A letter to Dish Network:
After growing up on cable TV and having cable in my own home for 10 years, my husband decided we should try Dish. We were tired of paying higher prices for the same channels and many of our friends and neighbors have dish service so we thought it HAS to be great. The question quickly became; "Who do we choose, Dish Network or DirectTV? After some research, we decided to go AGAINST all of our friend's recommendations of DirectTV and sign up with Dish Network since DN supports Sirius radio and we have considerable stock in Sirius.
My husband was concerned that the promotion did not offer a free HD receiver so he contacted Dish Network directly and inquired if we had an HD TV, did we have to have an HD receiver as well? The answer was no, that the service would work fine with a regular receiver and that the package included the HD satellites so that at a future time we could add the HD receiver without a problem. An installation appointment was scheduled and my husband cancelled our high-priced cable service.
Installation:
The day of the installation, a man showed up in an unmarked truck, wearing camouflage and no identification and said he was the installer. Against my better judgment, being alone, I let him in. The installation was in December and he walked into and through my house with his shoes on, tracking snow and mud everywhere.
He proceeded to tell me that he had to mount the dish on a pole in front of my living room window since that was the only place he could put it in a clear line of site. I asked him if he could mount it to the house and his response was that he did not have a drill bit with him to drill through the house.
He needed to bring the wires out of an existing basement window. He proceeded to get set up and asked me if I had a flashlight. I did. He then asked me if I had a drill since his was not charged. After going out to the garage and searching through my husband's tools, I came back with a drill. The installer proceeded with his job and I proceeded with mine in my home office.
The next thing I knew, my systems for my job went down and I could not connect. I immediately knew what happened, and at the same time, the installer came back up from the basement and asked me if I needed the cable for Internet Service... I did, and after telling him so, he went back down to fix the cable that he had just cut.
He came back up about an hour later and told me that the Dish was downloading and that it could take up to an hour to do so. He had me sign the agreement, where I could finally see that he was from Cerone TV, about an hour and a half away from my house. He left and I went to pick my daughters up from daycare.
When I came back, my husband was home from work and waiting for the download to complete. Once it did, I quickly realized that the picture quality was VERY poor and I said so. My husband said that he would check our friend's picture out that has DirectTV and see what his looked like. His was crystal clear, thus started the battle with Dish Network.
Customer Service:
Shortly after installation, my husband called customer service and reported the problem. Tech support was on the phone with him for a half an hour going through systems checks before they could send the installation people back to have a look. All systems seemed fine; therefore, we were told it HAD to be an installation issue.
Another appointment was scheduled, and my husband took off work. The same installation company came out, although it was a different tech. He said that the problem we were having was not an installation problem, but that it was Dish Network's compression problem and that the only way he could minimize the crappy picture quality was by minimizing the picture to about 40 inches on our 56-inch TV. NOT ACCEPTABLE.
If I had wanted a 40-inch TV, I would have bought one. He agreed and said that the best option for us would be to call our cable company back and see what good deals they could give us for coming back... Nice brand loyalty on his part. Needless to say, we let him leave and decided to take the issue up with Dish Network directly.
I called in to customer service and explained what had happened and asked if they could send a different company to come out and take a look. I informed them of a company that is FOUR MILES away that handles DN and asked if they could be sent instead. I was told that I'd first have to do ANOTHER systems check before a service could be scheduled.
A half hour later. Still no resolution to the issue, so now we could proceed with setting up another service appointment. An appointment was set up and I was told that they would "try" not so send the company from 90 miles away. I took off from work and waited... And waited... Finally, right before they end of the slot that they could have come in, I received a call... From Cerone TV.
"M'am, this is Cerone TV, we were just out yesterday and did a service on your TV and now we are getting another request for one. We told your husband that this is not an installation problem, that it is Dish Network's quality issue. I am not coming out there to tell you the same thing twice." I told him no, that I did not want him to come out and that we were taking up the issue with DN.
Once again, I called into customer service REPEATED EVERYTHING that had happened from the beginning explaining that the issue needed to be resolved, but that it could not be by the installation company. Once again, I was told that they would "try" to send the other company. I took ANOTHER day off... And waited... And waited... And waited. Nothing. I called customer service; they had no record of having an appointment set up.
Set up another appointment and was assured by a member of the holy "Executive Team" that they would watch and make sure that our appointment was not sent back to Cerone TV. Again, I took a day off, confident that the "Executive Team" would pull through. I mean, that is what makes them "Executives" right? I waited..., waited..., and waited. NOTHING!
Another call to customer service and another "Executive Team member later, an appointment was set up with Dish Network's own service techs. Wow, it takes a lot to get them to come out. And they were only 15 minutes away the whole time!
Dish Network Techs:
Another day off, and finally a body shows up directly from Dish Network. These guys were GREAT! They were prompt and knew what the problem was right away... We did not have an HD receiver to go with our HD TV.
Well, since that was all the issue was, we said okay, hook us up with an HD receiver. We were told that would be extra per month... Fine. We were told that he would have to come back with an HD DVR... Fine. We were told that the new receiver would be $499, but could be $299 with a rebate... WHOA that is a pretty hefty price tag for something that we were told on the phone was not needed for our TV.
We asked the tech if he could hook an HD receiver up so that we could verify that was the issue before we purchased one and were stuck in the Dish Network web even more. That was not a possibility without going through customer service since the service has to be on the account to view the HD.
Back to customer service we went, explaining the situation yet AGAIN, we were told that we had to pay for the unit. There was nothing that could be done to give us a better deal than what was being offered already. Besides, they said, we did not need an HD receiver with an HD TV... Which is it? Since all other attempts for DN to fix the problem failed, I would have to believe that the techs were right and customer service was wrong. Is this a ploy that the customer service members are told to get new customers in?
So, we decided that saving the $5 per month over cable was nothing if we had to look at the distorted face of Regis and Kelly. We wanted to cancel. After four more calls and an "Executive Team" member later, we were told that we would not have to pay the cancellation fee since "we had been through so much". Very generous on the part of Dish Network.
We told them we also wanted our first month payment back since we had had the service for less than one month and had spent so much time, both on the phone and sitting on our asses waiting for people that were never going to come. An "Executive Team" member granted that wish.
We were told that some prepaid boxes would come to ship our parts back in 3-5 business days. We cancelled service on January 10th... Your boxes arrived today... February 1,22 days later, but very well could be considered 3-5 business days by Dish Network's retarded time table.
In the meantime, we are back to Cable since DN scared us off from EVER approaching another satellite again, even though all we here about DirectTV is good. My internet service for my home office has been experiencing problems that have resulted from the genius installer splicing the cable back together.
A call in to DN to see if the fee to have that fixed would be covered since it was there installation company that created the problem resulted in a "No m'am we will not be covering that cost" by a man I had to ask repeat himself three times since he barely spoke English.
We were also told that the installation company did not install a phone jack for the receiver; he just left it hanging there in hopes that it would perhaps find its own way to some abandoned phone jack elsewhere in the house...
Most appalling is the fact that we learned that the installation company DID NOT GROUND the wires. I have a three year old and 7 month old and to find out that they could have been seriously injured because of a company that YOUR company sends into people's homes really infuriates me.
Dish Network is lucky that there has not been any lawsuits as of yet. Because you will have one. I have never, ever, ever felt the need to complain, much less write to an Executive over the customer service or lack there of of a company.
I guess that is why I did not send the installer back on his merry way back into the woods at first glance. Because I am a trusting person and TRUST that people are reputable. I guess when you are dealing with Dish Network, that is not so. Believe me, every person that I know has and will hear this story.
At no point in time did anybody offer anything up to rectify this situation. I am sure that Cerone TV is still one of your installers even after my complaints and their comments themselves about how much Dish Network sucks.
I can deal with the frustration of missed appointments and aggravating phone calls, but when my life or my family's life is in danger from something an incompetent installation company does, I take action. I assure you that the BBB, the Attorney General and your company will be hearing more from my lawyer and me.
I am sure I will not receive a response to this letter as in keeping with the Dish Network customer service you are so proud of. However, just to let you know, I am shipping back your parts today, although I am keeping my complimentary Dish Network Dish for my daughter to use as a sled. I saw one lying on the side of somebody else's yard the other day, perhaps another product of your great service, and thought it was such a waste of good plastic.
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