DISH Has Made it Impossible to be a VIP211k Owner

[dishdude]

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, 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.

He's not looking for help, just looking to complain.

 

[Anony55]

He's not looking for help, just looking to complain.

I would have phrased it differently, but yeah... you're essentially correct.

The time for help was the multiple times when I was on the phone with Dish offering to buy and install a Hopper (which they all said no to).

 

[Anony55]

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.

You make good points. In fact, I was looking forward to an internet connected receiver. That's why I offered to buy and install a Hopper. I love the Dish scapes and the Hopper is the only receiver that can get the gallery channel 305 that has all the old ones on it as well as the new ones.

Like I said before, they told me that only an installer could install a Hopper... and if I wanted that, I would have to have a 2-year agreement. Deal breaker for me.

 

[John2021]

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.

They want everyone on hoppers!!!

 

[John2021]

You make good points. In fact, I was looking forward to an internet connected receiver. That's why I offered to buy and install a Hopper. I love the Dish scapes and the Hopper is the only receiver that can get the gallery channel 305 that has all the old ones on it as well as the new ones.

Like I said before, they told me that only an installer could install a Hopper... and if I wanted that, I would have to have a 2-year agreement. Deal breaker for me.

id'e buy the hopper off of solid signal and own it there's no 2 year also!!! the hopper 3 is 270.00

 

[Anony55]

They want everyone on hoppers!!!

...as long as you let them do the install and start a 2-year.

 

[Anony55]

id'e buy the hopper off of solid signal and own it there's no 2 year also!!! the hopper 3 is 270.00

If that option was available, someone needs to tell the CSRs.

I offered to buy a Hopper and install it... they all said no. I don't know how many times I can say that before someone addresses that fact.

 

[John2021]

...as long as you let them do the install and start a 2-year.

we bought everything we own it!! they installed it.. the only reason we have a 2 year is we got the price lock and wheels and deals after i pressed it... we swapped out our joeys we bought em they installed em at no charge since we have the protection plan we bought the joeys from dish for 100.00 a pop for the joey 4.. there was no two year to swap the joeys since we own em. an owned joey is $ 5.00 a month and not the $ 7.00 of a fleesed joey

 

[John2021]

If that option was available, someone needs to tell the CSRs.

I offered to buy a Hopper and install it... they all said no. I don't know how many times I can say that before someone addresses that fact.

i would bitch!!! this is the first time i heard of them not activating owned boxes. you should not have to lease boxes!!! it took us two months to get em to set up our acct with owned boxes be aware!!! by that time it was me blowing my sprockets yelling and screaming at them . what LNB and switch do you have we have the DPH_WA_TWIN switch western arc going into a hybrid solo hub with two 3 way holland splitters for 6 t.v.'s.. and they reverted back to the 20 inch dish!!! from what i heard only installers have em and there for new installs only

 

[Anony55]

i would bitch!!! this is the first time i heard of them not activating owned boxes. you should not have to lease boxes!!!

Thank you. I'm not just some old grouchy guy. I'm a guy with a legit complaint. Thank you for saying that.

I'm kinda tired of playing the game. TV should be easier than having to pull all kinds of tricks to get the provider to do for some what they do for others.

In a way, this thread is my way of bitching. I already politely inquired about installing my own Hopper with multiple CSRs. I was very polite on every single call.

It does surprise me to hear that this is the first you've heard about them doing this. Multiple CSRs and the ai chat bot all told me this. If the ai chat bot says that, that would seem to be an indicator that the response is hard-coded into their policy.

This is somewhat of a sad moment for me. I've had satellite TV since the C-Band days. From the videocipher days, to the 4DTV days. But, as many have pointed out in this thread, times change. I guess I will to. Whatever I go to, you can be rest assured of one thing... it won't be a service where you have to saber-rattle all the time to get what you want.

 

[telstar_1]

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.

Are you saying that if you would purchase a hopper on ebay that had been deactivated from account and unencumbered, or perhaps a new or refurbished one from a dealer and self install, that they won't activate? I'm not asking what will they tell you prospectively just to deter you....but what would they actually do when requested to activate

 

[Radioguy41]

i would bitch!!! this is the first time i heard of them not activating owned boxes. you should not have to lease boxes!!! it took us two months to get em to set up our acct with owned boxes be aware!!! by that time it was me blowing my sprockets yelling and screaming at them . what LNB and switch do you have we have the DPH_WA_TWIN switch western arc going into a hybrid solo hub with two 3 way holland splitters for 6 t.v.'s.. and they reverted back to the 20 inch dish!!! from what i heard only installers have em and there for new installs only

No need to rant, rave, and holler, just hang up and call a different CSR. I've installed owned boxes in the past year or so with no problem. Right now the Hopper 3 is under $300 on Amazon. And ignore those negative reviews. For some reason they resurrected a bunch of negative reviews from 2017 and posted them up as if they were still relevant (They aren't). Besides, if you get a bad one just return it through Amazon. This isn't rocket science.

 

[navychop]

Now that ESPN has made their base channels available to stream without a cable/satellite subscription... my main reason for Dish has evaporated.

It sounds like you're right. Maybe the only, not the main, reason.

I wish you well in your future endeavors.

 

[Anony55]

Are you saying that if you would purchase a hopper on ebay that had been deactivated from account and unencumbered, or perhaps a new or refurbished one from a dealer and self install, that they won't activate?

That's a good question.

Initially, I asked if I gave them a UID from a used unit from eBay if they could tell me if it was free and clear to be added to my account (would be good info to have before the purchase, right?). The answer was somewhat wishy-washy... but essentially "no". Only one CSR gave this answer, because I only asked the first CSR that particular question.

So then I asked about buying a new one and could I install it myself. That's where the answer shifted to my dish needing to be updated by one of their installers... so no, I couldn't do that. And of course, to get that done, I would need a 2-year commitment.

So in the true tradition of playing "CSR roulette", I called again. I never asked the subsequent CSRs the "used eBay" question... just the install a new one question. They all gave me the dish would have to be upgraded by one of their installers answer. So naturally, I asked about the dish/LNB requirements... I mean... you're telling me it needs to be upgraded... well... upgraded to what?

At that point, they would just tell me again that the dish has to be upgraded by one of their techs and simply not even attempt to answer the question. To this day, I have no idea if my dish really needs upgrading or not. What I do know, is that they've never had access to know what dish I have... via account settings or electronically through the receiver.

So each subsequent CSR would just get hung up on the upgrade your dish via one of their installers and do a 2-year. The new/used thing wasn't even the hang up.

So to summarize, the first CSR discouraged the eBay thing... but then indicated that it didn't matter anyway because of the dish needing to be upgraded. All other CSRs (including the ai chat bot) just went straight to the dish upgrade mantra.

And of course... all roads each and every time, led straight back to a Dish installer and a 2-year commitment.

My final conclusion was that CSR roulette no longer works. Everyone gives the same answer.

 

[Anony55]

It sounds like you're right. Maybe the only, not the main, reason.

I wish you well in your future endeavors.

Thanks man. It's good to see some familiar names from the old days... even if it's in a thread meant to express my frustration.

 

[dishdude]

It really doesn't make financial sense to buy and install your own Hopper. Not only do you have to buy the Hopper, the Joeys, LNB, the node - you're talking $500-$600 which is more than the ETF, plus you still have the exorbitant DVR fee.

Wally is plug and play, use your same LNB and wiring. Additional Wallys are only $5/mo and no monthly DVR fees. Plus they're cheap to buy. No channel 305 but I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars just for that.

 

[navychop]

In all fairness, we should acknowledge that the Hopper installations are a little more complicated than for the ViPs. Different equipment. If you get it wrong, it may well cost them more to come out and undo what you did, and fix it.

 

[Anony55]

It really doesn't make financial sense to buy and install your own Hopper. Not only do you have to buy the Hopper, the Joeys, LNB, the node - you're talking $500-$600 which is more than the ETF, plus you still have the exorbitant DVR fee.

Wally is plug and play, use your same LNB and wiring. Additional Wallys are only $5/mo and no monthly DVR fees. Plus they're cheap to buy. No channel 305 but I wouldn't spend hundreds of dollars just for that.

That's actually a better answer than I got from any of the CSRs or ai chat. Now I know there is some kind of node involved. That's more information than I had before.

 

[navychop]

Yep. Better info here.

I wonder what the average employment span for Dish CSRs is.