Losing HD Absolute. Any suggestions?

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polksda

SatelliteGuys Family
Original poster
Jan 6, 2005
80
1
Urbana, IL
Got the letter of death today saying that I will automatically be switched over to America's Top 200 + HD Platinum on February 1.

Problem: That takes my bill from $36.99 a month (with 2nd receiver) to $71.99 a month. WTF!

They say they'll give me the Platinum free for one year. BFD. So it's $61.99 a month for a year and then goes back up to $71.99.

The idea of paying almost double in order to get the same channels I get now pisses me off.

I could drop to the Top 120 which would lower my bill to $56.99, only $20 more a month than what I am currently paying.

I called 2 different CSRs in Lower Punjabistan and neither one could (or would) do anything better.

Any options, or should I be calling my local cable company?

Any time a company tries to make HUGE rate increases for providing the same service makes me want to go out of my way to find an alternate company.

/rant
 
If they truly are taking away Absolute, there's nowhere to go for the same price and offerings. Since Absolute was an all-HD package, switching subs to HD Silver with the Platinum pack would have been a little cheaper, but not much. It seems they don't care if they keep the Absolute subs if that's the best they can do for them. If I were you I'd check around. D* with an HR24 would be a pretty decent alternative. There used to be a $10 per month discount for 24 months for AAA members in addition to all the regular discounts. Do an internet search. There's sometimes other one-time discounts for D* as well. Top 120 isn't too bad a package. That's what I dropped to last year after all the rate increases and dropped channels. You can do the every two year mambo like many other DBS customers. I don't know what D* offers in its Select package these days. That would be AT120-like, I think.
 
All of us Absoluters know/knew that sooner or later, we would lose the best package in the universe at some point in time. That time may well be upon us. It was DARN good while it lasted. When/if I get the bad news, I'll evaluate my options and make a decision. I don't see myself leaving Dish, because after 13 years of business with them, they have treated me very well. :)
 
Here you go:

absoluteHD.jpg


"specially trained customer service representatives" must be some new euphemism for "speaks broken English and really can't help you at all".
 
Got my letter too. Going to call the cable company to find out what the available packages are. Did you actually call and that is the best pricing (56) or did you just look it up? Reason I ask is it says platinum is free for 12 and also says a credit for 12 months.
 
dahenny said:
All of us Absoluters know/knew that sooner or later, we would lose the best package in the universe at some point in time. That time may well be upon us. It was DARN good while it lasted....
Click to expand...
I agree. We've been waiting for the other shoe to drop for quite awhile now. Mean time we've enjoyed the best value package available anywhere :)

But contrary to what is apparently a popular belief among TV Programmers/Providers, some (maybe many) people have an upper limit for what they will pay to sit on a couch and watch the boob tube - ours is $50/mo. You might notice that this is below ANY currently advertised "package" on either the Dish or DirecTV site :(

polksda said:
Here you go:...
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up with back up letter.

FWIW If we get this letter we'll drop to the ABSOLUTE minimum Dish subscription that will keep locals and not deactivate our DVR until we view the recorded content -- IIRC that's the Locals Only package. If we could get locals OTA we'd drop Dish in a New York second.

Talon Dancer
 
Last edited:
Kb Cool said:
Is it even legal for E* to automatically change your package and worse yet ,"double the price?" :eek:
Click to expand...

Yep, it's right in the terms of service that you signed when you signed up for service. "Programming and pricing is subject to change at any time without notice".
 
nsafreak said:
Yep, it's right in the terms of service that you signed when you signed up for service. "Programming and pricing is subject to change at any time without notice".
Click to expand...

I didn't sign anything. I purchased the receiver, slapped a dish on the roof and called for activation.;)
 
This might be off-topic, but does anyone know if DISH Family is going as well? Or is it staying? I need to know as that's what I have at my other house.
 
Family is staying put for now just don't change a thing on the account. Don't take free movies don't change pkg don't pause the account. If you do you will neve get it back without time time travel.
 
Dish has a keen sense of timing. I just paid the last quarterly instalment of the NHL Center Ice package and the season is just reaching the end of the first half. If they had done this before October/2010 it would have been a lot easier to leave -- I think this move was strategically timed to hold the NHL and NBA fans hostage. They couldn't do this in mid-summer because they don't have MLB Extra Innings...
 
View attachment DishNetworkComparison.xls
Above is an Excel worksheet comparing the lower tiers of programming.

From Scott on the front page:
SatelliteGuys.US has CONFIRMED that the new prices are as follows:

America's Top 120 will be $44.99
America's Top 120+ will be $49.99
America's Top 200 will be $59.99
America's Top 250 will be $69.99
America's Everything Pak will be $104.99
Dish America Bronze will be $34.99
Dish America Silver will be $49.99
Dish America Gold will be $59.99

Latino Welcome Pack will be $12.99
Latino Bonus Pack will be $15.00
Latino Clasico will be $32.99
Latino Plus will be $37.99
Latino Dos will be $44.99
Latino Max will be $57.99
Click to expand...
Below is a PDF that Scott posted a while back. Therefore, please note that channels like ABC Family, Disney XD, Disney (E), and ESPNews are currently not offered in HD due to a dispute with Dish. In addition, please note that many subs here have posted that Msnbc is not included with the HD only packages. Therefore, Dish's page ( DISH America - DISH Network ) may be incorrect.
View attachment Focus On DISH Network HD.pdf

For English packages, please click here.
For Spanish packages, please click here.
For Channel lineup cards, please click here.

I do feel bad for the HD Absolute subs. I wish that the package was still available for us to sub to.
 
This is very disappointing........I will cancel when they change my pkg. I refuse to pay big money for something I don't use that much to begin with. I am interested in knowing if they still make the ota digital box with a built in dvr. If anyone knows can you provide a link. If I can get something like that & use netflix I'll just learn to live with it.
As far as pay TV, satellite is my only choice here. I certainly feel like the prices for E* & D* are way out of hand and refuse to pay whatever they feel like charging. Enough is enough, at least for me..........
 

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