DISH Network Reviews

The entire experience has been unpleasant, and when my 2-year contract is up, I’m going to cancel, and will advise all my friends, and family not to ever sign up for Dish Network because they are a rip-off. I am very dissatisfied with this service, and they will never ever have to worry about me again.

5. Besides the equipment, you also have to plug in their components that taped into the telephone lines (other companies do not) and if you remove them, you will be charged $5 more per month.

When I cancelled the subscription within 30 days on 2/9/2010. They told me that they would charge the cancellation fee because the written contract did not offer the grace period. I protested but they went ahead and charged $286.82 - the cancellation fee to my credit card even if I did not approve it. I called Dish Network to stop doing that, but they charged my credit card anyway. Initially when I spoke to Dish Network sales person, he asked me to read my credit card number to verify if I have a good credit. I did not know they use this information to charge the cancellation fee to my credit card.

Right now they collect $286.82 from my credit card. What bother me is the big company, Dish Network lures new customers into signing long term contract by lying to new customers, then when new customers cancel the subscription because of the bad product and service, they charge the customer anyway they can using their written contract.

I also had problems with installation and was told two completely different stories by two different installers. I am still angry that they drilled new holes into my wall and floor instead of using the old installation routes used by the previous 2 services. The installer even admitted to me that he hated going into the attic, so he made up an excuse for having to drill new holes and mount an ugly pole in my yard instead of using the roof mount already there.

Dish TV is sneaky and underhanded. Do not trust what they tell you! To sum it up, I have new holes in my walls and floors and I am going to pay an additional $186 for the 24-mo. contract above the price that was quoted to me.

I wanted to talk to the supervisor, and again, I was put on hold for 20 minutes and call-dropped. I called again and told the CSR that I want to talk to a supervisor. She told me that she can refund me the balance of my programming fee but cannot waive the shipping and handling fee. When I insisted on talking to the supervisor, she put me on hold for like 30-40 minutes. Then the supervisor came on line and told me the same thing. I gave like 50 zip codes to the CSR, but she kept on telling that they don't have any drop-off place in any of those zip codes.

Now, I have checked from web that they will send me two boxes, and I will have to return LNBs as well which I cannot get from the top of my roof as I don't have any ladder. And the great news is that I have to pay $15.00 per box and there would be two boxes.

The customer service from DISH Network is totally pathetic, and after staying with them for 5 years, I have to pay $30.00 and dismount the equipment as well. When I get a new account, I have more than 200 dealers around me who can come and install dish in 30 minutes, but there is no place where I can drop the equipment.

When I finally called them some months later, I was treated with disdain, had one of the representatives hang up on me, they did not have any sympathy for the fact that I had been paying over $75.00 for a service I had not used in months. I was not tied to any contract since I have had the services for a long time. I was never offered any credit for all the months I paid and not had the service, I was not treated with respect and consideration. As a customer, they just made you feel like I was not worth their time.

As a consequence I decided to cancel the services because I felt I was paying for something that was not only pricy but also under-performing as far as equipment is concerned. Have they tried to give me some credit for all the months paid, I might have considered the option. Conclusion: I ended up paying over $450.00 due to my inability to have to deal with customer service for hours to have their equipment functioning properly. So frustrating. Moral of the story: Dealing with them will probably result in wasting your time and money, guaranteed.

I went over the individual charges and the first was a charge that was optional but put on my bill because they thought it should be there, a service plan! Then the second charge is for a second TV connection. I was asked if I had a second TV at the installation time, I said no, and I would never have another TV. The installer even asked to check the house! Yet, the company is charging me for it!

The response from the representative was, "We always put in equipment with two connectors and you pay for it!" I responded, "Well, since your installer misrepresented the information and you are charging me for something I did not want and do not use, this is fraud on your part and theft of my money!" The representative said, "Well it's been on your bill so you have to pay it!" instead of saying "sorry, we will remove something you did not request and are not and will not be using!"

So yet again, another company is scamming a customer, trying to make a customer pay for unnecessary and unwanted equipment and committing fraud by putting into the bill a service plan not requested or needed! The representative very hesitantly said the service plan charged would be removed from my bill but again said since the TV2 Receiver Connection charge has been on my bill, it will stay there! The arrogant attitude is despicable.

A consumer should receive the respect of being told the truth, not be subjected to misrepresentation and then charged monthly for their thieving tactics! Would they stand by and let a consumer steal services, steal their equipment or not pay for services? But it's okay by them to do it to the consumer!

When I was in business, I was loyal, compassionate and I bent over backwards to serve my customers and was blessed with a lifelong successful business. Whatever happened to serving the customer with the thought of not wanting to lose them? The economic consequence of this is I will not be able to enjoy my TV and that is my one form of enjoyment being alone and disabled. The fraudulent charges will cause excessive expense and I will have to cancel the service, and why should I have to do that because a company is greedy and without regard for honesty. They owe me for almost a year of overcharges and I want reimbursement asap.

After finding someone I thought could help me, that person transferred me to an "Executive Resolution" team member, who was not willing to help me at all. I asked, “Why aren't you helping me, when the person that transferred me to you said you could help?”. The Executive Resolution team member stated, “He just transferred you to me because he didn't want to talk to you anymore(!)". I finally reached a Executive Resolution team supervisor (Raymond) who would not say he would honor the rates that were given to me when I signed up, but that he would listen to the tape of my order with Dish's third party sales group, 4digitaltv.com to see what was said.

Tonight, I called in to stop my service, and get a refund of the $122.94 in charges Dish charged my credit card.

After being once again hung-up on and talking to several other customer service people, I finally ended up talking to another "Executive Resolution" team member. I simply asked for 3 things. After all that I had gone through, could I stop the contract, get the charges credited back on my card, and to cancel the service in 3 days so I at least have another service ready when Dish service stops.

This member would not agree to giving me back a full refund, and shut off my service immediately, so tonight, I have no TV service at all now. It's been a nightmare. Like I said, please avoid this company at all costs! I have no idea if I'm going to get any of my $122.94 back, and I have no TV service now, because Marisela shut down my service as we spoke with no regard to my access to news, weather information in case of bad weather, etc.! Unbelievable.

On Monday, Verizon told me they do not work with Dish, so of course I called back the number in which I called in the first place and canceled. I was not going to get it installed until Tuesday anyways, but Dish had no record of who took my money and all they (Dish) could do was stop the hold on my $25 which has not happened. We called in vain and no one wants to give me my refund, in fact I was told that I could not get a refund, it was non-refundable.

When we found the resource that took my money (bank records), I never received the service and $50 is a lot of money these days for me just to write off so I'm going to complain to everyone that will listen because I'm mad as hell. Plus I was lied to and told by a Dish representative that they never told me that Verizon was affiliated, which was not true because I and my husband talked to them to verify this, we were both on the phone with the representative at the time. I want my refund and the hold off of my $25.

Now I'm told by the bank that they have to investigate after the money is processed through. It's not okay to lie to the consumer to get you to buy the product, then say it's non refundable. Also they record calls, but conveniently after they convince you to buy. I was told after the deal was made that the call was now going to be recorded (after the promises of package deals with Verizon) but I didn't catch on, I didn't even think anything of it. The last thing on my mind was that they were going to lie to me, I thought Dish was a respectable business so I thought nothing of it that they made all the promises to my husband and myself.

Then they told me as I was about to give them the credit card info that they started taping the call. You see after we called the (right) number for the refund (thanks to bank records) because Dish couldn't tell us who was taking the $50 out, the lady told us that the supervisor would listen to the taping and get back to us. The light bulb went off, now I see what they did. They lied and it's not right.

Although one of their customer service representatives told me the same thing during an online chat, when I actually called in to address the wrong receiver, I was basically told I was stuck with it.

Not only that, they were now billing me for DVR service which I specifically told them I did not want. They were also charging me twice the rental fee I was quoted for a second receiver. In addition, they are now charging me an extra $5 a month for not having a phone line connected to the second receiver (both receivers are connected and both self-test fine to the phone line connection).

Their explanation was that they no longer waive that fee unless you give them a credit card number or auto pay (I told them there’s no way would I give them access to any of my accounts after the scam they had already perpetrated). I ended up having to pay $65 ($50 for an "upgrade" and $15 shipping) to get the correct receiver. This is a very brief synopsis, but the unauthorized upgrade and 2 year renewal started prior to February 1, which was the start of a whole host of new charges they failed to tell me about.

I have no intention of allowing them to rape me and will fight them as long as it takes to resolve this to my satisfaction. Whatever you do, don't subscribe to Dish and if they already have you, leave them as soon as you can! BTW, if I wanted out of the contract because of their breach of our agreement, it would cost me roughly $400.

The Dish representative, Paul, never discussed setting up auto payments. I promptly called Dish, and spoke to another rep who removed my credit card from auto payments. Installation occurred on Sunday, Feb 21st, and all went well. However, when I received my first bill, I saw I was being charged the $7 additional receiver charge, that I was promised I would not receive. I called Dish again to have the charge removed, and was told by the rep that he could not remove that standard charge.

I was transferred to a supervisor, who hung up (or we got "disconnected"). I then sent an email, completely explaining all issues, and supplied them with the line item charges I was promised I would receive. A couple of days later I received a "form letter" email explaining the changes in their pricing.

I emailed back asking if they actually read my email, and that if they don't remove the $7 monthly charge, I will file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I received a call today from a Dish rep who apologized for the situation, but said she will offer removing the charge for 12 months, but the charge will reappear for the last 12 months of the contract. It was either agree or not get any credit for the first year. Dish Network's rep who signed me up used unethical tactics to entice me to signup with him, and Dish will not make it right. As Dish is going to remove the charge for the first 12 months, my damages will probably be $84.

I didn't see the credit on my February 2010 bill and was told by CSR the system got confused because I was issued the $13 credit for the upgrade refund, and I should receive the promotional credit on my next bill. I not only didn't receive the credit from February 2010, but my March 2010 bill was even higher. I was told my contract stated if service was interrupted for non pay, the promotion was void. I reminded the CSR rep that service was not interrupted for non pay and the account showed a payment received every month to date. The confusion was surrounding the upgrade cancellation.

After confirming the facts the CSR agreed and elected to elevate my account to a specialist to reinstate promotion. Executive Specialist stated they could not guarantee I would receive credits nor that I the promotion would be reinstated. I explained this should be considered breech of contract since my original agreement was started under the promotion and they were not honoring the agreement/contract.

They maintained their position and I requested to terminate service. I was told I would be charged an early termination fee and that the contract states this. I asked how they could honor one part of contract but dismiss the other. The rep stated policy again and I terminated service. In searching the web for rights as a consumer, I've learned there are thousands nationwide like me who have been misled and violated by Dish. An investigation must be conducted. I was assessed an early termination fee unjustifiably which threatens to ruin my credit if not paid.

Uninterested in stirring the next before moving in, we agreed and ordered service from Dish. Recently, their service has been awful. Box doesn't work, mix up with bills and payments leading to discontinuing service. That's been dealt with however, when I made an effort to contact SB's corporate office to get more information about those pre-existing agreements, I was told that our building manager, to whom I was speaking, was not allowed to give me that number. I'm hoping for some clarification on this.

I asked them why and they told me it was because I had cancelled my service. I said, "I'm not cancelling. I'm ending our agreement." They didn't want to hear it. Why must I pay them so that they can get their stuff back? What about the time it's going to take me to disconnect it, package it, take it to the UPS site, the gas to get there? Seriously, I do not understand this. I have lived up to my end of the contract and they want to get me one more time!

I am finally fed up with them. I took a half day and fixed it without their worthless help. I was without a total of four days. You take care of your technicians, and give me credit for the stress given to me. I had to go out to someone else's home because their capacity of guides did not work. I feel very offended. How can I had fixed it. Something is wrong and is not me.

Since we had our bills automatically charged to our credit card, we requested a revised bill to have our credit card company revise the amount charged to our card. Dish supplied a revised bill. We sent a copy to our credit card company. After that, I made 3 calls to Dish to ensure the issue was resolved. Each time, I was told it was taken care of and my account was current. Today, I turned on my TV to find my service suspended. When I called Dish, they told me it was due to the $23 from 3 months ago.

This $23 was never included on a subsequent bill including the bill due in a few weeks. It was not charged to my credit card company who automatically paid my bills on time. Bear in mind, I never received the channels associated with $23 after the promotional period. Dish wants me to pay the $23 to restore my service even though on multiple occasions, their customer service reps assured me my account was paid in-full and my current bill isn't due for another week, a bill I downloaded from their website.

Dish claims there is nothing they can do even though it was their fault. They can't refund the $23 because once a charge enters their system, they claim, it can't be removed unless paid by the customer. So, in summary, Dish is charging for services they never provided. They have suspended my service until they receive this money, even though I paid all of my bills in full and on-time. And they never provided notice of service suspension. Finally, when I offered to pay the fee over the phone via credit card, they said that was not a valid form of payment. If I was someone who never paid my bills on-time, I could understand this treatment, but this is not the case. I never had this problem with DirecTV. Even though this is their fault and they are not providing the services I paid for, they will not terminate my contract without me paying the early termination fee.

I called again asking for the discount. They give to other new clients since we were now paying more than Dish Network new customers. I was told basically tough luck it is for new customers only and if anyone tells you they are getting the service, we have cheaper than we get it for they are not telling the truth or they are omitting add on charges. Okay? So I asked again why I am paying of the receivers and am told I cannot get programming through the receivers without paying.

I am paying $62.99 a month for programming. So I ask the rep, whom I did not get the name of, how much do others pay who do not own their equipment? He tells me the same as I do. I ask him why would I pay for my equipment then and he tells me he cannot tell me why I made the choices I made 8 years ago. So I ask to speak to his supervisor who tells me that when I bought our equipment, Dish did not have a rental plan and we had to buy the equip. That is not true! We were told the equipment would pay for itself after 3 years. Wow did we get took!

Last fall on Aug, we received coupons in the mail for free movies. All we had to do was put the title of the movie on the coupon and mail it back in. I do not remember getting credit for the movie although Dish says I did. We also received a letter thanking us for being a good customer and giving us $10.00 off for a year. I thought how nice. Then I find out about the receiver charge which is now $7.00 a month per receiver. Friday I called to cancel our service and wad told we have a 24 month contract because we accepted the $10.00 a month off our bill offer. I do not remember anything about a contract. I would not have accepted this had I known since we are planning to move and because we have had Dish for 8 years and never needed a contract before. I feel really cheated! Now I must pay $170.00 to get out of the contract. What kind of business is this?

Can Dish really uphold a contract where it allows them to jam any increase on you and you can't cancel without penalty? She suggested we could reduce programming but I asked her if they offered any pro-rated reduction of channels to maintain our bill, like an 'ala carte' and of course she said 'no'. Plus they threaten fees for 'downsizing' programming. This sounds like someone should do a class action to get refunds for everyone as Dish plays shell games with their prices and package names!

About the time I got finished speaking to these **'s and threatening to sue them in court for trying to charge me a cancellation fee of $420 and the $100, they simply couldn't just give me a DVR for the $100. Instead they gave me a hard time and didn't want to honor their representative's mistake. As I tried to explain to them, it was not my fault and I was not going to pay them the money. Unfortunately, our phone number is in my sister's name and I wouldn't want to cause her to be charged this money, so I phoned them back and was finally able to speak to a representative.

One rep. was able to see the mistake, and in fact, I believe that he was the person I originally spoken to and he was agreeing with me until I said that he told me it would be one hundred dollars. Then all of as sudden, he wasn't the person that I had originally spoken with on Feb 26th, yeah, right. I told them that I wanted to cancel and utilize my rights under Michigan's 3 business day cancellation and utilize my protection under Michigan Consumer Protection Act of 1977, but they still maintained that I was responsible for the all of the charges because I signed the contract. I was worried at this time but I didn't feel defeated.

Fortunately for me, I came upon a site for complaints and further down in the person's long complaint, he listed a number from the Chief Executive Office, which I did dial, but got another employee in this division. It literally changed my life and I am so happy! I spoke to the gentleman in a calm manner even though it was hard to contain myself. I had been given the runaround to the 3rd degree and became very agitated from the whole ordeal. These people were not meeting me, not even half way. For a moment I felt thoroughly harassed. They were making it seem that they were invincible, but they weren't at all. Thanks to this number, so call today (from actual statement made by the individual whereby I found this number ) I finally spoke to Renee and she told me that I had been misled in all the information that I was given up till I spoke with her.

After speaking to my rep who was male and his name is Jorge **, I maintained the truth that I was misinformed by their representative and I should not have had to pay their price, and because of being misinformed, all of my charges were dropped! Praise God, because I felt **. I tell you, I will think three times before I do business with another satellite company and I will definitely get the basic service and will not sign a contract ever in my life again. I was in a living hell.

I had just signed up today, Feb 27, 201,0 and canceled the same night.It was crazy! I am still very upset. I had to take my blood pressure because I got an acute headache that was hurting me very badly. The poor treatment by every Dish Network employee was totally unacceptable and it was all so unnecessary and poor business practices. Signing up with Dish Network was a mistake! All these people did were to make my blood pressure high, raised my heart beat (rapid heartbeat), made my head hurt, triggered painful symptoms of Fibromyalgia and Lupus all because they didn't have the common decency to honor their representative's mistake. I truly feel sorry for those who do not get the justice for whatever they are trying to achieve when dealing with these frauds.

When I called and mentioned the Better Business Bureau, I was immediately transferred to the "Executive Office." After listening to my complaints, the woman became very rude and intimidating. She said, "I see you paid your bill online with Credit Card XYZ." I asked her why that mattered, and she replied, "Oh, no reason."

I became concerned and called XYZ. I asked them hypothetically what would be the outcome of a dispute with Dish Network. I read them the terms in the contract: "...if prior to the end of your term commitment, your service is disconnected for any reason, you agree to pay, and we will automatically charge, a cancellation fee to your "Qualifying Card." "Qualifying Card" ...you authorize Dish Network to charge, with respect to all cancellation fee(s) and un-returned equipment charge(s) that you owe under this Agreement to the credit card or debit/check card that you initially provided to Dish Network (the "Qualifying Card")...

Credit Card XYZ told me Dish Network files all card numbers, and 99.9% of the time, they are successful in winning disputes. It was also said that if you use a friend/relative's card one month, they are also at risk, and that whichever card they find with enough credit on it to cover what they "want," that's the one they use. I asked how this could be. I use a card to make a one-time online payment, and Dish is allowed to keep the number to use as they please? Isn't that an unauthorized charge if it isn't the "Qualifying Card"?

Credit Card XYZ gave no reasonable explanation, except to say Dish has been getting away with this for a very long time. What really peeves me off is the fact I could have paid a one-time fee of $45 and not given them my card. Now, I get to see if a card turns up with a charge of $350.

I guess this Corporate Personhood has a very large family--somewhere along the line of Credit Card Companies and Dish Network are inbred relation. I just don't get it.

I was furious! If I could not afford to pay full price after the first 12 months, I would not have signed up to begin with. It's not that I can't afford it... the problem is that they are not sticking to the original agreement. Would an airline be allowed to change the price of an airline ticket in mid air? So, I hung up on the girl who could not speak English clearly and went to my bank to close my account. I have sent an email to Dish customer service to let them know what was going on. I told them if and when they fix this, I would pay my future premiums by check not auto withdraw. If they don't, I will cancel service and by no means will I pay any fees for early disconnection. I feel they are in breech of contract. You know if I had ever been late with a payment I would not have had any service. I keep up my end of our agreement and I expect them to hold up theirs. Changing the rules mid stream does not work for me! I will keep you posted on any further developments that transpire.

Now in January they began trying to bill us for almost $400 for the DVR, saying we hadn't returned it. Well of course we hadn't, we bought it upfront. My husband called Dish to get this worked out, spoke with a woman who said she would get a copy of our contract. Unfortunately we could not find ours after 7 years and said she would get back with us, but that it would take a few weeks. This was a few weeks ago. So what happens next? They've turned us over to a collection agency for something we bought! We didn't lease it, we didn't rent it...we bought it.

Not only did we purchase it as part of the deal when we started our service. it's now seriously obsolete, they don't even use that type of DVR any longer. Honestly that's irrelevant. We own the DVR. We have not heard back from Dish Network regarding the contract in any fashion, they simply turned us over. We feel this is an attempt to bully us out of money we don't even owe them. So now, we are receiving harassing phone calls from a collection agency who insists the money now! This is extortion, we do not owe this money, yet they are trying to bully us to pay it! They have not provided us with a copy of the contract either.

They offered to schedule it on the next day for a fee of $90.00. I declined and asked for simple exchange of existing box to be delivered to my home and I would hook it up myself so no technician help is required. Still, the answer was it cannot be done on the same day. The next day was offered for a fee of $15.00, though.

By this time I was so upset as a long time customer, I declined the offer and canceled my service from Dish Network. The reason for my outrage is the fact that they require that you rent the box and pay a fee every month. I have been paying the fee long enough to have bought the box probably 10 times over. Why could they not just send someone to my house with a new box? What is so difficult about that?

I have called the "customer no service" number again today to try and get a physical address for the local Dish Network office nearest my home. I was thinking maybe I can go over and take the box and exchange myself. Can you believe they did not have that information? I was told to look in the yellow pages. I did, and there are over 20 different 1-800 phone numbers listed, but no physical street addresses. Do you think maybe they don't want their customers to find them? Maybe because their company is so unhelpful to long time customers who have spent over $100 per month for 10 years. Do the math: ($100 x 12= $1,200 x 10 years = $12,000). I will no longer be using Dish Network!

At the beginning of February, I called to see what was going on with the refund check, thinking that I had given them plenty of time to get the check to me in the mail. The problem was that they had sent it to the physical address instead of the PO Box. So I gave the man I spoke to the correct address and waited, but nothing came in the mail. So I called back on Wednesday, February 17th, 2010, and I was on hold for 25 minutes before calling back and getting a hold of someone, and I spoke to 3 people over an hour.

I finally spoke to Renee at (720) 514-8555 extension 71318, and she told me that I had been misled in all the information that I was given up until I spoke with her that when a check is issued and returned, they have to wait 30 days before reissuing the check and that the service that we received was unacceptable. I asked her what her company could do to compensate us for the trouble that we had been through, and she told me that because we no longer had an account, that they would just send us our money and say sorry. At the end of this conversation, she told me that she would be in contact with me within the next 72 hours. I called on Saturday, 2/20/10, and she didn't answer nor call me back. So I called today, 2/23/10, and she told me that they had finally issued the check.

I am so disgusted with Dish and I will never pay for their services. I can understand a mistake but had it been me not paying them for 3 months, my Dish would be shut off and turned into a collector if I still did not pay them. Let’s see if I get the check within the 10 days she said it would be here.

I have called on numerous occasions and Dish Network has sent me two new receivers since I have been with them and the problem is still there. I never had this problem with DirecTV. I would like to leave Dish Network and not be charged for early termination. Can you help? The consequences are lost viewing, numerous phone conversations with Dish Network with the same spill taking up my time and having to get up and manually reboot the receiver. All the time spent jacking with a system that I pay $100 a month for and doesn't work a lot of this time. Dish Network has hung up on me a few times.

Right after he left, it went out and stopped working completely. We called to have another technician come out after we had verified on the phone that it was the receiver’s issue and they would replace it. A technician came out, wiggled some wires and it started working. Right after he left, it went out again. Furious at this point, we called and told them it is the receiver. They didn’t believe me and had to go through the tests again. They verified it was the receiver and the next technician to come out would replace it. The next day, a tech guy came out, without a clue what was going on, no receiver in hand, and couldn't speak a lick of English.

At this point, we want to cancel; we don't want any part of this **. The technician got on the phone and said they would ship us one, and we would install it ourselves. Not understanding fully, we agreed, and then realized after he left, why would we have to install a receiver? My husband and I shouldn't have to wait until next week to get one and then install it ourselves. So, I called and went through a bunch of prompts until I finally asked for a supervisor. She pretty much told me that the receiver will come and that there isn’t much more she can do about it. I got her direct line, but every time I call it now, she doesn't answer and I left her messages.

My husband and I are at the end of our ropes, we decided to cancel, but we went through a bunch of people the following Friday night and finally someone says there is a cancellation fee for early termination of service. I lose it, how is there a cancellation fee when we aren't even receiving any service? It hasn’t work for the entire week, we've had three technicians out and not one bit of friendly service. I got put on hold multiple times, then supposedly transferred to an executive guy named "Norman" who can't speak a lick of English either. Then I told him that if he is an executive, he wouldn't be giving out his extension, nor would he be giving me this run-around. I threatened to call the BBB and to get a lawyer if we don't have someone call us back that’s a supervisor. I hung up with him after he stated someone will call us. No one called.

I called that Saturday morning, and finally (after going through the story with 5 different people), got a guy named Josh, he is a supervisor, apparently, and I told him what’s going on. He said that it’s their policy that they have to replace the equipment before they can terminate a contract. Well, what else can I do? Mind you, the termination fee is $499.00. He sets up a visit for a technician on Tuesday, even though our ordered receiver isn't supposed to be here until Wednesday (he is assuming it will be here before then) and that the guy will replace it, and if it doesn't work, then we can cancel our contract.

Today, the worker showed up accordingly. He has a receiver with him. I didn't know we had one ordered, and he replaced it. Forty-five minutes after he left, I was not able to view any of my channels. It says I have to upgrade. Another problem! I got on the phone, trying to remain calm, go through the tests of the receiver, and they said they need to send another technician out!

Bad customer service, bad everything! This is the absolute worst company that I've ever had to deal with. I am thinking we are going to have to get a lawyer if they try to give us fees for this. I'm at the end of my rope. Do not go through them. I'm 6 months pregnant and I don't need to be spending hours on the phone with unreliable, ignorant customer service technicians who have no idea what is going on. I've wasted hours on the phone and hours waiting at home for technicians to come out, without a bit of remorse.

When I call about the billing, they act clueless about the promotion and then say okay, I see it ,we'll credit and never do. They recently sent me a letter about changes prices. I've been calling monthly about the billing and they said they will give me a credit for the overcharge but never do. I asked Dish why haven't I been receiving any bills. They said I don't have any bills sent to me. So I asked them to send them to me. They said they can't but they told me over the phone I am being charged now $49.95 and it can change anytime and they said they have the right to change the fee even though I was promised something else. When I ask about the $75, they said they don't deal with that and refuse to give me any corporate info.

I was told that I had declined the DVR option and I stated I had done so without realizing that there was free upgrade to HD DVR because I was not told about that promotion at the time of signing up for the program. I was also not offered the 3 months free HBO and Showtime channels. I did not know about that until the technician came out and was showing me the channels, asked if I got the free movie channels for 3 months and I advised him I was never told about that.

I then called Dish Network and they turned on the movie channels for me but will not upgrade me to the DVR without me paying a $200 "equipment rental fee" even though, when I signed up, they were going to give it to me for free. I am not paying $200 for DVR rental fee when people out there are getting it for free. Keep in mind, when I called I was a customer for only 22 hours and they told me that since I was now considered a current customer that they couldn't give me that promotion. All they said to me was that they understood my frustration but that if I wanted the HD DVR I would have to pay $200. That is not happening! So much for customer service!

He told me that the cancellation fee was $17 dollars each month remaining on my contract. I had the contract in front of me; it stated that the correct amount was $15. I asked Mel to remove some features that were free for the first 3 months; he verbally told me that he removed it. When I asked him to send me a confirmation he said he could not send me anything. I was happy with DISH, but why do I have to pay for a service that I am not receiving? Most of the people in the building have Comcast; therefore, it should be DISH'S fault not to be able to offer me service. I asked Mel to cut me a deal, but he refused. I wish someone can help with my case, and I wish DISH was found at fault. I do not have cable. I can not afford the cancellation fee which is almost $400 dollars. I am stuck paying for a service that I am not receiving. That money should be going to my kids or my savings. I am frustrated and will not have cable for a while.

I asked to speak w/ the highest supervisor available & after a 45 minute wait was told that they will investigate my billing issue. After waiting another 30 mins on hold, I was told that my account had been canceled due to non-payment of the original $79.88 that I had paid 3 days earlier & that they need the remaining balance of $37.88 + my next bill due on 3/5/2010. I told them since my services were disconnected that I would like to place a service termination order. I was put on hold for another 20 minutes before another service representative put me on hold for another 15 minutes after he asked why I was leaving Dish Network.

I explained to him why I was leaving & he laughed at me stating I should just pay the $37.88 as well as my next bill. 2 seconds later, I am disconnected. Upset now, I call back to wait another 10 minutes on hold before that representative hung up on me. After another phone call, I am told that I had signed a new contract when my services were restored on 2/20/2010 & I am now in breach of contract & I would be receiving an early contract termination fee. Do they have the right to bill me for early disconnection?

To make this quite, brief and to the point, our credit card expired and when we received a new card with merely a different expiration date on it, we promptly called your company and explained this to the supervisor. This supervisor (of what, I have no idea) was named "Mike" and he stated his employee identification information as being "X9O". The problem was that we were no longer receiving our cable movie channels. Mike said that this promotion that we had included in our original contract was "not going on any more" and that we would no longer get these channels.

This man was rude to my fiance and gave her the "run around" for a full half hour before declaring that there was simply "nothing he could do about it". That was what we got from a multimillion dollar company! I now must explain that we have been extremely pleased with Dish TV up until this point and have testified to this with many of our friends and family.

Unfortunately, this event that has transpired regarding our cable movie channels and the unsatisfactory and blatantly rude service that was provided us by Mike has left a very sour taste in our mouths. Unless something is done to compensate us, we will be discontinuing our service with Dish TV and will tell everyone we know about your company and it's wrong-doings.

The first time was I got someone I couldn't understand or get him to understand what I was complaining about. I called a second time on Saturday, 02-20-2010, and was told to eat it. There is nothing that can be done. So I guess when my contract is up, I will be going to DirecTV or cable. I have had it with Dish's broken promises. I would never recommend Dish to anyone not even my worst enemies. Plus the second TV in my bedroom has to be "updated" at least once a week. Needless to say, I am not happy with Dish. They are the worst.

I explained to all 3 of these people that these charges were all in the same day and they could look at my previous bills and see I never had charges like this before. They said, “Yes, they could see that but could not credit me for these charges and could only set our pay-per view limit at 0.” I explained to them we just got this DVR receiver and the guy who installed it didn’t show us how to properly use the receiver. The supervisor told me it’s the customer’s responsibility to set the channel locks. I don’t see how it is when you didn’t know where or how they work even. So they will not credit me for these charges and I am refusing to pay them. The charges are under $50, but I know I didn’t order these movies and I for sure didn’t watch them.

See attached letter to management dated 2/19/10:

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 nonpayment since Dec 1st. However, my understanding was, based on my conversation with your representative back in November 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 supposed 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. 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 $80 plus, 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 through 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, i.e., 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 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 through 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 have a similar situation with Dish which is why they went to DirecTV and AT&T cable. I am 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 until 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.

Today, I went three rounds with the floundering jerks and explained that this was the final straw, "Send me a paper bill each month or I will cancel my service.” The reply I got: "If we have to start sending you a bill again, you will lose your Cinemax channels because the offer was dependent on paperless billing.” No it wasn't. It was dependent on authorized "direct pay.” They just lied plain and simple.

Not only will I be chucking Dish Network in the trash but I intend to work very hard to hold them accountable for all of their half-baked promises, poor customer service, shotty equipment, lies, and deceit. If I throw them out now, the consequences are $60 early termination fees, $15 shipping to return equipment, $65 installation fee to replace it with cable and most likely a slew of other fees and charges that remain hidden until I take the leap and have no choice.

I've called Dish. if I'm lucky enough to get someone on the other end who understands English, I'm just told "That's right." And my emails went unanswered. And yes, we have signed up for all offers and promotions, and nothing so far has been offered to us. This is unfair. Who knows when we will be eligible for an HD converter box?

And I flat out refuse to pay for a box when free boxes are offered only to new customers. Here, we bought a new HDTV, thinking we'd have this great picture. But now, I feel screwed by Dish, because the TV is not "living up to its potential" due to Dish's policies. The remedy? I want a free HD converter box just like that which is offered to new customers.

I called today demanding to talk to a supervisor. I was put on hold for 30 minutes. I hung up. I called back and was put on hold for 12 minutes. Someone picked up. I heard a voice in the background and then hung up on me. 50 minutes spent on phone for nothing. I called again tonight. I went through 12 people today and finally got to Gonzales only to be told that I must have been calling the wrong number for the last year because they had no record that I had called. So it's all my fault that I can't get service from them. I cancelled the service. I'm out $150 for cancelling a 2-year contract “without cause.” How do these people stay in business?

We cancelled service on February 1st. We were told we were signing for the High Def upgrade and we were tricked into signing a contract. So at that point, we found out we were bound by a lease. Dish said they would bill our credit card, and they would send boxes for us to send back the receivers.

Two weeks go by and I call to find out where the boxes were and I was told I'd be receiving them at the beginning of the week. They never came so I call again and were told they sent them by UPS, and that I had to fight it out with UPS. We asked what date they were sent out and the rep. said Jan. 25th. If you remember, we did not cancel until the first of February. When we said that to the rep, he put us on hold and put a supervisor on the phone that was very rude and told us we have to figure out what to do and hung up on me. But we will be charged all these late fees.

I then called Dish Network back to inform them that they were mistaken in the denied payment to which they informed me there was "nothing they could do and it would be impossible to re-enroll you into the original program because they no longer offer the promotion." Despite their mistake they offered me nothing but I'm sorry and that there was nothing they could do except take my payment for the service that I had agreed to with a two-year contract.

Even though the original terms of the contract no longer applied because of a mistake on their side. Personally I believe it to be a scam that they are performing in offering these promotions and then without cause revoking your enrollment without evidence. I am now stuck paying for a service that was not part of the original terms of the contract and if I attempt to end the contract early due to Dish Network not fulfilling the terms, I will be automatically charged an early termination fee. I was left with only an answer of no and that it was impossible for anything to be done about it.

Now hoping everything is fine, my next month's bill comes in with late payment charges plus the $240 for Zee sports which really got me irritated. I called them back to find out what was going on. I was told that they cancelled the channel for me but I still have to pay. This really had me go crazy. I asked for their supervisor. This supervisor was so unprofessional and I think did not really cared about the agitation I was going through from the last 3-4 months. My wife watches the Hindi international channels which forced me to keep Dish Network. I paid them the $240 and asked them to turn the channel back on.

Whoever reads this will either laugh or cry at my situation because when I asked them to turn the channel on, they told me that I have to pay Dish $240 once again. I would never recommend anybody Dish Network. In my family and friends, I have already switched 10 customers from them. I hope this complaint can go to their CEO so that he can see what is going on in his company.

The premium channels costs at $20 per month. They turned the amount over to a collection agency with no further explanation for a total of $260. I have attempted on numerous occasions to get either Dish or the collection agency to give me a true amount I owe. If the amount I paid was taken into consideration. Neither company has been responsive to my request. I received a phone call from the collection agency while I was in church this past Sunday at 11 A.M. This is the only blight I have on my credit to my knowledge. The harassment from the collection agency is ridiculous! They complain that I don't return their phone calls and when I do, they tell me I owe the whole amount and I shouldn't be so irresponsible in paying what I owe.

Today is Feb 17th but I have been already charged a late fee for the future bill and services till march. I am a cancer patient, I have no energy left to handle all these late fee charged by Dish Network. I have been laid off during my cancer treatment. I have no job, still I try to pay my bill on time but for some reason there is always an amount that pops up 15 days later and charged with 5 dollars late fee. Please help. Take a serious note of this complaint. I have heard similar complaints from many other people.

We have no other choice but to use their services as this is the only company has international channels. Staff is so rude they put you on long hold if you have a complaint and after 15/20 minutes they hang up. Supervisor Tisha ID # G7N instead of helping me started saying, "Oh, if you expect me to give 100$ credit, I can't or if you want me to go six months back and give credit on late charge I can't do that". I never asked for that I tell her but she went on and on and on exaggerating.

Please someone help. Then, she says, I can transfer to account executive and hung up on me. I called back again and spoke with guy named Lewis. he told me that there is no such department as account executive. Then he put me on hold for 15 minutes and as usual hung up on me. It's a torture. It's very serious, they can't keep doing that charging late fee for services that yet to be provided or for next two months. Thanks I am paying my bill. Sometimes, I pay extra but still I am paying hundreds of dollars every year as late charge. I can't take this stress. It's contributing to my cancer. My cancer is getting worse. I wanna live and be peaceful and fight this cancer. But here I am every month sitting on the phone and trying to resolve Dish Network bill.

I stopped him there because first of all, he had said there would not be any charge to my account and secondly, I told him the card would not accept any more charges. I told him that I would need to talk to my husband to find out if he wanted me to give out another card because that wasn't what I expected for them to check my credit. They told me they needed a debit or another credit card so they could go to my bank and verify my latest information.

The representative even passed the call to a supervisor named Morgan who tried to convince me to give him a card without talking to my husband. I asked Morgan why they were pressuring me to give them the card if they just needed to check my credit and not charge the card. He said there was no pressure but then he told me he understood that I needed to talk to my husband and he could set up the account before I got off the phone if I would just give him a debit card number. I was finally able to get off the phone with him again by telling him I refuse to give him the card.

To the CEO of Dish Network, I say this: America will no longer tolerate companies who deal deceptively with consumers; they will be punished by loss of consumers like Sprint. Everyone I talk to I will tell them of how displeased I am with the company. Do not underestimate word of mouth like Sprint did. You may enjoy a good bottom line for now but it will catch up to you soon, I think. I look forward to the day when company is dissolved or sold. I only wish for some of the old days when a dishonest merchant could be tarred and feathered and run out of town on a rail (rough hewn wooden plank). The consequence: theft of money through deceptive business practices.

Over time, this problem became more irritating and I couldn't cancel the service without a penalty. I also noticed that I had a $5 charge as insurance in case anything goes wrong. I thought why pay $5 for the insurance that they won't act on at all. As soon as I canceled my insurance and called to complain about the service, they were more than happy to offer to come out and fix the problem for a $90 charge. They said it's because I don't have insurance. I told them they didn't want to come out when I had insurance but as soon as I canceled it, they decided to come out and help for a charge. I declined their offer and am strongly considering canceling my services with them in the near future. Do not sign up for their services to prevent any problems done to you on their behalf. I am paying for a service that I cannot use. I pay every month for channels that do not work.

After going through this for years, much to my surprise, I received my statement for March 2010 and my statement reflected a breakdown. It showed $39.99 basic with local channels, $7.00 for an extra receiver, and $6 for what I was told was for a service warranty. I have had this this service for 7 years and have never seen a charge for a service warranty or extra receiver. I then asked why I am being charged now. I was told that I have always been charged for it but they just started showing the breakdown on the bills. I then asked what did this $6 per month warranty include.

I was then told that if I had a problem with my receiver, a technician would come out and fix it for a charge of $15 instead of the initial charge of $95. Okay, let’s calculate. $6 a month times 7 years is $504. I have never had a tech come to my house for a receiver problem in 7 years but I paid $504 for a warranty. I think I would have rather paid $95 per visit. I was then told that I would get equipment upgrades for free. Well, upgrades are free anyway if you renew your contract. So why am I paying $6 for a warranty for my service when I already pay for my service that is supposed to be $39 a month anyway? Plus I was never told that I would be charged any additional amounts other than $39.99 plus tax. I have been paying more than that for 7 years and have never been given an honest answer to why until now when I see it's actually broken down in my statement, which has never been shown until now. A service has cost me more money than I anticipated and with the economy the way it is now, I have to really watch my expenses. If you take that money and multiply it by the number of customers they have charged, this to look at how much profit this company has made.

None of this worked so they replaced my receiver, it did the very same thing! When I called to have my account waived and the equipment removed, they told me that I had not exhausted my remedies and needed to have a service technician come out. After two months of [bad] service, I get a service technician? They told me that if I did not have a service technician come out, then I will have to pay the disconnect fees and fines for early termination. Wow.

I paid for service that did not work right for two months, I paid additional money out of my pocket for cables and such. I spent hours on the phone with Dish Network, had to take time off from work to be there (between the hours of 12 to 5), and if I get rid of their [bad] service I will pay another $300.00. Sounds great!

Pay for something you don't get, get two months of hassles, additional funds spent for cables, loose more time off from work. I have lost time from work, paid for services not rendered as per agreement, paid additional money for things I did not need, will loose more time from work to spend five hours waiting for a service technician and have paid all my bills on time for something I cannot watch.

In January 2010, I was again billed $6 extra and upon calling DISH again on 1/13/10, inquiring why they are charging me for their solution to channels that are supposed to be in the package I subscribed to, but couldn’t receive within my zip code. I was then informed it was a charge on my bill but there was also $6 credited (which doesn't show on bill, just the $6 charge). I asked what the new balance for the monthly bill was now and paid $56.62 per credit card for what I was informed was the corrected balance.

Got February 2010 bill, the $6 charge showed again, this time it showed a balance $5.90 from January 2010 added to total (which was supposedly paid in full) and called DISH customer service again. I was again told that $6 credit was applied to bill for the multisport package and when informing that I was looking at the billing statement, and it shows this as a charge and no $6 credit, as well as $5.90 balance from previous month, this representative repeated same exact statement that a credit had been applied.

I asked if this could be escalated to supervisor, and another representative came on the phone, stated in she was an account specialist (unclear as she had heavy accent) and again repeated what first representative told me. When I explained that the multisport package was DISH's solution to provide me with BTN channels that were supposed to be included in the package I was already paying for, she stated that that was what the charge was for.

I then asked if this could be escalated further to a supervisor, she repeated she was an account specialist and there was no supervisor to escalate this to. When I insisted again, I was put on hold and a "supervisor" got on the phone, I explained this again and the extra charges being applied to my bill, he told me that I was receiving the BTN channels and tune to the channels and I'd see them. He confirmed BTN was supposed to be in the Classic Silver 200 package. I told him again it’s supposed to be in the package I already pay for, but the multisport was their solution and supposedly at no charge as they couldn't provide BTN in my zip code otherwise.

He then stated that BTN cannot be provided in my zip code by DISH unless it’s through the multisport package and it’s only in the Classic Silver package "upon qualification", then kept repeating this and refused to resolve the additional charges. I told him then I'd have to file a complaint since they didn't want to resolve this and terminated the call. I've had good service otherwise and cannot understand why they are now reneging on an arrangement they earlier proposed and implemented as a solution.

I told them my story and they said no, she didn't tell me the truth because she listen to the reps call but she said there was nothing she could do. So she transferred me to another department and she "lost connection." So I called back and told them I wanted to cancel and Tom said no. I had to pay 420 to do that. I told him that I had not had this more than 3hours lost and they lied to me about their service. He talked to me for hour about the same old thing over and over and over and over. So I told him why can't they cancel my service and make me a happy customer? Why did they have to be so mean about this? I would never ever tell anybody to go to Dish Network. I might even put it in our local paper. This has really upset me to the point that I might take legal action if I can .

I called for have them come out and fix the service and they want me to pay a 15 dollar fee for a problem since day one. I can't cancelled the bad service or they will charge me $300 and this rep said, they will take it right out of our bank account. I'm laid off, I don't need this from them. We had DirecTV for a long time with no problems but Dish made it sound good to sign up with them. If I don't want to watch TV I guess.

Well, we now don't have a TV single, it will cost us money. We don't have to have an install problem fixed, or it will cost us money to cancel a service that isn't working.

Barely 30 days into it and they are charging me $15 per month for 23 months to cancel. I went three levels up to complain, argue, or negotiate the cancellation fee, even offering to pay six months but not 23 months. Not only had they refused anything less than 23 months in fees for canceling, but not one person I spoke to seem to have any empathy for my 83 year old grandmother's safety living alone trying to fix this dish through 3.5 feet of snow and ice, to try and clean the dish clean with a broomstick. Really? I canceled it and thanked Yolanda for the unconscionable act on their part for sticking it to me in cancellation fees barely a month into it and with no signal and poor service.

I called them on 1/28/2010 and became their customer for the contract price of $84.98 per month with two years contract and two free receivers for no monthly fees. When I got the bill, they charged me $14 receiver fees. Upon calling, they said they cannot remove that and I told I was told that receivers are free and also there is no monthly fees and if they charges $14 for receiver and then I wanted to cancel the account. Now, they say that I have to pay $99 for installation fees and $300 ($15.00 per month) early termination fees. I have Dish only for a week. Please be careful before becoming their customer.

Stayed with them for a an extra month and decided to cancel because it was just too expensive and we didn't feel like we were getting our money's worth. Partly because most of the channels were not within our interest and also because the guide was almost never updated, and took about 10 to 15 minutes to receive the info from the satellite to update. I ended up calling Dish Network's toll free line in January and spoke to a lady (wrote down her name and date I spoke to her as I did with every person I spoke to at Dish) and told her I would like to cancel my services. She stated to me that would be ok, but I would need to pay a $300 cancellation fee and also a fee pro-rated for each month I had left on the "24 month term agreement."

This is where it gets interesting. The day we had Dish Network installed at our home, I thoroughly read the agreement options in the contract. It gave me 2 options. To select the 24 month term agreement by signing my initials next to the box or decline the 24 month term agreement, with a box for my initials as well, I did not initial either of these boxes because above these 2 options the contract states "If neither boxes are initialed, you will have been deemed to decline the 24 month agreement option and will need to pay a $90 installation fee prior to installation."

When the lady I spoke to told me about this $300 cancellation fee, I recited this part of the agreement to her and it seemed to confuse her. She then began telling me that I accepted the 24 month term agreement. I told her I did not and I was looking at my pink carbon copy as we spoke. She then transferred me to the Executive Office and that is when I spoke to Nick ** (last name spelling may be incorrect). I explained my situation to him and he too told me that I accepted the 24 month term agreement. I also recited to him what the contract states about not initialing either box of the agreement and that I was looking at my copy and I purposely did not initial either box to ensure I was not signed up for the 24 month term. He said he would need to pull the physical copy of my agreement and that he would mail it to me and it would take 7 to 14 business days.

A month went by and I still did not receive my copy in the mail and I was forced to pay for another month of service. I called the executive office again, this time I spoke to a man named Ernesto ** in the same office as Nick. He too gave me the same run-around about the 24 month term agreement and I explained the situation to him. He said he saw in the notes that my contract was valid and that I did accept the 24 month term agreement with my initials in the applicable box.

So I sent it to him and 2 days went by and I still had not heard anything. I called back again and left a voicemail with him and Nick and neither replied to my voicemails.

I called back again the next day and this time pressed "0" until I was connected with a live person. This time I got a female in the Executive Office and told her of the whole situation and she must of apologized for my bad experiences 10 times. I told her I was not going to pay the $300 cancellation fee and I was not going to pay the $90 installation fee and I demanded they cancel my service or I would like to speak to the manager of the office. I also asked her if Ernesto had entered in their notes if he had received my email with my copy of he agreement attached, she said the email was never received. Finally, she said she would not have a problem cancelling my service for me and she would put an "exception" on my account and I would not have to pay the $300 or the $90 and that I would just need to ship my receiver and a piece of the dish back in pre-paid boxes through UPS. I told her thank you and I would do so.

The day after shipping the equipment back, I finally received the copy of the agreement (a month and a half after they said they would send it) they had on file only to see a sloppy "AV" type scribble in the box next to the 24 month term agreement that looks nothing like how I sign my initials. Plain and simple, either the installation tech, Nick, or Ernesto forged my initials on the contract and denied receiving my copy of the agreement proving I did not select the term agreement.

The last lady I spoke to helped me more in 5 minutes than Nick or Ernesto helped me in over a months time. The whole experience was extremely stressful. I do not recommend Dish Network to anyone and I encourage everyone to seek other options when looking for TV service. I also plan to seek legal advice concerning the fact that they forged my initials on the contract and forced me into an extra month of service by stalling my cancellation request. Dish Network is horrible.

I am on disability and my husband is a senior citizen. We are tired of being taken advantage of. We are low income and just trying to make it day to day. The stress causes medical problems and the money we are cheated out of could be used to pay for food and medical bills. We are already without phone service because of this company.

When I called on Sunday morning, the representative told me that the other representative should not have told me to put my hands on the dish at all.

Next month, I had the same problem. This time, I spoke with Amber (ID FD1). I got the same promises, but each bill continued to be different. On the third month, I spoke with Trish (ID 07U). I got the same promises from her as well. I finally just started paying the bill each month, if it wasn't over $5 or $6 of what I was promised.

This month, February 2010, is different. My bill jumped to $92.98. Wow, over $15 per month more this time! I called and spoke with a person named Debbie, and then she connected me to a supervisor. I was told my promotion had ended, but I still had to keep the service for 2 years. If I did keep the service, I would be charged a penalty. No one ever told me when I ordered this service that it could increase in a year and that I would still have to keep the service. In fact, I was told by Larry that the price given was good for 2 years, and I could call back anytime and use his name. Larry apparently had more mouth than clout.

She then proceeded to inform me that there was a $15 charge per receiver to return the equipment! I stated that that was incorrect as I was looking at their new charges webpage, and their customer agreement page, and my contract, and there was no mention of it. She stated that they weren't obligated to put it in writing as long as they informed me verbally! As matter of fact, it clearly states on the new charges page that there is $0 shipping charges with the DHPP, which I paid extra for.

I then asked to speak to her manager. Eddie, ID JAO, then came on the line and stated the same; that they don't have to put it in writing as long as they notify me verbally! This is a very lucrative scam they have going. Not only do they charge a ridiculous amount for the termination of a contract, they even have hidden fees when you attempt to cancel! I will be forced to pay a hidden, unadvertised and not anywhere in writing fee to cancel service.

On January 29, the receiver in my room stopped working. I called technical support. The girl told me that my account was flagged and to have my receiver turned on, I would have to contact the "verifications department." That night, Friday, I tried to reach them, but they were closed.

On Saturday, I did not get home from work until 6:40PM. I called the verification department and got through to a Chris. Finally, we went through the motions of verifying the receivers. The instructions that he gave me were as follows. "I will be asking you some questions about the information in the receivers and he would not be putting me on hold. In turn, I would talk to nobody and not put him on hold." This was frankly a little offensive since he made no attempt to explain his self or give any apologies for this behavior.

So we proceeded to verify the receivers. When we were done, he asked me to send him a copy of my utility bill. Chris had told me early in the conversation at 6:45PM that he was going to be there for another 25 minutes. I faxed him a copy of my electric bill and called him back at 7:00PM, and they were closed. On Sunday, they were closed, so I waited till Monday. Finally Monday, only after two hours on the phone, I was able to send the utility bill and get my services back on.

On Thursday night, the same week, my receiver in my living room was turned off. I called the verifications department again, and they said the address on the electric bill did not match the address they had on file. The address on my utility bill says 733, and the address on file says 731. I tried to explain to the agent that my house is part of an apartment complex. I live on a single family home next to seven apartments. This is all part of the apartment complex. The mail box is on the building next to me, and that building is 733. This is where my mailbox is. My house is actually 731. For some reason, when I set up set-up service with Florida Power and Light, they only recognized 733.

The agent was very rude, even after I explained this situation to him. I told him that if it would be good, I could cancel the services at 731 and start new services at 733. He said that I could not do this, because that would be promotional fraud. Additionally, the ultimatum he gave me in order to maintain service was to pay $60 a month for this receiver in addition to the $60 some dollar I am paying now. In other words, pay double service.

Basically, he was calling me a liar and a thief. In conclusion, today, I am cancelling my services with Dish Network. I have never seen anything like this and don't wish this on my worst enemy. Additionally, I will be contacting the FTC, the BBB, and any blog I can upload this story on. Buyer, beware.

Two whole weekends were wasted. It took 4 people to install my dish. The 1st 3 DISH employees all had lame excuses not to climb a ladder to put a dish on top of my house, because it is 2 stories. One said all of his equipment was faulty, but he never tested any of the equipment in my home. One said he could not install the equipment, because we were down one TV (had 3 of the four) needed for the installation. And another one said that he could not install the equipment, because it was raining. I made sure the TV that blew up was replaced for him, but rain blew the third installation date. He told me that I did not need the 4th set for the installation anyway.

The 1st two guys also told me that all DISH's equipment was refurbished, thus unreliable, and I would not be getting new equipment. This did not make me feel good about the company. All TVs, except for one, were each getting a receiver, so the fourth guy did not see why that was a problem (3 or 4 TVs). And he had worked on the rainy day. I guess that was because he was a subcontractor (not a DISH employee).

Then when all was installed, the price Windstream quoted me for HD--$49.95--was now $20 more. What? DISH claimed that was their regular price and did not know of the price I was quoted by Windstream in their bundle. They should not have other companies selling for them if they will not stand behind the prices quoted by them.

If Windstream does not pay the difference, I am told that I can just have it all ripped out at my own expense ($360). Windstream said they would get back with me in a week. I plan to have it ripped out if the difference is not paid, just on principle! And I will not pay for this, since I was told $49.99 and did not sign a contract agreeing to more. I talked to customer service (DISH and Windstream), and they only served to frustrate me further.

I plan to post all of this on the net under horrible experiences with DISH Network and Windstream! It seems I am not alone. Windstream refuses to give us a tape of the call with their rep and says we can just break the contract with DISH and pay the fees to do so. They know they are in the wrong but won't do what is right. These companies are bad news! What can we do?

I contacted Dish and they said it was an internal error between departments and the box was shown as returned. I managed to get it cleared after a few weeks but now it is Jan. 2010 and the same bill has shown up between AT&T and Dish. Since the companies are no longer in partnership, it's very difficult to make anything happen and I'm told to just pay the bill to each company.

At this point, I have lost extensive valuable time trying to negotiate the maze of both companies to find someone that can resolve this to no avail, missed out on a very good loan APR because of the damage this has done to my credit, and have frankly lost my mind trying to deal with these two companies. Each employee looks through my records and says "Yep, I see what's going on here and its not going to be easy". The final straw was when I was told paying would be easier and that not only was their a collection out but that there were two different amounts between the companies for the same thing. If you are a lawyer reading this and can help, I'm happy for assistance but will not pay up front. I'll be happy to negotiate your fee's off of a won settlement. After what I've been through and am still going through with these titans of industry, trust me, I have no remorse going big against these guys and I'm sure each company's own records of my calls to them would provide damning evidence against them.

At that time, I found out that the person had given me erroneous information when I asked about the exchange in the beginning. She said a new contract began when I received the receiver. I would have kept my old receiver had he told me the truth. This was doing the time when you were no longer with AT&T. I am requesting that you honor my request by canceling my contract which extends to the end of August 2010. Being valuable and excellent customers, it is not asking too much to grant us this request. I hope you can resolve this problem as soon as possible.

We are moving today (new address used above), included in our Jan 1, 2010 bill was a flyer stating Dish Network Makes Moving Free and Easy. When I called the main Dish Network to schedule the move and complain about the charges, we were told Dish now charges $15.00 to move a service, effective Feb. 1, 2010. There is nothing they can do about the bill except for us to take another package, not what we signed up for, in order to lower our payment.

I was told by Donna, Dish is not responsible for anyone representing Dish Network. Never to go to a representative of Dish Network, always contact the main Dish Network. Any Dish Network representative would have charged us a lot to move the service. If we wanted to cancel, there would be a $300.00 charge to cancel.

People are scammed by all representatives of Dish network, as people when they respond to advertisements assume they are dealing with Dish, even though they are representatives. There should be a class action law suit for all those who have been scammed by Dish Network. We are retired with a set income, TV is one of our enjoyments. The agreement (which we do not have in writing, by phone only), at $90.00 for life fits into out budget, $127.18 does not. Now, we are going to have to change our programming plan, in order to afford it. We have been scammed, and I am sure we are not the first.

In December of 2009, that was the case. I called them. The lady on the phone reiterated the 30 days notice. I gave it and they asked that I return the equipment. I did and at my own cost by the way.

I'm told that I will owe them nothing once I return the equipment. I asked this clearly and plainly. Then on February 1, 2010, they charge me $198.57 to my credit card (the one they had on file) and when I called them, they called it a cancellation fee. I did not authorize this.

I tried to reason with the woman on the phone, her name is **, and she was hard with me. I stated to her, "If your record shows all of your phone calls, you should look up the ones with regard to my account and you'll see that I'm telling the truth here." She gave no response to that.

Please help so that Dish Network does not get away with doing this to other people.

Dish installed person I referred to, first they said installer was in that area before my area. Jeromie said I can't be referral for someone who installed before mine. I told him Dish scheduled installation that way. He was so rude, overpowering me and did not want to talk to me at all. Talked to me like I was to shut up and said he was ending my call, I had no point to make. As for all the previous calls I made, none was on record because he said I should have called within 90 days and I had each billing cycle, he would not listen to me. I even had cards in front of me and name of operator who wrote information down.

Please if you do want to be treated like a human that counts, Dish Network will not be the company. They say anything to get you in contract and will not want to hear from you after that. Add Dish network TV to very bad customer service when contract is up. We will not need service from Dish TV again. The person who referred us was treated same way. They are an older couple and she was treated badly on phone. Her quote "they are just rough and when contract is up they will cancel also. So to sum up, since October, I have talked with several operators, gotten several operators names and numbers. Finally got manager and all failed me.

My reply was that I thought I was signing off on the installation being complete, not a 2-year contract! Now they want $165 to finish out my contract. I feel completely misled by Dish Network and believe I was lied to when first signing up over the phone with them. Believe me, I research things thoroughly and use consumer reports all the time so feel that I am a very informed consumer. Some of the customer service people I talked with were rude and wouldn't even consider dropping that fee, I was even disconnected once. I looked at the Better Business Bureau website and see that they have many customer service complaints against Dish Network. Enough so that they provide a name and phone number of someone in Littleton, Colorado and ask that you please call them before filing a complaint.

It also states that Dish Network is working hard with the Denver BBB to improve their standing with BBB. So I have left a message at that number and we'll see if I get a call back. If I don't hear from them within a week, I will file a complaint with the BBB. If there is a way to resolve this through this venue, please let me know.

I had the account closed; but even though I closed the account in less than 24 hours, DISH TV will not let me out of the 24-month contract. They are charging me $360 on my charge card to get out of their contract. I'm still waiting for their shipping cartons to return their two DVRs. Had Omar had been honest with me in the beginning, and had not told me I had 30 days trial period, I would not have signed with them to start with had I known this is not true. I don't know how to prevent them from charging us the $360.00. I even offered to pay the young man's wages for the installation! DISH TV is charging me $360.00 for something that I was told I would have for a 30-day trial period. I believe it is very, very wrong for sales people to tell customers anything to make a sale.

However, since it was supposed to be "so simple," I did it.TV would not come on. I could not get it to work. After hanging on phone for at least another hour, my grandson hooked up old receiver so we could watch. With reluctance, they scheduled technician to come out and install. He did and I had a new set of problems. TV in back room played what TV in front room played. After calling again this was easily solved. Then it started freezing again! Approximately every five minutes. I had called customer service again and I talked to a young man who told me he didn't think it was that big of problem and if I wanted another tech to come out, it would cost me $39.99.What? I only had Dish a month and was so stressed and fed up that I called to cancel and go back to DirecTV. Now I did all I could to give the Dish a fair chance to provide me with service. They failed!

Now they want me to pay a $360 early cancelation fee. I am on a fixed income and this is outrageous. The woman was rude and said yes she could wave this if I agreed to have another tech come out and that I didn't give it a chance to remedy the problem. No way was I going to put myself through anymore stress and aggravation.

I called to question them and was told there was a glitch in the system last month that I should've only been credited for 2 months of free HBO/Showtime instead of 3, so now I have to pay for a month of HBO/Showtime even though promotion was supposed to be through February. The lady proceeded to tell me that I basically need to deal with it because even though it was their fault, I have to eat this cost. The billing glitch was not my fault; it was theirs, so why should I be the one who has to eat that cost? I was told I wouldn't get billed for the premium channels until after March 3, 2010. If this current bill is for service from February until March, then why am I getting charged for premium channels? She turned it around that it was my fault because I only paid what my bill stated. It is my right as a consumer to assume that the bill I receive from companies is the correct amount. It is not my responsibility as a consumer to be sure that their billing is right. I had to pay additional fees that I shouldn't have had to pay.

I chose to wait for fear of them double dipping. In December, no payment was taken out so I called again. They told me to make the behind payment and no late fee would be charged. I did and waited to see if the auto pay kicked in. No deal, January rolled around and still, no auto pay. I called because now I am getting an overdue notice onscreen. They told me they don't know what the problem is but I should make the payment and they updated my debit card info. I made the payment and hung up. I then checked my bank account to find that they had double dipped, taken double the amount owed. I called them back and they refused to refund payment saying they only could see one payment. They told me to go to our bank and the bank said sure enough, they had double dipped and it would take 8-10 days to fix from the bank's end.

We called Dish Network back and they said it would take 8-10 days to fix from their end. My car payment is due tomorrow along with a major medical bill and Dish Network refuses to refund, leaving me in a bad position. I do not recommend using this company. We talked to three representatives and three supervisors who basically told us too bad, so sad. I will be behind on two bills and possibly worse consequences if this situation does not get rectified in a timely manner.

Then I spoke with a supervisor Quin, who was rude, and he stated, “I am not cancelling your contract. You sign for a two-year when they did the installed.” I tried to explain to him what had happen and I was not told anything at the install the previous information I was given would not apply and by signing I would be agreeing to a two-year contract. He would not listen to me and kept saying I will send you to a different department so they can send you a copy of your contract.

So I asked to speak to his supervisor. A woman got on the phone (unfortunately I did not write down her ID number). All she said was I should have read before signing. When I tried to explain to her what happened and that I thought I was signing an acknowledgement that the installer did it to my satisfaction because that is what she told me. In fact, the installer started telling that Dish has surprise random inspection of the installer's work when she handed me the form to sign.

I told her she was right I should have read it, but I did not have a clue that I was being swindled into a 2-year contract by signing what the installer handed me. I further explained to her I never would have agreed to a 2-year contract because I work the County of Sacramento and though I missed the first wave of lay-offs, the employees knew there were more to come in 2010. So I would not have done that. She absolutely did not care and after all of my explanation all she said was it is the customer responsibility to read before signing. I told I agreed to a year. After that I will be cancelling my service with Dish and I will never use them again. I believe they will try and ruin my credit and sue me for the remaining year they say I owe them.

He suggested that I call UPS. I did just that, but since Dish paid for the return postage, they would have to contact UPS to get this package back to the store. So, I hung up with UPS thinking I have found a suitable solution for the issue. I called Dish back again and they told me that there is no way to return it. I asked to speak with a supervisor and got Andreas. They do not have this man dealing with customers all day. I am in customer service, and I know that the one thing you are never supposed to do is blurt out, "Well, it was your mistake." They are supposed to help you fix it.

I would understand if this stuff never happened, but he even said it has happened before. Their policy is to throw away the equipment they receive that is not theirs. So, they do not have the best customer service, and they should really rethink those policies before I would ever say they did. People make mistakes, and companies should realize this and make policies accordingly. I totally admitted my fault in the situation, and offered to pay for the shipping costs for them to send it back. They should have been courteous enough to do so. So, for anyone out there who has ever sent the wrong thing back to Dish, you might want to check a landfill, because that's where all our stuff is going.

I asked how long was my account going to be prepaid. She stated the lifetime of the account. I then asked to be transferred to a supervisor. I have been with my previous cable company since moving to this area and I never had a prepaid account. I explained everything to the supervisor; she apologized, but told me there was nothing she could do. I asked her to cancel my service so I may go back to my previous cable company. Since the account was set up as prepaid, I would be charged a certain dollar amount from the date of cancellation until the contract end date. This is unfair. I'm being forced to remain with them due to the amount I would have to pay to leave.

I called on Monday and complained and wanted to cancel. They said no. But agreed to give me a third box that would make it work the way I wanted. They assured me they would be there on Tuesday at 12 pm. I would be the first install in that time frame. It would be in house tech so he would for sure be there. My husband took off work to wait for him. He never showed! I called at 2:45 pm and was told she just talked to the technician and he was finishing a job and would be en route. Fine.

At 4:45, he still had not showed up. My install time was set for 12-5 even though they said it would be 12. I talked to someone else again, he said he just talked to technician and he was on the way right then. He would call me right then and tell me where he was. He never called. I called at 5:30 and demanded to cancel. They wont let me. We talked to the field tech and somewhere between 4:45 and 5:30 the installer went missing. So they were trying to find another tech to send out there. In the meantime, we noticed that the original installer had stolen our DirecTV dish and power supply for the system. This we are told by the tech has a value of over $500. This is felony larceny from a house. My husband is police officer so we are filing report for the theft. No one cares.

So the new tech shows up and he can't fix the problem without drilling a hole in the side of the house and we are not willing to do that. It's a brand new house. We had it wired for satellite and DirecTV was perfectly capable of giving us service with the one cable coming into the house. It turns out we signed up with a third party broker (which we didn't know) and the things he promised were all a lie! As soon as we told them about the theft and the police report, they had the owner of that broker call me. He said well some people complain when we leave it. I said well, then he should have asked! He admitted to me that he installs for both DirecTV and Dish Network so I'm sure he's gong to use that used equipment for someone's house.

They are not compensating me at all for having to sit at home for three days waiting on an installer. The system doesn't work as promised. The billing doesn't match my receipt for my programming and they are refusing to honor that as well. I want this system out of my house at no cost to me. I want to press charges.

Many calls to Dish Network resulted in concerned representatives expressing apologies, but not able to void the contract, even when I had called within 24 hrs of the upgrade for the first complaint. You can read similar stories on many web sites. This is a widespread campaign of deception and abuse by Dish Network. I will contact the Better Business Bureau as well, but this anti-competitive and anti-consumer behavior will continue until stricter rules on oversight of Cable/TV providers are passed.

My first bill was for $335.00 and I almost cried! I called the company and they said that they could not talk to me that I had to call Century Link. I tried to explain that I had bought a package for $87.00 and wanted to know why my bill was so high. I told them the employee named Kenny and his employee number and they said that he did not work for them. They got on the phone with Embarq and Embarq said that Kenny did not work for them either; therefore, my $87.00 package was no good.

They wanted over $145.00 a month for services, plus all the extras they added on that I was not told about when I agreed to the package. I tried to cancel but remember when Kenny told me the price was good for two years? Well, to them, that meant that I had to keep them for two years and pay their high prices. No way to get out! These people need to be stopped. My bill for $335.14 was nine pages long! They slapped every charge they could think of on this bill. Some of the charges that I asked about the operator said that it would take too long to explain it to me so she would take it off! To me, that sounds like criminal activity.

Due to rent increased in Feb 2009, I had to move immediately as demanded by landlord. My family and I have been force to living homeless. We also lost our Section 8 benefits for not finding a place within the allowed time. I am permanently disabled and have been living on a fit income since 2000. In good faith, I contacted Dish Network to put my account in good standing and provided them with a mailing address but for them to charge their customer for services knowing that they are not being provided such service is unfair practice and highway robbery to the customers.

I have been experiencing medical, homelessness and financial hardship. I have been a customer since before 2003 and had moved before with their equipment from Paramount to Inglewood and was unfairly charged then and should not be treated in this way again just because my storage place is picked to the ceiling and I can't locate the equipment. After all of these years, I should own these equipments by now.

First of all, it is very, very, very "un" green to just put a new dish up instead of using the existing one or having the customers take it with them when they move. Second, Dish Network should be responsible for making sure they have the property owner’s authorization to install equipment on their buildings. If I have all of the old ones removed and have to pay for it, it could be in the hundreds of dollars. Then, I will have to dispose of them as e-waste. This is Dish's responsibility not mine. It is a huge eye sore if I just leave them there and as tenants come and go, we will continue to have a bigger "graveyard.”

Yesterday, I was told by Carrie that, "You must have misunderstood," which is a lie. Dish has changed the conditions with its customer agreements and failed to fully disclose to me in entirety these conditions in 2009. Dish says that it tapes phone calls but when I asked them to check the taped call with Jake, I was told that wasn't possible. I find the actions of Dish Network to be deceptive and reprehensible. I have a signed 24-month contract with them but Carrie said that since it does not have a price on it that she could not help me. When I asked if it came down to my word against Jake's, I was basically told yes. I asked if Jake conveniently received a commission for each sale and was told yes. What a surprise.

I don't know why I am being totally mistreated and penalized. I do have my original paperwork and no where does it show my SS# , so I can prove correct SS # or not! What can I do? How do I verify a crazy imputed number. I still would not know about the error if it wasn't for the first time ordering a PPV. I don't have a phone at home to click on dish remote, so I had to call to order which was another whole problem itself with the unclear automation. I wanted a particular channel and got something that costs an exorbitant amount more, that's why I wanted to verify what I ordered, and got this whole mess! They had no problem auto debiting my "fraudulent account" for 3 years. They could have, should have verified with me what they had, from the beginning.

As it was, I've had a problem where they entered phone number in wrong, had my phone/work number reversed. That back then took some time, to get that changed. Now, they charged me over the live chat, saying I owed 51.96 or 54.96 close to that amount (to reopen my account) but when I got bounced back again the same witch had cut me off again. I believe I have credit because every month they auto take my money! Make me pay again and snap! Cut off! Tonight! It's not my fault! This is how they treat a good loyal honest customer? Probably am better off going to Direct but then I want my fees back! I have a contract (that is past my orig. so many months) that they took from me! I really am just bewildered and beside myself crying, how I have been treated tonight! Please help. You know if you have to reactivate or go with another. More reactivation fees and their equipment charges! It's just not fair! That's why I chose not to switch when I had similar problems with them from the past. Even speaking/understanding English!

Two days later, two TVs had fuzzy channels, and I called to get one TV on the DISH Network. I have not been happy with the channel quality and the billing description, so I called 1/8/09 to state the service is bad and the billing is not accurately stated on the bill. The bottom line is that the $119.00 quote in the 12/28/09 conservation came to $135.30.

I did add 4 superstations that my other provider included in their package without the extra $5.99 charge per month. The new customer person sent me to cancellation, and the person in that department said she could send someone to fix it. But I stated that I was already unhappy and wanted to know if I could cancel. She said there would be a $7300 charge, and I requested a supervisor to talk to. She laughed and said that the supervisor could not do anything and then had me on hold until the supervisor came.

After the nice sales people get you, the customer service is really bad, and they state you signed a contract and there is a cancellation fee. I spoke with the supervisor, and he started off, saying, "You have refused to have a technician come and resolve the problem, and you are not understanding what I am telling you. And you have refused our help." This kind of intimidation is what these second-line supervisors are good at, and they do not care that you are the customer.

The supervisor kept saying "You have refused our help." This is to make sure that they record you, so they can get their cancellation fee, because the DISH Network is not all that the sales people say.

I finally got out of the supervisor that there is a $360.00 cancellation fee that is prorated $15.00 as they see fit. So I agreed to have the technician come out, then he said they would be out "tomorrow between 8-12." I said, "Are you telling me or asking me because I will not be here?" Then the supervisor said, "When will you be available?" I said later, "In the afternoon." So it is scheduled for 12-5.

The supervisor said, "Will you be there?" And I said, "Yes, someone will be here." And he said, "Will you be there?" And I said, "Someone will be here." I then stated that "I am unhappy, and yes, I will be here."

This product quality is not as good as previous providers that I have had. This DISH Network is going to be a problem for the next 24 months, even though I asked if I could pay full price and get out of the 24-month contract, the supervisor and the first-line cancellation person said there is a fee. The channel quality is not that good. Even after explaining that I was unhappy with the product, the customer care people did not care that the product is not what is advertised and repeatedly told me that I refused their help.

This customer care and the contract are not fair to consumers, because the customer care people say you signed a contract. I repeatedly said, "if the service is not good, how can the contract be valid?" The care supervisor said, "You refused our technician." I said, "I am not refusing the technician. I am saying the contract should have a statement in it: if the quality is not good or the consumer is unhappy in any way for the first 20 days, a consumer should be able to opt out if not happy."

This caused the supervisor to say "You are not understanding me, because I am telling you that you have refused a technician." I have a problem with contracts that bind the consumer without a legitimate way out, because the channel service is bad and the billing is not accurate. The consumer is at a disadvantage when the product is not what is expected. "No recourse or product guarantee" is not good, and that is just what happened.

On 12/2/09, the technician arrives to perform the original installation. I informed him that since we just bought a new flat screen, we wanted the cable outlet in the living room moved from its original location to the larger wall which is better suited for a large flat screen. Without even checking anything, the technician told me that he would be unable to move the outlet due to not having the proper tools. I was told that a note would be placed on our account for a free service call to come move the outlet at a later date. Four hours later, the installation was complete. I checked that all our TVs were working, the technician assured me that I could call and schedule another service call to have the outlet moved. He gave me some paperwork, I signed it, and he left.

On 12/8/09, a second technician arrives to move the cable outlet in the living room. He tells me that he needs a stud finder which he didn't bring with him. I have one to let him use. He then tells me there are fire blocks, about 2" - 4 horizontal studs, in the wall. He explains that to put a cable drop there, they need a long drill bit to drill straight down through the wall and the company won't let them use these drill bits anymore because too many technicians damaged sheetrock with them. I told him that there are no fire blocks in this wall but he assures me that if there are, as a Dish employee, he cannot do the cable drop along that wall. He does, however, offered to do it on the side because he has a buddy that he can borrow the drill bit from. I said no thanks. He also checked out a minor remote control issue we were having from the original installation and fixed that. We let it go for a few weeks due to Christmas holidays approaching.

On 12/25/09, after Christmas, we were hooking up some new electronics in one of the bedrooms and I noticed the way the original technician wired up the TV. It is a large bedroom, they are two rooms that we combined, and the cable outlet was located at point A and the TV was located at point B. Well, I just now noticed that instead of moving that outlet like he should have which would have been a simple job of extending the cable along the outside wall of the house, he ran a 15 feet coax cable from the outlet through the inside of the room to the TV. Is it professional installation? On 12/27/09, I did an online chat session with Dish Customer Support to request another service call to get the outlet moved in the living room and also to bring up the wiring job I had just noticed in the bedroom. The agent tells me that there will be a $99 fee to move the outlet in the living room. I explained that it was supposed to be moved during the original installation but it wasn't.

Another technician came out but wouldn't do it either and we should have had a note on our account to have this done for free. She asks if I signed off on the original installation paperwork and I said yes. She says that there is no possible way they can do it without charging us $99 because I shouldn't have signed the papers if I wasn't happy. I explained that I signed because the technician told me we would get a free service call. She says that they can send someone out to fix the wiring in the bedroom but there is nothing they can do for me about the living room outlet. I threaten to cancel my service and without even trying to make me happy, she offers to transfer me to the cancellation department. I exit the chat session and I called their phone support. After speaking with multiple people, I finally talked to someone who says they will send someone out to move the outlet and fix the wiring in the bedroom at no charge. He does say they really shouldn’t do this because we signed the original installation paperwork and they're basically doing this as a favor to us, some favor that I am asking them to do what was originally promised.

On 12/28/09, the technician arrives. Note that this is the third technician we've had out at this point. His stay is very short. He tells me the same thing the agent in the chat session told me that is to move the outlet, it will be a $99 charge. He asks to see my original paperwork and says, "Yeah, see, you signed off on it so there's nothing I can do now.” He also tells me that he can't do anything about the wiring in the bedroom either. I informed him that just the day before when I spoke to customer service, I was told that the outlet would be moved free of charge. The technician says, “That's not correct. We signed off on the original installation. It's set in stone. Sorry, I can't do it for free.” After a few minutes of arguing and explaining, he tells me that the original installation technician will have to be the one to come back to do the work for no charge since he didn't do it right in the first place. Supposedly, he got an appointment schedule with the original technician for 12/30/09.

On 12/30/09, I waited all morning but the technician never shows. I called the support and they told me that he will be here tomorrow. On 12/31/09, the original installation technician arrives. He spends only a few minutes here and once again explains that he does not have the proper tools to do the cable drop. He gives the fire block an excuse that the other technician gave me a while back and etcetera. He says that he will be back next week on 1/4/10 with the stuff he needs to fix everything. On 1/4/10, the technician never shows up. I called and they say that someone will be out there tomorrow. On 1/5/10, a new technician shows up. He has no idea about the situation so I explained everything to him, tell him that we've been dealing with this for over a month and we’re expecting the original technician to be here. We have had multiple people here, that we want it moved for no charge like promised and the wiring in the bedroom fixed.

After a few minutes, he agreed to go ahead and do it himself. He fixed the bedroom outlet and he moved it to the correct spot behind where the TV was located. However, instead of doing a proper cable outlet, he simply ran the wire along the outside of the house and through a hole in the wall behind the TV. He didn't cut the cable and connect it to the back of an outlet so that a second cable can be screwed into a wall place. The cable from the outside of the house simply runs through the hole in the wall and there's 5+ feet of cable bundled up behind the TV that connects to the receiver box itself. Now, back to the living room, in the attic, there were already holes drilled in the top of the wall to run the cable down in the proper spot from one of the previous technicians. This new technician said he couldn't get the cable to run down the wall in that spot and the only place he could drop it was right next to a door. He then used a sheetrock saw to begin cutting the hole for the outlet.

Many years ago, there was wood siding in the living room that was covered by sheetrock. He couldn't push his saw through it and he kept trying multiple locations, leaving numerous holes in the sheetrock until he finally told me and I informed him that yes, we do have the wood siding. He now says that he can't do the outlet because he doesn't have the tools to cut through the wood siding. I bring him a reciprocating saw from our shed. He says he doesn't know how to use it and he doesn't want to be held liable for damaging our wall. He says the wire is already in the wall and if I want to cut the hole myself, it's fine. So I cut the hole myself and he leaves me to finish installing the outlet myself.

At this point, I'm so fed up that I don't care about poor placement of the living room outlet, the crappy fixed bedroom job he did and I figure that there's no possible way that I'm going to get them to do anything properly so I may as well just do anything else I need myself. So I sign the paper to get him out of there. You can see the poor placement of the cable outlet. The white door can't even be opened all the way because it hits the cable coming out of the wall. After all of this is done, I get up in the attic to run some speaker wire, as I'm wiring up surround sound in the living room to suit the new placement of our home theater. I notice the coax cable is way too long and the excess is bundled up all over the attic. He also tore a large amount of insulation away from the inside of the wall even in places he didn't need to get to and left it laying all over the place without putting it back.

When I began running my speaker wire, I saw that it easily dropped all the way down the wall in a better location close to the middle of the wall where he should have dropped the coax cable as well. And like I told the second technician, there are no fire blocks in the wall. I work in IT and I have run plenty of cable in my life and have wired up plenty of home theater equipment as well. Granted, this is a job that I could have easily done myself and realize now that I probably should have but when I'm paying for a service and promised professional installation, I don't feel I should have to do the job myself. It took over a month of hassle, multiple no shows, four technicians and five service calls to do a basic cable outlet drop. This is by far some of the worst customer service I have ever encountered in my life, not to mention the way I was treated on the phone on multiple occasions and the hassle I had to go through just to get the work done for no charge since it wasn't done correctly in the first place. Little to say, when my contract with Dish Network is over, I definitely won't be renewing it. I'd advise anyone else to consider another alternative as well.

I called DISH and finally got through to a supervisor. He said that he would send me a new box. While on the phone, he realized that he had ordered the wrong box, so he told me to refuse the first box when it arrived by UPS. I was not home to refuse, and with the Holiday, was not able to get back to DISH within one week. They charged my checking account $300.00. I contacted DISH and sent the receiver back which they have received on 12/22/2009.

Today is 1/05/2010 and they still will not refund my account for the unauthorized charge of $300.00. They told me that they are running the unit by their engineers and once approved, they would refund the money. They said that this would take possibly another week.

They also have hidden fees such as the recording fee of $5 which we were never informed of, $5.99 which we will have to start paying in two months that I believe covers insurance. I can't remember because I was getting sick and tired of hearing all the extra fees they were now introducing and $5 local channels. I am very upset that we still are under contract for two more years. Come July 2011, we are finally out of it.

I cannot believe how they can sucker people into thinking they are getting a package for $19.99 and yet when all is said and done, our bill will be $33.36 a month which includes the family plan, local channels, and the recording option which is really no option at all, and in two more months we will have to pay an additional $5.99 for the insurance plus taxes on that! They really do know how to trick people into a seemingly cheap service. If I didn't call, they would have charged us $71.23 this month. Without even letting us know! This is such a deceptive offer. Dish Network should be ashamed. Less money in my account! We are having a hard time financially and they don't even care!

I recently been experiencing more problems and called to cancel service and was told they would not meet that supervisor's commitment to my account. They are saying that the problem was fixed at that time and it did not apply to any other problems. It does not state this or any other time frame or time sensitive restraint. I am still awaiting a phone call from another higher supervisor and still have not received this as of yet. I am tired of corporations treating the consumers as they are always at fault. I am stressed out over the continuous battle with this company over a cancellation fee of $300.00, not to mention the numerous hours wasted during phone calls.

He went on to state he could come to my house. At this point, I'm getting a little scared because they have my s.s# along with name and address. I hung up just for the rep to call back. This time it was from a unknown number. This rep has called several times and I'm very upset behind such behavior. This rep continues to call. I have had no luck in getting in touch with Dish Network and speaking to someone about such a problem. I'm scared for my safety because I don't know if this person is actually able to get to me and if they will continue to harass me.

As with all Dish networks contracts, this obligates me to a term of 2 years with a charge equal to $15.00 a month plus equipment return fees and shipping fees upon termination or downgrade from the original agreed upon contract. After they installed the system, I found that I did not receive "over 120 channels" as advertised. I received only 31 channels . Of those, I received 6 broadcast channels and 5 local stations that I normally received for no charge as local channels are normally broadcast over the air. The other 24 channels were channels that are non-stop infomercials or channels that did nothing but sell products like 24-hour auctions.

On January 3, I called Dish Network and spoke to their rep Harry. I asked about only receiving 31 channels, most being infomercial stations. Harry told me that in order to get the 120 channels as advertised, I would have to pay an additional $10.00 per month for the HD channels and additional fees for the premium movie package. I was also told that the DVR is not free, that an additional fee of $5.98 per month will apply as a service Fee for the DVR that they do nothing per month but charge for the service. The receiver requires no monthly service in order to receive programming that includes more than 6 entertainment channels. I would have to upgrade to a more expensive per month package.

Harry also explained to me that the $5.98 per month service charge will still apply and that I will be billed for 2 months on my first bill as I am required to pay 1 month in advance for their service If that 1 month advance fee is not paid by the due date each month, they will disconnect and all charges related to the account for the two-year period will apply. Had their sales agents been truthful about their programming, and disclosed the content of the programming and additional costs of their "free" offers, I would not have purchased this from them.

I will call them back on Monday to make sure it doesn't happen to my back account, as I did not authorize it. They have been totally false about the whole process. I did not agree to a two-year contract. I did not authorize anyone to take money from my debit or credit card. I was told that nothing would be charged to it--that it was for information only and had to have it to place the order. My unit would come on and start recording and when I would go in and remove the timers, it would be back on again in a day or so. I did not record anything or watch anything that was recorded. I did not know how it all worked.

Guess what? The tech never showed up and to my surprise, they did not have a log of appointment. Does Dish Network still in paper age? I am wondering if Dish Network knows about computers. They still have my account opened and they never bother to call the customer to see what is happening. Very pathetic service. I have started wondering if the installation process is nearly a week or two. I have spent long hours of phone conversation with Dish Network until probably around 10 hours on one week and wasted 16 man hours until now.

In receiving my bill, I have been charged for the movie that I could not access due to their technical problem. I feel this is fraudulent, not to mention, very poor business practice. If this had been a request for a refund because I didn't watch the movie, then certainly I should pay for the order. However, this practice of charging and not refunding regardless of the problem feels illegal. It is not the amount of money charged but the principle and I wonder how often this happens to other subscribers.

I tried to get to the bottom of this situation to hold someone responsible in their company and asked them to write me a letter of their investigation result on this issue but they couldn't send me a letter or any of that nature. Moreover, during the whole year, my bill was changing from time to time, which I first signed up for a $39 plus tax but I was paying more than what I have agreed in the first place. I am canceling their service as of today, 12/24/09.

Then another person got on the phone and said those channels are available in my area but I have to pay extra. This only after having the service for 5 days. They said that if I cancel early, I have to pay $360 for early cancellation fee under their contract. I said that I had paid extra for a no contract with Saveology who is their reseller. Dish Network basically advised me that is them and this is us and I have to pay. I have requested to ask the phone conversations to be pulled up so they can hear I especially ordered no contract.

The next bill, 10/07/09, they started this base price at $47.99 instead of $39.99 and $27.99 in credits and was $19.99. The bill for 11/06/09 base price starts $41.98, credit $18.67, owing $23.01. The bill for 12/07/09 base price starts $41.98 with $15.00 in credits, owing $26.98. I called to get this issue resolved, to get the bill to at least the $24.99 like the contract we agreed upon. They were going to do nothing. I called again on 12/16/09, told them if they were not going to honor their agreement, to give us the classic bronze with locals for $24.99 a month and the free RFD TV that we paid up until 12/23, send us a box and on that day we would be sending their equipment back. They broke their contract and we were not going to pay more than we had agreed upon.

Morris (operator #**) threatened me with a $300.00 fee for breaking the contract. I told him I would not be paying that, they broke the contract. He threatened to take me to court. This man was rude, nasty, called me liar and said that we were never promised the free RFD TV, that I could not get my package for the agreed price of $24.99, I was already getting too many discounts. Within minutes of getting off the phone with him, my service was shut off. I called the company back and talked with Randy (ID #**). He said the records showed a voluntary disconnect. I explained what had happened and was told I would have to contact Windstream to get my service back on.

I asked to talk with a supervisor and one would not come to the phone. I left a message and never got a return call. I called back around 3PM, talked with Jennet (ID #**). She got the service turned back on under the okay of supervisor (ID #**). It should be the base price $39.99 with a $15.00 credit and free RFD TV. They have a very deceptive billing system. All of this was to just give us what we signed up for, that's not too much to ask.

After about a ten-second delay of surprise, I shut off the power strip and went to unplug the cable from the TV. As soon as I touched it, I was zapped with a nice electrical charge. I thought it was really odd since the TV and DVR/tuner were unplugged. I then went and got my ohmmeter and checked for voltage, 68 dc volts was coming through the cable. I then turned my attention to the receiver in my kids' room. It had shut off with a nice smell of burnt electrical components in the air. I unplugged that TV and receiver and called Dish. I went to get the rabbit ear antenna and hooked it up to watch TV. What do you know? My 36" LCD TV, all $799.99 worth of it is fried. I called Dish, they sent a tech out, he replaced everything and brought in a part that was installed the day we moved in that had looked as if it had been hit with a welder, big burn marks on the side of it. The part was for DirecTV, not Dish. The tech said Dish owes me a TV.

I was to call the next morning to give his report time to be filed. I called and the fun began. I was transferred numerous times and finally sent to the voicemail of the person in charge of this issue (Bill at claims 877-772-4237). The following day, Bill at claims returned my call and without any discussion of the issue, in fact, as soon as he was done saying, "This is Bill at claims," came the famous words "This is not the fault of Dish Network. We did not send the first tech to your house and we are not responsible." They did get the "We are not responsible" part right, just in a different way. After hours of phone conversations with them, I gave up, cancelling service as I am typing. I have been on hold this entire time, by the way, it's December 16th. The incident happened on October 17th. Okay, I was just told I owe them a $99 dish mover fee, cancellation fee and they are sending boxes for the equipment. I told her I was sending them a bill for the TV and her reply, "Good luck with that." Small claims court?

I called Dish, only to get lost in computer-automated voices and never actually get a real person. Funny, I don't remember the salesman mentioning having to go through this every morning when he was trying to sell me on a 2-year contract! I think since they are obviously not keeping their end of the contract by providing a service that I am paying for, I should be allowed out of the contract!

Finally, the technician showed up at 6:30 pm, in the dark, not in their promised window of activity. There were no courtesy calls, no updates from DISH Network, I had to pursue the status myself. I again spoke with DISH Network and they suggested I let the technician do his work or I was free to cancel my service and go elsewhere. At this point, I'd already wasted 7 hours of personal/vacation time and I complained about that to DISH Network. Their reply was that "I should just take more vacation time" - which astounded me in its pure arrogance and contempt.

Finally about 7:30 pm, I had to assist the technician outside, in the dark, in 29 degree winds, with holding a flashlight so he could see. I was outside for nearly an hour, freezing. I had no choice, either I do that or cancel service and go to DirecTV - as I was told by DISH Network people. Finally, after getting the equipment installed, the technician could not resolve a remote programming issue and determined that one of the remote controllers (for TV2) was bad out of the box. He got another one from his truck (this is the second remote for TV2) and finally did get it to work, and finally left my house at about 10 pm that night.

We were exhausted and tired. Next morning, we discovered that the new TV2 remote also quit working. So I called DISH Network Technical Support for help. First time, they hung up on me. Second time, they transferred me and hung up on me again. Third time, I got a technician and then spent about 3 hours troubleshooting the equipment at which point the tech support person said it looked like a bad receiver and they would send a new one out immediately. It never happened. I called again on Dec. 8 and was informed that no receiver was going to be sent out but instead a third TV2 remote would be sent to which I replied that was not acceptable - and then they hung up on me again.

After calling again and getting a new support person, we took about 3 hours to walk through everything possible and again the tech support person said it appears this is a bad receiver and a new one would be sent out. Bottom line: I've wasted hours and hours of personal time trying to fix broken equipment and I still do not have an operating system. I've had to cancel out a business dinner, take vacation, spend 8-12 hours of personal time troubleshooting (while DISH Network only gave me script reading technical support was unable to figure anything out), been insulted, been hung up on, had to assist with the installation of an antenna in bitter cold December winds, on a ladder, and I still do not have a working system and I still have to commit more of my free time to getting this resolved. And yet, I'm told I need to pay them on time or my service is terminated - with prejudice.