Repairs are $99?!?!?

[wasii]

Anyone else experience this?

Luckily, for some reason I've never had any major problems with my 522 and accompanying switches, wires, dish, etc...

I started getting drop outs and a reduction in signal strength on satellite 105, and the check switch test is showing an error. So I called DishNetwork to schedule a repair, and found out that for a repair on THEIR EQUIPMENT, for THEIR SERVICE, it's going to cost me $99! It's not like I caused the problem, but it's going to come out of my pocket for me to fix their problem.

Now, the service rep did say that for $5.99 I can get repair coverage, then the service call would only cost $29.99. Oh, much better - an additional $70 a year so that I can replace their defective equipment.

Unfortunately, we just moved and when we had them reinstall the dish to our new address, we got locked into a 2 year agreement.

Looks like there's 18 months to go before I can look for other options....

Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[nuts4scuba]

Get the 5.99 warranty and then once they fix your problem cancel it.

 

[onsiteSat]

You can sign up for th $5.99 monthy plan and cancel it after the month is up there is no commitment to the warrenty plan. That being said it is nice to have for pice of mind, No S&H on Remote, LNB, and Reciever replacement and the discounted $29.99 Service Call. Iv'e seen worse. You could allways go to cable they just bundle in their monthly service call fees.

 

[BobMurdoch]

Get the extended warranty, ESPECIALLY if you have a PVR.

I've got 5 PVRs, so it's a no brainer for me....... Extra bonus since I'm still grandfathered in at the $1.99 price.....

 

[miguelaqui]

Anyone else experience this?

THEIR EQUIPMENT, for THEIR SERVICE

I'm confused....Are you renting or not?

 

[wasii]

clarification

Yes, I'm "renting" or "leasing" their equipment... whatever you want to call it. Just your Joe Schmo average Dish customer.

I went ahead and got the $5.99 service agreement, and as soon as they make the repairs I'll cancel it - way ahead of ya there. In fact, that's literally the first thing I thought of when they told me about the service.

But back to the original intention of my post - doesn't anyone else find it the least bit odd that I'm responsible for repairs on equipment I don't own???

I can't think of a single other circumstance where someone would expect you to pay for repairs on their faulty equipment. Cable modems, descrambler boxes, etc...

I thought everyone's horror stories about having to pay for shipping on returned equipment was bad enough - I've never heard anyone mention the $99 service fee!

Now, cell phones are another issue, since you actually buy the phone. But I didn't buy the 522 receiver, the dish, the switch, etc...

 

[chadzx11]

Just don't take it out on the tech. Dish likes to not pay techs for service calls, so they get YOUR money and don't pay US a lot of the times. I'm considering starting my own "protection" plan to head dish off at the pass.

It really pisses me off when I get a chargeback because a customer got their TV 2 on the wrong channel. There is no reason for a tech to go out on that, the worthless CSRs ought to catch that during the call, since it is NOTED at least twice in the notes just what channel that TV2 is supposed to be on.

I've been hit 3 times on this. Twice were for jackass customers who I (stupidly) "hooked up", even though they didn't have the appropriate amount of TVs. I don't do that any more. If I roll to your house, and you expect 4 drops, goddamn it, you better have 4 tvs. I'm cutting NO slack on that.

The 3rd time was worse -----it was for a service call, I didn't install it. Hell, he was activated before I even started with dish. I had to realign his dish. Two months later, somebody else had to go back because the old bastard got his tv2 on the wrong channel. I got charged back, so I ended up realigning his dish for free. The kicker was that he was a E* customer for a year and a half before I ever went to his house.


Dish pisses me off.


Oh, and if you "hook up" an existing customer with a part for free, they spaz out, too. I had a customer who owned (no warranty) his gear, and his 44 switch went out (legacy). I had an old legacy quad that I got off a job somewhere, so I gave it to him. Didn't think anything about it until dispatch called bitching at me. I'm not gonna report to them everytime I score a piece of equipment in the field. If somebody abandons it on a rent house, its fair game......

 

[wasii]

not the tech's fault

It's not the tech's fault that E* wants to charge me $99.

Being in the service industry myself - I can appreciate being the bearer of bad news. I can imagine you guys catch the brunt more times than not.

Unfortunately, this isn't anything I can fix myself... the box itself is reporting the error. I wish it was something easy (and therefore free) to fix.

 

[volkodav]

Just don't take it out on the tech. Dish likes to not pay techs for service calls, so they get YOUR money and don't pay US a lot of the times. I'm considering starting my own "protection" plan to head dish off at the pass.

It really pisses me off when I get a chargeback because a customer got their TV 2 on the wrong channel. There is no reason for a tech to go out on that, the worthless CSRs ought to catch that during the call, since it is NOTED at least twice in the notes just what channel that TV2 is supposed to be on.

I've been hit 3 times on this. Twice were for jackass customers who I (stupidly) "hooked up", even though they didn't have the appropriate amount of TVs. I don't do that any more. If I roll to your house, and you expect 4 drops, goddamn it, you better have 4 tvs. I'm cutting NO slack on that.

The 3rd time was worse -----it was for a service call, I didn't install it. Hell, he was activated before I even started with dish. I had to realign his dish. Two months later, somebody else had to go back because the old bastard got his tv2 on the wrong channel. I got charged back, so I ended up realigning his dish for free. The kicker was that he was a E* customer for a year and a half before I ever went to his house.


Dish pisses me off.


Oh, and if you "hook up" an existing customer with a part for free, they spaz out, too. I had a customer who owned (no warranty) his gear, and his 44 switch went out (legacy). I had an old legacy quad that I got off a job somewhere, so I gave it to him. Didn't think anything about it until dispatch called bitching at me. I'm not gonna report to them everytime I score a piece of equipment in the field. If somebody abandons it on a rent house, its fair game......

I'm dish tech and i agree with you that dish have to be better with trouble shooting i hate going to TC or SC because CSR can't figure out what the problem is when there is snow on TV. wait my favor SC is when costumer did check switch on 811 and it came up 119 only they set it up for dish 500 upgrade

 

[ScottChez]

So if I have the $5.99 plan and most of the numbers rupped off or it broke on the 522 remote they will replace it for free with NO shipping? Do I have to send the old onw back?

 

[Bob Haller]

So if I have the $5.99 plan and most of the numbers rupped off or it broke on the 522 remote they will replace it for free with NO shipping? Do I have to send the old onw back?

They will give you a new one, the lettering is pretty good, buttons do stick as long as you dont abuse it you can keep the old remote

honestly e bay has like new 522 UHF remothes for about 10 bucks Ir are less than half that, best to buy 3 or 4.

appears little demand for 522 remotes