Dish is coming to give me my HD channels for FREE

[Brianm1]

Ok so I dont know if this is too good to be true, but after a discussion with a tech, apparantly a tech will come and replace my dish and take out my 2 old ones.
I will receive Fox Soccer and BBC and all those other HD channels I was supposed to get back in Feburary.

I thought I needed 2 dishes, 1 for international and 1 for national?

Its strange because back in Feb I was told 99 bucks would be charged to my account for service fees, but now the tech told me NOTHING will be charged...so Idk if this is too good to be true or not.

The main prob is that I havent been getting Benfica TV which became a part of the Luso(Portuguese) pack 2 weeks ago. I have had the luso pack for years so yea.

Anyone have this "wonderful" thing happen?
I wonder if this is too good to be true?

 

[TheKrell]

Don't tell me, let me guess. You have a mixed arc setup of 61.5/110/119 satellite locations.

Surprise surprise. The Portuguese channels are not only on 118 (where most all international channels are), but also on 61.5. Are your HD locals also on 61.5? If so, a single Eastern Arc dish will work for you.

Be forewarned that I can't find the Benfica channel anywhere. What channel is it? Edit: Oh oh, it's only on 118. The only single-dish solution for you is a Dish 1000+. I would be surprised if they install that for free. Good luck!

Where are your HD locals?

 

[Brianm1]

Don't tell me, let me guess. You have a mixed arc setup of 61.5/110/119 satellite locations.

Surprise surprise. The Portuguese channels are not only on 118 (where most all international channels are), but also on 61.5. Are your HD locals also on 61.5? If so, a single Eastern Arc dish will work for you.

Be forewarned that I can't find the Benfica channel anywhere. What channel is it? Edit: Oh oh, it's only on 118. The only single-dish solution for you is a Dish 1000+. I would be surprised if they install that for free. Good luck!

Where are your HD locals?

I made sure about 10 times that NOTHING would be charged, so if I am charged I will fire up a storm. I will demand that the charges be cancelled because I have proof that I would not be charged.

I think my HD channels are on the same dish, I have 1 dish for international and 1 for my reg 250 channels. IDK about the hd locals, im not that savvy with dish.

Would I need a hd receiver for my 15 inch tv? That doesnt have hd, doesnt need it of course but I hope they dont need to replace the non-hd receiver with an HD one.

 

[Brianm1]

I just got a confirmation of Service Change notification:
I see this 1 RCVR 211/411 HD SOLO
Whats that? the new receiver?

 

[scoobyxj]

211/411 Is the Solo HD receiver

 

[Brianm1]

211/411 Is the Solo HD receiver

Solo, so I have 2 tvs, 1 that only needs HD tv.
Can I still keep my SD receiver for the smaller tv?

 

[TheKrell]

Solo, so I have 2 tvs, 1 that only needs HD tv.
Can I still keep my SD receiver for the smaller tv?

This is not making sense; I'll bet your installer doesn't know anything about your international channels and thinks he can swap out your two dishes for one Eastern Arc dish. the latter requires an mpeg-4 receiver, even for your SD set, because Eastern Arc is all mpeg-4.

 

[Brianm1]

Well after 3 hours with the tech(who was at no fault) I finally have 2 new dishes, one 118 and the Dish 1000.5 that are giving me the HD channels, locals, and Luso pack with Benfica.
The guy was done after 35 min but when I told him I still wasn't getting the Benfica chan, he told me had no notes about a benfica channel. So he called dish and the lady he was speaking to tried to tell me that a hold would be placed on my Luso pack disabling the package for a day until a dif tech came and installed the 118 dish.
I told her hell no that they are being ridiculous cause I talked to a tech tomrrow, and 2 today in the morning, and they all told me I would be charged nothing, now I would have to pay 99 bucks for a tech and a new dish?
F Off!
So after being on hold and then talking to the tech, the lady told me they could waive the 99 bucks and the tech went ahead and installed the 118, and 211 receiver for my small tv.

So far the receipts say nothing of a price so I am happy, but I will wait until the monthly bill comes to see some surprise charges!

 

[TheKrell]

Congratulations on getting that 500+ added for free. I did get a 1000.4 for free, and I imagine in some locales a 1000.5 might be necessary (and free). But really if Dish took Benfica off 61.5 and put it on a hard-to-receive FSS satellite like the one at 118, then they should expect the consequences.

 

[navychop]

You were born under a lucky star.

 

[hdtvman]

Congratulations on getting that 500+ added for free. I did get a 1000.4 for free, and I imagine in some locales a 1000.5 might be necessary (and free). But really if Dish took Benfica off 61.5 and put it on a hard-to-receive FSS satellite like the one at 118, then they should expect the consequences.

I spoke with Dish today and was told that a"solution" would be coming soon regarding Benfica channel for Eastern US customers. Apparently they have received MANY calls from Luso Pack subs since they sent the price hike letter (most subs - especially long term customers, watch it on 61.5 as they started out as RTPi only). Quite a few East coast subs don't want anything to do with the larger FSS dish. My hope is Dish will wake up and add BENFC to 61.5 and be done with it, so that the Luso Pack is on both Eastern Arc and Western Arc. This would probably save them a lot of money by not having to convert existing customers that only have a dish 300 or 500 on 61.5.

 

[DishSubLA]

Glad you insisted. Happy you got what they should have provided you without having you have to fight for it. Enjoy.

 

[TheKrell]

An ambiguous "solution" coming "soon."

 

[Brianm1]

Well then, I get my bill...normal price is 108 and now I'm charged 314!
I was furious, livid, no words could describe!
I immediately call dish and after 1 hour on the phone with about 10 different people I got all the bs charges removed from my bill.

First they told me that the 100 dollar fee was supposed to be removed, but someone didn't state that in the notes or whatever.
SO thats taken care of.

Then some woman goes to talk to her supervisor about the 95 dollar fee for the tech visit, comes back and insists that she can't remove and that I have to pay for it.
I almost lost it but kept my cool. I told her I am not paying her anything and that I will not settle for the 15 bucks a month warranty, I dont need a stupid warranty!
I told her I had 2 transcripts from discussions with 2 different techs telling me there would be not 1 penny charged at all.
So after being disconnected once and having to go through all these morons again I finally reached a lady with a brain and told me to forward my transcripts to her. I did and she apologized about the mistake and said she would remove all these fees since they were promised to me.

Now I just have to make sure that my paper bill doesn't charge me on this, since this was an e-bill.

Dish, you suck!

 

[whatchel1]

chat

Well then, I get my bill...normal price is 108 and now I'm charged 314!
I was furious, livid, no words could describe!
I immediately call dish and after 1 hour on the phone with about 10 different people I got all the bs charges removed from my bill.

First they told me that the 100 dollar fee was supposed to be removed, but someone didn't state that in the notes or whatever.
SO thats taken care of.

Then some woman goes to talk to her supervisor about the 95 dollar fee for the tech visit, comes back and insists that she can't remove and that I have to pay for it.
I almost lost it but kept my cool. I told her I am not paying her anything and that I will not settle for the 15 bucks a month warranty, I dont need a stupid warranty!
I told her I had 2 transcripts from discussions with 2 different techs telling me there would be not 1 penny charged at all.
So after being disconnected once and having to go through all these morons again I finally reached a lady with a brain and told me to forward my transcripts to her. I did and she apologized about the mistake and said she would remove all these fees since they were promised to me.

Now I just have to make sure that my paper bill doesn't charge me on this, since this was an e-bill.

Dish, you suck!

Chat on line is best way to deal w/ thing like this. You then have a transcript of everything that took place.

 

[eurosport]

Next, he'll find out they stuck him with a contract extension too.
(Hope not but I've heard about it before)

 

[whatchel1]

Next, he'll find out they stuck him with a contract extension too.
(Hope not but I've heard about it before)

Mostly D*.

 

[AgentOrangeSkies]

Dish, you suck!

I don't quite understand this. This company just GAVE you 600$+ in equipment for free (admittedly on your own part) 3+ hours of labor, gas costs etc; and did it for free. You had to make 1 call to resolve this on your end and the COMPANY sucks?

I understand you being upset that you had to call but lets be reasonable here, this company just went above and beyond for you. I'm glad you 'kept your cool' because frankly, I can't imagine any reason it would be appropriate to get angry and scream at a CSR who makes 8$ an hour to answer phones only to be screamed at day in and day out for the ineptness of a few. I knew reading this thread you'd end up being one of those people, someone who needed to find the angle and be the hero by giving it to 'the man'. I'm just disappointed that I was right.

Also, your e-bill that generates at times does not reflect the service visit fee reversal immediately or any non-standard waivers.

 

[hdtvman]

I don't quite understand this. This company just GAVE you 600$+ in equipment for free (admittedly on your own part) 3+ hours of labor, gas costs etc; and did it for free......

The OP has every right to be angry as he was promised one thing, delivered another and had to call multiple times to correct errors. This is not acceptable customer service. Dish Network increased the price of his Luso pack sub and the OP also realized that he has not been getting all channels he is paying for - both HD and international. I now do my own installs and changes due to previous frustration as I had the same situation happen to me years ago (was charged for equipment and services that were only necessary due to a satellite change made by DN and not a change in my subscription). Installers, often through no fault of their own, especially on international subs combined with traditional English or Latino packages, many times do not have or know how to look up the proper information regarding the specifics of the customers sub to ensure that after the install he receives all channels he is entitled to.
DN's decision a while back to try to isolate the internationals on "special" FSS satellites such as 118 or 121 before that, only makes the situation worse and installs more complex and expensive both to DN and to the customer. Many of the recent "newbie" installers are only now prepared to do default EA or WA setups. As I have said in other posts, 118 is NOT a proper location for East coast international subs - 118 is a WA location. If DN insists on a single CONUS satellite location for Internationals - it must be no further west than 110 for LOS. Otherwise they will have to duplicate ALL international channels on both EA and WA and preferably on all DBS sats. If they go the dual arc route, it should now be possible by using 8PSK instead of QPSK. Here is an interesting link that shows DN's capacity: DISH Network HD Capacity

 

[terpsmandan]

I had to pay for the Service plan to get my top dish moved from 61.5 to 129 so that I could get BBC America in HD. Added side benefit is that after a quick chat online about how I am on temporary assignment, Dish thinks that my box is somewhere else.