Thought I bought my 811, now Dish says NO!

ddeeble

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 3, 2003
23
0
About 4 months ago I purchased an 811 receiver from Dish when they did the proce drops. I am an existing customer (was on the DHP plan, but owned a 6000 and I THOUGHT an 811) and had been with Dish for about 5 years, but recently decided to give Voom a whirl. When I purchased the 811, they asked if I wanted to send any receivers from my DHP plan back so that I wouldn't keep getting billed for the rental fee and I agreed to send back my 301 and kept the 501 on the DHP. During this transaction, I confirmed with the Executive CSR that I was, in fact, BUYING the receiver and that I could sell it later if I wanted and it was NOT part of the DHP. I was repeatedly assured that I was correct on all points. When I went to cancel my account this month, I was told that the CSR didn't put any notes on the transaction stating I owned the 811 so I had to send it back! I asked why I would spend $150 for a box I'm renting when they're giving the things away and her only response was that because there weren't any notes in the system to the contrary, the box was part of the DHP and had to be returned!!! The 6000 I had purchased showed up as being owned by me, but apparently I am SOL on the 811. I didn't have a committment on the 811 when I bought it and she verified that the system showed I had no outstanding commitment time on my account. I went ahead and cancelled my account (now with one MORE reason to do so!) and will be shipping back their half-baked 811 along with the 501. At the end of the call, they offered to waive the $25 returning customer fee - gee thanks! You essentially rip me off for $150 and then GENEROUSLY agree to waive a $25 fee should I decide to come back and give you MORE money? Who is running this place? Sorry for the rant, but anyone who THOUGHT they bought an 811 might want to check and make sure they did, in fact, actually BUY it.
 
Packed away somewhere - we're in the process of moving so everything's mostly boxed up in the garage so I can't get to it.
 
Then you can only follow Gary's advise and keep pushing your story up the ladder till you can provide the documents. Granted, if you have your copy, they should have theirs as well!
 
The Exec office should be able to handle it. If not, write a letter to the billing disputes address, they are required by the fair billing credit act to respond to your dispute in writing. Including showing documents of why you owe what they think you owe.

Check out www.ftc.gov, although they aren't as consumer friendly as they once were, you'll find a lot of good consumer information, including laws and standards creditors are required to follow. Your State AG office or BBB is another good place to file a complaint. Good luck!
 
ddeeble people with DHP have to read what they agree to it is pretty much standard DISH policy to replace leased equipment with a new leased receiver. Also DISH usually won't discount product for purchase to lease customers. The 811 I believe has a $399 purchase price. Seeing they only charged you $150 it looks like you just payed an upgrade price on your lease. I hope you do find paperwork that shows you bought the 811, I personally don't feel it is worth that much but DISH has outrageous values on their buggy equipment.
 
Cascade said:
One hand doesn't seem to know what the other's doing.

They're just following Charlie's lead, his left doesn't know what his right is doing so why should anyone else at E*?

I had a similar problem when I cancelled, I had a 501 on DHP and a purchased 508 and 811. They wanted all three back, I said give me a fax number and I'll send the receipts, they shut up. But then three boxes showed up, called again and they said only the 501 and the LNB's. Their record keeping stinks.
 
Boba,

When Dish started selling the units for $150 about four months ago, they excluded DHP customers, but after a bit of an uproar from customers, they decided to include them as well. That's how I got it for $150 - I got the 6000 the same way a few months prior when they did the same thing.
 
I too am a DHP customer for 2 301's. I own a 6000 and bought an 811 via the CEO route when they first came out and were offered to "high value customers" at $99.

A couple of month later I noticed my billing still said DHP with 3 receivers. It should have said DHP with 2 receivers and 2 extra receivers at $5. I called and they said that was just a lease upgrade. I complained and explained that "no, the executive office explicitly said it was a purchased receiver and in fact when they returned my call to record my acceptance of the purchase I confirmed in the recording that it was a purchase not a lease".

I told them to pull their recording and they could confirm, otherwise, I would dispute the charge on my CC and they could pickup all three receivers and cancel my account. After a couple more calls they advised they would document my records to indicate I own the 811. Of course, I called later and confirmed my records did indicate such.
 
Ok crew & ddeeble I still say I hope YOU have proof of purchase don't count on DISH providing proof they don't own the equipment. OK you have already experienced their claim you upgraded your existing lease.