How to handle this situation...? Long
 

Three months ago I signed up for Dish Network. I told the woman I dealt with that all I really wanted was to see SF Giants games on CSN-BA. She said that would be included with my local channels. Well, I went to look for it...not there, so I call. Now I'm told I need to buy the sports package so I tried to add that...no, can't do that unless you upgrade your programming to a premium package...another ten or so bucks. Ok, so now what I'm told would cost me $40 is now adding up to $81 with all the fees. Ok, I say..you got lied to..deal with it and watch the Giants...well...that won't work either because Dish decides when/if to broadcast them or switch to some other stuff. I'm totally pissed off.

Today I finally called and told the "Loyalty Rep" the whole story and how much I was lied to. Dish, BTW, demands they have your CC for monthly bill pay. I told them I want OUT bc the lied. She says OK, but that will cost you $450 !! I hang up saying talk to you later. Called my Visa rep to cancell the auto pay....can't do it..not allowed to. I could change CC number but then Dish will surely ding my credit. I really don't care but it would ding wife's credit too so now she gets pissed.

I can let them charge the 450 and then protest the charge w/Visa but Dish will still ding my credit.

I call Clark Hoard team...so sorry...we can't help either.

So, all I know to do is call Dish and try to negotiate but from what seems a very weak position. Companies like this should not be able to lie so blatantly and get away with it...yeah, I know welcome to life.

Any one ever have success in a similar situation or have any "ammo" for me. That $450 is a Lot of money to me

I cancelled Dish. Financially you'd be best off, if you have a contract, is to ride it out then cancel at first opportunity. I read somewhere that Dish just bought out, or is about to, some other sateliite outfit for like $1B or some such thing, IIRC.

My experience is that Dish does not negotiate.

Thanks, I was thinking of getting Dish for my RV and house.

Reduce your service to the lowest possible monthly dollar amount then take them to small claims court.

Let them do the ROI on whether or not it's worth it for them to show up.

I actually liked Dish until they raised their fees annually. Just out of principle and because they priced themselves out of my range I gave then the heave-ho. Plus, I didn't watch it enough. Went to over the air networks for local broadcasts mostly.

If your pricepoint is more flexible than mine, I'd still recommend Dish.

I have never signed up for dish but my parents did just so my mom could follow tennis. Same situation took place.
I spent more time dealing with the garbage as my mom was just not able to figure out why with all the money she spent she could not see the tennis and players she wanted.
It took me 2 months of calling almost daily to get some resolution. Also she used a local install person who I could go to and stress the gravity of the situation.
Finally my parents were released from their contract with out penalty. I think the local installer took a hit but honestly he was the root of the problem.

Become a thorn in their ass. Use your SO if need be ( my wife is always able to get discounts or out of contracts where I am told, tough! )

Good luck and I feel your pain

I had a similar situation with Dish - 6 months into a 2 year contract, they stopped carrying MSG, which carries all of the Sabres Hockey games, due to a contract dispute with the provider.

I was able to get them to cancel the remainder of the contract by simply being polite, but firm and escalating. If the person you are talking to can't waive the cancellation fee, ask to talk to a supervisor. And press on as necessary.

If you can make the argument that you signed up under the expectation that all games may be available, and now they are not, you may be able to convince someone to waive the fee.

And remember - these people deal with a-holes all day. It is impressive how far you can get my simply being polite and understanding that it isn't the fault of the person you are speaking with - they just are obeying the rules sent down from on high.

All tv/cable/satelite companies re the same....they all suck.

When I first moved out to BFE we got DirecTv and on my second bill there were 14 porno's on it. My husband was deployed to the Middle East and it was just 7 months pregnant me and my 3 y/o. I called them and the lady told me if I " was going to order adult movies I need to be responsible and pay for them". I even explained that we just moved, I can't blame it on my husband because hes out of the country and that neither my fat @$$, nor my 3 y/o had any interest in porn at the moment. I ended up asking to be transferred so i could cancle and that rep got rid of all the charges..

I've never had anything go seemlessly with a cable company.

"....at the moment"....:D :D

FTR: I have never ordered a porn ;)

...it was more to emphasize that if I were going to, it certainly wouldnt be right now..or 14 in a few days :)

Cancel your credit card, let them send it to collections, then dispute it with the collection agency. At least then it will show on your credit rating as "client disputes account" or similar. Then sue them for defamation of character. Seriously. That's what I'd do. If it goes to court the judge will tell them to leave you alone and remove the collection activity.

This-and remind them that there calls are recorded, or should be if they have any doubt as to the initial conversations.

I ditched Dish. $80/mo for 200 channels I didn't care to watch. They made it difficult and never refunded my last mo. payment. Crooks. I now have an HD antenna for local broadcast networks and Hulu for everything else. Savings $74/month

I also ditched my Verizon land line. It was my DSL and home phone for 10 years and often had poor service issues. We had a windstorm and they said it would be two weeks before service could come out. I called cable service and had new cable DSL up in 3 hrs. Thanks Verizon for the prompt response but I no longer need your services.:rolleyes: Verizon called the next day and said miraculously they could be here tomorrow to get my service back up. No thanks, made other arrangements. :)
Savings $30/month

Next, ditch Verizon Cel service for Virgin Mobile with no contract. Savings $40/mo

I have decided that teaser deals up front with long term service contracts are simply a license to gang rape you.

Kobayashi Maru, Dog.

As a life-long Giants fan I feel your pain.

You did two things wrong before the games even began: Signed up without a trial period or having the contract sent to you for review (which they will do, including available channels and packages) and believed that an automatic CC payment was a real requirement - it never is.

So, change the rules.

Cancel the CC number, whatever. NYPorsche is quite correct: Call Dish back and inform them of that. But also tell them you want to make it right, you are willing to work with them.

Make it their problem: Ask them how do you get your beloved Giants at the lowest cost so Dish makes money and you get to watch your guys?

Make it personal. It works. Make sure you let them know that it was a misunderstanding, that the person taking your order didn't lie, but was in error.

Now, they are going to tell you the packages are sacrosanct, that the Giants only exist with the basic offering plus whatever sports offering required.

That may be, but the PRICE is negotiable.

Keep raising the bar, politely, until you either get satisfaction or eat the credit ding.

That is about it, Doc.

My favorite Giant in the 70's was Chris Edward Speier.

Dish is misunderestimating the number of alternatives available to TV viewers. Bottom line is the bottom line. Know where yours is and be willing to walk away from Dish.

It will ding your credit.

That said if your credit is otherwise spotless I wouldnt worry about it- anyone evaluating it will see that isolated incident as a "customer service" dispute and write it off. In a few years it won't matter.

Report the card stolen- that will cause a whole new acct #. Dish is screwed then.

I much prefer DirecTV over Dish........................really no comparison but still costs some. Funny thing is for both these providers (as well as a lot of other media providers) is their business model is all about new customers. Less value is placed on keeping them.

One ploy my wife and I 'partake' in with DTV is that she will sign-up for new account with DTV only if they give her the best possible deal. It takes some patience to get the rep to actually cave-in and then commit to price structure including all relevant taxes, etc.

Most of the screaming deals occur for a limited time such as first 6 mos. Some can be used in conjunction with others. She only commits for 1 year. when the end of the year arrives and our bill is moving upwards, she cancels. I call a day later to sign up for DTV service, asking for the best possible deal. They have a guy come out and install new equipment and off we go for another year. Lather, rinse, repeat.

We have done this 6 years in a row. DTV astoundingly enough, never puts 1+1 together that this all is the same address, same last name.

Mark, I'd try paul's suggestion and if it doesn't pan out, report your card stolen as AsphaltG suggested...

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1366136678.jpg

will only pay for their media service, or anyone else's again unless they enact ala cart pricing or pay for what you use/watch

just bill me for the TV I watch, when I watch it-

should be a law that if you have rights to the infrastructure, the cable line to the house and in that you have a monopoly; you should be bound to some rules around pricing

They all suck. Dump em and get a roku or Apple TV unit and watch 100% on demand, what you want, when you want, no commercials, no contracts, no idiotic programming on 200 worthless channels and no stupidity.

I cut the cord a while ago and don't miss it one bit. For MLB I think there's a streaming service you can get directly from them.

1st Who is the team the Giants you speak of???


2nd Dish is aweful I believe we are black listed from ever using them again . We are stuck with direct TV as we are in the middle of no where and still have sat internet too.

In your area you should talk to Don Adams. He represents both Dish and Direct TV. He is a nice guy and probably can help you out.

Hi neighbor... I don't know of him...is he an installer or ?

Neighbor indeed! He runs a satellite installation company. Nice guy.

How much is a disputed collection going to ding your credit?

If I didn't want to take Seahawk's advice I would ask them for the recordings of the previous calls. If they say they don't have them ask them for their retention policy. If they can't give it to you then they don't have one and that means that if they are recording with no retention policy they may be on the hook for retaining the recordings forever.

Generally speaking - Sarbanes-Oxley is a far reaching act and if a company has a policy that isn't enforced then they don't have a policy. If they don't have a policy then they are usually on the hook for whatever it is.

I would start sending off emails to Executive management asking for help. They can't hold you to a contract that doesn't give you what you agreed to. Did you read the contract or was it presented to you verbally over the phone and recorded?

Most of the time with Cable/Sat companies the contracts are handled over the phone and recorded. So, someone told you something that wasn't correct and now you can't get what you agreed to pay ~$40 for. You didn't agree to pay more than that for it and if you're right then the recordings should show that.

So call back in, ask them who CAN help you if they can't and explain to them as Seahawk said. Don't ask for a supervisor, ask who can help you. If they don't know then ask them for a supervisor. Ask the if they can help you sort it out because you're not getting what you expected, you're unhappy and while you're unhappy their customer base is at risk. It's not a threat, it's a fact. You're unhappy, you're going to tell far more people that you are unhappy than you would tell if you were happy.

Finally, if you're honestly not getting any results from communicating with them then I would most certainly either cancel the card or simply take them to small claims court. I am not certain of this but what you may need to get the recordings is to do a discovery. You may consider sending a letter requesting a copy of the recordings so that you can review what was told to you and what you agreed to because it doesn't jive with what you're getting. Failing that simply take them to small claims court and start out asking for the amount of the contract termination or ask for the cost of repairing your credit if they ding it for breaking the contract (that they have already broken technically).

Also you can try this:

How To Launch An Executive Email Carpet Bomb

Mikester,
Great reply...thanks... I'll do just what you suggest. I didn't call them back yet because, frankly, I'm still a bit weak from my week in the hospital but I'll get on it in a day or so...great advice, pard..

Very good advice.

You are dealing with a call center though. Likely hired, ie, not a part of Dish. They are set up and designed to be insulated from any ability to make a decision or even escalate. When you ask to be transferred up the chain and they tell you they can't it's usually because they really can't. Their system is not tied into the company that hired them and they do not, by design, have access to the numbers/people that can really help you.

All public companies are required by law to provide public contact info. They will do their best to hide it. Just check yahoo financial or edgars and look up the company profile.

The guy you want is the Customer/Consumer Relations guy. You'll get his/her admin but that's enough to get the ball rolling.

First of all, ALL call centers digitally record every call and keep them for many years so they can prove you enrolled or agreed to whatever. Demand to speak to a supervisor. Tell them you want them to make the recording of the call available to you. They won't want to let you hear the call but they can review it (it takes just a few minutes to find and pull the call). If they won't let you out of the contract, ask for their supervisor and with each person saying "no" ask for their supervisor. Eventually you will get to escalation. Never let them say they will call you back. If the supervisor is not available, "I'll hold". Make yourself enough of a pest and they will realize you aren't going to go away and try to come up with a resolution.

If they refuse to budge, call your credit card company and tell them you want to dispute a charge as fraud. Insist on filing an official complaint on the merchant due to fraudulent promises of service. The credit card company will do an investigation. If Dish tries to ding your credit you have proof that you are in a dispute and you are able to add your side to the credit report so you can include what happened and it will wash out the ding if you have good credit otherwise.

illegitimi non carborundum