Solving Dish Network Customer Service Problems

Written by nickel - 15 Comments

I’m starting to feel like a broken record here, but I think we’re getting close to the end of our Dish Network saga… About a week after filing a complaint against our Dish Network reseller, I still hadn’t heard back from the Better Business Bureau, so I decided to escalate the situation on my own… I hopped on over to Yahoo! Finance and looked up the contact information for Dish’s parent company, EchoStar Communications Corporation (DISH). Once I had the number for their corporate headquarters (it’s 303-723-1000, by the way), I grabbed the phone and settled in for a fight.

When the receptionist picked up, I explained that I’ve been having trouble with my Dish Network service and that the ‘regular’ customer service reps had been unable to help me. I then asked if they had a higher level of customer service that could intervene. She said yes, and asked if I’d be willing to hold while she got someone. I agreed, and after a ten minute wait I was speaking to someone in their Corporate Customer Service wing.

After explaining for the umpteenth time that we hadn’t received the $49.99 credit for what should have been a ‘free’ installation because the reseller screwed up and failed to note that I had signed an 18 month agreement, the rep explained to me that the reseller is responsible for setting up the account, so I really need to deal with them. I then re-explained that I had been trying to deal with the reseller for nearly three months, and had gotten nowhere. After a bit more prompting, she agreed to put me on hold and call the reseller on my behalf. A few minutes later she was back on the line. Apparently the reseller claimed (as they have been telling me for months) that they’ve been trying to send the paperwork to Dish to change the account, but they’ve had no luck. I told her that’s the same runaround that I’ve been getting all along, and so she put me on hold again and went to speak to her ‘Promotions Manager’.

When she got back on the line, she had good news… The Promotions Manager had agreed to manually change our account to reflect the 18 month agreement. According to her, this means that we’ll be receive the $49.99 credit on our next bill, and that we also now qualify for the Digital Home Protection Plan free for the duration of our contract. This service, which is basically an extended warranty on our Dish hardware, normally runs $5.99/month. I wouldn’t have paid for it in the first place, but since it’s free, I’ll take it. I just have to remember to cancel it at the end of our contract, as I’m sure they’ll automatically ‘upgrade’ us to the paid version as soon as our agreement lapses.

Anyway, I digress… The bottom line here is that going straight to the corporate mothership was the most direct route to salvation. Granted, I spent 32 minutes on the phone (yes, I’m anal, and I time stuff like this). But this saga is now (hopefully) coming to an end.

As an aside, escalating things to the corporate level is often a good way of getting satisfaction. I had similarly frustrating troubles with service on my Apple laptop about 18 months ago. The logic board had gone out for the second or third time, and the replacement part was on seemingy eternal backorder. I was finally able to get this resolved by going to Apple’s Corporate Customer Care. Their solution? They sent me a brand new laptop in place of my nearly three year old PowerBook that was almost out of AppleCare coverage. The replacement was the current top of the line, complete with a new warranty, and eligible for three more years of AppleCare. Some companies just know how to take care of their customers. Apple is right up there with Hampton Inn in my book.

Oh, by the way… Later in the day I finally got an e-mail confirmation from the Better Business Bureau saying that they’re on the case, and that they will be working for a resolution. They also asked me to notify them if I had resolved the situation on my own. Given my experience thus far, I decided that I’m going to leave the BBB on the case until I actually see the credit for our installation fee show up on our bill.

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Published on September 1st, 2006 - 15 Comments
Filed under: House & Home
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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

Definately wait for your credit to close it with BBB.
Comment by Blaine Moore — Sep 1st 2006 @ 4:44 pm
Yes…it doesn’t always work, but going as high as possible will increase your chances of getting the proble resolved. Nice proactive move on your part.
Comment by savingadvice — Sep 5th 2006 @ 2:53 am
Thanks for the information. I too was having an issue with basic Customer Service and the same tech hung up on me twice within 20 minutes. Called the corporate number provided, and they were able to help me out in 10 minutes.
Comment by Mike S — Feb 1st 2007 @ 12:09 pm
Well, I see that I’m not the only one getting screwed by Dish! I signed up as a 1st time ever customer to get a $49.99 a month HD package with a “free” DVR. Suprise, no DVR unless I pay an additional $199.00 and they won’t take back the HD reciever and just give me a regular one unless I give them an additional $99!!!! Outragous! I can’t even disconnet unless I pay a huge “disconnet fee”!! Their customer service is useless, sounds like it’s either in Inda or China, they argue with me and all they want to do is “give me an upgrade deal” on my subscription for even MORE money! They suck and as soon as I can I’m gonna drop it and tell EVERYONE I have even a casual conversation with about it!! Pass it on!!!
Comment by Sue S. — Feb 6th 2007 @ 9:24 pm
Nonsense, talked to John (ID# OJ6) at the corporate # 303 723 1000 and got nowhere, stated that they have nothing to do w the subcontractors and they could have “promised me a car if I signed up with DISH” and they would not care. offered me some rebates and never clearly explained the bill and then told me that I had signed the dotted line when the installer came here and that was that. I have been hung up multiple times by cust service 800 333 3474 and told to take it up w somebody else multile times. the runaround is ridiculuos and its non ending
The BBB will not do anything as others have stated above. will somebody take this to another level? - I dont have the time, just decided to cancel the service.
Comment by Juan — Feb 14th 2007 @ 4:02 pm
I just ordered cable for the first time in December of 06 and I signed up over the internet to receive a special deal they had going on. Turns out I never got the special price I was supposed to get. They charged me full price never sent out my free monitor screen. I argued on the phone with the customer service who kept telling me to fill out the rebate form for the $10.00 off a month for ten months I then said thats fine but that is not the price I was quoted I wanted the price that I signed up for she got nasty on the phone I asked for a manager and she gave me a hard time she said she would transfer me so she put me on hold 5 minutes later she picked up and told me the same thing that she was transferring me then I was on hold for another 5 minutes and she picked up the phone pretending like she was the manager but yet it was the same voice so then i asked for corporate # and she told me she didn’t have it so she gave me the mailing address and transferred me somewhere else. Then I had to hang up because I was on hold to long so I called back the next day and talked to someone else and they hung up me I think there company is very unprofessional. I would never recommend them they are not out there to satisfy there customers like a good business is they are out for the money as long as you pay them their happy but if you have a problem they could care less they don’t solve the problems. They need a new staff
Comment by Stacy — Feb 21st 2007 @ 5:22 pm
I agree - I’ve had terrible service with Dish Network. I just can’t afford to switch. When I first subscribed, I had to take 5 days off work in a row to wait for the installer to arrive (he wouldn’t show up, I’d call and ask where he was, no one would know, etc) - if I wasn’t living in a small, remote area at the time and had other options, I would have never subscribed.

When I moved to a larger city, I was still bound by Dish Network’s contract. So I kept the service rather than pay the fees for switching to cable. This was clearly a bad decision on my part. Within a year of moving in, I lost my satelite connection due to bad weather. When I called to get a repair person to come, it took them a month to send someone. Since I didn’t have satelite service (or any television at all) for a month, I naturally assumed that I wouldn’t be billed for that month. I have the full-service package, too (including movie channels) so this is no small fee on my part.

My mistake. I was billed for the entire month.

Has anyone but me noticed that they don’t have a complaints department?
Comment by Jennifer — Mar 8th 2007 @ 3:32 pm
I am not sure if I became smarter or not but boy Oh boy I have had nothing but a never ending nightmare with dish network. Dealing with people on a day to day I have never encounter anything like the service. There is none! They lie and they are incapable of doing the job.The tech assistants barelly speak inglish and to make matters worst they read from a script as they try to trouble shout you.
Dish Netwwork charges a pretty fee and delivers nothing in return.
My nightmare began on August the 3/07 and continues. I also have a contract with them unfortunatly. They have destroy my roof, I loose my signals everyday, I am on the phone with them on an average of 3 times a week for a minimum of 4 hrs only to be left without service. I have missed so much work that it is pittyfull and no one cares. They are incompetent and lieyers.They place me on hold and the next thing I know they hung up on me. I will be moving soon and I am just beginning my fight with them.;
I am not certain what I am going to do but I am going on a campain to let everyone know not to subscribe to Dish Network or Echo Star the mother company.We have the means since we are very much involved in our comunity.
I will keep you informed of the progress. My fight has just began!
Rosie
Comment by Rosie — Apr 24th 2007 @ 5:53 pm
I have had an experience as well w/ Dish Network. I had an equiptment issue w/ the switch on the dish on 6/6/07. They had a tech come replace the switch on 6/8/07. Today 6/14, the switch went bad again…6 DAYS LATER! I called and explained my issue and was told they couldn’t have someone out until 6/14! This was unacceptable. They should make arrangments to have someone out within 2 days on a repeat issue. After 7 phone calls to tech support, sales and 2 supervisors i had gotten no where. Finally i called the corporate office in CO and spoke with the escalated case rep. I may actually be getting something done now. I will receive a credit for the lost service, will not be charged for the service visit and he contacted the dispatch office to expedite the visit. It may not be any better than the 14th, but i got more attention and didn’t recieve the “book read” answers i had been getting from the call centers. My experience w/ Direct TV was MUCH MUCH worse, so the lesser of two evils is Dish. We’ll see how it goes
Comment by seth — Jun 14th 2007 @ 10:31 am
correction….they couldn’t have someone out until 6/19 - 5 days later!
Comment by seth — Jun 14th 2007 @ 10:32 am
this really helped. dish has horrible customer service. At this number they are awesome. 3 hours on the 800 number. 5 mins on this number and the missing credit I was promised and never received
Comment by chris — Jul 30th 2007 @ 5:16 pm
I RECENTLY ORDERED DISHNETWORK THROUGH EMBARQ COMMUNICATION AS A BUNDLED PROMOTION DEAL THE EQUIPMENT WAS INSTALLED BUT NEVER WORKED CORRECTLY THE SYSTEM SHUT DOWN WHILE I WAS WATCHING, ONE ROOM NEVER WORKED, THEY TRIED TO WALK ME THROUGH THE FIXING PROCESS AND IT STILL DIDN’T WORK I CANCELLED THE SERVICE IN LESS THAN A MONTH AND WROTE LETTERS TO ALL CONCERNED. DISHNET CHARGED TWO HUNDRED TWENTY SIX DOLLARS AND SIXTY SEVEN CENTS AND NEVER BILLED ME, BUT WENT INTO MY CHECKING ACCOUNT THROUGH MY ATM CARD FROM BANK AMERICA , EMBARQ, DISHNETWORK CONTRIVED THIS SCHEME ASKING FOR A CREDIT CARD WHEN APPLYING FOR SERVICE. SO PUBLIC DON’T BUY THIS SERVICE FROM DISHWETWORK IT’S A RIP-OFF

C.E.HARRIS
Comment by charles e. harris — Aug 4th 2007 @ 2:31 pm
how does Dish profess to have great customer service?! We signed up 5 mos. ago and have had nothing but problems! Our Hd DVR constently shuts down. I’ve called the local retailer so many times, he won’t even return my calls. And let’s not even get into the fact that customer service is out-sourced to india and the phillipines! I plan on calling Corp. tomorrow, they better clear this up!!!!!! And I’m pretty sure I’ll be filing with the BBB about the local retailer, too!!
Comment by Judy N. — Aug 24th 2007 @ 12:59 am
I am beyond furious with Dish Network !! They have missed 7 appointments to install Wild Blue. It has shut down my business. I work 40 miles from home and have to commute each way every time they do that. I paid $250 up front to get it done. Now it has cost me almost $1000 from lost work, meeting people who never show up. More than 30 phone calls later they just keep rescheduling me for another week out.
Quit outsourcing to incompetent resellers and people in India who do not speak English worth a damn !!!
Comment by Doug — Oct 1st 2007 @ 4:50 am
Thank you for posting the number to EchoStar Corporate Offices. We have been having issues as well. From free entertainment unitsthat never arrived as promised; service calls that were not supposed to be charged that were in fact charged; to billing issues. I called echostar and they reimbursed the service fee and gave us an extension as promised. As far as the entertainment unit, they gave us an email executiveresolutions@echostar.com and told me that they would fight for us. Long Story short, I can’t leave because they will charge me an early termination fee of $146.00, but I should have gone with cable.. UGHHH!
Comment by Cory — Apr 14th 2008 @ 3:38 pm