DISH Network - avoid them (1 Viewer)

Stan · Oct 5, 2015

They're getting nasty and even with pretty good service from them, I'm considering switching.

I missed my payment by one day a few years ago. They cut off service, but DVR was still accessable, so allowed me to catch up on DVR recordings until the payment cleared.

Had a payment due Saturday, but forgot about it until Monday. Now they're just plain jerks. No access to the DVR, and they zap all your timers for future recordings, all my scheduled shows just vanished. I had to erase every timer and create new ones, major pain in the ***. Had I known what they were doing, would have unplugged the coax cable so they couldn't communicate with the receiver, but no warning at all.

Yes I know it was my fault for not paying on time, but wow, they are so rude. Never had DirectTV, but might be time for a switch. Refuse to go with Comcast/Xfinity because of their "mystery pricing". I'm beginning to understand why so many people are cutting the cord, I may join you soon.

Suzanne.S · Oct 6, 2015

Wow! That's really a shame. We've never had that happen and we've had Dish for over 17 years. Our experience with them has always been great. And I know in that time, that we've been late with payments. They have never cut off our service. Strange.

Mark-P · Oct 6, 2015

This didn't sound right to me. A little searching on the Internet and I found that Dish Network gives you a 10 day grace period to pay your bill for all their commitment plans. However they also have Pay-as-you-go packages with no commitment. For those plans there is no grace period and service is cut if you don't pay to renew service each month. Kind of like a pre-paid debit card, you can't keep charging on it once the money runs out. Why don't you change to a commitment plan so you don't have to worry about getting service cut each month?

Clinton McClure · Oct 6, 2015

I have the same experience as Suzanne. Over the past 20 years, I have occasionally been a day or two late (a couple of times about a month late because of finances) and Dish has never killed our service.

Stan · Oct 6, 2015

Mark-P said:
This didn't sound right to me. A little searching on the Internet and I found that Dish Network gives you a 10 day grace period to pay your bill for all their commitment plans. However they also have Pay-as-you-go packages with no commitment. For those plans there is no grace period and service is cut if you don't pay to renew service each month. Kind of like a pre-paid debit card, you can't keep charging on it once the money runs out. Why don't you change to a commitment plan so you don't have to worry about getting service cut each month?

I'll check into that. Nothing they have ever mentioned to me before, but looks like a better setup. For those who are skeptical, trust me, it happened. I've been with them for about eight years and love the service, but I don't seem to have any kind of grace period if I'm a little late.

It has only happened twice, but like I mentioned, this last time, they cut off everything, DVR basically vanishes.

Not what I want to happen with "The Walking Dead" starting up again in a few days

Aaron Silverman · Oct 7, 2015

Do they not have an automated payment you can set up?

Stan · Oct 7, 2015

Aaron Silverman said:
Do they not have an automated payment you can set up?

That is the obvious solution. My mortgage, insurance and others are automated. I'll have to check and see if they do the same thing. Thanks.

Clinton McClure · Oct 8, 2015

They should. I think I remember seeing an auto draft option on their website every month when I log in to pay my bill.

DaveF · Oct 8, 2015

Or create auto payment from your bank to push to them monthly.

David_B_K · Oct 8, 2015

When I had Dish, I used the auto-payment option. It's how I pay DirecTV now as well.

Jesse Skeen · Oct 8, 2015

Dr Griffin · Oct 9, 2015

Dish is how we do it.

Ron1973 · Oct 13, 2015

Stan said:
They're getting nasty and even with pretty good service from them, I'm considering switching.

I missed my payment by one day a few years ago. They cut off service, but DVR was still accessable, so allowed me to catch up on DVR recordings until the payment cleared.

Had a payment due Saturday, but forgot about it until Monday. Now they're just plain jerks. No access to the DVR, and they zap all your timers for future recordings, all my scheduled shows just vanished. I had to erase every timer and create new ones, major pain in the ***. Had I known what they were doing, would have unplugged the coax cable so they couldn't communicate with the receiver, but no warning at all.

Yes I know it was my fault for not paying on time, but wow, they are so rude. Never had DirectTV, but might be time for a switch. Refuse to go with Comcast/Xfinity because of their "mystery pricing". I'm beginning to understand why so many people are cutting the cord, I may join you soon.

I had them for many years. My receiver went on the "blink" to a point a bunch of channels were literally blacked out and over time, I was losing more. I called their tech service only to get asked stupid questions, "Is it raining?" Rain would not explain channels just disappearing while some stayed. "Is there a tree blocking the line of sight?" See the previous answer! I explained to the tech I had worked for Radio Shack and I knew a bit about things; I told him it was obviously a receiver problem since some channels were still watchable. After probably 15 years of being with them, I was told I would still have to pay a $50 service fee for them to check out the receiver, plus whatever the cost was to fix it. I told them to just cancel my service since it was unwatchable anyway. The service wasn't cancelled and I received a past due notice. When I called them I was told I couldn't tell a tech to turn off the service, but that I had to call customer service. I refused to pay it, and eventually got it removed from my credit report. I've been with Directv for 7 or 8 years and couldn't be happier.

Clinton McClure · Oct 13, 2015

Unless you let them take you for about $9 a month for "insurance", service visits are now $95. Doesn't bother me though. I don't pay the $9 / month insurance (I forget what Dish actually calls it) and have only needed a service visit twice in 20 years.

Ron1973 · Oct 13, 2015

Clinton McClure said:
Unless you let them take you for about $9 a month for "insurance", service visits are now $95. Doesn't bother me though. I don't pay the $9 / month insurance (I forget what Dish actually calls it) and have only needed a service visit twice in 20 years.

I have a $5/mth protection deal with Directv to avoid the situation. I've never had to use it, and I hope I don't. I recently upgraded my receiver and had the best installer imaginable. What should have been a 10 minute job turned out to be at least an hour as he "mounted" the coaxial cable to my outside wall where the original installer had just left it hanging down loose to flop in the wind. He trimmed down excess cable even! I complimented him and asked him why the previous installer hadn't bothered to do it. He explained that since I'm in the middle of the country, it's very hard for anyone to follow up and inspect the work, so they feel they can get by with doing a shoddy job, whereas in town, they run the risk of someone coming behind them. While I may not be crazy about their pricing structure, I'll take service like that any day!

Stan · Oct 13, 2015

I've actually gotten really good service from them, but every once in a while, they really tick me off.

When I first started, I fried three receivers, all replaced with no charge. Overheated in my TV cabinet, only as the last one was failing did I get a message saying it was overheating. Finally just started leaving the glass doors open. I've also got four spare remotes. Had odd issues with them so they were replaced, no charge, but then they started working again, so now have the extras.

They're decent to deal with, but the billing issues almost pushed me over the edge. Keeping them for now, I like their one receiver/two TV setup. Haven't switched to their Hopper, higher end setups and don't want more holes drilled in my roof if I go with DirecTV.

Clinton McClure · Oct 13, 2015

We switched from a ViP622 to a hopper/joey setup and it's nice. Two-room HD using my existing RG6 cable runs so the installer didn't have to run new cable. I figure $95 is reasonable for a service fee since I don't have to have service techs out often. I have spent $190 on service calls (only two service calls) in the past 20 years as opposed to a couple thousand dollars if I had chosen the monthly protection plan.

Stan · Oct 15, 2015

Clinton McClure said:
We switched from a ViP622 to a hopper/joey setup and it's nice. Two-room HD using my existing RG6 cable runs so the installer didn't have to run new cable. I figure $95 is reasonable for a service fee since I don't have to have service techs out often. I have spent $190 on service calls (only two service calls) in the past 20 years as opposed to a couple thousand dollars if I had chosen the monthly protection plan.

I guess I'm lucky, even with the occasional billing issues, I've never paid a penny for repairs or receivers I've killed. Not even on a monthly protection plan. Guess I'm just bitching and moaning over my recent issue, but they're really a pretty good company.

Supposedly #1 on the list for terrible customer service, but they've almost always treated me well.

I started shopping around last summer to lower some of my payments. Give it a try, it works out well. DISH dropped my bill $20, CenturyLink cut their bill in half. Sometimes it pays off to get a little grouchy.

Mike Frezon · Oct 15, 2015

I've told this story more than a few times, but I think it bears repeating.

A few years ago I was looking at cutting as much of my monthly bills as I could. Unable to get my cable company (Time-Warner) to make any substantive cut, I opted to go with Dish Network for much less cost. I did that for two years and hated it (lots of drop-out/reception issues as well as so-so channel selection).

So I decided to return to my cable company and they welcomed me home like a returning veteran. They gave me a super-special rate for two years (for which they even needed proof of my prior satellite bills) and ever since then I have been able to renegotiate my increased price at the end of a year's term of service by speaking with reps at their local stores. Kudos to Time-Warner!

It really pays to find the right avenue to knock heads with the appropriate customer service reps at your provider.

Ron1973 · Oct 15, 2015

Mike Frezon said:
I've told this story more than a few times, but I think it bears repeating.

A few years ago I was looking at cutting as much of my monthly bills as I could. Unable to get my cable company (Time-Warner) to make any substantive cut, I opted to go with Dish Network for much less cost. I did that for two years and hated it (lots of drop-out/reception issues as well as so-so channel selection).

So I decided to return to my cable company and they welcomed me home like a returning veteran. They gave me a super-special rate for two years (for which they even needed proof of my prior satellite bills) and ever since then I have been able to renegotiate my increased price at the end of a year's term of service by speaking with reps at their local stores. Kudos to Time-Warner!

It really pays to find the right avenue to knock heads with the appropriate customer service reps at your provider.

I do the same thing with Directv every year or year and a half. I call and threaten to sign with Dish and they get really anxious! The last time I did it, I got my payment lowered by $40 a month AND upgraded to the next package tier. I had to sign a 2 year contract for that price, but I have no complaints!

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