Dish Network double bills customer an extra $2,000

[rad]

From Dish Network double-billing - chicagotribune.com

"By the time Heather Hampton and her husband realized what was going on, Dish Network had double-charged them for 27 months of service, or roughly $2,000 in extra payments."

...

"Hampton said she and her husband, Justen, had been trying since late August to get the money back. At first, Dish Network representatives promised a refund within a week or two. But after hearing the same promise for months and not seeing a penny, the couple grew angrier.

In late December, Heather Hampton called Dish Network again and was told by a customer service agent she probably was out of luck.

"He said he'd seen this before," Hampton said. "He said 'it's been too long, I can't by law refund your money.' "

Money was finally refunded after the Tribune made some calls.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

They didn't notice they were getting double billed for 27 months?

Something wrong with that.

 

[Weezknight]

They didn't notice they were getting double billed for 27 months?

Something wrong with that.

As someone who does volunteer credit counseling, you'd be amazed how many people just "write the check" every month without looking over their bills, etc. It's very frightening!

 

[rad]

My monther hasn't balanced her check book in ages. She just looks at the ending balance and if it's around the same as the beginning she doesn't worry since here income and expenses are about the same every month.

 

[ENDelt260]

No such thing as bad publicity?

 

[Derwin0]

They didn't notice they were getting double billed for 27 months?

Something wrong with that.

Probably on autopay, so they didn't pay attention. I've had something like that happen with my cellphone once, where a 3rd party biller put a charge on it for about 6 months til I noticed it. Wound up having Sprint block all 3rd party charges.

 

[Bobby]

My monthly bill is $125. If I saw $250 coming out of my account each month I'd notice.

 

[AriesGodofWar]

To be honest, I am one of those. I am signed up on Autopay and place all my bills on the same credit card, which I subsequently pay off each month. I do go over the credit card statement each month to ensure I do not see any glaring issues, however, I could easily see how if someone did not, they could just write a check.

That is a bit like blaming the victim here saying that they should have reviewed their statement. Yes, they should have, but that does not excuse being overbilled and then Dish refusing to promptly provide reimbursement. The BS about the "law" preventing them from returning the funds is just that, BS. If the subscriber had not authorized the double deduction, it is no different than if Dish stole from them. Once pointed out, Dish should have rectified the error immediately.

 

[TommyHawk]

They were either being double billed or had one too many Duo-Tuner DVR Receivers!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

No Dish is to blame here, that is very clear... I am just surprised that it took the customers 24 months to notice.

Hell when I go to McDonnalds and charge the meal to my credit card my wife gives me hell if the amount is 20 cents more then when I told her.

 

[whatchel1]

You married Who

No Dish is to blame here, that is very clear... I am just surprised that it took the customers 24 months to notice.

Hell when I go to McDonnalds and charge the meal to my credit card my wife gives me hell if the amount is 20 cents more then when I told her.

What did you marry Attila the accountant.

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

Sometimes I wonder.

We took my dad to the casino this weekend... My wife gave us all money to go gamble, so I walked out with what I walked in with which was cool, now my wife wants to take the money back from me which I dont think is right, and my thinking was I should have just blown the money in the casino to have a better time.

 

[Jim5506]

Perhaps a suit in small claims court, or is there too much money involved here?

 

[navychop]

It's being resolved, no need to go to court.

Bean Counters Forever!

 

[Stargazer]

They probably do this on random accounts to see what they can get away with. Just like how these stores such as Wal-Mart overcharges you for items constantly. It is kind of funny how the majority of errors is an overcharge, not an undercharge, so I do not think that is a coincidence.

 

[papalittle]

I have a customer right who is experiencing something like this. They are bundled with Windstream. They received a bill this month from both Windstream and from Dish. Told them to contact dish now before they get totally screwed.

 

[dishcomm]

As someone who does volunteer credit counseling, you'd be amazed how many people just "write the check" every month without looking over their bills, etc. It's very frightening!

Oh yeah!!! People are so inattentive to their finances.
They see a bill and they "just pay it".
It is possible this customer was auto pay.
That "you're probably out of luck" stament by the Dish CSR would have sent me in orbit.
Heads would have rolled if it were I.
We have the power of the media, who love these kinds of stories and the BBB on our side.
I once had a CSR at the former MBNA tell me "it is what it is" when I queried about an arbitrary interest rate increase.
I let that bitch have it with both barrels.
THen I got her supervisor on the phone. And let him have it.
I have been in customer service in one form or another for 25 years.
If there is one thing that sets me off is poor customer service or the words "I can't".....GRRRRRRRR

 

[Bob Haller]

Charlies new fee system Take bill, now double it! Its not enough but will have to do for now.

If this happened to me I would go ranting and raving at the mc keesport call center... but its closing.

Did E give them something for their aggravation?

 

[Stargazer]

They gave me a few free ppv coupons once for the aggervation when they done it to me.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I know DISH Networks billing system and the story doesn't pan out! I think its impossible for a customer to get charged twice on the same account because if DISH Network would have seen the double payments posted to the account they would have refunded the money without an issue.

I think what happened here is that the customer had 2 accounts. They probably called in and did an upgrade or something and didn't want to pay any money out of pocket and the retailer or whoever they talked to built a brand new account for them instead.

Since the first one was on Auto-pay with paperless billing, nobody realized it existed to call in to cancel it.

With 2 seperate accounts, and after 27 months of continous payments its logical that DISH Network would not do anything to re-imburse the customer because there are people with Vacation homes who have 2 accounts.

If there are 2 accounts, the programmers still need to be paid for their programming on that 2nd account and I do think there is a certain point where the customer needs to take responcibility for making sure they are billed the correct amount each and every month.

Now that the customer decided to be a smart ass and switch to Comcast, I doubt DISH Network will send them a refund check and will probably just issue a credit on their account.