Dish just called me to schedule a free service - wait, what?

[joshsquall]

So Dish just called me and said that "the latest report from my receiver indicated I may be having problems." So, they're sending someone out (complimentary) to service it next week. I haven't noticed any issues. Has anyone heard of this before? Are they trying to pull one over on me somehow?

 

[navychop]

Not a problem. They really do such things, now that the receivers report back on their health. Another good reason for keeping your box connected to the phone line and/or internet.

My best guess is that you may have too large of LNB drift.

 

[Jimmerinwi]

So Dish just called me and said that "the latest report from my receiver indicated I may be having problems." So, they're sending someone out (complimentary) to service it next week. I haven't noticed any issues. Has anyone heard of this before? Are they trying to pull one over on me somehow?

This is STB (set top box) Health. Your receiver sends information back to Dish and if your signal is low or it detects another problem, Dish will schedule a service call free of charge. The thing is, a lot of times, it is just as simple as a customer maybe unplugging their receiver from the phone line for some reason and when it is reconnected, the receiver automatically thinks there is a problem. I have been to many stb health service calls and have found nothing wrong with the system.

 

[cpdretired]

You may have an LNB problem. Try a check switch. This will tell you if that is the problem.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Its real and a great service Dish offers.

 

[stevelite]

Hmmm, are you required to connect your receiver to phone line or network.. Hmm this sounds like good service, but like big brother is watching. One thing I wonder about is how they know what ppl are watching? You can goto menu and there is an option to see what ppl are watching. Dish/receiver report back to home base?

 

[CELDER]

What is a check switch, and how do you do it?

 

[jerryez]

I got one of these calls last year. Dish came out completely rewired my system because the ground wire originally set up did not meet code. They replaced both my dishes and my dual lnb plus they relocated the dishes from the front of the house to the side above the electric meter for better grounding. My cost=$0.00

 

[Jim S.]

My 61.5 LNB has lost about half of the even transponders, my receiver is connected to the internet, and they've never called me. I haven't bothered getting it replaced yet because its all channels I never watch (most I don't even subscribe to), but I'd like to do it sometime in case it spreads to something I do watch. Maybe I need to start selecting those channels once in a while to generate some signal loss events.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hmmm, are you required to connect your receiver to phone line or network.. Hmm this sounds like good service, but like big brother is watching. One thing I wonder about is how they know what ppl are watching? You can goto menu and there is an option to see what ppl are watching. Dish/receiver report back to home base?

They already do currently report back your viewing habits. That is valuable data which they can resell. (But the data reported back in anonymous)

 

[aquaman67]

What is a check switch, and how do you do it?

On your remote,

Press Menu.

Then 6
Then 1
Then 1 again.

This is where you can check your signal strength.

You will see a "Check Switch" button.

It checks to see how things are working.

It takes a while so make sure you have a few minutes.

 

[Viper0580]

Hmmm, are you required to connect your receiver to phone line or network.. Hmm this sounds like good service, but like big brother is watching. One thing I wonder about is how they know what ppl are watching? You can goto menu and there is an option to see what ppl are watching. Dish/receiver report back to home base?

It is just like every thing else you do. Charge on a credit card, make a phone call, do a bank transaction. You can be tracked for just about every thing you do. You cell phone has/or may have a GPS chip in it so you can be tracked by that to. So why not track what you watch on TV to, or how you use you receiver or have settings set up. So BIG Brother is every where.

 

[TNGTony]

The info on viewing habits is sent back as an agregate and is not individually identifyable. Yes, they can change that, but for right now the only thing that is individually identifyable is technical stuff.

 

[MikeD-C05]

What's next? Black Boxes in the toilets that track how much sh*t you flush a week? I know that bean counters are really anal but come on.

 

[dnstech08852]

DUDE EVERYTHING YOU DO IS TRACKED, YOUR CRAZY IF YOU THINK U CAN DO SOMETHING IS THIS COUNTRY AND NO ONE KNOWS

SECOND, THE SERVICE CALL IS FREE FOR YOU YES, BUT FOR THE TECH WHO GETS THE 12 LOWLY POINTS FOR GOING (IN MY CASE) YOU OUT YOUR MIND IF I'M OR ANYONE ELSE IS RE-DOING YOUR HOUSE OVER UNLESS WE ARE GETTING TAKEN CARE OF, AND IF A SUB ROLLS OUT THE SAME GOES AS THRY GET PAID PER JOB

YOUR INSTALL WOULD HAVE TO BE F.U.B.A.R. FOR ME TO EVEN PUT THE IDEA IN MY HEAD TO REDO A JOB,

 

[lakebum431]

No reason to yell dnstech

 

[slick1ru2]

I have the DHPP and called about a repeak, got a new 1000.2 and a repeak for free. Free is good.

 

[Hemi 6.1]

This is a great service. Having an ethernet connection saves so much time when troubleshooting with E* . They already have the receivers info right at hand. I think its great.