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August 22, 2006

Dish Network Customer Service STILL Sucks

Back in mid-July I wrote about the fact that Dish Network customer service sucks. Well, here we are… Just over a month later and I’m not-so-pleased to report that their customer service still sucks. That’s right, we still haven’t received the rebate for our installation fee.

To make a long story short, we were promised free installation for signing up for 18 months of service — we just had to pay the installer $49.99 and we’d get that amount back in the form of a credit on our first bill. Surprise, surprise, our first bill showed up without the credit. After going back and forth with Dish about this, I was forced to take it up with the reseller, who (apparently) failed to forward the necessary paperwork to Dish. After numerous phone calls, as well as faxing the contract back and forth, mailing it back and forth (twice), and a whole lot of sitting around waiting, nothing has happened.

So tonight I sat down and filed an online complaint with the Better Business Bureau. To be honest, I’m still not sure if the fault in this case lies with Dish or the reseller, but I’m not willing to deal with either of them any longer. And I figure that setting a fire under the reseller is the surest way to get our money back.

By the way, I invite you to Google the following phrase: Dish Network customer service. Check out what comes up in the results just after Dish Network’s main page. ;)

For more information on moving, check out my Roadmap for a Successful Relocation.

Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. Good luck with the better business bureau.

    Comment by Blaine Moore — Aug 22nd 2006 @ 7:48 am

  2. I had a similar problem with them. I wanted a two-channel DVR when they came out and told them they could either give me one or I would go to DirectTV who was offering one for free. Took about an hour on the phone, but the final result was I would pay for one and they would give me enough credit on my future bills to cover it.

    Took about 5 phone calls after that to get it all straightened out. One was to someone in Indiana, who, after I spent 5 minutes explaining the history of the situation said “Could you please repeat all of that and this time, speak more plainly?” That right there almost made me leave them, but it was just too much of a hassle.

    I also used one of those cards when a friend joined up where I was supposed to get $5 off every month for a year. That never happened either.

    Comment by Norm — Aug 22nd 2006 @ 9:05 am

  3. Whoops, in the above I meant to say “someone in India”. I’M the one in Indiana…then again, that could be part of the problem.

    Comment by Norm — Aug 22nd 2006 @ 9:05 am

  4. Here’s a complaint I sent to Dish Network this morning regarding the poor service I received. Their reply was that there’s nothing they can do to correct my problem.

    Read the letter and see if my complaint is fair:

    Dear Dish Network,

    I am a former Dish Network customer and am writing to open a formal complaint about my bad experience I had with your company.

    I had been a Dish Network customer until October 2005. I canceled the service because my Dish installation was not properly working. The reason I am writing today, almost one year after I canceled the service, was due to some facts I just uncovered today.

    What I discovered today was that the problem I had with my Dish installation was entirely preventable and that I believed the Dish installer had intentionally upsold me an expensive piece of equipment that I did not need and could not use.

    When I had my Dish installed in April 2005, the Dish installer told me that because my house was fully finished, he could not place the dual-tuner receiver next to my TV because it would require two coaxial cables going into the receiver through the finished walls. Instead, he installed the receiver in my basement near where the satellite signal came in the house, and he sold me an Infrared to UHF device in order for me to change channels from one of the TV upstairs. (The other TV was controlled by a Dish UHF remote that came with the receiver.)

    I just found out today from visiting a friend who has Dish Network in his house that the installer lied to me about needing two coaxial cables to reach the receiver. It turned out the Dish Pro Plus technology, as was used in my friend’s house since 2005, was capable of solving my installation problem by using the existing single coaxial wiring in my house without my having to purchase the IR-to-UTF device.

    Worse yet, not only I paid $50 for the IR-to-UHF device to the Dish installer, but the device quit working after a few hours due to the IR interferences in my house. For a while, I had to go down to my basement to power reset the IR-to-UTF device each time in order to watch the TV using the device, and in the end, it became so frustrating that I canceled my Dish service altogether. I never thought that the problem was preventable because I trusted your installer.

    In light of the new information I learned, I find it totally unfortunate this had happened. I believe that I had been duped by the installer into buying an expensive piece of equipment that did not work. To add insult to injury, I had incurred a $120 cancellation fee for having to cancel my service prematurely. On your side, Dish Network also lost out by losing me as a customer.

    I would like to work with you to identify the installer. Also, I think it would be fair for you to refund the $120 cancellation fee I paid Dish Network.

    I look forward to hearing back from you.

    Steve

    Comment by Steve — Sep 7th 2006 @ 3:00 pm

  5. I had the worst experience with the Dish Network not even begin to be their customer. It?s a long story, and I am too angry to tell. I called 2 dozen times just to get my refund. And I still don?t get it, because they lost my record. How they can charge people and don?t have their records! I think this company should not even exist. If there is a way, I am willing to bring a lawsuit against them. If you are their customer, well, good luck, you need it.

    Comment by Shanmon — Nov 22nd 2006 @ 12:10 am

  6. This is the letter I sent to Dish…let this serve as an example of how horrible their customer service department is in India…end result is go to Direct TV:
    I am disgusted by the attitude of your India or whatever wholesale customer service department you employ. You have the audacity to off-shore customer service to some horrid rancid customer service personnel who does not have any tact to deal with customer questions. This is a direct reflection of your company, and I will search an American owned company with American Employees who speak the same language and understands that customers come first. Never have I have been more insulted than by any company than Dish Network. I am writing this to you and will share this with others via web-pages and blogs. You have left me no choice but to seek other carriers who can offer customer service in a professional manner. This has been twice in the past year that I have had unpleasant dealings with your bargain-customer service swine, and I am fed up with it! I was planning on purchasing the Pocket Dish and upgrading my receivers, but thanks to your cantankerous customer service rep that will not be happening. Jenny, your rep, between trying to understand through her heavy accent was condescending. This call was placed to your 800-333-Dish phone number at 9:30 PST. Pure Disgust!

    Comment by Kurtis — Dec 6th 2006 @ 11:35 pm

  7. dishnet work is a scam company,They destroyed my house drilled holes all up and down my brick through my house into my living room nowhere near my outlet.They do not train the installers.this has gone on for a year and a half.I complain to BBB dishnetwork says they cant be responsible to much time has passed.I am interested in lawsuit against them.anyone else please e-mail me and lets shut them down or atleast get what we as victims deserve.

    Comment by val thomas — Dec 16th 2006 @ 3:43 pm

  8. It really sucks. Iam sad I did not read this thru b4. Today was the day for installation and I waited from 8 to 12 and the installer calls happilly at 11.30 and sayd he will come by 2 ish… and its 4pm and am still waiting. I have done 2 installations in cable(comcast) , thought they overcharge their service and work is much better. They atleast showed up b4 12 and did their work. The respect for customer’s time that Dish network or the installation company has is rediculous and not expected. Iam now worried how I will getalong these ruthless people for 18 more months??

    Comment by Vish — Dec 18th 2006 @ 4:03 pm

  9. Dish network hit my checking for $600 for three receiver that i did not return on time. I then set then all back and they have confirmed they received them. When I call their number it states i have $600 credit on my account but everytime i call they state they will process the refund and it will take 7 - 10 days to receive. I have done this 3 times now. Don’t think i will every get it back.

    They truely are a scam company!!!

    Comment by cindy — Jan 13th 2007 @ 9:31 am

  10. I have been with these “thieves” for about 4 months now and anyone who signs up for their service is crazy. Rebate: Sent in the form on time and did not receive any credits ($20 per month)..called 3 times and was informed that rebate was denied because I did not have service with them??? Go figure…Monthly bill was $40 more than quoted (in writing) and had to call 5 times over 4 months but they never got it right. Today…enough was enough….Tried to disconnect service and twice they intentionally cut me off. We are making an appointment with an attorney this week. If anyone has similar problems such as: maintainence fees that you did not authorize; rebates that you never received; a monthly charge because you refuse to attach a telephone line to their system; bait and switch tactics; billing errors, etc., you may want to join us. In the meantime, if any of you have paid DISH Network for any billings or installation with a credit card, you would be wise to call your credit card company and cancel that card and have another one issued. Why do you think DISH network has all of those “good” folks on stand-by to try and talk you out of cancelling your agreements and “taking care of your problems”?? Why do they require all of these “account technicians”?? If what they sold to you is “what you got,” why. The bottom line is that they Bait you and hope that you will get tired of calling and just pay your bill. We are doing something about it. If we receive enough of your responses via this site with your comments, we will set-up a specific site with an e-mail address so that all of us can do something about it….Take a look at what a few people in New York did….Cost DISH Network about 5 million dollars. Review the judgement and see if those issues in that lawsuit sound familiar.

    Anthony
    South Carolina

    Comment by Anthony — Jan 30th 2007 @ 7:04 pm

  11. I had Dish Network set up in my condo… waited more than six hours for installer who overcharged me $50 (took six months to get back). I moved to house where installer tried to hook up DVR box to my phone line (why I don’t know) but just messed up my phone line so it wouldn’t work. I called Dish to ask why the installer even touched my phone line. It was then that I was told I would be charged $5 per month if Dish was NOT hooked up to my phone line. I never agreed to that, would never agree to that and now there is not a working phone line in the room where the DVR box is located! When calling Dish, the rep can do nothing but argue the fact that I must pay $5 per month for not being hooked up. I emailed and Dish’s response was to tell me of all the wonderful features I would receive. I responded that I didn’t want any of those features and they were not going to ever touch my phone line and the installer broke it anyway! (I did get a techie once because of a tech problem who admitted being hooked up to the phone line was to prevent fraud. So my next communication to Dish mentioned that I was a 50+ old woman who wouldn’t know how to commit fraud with a Dish box if my life depended upon it…. they have no sense of humor. Anyway, I have now sent three letters (12/06, 1/07, 2/07) they will not respond. Nada. So my bill keeps going up by $5 per month…(I do pay the correct amount each month) I suppose they are hoping I will be afraid of ‘bad credit’ if it keeps saying past due. I don’t know… can I sue them for something… like intentionally ruining my credit…?

    Comment by asteele — Feb 6th 2007 @ 8:53 pm

  12. I HAVE BEEN A DISHNETWORK CUSTOMER FOR A LONG TIME I HAVE TO SAY THEIR QUALITY IN PROGRAMMING HAS DECLINED AND THEIR PRICES KEEP GOING UP THERE IS WAY TOO MANY MUSIC CHANNELS AND WAY TOO MANY RERUNS THEY ALSO HAVE LOST SOME OF THEIR PROGRAMMING HOWEVER THEY NEVER NOTIFY YOU OF ANY CHANGES TO THE PROGRAMMING THAT YOU ORIGINALLY PURCHASED IAM VERY DISSAPOINTED WITH THIS COMPANY I HAVE TALKED TO THEIR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND IT IS JUST AS FRUSTATING IAM VERY CLOSE TO HAVING IT SHUT OFF AND JUST ENJOY MY LOCAL CHANNELS AT LEASTI WON’T BE PAYING FOR SOMETHING I DIDN’T ORDER

    Comment by diane dickey — Feb 10th 2007 @ 1:19 pm

  13. Dish Network
    Posted: 2007-02-12 by Michael Wein
    Promotions offered but reneged upon

    I originally subscribed to DISH network after buying a satellite dish and two (supposedly free) receivers. The receivers, costing $100 each, were supposed to be free as a result of receiving 20 $10 credits as I continued my subscription for 20 or more months. Even though I guess this offer was for ANY priced subscription, I actually purchased the highest cost subscription and continued it for the entire 20 months and more.

    Even after five phone calls (left on HOLD for prolonged time until I got thru and discussed the above with them) and at least 3 emails, I have yet to receive $1 in credits, much less the $200 they owe.

    This is a common problem with DISH network. Sort of a bait and switch carried to an extreme. It is a marketing tool wherein the offering party (DISH) probably has no intention of fulfilling its promises.

    Should any attorney read this, I would be very happy to offer myself as a lead plaintiff in a class action suit. They are ripe as I constantly read of DISH’s rip-offs, so often that there will be many other in our “class”.

    Comment by Michael Wein — Feb 12th 2007 @ 3:48 pm

  14. I called Dish Network 2 1/2 months ago to get a DVR like my friends got through DirectTV. They can watch one channel and record another at the same time. The (customer service) person signed me up for a $100 DVR receiver and an 18 month contract. I have been attempting to do what I wanted since I got the receiver, i.e record one channel and watch another at the same time. I thought I was just stupid and didn’t understand the system until today when I called Dish Network and talked to someone in India who told me that my receiver was not capable of doing what I wanted but I could get another recever which would for only another $119. I asked to speak with a supervisor, another Indian, and was told that the first person was correct. I realize I may not have been clear in my desires, but I distinctly remember telling the sales person that I wanted to watch one channel and record another at the same time. I have been a Dish Network customer for over ten years and thought I would remain loyal to them. I now realize I was wrong and am thinking of paying the cancellation fee and switching to DirectTV but am not sure if they will treat me any better. It seems customer service and integrity are a thing of the past.

    Comment by Michael Lowry — Feb 16th 2007 @ 7:46 pm

  15. I LOVE DISH NETWORK!! THE DVR IS SO WONDERFUL THAT I WOULD NOT CHANGE IT FOR ANYTHING. I TRIED DIRECT AND CABLE, BUT I GOT THE SAME OR LESS FOR MORE MONEY. I DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE BECAUSE I AM SAVVY ENOUGH TO SOLVE MY PROBLEMS AND UNDERSTAND MY STATEMENTS. I BELIEVE MOST PEOPLE WHO CALL ARE JUST RETARDED AND HAVE NO OTHER LIFE THAN CALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE TO VENT THEIR FRUSTRATIONS.

    Comment by Nancy P — Feb 20th 2007 @ 2:14 am

  16. I had Dish Network installed in August of 2005. At the time of installation, I had been with Comcast in Spokane, Washington. I got lured by Dish Network thinking that the fees would be less and I would be getting “More”. As soon as I changed providers, Comcast came out with their DVR and In Demand. Well, I was stuck in a contract for 1 year. I spoke to Dish when I ordered about the connections that I wanted and found out later that those connections were not made for the other rooms pending hooking up additional TV’s. I was also told that I could add the DVR later at no extra charge other than the monthly fee for the equipment. I contacted Dish several times about getting a DVR and was informed that it would cost me $99.00 for an installation. I was so used to going to the local Comcast office and returning/picking up equipment that I could remove/install that I asked if they could just mail the DVR and that I could install it myself and save the $99.00.
    That was not an option. In October, 2006, I again was speaking to a rep at Dish regarding an offer for new subscribers which gave you the DVR for free and again was refused. I asked when my 1 year contract ended and was informed that I had completed my 1 yr in August. I told them that I would be going back to Comcast due to their tactics in dealing with customers. I then had Comcast Cable installed on October 7, 2006. While the installer for Comcast was at my home, I called and cancelled my service with DishNetwork. I was informed that they would be sending me a box to return my receiver in. About a week or two later I receive a sugary call from Dish Network regarding my cancellation. They thought that I would be displeased with Comcast Cable and wanted to give me a free installation of the DVR and wire up all rooms with no charge. I informed them that I had been asking for this before when I was on their service and was denied. Well, they said, we are going to keep this offer open to you for a few months just in case you change your mind and want to come back. I told them that they should have offered this to me when I was still on their service and that I was happy with Comcast and would not be coming back and to send me the box to return the receiver in. Got several more calls for the same offer and again asked that they send me the return box. In December I called them and they told me the offer was still available to return to them. I asked about the “Offer” again and paid my account of $54.61 (Bal Due in Oct.) and told them that I use the Comcast feature “On Demand” and that they do not offer this and I would not be returniing to their svc and to please, please send me the return equipt. box. I then get billed for service from October to January and $199.00 for equipment that I returned in December. When I spoke with a representative @ Dish, I was informed that I requested to account to be kept active and agreed to a $10.00 a month fee for this privilege. No way, I am on Soc. Sec. Disability and sure, I am going to opt for $10.00 a month for their convenience to try to get me back. I have spoken with reps and supervisors at Dish and they are unrelenting, arrogant and rude to me re this matter. I am sending this matter to Washington State Attorney General’s Office, Better Business Bureau and see if I can get a local TV Consumer Advocate to look into this matter for me. Be forewarned Dish subscribers, be adamant for cancellation and Comcast informed me that you can give your equipment to them and they will ship it back to Dish for you.
    Good Luck to you (and me).

    Comment by Patricia — Mar 1st 2007 @ 1:43 pm

  17. Oh, Nancy P:
    So you think we are all “retarded”. Excuse me but I went back to Comcast on their return from Dish customer offer and I now have the “On Demand” feature (not offered by Dish), HBO and Showtime and if I want to add a DVR to any of my rooms, I just go to the Comcast office and pick it up and all that it costs me is an additional monthly fee. I guess that you are not familiar with the “On Demand” feature that Comcast has or you not be calling the rest of us retards. I guess some people are just not very smart. By the way, did you pass the Anti-Spam part of this comment form? Hmmmm?

    Comment by Patricia — Mar 1st 2007 @ 1:51 pm

  18. Does anyone have any knowledge of a class action suit? If so contact me @ patriciaadair@comcast.net

    Thanks,
    Patricia from Spokane, WA

    Comment by Patricia — Mar 4th 2007 @ 1:43 pm

  19. I was charged $12.99 for showtime. The problem is I never ordered showtime. I called to get an ajustment for what I never ordered. The Representative said he would remove showtime but there would be a $5.00 removal fee. So I am paying $12.99 for something I never requested a removal fee of $5.00 for something that should not be there in the first place. Makes me wonder how many other suckers like me are out there.

    Comment by fred — Mar 12th 2007 @ 4:17 pm

  20. TO THOSE OF YOU ON THIS SITE, MY NAME IS PATRICIA AND I POSTED A MESSAGE ABOUT MY PROBLEM WITH DISH NETWORK ON 3/1/07.

    HERE IS FTC’s Response:
    Thank you for visiting the FTC’s web page and for using our NEW electronic
    Talk To Us form. Here’s what happened to your information after you sent it to
    us:
    One of our consumer counselors reviewed the information you sent us. If it
    was related to the FTC’s law enforcement responsibilities, we entered it into
    our shared law enforcement data system. We share this data system with law
    enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada. Attached is your
    electronic response, which includes your reference number. Any enclosures can be
    found at http://www.FTC.GOV under the News Releases, Publications, Speeches option.
    Information from consumers like you helps Federal, State and Local
    authorities investigate possible illegal practices and enforce our laws. Someone
    from the Federal Trade Commission or another law enforcement agency may contact
    you if they need additional information to help them in an investigation.
    Thank you for using our Talk To Us form, and please continue to use the
    FTC’s web page, http://www.ftc.gov, to get free information to help you avoid costly consumer
    problems.
    IS IS AN ATTACHMENT TO THE ABOVE:
    Thank you for recent correspondence. The Federal Trade Commission acts in the public interest to stop business practices that violate the laws it enforces. Letters from consumers and businesses are very important to the work of the Commission. They are often the first indication of a problem in the marketplace and may provide the initial evidence to begin an investigation. The Commission does not resolve individual complaints. The Commission can, however, act when it sees a pattern of possible violations developing.

    The information you have provided will be recorded in our complaint retention system. This computerized system enables us to identify questionable business practices that are generating numerous complaints and may be in violation of the law.

    Thank you for providing information that may be used to develop or support Commission enforcement initiatives.

    Sincerely yours,

    Consumer Response Center

    THIS IS A RESPONSE FROM THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU:

    Complaint ID#: 75016869
    Business Name: EchoStar Satellite L.L.C. (DishNetwork)

    Thank you for contacting the Better Business Bureau. Your complaint was received by the Bureau on March 17, 2007 and has been assigned case# 75016869in our files. Please make a note of this number for future reference.

    Your complaint has been applied to the following business:
    EchoStar Satellite L.L.C. (DishNetwork)
    PO Box 9040
    Littleton, CO 80120

    The case has been reviewed and has now been forwarded to the business for their response. This business has until April 9, 2007to respond to your complaint. You may contact our office after April 9, 2007 to check the status of your complaint.

    We encourage you to use our ONLINE COMPLAINT system to keep up with the progress of this complaint. To view the details of your case please go to the following website address: http://data.denver.bbb.org/com...../c/x938r9.

    Sincerely,

    Nick Carra
    Dispute Resolution Specilist
    303 996-3963
    303 758-8321Fax
    Dispute Resolution Department

    THEN I RECEIVED THIS FROM DISHNETWORK:
    We have forwarded your email to the appropriate department and you will be contacted with 24 to 48 hours. We do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. You can if you desire still contact our customer service department at 1-800-333-3474, they will be able to assist you in resolving your concerns.
    . If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to http://www.dishnetwork.com or reply to this email.
    Sincerely,
    Veronica A.
    TID:PB-Charlie
    DISH Network eCare
    ** Please include all previous correspondence when replying. *

    Of course nobody called me so I called the automated balance inquiry. They are showing a balance due of $288, for what I do not have a clue.

    The Washington State Attorney General’s Office has not responded yet nor the FCC or our local CBS Affiliate, but I am doing something that possibly might help.

    If everyone that has had problems with Dishnetwork would complain to the proper authorities perhaps we all could get some action. Please contact these sites that I mentioned. It is real easy to find using google, and can all be done on-line. All you have to lose is a little bit of your time.

    Thanks, Patricia

    Comment by Patricia — Mar 22nd 2007 @ 6:47 am

  21. I had all sorts of problems with a $29 per month promotion that DISH promised ended up to be $59 on my bill. As a matter of fact, I’ve had the service for 4 months and each bill has had a different amount. When I contacted them via email, they didn’t even read the email, just responded with a “canned” email that didn’t even address my issues listed in my original email. DISH is so concerned about you signing a contract which we are (customers) suppose to honor, but they do not anything in return. I’m about ready to cancel my subscription and tell them to shove their contract up their @$$. I don’t care if they report me to a credit Bureau.

    Comment by Chuck — Mar 22nd 2007 @ 12:18 pm

  22. Dish Network cut off my service because they said that I was 61 days overdue. I paid them in February, I also paid them in March and they have not recorded my payment. I have been a Dish Network customer since December 2000. In the beginning when the were trying to get customers they were good. Now they suck you cannot speak to a human being everything is automated. I am waiting for Verizon FIOS to become available in my area and I will terminate my service with Dish Network the problem is that I will not be able to speak to anyone to do that.

    Comment by Natalie — Mar 24th 2007 @ 5:55 pm

  23. Update from Patricia:

    Got a Call Saturday afternoon from a very nice man, Bob Clark, at DishNetwork in Denver.

    He said that he just received a notice from the Better Business Bureau and investigated my complaint and that all charges would be removed from my account to show a zero balance.

    Then on Sunday, I got a follow-up call from another gentleman about my account.

    Both of them said they would be e-mailing me regarding this decision (when I asked for a confirmation # or some other proof of the conversation)

    It is Monday and I have not received an e-mail though, YET.

    Comment by Patricia — Mar 26th 2007 @ 4:09 pm

  24. I signed with Dish in February.
    The problems I’ve had with them are too numerous to detail here.
    It’s too late for me to get out of this but I’ll make sure that none of my friends make the same mistake.
    What a sorry company they are!

    Comment by Bill Watson — Apr 9th 2007 @ 7:39 am

  25. I’m not even a customer - I called for my boss - and I’m absolutely fed up with Dish Network’s Customer Service. They are horrible. Every time I call I get slightly different information, sometimes from a rep who won’t even listen to me. She just reads from a prep card. I’ve called almost 10 times and given them hours of my life this week to clarify information and I’m still not getting the whole story. I’m so frustrated and fed up. I very directly asked for information about their dual tuners in *writing* and not their web site because it only gives very broad info and the customer service rep. said it wasn’t possible. A company this large has nothing detailed in writing? Surely at the very least they could send me a censored version of what they give their employees…or perhaps they don’t give anything to their employees and that’s why I’m writing this in the first place. Either way, I am very unimpressed and have made a mental note never to use them and to warn others against them as well.

    Comment by Samantha — Apr 13th 2007 @ 5:28 pm

  26. I had one of the worst experiences you could ever emagine with the Dish network. The very first time when my dad sent them the redemption form to get the ten dollars off each bill for the next ten months they’ve told us that they never received it. I called them a few times regarding it and after an exhausting waste of time on the phone I told my dad to send them another form just to make sure. My dad went to the post office, paid about fifteen dollars for the express mail with the delivery confirmation and what do you think? After the post office confirmed exact time and date when the letter was received by Dish network a few weeks later I called Dish and it was the same story all over again. “I apologize mam but we did not receive the redemption form from you yet.” I could not believe it. After explaining to the lady on the phone about five times she said she’ll put in the code in the system so we can get the deal. I wrote down her name, and the date and time when I talked to her. Well, what do you think? nothing good came out of it. We received the bill with no discout. I called Dish network again and and while I was trying to explain the whole situation to some other representative all over again he didn’t even want to listen. He kept on repeating like a robot: “We did not receive the redemption form from you, keep in my it take about eight weeks after we receive it to process it” and while I was trying to explain to him about how many times we already mailed that form to them and my last conversation on the phone he decided he does not want to talk to me anymore, so he said “have a nice day” and hung up on me in the middle of me talking to him. I don’t know what else to do. For those out there who do not have Dish network and were thinking about switching to their service I suggest: THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO SWITCH TO DISH.

    Comment by Mila — Apr 20th 2007 @ 5:25 pm

  27. Another thing that dish network is famous for is the how they tell you on the phone that your monthly bill would be around 25 dollars every months but when you get an actual bill it’s not 25 but more like $43 including some ridiculous charges that they never told us about before, such as: programming access fee. I specifically asked a rep to go over every single charge that i’m gonna have on my bill before I signed a contract. She never mentioned anything about extra five dollars for programming access fee, and the DVR receiver service which was supposed to be free at first when I talked to them. Later on, when I told my husband the whole store he told me that when he spoke to them on the phone to find out all the details about the contract the rep. was very rude to him and even told some other employee while on the phone with my husband: “This guy is getting on my nerves”. If I knew that before I signed the contract I would have never done it.

    Comment by Mila — Apr 20th 2007 @ 5:43 pm

  28. Dish Network is the most dishonest, sneaky company that I have had the displeasure to come across, and that is saying a lot. I signed up for dish service in August 2006. Got the free DVR to try out, but after losing signal several times, the DVR gave me an error, the hard drive was bad. Called Dish Network, who sent out a technician to swap out the receiver in September. We told them that while they were at it, we didn’t want the DVR, so the tech brought and installed a basic receiver, and took the DVR with him. All good, until in november Dish Network hit our debit card for $300. (not even one transaction, but 3 seperate transactions totaling $300) Our account was overdrawn as a result, and I was charged several overdraft fees, but the money was paid to Dish Network. When I contacted the company, they said it was for an equipment fee for the DVR we never returned. I informed them that the DVR had been picked up by a tech 2 MONTHS previous, and they were able to confirm receipt of it, and told me that they would process the refund and it would take 7-10 days to receive. I asked about the overdraft fees, and they said that they were not responsible for them. I told them that I received no notice that there was any sort of a problem before they charged me IN ERROR, so who did they think was responsible. A couple of weeks later, my account is still overdrawn, and I’m being charged $5 per day by my bank for extended overdraft status. I call Dish again, and get the same story, “it will be 7-10 days”, so I finally contact the dispute department at the bank and dispute the charges. I provide all the information, the bank gives me a provisional credit, and removes the $90+ worth of fees (thank God!), and I am still waiting for some response from Dish Network. What I get is and additional $149 chargeback added to my Dish Network bill, along with a $2 chargeback reversal credit. What?! Now not only have they taken $300 out of my account, they are billing me for another $147.00?! Finally in January, after several phone calls to Dish Network, I got a $300 refund to my bank account from Dish, which the bank promptly took back, since they had given me the provisional credit back in November. Ok, that’s great, only my Dish network bill still shows an extra $147.00 showing. Afterstill more phone calls, with the CSR’s trying to tell me that I received two credits, and now I owe them one of them back, or that “one of the original charges must not have gone through” and my pleading with them for a fax number to be able to send them my bank statement showing the charges and credits that I did or did not receive, a CSR supervisor told me that as a courtesy he would credit my account, and it would be taken care of. HE FLAT OUT LIED TO ME. He did not do a thing! After waiting another week, I called back and got the Executive Resolutions team, and spoke with a nice person (one of few at Dish) who looked at the account and agreed that it didn’t make any sense, and informed me that there was now showing ANOTHER $149 chargeback dated 02-09-07 which was added to my bill. Now they were saying that I owed them $300 again! He sent an e-mail to the Chargeback department (no one in this department has a phone, e-mail is the only option for the exec team to get a message to them?) to have this straightened out, and requesting that someone call me back. Never heard anything. After several more calls to the exec team, spoke to someone who finally gave me a fax number so I could send him the bank documentation. I was pleasantly surprised to see a $300 equipment fee credit on my bill a couple of days later. I thought we were finally finished with this ordeal, then a couple of days later, I called to pay my Dish bill, only to be told that I had a large credit and did not need to make any payment. A $149 Chargeback reversal credit had been applied, and I again spoke with someone at Dish’s Exec team to tell them that it was a mistake, we had been even, and that credit was too much. I asked the rep to document that I had advised them of the error, after he insisted over and over that the credits were correct. I should have known a couple of days later, they reversed my $300 credit that I had received, and left me again $147.00 in the hole on my Dish network bill. I have been speaking with the executive resolutions team every week and a half to 2 weeks for the last 5 months trying to get this straightened out, and have had my service cut off 3 times for non payment of the disputed amount. I have had conference calls with the bank, sent in records, and asked Dish to provide tracking information for this chargebak if it supposedly a valid transaction. Whose account did it go to?, I’ve proven that it didn’t go to mine! I still have yet to hear anything back. In the past 5 months, I’ve only gotten 2 phone calls from Dish, and boh times the rep was rude and unhelpful when the bank confirmed what I was saying. I have filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, and am considering filing suit (by reading other people’s experiences, I’ve learned that you have to contact the Agent of Process or Registered Agent, as listed in the Sectretary of State’s office for the state you live in to do so.) I’m going to have my attorney send them a letter before I file, to see if that will light a fire under them. As soon as this gets settled, I am paying the cancellation fee and getting out. The only reason I don’t do that right now is that then they would send me to collections and ruin my credit to boot, and I know from sad experience with American Express when I was just out of high school that it is almost impossible to get anything done once they have a collections agency to hide behind. To the lady who thought everyone who calls to complain must have nothing better to do or can’t figure out how to read their bill, I just have to say, I am a professional translator/interpreter. I get paid between $15 and $25 per hour for my time, and I’ve had to waste about 50 - 60 hours in the last five months on the phone with Dish network. I also have 3 small children and am 7 months pregnant with my fourth. I definitely have better things to do with my time, and I would dearly love to send Dish Network a bill for every hour I’ve spent on the phone explaining the same situation to yet another CSR before they will transfer the call to the Executive Resolutions Department. I’m happy that you have had a good experience, I wish I could say the same. I would also be interested in joining a class action lawsuit if anyone knows how to get one started. The lady at the local office who confirmed that the tech had picked up the DVR and that Dish Network had received it told me that they do this ALL THE TIME. The local office sends the equipment back, but the company denies receiving it and charges people like this. It is straight out FRAUD and we should not stand for it!

    Comment by April Jo Perez — Apr 28th 2007 @ 12:44 am

  29. I do understand where you all coming from. I hate to say I just started training with that company thru a business called teletech. Yes, the DishNetwork CSR. I hope to be gone from that soon. I hate it there not enough training, a load of crab. If you don’t check your time you can go without being paid even though they see you. Even thoug I work for Echostar thru telectech. Tele tech does not train you properly just 3 weeks and then you on the phone if you don’t know what you are doing you be gone. Of course, I don’t know you gave me a whole lot of bs within 3 weeks to learn. They are always hiring. Teletech sucks

    Comment by blue — May 7th 2007 @ 2:00 am

  30. When the customers call they always have to RA there equipment. I’m glad I have Direct tv even though I’m working for DishNetwork, I hope they be walking me out this week at teletech “Echostar”. I will not be putting them on my resume.

    Comment by blue — May 7th 2007 @ 2:04 am

  31. I worked at a Teletech call center that provided tech support for Dish; for many years, we had provided Internet support for a major ISP, and we did that so well that they took that project away from us & moved it to another Teletech call center in the Phillipines (way to show appreciation!).
    The Dish project was the WORST.
    The software we had to use to pull up customer accounts & pretty much do anything for the call was unbelieveably slow & buggy; we were essentially Beta testers for it.
    We were used to solving issues quickly with computer-savy customers, but now we were bogged down by bad software, and dealt with customers who didn’t even know how to use a remote!
    Also, they decided to put us on VOIP (Voice Over IP, doing the phone over an internet connection instead of a regular phone line) that presented many,many problems (and we no longer had a MUTE button option - which in times past was a Godsend for things like asking quick questions, clearing one’s throat, or even the occasional venting, which is so much healthier than holding all that stress in!).
    The VOIP resulted in many dropped calls, oftentimes customers couldn’t hear us, or asked if we were ok because sometimes the microphone could be so over-sensitive that our every breath sounded like heavy pants…
    Dish also had us perform not just tech support, but also Billing functions…NEVER a good idea, and that’s coming from a guy with years of tech support customer service!
    It got to be so that every day seemed even worse than the day before…the stress of all that crap just built up constantly…
    Many people were getting fired, left and right - even award-winning managers who had been with the company for many years and were good people were walked out the door…but the problem was not with the people (whom, a year previous were winning awards for job performance)…the problem was with the project, the Dish project, the software we were given to work with, and just the whole situation.
    I am currently in a much better job where I’m not treated like crap, but I called over to some folks at my local Teletech the other day, & the tell me that Dish is still there…
    Most of the fine people I worked with in the past are no longer there - some left, others (good people) fired…but for those kids who work there now…I hope they replace the Dish project with something better.
    I’m not bashing Echostar per se (many folks love it) - it was just the whole situation there which made the job absolutely unbearable.
    When a bunch of award-winning, outstanding, fine people start to get fired in droves…you know there’s something wrong..and not with the people.

    Comment by Freddy — May 13th 2007 @ 10:56 am

  32. I have had my fill of telephone soliciters from Dish Network. Within 5-7 minutes I had 4 phone calls from the same soliciter. He went into his spill and I told him I was happy with my service and did not want to change anything then I hung up. He immediately called back and started his spill where he left off. I hung up on him. He immediatley called back a 3rd time and I told him not to ever call my number again and hung up again. He waited and extra minute and called the 4th time. This time was the last straw. When I picked up the phone, I took a deep breath, connected the call and just screamed as loud as I could then I hung up the phone. If that number shows up on my phone again, I will be left with no other recourse but to file harrassment charges. Enough is enough. I know this is just some poor sole doing his job but I am sure he was not told to do it in this manner. Is this how Dish Network does business; by provoking customers? Thanks but No Thanks.

    Comment by Elaine — Jun 13th 2007 @ 9:20 pm

  33. Hi,
    I was pleasantly surprised to see a website with complaints to the very individuals that I am filing a complaint to the better business bureau. I had service with dish in 2003 and when I ended my account, on good terms, they left a wire hanging 11 feet above my backyard. I called them today and asked to have it removed and they said they would charge me to remove it. They installed the wire and my agreement says nothing about me having to pay to have it removed since it was installed far lower than they should be installed in the first place, whatever,
    Corrina

    Comment by Corrina — Jun 21st 2007 @ 6:00 pm

  34. #

    I LOVE DISH NETWORK!! THE DVR IS SO WONDERFUL THAT I WOULD NOT CHANGE IT FOR ANYTHING. I TRIED DIRECT AND CABLE, BUT I GOT THE SAME OR LESS FOR MORE MONEY. I DON’T COMPLAIN ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE BECAUSE I AM SAVVY ENOUGH TO SOLVE MY PROBLEMS AND UNDERSTAND MY STATEMENTS. I BELIEVE MOST PEOPLE WHO CALL ARE JUST RETARDED AND HAVE NO OTHER LIFE THAN CALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE PEOPLE TO VENT THEIR FRUSTRATIONS.

    Comment by Nancy P — Feb 20th 2007 @ 2:14 am

    FUNNY YOU SOUND LIKE A DISH NET WORK CSR REP. After 3 years and 3 months. I gave dish the boot and called Direct Tv. I would rather go 4 days without cable, than deal one more day with YOUR company. Oh and be cute “Since I caught on you have been posting on many web forums DEFENDING DISH” Pull up my private data without permission watch how fast New York slaps you with ANOTHER class action and WINS.
    How does it fell to go from getting $1,200 a year from me, to getting NOTHING. Oh and I work IT guess what company I will be bashing from now on? I will warn every customer who listens to stay far away from your company.

    DISH NET WORK SUCKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

    And I will be posting on EVERY WEB SITE how your company handles it’s customers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Comment by Carlos Santana — Jun 23rd 2007 @ 1:44 am

  35. I am just starting to research for cable. What am I to think of JD Power Ratings?

    http://www.jdpower.com/util/ra.....mp;v1=East

    Comment by harold — Jun 27th 2007 @ 2:16 pm

  36. It was a relief, well…actually not a relief, when I read your site and realized that I am not the only one with problems with Dishnetwork. We have been customers for a little over two years now, and regret the day we signed up with them. I have spent “days” talking to them about problems in regards to both service and billing. If you add up all the hours I have spent trying to figure out a problem on the phone with them, on hold, being hung up on - disconnected - or whatever happens. Right now we do not even get local channels and Dish Customer Service reps. (three I talked to within this past week) have now told me that we need to have service come in as it could be the “eyes” on the dish. That would be $49.95 plus parts as we do not have the warranty for an additional $5.99/per month. We refused sending someone out for now and I was checking the web and found your site. The main receiver, HD, one in the family room is the worse one. We do get our local channels on the other receiver. We keep losing service and it goes through freezing up and having to reset itself, which takes a long time. I finally got a tech to admit, after running through 45 minutes of pressing that button and doing all this, that they have a software problem with the HD. Of course, no one else I talk to admits that. We want to drop Dishnetwork, but now worry about all the charges and returning equipment etc. So frustrating! I will complain to BBB and your other http://WWW.FTC.com site and if anyone comes up with some ray of hope, let me know.

    Comment by Shirley — Jul 6th 2007 @ 6:16 pm

  37. I’m a new customer got sucked into that 18 month contract. Now I can’t watch TV if it’s cloudy out (okay it usually takes a little rain). Can I use this fact to get out of this contract? I hate it. We got it for the Chinese programming. 17 channels in the great wall package seemed great. Too bad they were all very bad :( I hate Dish!

    Comment by Tom — Jul 8th 2007 @ 9:01 pm

  38. Hi,

    Well I notified the Better Business Bureau regarding DishNetwork not taking the line down and it hanging down in my back yard. Ana at DishNetwork called me and let me know that unless I am going to connect my service again or pay them their installers won’t take the line down. I think it is still important to complain to the BBB because there will be record of customer complaints and overtime maybe DishNetwork will take more responsibility for their actions.

    To save you time their real name is ‘Echo Star Satellite L.L.C. (DishNetwork). Their address is 9601 S Meridian Blvd., Englewood, CO 80112

    Thanks,
    Corrina

    Comment by Corrina — Jul 9th 2007 @ 1:06 pm

  39. Hi Corrina,

    Thanks for the info. I have been filling out the complaint online and the correct name is very helpful. Let’s hope someone steps in and helps straighten the company out so we are not all ripped off by their fees and our service problem with the HD receiver.

    Thanks
    Shirley

    Comment by Shirley — Jul 9th 2007 @ 7:48 pm

  40. Thanks for the post. I’m in the midst of a horrendous cancellation experience with Dish Network myself right now. After everything I’ve read, I’m going to talk to my bank tomorrow to see if they can block any attempts from Dish Network to charge my Visa for the equipment that I may not be able to have returned in “10 days”. It would seem they did not include an ARS label in the shipping box, so now I am waiting on a new one.

    The completely oblivious and unhelpful rep in India said, “Don’t worry. If you are charged, you will be refunded when we receive the equipment”. As if it’s no worry to be charged $600-700 on a Visa check card that is your main source of funds. And I know not to trust that such a refund would occur in a timely manner.

    I’ve posted my own story leading up to the cancellation on my blog. I titled mine “Dish Network sucks” just hoping to add to the pile of stories of those with horror stories about Dish Network.

    Comment by Toastie — Jul 14th 2007 @ 12:17 am

  41. And congratulations! You’re now ahead of Dish Network itself on a google of “Dish Network customer service”. That’s awesome! They really deserve to go under, to have this entrenched reputation for being so horrible that they completely stop getting new customers.

    Comment by Toastie — Jul 14th 2007 @ 12:19 am

  42. dish network is the shit, they have the best dvr and programming available, you people are just stupid and dont know what your talking about

    Comment by blacksaint — Aug 20th 2007 @ 2:49 am

  43. This comment is for blacksaint and it won’t take up much space. The definition of saint in a nutshell is a holy person. If you reread what you wrote does it look like something God would write?

    Comment by Corrina — Aug 20th 2007 @ 6:20 pm

  44. Wow, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who had a problem with Dish Network. After a very long (and expensive) fiasco with them taking extra payments out of my bank without authorization I spoke with a Fraud Specialist at my bank. She informed me that she gets literally dozens of similar complaints about DishNetwork daily.
    If you have given them a credit/check card for a payment (and we all have) you have “authorized” (by the terms of their contract) future debits as necessary to cover charges to your account (i.e. payments owing, equipment not returned). She informed me that it’s common for them to charge your credit card something between $300-$500 for equipment within 24 hours of you cancelling service, not giving you a chance to return equipment. In theory they refund you once the equipment is received, but she says that’s another common complaint. Her recommendation was to cancel or block that card before terminating service with them. Which I’ve done.
    I had assumed this past year that my husband was paying late & making extra payments, not ever putting together that they’ve been taking payments once they’re past due, and then not crediting us once they receive his payment. Over the past 12 months we’ve averaged $200/month for DishNetwork service. A LITTLE higher than the $84. we were originally quoted.
    I know I will not see any type of refund, when pressed to admit a mistake the various managers we’ve talked to have done so, but have not been willing to give us a refund, nor have credits shown up as promised.
    Anyone interested in DishNetwork is wished the best of luck - you’ll need it!

    Comment by Jesse — Aug 21st 2007 @ 3:59 pm

  45. I was a loyal customer of Dish Network, until this coming Monday…

    I have been one of their “best” customers for 3 years now. I currently have two 311 receivers and a ViP622 HD DVR. Actually, I am now on my fourth ViP622. All the 622 receivers have this issue with the HDMI port, when hooked to a TV through it’s DVI port via a HDMI to DVI cable. It seems as though the problem is not with the receiver itself but the newest version of the software. It will stop displaying through the HDMI port once you turn off your TV, and the only fix is a hard restart, that is until two days ago. A hard reset doesn’t even work anymore. As you can imagine, getting 3 replacement HD DVR receivers from any corporation requires hours upon hours of chatting with the customer service drones, whom always tell me to do the same things that never work. This is frusterating.

    So, today is the actual day that I received my fourth receiver. It worked great the minute I hooked it up. That is until it downloaded the newest version of software and restarted itself. Amazingly, it now has the exact same problem as my other one. No display, but you can hear the audio of the channel through my stereo. The customer service lady on the phone was also shocked, but she couldn’t do anything for me. The guy I talked to at “Accounts” also couldn’t help me, nor could his manager. He said “I can send you another receiver, but we aren’t authorized to do anything else.” After I complained further, he agreed to refund the $14.99 shipping I orignially had to pay to get receiver number 4.

    Yeah, the above just happened to me. They get $110 a month from me, and I don’t get a working receiver. In fact, they charge ME to get another one that doesn’t work. I even asked them if I could get the new ViP722 to see if that works. They said “Sure, it is $149 + $14.99 shipping. But, you will get a $100 rebate.” I didn’t like that idea at all. Especially considering I didn’t know if that one would work.

    When DirecTV arrives on Monday, things will get really interesting. I get to try and cancel Dish Network without incurring the “Early Cancellation Fee”. I think I might need a lawyer. They have failed to provide me with service. They have not fullfilled their side of the deal.

    Comment by Thomas J. Ruper — Aug 23rd 2007 @ 12:31 am

  46. Here’s some info that may be of help to those, who like myself, were abused by Dish Network:

    Dish Network Customer Service M-F 10AM-2PM
    34 Maple Ave.-2nd Floor
    Pine Brook, NJ 07058
    973-461-0955
    Don’t expect an answer. This is just an answering machine.

    Mr. Charlie Ergen, CEO, Echostar
    DISH Network Corporate Headquarters
    9601 South Meridian Boulevard
    Englewood, Colorado 80112
    He lays pretty low. I doubt that you will be able to contact him.

    Linda Gardner, executivecustomerservice@echostar.com
    Executive customer service
    Dish Network, Denver, CO
    720-514-8626
    Talked to her on the phone. She was very nice, and said that the charges for the equipment will be stopped. Time will tell if she was for real. After talking with her last night, I thought everything was resolved, then I received another threatening e-mail from Christina P in Pine Brook this morning. Tried to contact her by phone with no success.

    If you call 1-800-333-DISH (3474) you will get about 30 minutes of sales yap, and use up a lot of minutes on your phone service, and get no satisfaction, at least that has been my experience.

    Dish Network
    P.O. Box 9040
    Littleton, CO 80120
    Is anybody listening? This is supposed to be their correct address.

    Echostar paid many millions in a suit brought by the Attorneys General of at least a dozen states in 2003 for their unscrupulous business practices. You can find the info on the website of the Attorney General of Florida.

    Numerous people, including myself, have registered complaints with the BBB. Whether they will do anythin or not, remains to be seen.

    As far as I can determine, the pro Dish Network posts on this site are all from Dish Network customer service people. Their names look familiar.

    Comment by Tim — Aug 30th 2007 @ 10:29 am

  47. I won’t repeat what so many have said before.

    These people are unmitigated THIEVES. Bait and switch - anything to get you started then they screw your pants off. Their satellites should come with a jar of Vaseline.

    Just curious - I spoke to an impertinent little SOB named Randy, I believe, that was supposed to be a supervisor. His # was SS5. In 6o years I’ve never spoken to a ruder, nastier person. Has any one else run into him at “customer service”.

    The bottom line is they don’t give a damn. Period.

    I intend to get my $15 a month back in aggravation if nothing else. I have plenty of time and I’ll be contacting ever government agency possible. At least they’ll knoe I’m here.

    Does anyone have a FAX #?

    Comment by Steve — Sep 6th 2007 @ 9:54 pm

  48. My letter to dish:

    I’m sorry to say that your company has the worst install service I have ever had to deal with. I had an install scheduled for today from 8am-12pm and when 12 o’clock I called customer service to inquire about my install and was told that the installer was just finishing up a job, I was next on the list and he would be at my house shortly. I was told to expect a call from dispatch to alert me when he was in route to my house. At 1pm, having herd nothing, I decided to call customer service again. I was on hold for 30 min while the service rep attempted to find out what was going on with the install. He then told me that the installer would be at my house in 30 min. Ten minuets later I was called by the installer himself. He said that he would be at my house in 20 min. I waited until 3pm before calling again. I was then told that the installer would be another hour. Not even ten minuets later I was called by dispatch to tell me that the installer could not make it today and the next available appointment they had was Friday.

    Now I have taken the day off of work and am now being asked to take another off. I’m not certain that anyone would show up so I have called to cancel the whole thing. To add insult to injury the person I talked to said that the charge I allowed Dish Network to make on my card in good faith will not be credited back to me for 7-10 days.

    For a company that advertises so much in an attempt to win peoples business you certainly make it very hard to do business with you.

    I intend to post this information on the web anywhere I can find in hope that I can save other people from finding out the hard way what it is that I have learned today.

    Comment by Kenny — Sep 19th 2007 @ 4:58 pm

  49. hi i have been with dish since they started. i hate dish. i hate them with a passion. i am one of their most valued customers. calling them is a night mare, you are on the phone for a hour keep you waiting have you do the most stupid things with your tv and remote to find out it is their problem. and then they tell you they cant come out till the next three days. where is there supierior custom service or techincal support. we pay a lot of money to dish. we stay with them for the greek channels. does anyone know who else has all the greek channels? we now cant watch tv til monday. they told me if i want sooner i could call a local repair and they gave me their number but knows the of them. i called one place and they were out of buisness. they wastes all my morning trying to find someone to come out. where and when are they accountable for their actions and mistakes. we are a tv watching family. i always have the tv on. i would like to know how could i find a differnt way to have maybe cable and attenna with out dish or direct tv they are the same

    Comment by emily bairaktaris — Sep 21st 2007 @ 12:03 pm

  50. Dear Dish-Network/ Echo Star Satellite,
    I am presently a Dish Network customer and have been for the past 6 years. On September 24,2007 at 7:57 I received a call from a Dish-Network representative offering me something for being a loyal customer. I say “something” because I couldn’t understand what he was saying. When I asked him to repeat himself because I was having difficulty understanding him he hung up. I called Dish Network back and received another representative that spoke poor English and he too hung up when I expressed my opinion on the customer service I was receiving. I called back the third time and spoke with Tracy. (The first two men I couldn’t understand to get their names) I again explained what had taken place with the hang up calls and asked to speak to a manger. She connected me to Shane, operator # F4F. (Is this a manger? I have my doubts. She did listen to my complaint but said it was probably a bad connection. GIVE ME A BREAK Then asked if she could answer any questions for me on my account. I wanted answers on what was being offered to me because I was a loyal customer. I see what you get for being a loyal customer. HUNG UP ON. I have no problem hiring people outside of the United States as long as they can speak our English language. After all they are dealing with mostly English speaking customers. I’m sure Dish Network are paying these people American salaries too. Yeah Right. If they were paying a reasonable salary they would have more Americans doing this job. I intend on contacting the Better Business Bureau and to tell others about the customer service I received from Dish Network/ Echo Star Satellite. I would hope that Dish Network would contact me after reviewing the tape recording of the three conversations that took place with their representatives. I’ll let everyone know the service I receive after this message.

    Comment by Lori — Sep 24th 2007 @ 10:01 pm

  51. hi ..i am wrking fro dish since 1.5 yrs … the centre is located in indai ….its great to servce the custs ..i just went thru the messages abt dish and felt very bad ..i understand tht its very annoying to stay on the line for a rep for a long time ….but at the same time cust has to also understand tht dish is a big company ,has 14 million custs and to serv all the cust at the same time is impossible ….and we are trying to wrk on this …i apologise fro any incnve ….rem dish is ony the better provider for ur tv ///

    Comment by nazar — Oct 3rd 2007 @ 2:07 am

  52. Dish Network YOU have the worse service of any company I have in my 64 years ever had the bad luck to deal with.
    For almost 2 weeks the Guide that you reach thru channel 100 to see what Pay for View movies are playing didn’t work. When we called the girl was rude, spoke really bad english, I bet her Indian was great though.. and told us we could select a movie to watch somewhere else?? DUH!! I didn’t want to select a movie somewhere else, I wanted to do it the way I had always did it.
    Tonight we noticed the movie guide channel was working again and decided to order a movie before we later went out for the evening. The guide said the movie “Because I Said So” came on at 7:00pm, 9:00pm & 11:00pm on channel 538. So we eleceted to see it. When our TV switched to the movie at 7:00 we discovered in reality it started at 6:00pm, 8:00, & 10:00, so we came into the movie in the middle. :-( We called to complain and the idiot who sounded like he was from India spoke such bad english we couldn’t understand him and he had NO idea what we were talking about. DUH!! WE will be canceling our Dish Network.

    Comment by Don — Oct 13th 2007 @ 8:40 pm

  53. This is going to be a little lenghtly but it is something that everyone needs to know. I am an installer for Dish Network and we on this end have a lot of problems. When you sign up for Dish through a local dealer he has to buy the dish and the receivers, coax connectors etc. If you disconnect before 181 days Dish will take away all of the money that they paid us for the install.Not only do they charge you as the customer they charge us and we do not get the equipment back. In a years time we could stand to lose up to 10,000 dollars very easy.
    As for the foreign call centers, yes they did use some from India and from Porta Rico. There is nothing worse than trying to activate a receiver and get someone that cannot speak the same english that I speak. I have been on the phone for up to 90 minutes and then get an argument form them. They want to know if the dish is mounted tight are the receivers finished downloading etc.
    As for the bad installs, the installing company should be responsible for their mistakes. We all make some but there is no excuse why it should cost more money to repair a bad install. My motto is”The customer is paing the bills and if at all possible install it the way they want.” I do not drill any extra holes, leave a mess, or run a bunch of coax because that sort of thing costs me. Dish does not pay me for that, I have to buy it at a pretty high cost. Dish Network has their on installers and there are some good ones out there but some know that they are going to get a paycheck wheather it is installed right or not. All installers should be held accountable for their installs. I have gone out on some bad installs and repaired the problem for free because Dish only pays $19. for a service call. At todays gas prices that doesn’t get you very far.
    I try my very best to be a good dealer but there are some installers out there who do not care.
    As an installer we cannot do anything about programming or billing mistakes or the customer being promised something. All we take care of is the install and activation but if that isn’t done right then the customer is upset from the very start.
    I hope with this comment that i helps to clear up some things that arise on your install.

    Comment by Paul Sykes — Oct 17th 2007 @ 7:12 pm

  54. I have had dish network for 2 weeks now is horriable installer been out 3 times total and says nothing is wrong goes out minium 10 times a day if not 3-4 times a hr in no storm. Installers very rude on 3rd trip didnt fix anything so I refused to sign his work order and told him to leave. Cant watch pay per view without it going out 6 times dvr cant record a full show worthless crap. On top of it installer comes with work order in wrong name and acts like I’m the dumbass STAY FAR AWAY FROM THESE PEOPLE NW indiana ..cant wait to see how the cancellation goes which will be in 1 min after I block them off from my credit card lol

    Comment by Anthony Edwards — Nov 3rd 2007 @ 10:50 am

  55. Come on guys enough is enough we are all in this sinking boat and need to get professional help, there must be some lawyer out there willing to take all of these complaints and stick it to Dish?

    Comment by ian foster — Nov 19th 2007 @ 11:42 am

  56. Has anyone noticed the dish fraudsters advertise on the site!! whats all that about?

    Comment by ian foster — Nov 19th 2007 @ 11:43 am

  57. one more: has anyone noticed the adds are getting longer and the programs are being repeated more.. or is it just me? They may all be doing this and the customers just take it up the jacksy…sad

    Comment by ian foster — Nov 19th 2007 @ 11:46 am

  58. ian: FWIW, I have no control over whether or not Dish ads show up here. The ads are served by Google Adsense, and they base ad selection (automatically) on page content. Apparently they think that Dish ads would be appropriate on this page even though the article and comment should be enough to scare anyone away.

    Comment by nickel — Nov 19th 2007 @ 12:46 pm

  59. In short:
    Been a DISH customer for 21 hours, I was lied to when I ordered the service and told I would receive my local channels in HD, after the install was complete the tech told me they are not available in my area, I told him to take it out and cancel the service. He advised me he can not do that??????? I called DISH, they were hapy to cancel, and KEEP MY MONEY for activation. They also advised me that they would send me return boxes to ship the equipment back. I told them the guy was still here and he could take it. They informed me he was not allowed to take it. At this point they will not refund my $49.99 activiation fee. I know it is not alot of money, but I agreed to there service under false pretenses. I called this morning and spoke to a “supervisor” , more like a “Superass”. Kenny, employee #F6K . Pompass jerk was happy to cancel the service and that was ALL. Refused to refund my money and was completely RUDE. I asked to speak to his supervisor and was told he had none. I guess Kenny owns Echo Star. These people care nothing about there customers, all they want is the money. If you are even considering switching to DISH, and you’ve found this site, and read this far….. you know to STAY AWAY. We all need to band together and bring down this company…….. whee do we staRT?????

    Comment by Scott — Dec 9th 2007 @ 11:32 am

  60. http://data.denver.bbb.org/com...../c/x938r9.

    ‘Echo Star Satellite L.L.C. (DishNetwork). address: 9601 S Meridian Blvd., Englewood, CO 80112
    My update:
    I like most of you here have had all the usual billing problems and fraudulent offers etc.
    I phoned them dozens of times and sent many many e-mails… all to no avail!
    after reading the comment from Patricia I decided I’d had enough and reported my situation with Dish network..echostar to the BBB.
    the result was that I was offered compensation for the amounts lost/mis charged.
    I accepted this as I was so fed up with Dish.
    As my protest we have canceled our $70 per month service and now have the $20 basic… I still believe echostar shoud be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for all the stress etc they have caused. The USA business world is now so corrupt I doubt this will ever happen.
    I have written to the company”AT&T” considering buying “echostar” informing them of this and other “dishsucks” type sites.

    Lets hope a fine Lawyer will see some of these complaints and take up this cause.

    Comment by ian foster — Dec 10th 2007 @ 4:48 am

  61. http://data.denver.bbb.org/com...../c/x938r9.

    ‘Echo Star Satellite L.L.C. (DishNetwork). address: 9601 S Meridian Blvd., Englewood, CO 80112
    My update:
    I like most of you here have had all the usual billing problems and fraudulent offers etc.
    I phoned them dozens of times and sent many many e-mails… all to no avail!
    after reading the comment from Patricia I decided I’d had enough and reported my situation with Dish network..”echostar” to the BBB.
    the result was that I was offered compensation for the amounts lost/mis charged.
    I accepted this as I was so fed up with their previously, dish onest treatment.
    As our protest we have canceled our $70 per month service and now have the $20 basic… I still believe “echostar” ” Limited Liability!” should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for all the stress etc they have caused. It may be that the USA business world is now so corrupt I doubt this will ever happen.
    I have written to the company “AT&T” who are considering buying “echostar” informing them of this and other “dishsucks” type sites. as of now I have received no response..as I expected!

    Lets hope a fine Lawyer will see some of these complaints and take up this cause
    Note:The fraudulent/misleading offer is still being offered at “SAMS CLUB “Las cruces NM

    Comment by ian foster — Dec 10th 2007 @ 5:00 am

  62. The fucking cock suckers at dish network just mounted my neighbors dish on my fence hanging into my yard. 3 1/2 feet off of the ground. I don’t want to look at that fucking white trash antena for the next 10 years. The neighbors have 1/2 acre of land to mount that ugly thing. Dish network told me that it isn’t thier problem and that they WOULD NOT help me in any way. What the fuck is thier problem???? Does anyone know of any kind of anti dish antenna that I can buy that will scramble the signal to that dish untill they are forced to move it????

    Comment by jcr — Dec 12th 2007 @ 7:16 am

  63. I sure hope I am not your neighbor because after being with Dish for 4 years now, the last time they came, after threatening to cancel, they sent out someone to “fix” our problem on the HD receiver that wasn’t working any longer. The installer came and took the Dish off of our roof and it banged the gutter on the way down when it fell. Smashd in the gutter. He then installed it on “Our” wood fence and yes it is sticking part way into the neighbor’s yard. YES it is! We had no control over it. I found out when I returned home from work. We got a new receiver because the old one was “Fried” according to the installer. We had to return the old receiver and I was really worried after reading some of these stories. When we did receive the box and label from Dish - two weeks later, (when they said it had to be returned within ten days) it told us to put the receiver, the brackets and the eyes in the box. We did not have anything but the receiver and I called Dish up and did finally talk to a nice rep who told me they would take the eyes and brackets off so we wouldn’t be charged for them. I had no idea where they were! Didn’t even know what they were. Apparently they are some kind of round cylinder shape object that was on the old dish…which the installer took. I held my breath and now it has been three months and we haven’t been charged for receiver, or eyes or backet. Our contract is up in April and we plan on cancelling Dish. So far, the receiver has been working with no problems. Amazing! First time in four years! Big problem is that the cost of Time Warner Cable and Direct TV.. which are our only alternatives… are so much higher than what we are paying now. Then the fear of cancelling and having to return all of the equipment and possibly being charged for it.. is freaking me out. I don’t know what the answer is to all of this. Hard to be with, customer support sucks, but fear of return is just as fatal. I want to hear back from the guy who returned everything and cancelled anything from being taken out of his initial credit card … What happened? Did you get charged?

    Comment by SHIRLEY — Dec 12th 2007 @ 7:10 pm

  64. I had three boxes I owned one and paid for the other two I called to cancel one and of coarse you get someone from India you can’t understand
    that’s beside the point.The probelm is they said they were taking the one I own and I have
    to pay for two boxes.This doesn’t sound kosher to me I have to pay for the one I own.I have
    been acustomer for 11 yrs Ithink this is a
    terrible way to treat customers.

    Comment by Jack Kirchartz — Dec 23rd 2007 @ 8:41 pm

  65. We need a CLASS ACTION against Dish Network.

    I just had some horrible experience on New Year day of 2008 after receiving my statement of Dish for December 2008. It is a long but very frustrating story. Let me start from the statement of November 2008.

    I received November statement with $21.95 charge for PPV (pay per view). I called Dish right away regarding this charge. Same old story as you all know: Dish was not going to refund me. The caveat here was that I recently purchased an international Dish package for my in-laws who live in a room with a dedicated TV (blue remote control). They do not even understand English. They were trying to learn how to use the remote control and I thought they probably mistakenly push some buttons that cause me $21.95 in November.

    Okay, let’s move on. To prevent this from happening again, about one month ago, I called the Dish and was taught how to set password to lock it up. I set up everything in my green remote (The main one as I only have one receiver but 2 remote controls) and I even asked the tech people who told me that as long as I set up lock in the main (green) remote, my blue remote should be locked too automatically. Sounds settled?

    Not really and even worse, I got the bill for this month (December) and have again extra charge of $52.95 for PPV. The funny thing is that all 5 PPV movies were charged at the same day. I called Dish on this New Year day and they basically would not refund all. After talking with the supervisor, I realized that I can use remote control and website to log in and look for PPV purchasing activity. To my very surprise, it turned out that there is a total of extra $142 to be billed in next cycle. There were 7 PPV of $11.99, 6 PPV of $8.99 and 1 of $3.99. The funnies thing is that all of them are charged between December 27-30. It seems even funnier that I had ordered 3-4 movies, even the same one in 2-4 hour of period. However, Dish is not able to refund most of them. Dish really wanted me to believe that I watched 5-6 movies in 3-4 hours period. They even told me that I could order a lot and watched them later one by one-pretty smart for Dish, Ah? Sure, Dish wanted me to believe that I am pretty retarded. Basically Dish will make me pay a little less than I would have to pay if I would elect to terminate this contract.

    It turned out that I have a pre-teen who likes to hide in another room and change TV channels in grandparents’ room to surprise them. Sure, kids are naïve and I probably have to pay for the price. The reason why I am upset about Dish is that they want me to believe that someone has ordered half dozen movies in the same day while some of the movies are even identical. Sure they want to act as a smart one to educate me. I have never ordered any PPV during my 1.5 years with Dish. Suddenly I paid more than $200 in the last week of 2007 for all the PPV movies-Merry Christmas-Dish Network! Someone needs to see a psychiatrist!!!

    It turned out that when I locked the green remote last time after I had to pay for the first PPV, I had actually NOT done anything on blue remote which was the problem causing all my PPV fees. I called the Dish today and another tech told me some extra fact. Old dish remotes work that way. As long as you lock up the main green one, your blue one will be locked too. Then Dish heard some complain saying that customers want 2 remotes locked separately since they want the main one in living room locked but the private one in bedroom unlocked-well, makes sense too.

    What I have complained to Dish is that their tech people whom I talked to at the first time insisted that I should be okay with only locking up the green one since the blue one will also be locked by default action of the green main one. I asked Dish to search phone record of that conversation but they said they do not have it. That is why I am saying they are a big fat liar by not telling the technical truth of their remote control. The bad thing for me is that this international package is not available in other carrier. Otherwise I would dump Dish tonight.

    BY ALL MEANS, I would like to hear from other Dish customers so we can try to ask for a class action against Dish. I am also going to report my case to local newspaper, media, business bureau and government. Meanwhile I will call Dish time by time and tell them that I am spreading this piece of “Good” news for them until they stop the bad business practice.

    PLEASE SAVE ALL YOUR STATEMENT and we will have some fun with Dish.

    An upset Dish customer

    Comment by An upset dish customer — Jan 2nd 2008 @ 12:33 am

  66. I wonder if you could get Dish to not accept any requests for PPV items?

    Comment by ian foster — Jan 2nd 2008 @ 10:18 am

  67. Has anyone noticed that the adds are getting more frequent on Sat TV? I wonder if anyone is investigating this.

    I have done a basic check and suspect we are being manipulated by a bunch of crooks.

    Comment by ian foster — Jan 2nd 2008 @ 10:22 am

  68. Would it not be in Dish networks interest to make a few comments here as I’m sure they know about these sites.
    The BBB got them to admit their fraudulent billing on our account and they have offered compensation ( still items outstanding)

    Come on show us your not thieves!!

    Comment by ian foster — Jan 2nd 2008 @ 10:31 am

  69. Hi, guys,

    After a long 1.5 hours of talk with Dish and got hanged up 3 times (I had to repeat my stories 3 times), I decided not to talk to Dish any more. I am contacting their competitors including Comcast and DirectTV to listen to my story. If they are willing to pay for my story, it is even better. I will also go to BBB and local newspaper to find someone who is interested in listening to my story.
    Guys, you can do the same thing. I decide to send some copies of my future article to Dish in case it gets published.

    Comment by An upset dish customer — Jan 3rd 2008 @ 3:52 pm

  70. Well, I sympathize with most of you regarding your problems with Dish. I’ve had many of the same problems over the years. Particularly the bad signal when it rains or the wind blows. Sometimes it blacks me out for hours. I call them when it’s time to pay the bill and ask for a credit for the time I was blacked out. I ask them if they went to a restaurant and ordered a steak and mashed potatoes and only got the mashed potatoes on their “dish”, would they pay for the complete meal? Hell no they wouldn’t! For years I paid for a package and because of a poor signal, I didn’t ever get some of the channels. As consolation, they offered me “Showtime” free for a month. After I hung up, they called back and said they couldn’t do that after all but would send me some coupons for free pay-for-view movies. Problem there was I couldn’t get the signal that the movies came in on! I record movies, etc. on the dvr and when I go to watch them, they are suddenly gone! Pain in the butts! Now I find they have added 200.00 on my bill with no explanation. I just put up with them since I get no vhf signal where I am and no cable.

    Comment by John — Jan 7th 2008 @ 4:39 pm

  71. The complaint below is almost word for word what happened to us…go figure!!! crooks of the highest order. there plan seems to be to get as many customers on their books so it looks good to the potential buyer..i.e.AT&T…watch out..be warned… CROOKS

    I had one of the worst experiences you could ever imagine with the Dish network. The very first time when my dad sent them the redemption form to get the ten dollars off each bill for the next ten months they’ve told us that they never received it. I called them a few times regarding it and after an exhausting waste of time on the phone I told my dad to send them another form just to make sure. My dad went to the post office, paid about fifteen dollars for the express mail with the delivery confirmation and what do you think? After the post office confirmed exact time and date when the letter was received by Dish network a few weeks later I called Dish and it was the same story all over again. “I apologize mam but we did not receive the redemption form from you yet.” I could not believe it. After explaining to the lady on the phone about five times she said she’ll put in the code in the system so we can get the deal. I wrote down her name, and the date and time when I talked to her. Well, what do you think? nothing good came out of it. We received the bill with no discout. I called Dish network again and and while I was trying to explain the whole situation to some other representative all over again he didn’t even want to listen. He kept on repeating like a robot: “We did not receive the redemption form from you, keep in my it take about eight weeks after we receive it to process it” and while I was trying to explain to him about how many times we already mailed that form to them and my last conversation on the phone he decided he does not want to talk to me anymore, so he said “have a nice day” and hung up on me in the middle of me talking to him. I don’t know what else to do. For those out there who do not have Dish network and were thinking about switching to their service I suggest: THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU DECIDE TO SWITCH TO DISH.

    Comment by ian foster — Jan 7th 2008 @ 6:01 pm

  72. My experience left me with $130 credit and it’s nixed. Why is that?

    Comment by Karen — Jan 30th 2008 @ 8:47 pm

  73. I’m not having problems with Dish Network (except for their sucky service), its actually the third party contractor here in Washington that really pisses me off. We signed up for the package after the 3rd party rep gave us several assurances about the performance of Dish Network. I have an 8 year old daughter and, well, I’m a guy, so my television is on the Cartoon Network 99% of the time. My primary concern was that we would be getting the same program availability. The rep assured us that everything was the same and that we could even choose between East and West coast satellites and times. There were a couple of other promises in there as well, along with a couple of fees he never mentioned. Anyway, it turns out the Cartoon Network is only available on East coast times, so Adult Swim shows that normally would come on after my daughter’s bedtime where now suddenly on during her “TV time”. We tried several times to get this corrected, as we were still under the assumption we could change East coast/West coast viewing times. It took a month for someone to tell us that wasn’t possible and that we had been misled by the 3rd party rep, so they couldn’t do anything about it. We decided we had had enough when we heard the word “nigga” about 40 times on a single episode of the Boondocks, so, after saving up the money to pay for the early cancellation fee we got rid of Dish Network. Now it appears that the 3rd party contractor wants an additional $240 for the early cancellation as well as $200 for the installation. We have tried to talk with someone in charge at this company, Seatown Satellite Services, but I can’t seem to get past the militant $%@*! in customer service, who has hung up on me twice now. I’m sorry, but we purchased the Dish Network under what I consider fraudulent circumstances and intentional misrepresentation, so why should I have to pay for this? It pure B.S., and I’m adding my voice to the call for a class action suit against Dish Network for allowing these practices as well as all of the 3rd party contractors for pulling this crap in the first place. These people should be in jail.

    Comment by Bruce Norman — Mar 4th 2008 @ 8:31 pm

  74. After negative experiences with directv and comcast I chose to try dish. I signed the 18-month contract in Dec 2006 for a $39.99 month plan which was increased two months after I signed because they expanded the programming package. I have no idea what channels they added because I still only watch the same ten channels I always have. But my bill was 55% more than quoted because the increase and all the fees.

    I have had contact with their employees twice (I had an ok third-party installer). Once I was late with my payment and got a reminder call — SHE spoke fluent American English. The other time was when I moved and requested that the service and billing address be changed. The guy from India kept trying to sign me up for an 18-month extension before they would send a tech out to install the dish at my new address. I have a friend who used to install directv, so he moved it for me. (I was afraid dish techs would damage the roof of the house I am renting.) After reading the issues other customers (victims?), I am really afraid that when I go to cancel my account in June when the contract expires I will find that he extended it anyway.

    When should I call Dish to cancel? I don’t care if I pay for a few weeks of programming after I return the equipment. I just want to get it out of here and not have to deal with their “customer service.” I just don’t want pay the early cancellation fee either. Could anyone provide the address to return the equipment? Do I need an return authorization number? I assume I should get delivery verification?

    Thankfully, I am paranoid and never give any company authorization to take money out of my account or auto-bill my credit card. If that is how a company does business, I don’t need their service. I am actually giving up tv when the switch to digital signal takes place. I am tired of dealing with these companies that promise one thing and deliver something entirely different, and offer no recourse.

    Thanks for the site and the help! I wish I looked for it before I signed up.

    Comment by angie — Apr 6th 2008 @ 8:24 pm

  75. WARNING…DISH NETWORK IS ID TEFT company!!!! All customers PLEASE watch out! 04/24/08
    Here is what they did to me. They open an account on my name 500miles away from where I already have an account. I called them and told them that I have never open the account , I have never authorized no one to open an account, and that I live 500miles away from where that by fruad account was open.
    They then told me to send in affadavid of ID teft to their ID deft. ivestigation dept. and I did. Then I called their ID Teft dept. (by the way you can only leave a msg.) left msg., and msg., and msg., no one ever called back and no one ever closed the account. So as of today 04/30/08 the account is still open and they refuse to close it and say that it may take up to 1 year before they investigate and close this account until then fees and charges will occur and we will be send to collections… they do not want to close this account!!! Our credit score is impacted, credit is used by fraud and Dish refuse to close the account!@!!!! This are THIEFS!!!!!!

    Comment by DION — Apr 30th 2008 @ 4:31 pm

  76. I too have been screwed by Dish Network. I have an account with Dish Network at my home and my parents have an account with Dish at their home. My parents cancelled their Dish service this week and MY checking account was charged $508 for THEIR equipment. I called Dish and apparently because I have used my debit card to pay my parents’ bill sometime in the past it gives them the authority to charge MY bank account. It is not my account or my equipment and my account with them is paid up to date. Because of this I have been charged several over draft fees from my bank. Dish claims they are sending shipping boxes to for my parents to return their equipment and that I will be credited once it is received. We will see. I will be sure to update as things progress. I will be cancelling my personal account with DISH when my contract is up and I will never ever do business with them again.

    Comment by James — May 1st 2008 @ 11:12 am

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