Losing HD Absolute. Any suggestions?

I did neither , that is never ordered PPV (except for the 3 free ones I got for refering a friend to Dish) and never bitched about the quality of the SD channels because I only watch HD channels (the reason I was in Absolute to begin with).

However, back to your comment about looking at your online account and seeing $10 credit instead of $20, mine doesn't show any credits , it shows my current subcriptions and their standard costs only, however the credits do show up when I view my bill online (which by the way showed up in the mail yesterday anyway).

Here is what mine shows:
Current Programming America's Top 200
DVR Service
HD 200 Free
DISH Platinum - Free 12 Mo
Monthly Charges $65.99 (excludes taxes/credits)

Can you see your Febuary bill online yet?

No, i can't see it yet. They just took the Feb. payment yesterday. However, that payment was normally $78.99 (absolute, 4 premiums and 1 extra receiver) and they only deducted $56.82 (autopay). So i don't know if it was prorated, credits or what?
 
Our bill went from $30 per month with Absolute, to $60 per month once switched. A 100% increase. I put the account on pause and it will stay that way until I decide what to do / where to go next.
 
Yeah, but he got his automatically. The rest of us had to jump through hoops to get ours, if at all.

My chat was due to the fact that the 1st person didn't added HD for life correctly so it dropped off after an update. So when I contacted the CSR on chat after this happen she was not informed on the details of the change over for Abs HD. She tried to charge me for it. I then had to force her to send me to her super or loyalty don't know for sure. She fixed it pretty quickly.
 

Good for you.

I just spoke with a friend who has Dish (not an Absolute orphan), he told me he received an e-mail from Dish informing him he gets Starz for free for 1 year as part of Dish's 30 year anniversary! Did you get such an e-mail, or was it something they offered you as part of your call to them discussing the Absolute switch?

I haven't received any e-mails from Dish for a long time!
 
Good for you.

I just spoke with a friend who has Dish (not an Absolute orphan), he told me he received an e-mail from Dish informing him he gets Starz for free for 1 year as part of Dish's 30 year anniversary! Did you get such an e-mail, or was it something they offered you as part of your call to them discussing the Absolute switch?

I haven't received any e-mails from Dish for a long time!

I dropped HBO and asked for the free Starz since I no longer had premiums. My bro that wasn't an Abs HD customer had gotten it. So I just asked for it and got it. It seems that if you ask the right people the right way you can get more. I had gotten things 1st set up thru a member of the I-net response team. He had not put the HD for life promo on my acct. when he transferred me fro the 200 to Latino Max. well it has to be worded as Max HD or the acct will drop it w/ Latino Max. So I had to go on via chat to get things fixed. The 1st agent was ID 10 T certified. Kept trying to charge me for it. She didn't know anything about what the Abs HD people were supposed to get. I after a while just told her I want a supervisor. The super was able to fix it really quickly and it has been fine ever since.
 
Good for you.

I just spoke with a friend who has Dish (not an Absolute orphan), he told me he received an e-mail from Dish informing him he gets Starz for free for 1 year as part of Dish's 30 year anniversary! Did you get such an e-mail, or was it something they offered you as part of your call to them discussing the Absolute switch?

I haven't received any e-mails from Dish for a long time!

Everyone was supposed to get a freebie from Dish for a year, if you qualified. Starz is one of them. If you did not receive it, contact Dish and request it.
 
Everyone was supposed to get a freebie from Dish for a year, if you qualified. Starz is one of them. If you did not receive it, contact Dish and request it.

What qualifies people for it? I've heard of people getting it without solicitation, and others only after asking or negotiating for a better offer. Like Dish was doing them a favor. Kind of like the extra credits - inconsistent...
 
To qualify for it automatically, you had to have AT120 or higher or Latino Dos or higher, as of Feb 1st. Those of us with HD Absolute still had a non-qualifying package until Feb 2, hence why we didn't get it automatically. Some reps were told or thought the deal was HD Platinum or free Starz (one told me this, in fact).
 
Everyone was supposed to get a freebie from Dish for a year, if you qualified. Starz is one of them. If you did not receive it, contact Dish and request it.

I just did and got it. Or at least according to online chat. I'll believe it when i see my bill.:eek:

Actually, i did get it for real.:D My new programming according my online account.
America's Top 250
HD 250 Free
HD Solo Receiver
HBO
DISH Platinum - Free 12 Mo
Starz - Free 12 Mo
Monthly Charges
$92.99 (excludes taxes/credits)
 
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I dropped HBO and asked for the free Starz since I no longer had premiums. My bro that wasn't an Abs HD customer had gotten it. So I just asked for it and got it. It seems that if you ask the right people the right way you can get more. I had gotten things 1st set up thru a member of the I-net response team. He had not put the HD for life promo on my acct. when he transferred me fro the 200 to Latino Max. well it has to be worded as Max HD or the acct will drop it w/ Latino Max. So I had to go on via chat to get things fixed. The 1st agent was ID 10 T certified. Kept trying to charge me for it. She didn't know anything about what the Abs HD people were supposed to get. I after a while just told her I want a supervisor. The super was able to fix it really quickly and it has been fine ever since.


Hmmm. I wonder if i can get my $10 X 6 courtesy credit extended to 12 months too. :D
 
I didn't switch to Directv after milking as much of a credit as I could from Dish. My biggest fear though was losing out on the discounts that were offered, especially the $180 cash card at Costco.

I just checked, and the offers have been extended until July. D* did bump their rates a couple of dollars, but the intro discount keeps them where they were before yesterday. I thought people would like to know they still have an alternative, and probably will after the credits run out.

I did switch to D* after contacting E* and getting no offers beyond the basic. I didn't want to miss out on the $180 Costco deal either or the the discounted deals on D* packages. Turns out the only change was that the $5/12 month online discount disappeared. It's interesting, though, that D* didn't incorporate the new rate increases into their current offers...
 
I am now a former Dish subscriber as a result of having the Absolute package cancelled and subsequent promises made by Dish Customer service loyalty team broken, including: credits agreed to subsequently not being able to be found, a promise to provide the free installation of an OTA antenna (subsequently refused by the installer even though agreed to by customer service), and finally a failure by their installation contractors to show up for an appointment of an updated dish.

I had been considering cutting the cord from Dish network and relying on OTA (HD), Netflix, and ROKU. I stayed with Dish due to having Dish Absolute. As a result of Dish's actions, I explored different options because while I knew I could get by without the channels (granted a loss), I was not willing to go without a quality DVR. The TIVO monthly fee was more than I wanted to pay as the benefit of cutting the cord was to save some money. There weren't many viable DVR options available for OTA recording that would pass the wife test of ease of use. The one option I found has been great. It is a Sezmi, available at Amazon or Best buy for $150, www.sezmi.com, which offers a smart DVR (similar to dish or TIVO) with a 1TB harddrive as well as the ability to stream certain web programming (Youtube/crackle, and hopefully more in the future) for a flat monthly fee of $4.99/mo. Primarily driven by my frustration with Dish, I went ahead and cut the cord and ordered two Sezmi units, one of which is now connected to an HDTV in a room with 5.1 sound and the second connected to a standard definition tv.

Overall, I am very happy with my Sezmi. While there is an upfront cost that will take a couple of months to recoup, the monthly rate for the DVR functionality is unbeatable. There are many features of the product (webcasts, etc.) that I haven't fully explored yet, but if you are looking to cut the cord from Dish I suggest you take a look at this product.
 
To qualify for it automatically, you had to have AT120 or higher or Latino Dos or higher, as of Feb 1st. Those of us with HD Absolute still had a non-qualifying package until Feb 2, hence why we didn't get it automatically. Some reps were told or thought the deal was HD Platinum or free Starz (one told me this, in fact).

Ugh.
 
I bought a couple of SiliconDustHD tuners (single tuners, $50 ea. when on sale at newegg or frys) and am joining them up with Windows Media Center on two computers/TVs with 2TB hard drives for each. Giant hard drives have never been cheaper. I think it will work quite well except for watching one show and recording another at the same time, but with two units I can kind of work around that too. Installation was incredibly easy and I've got a good roof-mount antenna so I'm bringing in some great HD OTA, and soon will be able to record it too. Plus whatever I want to watch online with high-speed internet. Total investment: $275 including two massive 2TB hard drives on sale, plus a couple of WMC remotes off Amazon for $12 ea. Of course one has to already have the computers ready to go for it, which fortunately I do. Sure I'll go without some channels I had previously, but honestly it's not that big a loss.
 
To qualify for it automatically, you had to have AT120 or higher or Latino Dos or higher, as of Feb 1st. Those of us with HD Absolute still had a non-qualifying package until Feb 2, hence why we didn't get it automatically. Some reps were told or thought the deal was HD Platinum or free Starz (one told me this, in fact).

I see, this explains why we Absoluters didn't get the e-mail regarding the Free Starz! So, I suppose I will call and ask for it and hope I don't get an ignorant Rep. that says either Platinum or Starz for free. :rolleyes:
 
Based on my latest bill, it looks like the discounts for former-Absoluters are expiring.... I look to be losing the $10/mo credit, and guessing the free Platinum will be rolling off very soon too ... at which point my bill will be ~$72 for America Silver + Platinum + DVR(single 622) + DPP... (altho at least then I might finally be able to see if there's anything to like about the BB service, since the free Plat folks couldn't make use of it)

Time to start looking around to see how competitive this is/not....

EDIT: the one thing that bumps us up to Silver (and/or similar in the AT pkgs) would be Bravo shows for the wife (Top Chef, etc).. I can't find any way to stream those, even with pay service, other than iTunes?) (ie. not on Hulu Plus, nor Netflix, at least not the current season.. have I missed any options there?.. that would save $15/month)

EDIT2: based on $72/mo with Dish and a single 622 DVR (serving SD to my TV2)... for the same 24-month price I can get Choice Ultimate (to be about the same as Silver + Platinum) with a Whole House DVR and a 2nd HD rcvr.... roughly $1728 for 24 more months of Dish, vs. $1715 for the above at Direct. Does make ya think....
 
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I'm exploring all of my options right now. I just upgraded my internet to 8 Mbps, started a 30 day trial with Netflix, and getting ready to start a trial with Hulu Plus. The wife and I are exploring just exactly what our "must haves" are. I suppose that by the beginning of February, we'll have a good handle on what we're willing to pay for.


When February gets here, my bill jumps to around $90 with tax. We are thinking seriously about stripping Dish down to bare bones to keep our locals and archived stuff, and getting our entertainment from Netflix and/or Hulu Plus. I love our Dish service, but think the cost of packages and fees are getting a bit out of hand. :)

edit: also gonna run a 50 ft d-sub from my pc to the tv to compensate what hulu plus lacks.
 
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I like Dish, but I am tempted to give 3D channels a try (at DirecTV) once all my promos expire.
I am hoping to hear some news from CES though.
 
I'm exploring all of my options right now. I just upgraded my internet to 8 Mbps, started a 30 day trial with Netflix, and getting ready to start a trial with Hulu Plus. The wife and I are exploring just exactly what our "must haves" are. I suppose that by the beginning of February, we'll have a good handle on what we're willing to pay for.


When February gets here, my bill jumps to around $90 with tax. We are thinking seriously about stripping Dish down to bare bones to keep our locals and archived stuff, and getting our entertainment from Netflix and/or Hulu Plus. I love our Dish service, but think the cost of packages and fees are getting a bit out of hand. :)

edit: also gonna run a 50 ft d-sub from my pc to the tv to compensate what hulu plus lacks.

Run 2 LAN cables to TV and then you can hook up an HDMI connection box on each end. Audio/Video Wall Plates
 

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