Dish Network takes me to the cleaners

[thestundons]

So for over a year I had DirecTV. Never a problem. Upgraded from an HD receiver to and HD DVR. Shortly after which, I saw a commercial for Dish Network Turbo HD. "Wow I can save about $50 a month" I thought to myself. So I cancelled our DirecTV service and sent back the receiver. Everything cleared fine and I ordered Dish Network. That's when it all went downhill.

Barely a month after subscribing, on 10/17/2008, our ViP211k went out. The HDMI output quit working, and I had to run the receiver through our DVD player just to watch TV. It looked terrible. I called Dish Network, and they sent out a replacement. This one did a LITTLE better for us, until 01/11/2009 when this one did THE EXACT SAME THING.

Lucky for me, Dish was running a promotion where you can upgrade to an HD DVR for $25. Since I had already had two faulty receivers, they upgraded me for free. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. On 01/25/2009 this receiver went out as well. It would power on, start aqquiring the signal, and shut off on stage 3 of 5. Repeatedly. I tried plugging it directly into the wall, it did the same thing. I tried a different room of the house. Same problem. They sent me a replacement. This time, the receiver lasted only a few DAYS. On 02/01/2009 I told the tech department online about my problem, and they sent out a service tech. FINALLY our problem was fixed. All the connections from the dish to the receiver were replaced. FINALLY I can enjoy my satellite tv, right? WRONG.

On 03/03/2009 I got online to check my statement to see what our new monthly bill would be. On our account was a $350 charge for a damaged ViP622. IMMEDIATELY I called in to find out what had happened. Apparently, the third receiver I had sent out came in with some sort of "infestation" and I was being charged for the price of the receiver. For some reason, of the FOUR FAULTY RECEIVERS I had, only the third one returned came back with an "infestation". Not the first two, and not the one after. Just the third one. Am I the only one who feels like I'm getting the short end of the stick here? Does anyone else feel like the big corporations are sticking it to the little guy once again?

What bothers me most about this, is that of the two we sent back to DirecTV, there were no issues of "infestation" nor was there an issue on the OTHER THREE FAULTY RECEIVERS FROM DISH NETWORK that we sent back. We have two small children both under two years old, which means our house is spotless. My wife is most certainly a neat freak, vacuuming several times a week and making sure everything shines like new. This is not only an outrage to me but a grave insult to my wife as well.

We sent out a letter the same day to the address I was given :

Dispute Resolutions
P.O. Box 9040
Littletown, CO 80120

Still we have not heard back. No call, no e-mail, no letter, just a bill. It's been over two weeks and we've heard nothing. Please, if anyone out there has had this happen to them share your stories or any bit of help you can offer. I'd like to continue paying $40 a month for service, but will be more than willing to double that for some respect.

 

[whatchel1]

CEO time

So for over a year I had DirecTV. Never a problem. Upgraded from an HD receiver to and HD DVR. Shortly after which, I saw a commercial for Dish Network Turbo HD. "Wow I can save about $50 a month" I thought to myself. So I cancelled our DirecTV service and sent back the receiver. Everything cleared fine and I ordered Dish Network. That's when it all went downhill.

Barely a month after subscribing, on 10/17/2008, our ViP211k went out. The HDMI output quit working, and I had to run the receiver through our DVD player just to watch TV. It looked terrible. I called Dish Network, and they sent out a replacement. This one did a LITTLE better for us, until 01/11/2009 when this one did THE EXACT SAME THING.

Lucky for me, Dish was running a promotion where you can upgrade to an HD DVR for $25. Since I had already had two faulty receivers, they upgraded me for free. Unfortunately, I was not so lucky. On 01/25/2009 this receiver went out as well. It would power on, start aqquiring the signal, and shut off on stage 3 of 5. Repeatedly. I tried plugging it directly into the wall, it did the same thing. I tried a different room of the house. Same problem. They sent me a replacement. This time, the receiver lasted only a few DAYS. On 02/01/2009 I told the tech department online about my problem, and they sent out a service tech. FINALLY our problem was fixed. All the connections from the dish to the receiver were replaced. FINALLY I can enjoy my satellite tv, right? WRONG.

On 03/03/2009 I got online to check my statement to see what our new monthly bill would be. On our account was a $350 charge for a damaged ViP622. IMMEDIATELY I called in to find out what had happened. Apparently, the third receiver I had sent out came in with some sort of "infestation" and I was being charged for the price of the receiver. For some reason, of the FOUR FAULTY RECEIVERS I had, only the third one returned came back with an "infestation". Not the first two, and not the one after. Just the first one. Am I the only one who feels like I'm getting the short end of the stick here? Does anyone else feel like the big corporations are sticking it to the little guy once again?

What bothers me most about this, is that of the two we sent back to DirecTV, there were no issues of "infestation" nor was there an issue on the OTHER THREE FAULTY RECEIVERS FROM DISH NETWORK that we sent back. We have two small children both under two years and, which means our house is spotless. My wife is most certainly a neat freak, vacuuming several times a week and making sure everything shines like new. This is not only an outrage to me but a grave insult to my wife as well.

We sent out a letter the same day to the address I was given :

Dispute Resolutions
P.O. Box 9040
Littletown, CO 80120

Still we have not heard back. No call, no e-mail, no letter, just a bill. It's been over two weeks and we've heard nothing. Please, if anyone out there has had this happen to them share your stories or any bit of help you can offer. I'd like to continue paying $40 a month for service, but will be more than willing to double that for some respect.

PM me or probably Scott and get the phone number for the exec office then call and press them about what the "infestation" was. It may have nothing to do w/ how clean the house is. If you stored the box say in the garage a bug may have paid eggs. Then before it arrived at warehouse they hatched. It also sounds like you may have power problems at you house.

 

[thestundons]

I sent you a PM and greatly appreciate the help you've given me thus far. Unfortunately I can not find Scott on here as I'm new to this site, but I anxiously await any more help you can give me in reference to the PM sent. Thank you so much for your help.

 

[thestundons]

Problem Solved

16 days after sending out the first letter, a week after sending out the e-mail, and one day after posting a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, Denver, we received a phone call from Dish Corporate informing us that we would be credited back the amount of $350 but if another receiver was found to have an "infestation" that we would not be able to dispute the charge again. It's disappointing that it took this much of my time and effort to resolve the issue.

 

[Need]

It could be something like this:

TechEBlog Giant Ant Farm

 

[chainblu]

This whole "infestation" thing seems to pop up way more often than it should. You are not the first poster with this complaint.

It sounds like bs to me. That's right, bS!

I think somewhere along the line (bact to Dish), somehow your receiver was lost or damaged and someone is trying to cover their ass at your expense. If there was some way to track all of these "infestation" claims, it wouldn't surprise me if the same person was initiating them.

 

[TheWGP]

This is one good reason I take detailed pictures of all equipment I send back or take back to any company - they can't dispute condition if you have proof. With digital nowadays, it's no big deal to just hang on to the pictures for a few months to make sure everything went through okay. Same thing works well for rebate forms and such - you only print out the copy if you need it.

I also have pictures of my Dish setup and such, just in case I have a dish/receiver problem and some tech gets a TC and comes by to destroy stuff... apparently similar things have happened several times in my area, according to a neighbor. But maybe I'm just being paranoid ^^;

 

[navychop]

Seriously- you need to take a look at your power. Bad outlet connections, just a bad feed, etc etc. May be time for a good UPS/Line Filter. And I strongly suggest you get and maintain DHPP after the warranty period.

 

[klegg]

This is one good reason I take detailed pictures of all equipment I send back or take back to any company - they can't dispute condition if you have proof. With digital nowadays, it's no big deal to just hang on to the pictures for a few months to make sure everything went through okay. Same thing works well for rebate forms and such - you only print out the copy if you need it.

I also have pictures of my Dish setup and such, just in case I have a dish/receiver problem and some tech gets a TC and comes by to destroy stuff... apparently similar things have happened several times in my area, according to a neighbor. But maybe I'm just being paranoid ^^;

Do you take internal pics? Is there "warranty tape" on the box to indicate to them you've opened it up???

I'm just curious how you do it as this makes sense and I've never done it.

 

[xterra]

This is one good reason I take detailed pictures of all equipment I send back or take back to any company - they can't dispute condition if you have proof. With digital nowadays, it's no big deal to just hang on to the pictures for a few months to make sure everything went through okay. Same thing works well for rebate forms and such - you only print out the copy if you need it.

I also have pictures of my Dish setup and such, just in case I have a dish/receiver problem and some tech gets a TC and comes by to destroy stuff... apparently similar things have happened several times in my area, according to a neighbor. But maybe I'm just being paranoid ^^;

Just curious...why do you do business with a company if you feel this way?

 

[TheWGP]

As far as opening stuff up - usually, no. Generally, pictures of the outside in good condition are enough - it's not a major hassle, just probably three or four snaps showing everything's there, it works, etc... I wouldn't risk opening a device that has a high probability of needing service that I can't do myself (cable box, Dish receiver, 360) but I might open something like a Tivo, Wii or PS2 that are either more easy to replace or easier to service if you know what you're doing.

As far as doing business with companies... this is nothing specific about Dish, actually. Honestly, I would consider it a good idea to take pictures of anything you're about to send anywhere if its contents are at all important and/or the recipient has an interest in either not getting it or getting it in bad shape. Rebates are particularly notorious for this - they'll claim "you forgot something!" when you really didn't, just to avoid paying the rebate. However, problems can also arise when returning equipment or sending something to a buyer on Ebay - damage in shipment happens, warehouse damages happen, mix-ups and plain human errors happen. Who's responsible for such damages can vary depending on who paid for shipping, what the terms of the return/sale were, and so on; however, it always pays to have more information and proof. This has saved my butt at least twice: once when an ebay buyer claimed the item never arrived (photo of the box with prepaid postage label on it sufficed to win the dispute) and again when Charter tried to say I had returned my digital cable box broken (photo of the box prior to return proved the one they claimed was my broken one didn't even have the same serial number - someone had mixed them up!).

Anyhow, if you send in rebates, sooner or later you WILL need to produce proof that you submitted everything, properly done, in good shape, if you want your money. I would view returning equipment in much the same way. Further, the amount of time is not onerous - this is a reasonably uncommon task, and taking a few simple pictures is not difficult. If it potentially saves you hassle down the road, I think it's worth it to just hang on to those pictures for awhile to make sure everything goes down the way it's supposed to.

 

[andyin137]

This is why I placed my Dishnetwork account on a Credit Card that Is no biggie to cancel at my bank immediately(this card is used exclusively to pay dish .In order to keep dish from overcharging me or automatically charging me I have a set amount on this Card(usually 2 months worth of Dishnetwork Bills).So if I ever get into a situation where I have to send back anything to Dish they cant automatically charge me without my Consent.My Bank will not honor (or take out of any of my other accounts)if Dish Bill exceeds how much I have Credit I have on Card,they will just deny payment.My particular bank has had too many overcharges coming from Dish so they auctually encourage Customers to set this type of account up.This may seem dishonest but if Dish is going to make an excess charge they shouldnt be able to do it without your consent or approval,and definately not be able to automatically take it out of your account.The worst that will happen is they shut you off,but they know if they do this they may never get any money .Once you set up service and use a Credit Card and service is approved they cannot find out what your credit limit is on your account so just make sure that if you use autopay this is the Card you use.Good Luck and Sorry for your bad experience with Dish.Infestation claim is not right ,how do they know that this didnt occur (if at all) after it was sent out.

 

[ohioankev]

Just curious...why do you do business with a company if you feel this way?

Because any business can rip off a customer to help the bottom line. No company is exempt from greed. No government either. It's better to protect yourself then to leave yourself vulnerable.

I am going to say this.. I have seem to have gotten lucky about the infestation problem. I lived in a place that had a bad infestation problem and I know for a fact that they were in my 625 receiver at the beginning of 2008 but I moved last year from Ohio to California which took care of the "infestation" (the roaches eventually left the unit) and then moved back to Ohio in Oct. 2008, had my unit for about six more months before I upgraded to HD on 1/16/09. I haven't been charged a infestation fee for my unit yet and even recorded on VHS that my receiver was in working order (R00 and S00 numbers visible on the VHS tape, etc, playback of DVR program, recording of DVR program, and took pictures of said receiver with my cellphone before the installer switched it out and installed a 722) Just follow these rules with the DVR, keep it out in the open with good air flow, do not stack electronics on it and pretty much worship it as your queen and the unit should be fine unless its a manfacturing defect.

 

[thestundons]

Can't thank everyone enough for all the help they've offered and steps I can take to prevent this from happening again. You all seemed to be pretty well informed and have a lot of great ideas. I will certainly be documenting that everything is in working order before I ship it out if I decide to go back to DirecTV. Thanks to all!