Super nice service rep - but super bad actual service...

[JKeats]

this is the dumbest thing ever... i actually might end up switching just because of it but i'll cool down and decide later.

so back in 04 i purchased a box set from radio shack. it had 2 301's and the dish in it. i paid around 200 bucks for it. part of the deal was a 20 month credit on my bill. each month for 20 months i was to get a 10 dollar credit on my bill.

until now everything had been going great.

then... last month i purchase a 508 (not driect from dish). this, again, was an outright purchase... i like to own my equipment, not lease it. so i deactivate one of the 301's to replace it with the 508.

so i get this months bill and i see i'm no longer getting my 10 dollar credit. so i call just now to ask what's up. i'm assuming i was talking to someone in india as that's where most call centers are being moved to and the guy i was talking with was obviously indian. he was extreamly nice and was, himself, giving me great service.

HOWEVER, apparently it doesn't matter that i still have two units active on my account and am paying the same each month that i was before... because one of the 301's was deactivated (replaced by the 508) i'm now inelligable for the 10 dollar credit.

basically, because i upgraded my unit (that i own... not lease) and despite the fact that my monthly bill hasn't changed in any way... i'm getting dinged the last 5 of my 20 monthly credits. so i'm out 50 bucks of my 200 dollar credit basically.

seeing as how nice the guy on the phone was and that he apparently was talking to all sorts of people trying to get me my credit back (but no one would let him) i made sure to tell him i wasn't upset with him and i thanked him for his help but asked him to tell his managers that this is a REALLY stupid thing for them to do to a good customer and that i'll be making sure i tell as many people as possible about it.

i'd have quit right then on the phone with him and gone and gotten some free directTV gear instead... but dish is still the cheapest game in town so i guess i'll probably end up staying with them. but once something cheaper comes down the pike, i'm gone. as far as i'm concerned they've burnt the bridge with this stupid policy. it simply makes no sense.

anyway... thought i'd share/rant.

 

[mfs54729]

If you reactivate the 301 that was deactivated will they reinstate your monthly credit?
You will be charged $5 for another receiver but will keep the $10 credit. After 5 months
then deactivate the 301. That way you will only be out $25 instead of $50.

 

[n0qcu]

Send an email to ceo@dishnetwork,com and explain everything.
Make sure you give them your account info and a contact number.

 

[Mr Tony]

I would do what N0 suggested.

I did the same thing a long time ago. It was buy the set for $200 and get 12 $17 credits. I got a 508 about 1/2 way through that and still had the credits

This was in 03 though

 

[Purogamer]

You moved up from the 301, give them the 50 bucks. It's easier than playing CSR roulette...now, and again in 5 months...

If you had read your agreement you wouldn't be in this situation anyways, so you've got no one to blame but yourself. E* didn't do anything wrong here, and everyone knows that some CSR's aren't very good. Consider it a learning experience...You're paying for satellite, hang up the phone, turn on your 508 and go watch tv...

 

[Van]

When you signed up at radio shack you should have gotten a term contract form, did you read all the fine print on it or did you do what most people do and just sign it without looking at what you were signing? Do you know that in a given year of installing systems for Dish that I will have 1 person that will sit down and read the forms before signing them. On average I do 14 - 18 jobs a week, so do the math and that says alot.

 

[Mr Tony]

When you signed up at radio shack you should have gotten a term contract form, did you read all the fine print on it or did you do what most people do and just sign it without looking at what you were signing?

if he bought the equipment, there is no contract...at least when I got my setup, there was no contract.

 

[Van]

There is a non contract form that lists the details of the agreament for anyone to get the monthly credit, if you didnt get it iceberg then someone failed to do theyr job. I run into a fair amount of customers that have gotten dish service through a dealer or retailer and gotten stuck with some strange deals based on the contract or agreament they got set up on. When Dish had the old DHP that you had to sign up for one or two years there was a $249 cancellation fee for early termination wether it was by dish or by the customer. I was doing a lost signal service call for a customer who got upset when she found out the dish had to be moved a third time because the installing retailer pointed the dish into a tree and the next two guys he sent out did the same. she wanted cancel so I asked her if she had any paperwork from the original install so that I could make sure she wouldnt be charged anything for cancelling.

Well she was on a 2 year dhp and only 4 months into it, also I found that she had signed a contract with the retailer that was equal to the dhp and she would be charged by them for $249 but also for the equipment. I called dish and explained what was going on and they excused her from the dhp but could do nothing about the retailers contract though they did take all the information for an internal investigation.

 

[JKeats]

You moved up from the 301, give them the 50 bucks. It's easier than playing CSR roulette...now, and again in 5 months...

If you had read your agreement you wouldn't be in this situation anyways, so you've got no one to blame but yourself. E* didn't do anything wrong here, and everyone knows that some CSR's aren't very good. Consider it a learning experience...You're paying for satellite, hang up the phone, turn on your 508 and go watch tv...

i didn't have a contract and don't recal any agreement... and E* DID do something wrong. they treated a customer poorly.

now... although i KNOW i didn't have a contract (remember... i PURCHASED my equipment outright) doesn't mean there wasn't some sort of offer or rebate agreement. i don't ever recall signing something like this, but i suppose it is indeed possible i signed something that had some tiny print somewhere that said if i didn't keept the exact same units active... regardless of is i still maintained the same level of service or not... that i wouldn't get my credit.

however... your argument still doesn't fly. even if this IS the case, E* STILL did something wrong. they did wrong by sneaking in a silly rule in tiny print on an agreement in order to snake past a customer and weasle out of an offer. whether it's in an agreement or not, it's still bad customer service.

for the rest of you who offered the suggestions, thanks a bunch. i'm not as miffed as i was when this happened this morning but i will shoot an email to that address and see if they wont rectify the situation.

 

[rkrenicki]

You moved up from the 301, give them the 50 bucks. It's easier than playing CSR roulette...now, and again in 5 months...

If you had read your agreement you wouldn't be in this situation anyways, so you've got no one to blame but yourself. E* didn't do anything wrong here, and everyone knows that some CSR's aren't very good. Consider it a learning experience...You're paying for satellite, hang up the phone, turn on your 508 and go watch tv...

If he was supposed to get a credit, then he was supposed to get a credit. thats the bottom line..

The only stipulation to that is a minimum service level, if you upgrade, or replace hardware, that should never affect any promotions. Downgrading on the other hand, is a completely different beast, but the OP did not do that.

If there was a stipulation in the agreement (be it verbal or written), it was not made clear to the OP, which is a problem. You dont need to be a dick to the OP like that, you know.. he has every right to feel jipped.

 

[OoTLink]

Unfortunate that those things happen :\ I walked into a reseller + provider agreement thing with a cellphone once, but so far that one's managed to go alright [it was one where if you so much as changed your phone number in the first 3 months they COULD bill you $250 O_O]...

Guess what I did!

Thankfully they were still able to take care of it

Hopefully the email thing works, if not at least talking with a CSR. It's a good thing you bought the equipment since well, if/once you do leave, you can just ebay it or something That, and if you buy your equipment with directv, they still extend your contract every time you activate something new [1 year from activation for most and 2 years for "advanced receivers"]... man that one is so wrong it makes my head spin.

I don't think E*'s taken up that mentality yet, anyway.. but dangit! You need your credit

Unfortunate as it may be, be careful about the one above though if you want to switch

 

[JKeats]

i likely wont be switching... can't beat the price... but man i guess i should ask about the contract "extension". i HOPE they didn't put me under a contract when i activated the 508. since i wasn't under contract to begin with i'd imagine they'd at least have to tell me i was going to be placed under contract if i made the change, but who knows i guess.

i sent of my very polite email to the CEO. i'll let y'all know how it goes.

 

[OoTLink]

I don't think so, that's only (to my knowledge) something DirecTV does, and it's a shoddy idea to begin with since you bought the receivers anyway!

Good luck with the email

 

[SimpleSimon]

OoTLink - love your sig.

Anyway, email to the ceo should get this resolved. Similar issues pop up with retailer monies when the primary receiver on an account is replaced - even if it's an upgrade or RA.

 

[Purogamer]

Some of you guys are WAY too sensitive...

E* did NOT do anything wrong. Treating a customer poorly is in the eye of the beholder. You made a deal, YOU broke the deal, not E*. You're actually wrong. While upgrading should not negate that, that's the deal that you agreed to. You don't make the rules, they do.

You're going nuts over 50 bucks, and considering which receivers we're talking about I understand you're not a high-end user with endless cash, but that doesn't mean you can bend or break the rules. You made a deal, and broke the deal. You're probably not going to get any help with this. Someone's made a suggestion on how to save $25, if the ceo doesn't help (I can't imagine...) that's your only option at this point.

Again, consider it a learning experience.

 

[rkrenicki]

Tell me, how did he break this "deal"? He still has service, at still the same tier and abilities, if anything, it costs more for the DVR fee.. Dish expects you to not change anything at all for two years, including hardware? If that was the case, they should have made that abundently clear during the signup.

Or, lets say his reciever dies, and he has to get another one... so Dish is then justified in terminating any promotions that he has? How in the world does that make any sense?

I personally say that you call back and talk to a supervisor.. explain to them that you didnt downgrade service (which would nullify alot of promotions.. "minimum service levels" blah blah)..

Service promotions are not hardware dependent, but programming dependent.. If they are unwilling to play ball, then threaten to cancel service.. Account recovery has much more flexability over accounts then normal CSRs do...

Oh, but thats right, Charlie cant do anything wrong, and Echostar is the perfect company, known for excelent customer service, and always doing the right thing and never screwing the little guy... I keep forgetting about that... In that case, Purogamer is right

 

[Purogamer]

Tell me, how did he break this "deal"? He still has service, at still the same tier and abilities, if anything, it costs more for the DVR fee.. Dish expects you to not change anything at all for two years, including hardware? If that was the case, they should have made that abundently clear during the signup.

I'm sure they did make it crystal clear. They always do. Did we find the 1 guy who got satellite tv without being told what he was signing up for? Of course not...

He broke his deal by changing it. While it shouldn't have broken the deal to upgrade, in this case it does. That's E*'s deal, which he agreed to. He can try calling back to talk to someone else, but nothing is more frustrating than CSR Roulette, as mentioned. He broke the deal. Calm down.

I'm sure cancelling his service, before that 2years is up, will cost him more than $50, won't it? Just because the deal sucks doesn't mean he doesn't have to honor it.

Someone help me out with this, i'm being dragged into a flame war here...

 

[Barry Erick]

Not to worry DirecTV does the same thing. If you try to change a programming package, drop one thing and add another that is exactly the same price before your commitment is up (usually a year after any promotional item is added), you are in violation of the contract and loose.

 

[rkrenicki]

I'm sure they did make it crystal clear. They always do.

Someone help me out with this, i'm being dragged into a flame war here...

For a moment there, I forgot what company we are dealing with... thats right, how could I ever question a perfect company such as Dish Network, who never ever tries to hide little things like this..

My point is, you dont know what he agreed to, none of us do for sure.. Only Dish and the OP know. If the OP was surprised by this, then obviously it was not made "crystal clear" to him. That and the way you tell the OP that he has no one to blame but himself, seems to belittle the OP.

I am just trying to say that its a raw deal, and it makes very little sense for that to be the actual agreement, more of a misunderstanding of the promotion details.

Also, since the OP owns the equipment, he is not in a service contract, so there will be no early termination fee, that only applies to those who are leasing recievers.

What about a damaged reciever? If you own your own equipment, and one of the recievers break, so you buy another.. should that nullify all of your specials or promotions? Or should you just live with a broken reciever until the end of your promotion?

I am not trying to start a flamewar, and you are certianly free to leave the conversation at any time (hence, you are not being "dragged in").

 

[OoTLink]

I'm sure cancelling his service, before that 2years is up, will cost him more than $50, won't it? Just because the deal sucks doesn't mean he doesn't have to honor it.

Someone help me out with this, i'm being dragged into a flame war here...

The DHA he signed up for doesn't have a contract. I signed up with the same thing except the lease side of it instead.

[The difference is that you have to install it yourself, which is probably what the discount/rebated money was covering. You own your equipment too, but that doesn't really change the pricing]

If he cancelled, he wouldn't lose anything, not to mention I think this was a 1 year discount not 2. So far we haven't seen his agreement, and I doubt it said that changing equipment would cancel out his refund, oddly enough I've had phone contracts where the reseller said something along those lines BUT they didn't mind if you provided the IDs of the new phone.