Dish Network bill is higher than what was promised when switched.

[baydog]

I wish when Dish network promise you something they would keep their word. I got my mom to switch from Time Warner to Dish network in March. Dish said by the the 3rd billing cycle the bill would drop to $53.99 for the first year and would go up to 88.99 for the second year. I was expecting in June and July the we would be charged the 53.99 but instead her debit card was charged an average of 90 Dollars. Now i going to have to spend my time talking to someone overseas who i can barely understand trying to correct this when i would rather be doing something else. And I bet it still won't get corrected.

 

[Mr Tony]

Now i going to have to spend my time talking to someone overseas who i can barely understand trying to correct this when i would rather be doing something else. And I bet it still won't get corrected.

or just PM a DIRT member and it will get corrected. On the main page
http://www.satelliteguys.us/forum.php

Their names are in red. PM one of them

 

[Scherrman]

Do you have a copy of the bill? You can go online to see what they are all being billed for, or like Iceberg said, ask DIRT to check out the account.

 

[dwarren2]

Does the OP know what DIRT is? That was only his 6th post.
DIRT is the Dish Internet Response Team. Employees of Dish who monitor the forum. They are the go to people if there is a problem.

 

[SomeDishGuy]

I wish when Dish network promise you something they would keep their word. I got my mom to switch from Time Warner to Dish network in March. Dish said by the the 3rd billing cycle the bill would drop to $53.99 for the first year and would go up to 88.99 for the second year. I was expecting in June and July the we would be charged the 53.99 but instead her debit card was charged an average of 90 Dollars. Now i going to have to spend my time talking to someone overseas who i can barely understand trying to correct this when i would rather be doing something else. And I bet it still won't get corrected.

Just a note to folks thinking about switching to either provider. Be sure to get a detailed listing of exactly what charges will be on the bill, so you can compare and verify that the bills you get match the bills you expected.

Now, for the original poster, do realize that when starting with Dish, it is likely that your mom was given 4 free premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz) for three months. The customer has to call and have those removed. Same with the protection plan, which is free for four months. Dish also does advance billing, so she will be charged for something in the future, and if the service is removed, she will see a credit on the next bill.

Hypothetical example:

Customer starts service on May 16th. Cust will have the 4 free premiums. They will be free until August 15th. Bills generate in advance, so on August 5th, a bill is generated for the period running August 16th through September 15th. And it will show the 4 premium channels as $45 from 8/16 until 9/15. If the customer cancels these channels (either online or through an agent) by August 15th, the following bill will show a credit for $45 for not having the premiums.

It's complicated, but that is what advance billing does. It will show you a bill for a future period, and that bill can change if you add or drop things. The correction comes on the next bill. With advance billing, there's really no other way to do it.

Also...I hope folks aren't so fast to refer the original poster to DIRT for this. It would be nice if the OP lists out what is on the bill, so we can decipher it, and explain it. Then, it will be here for people to see/find in the future if they have the same problem.

 

[Scherrman]

No need to write the Attorney General. To me it looks like exactly what SomeDishGuy said. They may be in their 3rd month with Dish but the bill they received is for their fourth month of programming. If they took the free movie channels then there would be a charge for $45. I believe that the Blockbuster package is also included in that as well. I was going to say that the Protection Plan would be on there too but that shouldn't show up for another month yet since they get it free for 4 months.

 

[Hall]

Now, for the original poster, do realize that when starting with Dish, it is likely that your mom was given 4 free premium channels (HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, Starz) for three months. The customer has to call and have those removed.

Dish chose to have the system set up this way. There's NO reason they can't have them turned off automatically when the promotion ends. Instead, they go the "auto-renew" route, which I'll bet for 50% of customers, they feel tricked or deceived. Face it, most people will take something for free, even temporarily...

Anytime they offer me a free trial or promotion, I ask when exactly it expires so I can note it on my calendar (a week prior) and cancel it. I do recall ONE rep who made it very clear when the offer expires and told me "make sure you call before ... to cancel this if you don't want to keep it".

 

[SomeDishGuy]

Dish chose to have the system set up this way. There's NO reason they can't have them turned off automatically when the promotion ends. Instead, they go the "auto-renew" route, which I'll bet for 50% of customers, they feel tricked or deceived. Face it, most people will take something for free, even temporarily...

Anytime they offer me a free trial or promotion, I ask when exactly it expires so I can note it on my calendar (a week prior) and cancel it. I do recall ONE rep who made it very clear when the offer expires and told me "make sure you call before ... to cancel this if you don't want to keep it".

When talking to customers, I have always made it very clear when something ends, either if it is free, half-price, or whatnot. I will suggest that the customer add it to their calendar (electronic or wall) when that date is, so they can then decide to keep or remove. Same when a customer adds the protection plan, and has to keep it for 120 days, I will give them an approximate 120th day so they can call and cancel if they choose.

No doubt Dish set up the system this way, as it likely means millions more in revenue, getting the money before the service. Bank interest is small, but 30 days interest on a billion dollars isn't chump change, I can guess.

 

[Scherrman]

Dish chose to have the system set up this way. There's NO reason they can't have them turned off automatically when the promotion ends. Instead, they go the "auto-renew" route, which I'll bet for 50% of customers, they feel tricked or deceived. Face it, most people will take something for free, even temporarily...

Anytime they offer me a free trial or promotion, I ask when exactly it expires so I can note it on my calendar (a week prior) and cancel it. I do recall ONE rep who made it very clear when the offer expires and told me "make sure you call before ... to cancel this if you don't want to keep it".

I make sure my customers know when it the freebies expire as well because I hate the phone calls about how their bill went up without knowing it. Most people just forget. For Dish, it's actually a smart way to get some extra revenue. I tell people to go online and set up an account with Dish, from there you can set your promotions to stop after the free period. This way you don't have to remember.

 

[oldengineer]

I believe that if you have an online account you can choose what to do when a special expires. One of the advantages of having one.

 

[ZachS@DISH]

OP has sent me a PM and I will be assisting him with this.

 

[dishcomm]

I wish when Dish network promise you something they would keep their word. I got my mom to switch from Time Warner to Dish network in March. Dish said by the the 3rd billing cycle the bill would drop to $53.99 for the first year and would go up to 88.99 for the second year. I was expecting in June and July the we would be charged the 53.99 but instead her debit card was charged an average of 90 Dollars. Now i going to have to spend my time talking to someone overseas who i can barely understand trying to correct this when i would rather be doing something else. And I bet it still won't get corrected.

Not to be a wise guy here but "gosh. No? Really?..
One thing I ran into in my years of installing is the incredible number of customers who thought the large number on the ad they got in the mail would be the amount of the monthly bill.
They did not read the details. Such as , additional cost for premiums. Additional monthly fees for equipment, taxes, etc.
There is not such thing as 'free'...

 

[dishcomm]

Dish chose to have the system set up this way. There's NO reason they can't have them turned off automatically when the promotion ends. Instead, they go the "auto-renew" route, which I'll bet for 50% of customers, they feel tricked or deceived. Face it, most people will take something for free, even temporarily...

Anytime they offer me a free trial or promotion, I ask when exactly it expires so I can note it on my calendar (a week prior) and cancel it. I do recall ONE rep who made it very clear when the offer expires and told me "make sure you call before ... to cancel this if you don't want to keep it".

It's a concept known as "negative response"..It is in simple terms, a sales tactic. The vendor is banking on the customer felling as though they must have these services, and as such will begin paying for them without even thinking about it.
"Aw hell, I gotta keep HBO( or other premium). I can't not watch these movies( or shows)"....And the result is that the customer pays for the services.

 

[Gobucks]

I think I have about a month or two left on my promo. When I signed up here through DIRT. Matt explained everything to me and explained that the my premiums will expire and when. He even explained when my promo pricing would end. I took the advice of pretty much everyone here and ordered through DIRT. They are the best of the best. I had a great installer too. He went over everything too.

I know not everyone is the same but I did my homework before I ordered DISH. I am glad I found this site. Most people here are very helpful. It's to bad that the people on the phone aren't as good as they are here.

 

[stardust3]

For example, a new customer with the 90 day freebies & autopay. If a person waits till near the end of the promo to cancel the freebies. They will get billed for that billing cycle & then credited back the following bill cycle.

To me that is a problem. Many people use debit cards for autopay & that extra unexpected charge can throw peoples budgets out of whack. It creates more problems than it is worth.

I fully disclose these details with all my customers & for that reason alone many will not take advantage of the free movies.

 

[baydog]

I'm the OP. I got an email from a DIRT member that cleared it up in my mind. I didn't calculate the DVR service fee, the joey's fee and the service protection plan fee. All those fees added $31 to the bill. I'm guessing i wasn't expecting fees to add up to that much. All apologies to Dish.

 

[Tampa8]

You're not alone. Many never thought fees would add up to what they do!


?You used to be able to go online and check off you did not want to continue after the free or 1/2 price period. Is that still an option?

 

[TNGTony]

Fees are what's killing me right now. I understand your pain.

 

[stardust3]

Fees are exactly why I only have 1 722 on my account.

 

[catnap1972]

Come on now...Dish has NO hidden fees and the deals last like forever! The commercials said so!