Dish Network wants to steal my receiver

[paultx]

I'm finally fed up with Dish and I'm canceling it for good.

I had to buy my own HD receivers off Amazon since Dish was too cheap to upgrade the receivers I had since 2002. For some unexplained reason (most likely incompetence of the dish staff - what's new?) they have one of the receivers listed as leased. Now they are asking me to "return" it or pay a fee.

What an absurd. First they cheap out and force me to buy my own equipment. Now they want to steal it from me.

Has anyone experienced this awful yet not surprising situation with Dish?

 

[vaylon]

I had this happen several years ago with a 522? receiver.
It was a total pain in the butt but after I emailed them copies of the receipts and sent them a nasty letter, they left me alone.

 

[wmi]

Dish is not obligated to upgrade your receivers for free. Whether each of us like it or not, it really comes down to a "take it or leave it" deal

 

[NR2D]

I have had the same problem with 2 of my 3 receivers, Dish thought they were theirs. It took at least 1 year and several threats to cancel and emailing and FAXing receipts for the receivers several time to finally rectify the problem. I still a close watch on my account to insure the receivers don't mysteriously become Dish Network's property again.

 

[teachsac]

I emailed a copy of my receipt to ceo offices when I left. They said it was the clearest receipt they had seen. Changed the status and left me alone.

S~

 

[Jonhern]

I'm finally fed up with Dish and I'm canceling it for good.

I had to buy my own HD receivers off Amazon since Dish was too cheap to upgrade the receivers I had since 2002. For some unexplained reason (most likely incompetence of the dish staff - what's new?) they have one of the receivers listed as leased. Now they are asking me to "return" it or pay a fee.

What an absurd. First they cheap out and force me to buy my own equipment. Now they want to steal it from me.

Has anyone experienced this awful yet not surprising situation with Dish?

You don't have to prove it to them, they have to prove it to you. If it is leased they will have a signed contract, tell them to produce it or to leave you alone. If they don't and they keep bugging you say you will sue.

 

[navychop]

They'll find it easier just to charge you. And don't hope for much help from your AG. And of course, it will cost you more to sue than you're ever likely to get.

Just another reason to just lease.

 

[Jonhern]

They'll find it easier just to charge you. And don't hope for much help from your AG. And of course, it will cost you more to sue than you're ever likely to get.

Just another reason to just lease.

You can usually seek 10 times the amount in a lawsuit, small claims does not cost that much and you don't need a lawyer, if they don't show up you automatically win plus they will have to pay all the court costs since they will lose because they won't have any proof the receiver is leased.

And yeah, i would contact the AG first, they have consumer divisions, and i disagree, they will help. I am just sick of seeing these threads come up, seems like they do this on purpose, not to mention people returning leased receivers, or exchange, and they charge them claiming they never received it, so you are not out of the woods if you lease. Sad that some people just give up and pay them. They better hope they don't try this on me, because i will not just sue but file a class action. The last two times i returned a defective receiver the manager at ups saw that it was a dish box and came form the back saying "make sure you give him a receipt, dish claims they don't receive them all the time". Seems to be company policy to extort money from their costumers.

 

[tomcrown1]

You don't have to prove it to them, they have to prove it to you. If it is leased they will have a signed contract, tell them to produce it or to leave you alone. If they don't and they keep bugging you say you will sue.

How about a class action suit?

Boy to be a lawyer for Dish, it will make you rich even thou your incompetent.

 

[Rey]

I had this happen several years ago with a 522? receiver.
It was a total pain in the butt but after I emailed them copies of the receipts and sent them a nasty letter, they left me alone.

I emailed a copy of my receipt to ceo offices when I left. They said it was the clearest receipt they had seen. Changed the status and left me alone.

S~

this also happened with my vip 211. emailed them paypal receipts and that was the end of that issue. always keep your receipts for these types of purchases

 

[yaz96]

Dish is not obligated to upgrade your receivers for free. Whether each of us like it or not, it really comes down to a "take it or leave it" deal

huh? You might try reading the original post before responding.

 

[navychop]

It is my understanding that the majority of awards in Small Claims are never collected. Good luck with your AG, we'll agree to disagree. And it's FAR easier to throw around the words "class action" than to actually get one going.

And thru personal experience, I know you can get the specific amount owed to you, but your costs to recover are yours to bear.

 

[SatelliteTelevision2]

I have not heard of that issue before, but not much surprises me when dealing with customer service reps that are not well trained. Definitely if you have the receipt from your equipment purchase or your your original paperwork from dish, you should have had to sign for any original equip and they would have to supply you with the document that has your signature on the page with the equipment serial numbers... hope that helps!

 

[Jonhern]

It is my understanding that the majority of awards in Small Claims are never collected. Good luck with your AG, we'll agree to disagree. And it's FAR easier to throw around the words "class action" than to actually get one going.

And thru personal experience, I know you can get the specific amount owed to you, but your costs to recover are yours to bear.

I know a lot of lawyers and judges, i interned with a judge in small claims one summer, and another with RI legal services which dealt a lot with small claims of renters against landlords. If you win the case and ask for it the losing party has to pay for court costs. and you are right, they are not always collected, but that is usually from individuals, a company like dish can't claim they can't pay for whatever reason.

And from experience, a simple contact from BBB or the AG, when you are in the right, is enough to make most companies back off.

 

[Stargazer]

You don't have to prove it to them, they have to prove it to you. If it is leased they will have a signed contract, tell them to produce it or to leave you alone. If they don't and they keep bugging you say you will sue.

A lot of people have leased receivers shipped to them and agree to the contract and disclosures over the phone without a signed contract. They probably keep a recording of you agreeing to it over the phone.

 

[finniganps]

It is my understanding that the majority of awards in Small Claims are never collected. Good luck with your AG, we'll agree to disagree. And it's FAR easier to throw around the words "class action" than to actually get one going.

And thru personal experience, I know you can get the specific amount owed to you, but your costs to recover are yours to bear.

In CA, the prevailing party in small claims cost does typically also recover the filing fees as well...so your time is the main thing you can't recover for here.

 

[Jonhern]

A lot of people have leased receivers shipped to them and agree to the contract and disclosures over the phone without a signed contract. They probably keep a recording of you agreeing to it over the phone.

they told me they can't ship out new leased boxes, a tech has to come out and install them. I assumed this was because they would need to get the lease agreement signed.

 

[SandFarmer]

When I upgraded I had a 625 and 510 that were mine that the Tech tried get out the door very quickly with them. When I confronted him he told me that he had to take them as an exchange that I would own the new boxes, a 722 and 625. They would not let me put the old 625 in place of the 510. It had to be a new one.

I called DISH and was told that he did not take the boxes. WRONG! I said. Then it was "he was not suppose to" and I would not own the new boxes. I said I wanted them back and was told that couldn't be done. I said call the truck, have the guy turn around and bring them back. I was told that couldn't be done. I then told the rep that I had to excuse myself because I was going to call the police and report that they were stolen. The rep perked up and told me that would not be necessary. I asked what were they going to do then? Nothing. Called the guy an A$$ and started dialing on my other line. He yelled for me to stop, which I did and he tried to clam me down, I was livid to say the least. But he never offered anything to replace the two stone boxes or remedy the situation. I finally told him is was tired of the BS and was calling to cops. He asked if I could hold on for a moment and put me on hold. A couple of minute later he came back and said that he could credit my account for the price of the boxes if I could send them a copy of the receipt. I told him I could do one better and eMail him a PDF of it since it was in PDF form. Oh no, he could not do it that way. I said OK, I was calling the Cops. Then it was OK for me to eMail it. I wanted to make sure that it all got taken care of right there an then. Once they get you off the phone records that agreements tend to disappear. He received the PDF and did a bunch of typing and said that it would show on my account within the week. I then proceeded to thank him and get all his info and told him that if it was not posted to my account within the week that I would be filing a theft report and naming him as a accomplice. I was energetically guaranteed that it would post. And lucky for him/them it did. So at least I got my money back on the original investment.

I am so disgusted with DISH these days, that every time I think of them or see one of their commercials I get nauseous. Now if they would only fix my dish's that they installed and are falling off my chimney. DISH says that they can't get on my roof where they put them because of OSHA. OSHA says Bullsh^t.

 

[Zero327]

I know a lot of lawyers and judges, i interned with a judge in small claims one summer, and another with RI legal services which dealt a lot with small claims of renters against landlords. If you win the case and ask for it the losing party has to pay for court costs. and you are right, they are not always collected, but that is usually from individuals, a company like dish can't claim they can't pay for whatever reason.

And from experience, a simple contact from BBB or the AG, when you are in the right, is enough to make most companies back off.

Got news for you. When you're dealing with Charlie, you're NEVER in the right...

 

[wmi]

huh? You might try reading the original post before responding.

I took it that the OP was upset that "cheap Dish" wouldn't upgrade his current receivers to HD receivers for free and that's why he bought them off Amazon. Maybe I was wrong.

I don't have too much of a problem with Dish charging to upgrade SD receivers to HD receivers. That is something that the customer is choosing to do.

Now, I do have a problem when they add locals channels in HD but put them on a different sat that the customer doesn't receive and wants to charge the customer to come out and set them up with the right dish(es). If you search the threads, this appears to have happened to some customers in the past and to me that's not right. Dish chose to put the channels on that sat, not the customer.