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ModemGhost · 03-17-2007, 10:20 PM

Of course, like any other company, I'm sure there are lots of people out there who had a great experience with Dish. Personally, my experience was terrible. I thought I'd share, to get opinions, and to give my two cents to anyone else who is thinking about getting Dish. My post is rather long, but I think it's worth hearing someone's full experience for people who are considering signing up.

Part One: The Signup

I originally decided to go with Dish over DirecTV because of Dish's larger HD lineup. I purchased a nice Samsung LN-S4095D 1080p LCD about a month ago, and was eager to see as much HD on it as possible. I was a little put off by Dish's higher price, but decided it was worth it.

So when I signed up, I tried to negotiate with them just a little bit. I was putting a pretty big investment in, and all I wanted was for them to waive the $50 activation fee without forcing me to sign a contract. The person on the phone was a real jerk about it. (I mean, if you don't want to negotiate, that's fine. But don't be a dick!) So I told him I would weigh my options, and get back to them. At this point, I was less than impressed, and had decided I was more likely to go with DirecTV. My parents have had DirecTV for about 15 years, and have never had a single problem.

Well, about 20 minutes after I got off the phone with the jerk from Dish, my phone rang. It was a "supervisor" from Dish's sign-up department. He said he saw that I started to go through the sign-up process, then changed my mind. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to get me to sign up. So I explained the situation. He actually was a bigger jerk about it than the first guy! He explained in a very snotty voice about how they need to make money, and blah blah blah. So I told him that I was going to call DirecTV, and to have a nice night. At that point, he finally agreed to waive the sign-up fee. So I figured I didn't have much to lose with no sign-up fee and no commitment, so I signed up. America's top 250 package with HD, and a ViP 211 receiver.

Part Two: The Install

The day before they were coming to install the equipment, I realized that I didn't know whether they provided an HDMI cable or not. So I called Dish again, and asked them. The person I talked to said that they provdied a component cable, but not an HDMI. I decided that was acceptable, even though I would eventually buy an HDMI cable myself.

They installed my equipment on Thursday. The installer seemed like a nice enough guy, and did a good job with the dish and cabling. But when he hooked up the receiver, he did it with crappy RCA cables. I told him that I was told I would get component cables. He said that they never give anything but RCA cables. So someone in this situation was lying. But he told me it was ok, because the RCA cables would give me an HD signal anyway. (

) I basically told him he was wrong, but he did the whole, "Whatever, I'm a tech guy and you're just a stupid customer," thing. So I just decided it wasn't worth the argument, and that I would go buy an HDMI cable after he left. The point is that I never got a chance to see a good quality signal before he left.

Part Three: Picture Quality

So I got my HDMI cable, and spent a few days watching TV. The HD channels look great. Not as good as OTA channels, of course, but pretty nice. However, the SD channels look like total garbage! The colors are washed out, the picture is all blotchy, and there is more motion blur than anyone could possibly stand. Now, I know SD signals don't always look great on a HD set, but I previously had SD cable, and it looked amazing. So this was obviously a problem with the Dish hardware.

I did some research, and from what I've read, it sounds like some of the Dish receivers do a god-awful job of upscaling SD signals. Previously, my cable was in SD, and my TV was doing the upscaling. Since I have a pretty nice TV, the SD looked nice. So don't try to tell me that the problem is with my TV, because I've seen SD signals look stunning on this very screen.

I called Dish to see if they had any suggestions for me. They completely blew off all of my questions, and said they would just send a tech to take a look. I figured if they wanted to put in that expense, it was fine with me.

Part Four: The Tech Guy

Tonight, out of the blue, I got a call from the tech who was supposed to come tomorrow. It happened to be the same guy who had done my installation. He called me on my cell phone at 9pm while I was at a restaurant. He wanted to discuss my problem, to see if he really needed to come to my house. I asked if he could just call me back tomorrow morning, as I was at dinner at the moment. He said he was really busy in the morning (like I'm not busy now?) and that ...sigh... he would just come to my house, and that ...sigh... if it turned out to be nothing, it wasn't ...sigh... that big of a deal. I said, fine, let's talk, but make it quick. I stepped out of the room so I could talk to him.

The conversation went for about 10 minutes, but it can be summed up in one sentence. Tech: "I don't want to have to drive all the way back to your house, and there's nothing I'm going to be able to do about your problem anyway, and that basically your choices are to either live with it or cancel your service."

At this point, I was rather stunned. This was the fourth Dish representative I had dealt with who was very rude. This is not the way to treat a brand-new customer! So at this point, I had had enough. I figure I'm not hooked with a commitment period, so I will just give it a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, and see how things go. Maybe I can handle the lower quality signal. Or maybe they'll push a software update for this receiver. Who knows?

So I ask the tech what I need to do to cancel the service call (because I honestly don't want this guy working on my stuff anymore, since he's proven himself to be less than knowledgeable, and rude as well). He said, "No, don't do anything. If you cancel the call, I won't get paid for it. We'll just pretend that I came to your house, so I can get paid. It can be our little way of 'sticking it' to Dish."

If you aren't at least a little bit shocked, please go back and read that paragraph again. This sort of crap is one of the reasons why your satellite bill is so high.

That was the last straw for me. I've had it. This company has spent a full week pissing me off, and I'm done. So I decide to cancel my service.

Part Five: The Cancellation

I called Dish Network again. After bouncing around voice prompt hell for a while, I just pick a random option, since cancellation isn't one of the options they give. That operator transferred me to the correct department. Unbelievably, the cancellation was the only part of my whole experience that went well:

Me: "I'd like to cancel my service."
Op: "I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask why?"
Me: brief version of the story
Op: expresses shock at the tech guy story, offers 3 free months
Me: "No thanks, I'd just like to cancel, please."
Op: "No problem. I understand. I see you're not on a contract, so this shouldn't be a problem. And since you've had our service for less than a week, you shouldn't get billed at all. If you do receive a bill, here is my operator ID. Call back, and we'll make sure you don't get charged anything. You'll also receive a box with prepaid postage to send back the receiver, remote, and LNBs from the dish. Is there anything else I can do for you today?"
Me, in amazement: "Yeah, you can find a way to make all the other people and departments in your company as polite and helpful as you!"

(To Dan, operator ID U1L at Dish - you're awesome.)

Conclusion

You can take from my story what you will. Honestly, in the end, I didn't lose anything but time and a little sanity, so it's probably just not a big deal.

And there are lots of different ways this whole thing could have gone if I had stuck with it. Maybe the poor SD picture quality could've been fixed. Maybe it's just something I will have to deal with no matter what provider I choose. But the experience as a whole was more than enough to make me happy I decided to cancel.

I'm sure some of you have had Dish for years, and have been extremely happy. I could've been one of those people, too. Hey, Dish Network, I could've paid you $80 per month for years to come! But I had nothing but problems, and no one in your organization was willing to help me out. (Until I was ready to cancel!)

Yes, I realize my experience with Dish was limited, being only about a week and a half from start to finish. But I feel that if a company is willing to treat a brand-new customer this poorly, I would be frightened to see how they treat someone who's already tied to them.

"Hello, DirecTV? I'm interested in signing up for your service..."

Thanks for listening, everyone.

03-17-2007, 10:20 PM	#1
ModemGhost I've got my propaganda... Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Duluth, MN Posts: 24	My horrible Dish Network experience Of course, like any other company, I'm sure there are lots of people out there who had a great experience with Dish. Personally, my experience was terrible. I thought I'd share, to get opinions, and to give my two cents to anyone else who is thinking about getting Dish. My post is rather long, but I think it's worth hearing someone's full experience for people who are considering signing up. Part One: The Signup I originally decided to go with Dish over DirecTV because of Dish's larger HD lineup. I purchased a nice Samsung LN-S4095D 1080p LCD about a month ago, and was eager to see as much HD on it as possible. I was a little put off by Dish's higher price, but decided it was worth it. So when I signed up, I tried to negotiate with them just a little bit. I was putting a pretty big investment in, and all I wanted was for them to waive the $50 activation fee without forcing me to sign a contract. The person on the phone was a real jerk about it. (I mean, if you don't want to negotiate, that's fine. But don't be a dick!) So I told him I would weigh my options, and get back to them. At this point, I was less than impressed, and had decided I was more likely to go with DirecTV. My parents have had DirecTV for about 15 years, and have never had a single problem. Well, about 20 minutes after I got off the phone with the jerk from Dish, my phone rang. It was a "supervisor" from Dish's sign-up department. He said he saw that I started to go through the sign-up process, then changed my mind. He wanted to know if there was anything he could do to get me to sign up. So I explained the situation. He actually was a bigger jerk about it than the first guy! He explained in a very snotty voice about how they need to make money, and blah blah blah. So I told him that I was going to call DirecTV, and to have a nice night. At that point, he finally agreed to waive the sign-up fee. So I figured I didn't have much to lose with no sign-up fee and no commitment, so I signed up. America's top 250 package with HD, and a ViP 211 receiver. Part Two: The Install The day before they were coming to install the equipment, I realized that I didn't know whether they provided an HDMI cable or not. So I called Dish again, and asked them. The person I talked to said that they provdied a component cable, but not an HDMI. I decided that was acceptable, even though I would eventually buy an HDMI cable myself. They installed my equipment on Thursday. The installer seemed like a nice enough guy, and did a good job with the dish and cabling. But when he hooked up the receiver, he did it with crappy RCA cables. I told him that I was told I would get component cables. He said that they never give anything but RCA cables. So someone in this situation was lying. But he told me it was ok, because the RCA cables would give me an HD signal anyway. ( ) I basically told him he was wrong, but he did the whole, "Whatever, I'm a tech guy and you're just a stupid customer," thing. So I just decided it wasn't worth the argument, and that I would go buy an HDMI cable after he left. The point is that I never got a chance to see a good quality signal before he left. Part Three: Picture Quality So I got my HDMI cable, and spent a few days watching TV. The HD channels look great. Not as good as OTA channels, of course, but pretty nice. However, the SD channels look like total garbage! The colors are washed out, the picture is all blotchy, and there is more motion blur than anyone could possibly stand. Now, I know SD signals don't always look great on a HD set, but I previously had SD cable, and it looked amazing. So this was obviously a problem with the Dish hardware. I did some research, and from what I've read, it sounds like some of the Dish receivers do a god-awful job of upscaling SD signals. Previously, my cable was in SD, and my TV was doing the upscaling. Since I have a pretty nice TV, the SD looked nice. So don't try to tell me that the problem is with my TV, because I've seen SD signals look stunning on this very screen. I called Dish to see if they had any suggestions for me. They completely blew off all of my questions, and said they would just send a tech to take a look. I figured if they wanted to put in that expense, it was fine with me. Part Four: The Tech Guy Tonight, out of the blue, I got a call from the tech who was supposed to come tomorrow. It happened to be the same guy who had done my installation. He called me on my cell phone at 9pm while I was at a restaurant. He wanted to discuss my problem, to see if he really needed to come to my house. I asked if he could just call me back tomorrow morning, as I was at dinner at the moment. He said he was really busy in the morning (like I'm not busy now?) and that ...sigh... he would just come to my house, and that ...sigh... if it turned out to be nothing, it wasn't ...sigh... that big of a deal. I said, fine, let's talk, but make it quick. I stepped out of the room so I could talk to him. The conversation went for about 10 minutes, but it can be summed up in one sentence. Tech: "I don't want to have to drive all the way back to your house, and there's nothing I'm going to be able to do about your problem anyway, and that basically your choices are to either live with it or cancel your service." At this point, I was rather stunned. This was the fourth Dish representative I had dealt with who was very rude. This is not the way to treat a brand-new customer! So at this point, I had had enough. I figure I'm not hooked with a commitment period, so I will just give it a few weeks, maybe a couple of months, and see how things go. Maybe I can handle the lower quality signal. Or maybe they'll push a software update for this receiver. Who knows? So I ask the tech what I need to do to cancel the service call (because I honestly don't want this guy working on my stuff anymore, since he's proven himself to be less than knowledgeable, and rude as well). He said, "No, don't do anything. If you cancel the call, I won't get paid for it. We'll just pretend that I came to your house, so I can get paid. It can be our little way of 'sticking it' to Dish." If you aren't at least a little bit shocked, please go back and read that paragraph again. This sort of crap is one of the reasons why your satellite bill is so high. That was the last straw for me. I've had it. This company has spent a full week pissing me off, and I'm done. So I decide to cancel my service. Part Five: The Cancellation I called Dish Network again. After bouncing around voice prompt hell for a while, I just pick a random option, since cancellation isn't one of the options they give. That operator transferred me to the correct department. Unbelievably, the cancellation was the only part of my whole experience that went well: Me: "I'd like to cancel my service." Op: "I'm sorry to hear that, may I ask why?" Me: brief version of the story Op: expresses shock at the tech guy story, offers 3 free months Me: "No thanks, I'd just like to cancel, please." Op: "No problem. I understand. I see you're not on a contract, so this shouldn't be a problem. And since you've had our service for less than a week, you shouldn't get billed at all. If you do receive a bill, here is my operator ID. Call back, and we'll make sure you don't get charged anything. You'll also receive a box with prepaid postage to send back the receiver, remote, and LNBs from the dish. Is there anything else I can do for you today?" Me, in amazement: "Yeah, you can find a way to make all the other people and departments in your company as polite and helpful as you!" (To Dan, operator ID U1L at Dish - you're awesome.) Conclusion You can take from my story what you will. Honestly, in the end, I didn't lose anything but time and a little sanity, so it's probably just not a big deal. And there are lots of different ways this whole thing could have gone if I had stuck with it. Maybe the poor SD picture quality could've been fixed. Maybe it's just something I will have to deal with no matter what provider I choose. But the experience as a whole was more than enough to make me happy I decided to cancel. I'm sure some of you have had Dish for years, and have been extremely happy. I could've been one of those people, too. Hey, Dish Network, I could've paid you $80 per month for years to come! But I had nothing but problems, and no one in your organization was willing to help me out. (Until I was ready to cancel!) Yes, I realize my experience with Dish was limited, being only about a week and a half from start to finish. But I feel that if a company is willing to treat a brand-new customer this poorly, I would be frightened to see how they treat someone who's already tied to them. "Hello, DirecTV? I'm interested in signing up for your service..." Thanks for listening, everyone.