Has Dish network improved.....

Hemi 6.1 said:

I was born and Raised in East Stroudsburg Pa , about 5 minutes from Shawnee. My Aunts and Uncles owned Sunset Hill resort , off MT. Nebo Road. The Heart of Shawnee.
This place used to be way better , Untill all the NY and NJ city folks moved in and destroyed it. Now its all Built up, Crime is out of control. Its to bad ! Poconos where at one time one of the nicest places in the USA. History is all thats left.

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Ate dinner in East Stroudsburg Thursday night Hemi. I could tell that it used to be a great place; took a trolley tour and heard a lot about the history of the place and the stars that used to go there. Still beautiful, but I did have the feeling that Shawnee's best days were in the past.

Yep. Poconos and Borscht Belt are no longer desired destinations. Even with red heart shaped tubs.

Well, this discussion got off topic pretty darn quick!!

I voted that they had improved, and I think by quite a bit. Especially with the addition of the online chat. Not only is that easy, it also gives you a record of what transpired so that if something doesn't go right, you have a way of proving that isn't what was supposed to happen.

Today was a good example. I came back to Dish after visiting the big D darkside for a couple years, just a couple months ago. I was using online chat to try to get the CW via satellite (which is not gonna happen for me), and I casually asked how much adding an SDDVR installed would cost and when that would be billed.

He said, no problem, no charge for either the equipment or install, just month rent and dvr fee and that pesky connection charge (more on that), I said let's do it, so tomorrow they will.

About that connection fee. I don't have a home landline, only cell phone. With my 722k, I just use the network connection, but the 625 doesn't have that. So now what?

lparsons21 said:

About that connection fee. I don't have a home landline, only cell phone. With my 722k, I just use the network connection, but the 625 doesn't have that. So now what?

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Call Dish and have them designate the 625 as your primary receiver...which does not require phone connection, or so I recall.

KAB said:

Call Dish and have them designate the 625 as your primary receiver...which does not require phone connection, or so I recall.

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I thought they all required a connection, perhaps I'm wrong. Once the install is done, I'll hammer it out with Dish to see what I can do. Thanks for the suggestion, it may be the way to go.

I have been Dish customer almost 10 years and we Alaskans have always known that Dish does not want really to be involved with our problems. Calls to customer service has ended "No, we don't provide that service to Alaskans" and sometimes even asking if Alaska is foreign country.

Things have changed in past 12 months since Direct started providing HD service for Alaskans and I know many people who switched overnight to Direct. See, for long time Dish was only Satellite provider in Alaska. No competition.

Now when you go to local store 90% of them have switched to selling Direct equipment only and I think losing customers got Dish worried. I never though switching to Direct because I knew that Dish will put satellite up soon or later and 129w was the answer to our prayers.

I really felt improved customer service some months ago when I called about my receiver and THEY OFFERED FREE REPLACEMENT. That has never been option to Alaskans. There is also local sub-contracted installer company representing Dish Network. They also provide dish move.

I feel that service is getting better. However, since I fix my stuff myself it is not really big deal to me, but maybe one day I will need help.

I must have really bad luck dealing with CSR's. Anytime I need to call, it is usually after hours and I ALWAYS get someone who can't speak English properly. I have called during regular business hours a few times and maybe 50% of the time I get someone who can speak English. I complained to a CSR (who spoke English) about this a couple of weeks ago and she gave me a special number to call from now on that went straight to their Colorado offices and not overseas. I call that number now but still sometimes get someone who can't speak English. Maybe there are in the USA but that doesn't mean they can speak English properly. So now I use chat most of the time. That is less frustrating and I get my business taken care off easier and quicker than I would calling, and I have a copy of the full transcript.

I've learned to call in the 'right' hours and if you speak very nicely to them (I.E. Play dumb) and prod them along with suggestions you can generally get what you want.

I always time what I really want after a few other things and immediately after a compliment. Then it's a 'Oh by the way......'

Works for me. :

KAB said:

Call Dish and have them designate the 625 as your primary receiver...which does not require phone connection, or so I recall.

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+1----TRUE!:up

Ed

Let me say, that for the last 2 quarters, especially this quarter, Dish has been in major butt-licking mode, BIG TIME. For one, CSR's et al. are extremely polite as of late and sound sincere in trying to solve a problem, or keep your business. I had called over a year ago to upgrade my aunt to HD, she was just on month away from the 1 upgrade per 1 year rule, but she really wanted HD now that she bought the HDTV: she was ready to spend the $$$ big time, NOW!. The Exec Off CSR really had a STINKY attitude, and just said, "No." I asked what we could do to get her HD today, just a mere month early of the rule. "Nothing," he said. And dead silence. "Isn't there something we do, like make an exception considering she is an AEP?" "No." Silence again. "Well," I said. "You can call back in 3 weeks," he suggested. Fine. Goodbye. So, Dish didn't want her $$$ for that extra month. That is how bad even the CEO CSR's were, and I won't get into the snotty and accusatory attitude I got from an Exec Off CSR in trying to persuade her that the 301's they demand back were purchased (JVC brand) at Sears. Man she was nasty and I was PO'd, but I had the sales receipts, but she just about accused me of LYING because she believes everything she sees on her computer.

I know of some recent upgrades for friends of mine, and they were able to get Dish to come down on the upgrade price and throw in a few freebies. They were very pleased. They were trying to bargain with Dish because they thought there particular upgrades with several STB's were just too much and more than they can afford. It was great to hear Dish came through and now Dish has at least 2 more HD subs with monthly bills that have increased quite a bit.

This is far different from a few years ago when if called Dish and said you were unhappy or felt upgrade was too high or told that a competitor has a better offer, what can Dish do, you were pretty much invited to cancel your subscription and get lost.

Also, they immediatly took the HD Platinum $10 charge OFF my bill, no questions or the least bit of attitude. They just did it. Great! However, Dish is shady for not doing this for all subs automatically without subs having to call in since this is the new price structure. They used to do this, but not anymore, apparently.

It seems the word has come from high--Charlie himself--who used to be rated #1 in CS. Not for some years, at least not from JD Powers. Keep up the butt licking; you will get better quarters for the effort.

USA CSR

The last 3 times that I have called in were all to call centers here in the states. So yes I think that things are getting better. Sure beats the calls that I have had to make to Micro-soft and talk to some one in India, Banladesh & Pakistan. Some smart people over there but hard to communicate with them at times.

I recently returned to Dish a couple of months ago. The initial order got a little messed up, but the right equipment was on the truck so the install went fine. The installer was good, I was/am pleased.

Then the other day I wondered about adding another DVR for my son's tv. Did the online chat, found out it was fine, install and equipment free, and it could be done the following morning. I didn't expect that. I figured I'd get charged something upfront, but no, even within 2 months of signing up, I could do one upgrade for free. Very nice and appreciated.

Since the install, I've had the installers main office call to ensure all went well, Dish called to check on that same thing. This is very good. I'm seeing/hearing an attitude change at Dish and it is very welcome. This is really nice when compared to D*, no free upgrade unless you say the right encantation to ensure getting a CSR to get a free upgrade at the end of the 2 year contract.

Good moves and changes on Dish's part, imo.

If DISH would get rid of the overseas CSR's completely, I think that they would be back on top as far as customer service goes. That's the only reason I ever dread calling them because I always seem to get an overseas CSR that I cannot understand and vice-versa.

I called Dish once and used the online chat twice in the past year--I know that the call was to someone in the US and the online chats had amazingly competent customer service reps on the other end. Each call/chat completely addressed what I was contacting Dish about and I was completely satisfied each time...amazing customer service! Maybe I was just lucky, but that was my experience.

Three years ago I had to contact Dish about an issue and it required *three* calls to eventually fix my problem. The odd thing was that I believe that only one CSR that I talked with was from overseas, and that was the person that was able to address my problem successfully!

So, I voted "yes" in the poll. I couldn't compare Dish service to DirecTV because I haven't had DirecTV since 2002 and didn't think that it would be fair to compare with such old data.

Much better!

Hemi 6.1 said:

How many feel dish network has improved with its customer service in the past year?
Please explain how.
How do you feel Dish compairs with D* and Cable?

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I dont call much these days...But when I do I get an American VOICE!

Not that the outsourced call centers dont try. The American call centers seem to
get the nuonce of how to deal with us.

Its immproved no doubt!

These guys suck. I was told I could get Showtime On Demand if I upgraded my DVR to their new DVR. Well, I did it and now I'm stuck with no Showtime On Demand and they pushed my contract date out an additional 2 years. I'm about ready to pay the cancel fee and send their crap back. They don't know what they're doing up there!