We signed on for Dish Network in November 2009. We have been very happy with the service until today. We received the most recent bill and it was 150 percent higher than the previous bills. Incidentally, the fee we have been paying since November was exactly what the sales representative told us it would be and he promised my husband that what our bill would be for the first twelve months. My husband spent over an hour and a half on the phone with various representatives and supervisors, even being disconnected (perhaps hung up on?) twice. They now say that the sales representative that sold us the package had no right to make the promises he did and "you know you are under a twenty four month contract". Absolutely horrible customer service. Next step the state Attorney General, Better Business Bureau, Consumer Protection Agency, etc., etc.

After paying 50 a month for wildblue "satilite" from dishnet work started fine (better than dial up ..aka "wow")1 + years later i need faster speed ..suggested go tom our "platinum package"...80$ a month..i did..this si supose to be the max(ps now my bill is up to 200$ a month, yes as in two hundred!guess what it started fast at first now after only 3 weeks..pathetically slow...after email...my reponse is"sorry we cant gaurantee speeds at particular peak times?..hell it 2 am right now and the speed still sucks(unless there is a whole bunch of nite folks...left email or phone...no reply...but of coarse...i want NO OUT SOURCED NON USA READING OFF SCRIPTS EITHER...possibily that 99.9% of work force...com on dish when did you turn so nasty?

unable to get my concerns or complaints to anyone in management. See my letter below:
2/19/10


To; Dish Network

Re; Service/Bill Misunderstanding for 1271 Paseo Azul Way, Corona, CA 92879


To Whom it may concern;

I have been in contact with your customer service dept twice in the last week in regards to my service which has been disconnected for an amount of $72.00 for non payment since Dec 1st. However, my understanding is, based on my conversation with your representative back in November was that credits would be applied to my account each month so no payment would need to be received until March. In addition, he also threw in 3 more months of FREE programming which was due to end in March as well (two weeks from now) .

So, you can imagine my frustration when in addition to the cancellation of my service, I’m now told that in order for programming to be restored or in order to speak with a decision-maker or someone in management, the payment of $72.00 would need to be paid first, then they can talk to me about applying more credits to my account.

Please understand, I am NOT interested in getting more credits!!! All I want is to pay for what I am getting and what we has been agreed to.

On several occasions since March of last year, programming and billing has not been talking to each other with regards to my account. Going back to last year, Dish Network was automatically taking payments directly from my account in excess of $80 per month, when in actuality, I was only supposed to be billed no more than $36.00. My monthly payments are only suppose to be $36.00 per month as my regular programming is only $24.00, I have two boxes for $5.00 each and then taxes. At any rate, it’s under $40.00.

So after speaking with supervisors etc, they said they would NOT refund my money but would credit my account in addition to throwing in an additional 3 months of free programming (HBO etc) which they did.

However, it appears that none of this has been reflected in my bill. All I can gather from speaking with your reps, is that credits have been applied, in fact, I’m told “this past month of $52.00 worth of credits” but he says that my monthly bill is $80 something….ERRRRR…. how can it be $80+ when my entire goal for the past year and half was to cut my expenses down to as little as I can. As I am pretty much unemployed and have been for the last year, television is not a necessity and when money is so scarce, you can’t be paying for all the excess.

This should all be indicated in the notes as I made sure that the rep took ample notes reflecting our discussions. After discussing this again with the rep I spoke with today, all he would tell me was that he can’t do anything until I pay $72 as they haven’t received any payment since Dec 1. Well, of course! My monthly bill is only $36.00, so where is the discrepancy?

Am I speaking with robots because no one seems to be able to help me make any sense of any of this. This is not brain surgery. If credits are being applied, “as much as $52.00 this month alone, why am I in arrears $72.00??? The billing should be cut and dry. My monthly bill is ___. Credits in the amount of ____ have been applied to your account and you will not have another payment until _____. Very simple.

It seems to me that Dish Network has used the three months of “promotional” channels as a tool to just increase the monthly payment without me, the customer’s knowledge. For the past year, before the three months promotions is up, I have called to cancel it to make sure that I don’t get charged and they’ve assured me that it will be discontinued on __ date. Obviously, to have a monthly bill as high as $80plus, it must be because they are charging for those promotional channels. However, I can’t get any straight answer.

I’m told that no one will speak with me until my payment is current. I have no problem paying my monthly payment of $36.00 but where are they getting $80+ per month? I don’t intend to pay more than I owe, and to not even have anyone acknowledge what has been previously discussed and agreed to, which should have been located in the notes, if ample notes were taken is more than frustrating.
Of course, I’m sure the notes said that I was upset, which I still am, because I feel that I shouldn’t have to keep going thru this time and time again. It seems like the same thing over and over again. I don’t want to pay upfront a bunch of money only to have credits applied later…what is the point? Where is the confusion? I never intended to pay for the additional channels so if this is the problem area, don’t give me any of those pay channels—promotional or otherwise, because it doesn’t seem promotional---I believe they are charging me.

In addition, in January, I was aware that some channels I was getting, ie., two Hallmark Channels, were no longer accessible to me. I have a one year commitment I believe, as last year they gave me some premium channels for one cent as long as I stayed with Dish Network. I’m unclear as to what channels those were they definitely were premium channels that I did pay for…for 1 cent.

I am asking for your assistance here as I would like this matter resolved as soon as possible. I do not have a problem with cancelling the service if that’s the answer, but I do not intend to make any more payments that are not accurate until someone can see where the problem has arisen and see about a solution. I thought the billing situation had already been handled as recently as December with the credits being applied each month and the additional FREE programs for three months. Come March, I would owe my regular amount of the $36.00 without the additional free programs. Obviously, this is not what is happening or what gives?

Please let me know if I can get some assistance here in regards to at least explaining what has happened. I do not look forward to fighting this thru collections, small claims etc. I would just like some professional and courteous assistance pertaining to my account. I’m told that other people at work has a similar situation with Dish which is why they went to Direct TV and ATT cable. I hoping this isn’t the way Dish does business on a regular basis.

Like I said, as of Dec., when I spoke with your supervisor and customer service rep to make sure everything we had discussed was noted and to verify that no payment was indeed needed to be made til March, I was satisfied. But it appears that all those discussions never were recorded or communicated to anyone in billing.

Thank you for your attention to this matter. I appreciate your time and consideration in contacting me to discuss this and hopefully we can resolve this amicably.

Again, many thanks.

Two months ago I ordered Dish Network. I get a good picture but the sound is extremly bad... I can hear background sounds (cars, planes, etc...) but not the actors when they talk. I followed all the instructions that Dish Network customer services had me do... nothing worked. They replaced the receiver... that did not work. I was told to replace my connecting cables (at a cost of $70.00 to me for all the cables to try all the different configurations) and still no improvement. When I called Dish Network and asked to have my account waived and the equipment removed, I am told I will have to pay $300.00 for early termination... of a service I never got!!! Now I have to take MORE time off from work to wait for a Tech. to show to see if they can fix the problem. So I assume that IF the Tech. can fix this problem, that if any additional problems accure down the road, to expect to go through two months of the same BS?! I did go online this morning and told Dish Network that I gave them "Two thumbs up for quality customer screwing". DO NOT GET DISH NETWORK... IT IS A SCAM!!!

These guys will steal every penny from you they can, They will lie and cheat, and they definately prey upon the less educated. They try to lock you into long term contracts without telling you. It happens every single day. They teach these guys to be vague with you when having you sign contracts. The CSR lies to you to get you signed up and then the installer tells you sign here. Then you are stuck for 2-3 years with ridiculuos cancellation fees. Tell everyone you know to avoid these scam artists. If you would like to complain to the head of the legal dept. Here you go: [email protected]