WOW! This is amazing, and obviously this issue had been brewing over the weekend, for so much talk about it here today. I myself raced home from work to check the forums, to see if anyone out there dealt with the same thing I dealt with at a job today.... a 942 upgrade that took FOUR HOURS because of this 'receiver audit'.
This customer started getting phone calls from the day he ordered (paid full price) the 942. He's been a customer for years, bought Dish at a kiosk at a fair for his 5th wheel. He liked it so much he got a 2nd receiver for his home, and Dish set it all up for him- they came out and installed a 2nd dish at his house and added a second receiver. Later, he upgraded- 3 ea. DP receivers, one of them a DVR (I'm not naming receivers or giving specifics for a reason, sorry). Dish came out and installed them in his house, left the 3rd one for him to put in his 5th wheel when he brings it out of storage, and they said they deactivated his 2 legacy receivers. Keep in mind that during ALL of this, Dish knew EXACTLY where one of these receivers was. He said he had called tech support for help twice while on the road in the past, and they said nothing at that time. He pays his month on a per year basis, and recently found out that he's been paying the extra receiver fees for his 2 retired boxes for nearly a year and a half. Of course he found this out by taking the phone call from the receiver audit team, and of course they will do nothing to credit him.
So, I get there this morning and have to hear all of this. Told him let's get the install done and we'll deal with receiver issues when I call in to activate the 942. We meant to deactivate both boxes at his house, being replaced by the 942, and of course, his 3rd box will stay in his 5th wheel, currently stowed away in storage. This didn't happen, as cust. svc could not deactivate old boxes, or activate the new one, and gave me 'that special number'.
Believe these posts when they say that the people at the audit dept. are extremely ice cold in their attitude. The customer (before I called audit) told me he felt like a crook after talking to these people before, and I shrugged it off... but oh my... they are like the Dish FBI or something. They told me that in order to activate the new receiver, I have to help them audit all receivers that the customer wishes to be on the acct, and any that were not active after the call will never again be able to be activated on his current acct.
I asked him why I've been dispatched by dish so many times in the past to put up a 2nd dish for a customer's vacation home or RV and that it was OK then, and he said that I have never been asked to do that! WOW!
Bottom line- he's paid cash for all his receivers, and now he's out 3. Customer is placing an ad for the sale of his brand new 942, and will be cancelling Dish.
There has got to be a reason they are being so aggressive with this. Oh yeah, and I asked the guy, "So way back when, when an installer hooked up my dish and gave me a tripod so that I could take my dish camping with me, I cannot do anymore?"
His reply, and I swear I am not making this up: "What's your name?" I told him. "What's your account number?" Just like a detective interrogating a suspect! I told him to take a hike! I did have to give my tech id to him to continue helping the customer. And this is the other reason I was in a hurry to get home. I wanted to see if I had service! All my receivers are here, I'm not worried about that, but I don't have phone jacks readily available for all 4 receiver locations, and I'm not about to rewire my house because of this. I don't understand. They've been activating customers' dual tuners for a year and a half with no phone at the house, and it's OK as long as the customer gives them 5 bucks a month. But if they are getting tough on this policy, aren't they going to be contradicting themselves when those customers get 'The Call' from the Dish Police?