Worst Customer Service Ever - Many Calls Attempted !!! Horrendous !!!

Stargazer

Supporting Founder
Original poster
Supporting Founder
Sep 7, 2003
16,567
340
Western WV
What is wrong with Dish Network? I had to call multiple times and was on the phone for hours trying to activate a few used receivers. The customer tried calling in but had issues with them and could not understand what they were saying (and neither could I half the time). Every dang time I got someone from the Phillipines. Some of them sounded American!!!

These people got flooded out earlier this month in a trailer park and was moving to the next lot over. These receivers were on my account previously. They first told me there was a $50 balance owed on the receivers and could not be activated until I paid the balance. I told them that was a lie but she said that was what the screen told her so I hang up and call back and verifiy that these receivers were shown to have been on my account. I have annual prepay and checking account autopay on my account. To top it off the guy starts by asking me what my secret password is. There is NO secret password on my account. He says that since I verified my name and address that he could still address my issue and he verified that there was no balance owed on the receivers and I told him that I needed him to transfer the receivers from my account to someone else's account. These receivers were not activated on my account but they still show up on the account until transferred to another one. The guy said that the computer was giving him some messages not allowing him to transfer but he would put notes on the account so that the customer could call in to activate it.

I hang up and call back and tell them my account information and to transfer it to the other account and am told that it was done. Receiver is not activated. I waited about 5 minutes and decided to call back and make sure. Sure enough they said the information was not in the system about any receivers being activated so I have to read off the numbers once again. I am told that it was activated and that it would take about 10 minutes to become active. I hang up and sure enough the programming does not become activated. I did verify that the receiver had the latest software version as well.

I call back once again and was told once again that these receivers were not shown in the system as activated. REDICULOUS!!! It's almost midnight now and I had a guy with me waiting to get done that I had hired to do some minor carpentry work for these woman. Everyone was starting to get impatient including myself but they did not get rude with me and understood my frustration and did not take theirs out on me. Well the lady tells me that she had to talk to a supervisor because the computer says that it is not a promotional receiver and I tell her that they are used, just activate them. I tell her to tell her superivisor to help her get this done and she said she would have the sup do it to overide it. She comes back on the phone and says that the receivers are outdated/too old to activate with the type of dish that I have. I told her that I know what I am doing and that I have the proper dish (a legacy setup). She then comes back on the phone and tells me that her supervisor had to call someone else and be on the phone with them to get it activated that it would be another 15 minutes. I must have talked to them for 3-4 hours but they finally got it activated. I asked for credit on the customer's account after this fiasco and they said they could not do that because they had no down time. I spend over 3 hours on the phone yet it only took me about 30 minutes to install the system.

I had other phone calls that had to be made as well before I got the dang things activated. I had to make so many that I lost count. REDICULOUS! I used to be able to activate these in about a few minutes, now hours?

Even the tech support is from the Phillipines now. No wonder why Dish Network has sucked on churn lately. They have the lousiest customer support there is and they should be extremely ashamed of themselves or having this type of customer service. The time before this when I had a system activated I was on the phone for an hour trying to get receivers activated. They couldn't activate one of them saying a balance was owed on it when Dish Network told me it was cleared before. I had to hunt up another receiver with clear balance and the weather got bad and icy. Customer calls me up and says that he almost cancelled the check he gave me but figured I already cashed it in (and I did) and was going to sue me in magistrate's court if I did not come out and give refund or bring him his receiver. I had to drive out icy roads to prevent a lawsuit.

I have had issues myself trying to get receivers activated at home and they tell me I have to pay $50 for a new smart card everytime I turn around it seems. I got the warranty on my account to prevent this. What a load of bull! Even after I got my warranty they charged me for one of the two smart cards (the other showed up as $0 charge for one) and I had to contact them again about it. I told them if the $50 credit did not show up on the account next month then I would switch to DirecTv. It showed up on next month's bill.

Is there any way to avoid this crap? I don't know how much more of this pathetic customer support I can take. It's like they don't know what they are doing or make it so hard to activate a receiver on an account. Even when I check in advance for a balance on a receiver it does no good because later on they pull some kind of crap and can't activate them.
 
Start embarrassing DISH and others. If they're going to link a video of a sleeping cable man then they are trying to find ways to show that customer service for others sucks.

The only real way is to take these stories to the internet and show the ineptitude. Of course, it isn't just DISH, it is becoming every company. Charlie once said that he wanted to stop the outsourcing so customers can get someone that speaks English. What has he done thus far?
 
I always hit the option for Tech Support and [usally] spoke to some fresh faced college kid at their Blacksburg tech center. I find it hard believe E* would route tech support calls to their horrible call center in the Philippines, but who knows. My question is was the Philippine call center handling overflow calling or are they now handling tech support calls?
 
I immediately ask for an account specialist whenever I call. They are more knowledgeable, have more "power" than the normal call center reps, and they are not overseas. This saves you a huge amount of time and headache trying to explain things or get credits issued etc. Since they have more pull, you can usually negotiate better deals with them if you have some leverage.
 
If anything will make me switch from DISH it will most likely end up being their customer 'service.' I am still kind of pissed about the VOOM thing but otherwise I don't really care that much who has one of five more channels then the other but dammit Dish! Your CSR's are a pathetic joke.
 
I had to call DishNet yesterday. I seem to be experiencing the ever-so-popular "LNB Drift".

I'm most certain that I got the Philippines. First I had to argue that LNB drift even exists. Then I had to argue that my system exhibits the condition. Then I had to argue that it was not my receiver. That was of course followed by the arguement that there was no reason to send out a technician just to verify that it was an LNB issue before authorizing the replacement of the LNB.

Then she wasn't sure if DishNet covered the LNB's on non-lease equipment.
I got put on hold while she went to find out who was responsible, Dish or myself.

Finally, she comes back and tells me that the LNB's are covered, but a technician cannot be out to replace them for 2 weeks.

2 WEEKS!!?? :mad:
I'm down to around a dozen channels that actually come in... and thats only at night when the temps drop.
And, I'm supposed to just be happy with essentially no TV for two weeks??

Obviously customer satisfaction means squat to Dish Network.
 
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Yea Dish has gone down in Customer Service. I believe Dish is for sale and it may become part of the Direct TV Family. Charlie has his new toy and that is EchoStar Tech he no longer cares about Dish Network.
 
Afte 11 years of many Dishplayers and more than a few 622s, I ordered DirecTV today.:D
 
For Americans they probably have the worst CS a company can have. But on the other hand if you lived in India they probably have the best.
 
Hey, I just called Tech Support yesterday because I need my dish re-aimed. The young gal, who sounded very American, sounded like she was reading a script to me but she was pausing after every phrase. I then listened closer and I could hear the voice in the background. So her "trainer" was telling her what to say, phrase by phrase. It's like this poor gal just got hired that morning. What a training system. Tech Support??? Yea right!
 
Sometimes I tell them that I know that they are reading the information from the computer screen. When I was on the phone with the last lady I was like "wow I finally got someone from the USA" and she said nope I am not from the USA. She sure fooled me. I don't know how many complaints I have heard this past year or two about people not being able to understand these foreigners or the issues they have had with them. When I start having issues on the phone like I have been I know someone is in a world of hurt when it comes to service. This can only get so bad before it gets out of control. Things that used to be such simple tasks are extremely difficult now. I would have spent much less time just switching everything to a different provider but some people really do like Dish Network. If people don't have the time to screw with this crap then they will just switch and not think twice because of all the stress and runaround.
 
So... the scheduled technician FINALLY arrived yesterday.

He had no clue what my complaint was, just a ticket to show up. So obviously CS scheduled the appt., but still didn't write the ticket for LNB drift or LNB replacement.

This technician seemed like he was either unfamiliar with Dish equipment, or just determined to give me a hard time.

He absolutely INSISTED that the PVR721 is not DPP compatible and therefore won't work with a separator or twin LNBF , even though I clearly explained that the system has worked for years. I tried to educate him that the 721's DID originally need a firmware update before they'd run DPP. He argued.
Then I showed him the setup menu and showed him that it passed a switch test, and that both satellites were recognized. Then showed him that some transponders on a single satellite were locked while various other transponders were not locked.
Still he insisted that it was because the equipment was not compatible. :mad:
He had to call his dispatch, and luckily they set him straight.

But even then he didn't want to replace the LNB. He insisted the problem was because my cables and ground black were "white" and not "blue". Said the white ones weren't the correct bandwidth. Umm, they were all designated for RG6 and satellite use. So, he cut off every single RG6 connector and replaced them with "blue" connectors and also replaced the ground block with a "blue" one. Then he had me move the home theater center, pulled my coax wall plate (which he stripped), and replaced the cable crimps and feed-thru there. He tried to blame my Monster Gold cables at the receiver end, but there was no way I was letting him yank or cut those. Then he asked if there were any more connections in the basement. At this point I just lied and said "NO".

Outside, he grabbed a new LNB from the truck, but then proceeded to tell me how he couldn't go on the roof because it would require fall protection gear, and that takes too long to put on. I just stood there and stared at him. I was ready to explode. He decided that if he could reach the LNB from the ladder, without actually stepping onto the roof, then he would replace it for me.

Well he did reach, and he did replace the LNB. (and what do you know, suddenly the channels came back... every single one of them). He also re-tacked the cable to the side of the house, insisting that he couldn't leave with the cable just hanging there. I tried to explain that I was in the process of exterior work and painting, but gave up. I was done arguing. Let him tack it and I'll just move it again when I resume the work.

Overall a very stressful and taxing service call. Sure, I got the LNB replaced and the system works properly now. But, honestly, next time I'll just buy the part out of pocket and save myself the long wait, and the aggravation. This definitely reminded me of why I usually buy and install equipment myself.
 
So... the scheduled technician FINALLY arrived yesterday.

He had no clue what my complaint was, just a ticket to show up. So obviously CS scheduled the appt., but still didn't write the ticket for LNB drift or LNB replacement.

This technician seemed like he was either unfamiliar with Dish equipment, or just determined to give me a hard time.

He absolutely INSISTED that the PVR721 is not DPP compatible and therefore won't work with a separator or twin LNBF , even though I clearly explained that the system has worked for years. I tried to educate him that the 721's DID originally need a firmware update before they'd run DPP. He argued.
Then I showed him the setup menu and showed him that it passed a switch test, and that both satellites were recognized. Then showed him that some transponders on a single satellite were locked while various other transponders were not locked.
Still he insisted that it was because the equipment was not compatible. :mad:
He had to call his dispatch, and luckily they set him straight.

But even then he didn't want to replace the LNB. He insisted the problem was because my cables and ground black were "white" and not "blue". Said the white ones weren't the correct bandwidth. Umm, they were all designated for RG6 and satellite use. So, he cut off every single RG6 connector and replaced them with "blue" connectors and also replaced the ground block with a "blue" one. Then he had me move the home theater center, pulled my coax wall plate (which he stripped), and replaced the cable crimps and feed-thru there. He tried to blame my Monster Gold cables at the receiver end, but there was no way I was letting him yank or cut those. Then he asked if there were any more connections in the basement. At this point I just lied and said "NO".

Outside, he grabbed a new LNB from the truck, but then proceeded to tell me how he couldn't go on the roof because it would require fall protection gear, and that takes too long to put on. I just stood there and stared at him. I was ready to explode. He decided that if he could reach the LNB from the ladder, without actually stepping onto the roof, then he would replace it for me.

Well he did reach, and he did replace the LNB. (and what do you know, suddenly the channels came back... every single one of them). He also re-tacked the cable to the side of the house, insisting that he couldn't leave with the cable just hanging there. I tried to explain that I was in the process of exterior work and painting, but gave up. I was done arguing. Let him tack it and I'll just move it again when I resume the work.

Overall a very stressful and taxing service call. Sure, I got the LNB replaced and the system works properly now. But, honestly, next time I'll just buy the part out of pocket and save myself the long wait, and the aggravation. This definitely reminded me of why I usually buy and install equipment myself.


well, some of what he did is on the up and up.

he is required to replace any "non-rated" splices (including unrated ground blocks, wall plates, etc), and to replace ANY "crimp-on" fittings with compression fittings.

as far as tacking the cable up, he could have noted that you intended to do it yourself.

in this "charge back world" the tech has to try and install per the rules, even if you dont want him to. too many custys call after the fact and blame the tech for things they did themselves. its a sad truth.

the rest of your issues with him may have been either his experiance or perhaps you and him didnt "click" and he wanted the hell out of there. it happens.

glad you got it going.
 
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