I have had many problems with Dish Network since signing up with them in January of 07. The Installation Tech had come out 3 times before the installation was complete (causing 3 missed days at work). Then when I signed the papers he gave me, I was not informed that I was signing an 18 month contract with a hefty cancellation fee, as well as permission to access my bank account at any time for any amount. I typically do not sign up for automatic deductions from my account.

The first thing that went wrong was I was late on my bill - they disconnected me and I was charged $180.00 cancellation fee. I was pretty surprised, and I got it straightened out. Dish Net got paid and everyone was happy, except me due to the overdraft fees on my account.

The next time we had a problem, I had been in the hospital and could not pay all of my bill (I had an outstanding balance of $12.00). The service had already been disconnected, and I called to make payment arrangements (which were accepted) The day before I was due to make that payment and restore my service, they took $120.00 cancellation fee out of my $50.00 bank account, overdrawing it again, and costing me more money in fees. I covered it the next day, and figured it was a small price to pay to be rid of Dish Net (there had been several service issues) but then they hit me for $400.00 more in equipment fees (apparently to avoid them you have to call specifically to ask for boxes). Which in the two hours I spent on the phone with them two days prior when they charged me the cancellation fee, no one told me about the equipment fee. My bad, though, it was in those papers I signed, somewhere in there.

They got me signed back up, refunded the money they took, and for I believe it was $49.00 got it turned back on. They did not give credit for all the overdraft fees I incurred when they took those fees out. I had to take care of all that without so much as an apology. What I didn't know is they recorded it as if I signed back up for another 18 month contract. I hopefully got that handled today when I found out. I never signed anything of the sort, and I will not be bound by it.

Now, the problem has been loss of service. I've been paying the bill on time and the service has been out about 50% of the time since before Christmas. I called today again, because it had been out for over 2 days. It does this all the time. Around Christmas it was out for a week! I called to try to get a credit on my account for the time that it's been without service. They don't believe me because I didn't call every time my service went out. I don't have time to be on the phone for an hour running tests that I've already run myself every two days. I have a family and a job and a very busy life. There is a screen in the system which tells how long it's been without service, but they can't go by that information, only by when I've called. So, they don't want to credit my account even though this has taken so much of my time, and been such an inconvenience, and I've only received half of the service I am expected to pay for.

Not to mention - the problem is their equipment is faulty and they are going to charge me at least $99.00 to come fix their switch. Although each time I have called, they've tried to explain it as something with the weather, the hook-up, something that has nothing to do with the faulty switch that is actually causing the problem.

What can I do? If I try to leave them, they'll hit my bank account so hard I'll never forget it!