Dishnetwork
Ripoff fraudulent billing

I decided to look at Dish network under their 30 day money back guarantee offer. To receive the 30 day guarantee I had to agree to the eighteen month agreement option. I scheduled an installation within 5 days of placing the order.

The third day after ordering I noticed my bank account had been drawn upon in the amount of 49.99, mentally noting that I had not yet received any installation of equipment.

After ten (10) days I decided that I was not satisfied with Dish network, only three chanels of interest and lost signal due to rain 5 of the ten days, so I called to cancel.

When I was able to reach a representative I was told that my agreement was not covered by the 30 day money back guarantee. I of course argued in a respectful and calm voice and read a copy of the agreement to the person on the other end of the line. This person continued to disagree and told me I would be responsible for a rediculous charge for canceling my service prior to the 18 month agreement.

I once again read the terms of the guarantee to this person, this time slower and more pronounced, but received the same reply. After reading the agreement to her a third time she put me on hold for 5 minutes, I assumed she was talking to a supervisor. When she returned she wanted to know why I was dissatisfied and wanted to convince me to try a different package. I said "no, I want to cancel according to the guarantee that is sitting on the desk in front of me".

Finally I thought the problem was solved when she told me that everything was taken care of and I would be reimbursed for any payments made when I returned the equipment. A box for returning the equipment would be sent to me through UPS, as soon as the equipment was received my money would be put back in my account. When she asked what day I wanted to discontinue service I said today is fine with me, my service ended within the hour.

The following week I received the box through UPS with a list of equipment to pack and return. I put everything in the box as directed and immediately drove it to the UPS store to send back. The tracking number afforded me the ability to see that the package was received and signed for within 3 days of shipping it.

All that was left was for my bank account to be credited with the refunded money that Dish had taken from it, so I thought. More than a month later, August 28th to be precise, my bank account came up short $99.18. The wonder of on line account access showed me immediately that it was deducted by Dishnetwork.

I called the Dish network phone number and received the auto directory which doesn't tell how to talk to a person. However, I was able to obtain information as to what the charge was for. The recorded message told me that my service had been interupted for non payment for service, my last payment of $99.18 was received on August 28th but I still had a balance of $6.18. Then the message went on to say that Dish charges 2 months in advance for the first bill, then monthly after that.

This was starting to really upset me since I didn't have service to interupt to begin with, and I never authorized them to take the money from my account.
Through desperation and anger I hit the'0' button on my phone and was surprised it actually did transfer me to a real person. I asked why my account had been accessed in the amount of $99.18 and was told that they charge for non returned equipment. I explained that the equipment had been returned per instructions sent by Dishnetwork along with the box for UPS, and the charges were described as service for 2 months, not as nonreturned equipment charges.

Again with the put on hold as she checked her computer and then told that she didn't see where the equipment had been returned. After some back and forth conversation she finally discovered that the equipment had been returned and received as I said. She apologized and said that the money would be refunded in 2 to 5 business days.

When I asked how they managed to take money that they were not authorized to take she went back to telling me that I authorized them to take it if the equipment wasn't returned, per my original agreement. I just hung up frustrated and angry.

Finally, I live on social security which means a tight budget, I cannot absorb this type of surprise to my account. So now I have to worry about my rent being short while I wait to see if the money will be back in time because a company like Dishnetwork cannot manage their records except when it states "amount due", even if it's wrong. Then they can take money from someones account without authorization or notification to that individual.

Raymond
Harborcreek, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

Company: Dishnetwork
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Palatine
Address: Dept 0063
Phone: 8003333474

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