My DishNetwork Rant!

[beejaycee]

[Warning: I'm going to beat up on DishNetwork for a pet peeve of mine.]

I just cancelled my E* account because I gave up waiting for the 522 plus D* has my locals while E* does not (E* couldn't get a deal worked in New Orleans so we were passed over and go to the bottom of the stack). With the specials that D* is running, it just made good economic sense for ME to switch. I called in and the service reps I spoke with were very pleasant and really didn't give me a problem, even offering to be very accommodating to let me compare the services side by side. At least UNTIL the Retention Specialist (as I believe she was called) told me, "Just to let you know, sir, that Direct is more expensive." I asked her to please stop right there and don't do that. I honestly don't understand why do they do something like that? Why take a cheap shot at the competitor? No, DirecTV is NOT more expensive, at least to get what I want. For some people maybe D* does cost more but it was a low blow, it was incorrect (in my situation), and it only made E* look bad to me.

She closed our conversation with, "Just to let you know, sir, if you do decide to come back, there will be a $25 reconnect fee and 2 months of service paid in advance." This touched on another pet peeve - I told her that the $25 fee will keep me from ever coming back. They are in their rights as a business to charge it but I am in my rights as a customer to never, ever pay it. Why would I pay them for the privilege of using equipment that I own (other than the monthly programming fee, of course)? I can understand if they have to give me equipment to use but I bought everything I have.

Okay, so that was two peeves, not one.

 

[Crazy 1]

I was told the same thing ( $25) reconnect fee. And it's been almost 4 yrs since my switch to D* with no complaints. I told the E* csr that the $25 reconnect fee would seal the deal for me, I would never be a E* customer again and I would never recommend them to any one else for that matter. I also think E* csr's are rude. It's just my opinion, but I think E* is hurting themselfs by with things like the reconnect fee. I left D* several years back for E* and when I wanted to come back to D* I had no problems at all. I also think D* csr's are alot more freindly and eager to help. Thats just my $0.02 you can view it however you want!

 

[belsokar]

I would like to support the CSR claims, but the truth is, I've gotten really rude ones, really stupid ones, really foreign ones, and really nice ones...ones that offered me no useful information, to those that sat on the phone with me as long as needed to help me out...its a toss up wheneve you dial them up...

as for their "reconnect" fee...I think its stupid, and I don't know about directv, but cable charges $50 or more sometimes to set you up...at least thats what they were doing 5 years ago when I dropped cable forever...

 

[Stargazer]

I will most definitely agree with you about the CSR's attitude. They think just because they are on the phone and not face to face that they can be disrespectful. It seems that this is a normal thing for them, that they do this often, and perhaps they were trained to act this way. I have been hung up and treated unfairly by these CSR's for many years now. They may not all be rude but most are. Things used to not be this way but things have progressively gotten worse.

Things are not going to change until you quit seeing the subscriber count go up but when it stalls out or starts dropping, when they start concentrating more on keeping the subscribers they have instead of adding more customers, until they start seeing more of a value in each subscriber that they have. The day will come.

 

[BudShark]

In principle I agree with your points -

But... the $25 retention fee is a joke. It takes all of 2 seconds to get that waived. I left E* 4 months ago and went back (due to Pegasus - no access to D* deals - and I quickly learned how stupid Charter cable is.) Called E* and got the $25 fee waived and got the 3 months free deal. For each person the options are different, but don't let the $25 dissuade you - but yes it is a STUPID program.

Chris

P.S. Pegasus is MUCH worse than E* could ever be, so there is a large base of customers that see D* service as horrible because Pegasus front ends it.

 

[J_slimz]

You should live in an area controlled by the NRTC! I just switched from D* to E* because of the "local provider" crap. I went to order a PPV event and my limit is set to $20 for a single purchase by my local provider and I had to order it from them. I had to pay right then and there via credit card 'cause according to them they are charged as soon as an order is taken (like we all aren't on 30 day bill cycles) then when I received my monthly bill....there was a $1.99 phone assist charge for ordering it via the telephone! D*.....C_YA!!!! Hello E* and HDTV!!

 

[Stargazer]

The $25 is more about the principal of the matter than anything. If the customers feel unwanted then its hard to get them back.

 

[MikeD-C05]

This is the ultimate slap in the face of former customers.

They ought to offer a new campaign to win back former customers. Like " The grass isn't always greener " customer win back campaign. This fee is just going to make people go with the competiton.

Directv told me that if I ever wanted to go back with their service I could , no problem. I recently cut them off on the 10 th after my yearly commitment was up . They have the right idea. Make it as attractive as possible to come back as a former customer. Offer incentives and make the customer feel appreciated.


Dish just tells you tough sh*t! and if you want to come back then we are going to slap you again with another 25.00 fee . The ultimate insult. Hell even cable companies offer Win back customer plans from satellite.

Shouldn't Dish reconsider this fee and all their newer created dvr , phoneline fees in oder to win back old customers and retain the current ones?

 

[jssat]

You should live in an area controlled by the NRTC! I just switched from D* to E* because of the "local provider" crap. I went to order a PPV event and my limit is set to $20 for a single purchase by my local provider and I had to order it from them. I had to pay right then and there via credit card 'cause according to them they are charged as soon as an order is taken (like we all aren't on 30 day bill cycles) then when I received my monthly bill....there was a $1.99 phone assist charge for ordering it via the telephone! D*.....C_YA!!!! Hello E* and HDTV!!

I live in a NRTC area also. Never had the problems you are talking about. They do not have any re-connect fees either. this is a resort area and folks have alot of summer homes here. They can come and go shut their service off when the leave and turn it on when they come with know hassal. I'm also a dealer and do not have to worry about 1 year commitments or charge-backs from this company. its not the NRTC that is a pain in the ass it is the company you are dealing with. :thumbsup:

 

[Stargazer]

Dish's alternative to shutting service off is a $5 fee each month to prevent you from getting a $25 restart fee but the $5 fees over several months would end up being more than what the $25 restart fee would be and Dish wants to get something each month from you period.