Dish Protection Plan.... is my thinking wrong

It has nothing to do with being friendly or not, we are very friendly, it has everything to do with the cost of running the business. The labor rate hasn't changed in over 15 years (set by Dish network) still the same $69/hour it has been since the 90's. About 10 years ago (and things are more expensive now of course) my boss did a cost analysis on what it costs to roll a truck to a job. Just to get to the door, nothing more, is about $35 - $40. That doesn't include wages for the tech or any parts. If you figure about $30 for the tech (which actually costs the business about $40) that leaves very little profit margin to keep the lights on. We lose money when we roll on svc calls for our customers (we charge them $69), we certainly are not going to do that for someone who bought from our competition.

A lot of people think it is all one big happy family all sharing in the profits. That couldn't be farther from the truth. If you didn't come into our office or call our phone number that rings our office, you bought it from our competition and we didn't make a penny. So often people will see some flyer from some telemarketer and order their system from them, then when they need help, the telemarketer won't give them the time of day, so they walk into our shop expecting us to help them for free, because there is a "Dish" sign in our front yard. You can actually see steam come out of my bosses (the owner) ears every time this happens. We do every thing we can to try to get people to buy local and support a local business (and get good local support in the deal), they only find out what we were talking about after it is too late... (sorry, I know that was a bit of a tangent).

Compared to so many other svc industries, $99 is cheap. See if you can get a plumber or electrician (etc.) out for that much. The TV industry is weird, people think because they pay money every month for the programming, every thing else should be free. That is like saying, "I spend $200/month on gas, you should fix my car for free".

Anyway, $99 is not a ridiculous amount charged by companies trying to gouge you, (as a small local business) it is what we have to charge to be here for you.

I agree with everything said here, but the sad fact is that the perceived value of the satellite service call has been diminished by Dish and DirecTV when they run them really cheap or hand them out for free. Once something is free it's hard to get back from that in the uneducated customer's eyes.
 
I agree with everything said here, but the sad fact is that the perceived value of the satellite service call has been diminished by Dish and DirecTV when they run them really cheap or hand them out for free. Once something is free it's hard to get back from that in the uneducated customer's eyes.
If only customers thought about stuff first, rather than expect the hand out. Hell, I'm curious what percentage of people do not even want to troubleshoot over the phone and just want a tech... For free of course.
 
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So the PP is for home service calls and not replacing defective units? I have had one visit in probably 10 years or more. So if my Joey or Hopper unit bit the dust they would replace it for shipping only?
 
So the PP is for home service calls and not replacing defective units? I have had one visit in probably 10 years or more. So if my Joey or Hopper unit bit the dust they would replace it for shipping only?
It covers the cost of shipping and handling, however, without it if a leased receiver it is only the S&H. If an owned receiver and outside the warranty period, then it is something like $75 +$15S&H. So it depends on your situation
 
It covers the cost of shipping and handling, however, without it if a leased receiver it is only the S&H. If an owned receiver and outside the warranty period, then it is something like $75 +$15S&H. So it depends on your situation
Mine are leased, don't own any of the equipment. So basically I could cancel the PP since I haven't really used it in many years.
 
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