the five and ten dollar deactivation fee

[korsjs]

i called dish last week and asked them if i could add a specific channel for one month and have it turned off at the one month point. they said no and that i would have to call back when i want it canceled. i told them that i was trying to avoid the five or ten dollar fee that would be included with the deactivation.

does anyone know if dish will let you subscribe to something (adult channel) for one month (25.00 for one month or 10.00 for 8 hours) and not penalize you if you tell them in advance when you want the service turned off.

and why is deactivating an adult channel ten bucks instead of the normal five bucks. it would also be nice if you could cancel service online.

 

[GaryPen]

I can answer all of your questions with two words...shameless greed.

BTW, DirecTV lats you change programming online, with no additonal fees for downgrading. (Dish even charges for "side-grading", that is changing programming that results in the same total cost! Unbefrigginlievable.)

 

[korsjs]

couldn't they give us the option of ordering for the month through the receiver? if they can do it for the 8 hours the offer, they should be able to let you order for the month. ten bucks for downgrading is outragous.

 

[boba]

But they won't make a profit off from you. Charlie Ergen is an accountant and also RICH RICH RICH he won't give things away.

 

[Stargazer]

So basically if you order some channels just for one month then it will actually cost you $5 more, $10 more if it is an adult package. Extasy would cost you $38 for the month and TEN would cost you $33 for the month including the downgrade fee, plus not being able to downgrade online let alone being able to do it for no penalty would be a nice thing for Dish Network to do.

That is the benefit of DirecTv over Dish Network, but with Dish Network you can order a basic package that is $10 cheaper (I believe it is $5 cheaper now). You also do not need to order a basic package in order to purchase other channels such as premium movie packages, locals, etc. You can also order superstations on Dish Network.

 

[JohnDoe#2]

The $5 downgrade fee is there to discourage people from adding & subtracting packages frequently in order to just see specific programs: i.e. a new movie on Starz today, a prizefight on HBO or SHOWTIME tomorrow, NASCAR on the speed Channel next week, etc.

Believe it or not, it costs them something everytime you call in & talk to a CSR to change your account.

Now, why they don't upgrade their system to allow programming changes online on a pro-rated basis is something I can't answer. Seems to me they should be able to allow it with reasonable restrictions to prevent abuse like, say, month to month at least.

The additional $5 tacked on to adult programming downgrades is per contracts with the providers who demand their own processing fee.

BTW, if you have been a good on-time paying customer for a considerable time and decide it's time to make an infrequent one-time programming switch go ahead and make a big stink (without being offensive) when you are told there will be a $5 charge. It can be waived. But don't expect a waiver if you have already done it recently.

 

[sullivbt]

Programming Change Fee

John Doe is exactly correct. Several months ago when I called to cancel my national PBS ala carte sub (b/c my SuperDISH had just been installed for locals) the CSR tried (for about 2 seconds) to say that I would have to pay a $5 programming change fee. I slapped her down (verbally) and she said "no problem - we'll waive the fee". You can get the fee waived, you just have to be adamant about it - DISH will hook you up if they don't think that you're trying to game them.