Remove 9.99 HD Pak, add 6.00 Enabling Fee ?!?!

[rmr_in_dfw]

I have the AT60 and decided I didn't want the 9.99 HD Pak anymore, as we rarely watch any HD except OTA. I have no plans to upgrade my 811 anytime soon, as the new HD Packs don't add anything I'm really looking for. Of course, I'll re-evaluate in 6 months or so, but the current lease deals don't interest me since I own my 811. When I asked to drop the HD Pak, here is my response:

Dear Mr. xxxx,

Thank you for your email. Before we can process your request to have the HD package removed from your DISH Network account, there are a few disclosures that you must be made aware of.

• A $5.00 transaction fee will be applied to your DISH Network account for all programming changes. There is no fee to add services to your account.

• A $6.00 enabling fee will be charge to your account every month if you will be removing HD package.

• Because DISH Network bills one month in advance, you will see a pro-rated credit on your next billing statement from the date that the programming change was made, to the end of your current billing cycle for the service(s) being removed.

• Upgrades in service may be done online at www.dishnetwork.com/myaccount.

If you agree to the above disclosures and would like to continue with your programming change request, please reply to this email for confirmation and the programming change will be made.




Sincerely,

Chris Y.

DISH Network eCare


Is this something that's new with the Feb. 1 changes? I have to pay a 6.00 enabling fee on a receiver I own just to continue getting the AT60? If this is the direction Dish is heading, I may just buy a good OTA tuner and be done with it. They are quickly becoming no better a deal than my local cable company. I thought this enabling fee (based on what I've read here) would be if I cancelled a main package like the AT60, and just wanted to keep the HD Pak.

 

[stone phillips420]

sort of new, its dish way of sqwueezing every dollar out of every customer they can

i get charged 5.00 dollars a month for not having any package
i pay 8.00 a month for 1 channel
Cable seems cheaper for the masses once you factor in all dishes bs charges
ill find out tommorrow when comcast is at my residence

 

[Mr Tony]

I thought the $6 bs fee was only if you have one of the new VIP receivers and don't have HD?

 

[rmr_in_dfw]

Yea me too Iceberg, I thought it only applied to VIP receivers. It seems they are now trying to charge me to be able to use the OTA portion of the 811 that I own.

 

[stone phillips420]

we all know eventually dish tries to nickel and dime all it's cutomers

 

[Mr Tony]

I'd e-mail ceo@dishnetwork.com and see what they say

I know people who have 811's arent charged to use their OTA HD portion.

 

[stellar832000]

Well I am getting installed on Thursday and I was told by a rep that if I did not get DishHD Platinum (I wanted to get DishHD Gold) I would face an enabling fee! I don't even know what that is, is this true...anyone?

 

[Mr Tony]

what receiver are you getting?

 

[stellar832000]

what receiver are you getting?

I will be getting the VIP211

 

[boba]

Yea me too Iceberg, I thought it only applied to VIP receivers. It seems they are now trying to charge me to be able to use the OTA portion of the 811 that I own.

The other factor they didn't mention is you cannot go back to the $9.99 HD pak. Once you drop it it's gone forever you now need the $29.99 pak and a MPEG 4 receiver to use it. Yes I also thought the $6 enabling fee only applied to the MPEG 4 receivers.

 

[teachsac]

Well I am getting installed on Thursday and I was told by a rep that if I did not get DishHD Platinum (I wanted to get DishHD Gold) I would face an enabling fee! I don't even know what that is, is this true...anyone?

As long as you have one of the metallic packs there is no enabling fee. Sounds like a load of BS to try to get more programming out of ya.

 

[korsjs]

Is this something that's new with the Feb. 1 changes? I have to pay a 6.00 enabling fee on a receiver I own just to continue getting the AT60? If this is the direction Dish is heading, I may just buy a good OTA tuner and be done with it. They are quickly becoming no better a deal than my local cable company. I thought this enabling fee (based on what I've read here) would be if I cancelled a main package like the AT60, and just wanted to keep the HD Pak.

if you cancel, keep your dish pointed to one of the satellites and you should be able to still receive OTA. no need to buy an OTA tuner.

 

[rmr_in_dfw]

if you cancel, keep your dish pointed to one of the satellites and you should be able to still receive OTA. no need to buy an OTA tuner.

I thought one of the more recent 811 updates disabled this. Has anyone verified that? I do think I'll try the ceo email and see if I can get an explanation of what's going on here. I've owned the 811 for over 2 years, so I'm well past any commitments on programming. I'm wondering if Dish's great CSR computers just flag anyone for this fee when they try to make a programming change if it shows they have a HD receiver and not one of the new metallic packs.

 

[Lazerace]

A short time ago I bought an 811 on Ebay, at the time they were going for over $200 so I kept bidding $200 not knowing what was happening in the MPEG4 world and finally won an auction. Plus, my thoughts were I can pick it up and just use it as an OTA receiver cause most OTA only receivers at the time were just as much. The HD content on Dish did not interest me much. I hooked it up and was able to get OTA pretty good with an old pair of rabbit ears so I was satisfied at the time. I went ahead and hooked it up to the dish because I wanted to make sure I got any firmware upgrades which was probably a mistake. I came home and the receiver said basically I had to activate it or I couldn't watch ANYTHING on it. I called Dish and the CSR was surprised I was able to get OTA without activating it before this. So, I wasn't going to argue because I didn't want a $200 brick sitting in my entertainment center. I asked to activate it and I remember reading about the HD promotion getting HD free for six months. She said I couldn't get that promotion because I didn't JUST buy the receiver and have had it a while. So, right away I said that I just got it and JUST hooked it up. I think I threw her off a little, but it got her to try to enter the promotion into the system. Instead of the free promotion she said I could get the HD package for half off for a year. I took it. I'd still rather just be using it as an OTA receiver though without having to pay the extra receiver fee and HD package.

The thing that irks me is that OTA is supposed to be free, but we Dish users have to pay a fee to receive OTA programming through our Dish receivers we paid for up front.

 

[ChetK]

The thing that irks me is that OTA is supposed to be free, but we Dish users have to pay a fee to receive OTA programming through our Dish receivers we paid for up front.

Worse than that: Those of use with HD DVR's have to pay the local programming fee in order to get guide data that is transmitted free of charge from the local channels because E* disables the free one from OTA. Lame.

 

[KyDave]

This is just wrong, wrong, wrong. Especially for owned receivers. I've had my 811 since Dec 03 and NEVER had the HD pak. If they start charging me this friggin enabling fee I'll be happy to tell them where to stick it.

 

[Minsk1]

Well I am getting installed on Thursday and I was told by a rep that if I did not get DishHD Platinum (I wanted to get DishHD Gold) I would face an enabling fee! I don't even know what that is, is this true...anyone?

Most likely it is a DVR fee, not enabling fee. Dish introduced so many fees that CSR now are often confused with them.
HD Platinum comparing to HD Gold with DVR fee is a good value. Only few dollars more... I went with Platinum, even Stars and Cinemax are not in my Favorites list because of no HD from these packs yet.

 

[mikew]

Most likely it is a DVR fee, not enabling fee.

It is an HD enabling fee. You cannot use the OTA tuner unless you sub to an HD pack or pay the fee. How can you apply a DVR fee to an 811??????? (although if Charlie thought he could get away with it...he would!!!)

 

[rmr_in_dfw]

Well, I've emailed ceo@dishnetwork.com asking for a clarification. If they say I have to pay the fee, then they've essentially removed the OTA feature I paid for two years ago, and now will only let it function if I pay this enabling fee. If that's the case, I may hold out until later this year once the Comcast/Time Warner/Adelphia deal is done since my area would move from Comcast to TW. However, I will not be happy being told I have to pay "again" for a feature I already paid for. It's not so much the overall cost, but the principal of it. If they need more $$$ that badly just raise the price of all packages instead of trying to advertise being much cheaper than cable and then inventing bogus fees to make up the difference.

 

[rmr_in_dfw]

Well, that was fast. I got a reply already saying that there will NOT be a 6.00 enabling fee to just subscribe to the AT60 and continue using the OTA functions on the 811. They also said they'd waive the 5.00 change fee. So, I guess we shall see what then next bill says.