My boyfriend and I were given a Dish Network satellite dish, receiver, cables and installation hardware as a Christmas gift in 1999. Excited, we promptly installed the equipment and signed up for service under his name.
About 5 months later, the receiver developed problems, and my boyfriend called Dish Network to inquire about repair or replacement. He called several times over the space of a few months and each time was told "It's not our problem". No effort was made by anyone he dealt with to guide him to a solution.
Eventually we just cancelled the service and lived without television for about 8 months (we live up in the hills and options are limited). I need my Sex And The City, however, so we decided to sign up again, this time using my name since I would be paying the bill. Since we needed a new receiver, we signed up for a deal where they "loan" you the equipment and you return it if you cancel the service. As we owned the installed dish and LMBF cables, the only new equipment they gave us was the receiver. Things went along fairly well for awhile when the new receiver went on the fritz. They replaced it with a new high-end model which had Tivo-like functions. Several months later, after various unpleasant run-ins with their customer service reps, culminating with a very snotty refusal to waive a "programming downgrade" fee (you have to pay them NOT to get programming), I decided I had had enough, called DirectTV and signed right up.
The following day I called Dish Network and cancelled my service, excited to be seeing the back of them. I paid the final bill and thought "good riddance to bad rubbish". Imagine my horror when I received another bill from them a month later!
I called them and it turned out that while there was a record of my cancellation, nobody had actually done anything about it. The service rep assured me they would get it done and that I owed nothing.
A few days later a box arrived, which we were to use to pack up all the "loaner" equipment in and return it to Dish Network (under threat of credit card charges for unreturned equipment). Keep in mind that the only loaner equipment we had in our contract was the expensive receiver.
The list in the box however, included LMBF cables, so I had my boyfriend call Dish Network and explain that we owned the cables, and the rep assured him that this was fine, had a supervisor sign off on it and told him that all we were responsible for was the receiver. So we packed it up and sent it off. Tonight I check my credit card account online and imagine my shock to see a $39.95 charge from our friends at Dish Network! I'm starting to feel like I have a stalker... I never know when and where they will pop up next! So I'm a bit furious and I call Dish Network.
Although I will freely admit I was irate and not fun to deal with, I was not abusive, using foul language, or personally attacking the reps. So I end up dealing with this supervisor named Christian who eventually agrees to reverse the charges but starts yelling (I do mean yelling, this is not an exaggeration) at me about how he's getting a little pissed off himself because HE'S DOING ME A FAVOR and I'm not grateful enough.
So at this point my head is about to explode and I ask how he's doing me a favor to not charge me for something they never sent me, and he tells me he can't help me if I'm going to be so rude and HANGS UP ON ME.
So I call back and get a different supervisor who has a serious problem understanding the basic situation regarding our ownership of the LMBF cables, and who also argues with me, accuses me of trying to steal from them, and says she can't reverse the charges even though another employee, whose name and operator number I provided, had told us there would BE NO CHARGE.
She says I have to talk to the original retailer where the cables and equipment were purchased, and yells at me some more about how I'm not listening to her. The fact that I returned a $300 receiver and would have no godly reason to keep a $39.95 bunch of useless cords doesn't seem to cross her mind. Eventually she puts me on hold.
At this point I am almost crying with suppressed rage. A new person comes on the line, and I swear he must be new there because he was actually pleasant and told me that everything would be taken care of and the charges reversed. I really don't have any faith that this will happen, but hope springs eternal. Moral of this story... Don't EVER. Ever. Ever. Use Dish Network. They are cruel, abusive, hostile, incompetent, and quite frankly, INSANE! DirectTV rocks and is cheaper anyway!
Emily
los gatos, California
U.S.A.
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