Last Ditch Effort, Letter to ceo@dishnetwork.com

[AlaJoe]

I hate to bother you with this but I do not know where else to turn as I have exhausted all other channels that I know of. I have had Dish for the last year and would like to keep it but my problem is HD locals. I live in Birmingham Alabama and I understand I will not be able to get HD locals over the satellite even this year and I can live with that. I understand I can get HD locals OTA with an antenna that would work with a 622. This is where I have an issue. I watched the Charlie Chat in February where all the HD stuff was introduced and one of the things I remember Charlie saying was there would be an OTA antenna offered for about $50.00 for the markets that will not be able to get HD over the satellite. I have tried to order this three times. In each case I got a CSR that barely spoke English and had absolutely no clue what I was referring to. I also emailed Dish Network support threw the website and never got a response which leaves me where I am today. I now have to ask this Question:

Did I misunderstand Charlie in the Charlie Chat and there is not an OTA antenna offered for people like me?

I would really like to keep Dish and have a 622 DVR but more than any of the Voom channels I want HD locals and I do not care if they come OTA or satellite. If I misunderstood please let me know, if I did not please tell me what I have to do to order the 622 upgrade with an OTA antenna to get my locals in HD.

Being that I am sure I am not the only one that has encountered this issue I will be posting this email and your response on the satelliteguys.us web forum to let others know how to go about ordering the OTA antenna with their 622 for HD locals if that is in fact available.

As a footnote; I do not know how much money Dish is saving buy outsourcing the call center to India, Pakistan, the Philippines or wherever it is but I would gladly pay 1 or 2 dollars a month more for service if that would get me an American that speaks good clear proper English and knows the products and companies current offers in full detail.

My DN account number is 8255 90 901 XXXXXXX

 

[wobbie]

AlaJoe... have you looked in the phone book to see if there is a local retailer or dealer in your area that could help you out?? Maybe a little too simple.. but usually works.

 

[iceshark]

As for the OTA. I am doubtful a 50.00 antenna would surfice for you. I had Voom service 2 years ago and was lucky enough to get a channel master dual egg beater (250-275 buck antenaa) out of them. They 50 buck version will only work if you are right on the feed tower. Plus I have been told dish will NEVER be giving free OTA. But heck if Charlie said it, you have a valid reason to keep him to his word.

Second, I was not aware Dish EVER outsourced like many other companys. The call center I always get is in Colorado. Even late at night and on weekends.

 

[AlaJoe]

I did

AlaJoe... have you looked in the phone book to see if there is a local retailer or dealer in your area that could help you out?? Maybe a little too simple.. but usually works.

I went buy a local retailer and he did not know anything of this offer either. Did I misunderstand Charlie in the Charlie Chat?

 

[AlaJoe]

As for the OTA. I am doubtful a 50.00 antenna would surfice for you. I had Voom service 2 years ago and was lucky enough to get a channel master dual egg beater (250-275 buck antenaa) out of them. They 50 buck version will only work if you are right on the feed tower. Plus I have been told dish will NEVER be giving free OTA. But heck if Charlie said it, you have a valid reason to keep him to his word.

Second, I was not aware Dish EVER outsourced like many other companys. The call center I always get is in Colorado. Even late at night and on weekends.

I am only 15 miles from the transmit towers according to antennaweb.org.

If the call center is in Colorado then there is a bunch of people ther that do not speak English as thier first language

 

[Y2k06]

dude, if you are only 15 miles, you should be able to use a wire coat hanger

Try radio shack - el-cheap-o and toss it in your attic. Problem solved.

This would easily work http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103084&cp=&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

~~
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[smokejoe]

Get your own ant. You may want it longer than Dish

Forget Charlie. I live 60 miles from towers and pull in 8 network HD channels with an $80 attic antenna.

Well worth the investment since OTA is the only source of direct transmitted, pure HD - and it's free.

You may end up loving it as your only antenna.

 

[kelton325]

Second, I was not aware Dish EVER outsourced like many other companys. The call center I always get is in Colorado. Even late at night and on weekends.

*Total speculation*

You may have some kind of "preferred" status that results in your calls getting routed to the Colorado Call Center where there's less risk of you getting ticked off and leaving E*. When you type in your phone # after calling in, they look you up, realize you're someone they don't want to lose, and send you to someone who knows what they're doing. Other companies do this with their valuable/high profit margin customers, and I wouldn't be surprised if E* does too.

If you are a long time customer or more likely have a big monthly bill and no commitment, then that supports the theory. If not, I'm probably full of crap and you're really lucky to get Colorado all the time

 

[kelton325]

dude, if you are only 15 miles, you should be able to use a wire coat hanger

Try radio shack - el-cheap-o and toss it in your attic. Problem solved.

This would easily work http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103084&cp=&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

~~
~

I am 24 miles from the OTA transmitters, live in the middle of a big woods, and have the Rat Shack $59.99 model in my attic. The 622 pulled in just about everything I needed.

Here's the link:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2103085&cp=&kw=antenna&parentPage=search

You can get a better Channel Master, but I tried this first because it was easy to run over to radio shack and pick this up. Being 15 miles, you should be in good shape. I bet the antenna E* sells you would work if your OTA tuner is a good one (like the 622 seems to be).

 

[iceshark]

*Total speculation*

You may have some kind of "preferred" status that results in your calls getting routed to the Colorado Call Center where there's less risk of you getting ticked off and leaving E*. When you type in your phone # after calling in, they look you up, realize you're someone they don't want to lose, and send you to someone who knows what they're doing. Other companies do this with their valuable/high profit margin customers, and I wouldn't be surprised if E* does too.

If you are a long time customer or more likely have a big monthly bill and no commitment, then that supports the theory. If not, I'm probably full of crap and you're really lucky to get Colorado all the time

found your answer on DBSTALK group. Dish uses 3 call centers all in the USA. I was wrong. I thought only in Colorado. They also have one in San Diego it says and one somewhere in the midwest. With Colorado handling the tech issues and the other ones handling customer care. Article was old so I dont know how accurate it is now. I know what you mean about the India people. Have you ever tried Netgear at night or weekends. India and they try to help from a tech book. YIKES!

 

[nitstalker]

I had the same run-in with the dish ota... Apparently the installers around here know about it but cant get the parts *or* it will cost them way more than it is worth to do it...

I went through a bunch of different antennas starting with the el-cheapo one... I was about to get one to go on the roof and tried one from Radio Shaft... It is the 50 dollar one that they have.... It looks like a flat disc with 2 rabbit ears... It picks up all the channels for me....

It also has a UHF remote to move the internal antenna to lock onto the local signal better... I ran wire and stuck the thing in the crawl space/attic and it works even better....

 

[dstrouth]

found your answer on DBSTALK group. Dish uses 3 call centers all in the USA. I was wrong. I thought only in Colorado. They also have one in San Diego it says and one somewhere in the midwest. With Colorado handling the tech issues and the other ones handling customer care. Article was old so I dont know how accurate it is now. I know what you mean about the India people. Have you ever tried Netgear at night or weekends. India and they try to help from a tech book. YIKES!

They must have more than that. They have one in Virginia. I've spoked to people I know before.

 

[riffjim4069]

Dish Network has a Tech Center near Blacksburg VA.

 

[abricko]

don't bother with dish and a promise of an antenna... do it yourself...

most people like these for OTA HD: http://www.winegard.com/offair/squareshooter.htm

Buy two diplexers send one cable into the house... diplex the sat signal and tv signal, then use the dish splitter to get the two inputs into the 622... works like a charm...

Personally I used the smallest antenna i could get from rat shack and put it on the roof, pointed it towards the mountain with the antenna on it and bam, 80 - 100 % signal... remember HD is broadcast on the UHF band so you don't always need a large antenna just decent line of sight to the tower...

 

[epsilon]

don't bother with dish and a promise of an antenna... do it yourself...

most people like these for OTA HD: http://www.winegard.com/offair/squareshooter.htm

Buy two diplexers send one cable into the house... diplex the sat signal and tv signal, then use the dish splitter to get the two inputs into the 622... works like a charm...

Personally I used the smallest antenna i could get from rat shack and put it on the roof, pointed it towards the mountain with the antenna on it and bam, 80 - 100 % signal... remember HD is broadcast on the UHF band

That's not true, stations in several markets have VHF allocations.