothing physically wrong with HDD. I believe this is an intentional and underhanded tactic that Dish is pulling in an attempt to force users away from the VIP211k.

They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.

Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.

On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.

It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.

I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
I bet you really freaked out over the death of the phone chord, huh?
They're ending the life of VIPs.
Sorry you aren't happy
 
I did. You're using outdated equipment that is on the verge of being obsolete and it's time to upgrade. You can buy a Wally for $59, own it and install it just as you always have been doing. As with all technology, support ends and newer, updated options become available.
The best part is a Wally is just a box swap. No Dish or cabling needs to change
 
Grampa Simpson Grandpa GIF by MOODMAN
 
Can't Dish remotely detect what equipment you have? Certainly see what's listed under Menu.
we can see every box we have on our online acct. the numbers off the boxes give it up as to what's what. it will even say if it's owned or fleesed... dish can remote into the hoppers i imagine they can with the wallys if there connected to the internets
 
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For quite a while now, people with a VIP211k have been losing their recordings on their activated external HDDs... even when there's nothing physically wrong with HDD. I believe this is an intentional and underhanded tactic that Dish is pulling in an attempt to force users away from the VIP211k.

They are obviously regretting that they ever let users have a "non-dvr" dvr in the first place. You would think they would be happy charging you a $40 one time fee... and then be happy letting the customer be the one responsible for HDD failures.

Dish clearly hates the 211k bitter-clingers. This recording deletion problem is intentional (IMO), and I think it is just one more tool that they are using. Hopper and a 2-year agreement... that's what they want you to have. Think about that... a 2-year agreement... with a company $30 Billion in debt (that's with a B). What happens when all that debt causes them to drop the channel that may have been your whole reason for having Dish in the first place? Guess who's stuck with a service that no longer suits their needs... for the remainder of the 2-year agreement.

On top of that, they don't want you to install it yourself. I purchased and installed all my equipment myself. That used to be common. Now, they lie to me and tell me that my dish must be updated to use a Hopper. Funny thing is... they don't even know what dish I have because they didn't install it, and I didn't tell them. If you ask what type of dish/LNBs the hopper needs... good luck getting an answer. All they know is that whatever you have needs to be upgraded by an installer.

It is quite apparent to me that they care much more about staying in their box, than they do working with the customer. That's too bad, because it hasn't always been that way. It's like they are totally unaware of the current business environment that they are trying to compete in.

I have been a customer since 2010. I will be cancelling my service before the next period. Yeah, I know, my $1,200 a year won't make a difference to them. It just seems like they have forgotten who needs who, especially when you consider the competition in today's streaming world. But hey, they will have succeed in forcing me off the 211k.
if they go belly up how would figure they could they charge you the ETF 🤔 it's not your fault they can't provide you service. if they did a bk i'm sure it would be to restructure debt so the sats won't go poof that second... and charlie sold alot of spectrum i'm sure he's happy :biggrin... close to 45 billion in spectrum sales!!! i think dish is better off than direct... and if you don't want another 2 you can buy whatever you want own it no contract. i do see another merger in the future just a matter of who buys who!!! it's the same Bullsh!t with smart t.v.'s sometimes apps get outdated sometimes they delete apps!!! dammed if you do dammed if you don't
 
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Can't Dish remotely detect what equipment you have? Certainly see what's listed under Menu.
Not in my case. My receiver hasn't been connected to the outside world. I have never connected it to the internet. I just never thought Dish Home (channel 100) was worth the effort... and obviously, the 211k doesn't do the streaming thing. So there was really never any point to connect it to the internet.
 
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Are you paying Dish for just one channel? Or was that more of an over-the-top hypothetical? If you are, then I guess you should have upgraded at least 2 years ago and then you wouldn't be worrying about it anymore.
I wouldn't call it "over the top"... and of course... it was a hypothetical... but a very possible hypothetical.

If Dish was to get into a dispute with ESPN, that would pretty much render their service useless for my purposes. Basically, the only pay TV that I need... is whatever channel OSU is playing on.

For everything else, I have a fourth gen Tablo for DVRing OTA, a media server with an extensive library, and more freebie streaming services than I can count. So yeah, a fella like me could end up paying over $1200 a year for something that's meaningless if they dropped ESPN... or did the thing where one of the channels was only offered in SD. Remember that? I do.

Now that ESPN has made their base channels available to stream without a cable/satellite subscription... my main reason for Dish has evaporated. Thing is, had they not started messing with deleting my recordings (which they ARE doing on purpose, just search around a little)... if not for that, I would have probably just kept paying the bill as a matter of convenience.

The point is, in a world where your customer doesn't really need you anymore, it's unwise to give them reasons to re-evaluate their relationship with you.

That's one point that the (expected) fan boys ignore. I wasn't asking for a list of solutions that I already knew existed... solutions that I'm not interested in. After being loyal for 15 (almost 16) years, I wanted Dish to know why I was leaving.

I offered to buy a Hopper and install it myself. I was told that I wouldn't be allowed to do that. I was told that by more than one CSR. Heck, even the ai bot told me that.

That was pretty much the last straw. Here I was, a customer trying to overcome Dish's own objections to me being their customer... trying to find some way to continue to give them money... and they said no... multiple times.

So if it makes the fan boys feel better to imply that I'm just some ole unreasonable grouchy old timer... so be it. I did what I could to get past the obstacle, and Dish wasn't interested in anything other than a 2-year and sending an installer.

That was their choice... not mine.
 
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Sorry gotta pay to play.. i imagine it's the 2025 and they wany everyone on hoppers or wallys... these threads are starting to sound more and more like people getting weened of the tit :coco
They aren't even interested in that, if you want to install it yourself. I offered that... multiple Dish employees weren't interested. I even offered to buy (pay for) the receiver.
 
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Got rid of my 211K's a couple years ago and replaced them with Wallys when 211K EOL became apparent. I started monitoring Amazon and ended up buying Wallys earlier this year during one of those "secret sales" that pop up at the end of the month for some vendors when they need cash flow or have to hit sales numbers. Paid $25, yes twenty five bucks each for factory packed refurbs. Had zero problems installing them myself and eliminated the box fee. Right now they are priced at $42.99 on Amazon, heckuva price. Meanwhile the DVR's are working just fine. And with the add-on OTA dongle your have 4 tuners. No different than computers or cellphones, if you want to stay up with technology you have to upgrade every now and then or you're left holding a brick.

Oh, yeah, one more thing, why wouldn't you want a box that connects to the Internet? Dish is offering dozens of free streaming channels plus during rain fade it switches to streaming many/most(?) channels as a backup, all automatically. By not upgrading you're only short changing yourself.
 
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Terrible call to DiSH