What the hell...I have to pay to cancel

[eichenberg]

I am no longer under any contract. Last contract signed in 2017. 12 year customer. I have been on pause for 4 months now and have decided to cancel Dish this morning as I have not missed it being on pause and was told I would be charged $20 per box to ship equipment back. I have a Hopper 3 and a Joey 2.0 plus the lnb's off my dish. So what 2 or 3 boxes. So $40 - $60 to cancel. All I have to say is good riddance then.

 

[That American Girl]

You wont need to return the LNB, and as for the return box fees, you an call to see if they'll waive that for you.

 

[eichenberg]

You wont need to return the LNB, and as for the return box fees, you an call to see if they'll waive that for you.

When I get my final bill I'll call and ask about waiving the box fees. Thank you

Sent from my SM-S908U1 using Tapatalk

 

[telstar_1]

I thought they sent prepaid boxes to collect *their* equipment. That would seem the least standard of service given that the alternative is collecting it via a service call. They've long insisted on getting back the LNBF off of the dish, which I've considered highly improper in that they're expecting the customer to uninstall it. They do waive it as soon as you raise a complaint about it, and you do have to wonder why they need them back given that they must already be getting back more than what they would know to do with as people cut the cord.

May be time for another AG call.

 

[That American Girl]

I want to say that the instructions *should* say to return the LNB if its where you can SAFETY get to it. But I can't remember if they've updated that yet.

 

[telstar_1]

If they own it and want it, and especially if it takes tools of any kind to uninstall it, they should send a servicer to collect it. People are having these same bogus customer service experiences in 2024 as they did in 2004!

 

[Jimbo]

They SHOULD Pay people to STAY !

Not sure about Dish, but with D*, you take the boxes back to a Fed Ex store and they ship it, no issues ...
No LNB either.

 

[navychop]

Really- it's all kinda moot now, right?

 

[telstar_1]

Really- it's all kinda moot now, right?

Why? I presume they're still in business, still installing gear that they end up demanding their customers uninstall and ship back to them, instead of simply doing a proper service call

 

[Jimbo]

Why? I presume they're still in business, still installing gear that they end up demanding their customers uninstall and ship back to them, instead of simply doing a proper service call

A service call to take boxes back (and remove an LNB, if they actually do that anymore) cost the company at LEAST $300 per truck roll ... they figure the sub can drop it off at the local Fed Ex and FED EX will box it and ship it, much cheaper than the truck roll.

 

[telstar_1]

So do the wrong thing because it saves them money. Maybe if they had a local dealer they supported, the gear could have been picked up for a lot less. I'm sure this was behind their drive back in the late 90s to direct-sell and so generously mail along a "free self-install kit". Do they still do that?

Charlie played some cards the right way early on, luck or otherwise, but he played more the wrong way, purely out of greed.

 

[HipKat]

I thought they sent prepaid boxes to collect *their* equipment. That would seem the least standard of service given that the alternative is collecting it via a service call. They've long insisted on getting back the LNBF off of the dish, which I've considered highly improper in that they're expecting the customer to uninstall it. They do waive it as soon as you raise a complaint about it, and you do have to wonder why they need them back given that they must already be getting back more than what they would know to do with as people cut the cord.

May be time for another AG call.

No, they started charging $15 to return equipment some years ago

 

[HipKat]

They SHOULD Pay people to STAY !

Not sure about Dish, but with D*, you take the boxes back to a Fed Ex store and they ship it, no issues ...
No LNB either.

Not always true. I've seen customers who did that and who were sent boxes

 

[HipKat]

So do the wrong thing because it saves them money. Maybe if they had a local dealer they supported, the gear could have been picked up for a lot less. I'm sure this was behind their drive back in the late 90s to direct-sell and so generously mail along a "free self-install kit". Do they still do that?

Of course not. And it's not necessarily the wrong thing, Instead of $15 to ship the boxes, they could charge $50 for a customer work order to remove equipment

 

[Bruce]

I understand why Dish does this, shipping is expensive, they will no longer be getting money from the customer canceling to make it up, also I doubt $25 covers all the costs, I just shipped a box via USPS, roughly the same size box, weighing 4lbs 11oz, via Ground Advantage.

Did this at USPS, not a for profit mail shop, $25.49, by the way, supposed to be there yesterday, it was not.

But, what Dish is doing with these shipping charges and making some get the LNB, it is going to make the former subscriber angry and has pretty much guaranteed that the customer would never return to Dish in the future, say if they went to cable, did not like it, they then will look for other options that do not involve Dish, like YTTV for one example.

 

[telstar_1]

I understand why Dish does this, shipping is expensive, they will no longer be getting money from the customer canceling to make it up, also I doubt $25 covers all the costs, I just shipped a box via USPS, roughly the same size box, weighing 4lbs 11oz, via Ground Advantage.

Did this at USPS, not a for profit mail shop, $25.49, by the way, supposed to be there yesterday, it was not.

But, what Dish is doing with these shipping charges and making some get the LNB, it is going to make the former subscriber angry and has pretty much guaranteed that the customer would never return to Dish in the future, say if they went to cable, did not like it, they then will look for other options that do not involve Dish, like YTTV for one example.

Bingo. That's the reflexive greed. Nothing more to be made here, let's put it all on the now-former customer to part ways. Even though they've been locked in battle with DTV for years with dueling 2-year "free" (or $400 gift card) deals to get new or returning subs, only to then re-treat them shabbily once back on their hook. I think this is what they now call a doom loop.

DBS would of course always have had an eventual expiry from streaming regardless, but DiSH could have both bested DTV and extended the viable life of DBS just by doing right by people and having that be what they're known for. They chose otherwise. From virtually Day One they picked every near-term means to rake it in while ignoring longer-term brand-equity considerations. Once doing that you really just get locked into it.

The fact of there only being 2 DBS operators of course only exacerbated this- a duopoly is often a de facto monopoly.

 

[Jimbo]

Not always true. I've seen customers who did that and who were sent boxes

Probably during the transition to drop off method.

 

[HipKat]

Probably during the transition to drop off method.

No, recently. For one thing, not everyone lives near a drop off point

 

[Jimbo]

No, recently. For one thing, not everyone lives near a drop off point

So, if they give you the option, it would help ....

Theres Millions of Fed ex and UPS drop off stores thruout the US.

 

[Juan]

So do the wrong thing because it saves them money. Maybe if they had a local dealer they supported, the gear could have been picked up for a lot less. I'm sure this was behind their drive back in the late 90s to direct-sell and so generously mail along a "free self-install kit". Do they still do that?

Charlie played some cards the right way early on, luck or otherwise, but he played more the wrong way, purely out of greed.

It all started with the bogus DVR fee after he promised free DVR for life