Under a commitment after being told i would not be.

[BigTimMN]

Been a dish customer for 4-5 years, never under a commitment sine my original 18 month one. Last fall, after trying to figure out ways to save money due to both my spouse and I being out of work, I called Dish to see what i could do to get my bill lowered. I lowered a package level, was given $5/mo credit for 6 months and told I could save $10/month with paperless/autopay and the HD for Life.

I asked more than once, if those things would put me back under a commitment, and was told No. I was unable to sign up for autopay at that time, as I didnt have the CC with me. I was told i could sign up online and finish the process.

I did that later that day.

Now, our situation has not improved, and we are in the point of having to make drastic cuts all around, and we have decided to eliminate dish completely for the next few months until our situation improves.

I call to disconnect our service and have been told that I am now 6 months into a new and its 180 to disconnect service.

A Supervisor/coach said that they can see taht in multiple phone calls prior to signing up online I was advised about teh commitment, and nothing on my account states that they agreed to waive the commitment.

Waiting a bit to calm down before i call the Exec team, but if there is no clean resolution to this issue, where i can disconnect free of charge. I will never again be a dish customer.

Anyone else ever have issues like this?

 

[Mr Tony]

If you went with the HD for life promo and didnt pay the $99 up front there is a 24 month commitment

What you'll need to do to get HD Free for Life:

OPTION 1: 24-Month Commitment and AutoPay with Paperless Billing

OPTION 2: One-time Non-refundable $99 Upgrade Payment

http://www.dishnetwork.com/packages/free-hdtv/default.aspx

 

[tubkatt]

if you signed up for HD for Life the requirements are autopay and 24 Month Commitment

 

[chrisn]

I have free HD... no autopay, no commitment, no $99, though I think it had something to do with it being included with HD Platinum package or something of that sort

 

[Frank7004]

$180 to get out of the contract is cheap. The contract reads $17.50 for the remaining months on contract. If you have used 6 months of your 24 months...well, i'll let you do the math.

Did you ask (or was offered) to put the account on hold. Its not really uncommon as I have seen lately. Customers put their account on hold, or drop to a very low package. Then, when you are ready (usually Dish sets a time table for you to restore service or get out) a tech comes out and "restores" your service. -of course this comes with a $15 tech visit fee, if you have the protection plan. You also have an option to transfer services to another person/family member. I'm not sure what goes into that, but its an option.

 

[Darrell S]

I got HD for free when they had the free platinum promotion if you were already payed the 10.00 hd fee. When they ended this promo when platinum got more channels, I was automatically given the base 10.00 hd fee free. While this is a different situation than the op, I wonder if I am under commitment also? I have never been on autopay and there was no commitment mentioned when I signed up. I am now getting the HD free still plus platinum free for 12 months with the recent promotion.
I would have never found about that original promo if it hadn't been for this forum. Does anyone have this promotion and are they under commitment for it?
Sorry to hijack the op's original thread with a semi-related topic. I was just wondering if I'm some sort of contract I don't know about also.

 

[Anony55]

$180 to get out of the contract is cheap. The contract reads $17.50 for the remaining months on contract. If you have used 6 months of your 24 months...well, i'll let you do the math...

Not for him. His obligation was only due to the Free HD For Life. If you read the terms on the page linked by Iceberg, the early termination fee is clearly only $10 per month remaining.

It would've been cheeper to have just paid the $99 up front... had he been able to see into the future.

Cheers

 

[eurosport]

Customers put their account on hold, or drop to a very low package. Then, when you are ready (usually Dish sets a time table for you to restore service or get out) a tech comes out and "restores" your service. -of course this comes with a $15 tech visit fee, if you have the protection plan.

Why would a tech need to come out? Don't they usually turn stuff on/off remotely?

 

[Frank7004]

Yes. Sometimes you get there and they want remotes programmed, questions answered...whatever. Sometimes is moving rcvrs around, sometimes its nothing at all. Maybe the dish was on a temp mount and the cust moved it...lots of reasons.

Of course I only see the ones that need techs to come out on. I would ASSUME that you can turn down the tech visit and simply restart your service.

My opinion, its another chance for Dish to get a rcvr connected to BB or a phone line.

Anony, thanks for that info.

 

[yaz96]

Why would a tech need to come out? Don't they usually turn stuff on/off remotely?

A tech does not need to come back out if you are just on "hold". Frank is wrong.

 

[stardust3]

$180 to get out of the contract is cheap. The contract reads $17.50 for the remaining months on contract. If you have used 6 months of your 24 months...well, i'll let you do the math.

Did you ask (or was offered) to put the account on hold. Its not really uncommon as I have seen lately. Customers put their account on hold, or drop to a very low package. Then, when you are ready (usually Dish sets a time table for you to restore service or get out) a tech comes out and "restores" your service. -of course this comes with a $15 tech visit fee, if you have the protection plan.

You also have an option to transfer services to another person/family member. I'm not sure what goes into that, but its an option.

Leased equipment is not transferable, unless this is something new.

 

[Dishman1978]

$180 to get out of the contract is cheap. The contract reads $17.50 for the remaining months on contract. If you have used 6 months of your 24 months...well, i'll let you do the math.

Did you ask (or was offered) to put the account on hold. Its not really uncommon as I have seen lately. Customers put their account on hold, or drop to a very low package. Then, when you are ready (usually Dish sets a time table for you to restore service or get out) a tech comes out and "restores" your service. -of course this comes with a $15 tech visit fee, if you have the protection plan. You also have an option to transfer services to another person/family member. I'm not sure what goes into that, but its an option.

17.50 contract term a month is for equipment and upgrades, ots 10/month for hd free commitment. Seperates term fees.

 

[samalex]

Not for him. His obligation was only due to the Free HD For Life. If you read the terms on the page linked by Iceberg, the early termination fee is clearly only $10 per month remaining.

It would've been cheeper to have just paid the $99 up front... had he been able to see into the future.

Cheers

This is correct... I called DishNetwork last week to see what our ETF would be if we canceled given we were 5 months into a contract we resigned to get HD 4 Life, and we were told $190 which would go down $10/month until the 24 month commitment was over. We're in a similar boat as the OP where we're looking to cut back, but we probably won't look at dropping Dish until after the commitment is over. We like the programming, but we're not seeing the savings i thought we'd see after dropping our plan.

 

[Claude Greiner]

HD Free for life is $10 for each month remaining in the committment.

The only way to add the HD free for life codes would have been to go online at the time and agree to the committment online, so if thats the case there is pretty much nothing you can do.

Worse case scenario you might get Dish to let you pay the $99 HD for life fee you would have paid without doing a committment

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

I see some things worth commenting on, so here goes:

Commitment "values" have changed from time to time. At one point they were $17.50 per month remaining. Currently, all upgrade contracts (existing customers only, on HDFFL/DIU) are $10 per month remaining.This is subject to change and all cancellation fees are disclosed via the website or an agent when upgrading or committing to a new contract. At any point during those the terms can be declined and no problem. Whatever the "value" for cancellation was the day you committed is the value that holds in the contract.

As was mentioned, at the time HD Free For Life was added per OP's timetable, the commitment could only be done online and the value was whatever was originally disclosed. I believe it was $10, which is where the $180 came from. There was no way to "change" the options at the time of the sign-up. There was either the $99 or the contract with Auto-Pay and Paperless Billing. The website made you "choose" one or the other.

At one point (I believe February) those customers who had the "HD and Platinum package," which was at one time offered for $10 for both (Not $10 each), got the HDFFL and paid just the $10 for the HD Platinum. There was no commitment or fee, it was just done because the packages separated.

To the OP, I am not sure what I can do but if you don't mind PMing me a phone number I will do what I can to help you out. It sounds like it may be the best option, or at least a good one to let me check into this.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I see some things worth commenting on, so here goes:

Commitment "values" have changed from time to time. At one point they were $17.50 per month remaining. Currently, all new contracts are $10 per month remaining. This is subject to change and all cancellation fees are disclosed via the website or an agent when upgrading or committing to a new contract. At any point during those the terms can be declined and no problem. Whatever the "value" for cancellation was the day you committed is the value that holds in the contract.

As was mentioned, at the time HD Free For Life was added per OP's timetable, the commitment could only be done online and the value was whatever was originally disclosed. I believe it was $10, which is where the $180 came from. There was no way to "change" the options at the time of the sign-up. There was either the $99 or the contract with Auto-Pay and Paperless Billing. The website made you "choose" one or the other.

At one point (I believe February) those customers who had the "HD and Platinum package," which was at one time offered for $10 for both (Not $10 each), got the HDFFL and paid just the $10 for the HD Platinum. There was no commitment or fee, it was just done because the packages separated.

To the OP, I am not sure what I can do but if you don't mind PMing me a phone number I will do what I can to help you out. It sounds like it may be the best option, or at least a good one to let me check into this.

All new contracts for DHA 24, and Flex 24 are at $17.50 for every month remaining. HD Free for life and I believe Dish N it upgrades are $10 for every month remaining.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

--EDIT-- Above post changed to be more clear which contracts I was talking about. To be fair, I did imply changes in new contract.

This is subject to change and all cancellation fees are disclosed via the website or an agent when upgrading or committing to a new contract.

Is that a disclosure to cover disclosures? Wow. Boggling.

 

[Mike_H]

Doesn't Dish have a "lifeline" option where you can pay a minimal montly fee to keep the account active but have the service effectively disconnected? Thus you don't see any ETF, maintain your customer status, but get a lower rate. I thought most companies have that for services like this. Say you have to go out of the country for a few months for work, or you'll be otherwise unable to use the service for a period of time.

 

[TonyT@DISH Network]

You can go to a minimum programming package or go onto DISH Pause. DISH Pause is only up to 6 months. You have to pay most recent bill then go into that account "mode"(?). After 6 months, it falls off automatically and returns the programming that was originally on the account. Also, it lengthens any contract for the amount of time it is on DISH Pause and its $5 a month. This would be a great option for the OP. No commitment cancellation or fees right now, and in 6 months the situation can be re-evaluated. One thing I would like you to be mindful of though, and that is that you can only go into DISH Pause one time in a rolling 12 month period.

 

[Kb Cool]

I see some things worth commenting on, so here goes:

Commitment "values" have changed from time to time. At one point they were $17.50 per month remaining. Currently, all upgrade contracts (existing customers only, on HDFFL/DIU) are $10 per month remaining.This is subject to change and all cancellation fees are disclosed via the website or an agent when upgrading or committing to a new contract. At any point during those the terms can be declined and no problem. Whatever the "value" for cancellation was the day you committed is the value that holds in the contract.

As was mentioned, at the time HD Free For Life was added per OP's timetable, the commitment could only be done online and the value was whatever was originally disclosed. I believe it was $10, which is where the $180 came from. There was no way to "change" the options at the time of the sign-up. There was either the $99 or the contract with Auto-Pay and Paperless Billing. The website made you "choose" one or the other.

At one point (I believe February) those customers who had the "HD and Platinum package," which was at one time offered for $10 for both (Not $10 each), got the HDFFL and paid just the $10 for the HD Platinum. There was no commitment or fee, it was just done because the packages separated.

To the OP, I am not sure what I can do but if you don't mind PMing me a phone number I will do what I can to help you out. It sounds like it may be the best option, or at least a good one to let me check into this.

Do you know if the former HD absolute subs who were offered HDFFL were automatically entered into the 24 month agreement?
By the way, it's great having you guys here.