DISH Network

About six months ago, my son and daughter-in-law discovered they had unauthorized PPV charges (adult movies) on their statement. This had happened several months in a row and weren't noticed because the bill was received and paid electronically (lesson learned -- always check your statement/charges). Anyway, they called DISH customer service and told them they didn't purchase the movies and was told that they HAD to have made the purchases. My dau-in-law told them over and over that the charges were on dates/times that they weren't even home and on one occasion they were even out of town! After going through several customer service reps and their supervisors they finally agreed to remove "some" of the charges but would not give them credit for all of them. DISH reps advised my dau-in-law to set up a code so this could not happen again. Since that time, my dau-in-law has set up a code so that ANY PPV movie purchased would have to have the code entered. Well, now another PPV charge has appeared on her bill and SHE is the only one that knows the code; even my son doesn't know it! So, she called them again, explaining what happened, and they told her that because she had set-up the code she "agreed to not dispute any charges". WHAT?! Needless to say she was very upset. She talked to the reps supervisor and bottom line is they basically called my dau-in-law a liar.

Something MUST be done about all of the unauthorized charges that are appearing on customers' statements. This is wrong! And when you call to complain and/or try to get something straightened out you are treated horribly; nobody deserves to be treated that way...especially when they are purchasing services from the company. Whatever happened to "customer service"?

After spending 6 years with Dish, working with a young company in the early years, forgiving their mistakes that cost me weeks of no service.

Huge upfront costs and a years service upfront to a get a good deal

Paying for service that I went days and days with out because each time the dish was out of alignment, because of wind or weather, I would have to have a "service call" out to realign your signal. In 6 years I had 10 service calls. Thats $1,650.00 just to keep my signal tuned correctly. Now I do not live in a windy place. They chose the roof installation and said it was best for reception. I think it was best for the installers. I am unable to access the roof so I have no choice but to call for service.

Customer service; I have been yelled at, swore at, threatened with instant disconnection of service; after Dish changed the contract terms 2 years after additional equipment was added.

Even though I met the requirements for a "mobile site" and was signed up as one after 4 years of using Dish 2 years later the terms suddenly changed, they wanted a new separate account and the CSR people were pathetic, swore at me and laughed that he could instantly turn me off.

There is no way to positively I.D. the CSR people as they are located at 3 call centers across the country. The names and numbers never seem to match up. Even though the CSR people will swear, no one gets rude or crude. You are at a disadvantage because there is no real way to track them.

As much as I dislike the owner of Direct TV, I have to say if your forced to pick go with Direct TV.

Dish was once a good vibrant company at first but times are getting tough and they are squeezing every dime they can out of every corner they can. Long term customer or new. Expect big promises and good talk till the money is theirs.

Then the good CSR goes out the door along with your investment.

Equipment. These fantastic deals, expect the cheap tuners with limited capability. For the HD models that provides DVR playback with the ability to watch other stations $350.00 to $600.00. Want to get your local stations. Your going to pay extra for a antenna that goes on back of your dish. and a monthly fee for locals.

Want different channels in different rooms, more expensive equipment. A dual LNB, switching equipment that costs more. Each receiver in each room $5.00 to $10.00 extra a month. So all that little stuff adds up too a big bill with a lot lot of things that break.

Expect to pay for a 2 room set up with a DVR and the ability to watch different stations in each room their full package which includes premium movie channels $130.00 a month. WITHOUT High Definition. That Package will cost you more.

No Football.

Soccer and Cricket Cost you more money. Huge amounts but they do have it.

There is also pay per view movies which you will be buying as the premium channels are very slow with new releases, the pay per view selection is poor at best.

What it boils down too. Dish was a vibrant young company in the late 90s. They worked hard to build a company that was dedicated to bringing the subscriber a good product, even though the distribution and dealer network was a mess they tried to live up to their word and real people cared about the business.

Dish TV then hinged everything they had on merging with Direct TV, Ruppert Murdoch's satellite company. In 2003 and it looked like the merger was going through.

The customers were being primed for the new and bigger Dish. They touted the importance of one strong satellite company to provide competition to the cable industry. This would protect all consumers with lower prices and better service for all. When you hear that, it sounds like the HMO's in the 80s

The thing Dish forgot, Murdoch is a lot smarter then the guys at Dish TV and has been eating small fish for dinner a long time.

The deal fell through. Dish yelled at the government, tried to get every customer to fight their battles for them by writing YOUR representatives. They are always asking you to do that for one reason or another.

It was just plan stupid business. Is Murdoch going to get bought out of a expanding market like satellite, heck no. Business 101.

So Dish is hanging on by a thread. Losing more per month then it takes in. Like any struggling company that once was flush and vibrant they have elected to take a crude route and put a screw into everything that they can get a dime out of you. A promise You will feel that empty pocket feeling and that every dime has been charged for every screw they use to install your cabling. No kidding.

So by all means check carefully before you put forth a lot of money for what cable provides for much cheaper and more reliable. I am very sorry for my mistakes but willing to share them to prevent others from falling for the "new old dish".