Not sure what Echostar will do for hurricane relief

[Van]

Last year after the first hurricane hit Florida Echostar began sending in company technicians to help in restoring service to thousands of its customers, this continued on in october through the next 3 hurricanes that hit. So far this year a small group of techs were sent down in july for the first Florida hurricane but as of today no news has come out as to what Echostars plans are for current hurrican relief to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Georgia, ect ect ect. I have to believe that Echostar is currently evaluating the extent of the damage to its customers but I seriously hope that Charlie will step forward to this task.

 

[RandallA]

Quiet honestly, I think that should be at the bottom of the list when it comes to priorities. There are no houses, no electricity, people still need to be evacuated because of floodings. You also have to think about hundreds of thousands of people that won't have a place to go for months. The devastation is enormous.

TV at this moment shouldn't be a concern.

 

[SatinKzo]

RandallA, I agree completely, but I am thinking maybe the OP meant in areas that aren't underwater etc. But yes TV really should not be a concern to anyone.

 

[Van]

Your only thinking of the area's hardest hit, Im not. Keep in mind that the damage from this hurricane is far reaching and stretches all the way up into places like Indiana with flooding. Yes I understand that all of the gulf side cities and villages are heavily damaged or gone, I would not expect echostar to send technicians into a wasteland to try and put a satellite dish back up on a house that doesnt exist anymore, but I am sure that charlie will send a work force into area's that have sustained less damage to try and restore service. You may not think it an important utility to be restored but consider that during this time of tragedy that a persons television will allow for a brief escape from the despair thats going on around them.

 

[Slamminc11]

Your only thinking of the area's hardest hit, Im not. Keep in mind that the damage from this hurricane is far reaching and stretches all the way up into places like Indiana with flooding. Yes I understand that all of the gulf side cities and villages are heavily damaged or gone, I would not expect echostar to send technicians into a wasteland to try and put a satellite dish back up on a house that doesnt exist anymore, but I am sure that charlie will send a work force into area's that have sustained less damage to try and restore service. You may not think it an important utility to be restored but consider that during this time of tragedy that a persons television will allow for a brief escape from the despair thats going on around them.

If your aren't thinking about the "hardest hit" areas, then maybe for right now the retailers can start helping those customers for a while. ALL efforts right now should be on helping the people in the gulf coast areas that were hit, not fixing their tv's (and for those that decided it was right to loot tv's from stores) but to SAVE LIVES! I'm glad you are concerned about people in Indiana but they aren't dieing, the people down south are. Charlie and every one of us for that matter should do all we can for THEM right now and then focus on tv and other comforts once that is settled.
If every person that is a part of this site sent in $5, it would seriously go a long way for a lot of people. That is what should be important right now!

 

[mattb]

I have heard that even though WDSU is not on OTA right now their still being up on satellite, I heard one of the news casters say on their webstream that people who had abilties could still watch them over satellite. Anyone know if E* or D* is helping out by uplinking their distant sister stations signals?

I am sure E* and D*'s pops in the New Orleans area are both wrecked... Only tv station I have heard that is actaully on via their OTA transmitter is WWL 4. Which is actaully doing news casts from their Transmitter site.

 

[Van]

Your missing the point and wildly swing innuendoes around, ofcourse peoples lives come first and no one said anything to the contrary except you. Yes Im sure we all know that the flooding that took place in Indiana is minor compared to what has happened to places like biloxi and shreveport and mobile. Restoring television isn't a major priority as is pulling survivers out of attics and off roofs, again no one has said that the priority should be anything less than focusing on the residents of these effected area's. What this thread was about was that no news has come from Echostar as to what plans they have for taking care of they're customers in the area's that service can be restored in because television is a source of needed communication of news and information that they may not be able to get from other sources.

Whats more disheartening is that you and the two others on this thread have taken what I've said and turned it around with out reason or provocation to portray my statement in such a negative fashion, how utterly ignorant can people get still amazes me.

 

[Liquidforce88]

They will have people ther when they are needed. I'll post this from another site.

Satellite Does What It Can After Katrina
Satellite services are doing what they can to address customer needs in areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina, but at the moment they're allowing rescue and other government efforts to conclude their work, as well as waiting for power and other communications to be restored, before they enter areas affected by the storm.

"Given that people have moved out of their homes and are without phone and electrical service, it's still too early for us to know the impact of the hurricane," said DirecTV's Bob Marsocci. The company has deployed additional installers and technicians to the area, he said, "but we will not know approximately how many customers are impacted for several days."

EchoStar has established a page on its Web site providing information on what customers can do after a major storm. The site gives information on how to check a satellite TV antenna and receiver once a storm passes and provides contact information for those who need to restore service.

The Web page information is at: http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/customercare/storminfo/index.shtml

 

[SatinKzo]

Your missing the point and wildly swing innuendoes around, ofcourse peoples lives come first and no one said anything to the contrary except you. Yes Im sure we all know that the flooding that took place in Indiana is minor compared to what has happened to places like biloxi and shreveport and mobile. Restoring television isn't a major priority as is pulling survivers out of attics and off roofs, again no one has said that the priority should be anything less than focusing on the residents of these effected area's. What this thread was about was that no news has come from Echostar as to what plans they have for taking care of they're customers in the area's that service can be restored in because television is a source of needed communication of news and information that they may not be able to get from other sources.

Whats more disheartening is that you and the two others on this thread have taken what I've said and turned it around with out reason or provocation to portray my statement in such a negative fashion, how utterly ignorant can people get still amazes me.

Ya know, I understood what you were asking and figured you were just asking about other areas and even stated that in my first post, but this response from you just angers me.

Now that I know you are from Indiana it makes me upset you even asked and I took the time to try to clarify what you were asking for the others. I am in Michigan and I don't ask what dish is gonna do when a snow storm rolls through off the lakes and ices up my dish for a day or what dish is gonna do for me cause I got some rain from the last hurricane and my picture pixelated. I understand your dish might be screwed up and not getting signal (you have yet to state your problem) but honestly, if you are that worried, get some innitiative and fix it yourself.

BTW, have you even CALLED dish to ask them this question?

 

[Van]

god damn your ignorant, where did I say I am from indiana? This is what is the problem, no one stops to read what is being said instead you glance at what someone says without reading and make assumptions and it gets to this.

SO let me make this CLEAR.

Last year echostar sent technicians down to florida right after the first hurricane hit and continued its relief efforts to help restore its utility service to its customers on into october. As of yesterday when I started this thread there has not been any news as to what plans Echostar may have for restoring service to its customers in the effected area's that obviously stretch far north and east from the hardest hit area's. I hope that Charlie would step up and do now as he had done last year and take care of his customers.

Now you tell me in all your infinite wisdom where did you ever get the idea that I am on here bitching about my tv being out from a storm? I posted this information for anyone that may either be in area's affected, yet three people get on this thread and in one form or another turn it into a shame thread. So go back and carefully reread what I wrote, matter of fact why don't you get someone to sit down with you and read it to you and if you find where I supposedly said that I was from Indiana and that I didn't have any service then I will walk off this forum and if you cant find it then go soak your head.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Let's hope they make a nice corporate donation, with Charlie and Jim kicking in personally, to relief agencies.

Perhaps New Orleans will now rename itself "Dish" to pick up some rebuilding aid.

 

[Slamminc11]

...What this thread was about was that no news has come from Echostar as to what plans they have for taking care of they're customers in the area's that service can be restored in because television is a source of needed communication of news and information that they may not be able to get from other sources.

Whats more disheartening is that you and the two others on this thread have taken what I've said and turned it around with out reason or provocation to portray my statement in such a negative fashion, how utterly ignorant can people get still amazes me.

Maybe, just maybe, Dish decided to wait a bit (with plans in place even) to make an announcement because this hurricane was just so devastating. Yes last year was bad, but doesn't even compare to what we have seen for the last two days. Why should Charlie (or Dish) announce plans anyway if they did go in and start helping those who need help getting tv back on? Maybe the announcement will be that Dish has gone and... instead of Dish will go and... out of respect for all that has happened I couldn't care less if the made some big announcement at all. Maybe it is taking time to put things into place to make it happen. Hell, it took Bush until today to realize that he needed to take some action and leave his ranch and start playing president again. All I am saying is give them a few days to put a plan into place. It took Dish a few days last year to get things in place to start helping Florida.
As far as your little statement about me and others here being ignorant...They won't allow me to say to you what I really would like to say out of respect for others that might read this, but it looks to me as though you haven't made many friends with this post pal. Plus, ignorance is bliss!

 

[Van]

what ever you want to think, it was a simple post to say that no news has come from echostar yet, everyone else here has twisted it around to be something that it isnt and if you dont like it that Im pissed about that then to bad, its not my fault or problem that people dont take the time to read or try to read between the lines and see something thats not there. This forum is as bad as dbs forums.

 

[chukee]

Van is correct. I was in hurricane Ivan and Dennis. What dish does is charge 29 bucks for a tech to come out and fix whatever problem the hurricane caused. And then they turn around and credit you for program outages. Usually for more than 29 bucks. So you end up paying nonething and getting a discount on your bill for the month. This hurricane is a little different since it caused more damage, Deaths and no power for months maybe. So of course they wont be able to go in those areas untill things get better but the surrounding areas are getting power now.. so i assume dish will do the same as they did in past hurricanes.

Dish first priority should be to get their services back up as soon as possible where possible. You have no idea how much help a tv can be at times like this. All of Louisiana is not under water. The news is only showing the worst of the storm. New Orleans.

So what im trying to say is Dish should go in and do there job. Where they can. And get people back up. When they can. They have people saving lives. Thats not dishnetworks or directv job. Having a tv at a time like this is invaluable. But only when its safe for a tech to go in.

 

[Slamminc11]

Van is correct. I was in hurricane Ivan and Dennis. What dish does is charge 29 bucks for a tech to come out and fix whatever problem the hurricane caused. And then they turn around and credit you for program outages. Usually for more than 29 bucks. So you end up paying nonething and getting a discount on your bill for the month. This hurricane is a little different since it caused more damage, Deaths and no power for months maybe. So of course they wont be able to go in those areas untill things get better but the surrounding areas are getting power now.. so i assume dish will do the same as they did in past hurricanes.

Dish first priority should be to get their services back up as soon as possible where possible. You have no idea how much help a tv can be at times like this. All of Louisiana is not under water. The news is only showing the worst of the storm. New Orleans.

So what im trying to say is Dish should go in and do there job. Where they can. And get people back up. When they can. They have people saving lives. Thats not dishnetworks or directv job. Having a tv at a time like this is invaluable. But only when its safe for a tech to go in.

Might I remind you that we are still less than 72 hours since the storm passed, and that is in the most heavily hit areas. This storm came ashore Monday morning, and unless I overslept at some point, this is Thursday morning, that means that in places that Van and you are asking for service to be restored, at this time Monday morning, they hadn't even gotten hit yet. Indiana got rained on what yesterday morning? Again, it took FEMA a couple of days to start getting people into place to begin to help people, why would you think that Dish (or direct for that matter) would be any different? I will give you that in my opinion both Dish and Direct are run my what I would consider mostly competent people, unlike our government (I'm pretty sure that Charlie and Rup didn't spend the last month at their ranch's hiding from a mom whose son was needlessly killed in our Vietnam, but then again I don't keep track of where they are all the time, so I could be wrong).
You people are making it sound like Dish should have forecasted where this storm was going to go and had people there waiting so that the second the winds subsided they would have things fixed. If this were next Thursday and Dish (or direct) hadn't started helping where they could on getting people's service up then yeah, maybe I would say you all have a point, but until then...

 

[SatinKzo]

Your only thinking of the area's hardest hit, Im not. Keep in mind that the damage from this hurricane is far reaching and stretches all the way up into places like Indiana with flooding.

Van, in one of your posts, you mentioned Indiana, so I assumed you are from Indiana. Geesh, you fly off the handle there a little bit. If ignorant was the word of the day, you'd be the winner for sure. I aplogize for assuming you were from Indiana

Slam makes a good point in the fact that van you almost posted this as the hurricane was passing over the rest of the US. I assumed in my first post that you didn't mean the area's that are being evacuated.

Van, I guess I am just shocked for once when someone posts a thread like this (which you did) that you weren't asking for selfish (help me) reason. Most people who post this type of thread are looking for help for themselves and not just curious about what dish's plans are for those who just got a little damage and need service restored. I'm sure if we had a verbal conversation about this, I would have interpreted it different, but the written word is hard to interpret sometimes. I'm sure you have to agree with me that.

Honstely though, for the rest of the country that got the remnanats that were large severe storms, I don't think dish should have to do anything for them. That is something that as a customer you have to be ready to handle and know that you may have to pay a service call to have someone fix it. for the 3 states that got hammered , then yes I can see dish doing something..

I am curious what dish is going to say about all the people who have 1 yr commitments etc. They (to my knowledge) have not forgiven anyone from a contract due to acts of god. Granted homeowners insurance etc will pay it I'm sure, but a little gesture of goodwill would be nice too.

 

[Van]

Ok Ive had a night to reflect on what Ive said out of anger at others, I apologize for lashing out and not restraining my words. I have faith that everyone is just upset over what they are watching on theyr tv's and tempers are short at feeling helpless to watch elderly and sick and children in need of help while on the other hand watching the thousands of looters taking non essential items like tv's and vcrs and dozens of shoe's.

This is more than just rough, its an incredibly trying time for anyone, this disaster is hard to watch and its impact is having a nasty ripple effect all across the country. I honestly dont know what I will do with gas prices going so high because I have to be able to aford gas to get to work and basic needs. Ive already taken my tv service down to the basic package, no more a/c for us to keep the electric bill down, clothes are being dried on clothes lines to cut out the gas bill for as long as possible, its back to no name brand foods at the grocer, and internet is most likely going to have to go.

Im as frustrated as everyone else here over this tragedy.

 

[RandallA]

Apology accepted...

What we are watching on TV is just unbelievable and like you said we just feel helpless and frustrated to watch what's going on in the area affected by this disaster.

After reading your initial post, now I understand what you were trying to say. As some others have pointed out, I think both companies E* and D* are just waiting to see the extent of the damage and will take action in a few days. I think it was just bad timing for the question because of what we are still watching on TV. It takes a lot of balls to come back and apologize like you did, for that I respect you.

Cheers!

 

[SatinKzo]

Yeah, we're all friends now.

That convention center situation in N.O. is unbelievable. I am just so glad to be able to go home to my family and play with my daughter. I can't imagine going through that with her or my wife.

 

[jergenf]

Right now they're using their dish antennas as boats.