Comments (scroll down to add your own):

1. I wonder if service issues/problems are tied to particular areas of the country since they contract a lot of that out. I know a lot of ppl here have had problems with Dish Network (and I’ve got my own horror story about their billing system…yikes!). But the two times I’ve had service people come out to my house they were there the next day and able to take care of the issue quickly.

   Norm

   Comment by Norm — Oct 18th 2006 @ 8:32 am

2. Norm, my best guess is that service will be a mixed bag no matter where are you, as there are good and bad contractors everywhere. I’m just hoping that we get a good one!

   Do you mind sharing what your problems were when you had to have service people come out? In our case, we haven’t been able to hold a satellite signal, and then last night we started getting error messages about ’switch’ problems.

   Comment by nickel — Oct 18th 2006 @ 8:36 am

3. My second issue was switch problems as well. I called when I first saw the problem (a Sunday night I believe) and they had me do some stuff that didn’t fix the problem and a technician came out on Monday. Wasn’t home when he/she got there, so I’m not sure what they did (and, of course, the wife doesn’t care enough to find out , but it was fixed when I got home.

   I think though, that in our case, the switch that was causing the problem was tied to the box (we only run one box) and not the dish.

   I’m trying to remember exactly what the first problem was….I think it was just very poor reception about a month after we got it set it…no error messages or anything like that. But again, they had them out the next day and got it resolved. That one I’m assuming was just realignment of the dish.

   Comment by Norm — Oct 18th 2006 @ 10:09 am

4. Every time I read one of these posts, I think to myself “he should just dump them and go with DirecTV”. I’ve had them for several years now without a single problem in billing OR service. And that’s through four moves.

   Comment by Matt — Oct 19th 2006 @ 3:19 am

5. Yes, we really should dump them. I just haven’t had the time to do so (which is a lame excuse because of all the time I’ve spent straightening out problems). The thing is, we really like the TV service and the hardware, and I’m not sure that we could set things up exactly the same way with DirecTV. But then again, if there were fewer headaches, that would probably be a fair trade…

   Comment by nickel — Oct 19th 2006 @ 5:42 am

6. We have been without a proper working receiver for several months although we are still charged for complete service. We have spent in excess of ten hours on the phone with techs and when they could not resolve the problem we had them send a tech to the house this week.
   the Tech called Dish discussed all the problems and said they would send us a new 622 receiver. Today we received an empty box. I called to see where the replacement receiver was and they said none was on the RA order. Now why would I send a receiver (942) they made us purchase for a $1,000 from one of teir dealers without having a replacement in place? This is not the first frustrating experience with them, but the most costly and most frustrating. I recomend noone get Dish Network. If anyone has any information where to go to compain about Dish or how to resolve the problem I sure would like to hear from them.

   Comment by Lynn Guzman — Oct 19th 2006 @ 11:29 pm

7. Lynn, call their corporate headquarters.

   See here and here.

   Comment by nickel — Oct 19th 2006 @ 11:39 pm

8. I found your Web page while seeking information on how to contact Dish Network direct. Originally I was told with what I though was a contract that I would pay $49.99 with a $10 rebate for the first 10 months, bogus.

   I paid an initial fee of $49.99 to get the Dish Network. After that: November billing was $75.91, January billing was $114.59, February $157.98, March $88.45. And when I called to complain I would get the response that the problem was fixed and I would see the adjustment on the next bill. It did not happen, 1-800-333-3474.

   Here is an unconfirmed address given to me during one of these calls: Echo Star Satellite LLC, Dispute Resolution, P.O. Box 9040, Milton, CO 80120. I asked for a phone number to confirm, he had none. I checked Map Quest, no such place.

   Arnold M

   Comment by Arnold Midthun — Mar 12th 2007 @ 11:11 pm

9. DISH Network is the worst, hands down, when it comes to automated phone service. I’ve gone through the phone system instruction seven times in an attempt to resolve my technical problem. This annoying automated male voice asks me, after pressing the correct number for technical support, to “check the batteries on your remote.” I do so, because I don’t want to appear scatterbrained in the opinion of the automated voice. God forbid. Batteries good.
   The voice begins each sentence or question with ‘Okay…’ or “Let’s see…” in an apparent attempt to ingratiate me. I did a reboot. I reset the remote. I went through this each of the seven times I’ve called. I even had a new receiver sent to replace what I assumed was a broken receiver. Not the problem.
   For my last foray into the beloved world of customer service, the human person (for whom I waited an astounding 46 minutes) told me I must go through the steps by phone before a technician is sent, or pay the price out-of-pocket for the call, which is $29.95 per hour, including drive time. I refused to go through the steps yet again. I asked to have a technician sent and reminded them of my warranty. I overheard this actual human person, Tiffany, speaking to another actual human person about how she finally “did” her brother’s friend, and hopes no one finds out. I was almost so bored with the aforementioned 46 minutes of mind-numbing phone hell to actually care about her sex life. Really. She returns to the line to tell me that I will have to speak to a supervisor. This sounds like a fabulous idea to me. Then, dead line. Ooops, we were cut off. Damn, I won’t find out who was on top and if they cuddled afterwards. I call back. This time, after chatting with automated Dish Man, a conversation sprinkled with my, “Sure thing, co*ksu*ker!” to his cheerful requests, I get a human in 22 minutes. I note that this is less than half of my original wait. I count my blessings. I tell this new human, who has just completed a weeklong community course in English as a Second Language, that for two months I’ve been experiencing the same problem, and I need help. I want a human to come to my home. I remind her that I’m still under warranty and throw in that DishMan has called me a valued customer at least twenty times. She is unimpressed, but schedules the human technician after two jaunts of “Um, hold on a minute…I need to,… um,…just hold on, okay?” She schedules the service call. I rejoice in that fact that although I’ve used foul language with automated DishMan, I’ve kept my actual conversations with the humans quite professional; cordial even. “Thanks for your help, honey-dumplin, I’ll be home on Thursday awaiting my technician!” (No, I didn’t SAY ‘honey-dumplin,’ I only thought it.)
   I’m supposed to have a technician here between 8 am and noon today. I mean “was supposed to have…” I called in at 12:30pm to the automated system only to be told by DishMan, “Okay, I see that you have a service call scheduled for (second automated voice; this time female) Thursday, March 15th, 8 am to 12 pm. (now back to male voice) Please continue to wait for the allotted time.” Then I’m rerouted to the main menu. Okay, I think, perhaps they meant Eastern time. Cool. I think I’m being quite reasonable, considering that I’m a bit limited to television programming because I live in a remotely rural area. I am also not afforded the luxury of finding and killing DishMan with my bare hands, but I digress. Now, it’s 2:40. I’ve called back, spoken to a human (31 minutes this time) and, while I didn’t use an epithet, I did become belligerent. They tell me the technician is “en route.” He must be flying right behind the monkeys that are exiting my a$$.

   Comment by loretta darrillo — Mar 15th 2007 @ 7:13 pm

10. Everything is true about Teletech aka DishNetwork Echostar. Dishnetwork CSR is run by Teletech in US and other parts of the world. I’m glad I got Direct tv. I think they still do Verizon also.

    Comment by blue — May 7th 2007 @ 4:11 pm

11. PLEASE, somebody help me!! I’ve called three times and put on hold forever…ok, a slight exageration. The “Tips Lady” kept waking me up.
    Number one TV shows it is set to dule TVs, but the middle button is off. Number two TV wasn’t responding to the remote. I changed the batteries. I did the Recover thing and nothing. I have no idea what else I did, but number two TV only shows Channel 60 and won’t do anything else. I have always gotten such good service from the Dish Network, please please help me.

    Comment by Margaret Marfin — Aug 13th 2007 @ 1:40 pm

12. I wasn’t getting any local and most of my other 250 channels on my regular receiver, so I called to get that fixed. After telling the first person what my problem was and he told me that he had to transfer me over to the technical support. After I waited again, I was apologized to again, and they had me troubleshoot my receiver again, and again I was told that I was going to be transfered to the tech department, which I was just transfered to. Before I could object, I was transfered. I was once again apologized to, and I had to tell my story again, and I was told that I was once again going to be transfered to the technical department, WHICH I HAD BEEN ON!!! I refused this time and asked to talk to a supervisor, the agent refused to let me talk to a supervisor as there was “no reason to need to talk to a supervisor.” I was promised that I was going to be transfered to the correct department, so I agreed and was once again through the loop. I figured out that I could change something in my receiver so that I could see my channels again and hanged up on the new apologizer. An hour and four people that could not fix something that easy? Worst customer service I have seen.

    Comment by Luis — Oct 3rd 2007 @ 11:11 pm

13. I am a new customer for Dish Network. And having big time problems with Dish Network services.
    The first time I called they didnot showup at my house, and the tech notes said that the signal is not avaialble at the house. They charged me 49.99 for activation by using my credit card.
    After weeks of calling and talking over phone back and forth, finally they gave my money back.

    Second Attempt: I called a local retailer this time thinking that I can catch hold of them locally if I have any issue with them.
    But this time, they are charging me 5$ extra because I dont have a home telephone and they gave me a dual receiver 322 with two lines. But the point is I told them during my first concversation that I dont have land line phone at home.
    So they realized the mistake after checking the phone records and apolozied to me over the phone both sales person and mamager level at the retailer.
    Now they offered me the option of Pay Back services, with whom I need to work over the phone and explain my whole story and get the 5$ credit every month.

    I am thinking is it really worth the headache??
    Conclusion: Dishnetwork has a very poor service, I am not satisfied. Look for better options.

    Suggestions are welcome.
    Thanks

    Comment by Srinivas — Dec 19th 2007 @ 3:36 pm

14. I had a DVR 500 without any issues for 4 years and I became very attached to it. DISH implemented a new software program and 3 days later, my DVR crashed.

    I jumped through all the hoops with tech support, read off the same hard drive error and then waited for a replacement DVR. The replacement arrived and I followed programming steps, another drive error and the unit could not be programmed. Called tech support, more of the same and they offered to send a repair tech and charge me a fee, along with shipping and handling on the unit. Much arguing ensued and I was sent a tech at a reduced fee with a warranty program and shipping fees were waived.

    I waited around for the tech all day, only to find my appointment had been cancelled by Dish. Another call to Dish, more arguing, another appointment and still no working Dish.

    The tech adjusted my satellite dish, installed a new DVR and took one with him. He told me it could be two hours before I could record, but at least I had channels. No, no, no, I said! “What’s the point of a DVR if it doesn’t record?” Finally got it to record and he went on his way, after I tipped him. (I’d rather pay the installer directly, than DISH, just for them to pay the guy a percentage.)

    Twenty-four hours later, after the software update, the box starts shutting down after 15 minutes and reboots itself. Works for a few minutes, and reboots, even during record time. Back to tech support. We go through the whole crap again and they send me another box.

    I connect the box, call tech support straight away and make them sit with me through the programming and install process. I run through all the serial numbers and express my displeasure at being without service for about a month, get some measly adjustments and basically, I’m pissed. I lost DVR functionality twice and they tried to charge my credit card for the DVR’s. That really pissed me off.

    I took my sweet time about returning the last two DVR’s and DISH has insisted I pay for them. I blocked them on my credit card, called DISH and told them they have the DVR’s and I’m not paying for faulty equipment.

    They’ve cut me off for non-payment and now tell me that the DVR’s must be tested for customer damage. Major growling ensued on my part, for how I’m to be charged for equipment that was faulty on arrival; only to be told I will be credited, if DISH determines I did not cause the damage.

    I’m not paying DISH for their bad equipment. I’m not paying for service I don’t receive; and I’m not “loaning” them $400 for extortion tactics, in the hope they will credit my account. The last supervisor asked if I wanted to cancel my account.

    A $20 set of rabbit ear antennas from Walmart would give me one channel most days, two, if the weather’s right. I’m seriously considering it.

    Comment by Karen — Jan 30th 2008 @ 3:38 pm

15. I totallay agree the dish network has the worst service. I don’t recommend to go for the dish network. I have a check switch problem for more than 3 to 4 months and getiing only half the channels.

    Comment by Shhhhhhhhhh — Mar 30th 2008 @ 3:04 pm

16. We bought a new 42 inch HD tv for Christmas, once a month I go to tech services with dish network and now they want $100.00 to send a technician to come out to check the box that does not and has never worked properly. I am tired of the run around quick fixes that do not work effectively!

    They won’t give us a station that’s advertised on their network. Why give 30 days of viewing the TVOne station if you did not want us to subscribe to the network? My neighbors in the next county (Broward County Florida) that is less than 10 miles away are viewing it, then why advertise the availability on station 121 when you won’t let North Miami area view it?

    All I want is good service for the money I am paying and non discriminatory practices regarding programing.

    I welcome your recommendations.

    Comment by Diana — May 3rd 2008 @ 10:03 am

17. I have had dish network for (3) YEARS. i’VE BEEN OVERCHARGED CONSTANTLY IN (3) YEARS. In the fall of 2007,Dish network contacted me and said that their satellite was moving out of orbit and they needed to make some changes to my dish. Enevitably what happened is that after two-three reschedulings, the contractor came out and moved my dish 100 feet away from my home and charged me for moving it. It wasnt my satellite that moved out of orbit,it was their satellite. dish network sux. they only want your payment each month,and dont give a damn wheather you are getting service or not!
    Now the new location isnt working either,no programing no nothing,and the want me to pay 29.00 for something they cant get right.this should be against the law!

    Comment by Danny Brickles — Jun 26th 2008 @ 12:40 pm

18. I have had Dish for almost 18 months and I hate it!!! I haven’t been able to use the TV in my sewing room because the remote won’t work. I did call customer support (and luckily I didn’t get Haji in India) and we got it to work–for one day. I will have it removed on Dec 1st because it will be exactly the number of days on my contract so they won’t try and charge me for the equipment. It kills me when its a bright sunny day and the satellite stops working, I can understand if its snowing outside but not on a sunny day. The worst part is the sales people lie to you to get you to sign up. Never again. Their corportate offices are in Salt Lake City, filing a complaint with the Better Business Bureau did get a response but didn’t help the operation at all.

    Comment by Cheryl — Nov 2nd 2008 @ 3:49 pm

19. I am an attorney and we are considering a class action suit against DISH for the repeated problems with their HD DVR’s crashing. We have had 5. They each work well for about a month to two months and then the hard drive booting loops and crashes. Each time I call I get the person reading the script – this last time they said that the wall plug was the problem! Tell my computer that – I used that wall plug for surge suppressor on my computer until I rearranged furniture and now the DISH box is on a surge suppressor on that plug. But it is the plug not their hard drive crashing! Right! We are firing them and going with a competitor.

    Comment by Victoria Thompson — Dec 14th 2008 @ 11:54 am

20. I had the dish for 1 year – only the HD package, and it is great. Only now the switch got bad and they will send a repair person. They wanted to charge me the “discounted” $29 but I challenged that and got it credited back (afaik). I think they must have improved their customer service recently? All 3 techs I spoken to were friendly and helpful, plus there was no wait time whatsoever once I said “representative” to the robot.

    Comment by Alexx — Dec 20th 2008 @ 4:40 pm

21. My HD DVR crashed today as well.I called their tech support and was also told to plug it in to another electrical source (which obviously wasn’t the problem).
    After about 20 + minutes they agreed to send me another free….except shipping. I argued that this is THEIR equipment and it shoud be THEIR responsibility to pay for shiping. I also told her that if they do not correct this issue with no charge to me, I promised her I would not renew my subscription and would switch services. At that point they agreed to replace it free including shipping. We shall see what happens with the new one. Now I have to live for several days with no HD, that should be prorated off my bill.

    Comment by Ron — Jan 19th 2009 @ 3:39 pm

22. To #12, Luis, let me guess, all you had to do was press the “guide” button to get your channels back because you were on the wrong favorite list. Because that is the only thing you can possibly do to make your channels disappear and then reappear all by yourself. I agree, the whole transferring black hole sucks, but wow, it’s not rocket science.

    Comment by Lauren — Feb 4th 2009 @ 10:47 pm

23. My HD box started bellowing out smoke and sparking. The best part was when the so called technician asked me to plug the box back in so I could do a reset. My wife was laughing at my colorful response.

    Then they tried to charge me for the shipping because I did not have the home protection plan. This is when I really blew up. I have had dish for over a year and was asked when I first signed up if I would like the free home protection plan. Sure, what a deal. Then they started charging me for it. So I canceled it, except they continued to charge me for it. I must have called to cancel it 6 times.

    They tell me that since I tried to cancel last week they were going to refund me the 5.99 on a future bill and then put me on the hook for the shipping charges.

    I am curious if they expect me to pay for the return shipping of the old box.

    Comment by Aaron — Feb 12th 2009 @ 10:40 am

24. We were on our sixth failed HD box and they pulled the you have to pay for shippng and I blew up. I fired them and got a refund for down time. When I was getting the RA number (need it to put on the return box) They offered a free upgrade to the box with more memory – Ha! Like that would have worked! Even when the old boxes were working there was a terrible freeze and pixillate problem that they said was industry wide and they were working on new software to fix it.

    I have ATT Uverse now – installation crew on time, professional job, 8 TV boxes, more powerful wireless internet than my old ATT subscription, and less cost. THen a freeze and pixilate problem began. I called and they had a service rep there the same day. He replaced a cable. That did not work so the next day I called again. They had a service rep there in two hours, he replaced the modem and the problem is completely fixed. No down time, no attempt to fix it over the phone, no shipping boxes back and forth – I am thrilled that I dumped Dish.

    Comment by Vltrnjd — Feb 12th 2009 @ 10:53 am

25. While my call to DN finally resulted in the Technician’s return with a new DVR, it was not before being told to (1) point the RF Remote toward the DVR, and (2) run a bit of Coax cable and plug the antennae into it… and (3) they could send me a new antennae…(piece of L-shaped wire).

    They wanted to charge a 6-year customer $29.95 for the service call.!! Reversed under threat of cancellation.

    My four remotes simultaneously quit working, after years of a range of 50 feet, suddenly had a range of 3 feet or less, and intermittant at that. Not a battery problem… But MIGHT be fixed by running that coax from the first floor to my upstairs bedroom. Rf mouse tail 45 feet long!

    Is the competitor any better? I can now get TV on DSL, so Dish Network better start improving their service.

    Comment by GregM — Mar 30th 2009 @ 11:53 pm

26. After five failed HD boxes and Dish trying to charge for service calls and shipping, I cancelled the service. On the “exit interview” they offered upgrades and rebates on service to stay. We went with ATT Uverse. I was amazed at the difference. They were there on time, did the installation, everything went smoothly. Then in about three weeks we begn to see the pixilating freezing tha we had with DISH. When I called they had a technician come out within hours, trouble shoot the problem and no service charge. It happened three times before they solved the problem. The first time they traded out the gateway, it was fine for a few days. A second visit they traced all of the wiring. Some of the cable had been there from DISH and they replaced it, and they adjusted the settings on the gateway remotely from their tech support. Finally they had me move the dvd player the hd box was sitting on to get it away from any magnets or interference that could be causing it. They solved the problem without fees, without playing the lets turn stuff on and off game, without down time and without making me be my own service tech. And hey, it can be storming outside and I have HD TV! I also have 8 TV’s around te house each on their own Uverse box. I had four with DISH but two of those could ony show what was on the main box it was attached to. DISH has a defective product, inadequate technical support and a higher cost in time and money to do business with them.

    Comment by Vltrnjd — Mar 31st 2009 @ 11:03 am

27. I am in Arkansas. We’ve had ALOT of rain lately, like the last 2 weeks. We are getting locale channels only on one receiver and none at all on the other one. Of course nothing at all has been done to solve this problem. And of course they will credit our account for none of the missed days of programing.

    Comment by kim — May 11th 2009 @ 9:52 pm

28. We called to downsize dish, economy, and they talked us into a free hddvd upgrade from dish 500. They installed the new receiver fine, on time as promised, BUT it quit working after 6 hours. 1 1/2 hours later, and many swear words, being disconnected twice by csr, I demanded to speak to a supervisor, The best the tech rep could do was mail a new receiver in 7days. I demanded the installer be sent out the next morning. Finally after speaking to the supervisor (virginia) the scheduled the rep to return the next morning. 12 years of dish, @ 79.00 per month, and thats the best customer service they can give. Let me know if anyone decides to sue. I’d be happy to join a class action suit.

    Comment by codyor448 — Sep 19th 2009 @ 4:55 pm

29. I am a lead-tech with dish (Mich). If you have a super-dish get rid of it, get a 500 dish. If you have a 522 rec upgrade to 625 rec. Do not get the 622 HD DVR go with the 722 VIP its alittle more but its worth it. dish is also coming out with a 922k HD DVR, with sling box technology. That means that you can control your DVR while on a pc or your blackberry, watching live TV or your recordings. One more thing if you have alot of problems w/ dish like signal problems and such its because the installer did a half ass job. thanks

    Comment by joshua — Oct 17th 2009 @ 8:36 pm

30. We’re on our fourth HD receiver since last year. The first one went out completely, the second one wouldn’t work with the remote control all the time (first they had to send a new remote control even though it was obvious that was not the problem), the third one overheated (fan not working)and crashed after two hours; with this one, just like the second one, the remote control only works sporadically–you can’t get the channel guide, change channels, wind backward and forward etc. You never know when it’s going to work or not, and it only applies to the HD TV in the family room–the old, non HD TV in the bedroom that is connected to the same box works fine all the time. And of course, we have to go through all the same diagnostic crap every time we call. Prior to getting the HD receiver we had no problem at all–anyone have any idea what’s going on? Should we switch to Direct TV? (no cable in our area).

    Comment by bonnie — Oct 23rd 2009 @ 4:01 pm

31. @ Bonnie: Is your HD tv a Flatscreen LCD style? If so then a new remote should have fixed the problem as long as the new remote was put in UHF mode, instead of IR. LCD HD Flatscreen TV’s can cause IR (infra-red) interference making the #1 remote to work sporadically if at all. The solution for this is to send a new remote and place it in UHF mode by inserting the green chip in the bottom that says “1 uhf” not just green with a “1″ on it. Your best bet is to go to the website and do a tech chat with an agent. All of the tech chat agents are advanced tech support agents and that way they can email you screenshots and pictures of how things should be set up to make the remote work with the receiver. I am sorry that you have had so many problems with getting this fixed correctly. The agent that sent you the new remote should have insured that you knew how to correctly set up the new remote to correct the issue.

    Comment by Sympathetic Dish TSR — Nov 7th 2009 @ 11:29 am

32. Thanks for the suggestions–when we first called in the tech had us go through the whole thing of changing the remote to UHF, etc but unfortunately it didn’t fix the problem. I guess we could try again–we now have 2 perfectly good remotes for the same TV. This will sound dumb, but I don’t know if the TV is LCD, probably. It’s a great big Sony flat screen on a swivel mount. We’ve pretty much given up and accepted that we’re going to have to turn the receiver off then back on and then let it reprogram itself every time the remote quits working–2 to 3 times a day. It’s annoying but it’s the only thing that works. I do feel that it’s some sort of interference, like what you suggested, either that or the receiver is overheating or something.

    Comment by Bonnie — Nov 9th 2009 @ 10:49 am

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