Dish Network sucks. I've been ocnsidering firing them for a few months. Your experience may push me over that proverbial edge and cause me to do something. The b*st*rds.

I have been a cable customer for over 20 years and I got sick and tired of the rate increases every 6 months. I decided to give satellite TV a shot. What a mistake I made. I am stuck in a 18 month contract ($225 penalty to break a contract) and am paying $85 a month for basically just about 40 channels because the rest NEVER EVER freaking work. I get signal one day and then for the next two seeks I can not get any satellite signal. They have sent their installers to my house twice, charged by $95 each time (for their damn problem) and the damn thing works for 1 week and it breaks again.

So basically I am stuck with crappy service, paying $85 a month for the next one year to watch not even 40 channels. Their service sucks. Their customer service sucks even worse, 45 minute holds to get some tech who can't even read the script they are supposed to read (and yes, they are Americans). It is a total waste of time to call them and you always end up having to pay $95 each time they send someone over to your house because the idiots on the phone can’t fix your problem.

And to make things worse, I am only saving $5 a month after I get done paying the extra for the local channels, extra box, and not having a land phone line(yes, they charge an extra $5 for that).

Dish Network SUCKS but I am a bigger sucker for being stuck with them.

Here Lies DISH VICTIM #346792

Yep. They nailed me too. Bought right into it, hook, line and sinker.

People considering Dish, This is laid out step by step, of what you’re getting into, no matter what they promise you.

The scam goes like this.

Pretty full page glossy color insert in your standard Sunday Paper. GET DISH NOW $19.99 A MONTH. NOT A PROMOTIONAL OFFER--EVERYDAY LOW PRICE
FREE INSTALLATION

Called the 800. Well it’s $85 dollars, but you get $50 back, as a rebate, taken off your first few bills. $19.99 monthly after that. Not bad. Directly paid them over the phone, through my account. And scheduled the installation..

Pretty cheap. How can they do that? Well they don’t really care about the equipment after all. They will give you $50 just to get their gear to your house. I assumed the remaining $35 goes to the contractor who came to my house to make my roof look like an aircraft carrier.

They are not in the hardware business. They are in the service business. Like a cell phone. My cell was $80 but I got a rebate, that actually came, for $50. That means I paid eventually $30 for the phone. Verizon wants to keep you as a customer for the SERVICE. America, gotta love it. We’ll give you the plate, heck, just eat our meals off it. For 18 months. Sign a contract. No big deal.

Well here’s my first bill. $46 dollars, not $19.99 And obviously no rebate form. Understand from my prospective, I’ve had dish for two weeks, and I’ll have given them 85 and 46. - already out $131 dollars. In my rural area, with my basic package, that’s what I was paying for three months of basic cable.

Well I just got off the phone with them, the first time I was on hold, for a manager, but eventually they just disconnected me. Called a second time, at least this guy spoke English. Here’s the cold hard facts, as relayed by this second associate.

The “rebate” ? , Well they simply added a $50 charge to the bill as a “connection fee” , then they “credit” you. ….so there you have it, no rebate. OHH but ya got one, see?

The $46 new charge? Well, you pay “two months in advance”, according to them. However, in the same sentence the rep adds I will be receiving another bill in 30 days. Something that was never fully explained to me, because on the planet I live on, we use the solar movement of the sun to calculate days. Iv’e kinda noticed that for the last 42 years. hence, two months payment pays for 60 days, not 30.

Is it possible the $46 dollars IS for this month and next month? Then it probably IS 19.99 times two, with a little tax. But nobody acknowledges that. And I haven’t submitted the mysterious “rebate form”. Are they being nice and crediting me in advance? Then why are they billing me next month? More than likely, it’s option two , that they’ ripping me off. Plus I discovered they took the liberty of having direct billing withdrawal out of my account without my authorization. Had that stopped. Allegedly.

And I’m supposed to pay $19.99 a month after I get this “form”, which actually is handled by a mysterious “ third pary”. Whenever I eventually get the form, send it back, I can expect “eight to twelve weeks before I see that on my bill.” And the $19.99 monthly fee will then only apply “ for ten months”. After that, the bill is somewhere between $29.99 and $46.00. I still have no idea. I’m bound by a 18 month contract, so basically they can charge me whatever they want. They already are now.

So yeah $19.99 is the “everyday low price” uh....for a limited time, if it ever gets off the ground at all. I call that a promotional offer. Personally I expect to have “every days” after 10 months. Maybe they are telling the truth, and in 10 months, the receiver will explode, and kill me at that time. At least then they would be telling the truth, whereas $19.99 would then, have been my “everyday low price”. Although they will undoubtably still bill me. My son read this and says if that happens, he will personally mount the dish to my tombstone. A dead testament to the unyielding grip of the dish network.

The only other explaination I see, is that possibly they are being truthful, and they are charging me $19.99 per day, hence $19.99 really would be my "everyday price" .

By placing the figure at the bottom of the bill, it would, indeed, be a "low price". Wonder if that's what they mean. It certainly doesn't mean "$19.99 a month. And no matter what lip service they give you as an explaination, the installation was not free when I paid 85 dollars for it.

I already did the math, the “$10 a month rebate for 10 months” ,is actually my own $100 I was robbed in the first place. If I actually see it at all. And in the end, I paid the exact same amount I was paying for cable. But most likely. I'll be paying more.

Don’t let this scam happen to you. What they say and what you get are two different things. Then they link your account and auto-withdrawl at will. Google "dish network sucks" and see for youself. I wish I had two weeks ago.

DISH VICTIM #346792

Never, ever get DISH Network. If you have them, don't use DISH Pause. They told me they would notify me when the service was going to be re-started. They didn't and I my credit card got charged. They will not refund. They just want your money. I have talked to about 5+ reps, they keep on telling me "yes, we will refund", but they don't. Stay away from DISH!