i've heard of people goping around with a Dish remote and pressing "1" and Select as they drive by. Kinda like a drive-by but it's your pocketbook that gets drilled.
Dish Randomly Decided I Ordered Almost $40 Worth of PPV, Which I Didn't
- Thread starter HanoverPretzel
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Thanks.
That's true.
Main reason I pointed it out is because a lot of people here gave me grief when I complained about the price hike in the first year of my contract despite the advertising listing a first year price in big lettering. People said I was being unfair to criticize the move and Dish was legally justified in doing it. Well, people sued and Dish settled with them. So, Dish's lawyers must not have thought winning in court was a slam dunk. Of course, I took a small credit and am thus not eligible to participate in the settlement. But my point remains.
People cite that case a lot as an example of a frivolous lawsuit, and it does seem frivolous on the face of it, until you know the details. McDonald's purposely brewed their coffee far hotter than any home coffee maker did as a matter of corporate policy, so much hotter than people would expect. There is a trail of documents that came to light that showed they knew it was dangerous and didn't care. Then this lady spilled the coffee and it caused really bad burns that forced her to go to the hospital and get skin tissue grafts on her thighs and in some other areas- $40,000 in medical bills, not counting pain and suffering and any long term issues that may have forced her to live with. I'm sure most people wouldn't think spilling coffee would result in that type of horrific damage and surgeries upon surgeries and skin grafts, and, normally it wouldn't- unless a certain fast food chain brewed their coffee much much hotter than was standard or safe.
So, her lawyer went to McDonald's and said "Listen, can you just agree to pay for my client's medical bills and we'll settle this. 40k will bankrupt my client, but is a drop in the bucket for McDonald's.". McDonald's said no. Then it went to trial and the lady won millions. But the millions were mostly what are known as punitive damages-- i.e. designed to give corporations a financial disincentive to pull this sort of stuff in the future. For example, if McDonald's wants to make a hamburger that burns through people's throats and damages the back of their eyeballs, they might hesitate to bring it to market after this verdict.
If the court had just given the woman 40k, it wouldn't have bothered McDonald's or effected their future decisions much if at all. But they actually were presented the opportunity to just pay the medical bills instead and be done with it, and said no way.
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I never call and complain, but they charged me anyway. It just seems weird to me, that they list like 8 shows, but the receiver only shows one. you would think the receiver would have all of them listed. and they claimed it was both receiver that ordered them. my 722 has been locked since the day it was installed and I am the only one that knows the pin for it. I am pretty disappointed with dish at the moment. my 140+ bill is now 200 this month. Might be time for a change, I was impressed with the Direct TV system my son got a couple weeks ago.
Pretzel - No need to apologize for or defend the posting of your annoyance and/or displeasure with a Dish screwup, especially if there are multiple screwups. Dish regular CSR's are notoriously inept. And, the company's confusing policies and antiquated data/billing systems only add to it.
OTOH, I am surprised that a DIRT member couldn't straighten it out, though. They are usually on top of every situation, and know the policy workarounds, if it comes to that. They are what all the CSR's should be.
One trick I used to use on my previous residential accounts, which were way before there was a DIRT, was to navigate to Technical Support, rather than Customer Support. They had the same ability to make account changes, but because they were just sharper-minded, they were better at it then the regular CSR's. I guess they were the equivalent of the DIRT, back then. I wonder if it's still that way? (It's not on the commercial side, sadly. But, the CSR's on the whole seem sharper than Residential. Not sharper than DIRT, though.)
OTOH, I am surprised that a DIRT member couldn't straighten it out, though. They are usually on top of every situation, and know the policy workarounds, if it comes to that. They are what all the CSR's should be.
One trick I used to use on my previous residential accounts, which were way before there was a DIRT, was to navigate to Technical Support, rather than Customer Support. They had the same ability to make account changes, but because they were just sharper-minded, they were better at it then the regular CSR's. I guess they were the equivalent of the DIRT, back then. I wonder if it's still that way? (It's not on the commercial side, sadly. But, the CSR's on the whole seem sharper than Residential. Not sharper than DIRT, though.)
By the way, for all those folks who were encouraging me to select "auto-pay" as a billing option in a previous thread, I think this is a good example of why I'm not not going to do it. It's much harder to get overcharges back once they fly out the door (So to speak) than before you pay them.
I found that out the hard way at a veterinarians office last summer. They gave me this huge bill as the appointment concluded and I was flustered and just paid it (And endured a lot of suffering as a result of the hit my budget took the next few months). I called the next day and wanted to talk about it, and they wouldn't even discuss it with me. In retrospect, I should have just declined to pull out my card and said "This is way more than I was expecting based on what you've charged me in previous years, I can't pay this, let's work something out.". Once they've got the money, it's much harder to get back. Beforehand, you've at least got a little leverage, because they know there's a chance you'll just shrug your shoulders and walk out (and as long as there's no physical merchandise involved, it's a civil matter- there are no debtor's prisons in America). On a related note, I'm switching vets.
It's much harder to get overcharges back once they fly out the door (So to speak) than before you pay them.I found that out the hard way at a veterinarians office last summer. They gave me this huge bill as the appointment concluded and I was flustered and just paid it (And endured a lot of suffering as a result of the hit my budget took the next few months). I called the next day and wanted to talk about it, and they wouldn't even discuss it with me. In retrospect, I should have just declined to pull out my card and said "This is way more than I was expecting based on what you've charged me in previous years, I can't pay this, let's work something out.". Once they've got the money, it's much harder to get back. Beforehand, you've at least got a little leverage, because they know there's a chance you'll just shrug your shoulders and walk out (and as long as there's no physical merchandise involved, it's a civil matter- there are no debtor's prisons in America). On a related note, I'm switching vets.
You mentioned before that you live in an apartment. No one was saying it could have been someone in your apartment, but someone adjacent to you, such as a UHF remote that happens to be on the same RF as yours. I'd still lock PPV just as an extra precaution if I were you.This isn't someone else in my home ordering PPV. I live by myself. It's just me and the dog. The dog isn't a big fan of cricket or hockey or whatever else they say I ordered.
and change to a different remote channel. most folks don't know that they are ones greater than 10. so pick like 15 or 16.
The NHL Center Ice package was added to his account in error. Since the NHL Center Ice package was added to the account in installments (equal payments over 4 months), only the first month's charge was noticed immediately. The Chat agent he spoke with zeroed out the first installment, and removed the NHL Center Ice package from his account. Today the remaining three installments were billed to the account. I was unable to zero out the charges yesterday evening because they were not reflected on his account. I have followed up on this issue and zeroed out the remaining installment charges.
Any ideas on how it got on his account in the first place? Just asking for the benefit of others in case someone ever comes across a similar situation.
Raymond, I think that you are an A-OK dude, regardless of what Matt says.
And here I thought I was being sneaky and getting all that PPV and putting it on someone else's account LOL. :haha:haha
:haha:haha
Checked my account today and it looks like the issue was resolved. Thanks to the dirt team members and some posters here for their help and advice.
Glad to have this issue over with, but, by way of feedback, phantom charges of that magnitude are not really something that should be occurring in the first place. It's a good thing I didn't set up auto-pay or I might have been out money I need for basic day to day living. There's probably someone out there wondering how he's going to feed his kids because Dish decided he ordered Center Ice and took the grocery money out of his bank account (Alright, that's worst case, but a lot of people do live hand to mouth these days due to the economy).
Glad to have this issue over with, but, by way of feedback, phantom charges of that magnitude are not really something that should be occurring in the first place. It's a good thing I didn't set up auto-pay or I might have been out money I need for basic day to day living. There's probably someone out there wondering how he's going to feed his kids because Dish decided he ordered Center Ice and took the grocery money out of his bank account (Alright, that's worst case, but a lot of people do live hand to mouth these days due to the economy).
not sure about the center ice thing but the PPV was probably a neighbor on the same remote frequency. it is changed on one of the setup screens. i can post more details after i get home, unless someone else wants to chime in...
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