DISH Network Reviews

I can email you a picture of the message. It said, "Attention 127, your smartcard is about to expire. Call 1-888-230-7836." When I called the number to explain that I do not have a flat screen TV and do not have Dish Network, I could not get a person. So I called info and got John, then Mary and then Rebecca. I should be able to have my phone number removed from an account I have no access to and both the cable people and Dish Net people told me I did not have a message on my TV even after I told them I have it on a VCR tape!

The conversation, with holds and all, took 45 minutes and she was irate that I took that much of her time. WOW, that got my blood boiling. I then was transferred to cancellation. This is where it gets good. The account specialist then told me that she would go ahead and waive the 24-month commitment period in order to keep my business. I asked her to make sure to take note of this on my account. I was skeptical and so I called back later that night. SHE NEVER NOTED THE WAIVED COMMITMENT PERIOD. Bad customer service is one thing but blatant LYING is unacceptable! If I never called, I would have had it installed and stuck to a 2-year commitment. This is an all-time low!

I called to figure all of this out and I was just basically told "too bad" and that it is my own fault, (for one, I never signed up for this, my husband did in my name!) and that they have the right to increase prices and that I cannot cancel due to being on a 2-year contract. If I cancel, they said there would be a fee of $240.00! They were really rude and very inconsistent with information. I would NEVER EVER recommend the DISH Network company to ANYONE! I sat on the phone for over 4 hours in the last 4 months trying to sort these extra charges out with them. I am in tears over this!!! Frustrated!

Well, today which is Sunday, I called because more money has been taken off of my credit card. Coincidentally enough, I just had the block on my card taken off and the man on the phone, Louis, told me I should receive the labels in about 10 business days from today. I have had several unauthorized transactions taken off my credit card. I even had it blocked until my heat went out and the only way I had to pay the $2,300 to get my heat fixed was to use my credit card. I took the block off and they resumed taking stuff out. I can’t get the block back on my card until the furnace repair bill comes off it, assuming I have any left on it after Dish takes all of it.

There was an unauthorized charge for $48.75 on September 17, 2008 and also a $2 charge the same day and on September 19, an unauthorized $146.28 came off along with a number of overlimit fees. On December 13, an unauthorized charge from Dish Network of $199 and a $2 charge were taken off. I am in the process with my card to dispute the charges and then put the charges from Dish back on my card on February 26 in the amount of $199 and $2. Well, on February 28, another $199 charge from Dish Network was taken out. When I called, my credit card company told me I had to wait until Monday to re-dispute the charge.

I’m living paycheck to paycheck and I had a credit card to use for emergencies but now I am afraid to use it because it has become solely my Dish Network card because of all the charges and they refuse to send me the labels. I have insurance almost $300 for auto due this month that now because of Dish I cannot pay. They also turned me over to collections knowing I couldn’t send it back without the labels and all I have is a shared cell phone, and the collections people call me every day and wasting all my shared minutes on my phone.

The first bill arrived, of which should have been between $50 and $55. The bill was $189.98. I spent two hours on the phone trying to rectify this situation with **. There was also a charge of $12 for the second DVR/HD receiver. It was questioned why as there should be no charge. ** suggested that he could eliminate the charge by installing one DVR/HD receiver with the same capability. I didn't believe it was possible, but I was convinced that DISH TV had this capability. I discussed this a number of times with **, and the installation was scheduled for March 1.

The installer called and arrived at 10am. He discussed this and lo and behold, only one TV can be HD/DVR capable and the second no. The installation was completed after a number of discussions with DISH network to exactly what I had with Direct TV. In addition, the signal was lost 5 of the first 7 days due to the dish being covered with snow. DISH could not send anyone out for several days. I believe the two DVR/HD receivers should have remained with no addition fee of $12/month. I should be able to break this contract with no additional fees, as I would switch back to where I was with DirecTV.

They are thieves and liars! Their install person also stole from my home. While he was installing in our bedroom, he stole one of my wife's necklaces off our dresser. I can't wait until this contract is finished. I am going back to cable TV. This has been a nightmare. I have called this company on several occasions and found that they are not even in the U.S. Your call goes to a foreign office in which the person on the other end of the line has such a thick accent that you can hardly understand what they are saying. They are flat out rude and refuse to honor their promises. I will never deal with this company again and will advise others not to as well. Their word means nothing. Their advertising is false and they practice deceptive trade.

I was actually counting on these gas voucher since everything is so devastating on our economy and my situation. Now, I'm stuck with my cable company having to pay a high amount that I will no longer be able to pay. But the contract is in place, so I will not be able to cancel until my expiration time. I was applying the voucher in lieu of the bill from the cable until I can manage to pay it on my own.

I spoke with operator ** at Dish TV and was told that there would be nothing owed. When I got my credit card bill, however, I saw that I was charged $50 for activation, (which they can keep) and $165.44 for early cancellation. I called to get this fee refunded, due to the terms of the original agreement, and was told that I was not going to receive any credit because I signed the agreement. I'm filing a complaint with the Dept. of Consumer Affairs in my state and contacting the consumer advocates of the four major television stations in Boston. I really don't expect any resolution, but I want it to serve as a warning to others to beware of Dish Network and their deceptive practices.

I will be charged an additional $8 per month for the remainder of my contract term. If I do not pay that amount, there is a possibility that Dish Network will damage my credit by reporting delinquent charges.

The first two weeks, I was having problems with the DVR and saw that they did not have the preschool channel 24-hour Noggin. I was later told Dish Network did not have the DVR that allowed you to tape 4 shows at once. The Dish representative on the phone was rude and told me that I was mistaken and I probably misunderstood. I phoned AT&T and told them of all the problems. They said they were sorry that I was misinformed by one of their representatives and could not cancel the 2-year contract unless I paid $300 to close the account. I feel I was basically lied to by AT&T and the Dish cable company and did not receive what I was promised.

I got my first bill and it was $383.16. After spending almost an hour on the phone, I got my bill reduced to $83.16. Then my next bill was $61.80. No, I just got a bill and its $108.00 and some change. They sent a separate notice that there is a rate increase, but not for certain packages, one of which I have, HD Gold. I spent over an hour on the phone trying to reason with someone about this bill and this rate increase, which should not apply to my package. Getting nowhere, I decided I would try again today. So I attempted a chat on line. That person (Sabrina **) was rude and condescending. She tried three times to ask me if there was anything else she could assist me with. I got sick of her so I kept her on the chat on purpose for one hour trying to get her to explain to me why I’m being given a rate increase when the letter I received told me I would not. She was no help. I disconnected the chat and filled out a survey accordingly. Not positive.

I called a service representative to see if they could be of more help. I was connected with a male that I could hardly hear because of so much static on his end. All he kept telling me was that he adjusted his headset the best he could. He offered no other help, other than to tell me of his headset adjustment. I hung up on him and dialed again. This time, I got a female who already knew my name. Funny, because this account is in my husband’s name. Hmm…so she tried to tell me that I do have Gold HD, but I’m still being given a rate increase even though I should not be according to Dish Network’s letter. She, as well as Sabrina on the chat, refused to admit that Dish had screwed up or that it was confusing.

I then reminded her that when I signed up for my 2 year contract with Dish in December that I was told by John that my bill would be $76.99. She said that she was sorry for the confusion??? She also tried to point out all the credits I was given on the past 2 bills. Those credits were billing errors made by them. So her solution was that she would credit my account $50.00 at either $5.00 a month for 10 months or $10.00 for 5 months. Yeah, like this will take care of their deception. I opted for the 10 month plan. I reasoned with myself that is it $5.00 less a month for 10 months. At the end of the 10 months, I will have only one year left of my mistake of having selected Dish Network.

Amazing, I took notes on my conversations with everyone, on all the issues I have had. Why don’t they keep track of their end of the conversations? Imagine all the people that just pay their bills who don’t dispute them and hold Dish accountable. Now, I’m stuck paying $85.19 (tax included) for service. What a rip off. I want to know why providers don’t allow a la carte choices for subscribers. Most of the channels that they say are legitimate channels are music stations. Who in their right mind would pay for those? It almost seems criminal what they are doing.

Dish Network is the worst company I ever dealt with. Don't sign up for Dish; they will rob you and they have horrible customer service.

Again, I talked to an operator on the 13th. He said that my card would be reimbursed the charges. I called back to check the status on the 15th and was told by an account exec, Ms. **, that Dish will not credit my account back. Not only has Dish committed fraud but the company that first installed the service had tried to charge my credit card in the amount of $1000. I have since reported every charge by Dish and any 3rd party of Dish as fraudulent purchases. I am in the process of hiring an attorney to pursue any and all criminal actions against Dish Network and any 3rd-party affiliates with Dish.

The third time somebody was supposed to come to the house, but no one showed up. So I called hours after he was supposed to be here and they said that the installer had cancelled the work because of no line of sight and I said that I told the person on the phone that he had line of sight before and I wanted somebody different because it seems like he doesn't want to do his job and they said okay, they will send somebody different, yet again. This time I waited all morning long and they told me they would be here in between 8 am and 12 pm. It was 1 pm and I called because no one showed up and they had me hold for about 15-20 minutes so they could find the guy.

Two men showed up around 5:30 pm and looked through the yard and found a good line of sight and told me there should not be an issue because there was a good line of sight so I told him to install the dish. They told me they couldn't because there was no work order because they were on their way home and were called to come here and take a look at it. They told me someone will call me with a time to come out and install the dish. But there were no calls so I called them and they told me my account had been cancelled and they would redo the account. Because of that, I had lost my bundle package but they did end up installing the dish and it works great.

I thought I was all done and taken care of until they started to take money out of an account they were not supposed to, and that was when I found out, because they cancelled the account, that I had lost my bundle package. So now my phone, internet, and dish are higher than I was told they would be. They also put my accounts in the wrong name. I called them several times to change it and they still haven't changed the name on the account. They set me up for auto pay which I was not supposed to be set up for. I have cancelled the phone and internet and have been trying to cancel the dish. They told me that I owed an early cancellation fee for having their service for less than a month and I'm spending hours on hold at least once a week. I am fed up, I have tried to resolve the issue with them and I really don't know what to do next!

I then went to the local police, took the formal complaint but had asked for account information or any financial transactions on the misuse. I checked my credit report but I don't see any fraud credit account opened in my name. The cop had asked me to come back with any evidence to initiate an investigation. While opening the Dish account, the rep asked for two forms of identification, one the SSN and second a credit/debit card with my name on it. So did the thief get a credit/debit card with my name on it? If yes, then shouldn't the credit report display such fraud account which I can identify and complain with the credit bureaus? Or did Dish TV went against their rules in not requiring the thief present the credit/debit card in the consumer's name to open the fraud account? Can Consumer Affairs help me on getting information from Dish Network?

I will cancel when my term is up... I also have horrible service: every time I watch a movie, it freezes. I wouldn't suggest anyone to order from this company (Dish Network). JUST HORRIBLE...

I was given a monthly price by the Dish representative that he guaranteed for 24 months, and now they tell me it can increase... Why would anyone sign a contract knowing that? They could increase it to $40 a month if they wanted. No one in customer service could answer the question; they just said the rep gave me false information. When I asked why I couldn't review the email that he sent me, they couldn't answer that question. Someone needs to regulate this company. They are as fraudulent as the day is long.

I again told them that no way was this ordered and they need to credit me back. They advised me that they can never credit back for Pay-Per-View. I asked for a supervisor and was told the same thing. They refused to credit me back. I cancelled my service right there on the spot. I told them to please send me a copy of all these charges with dates and times when they ordered. They refused. They said they can mail last month's bill only. They said that I can go online and get the information. They gave me my account number and told me I could access that information online. So I went online and when I put in the account number, they replied I must have an active Dish account and to please contact Dish. I went online to my bank and was able to pull the amounts debited from my account, which comes to approximately $256 of fraudulent billing of services not rendered. I Googled Dish disputes on billing and it turns out I am not alone. Help me. I don't know who else to turn to.

Then I find out from my neighbor, who pays $53 per month for Top 200 plus outdoor channel, that I was paying almost $80 per month for Top 100 without any additional channels. I called and complained and they reduced my bill to $46 per month ($40 plus local channels). I overpaid these people for three years now, and they refuse to give me any sort of refunds or credits. They are total crooks and anybody out there who can get free TV from them, I salute you. They ripped me off plenty.

Luis asked to be connected back to the lady that took the order to request the service be credited. At this time, the lady assisting my husband stated she would credit the account for $189.00, which was the amount charged, and ended the call. We watched only the games available, which were those televised, while the Lakers played away. We left on vacation to China for my brother's wedding on December 22nd and returned on December 29th. Roughly mid-January, I was going over the bills to make payments. I came across Dish's bill and noticed that the $189.00 had not been credited. Luis, in my presence, called Dish. The individual he spoke to after explaining the situation insisted he could not refund the charge because it was over 30 days. My husband explained he had no way of knowing this since he had it cancelled immediately thereafter and saw the existing bill after we had come back from vacation since it was posted on the new bill we were viewing. Luis insisted numerous times that he be connected with a manager, and angrily but professionally refused to hear any more from the customer service rep. The service representative disconnected the call.

Luis called customer service once more and had to explain the entire conversation to the new customer service rep who also insisted they would not credit the amount. Again, Luis insisted on talking with a Manager. He was connected to a manager and explained why he was disputing the charges of $189.00. The manager looked into our account and claimed that the lady that took the order advised Luis a credit would not be issued. Luis denied those allegations. "She never made such a statement. And if she had, I would have asked to speak to a manager at that time. Why on earth would I agree to pay for an amount being charged when the service could not be rendered? That in itself sounds ridiculous. How could you tell me I have to pay for a service you cannot provide? I could view the away games before I called you. I viewed them after I called Dish. You are telling me I have to pay you for something you cannot provide?"

This manager also insisted a credit would not be made. My husband refused the charge and asked the manager to cancel the service. We were informed that a box would be mailed in which the receivers would have to be shipped back to Dish Network. The call ended and within less than a minute, we no longer had the service since our television lost the cable connection.

We had Dish Network in Texas. My husband's company relocated us to Illinois. On 11/03/08 we called Dish Network to transfer service to a new location. Our instructions were to take the 2 HDTV boxes and 4 remotes with us. Service was disconnected on the Texas home. On 11/04/08 we arrived in Illinois. On 11/05/08 technicians arrived to install dish. A total of 4 technicians showed up for Illinois installation and it was determined that the current wiring in the rental unit was not adequate and rewiring would be needed. The technicians said they had no way to wire because there was no attic or crawlspace, and we were a middle unit. Also, they needed a letter from the landlord authorizing installation.

We made a call to the property manager, who said he could only email the owner with the request. They left and one technician returned on or around 11/10/08. Since I did not have authorization to install the dish on the roof, his suggestion was to put the dish on a pole and the wiring would be fed through the sliding door (which could no longer be closed or locked) and lay on the floor or be tacked to the walls through two rooms to the first TV set. The second unit was an upstairs installation and would require having these same wires fed through the open staircase, across the floor or wall to TV in bedroom. For safety reasons, we did not feel this was a viable solution and requested the technician to stop installation.

We called Dish Network to explain the problem and suggested that since we had only signed a 7-month lease, that we could put the billing on hold for that period until we could move (understanding that these 7 months would extend our initial contract). I spoke with so many people in customer service that day trying to get someone to help me. I finally asked for the cancellation department. I spoke with Sophia (ID #**). She said she could put my account on vacation status for the seven months and the charge would be $7 per month.

To show my appreciation and good faith, on 11/18/08 I sent a payment of $49.00 (7 months at $7). On 11/26 a bill was sent for 11/26/08-12/25/08 service in the amount of $146.12. Not the $7.00 as agreed to with Sophia (ID #**). Please understand that for this time frame, I do not have service. The dish was never installed. The property manager finally returned my husband's call and was told that the owner would not allow the dish installation on the roof. I have called Dish so many times and each time I get the response, "We have no record of your account being put on pause. You are under a contract and we can't do that. Sorry, you still have to pay the full monthly payment."

But for some reason, my 12/26/08-01/25/09 bill shows my monthly charge to be $33.xx. If there is no record of my call, then how did the billing amount get reduced? I am now receiving emails and phone calls from them saying that if I do not pay, my service will be cut off! I don't have service. I do understand that I am on a contract with Dish and that I have not fulfilled the contract. They, on the other hand, cannot provide service to me. I do not feel that I owe them for the $146.12 for November-December. Per my verbal agreement with Sophia (ID #**), I would like to see this amount reversed on my statements. I also want to make sure this will not affect my credit report.

On Monday, February 2, a couple men came and installed the dish on the side of my house. They had to put a wire through the wall in my basement to hook the satellite up to the rest of my house and I did not have a problem with that, as long as they sealed the hole up so that no water or anything could get in. This was where the problem started. On Tuesday, February 3, I went into my basement to find that the men who installed the wiring had bent a 2x4 that had an electrical outlet on it for my sump-pump. I called to complain about that and the person on the phone wouldn't even address the fact that it had happened. I fixed the 2x4 myself.

I decided that I did not like the programming and the fact that they wouldn't address the problem with the 2x4 and that I would cancel, so on Wednesday, February 4, I called to cancel the programming and have them come to pick up the dish. I was told by four different people (three on the phone and one with the online chat) that I was misinformed about the 72-hour cancellation. I was very upset and asked about my husband's orders and getting out, I was told that if he was stationed elsewhere, I would have to pay a fee to have it moved, or pay $300 to cancel, even though I just had it installed two days earlier.

I just spoke a lady on the phone (11:00 am) and she said that I could get out of the contract with my husband's orders if he is re-stationed and she would put it in my account records. I realized that the lady who signed me up either deliberately lied to me to get me to sign up, or didn't know what she was doing. Either way, I wanted to check my price to make sure she didn't lie to me about that. I was told by the gentleman that my price would be $46 a month and was very upset because I was told $34.99 with all fees. The gentleman I spoke with fixed that problem with the price and I now pay (I was told) $31 a month and he told me that my first bill would be for that price. I have not yet received that bill; however, I wanted it to be in here that that is what he told me, in case there are any issues with the first bill.

I am very upset that they lied to me to get me to sign up for their programming and that now I am stuck in a two-year contract unless I pay $300 to get out of it. They lied to me and then refused to do anything about it.

Finally after going back and forth with person, after person, after person, I said the hell with them and went with a local digital cable carrier. I know eventually I'll have to pay them anyway to get them off my back, but as for now they wont get paid. It's ridiculous the way they treat people. I'm just glad that I didn't set up my payments automatically because then they could have just charged my account the whole amount. Sorry about their luck this time!!!!

After a month or so, I started getting Dish Network bills. I called customer service and said that I now have Comcast. The guy I talked to said that I had to send back the equipment -- not just the receiver, but also the dish. Okay. So here I was in Texas, and I was not going to fly back to California to take the dish down. I had to call my old landlord and had him climb the roof, take it down, and send it back to Dish Network. He did this on the condition that he only had to pay half the deposit back ($600 instead of $1,200)...

So here I already lost $600 because of Dish Network. I called them back and said I have sent my receiver and had my dish taken care of. Now they told me that it was not necessary to send back the dish. I was on the phone for hours. They told me that they were going to waive everything I owe and I will not owe Dish Network anything.

Today, 02/02/09, I got a bill for $80 for cancellation fee. I called Dish Network again, and once again, I was on the phone for about 1.50 hours going over the story again and again. It looks like they don't put the information into their support tickets...Well, they said that they cannot waive the fee because they had no evidence that they promised me that the fee was going to be waived.

I called and spoke with David ** at 720-514-8555 ext. **; he promised it would be taken care of and he would call me. I never heard from him and he doesn't answer his phone. Now on Feb. 2, they yet again charged my account and when I called, this time they just outright hung up on me. Help. What do I do to get my credit card taken off and to get my money back? They are taking money that is not theirs and keeping me a single mother of two from buying her children food.

I called Dish Network tech support to get some help, and they just don't know what is going on. This is a new box. The tech support wanted to send a tech out to our house, but due to me working 2 jobs, I'm only home in the evenings; and she said that they only schedule until 5pm. I told her I didn't get home until after 6 and she said "Then when do you watch TV?" All I really want is for our TV to work. My children have Dish Network in their rooms. They have the black box and they never ever lose signal. We never lost signal until we upgraded to HD. When we first upgraded to HD, the company that your company uses came out and we had trouble with it after they left, so Dish sent out another tech and they found out that the head was loose. I was not happy after they came out and installed the new dish.

The gentleman that came out to our house to install the HD had to drill other holes in our wall. I feel like he could have used the ones that were there from the original box. He drilled a hole in our wall about 7 1/2 to 8 inches from the floor, which now we have to have a cabinet in front of at all times or it looks terrible. This hole is bigger than it really needed to be. We are very dissatisfied with the service. This has been going on for months. Also, I am not happy about Dish letting someone other than me turn my service back on. They talked to my boyfriend’s mom and let her make a payment and discussed my bill with her. According to customer service, they are allowed to take a payment but they were not supposed to let her be able to have my account turned back on. They also were not supposed to talk to her about my account. That is where the FERPA came in effect.

4-5 days later, I received the new receiver and it worked great. The old receiver was disconnected and placed in the box. The box was sealed, label affixed to the outside, and shipped back to Dish Network. I thought the process worked pretty well until I saw my next bill.

I pay with "Auto Pay" where monthly payments are automatically paid via a credit card. The next credit card statement indicated that I was charged the monthly service fee plus an additional $275 for damaged equipment. A call to customer service regarding the charge to my credit card resulted in less than helpful information. The "representative" could not tell me what was wrong with the "non-repairable" equipment. After demanding to speak to someone who could tell me, he told me that the equipment was missing parts that rendered it "non-repairable". I then pressed for a detailed work order to tell me what items were missing.

I have a little electronic knowledge, but not enough to salvage parts from a satellite receiver. I unplugged the power supply, disconnected the remote antenna (to be used on the newer receiver that did not have one provided), removed the memory card (to be used in the newer receiver) and disconnected the satellite antenna cord and the TV cord from the back of the unit. That was it!

After spending almost an hour of trying to receive details as to why I was charged for the receiver that I returned as instructed, I requested to speak to a supervisor and was declined. The CS representative stated that he would credit me the amount that was charged for the "damaged receiver" and this would take 5-7 business days. I thought that this was odd that they could charge someone's credit card without substantiating the charges. This is a big negative in participating in this kind of payment plan.

After two weeks of waiting for the credit, Dish Network took the next month's billing from the credit amount. It was as if they had my money and now they were going to hold it. I called again (end Dec '08) and asked that the credit be returned to my credit card so I could avoid finance charges. This time, the woman said that she made sure that the remaining credit would be returned to my credit card within 5-7 business days.

Two weeks went by and again I called. This time, I spoke with a CS representative that could not help me but referred me to a "supervisor". This "supervisor" stated that the previous CS Representative that told me to expect a credit to my CC did not perform her tasks completely to execute the transaction. He assured me that he would reimburse my CC the $275 (the original charge) and to expect this transaction to take 5-7 business days!

Today, I checked my CC balance and there is a credit of $19.18. I called and spoke to another CS representative who told me that the full amount was not released for reimbursement and only the $19.18 was available at that time. My account still has an $84 credit balance (only because they have prematurely debited the next month's bill from the remaining balance; billing date is the 4th of the month). She, too, said that she will make the necessary entry to have the now $84 credited back to my CC within 5-7 business days. I asked for the name of her supervisor and she gave me a first name and an ID#.

It has now been two months and 4 phone calls to this company without satisfaction. I also feel there was a false pretense to take money from my account without authorization except to pay monthly billing charges.

About two months ago, we started to have problems with our channels disappearing sporadically. I finally got sick of it and called them. Customer service, once you get a hold of them (use a landline, not a cell phone), wanted to blame our equipment and they would send out a tech to the house. We tried to explain the problem was not us and it was their system. The tech just went in circles for about an hour. We finally said forget it. We'll check our lines and call back tomorrow. So we raised the dish antenna higher on the house and cleaned all of our connections. I came in and checked my email because I had asked about some information on a 6000 series HD unit we had. I found out that the 6000 and the 942's had been discontinued and they were not going to replace the smartcards in them and to call customer support to set up for our free updated receivers. So we did that. We were just blown away by what they said.

To start out with, we told them what we had. The guy asked me the same questions over and over to the point of sickness. What came from that is it will cost $50 to update the 2-942 receivers and $100 for the model 6000 receiver. I wondered if we were to send them our old equipment, only to find out that they were going to lease the equipment to us. They told us they would send a tech to install our new equipment. They would not allow us to install our own, even though we always have done it ourselves. I forgot to ask how much the install would cost. They said it was going to cost us an additional $7 per unit per month and they wouldn't install anything in our trailer. At this point, I was afraid to ask how long the contract was going to be, so I didn't ask. As I see it, we get less for more cost. I'll probably find out that this means after 15 years of their service, I'll have to have a contract for 2 years plus we lose the freedom of satellite TV while traveling. We are extremely angry at Dish Network. They need to change their name to Dish cable.

I then tried calling again as my father to cancel and they said, "Did you not call before and say that he had been reported dead?" So, in fact, they knew he was deceased but instead of just accepting a grieving family's words, they now need an expensive 12 dollar death certificate that I must provide to cancel his oh-so-important television service. I am so distraught and dismayed by this that I am having nightmares and panic attacks just thinking that these folks cannot just quickly and swiftly cut the service. I hope the top boys and girls in the upper levels of management know what they are doing. What about the widows and widowers who are very elderly and can hardly maneuver when a loved one dies? They already have to deal with so much and something as unimportant as a television service asks them to jump through hoops when they are at the end of their rope! This must stop immediately and Dish Network should be punished for their cruelty.

I took off work today. Around noon, I received a call that due to bad weather, no one could come out (not to mention that their order didn't include bringing a receiver). The next scheduled appointment would have to be Friday and someone would have to be home. These people have no regard to customer service. It's all about their time, not the customer's, not to mention that we are still without service. I called Dish back to inquire about some type of loss of service credit and I was told in no uncertain terms that the repairman would have to send them a voucher if he thought it would be necessary. As if, the customer didn't know that best! Terrible, terrible customer service!

After continuous calls, I was told that my bundle package was not set up correctly with Embarq and it would be taken care of. Of all the personnel that I spoke with at Dish Satellite, only two were polite and sympathized with my dilemma. The rest (approximately ten) were extremely rude and unprofessional. I have never had a more exasperating experience dealing with a service company. They say their phone calls may be monitored. If they truly were, management should listen to how their employees treat their customers.

On December 23, 2008, I decided to cancel the channel. I used the Dish Network online live chat support and while speaking to a representative, I asked him if I would be refunded my money. He told me that I could not get a check in the mail or my money back, but he can post the credit onto my account. In order to confirm, I asked him if that credit can be used to pay my future bills on the account and to that, he replied yes. So in another words, I was again told that if I unsubscribed now, I would be credited back the remaining amount for the year. Due to what I was told, I decided to unsubscribe. I just received my statement from Dish Network in the mail dated January 5, 2009 and it did not contain any credit on it. I called Dish Network on January 9, 2009 and spoke with a representative regarding the lack of credit. She told me that she saw on the record that I unsubscribed to the channel, but it did not show credit.

After placing me on hold, she provided that the channel subscription was non-refundable and so I was not going to receive any credit. I told her what the previous representatives told me when I disconnected the channel. She said there was nothing she could do about it. I then spoke to a supervisor and he said that there was nothing he could do about it. He said that his records showed that the representative told me it was non-refundable. This was absolutely a lie. I was told something completely different from the previous representative, who said I would receive credit. I told him he could pull up the prior conversations I had as proof. Also, I explained and would like to reiterate that it does not make any sense that I would remove the channel and still pay the $256 for less than three months of service. If the representative told me that I would not get anything back if I unsubscribed, then why would I remove the channel? That would mean that I am paying for the channel and not receiving any service. Any logical human being would keep the channel no matter what, if they were not going to get money back for canceling it.

It is wrong for companies, such as Dish Network, to explain one policy to a customer, then have the customer rely on it, and later change the policy and subject the customer to it. Again, I was told I would be credited back my remaining balance for the days I did not use the channel. That was what I was told both when I subscribed and when I unsubscribed to the channel. Dish Network is now completely changing the policy from what they had told me initially. I think this is very unfair. I relied on their statements both when I subscribed and unsubscribed to the channel. I want my money back for the time period I was not receiving the channel because that is what I was promised. At the end of the last call, the supervisor told me that the least he can do is put the channel back for the remaining year. And at that time, I asked him if I will get the channel for the remaining months, meaning since I had the channel for 3 months, will I get it for 9 more months and he said no. I would only get it for whatever was left and he would not give me the service for the months that I did not have the service and yet paid.

I decided to not take that option because again, I was very upset and thought the whole situation was very unfair. Plain and simple, I did not want the channel. I told the supervisor that I was going to take the matter to court. I thought maybe they would call back and give me my money since I threatened to take the matter to court but I did not receive a call. I called them again on January 19, 2009 to try and negotiate. I thought maybe I'll just take the channel back and they can have the money. This time, however, when I called back, there was a new story. Unlike the last time when the supervisor told me that the least he can do is give me my channel back, this time the supervisor told me that if I wanted the channel back, I would need to again pay $256.67. This meant that all my money from last has gone to waste, and now I was to pay the same amount again for the channel.

Dish has claimed several times that the ABC station will soon be restored and they are actively negotiating with the ABC affiliate. Of course these claims change every time I call, which is weekly at this point. I have been promised a credit on my bill, but when we get the bill, the credit is either not listed or incorrect. Then it's a huge hassle to call, wait on hold, speak to someone, hold again, speak to someone else, be promised a resolution which doesn't pan out - over and over and over again. I'm sick of Dish and just want out of my contract without penalty, which of course they say they can't do. I'm paying them to provide something which is free over the air and they can't deliver? Why should I pay?

The Technician came with only a few wire ties and said that he could not do the work because it was not on the work order. My wife took off work for this installation. She got a representative of Dish on the phone so the technician & Dish could get the work order correct so they rescheduled. A few days later not the same Tech but two new people from Dish came. The mirroring of the receivers to be hooked up the access panel for the wires was not on the second work order and the charge of $125 was going to be an additional $450. My wife promptly called me to inform me of the situation. She was upset because the work could not be performed so they called Dish to verify again the work order. They wasted 1 hour plus. They affirmed to her that the work could not be done so my wife asked them to leave.

I promptly called Dish because of the confusion and disappointment due to loss of work not only for my wife but also the three techs. I was consoled by the Dish Account specialist. She assured me that she would get the box hooked up and she would waive the fee and another appointment was set for me to be present, on Saturday between 8 am-12 pm. Okay Hero. Saturday came and nothing happened. I called another Dish representative telling him no one had shown up and all he could do was say that the next available time would be Wednesday 12 pm - 5 pm. I hung up.

Cost of Service from Dish if all is well is very good. But aggravation and cohesion between the technician and representatives are awful. My problem is not yet solved and I want the problem solved. I would like someone to contact me who can get the work done and be able to assure me of this. Please Help Your Confused Customer.

So now they are telling me that my money and my equipment was charged to another credit card, not mine, the account ending in 2000 was credited the money, and they said they checked multiple times to see if the $525 was removed from my account and was not. So my money is missing. I have over $400 in bounced check fees, and none of the money is being returned to my account because according to them, my name and account together weren't used. Then they had the balls to say "We don't really know whose name is on the card." How can they do that?

All I know is that something is fishy. How can they have returned the money prior to me calling and complaining, and how come the person I talked to didn't know that the money was back where it belonged? By the way, it's not. They charged me $812.33 for a month's worth of service, and now thanks to their screw-up, I still owe them $67.33. I told them I was going to tell everyone I can about how they are a bunch of scam artists. They made me feel like a thief and a liar.

After talking with them, they said that someone would be out the next day. I had another person show up and he also said that he couldn't find line of sight. So I called Dish back to cancel my contract. They said that I couldn't cancel without paying an early termination fee of over $190. They also said that I still have to pay my monthly bill even though I can’t use their service. They said if I cancel, they will charge the fee to my debit card. I never received the receiver my son paid for, but they still charged him for it and have not refunded any money. I have talked to several different people at Dish, and they all give me the same answer. I can’t use the service but I can’t cancel it, and I still have to pay for it every month. They also told me that since no line of sight was determined by the "field service manager" that they can’t have anyone else come out here.

This makes no sense to me because they reactivated my service so they knew I was not cancelling. I told them that I would be charged several insufficient funds fees but they did not care. In my first call, the man said he would give back the $200 and put a 10-day promise to pay on my account so that it could be turned back on. I agreed and waited all day for the money to be put back and it wasn't. That's when I called back and talked to a few people and was put on hold forever while they tried to figure it out and then said no, that it was only credited to my Dish account to pay them and I was out of luck.

I called Dish Network, which has obviously outsourced its customer service to Asia where I listened to no less than 15 customer service reps give me the story that the original service order had transposed two numbers in my zip code. I simply asked that the next appointment be made where I would not have to miss half a day, and that it was the least they could do for me. Without asking, they gave me an appointment two days later with another five-hour range. I am so furious. There is no customer service with this company. They need competition worse than any other company, and I hope that they get it.

I have been going back and forth each month with AT&T for several months, and they have told me that the issue was resolved. Each new billing, I have the same problem with extra charges being added on for late payments. Their reps lied to me when they said they were having the charges taken off and then it wasn't. Something must be done to stop them from false advertising on their website.

I have tried to speak with you guys on this matter a few times and everybody says they can't do anything. This is no way to do business. You can't tell someone one thing and then do another. That's immoral. I would like someone to do something about this. I am tired of being shut down for something that was not my fault to begin with. If I had gotten better information on how to handle my account, I could have made arrangements to do so, and I wouldn't have to be going through this just to get service.

I called today, 1/5/09, to order my box and was told that I would have to endure the same ** that I had been through so many times before - rebooting, waiting for signal, etc. I was then informed that if it didn't go off within a minute or two, that she couldn't do anything about it. Considering that after the reboot I would receive a picture anywhere from 20 seconds to 5 minutes or so then it would go blank again, fortunately for me it did go off before we hung up. Well that wasn't sufficient either. We were now set for round two. We once again rebooted the system and I was told that she would wait a minute to see if it went off and if it didn't, then she wouldn't be able to send out a replacement. Fortunately for me again, it did before we hung up. The girl told me that she would send out another (refurbished box) and that it would take 3 days.

I asked about the credit for not having DVR service. She told me that she could only give me credit for the next 3 days that it would take to receive my box. "What about the past two weeks?" I asked. "Well ma'am, you could not prove that you didn't have service." "What about the previous notes? I haven't even been home for two weeks." Sorry about your luck. What the heck? To put the topping on the cake, she told me that this was a software issue causing all the problems and they have yet to get it corrected, so the new box might do the same. I was totally dumbfounded. If they knew the problem existed, then give out the darn credits for services not rendered.

This type of service is unacceptable (no wonder they require a two year contract). I am so sick and tired of consumers being bent over barrels so often. Until more companies face more class action suits for their misdeeds, we will always be at their mercy.

I had just talked to another representative on 12/29/08 and this person said the boxes were shipped on 12/16/08 which was invalid information because we never received the boxes. She then continued to say this matter would be taken care of. I called them on Jan. 1, 2009 and they still have us on active customer service and we are receiving phone calls about a past due bill which was supposed to be our final bill that was sent to us after we canceled the service. Now, we are receiving phone calls threatening us that we have 7 days to return the equipment or they were going to charge us full amount. They have still yet not sent the boxes which they are required to do and they still have us on file as active.

We know we have a final bill to pay in the amount of $62.50 but why should we go ahead and pay this before they send us the boxes we need to send the equipment back? When they do this, then we can pay this final bill. I don't know what kind of business they are running, but my wife has done nothing but go back and forth with them on this issue and I want something done. She has been authorized on the account to make any changes and they, it seems, are refusing to do anything and just want money and try and charge us for equipment we are trying to return. And we feel like they are going to try and come up with some off the wall things to keep us on file as active customers when we have continued to call and they still won't update our account, and still have us active with late charges.

We have not had service since Nov. 08 and it was supposed to be canceled on Dec. 10th, 2008 by us, the consumer. The last rep I talked with was a Racheal ** on 12/29/08 and she said that we would receive boxes in 3-4 days. We still have not gotten them, and are still getting recorded messages about the equipment.

I called her back and told her that she can't just hang up on me. She said that she is busy with other customers and doesn't have a time for me. I asked for her name and told her that I am going to complain about her. When I called to the customer service to tell what happened, I was told that my account has been closed due to supposed call from me. They told me that I supposedly told them that my landlord didn't agree to place cable in my apartment which I never did. They also told me that if I want to have a Dish Network, the only way will be if they run my credit again. I ended up having inquiry on my credit report, not having cable on New Year's Day, being charged $89 for installation which never took place and getting a lot of stress.

I was at the pump trying to get gas and I couldn't because my account is overdrawn and I’ll be getting 7 non-sufficient fund fees from my bank due to this charge. They told me they can't refund my $600 until the equipment returns to them which could be 3-5 days and there take no responsibility for the over limit fees I incur with my bank and they told me that most banks waive that. It's like why should my bank waive it and what if they don't? 7 charges that's close to $400 in fees - that's insane and they take no responsibility for that? INSANE, I'll be staying away from them for good.

The installer came out and told her nothing about any charges that were going to be made to her credit card that she never gave them the information to be able to use it, that came from Dish Network. Dish Network then says that has to be taken care of through the installer, but the installer isn't the one that my mother gave the credit card information to and Dish Network will not give the information for the installer nor will the address the free installation issue either. To add insult to injury, the credit card company says so far that Dish Network did not use her credit card wrongly even though they did not have authorization to use it at all, let alone give the information to another party for them to use it.

Had she known that this was going to be done, she would have refused to sign up for Dish Network. I am currently working to contact BKZ Communications, they are suppose to be the installers for this set up. What scares me the most is the fact that this is not considered a problem for HSBC credit card company. This is not a dispute for an unpaid bill. Even though the contract states that it will cost $240 to be done with Dish Network, Dish Network will not put that in the writing that is going back and forth between them and myself. I just get this nice e-mail declaring their innocence in the whole thing and how important their customers are to them. I am concerned with what they will be able to do once I pay the money to fulfill the contract.

I don't know if there is enough information, I will gladly supply whatever is needed including copies of the e-mails so far with Dish Network and HSBC credit card company. I hate to hold the installers at fault, they are responding to Dish Network's directions and I hate the Dish Network is trying to place all of the blame on them. I am sure they naturally assume that when they are given the credit card information that they have permission to use, I only wish they would have verified it with the customer. I know that in this e-mail I am venting, but I really do want to pursue this, so please let me know what I need to provide you with. If nothing else, thank you for listening.

There are too many television programming options out there to compete with Dish. If this is indicative of Dish TVs service in the future, I, for one, will be changing service. After trying to get through to Dish customer service last night (via the telephone number indicated on the press message?), I'm confident most Dish subscribers agree.

I called the next day about the equipment that was listed on an email confirmation and asked again about the prorated price. Again I was assured that two-thirds was the price. My equipment was installed yesterday (December 8, 2008) so I called about ordering Center Ice and was told that it was only available at the full price in spite of what I may have been told previously. Eventually, I was given the early bird price which was $159 instead of $169, but I feel that I was cheated. I probably would not have ordered the Dish Network if I had known that I would not have a prorated price.

I realize that this is not a large sum, but it speaks volume for their marketing practices. I have unfortunately committed to a 24-month contract and fear what other issues may arise in the next two years. I just want other people to be aware of the devious practices employed by this company in signing up new customers.

However the gas voucher is ridiculous! They want me to send in $15 to redeem this pathetic black and white copy of a certificate so then I can get $10 rebates once a month when I try different gasoline companies. Oh my gosh. You've got to be kidding me. I contacted the company. They couldn't find my account for a while and tried to get me to call a different dish company. I insisted that my account was with them. When they found it, I explained how this was false advertising and they said it wasn't because it said that the $100 free gas was subject to terms. The problem is you can't even see those terms until 3 months after you've signed up with dish and have persistently pursued the company to even send you these gifts. It is absurd and I plan on never signing up with Dish again.

The rep told me that it would be another week before someone could come out for installation. I pressed him to get faster installation and was transferred to the installation dept. When I talked to that dept, they said no order for me existed and that I would again have to start over. Which I did. The next rep informed me that the problem was that I hadn't waited 6 months since cancelling my last account with Dish. I told him that I had to move out of that house due to a marriage separation. My husband was using the Dish service at the old address in a new account in his name. Dish informed me that I would have to send them a copy of the divorce decree! I decided to go with cable. Which I really didn't want to do considering Dish has all the channels I enjoy but this was getting to be too much especially considering the immense amount of time I spent on hold and going from one dept to another on 3-4 different times.

Then in late Sept, I received a bill for $426.98 for equipment fee? Was I now being punished for not sending in a divorce decree (which by the way hasn't been finalized)? What is going on? I sent an email to their customer care email explaining everything in detail and my response was "Thank you for your e-mail. We do apologize for the inconvenience. Based on our records, the charges on the account includes the equipment fees for a total of $400. The total balance on the account is $426.98. We thank you for allowing us to be of assistance to you. If you have any further questions or concerns, please refer to www.dishnetwork.com or reply to this email."

Recently, my husband (still not divorced) was found to have terminal cancer & I was at home with him while he was dying (he passed 12/4). While I was there I got a call from a rude collection agency concerning this equipment bill. Luckily, I was able to find the UPS receipt even though it had been 4 months. I really loved Dish channels but it will be a cold day in hell before I ever use them again.

I have been going through a divorce. I left with basically the clothes on my back & my son. I lost everything I had before the marriage & ended up deep in debt. Dish contributed to the hell I have been going through. I followed the guidelines set by Dish by cancelling the account after my husband had his account set up & mailing back the boxes. I did what was morally right & stayed by my husband's side in the last weeks of his death regardless of how he badly he had treated me. But even there, Dish had to contribute to my misery. I was already drowning in sorrow & was barely functional as it was but when they called harassing me at his house as he lay taking his last breaths, telling me to shut up & not interrupt them; it really broke me down.

My husband's funeral is tomorrow. I only hope the collection agency doesn't call the house where his nieces are joyfully dividing up his property amongst themselves while I am left saddled with his debt. What if I couldn't have found the UPS receipt? Would my credit be ruined or it could still be. When will these companies take responsibility for their mistakes. I have spent hours & hours correcting big companies mistakes. BOA once lost a payment I made for $4,000.000. It somehow went to Sprint (I have never had an account with Sprint).

Sprint refused to refund the money, BOA never credited my account fully for the interest on that $4,000.00 & it took me almost a year before I finally had to have the bank the check was drawn on trace & retrieve the money. Sprint & BOA never would admit culpability. I'm so worn down by this constant & increasing corporate greed & loss of customer care. It breaks my heart to see our tax dollars spent to bail these people out so they can continue to suck the lives out of their customers.

Well my phone company sent out another bill, which showed that I still had Dish Network service. When I called the phone company, they never received a cancellation. I was then transferred back to Dish and told that I was not eligible to cancel without a penalty. I explained to them that to check their notes from 11/5/08, that would show that I've been through this already and that I'm no longer under contract. They were still trying to sell the product to me and totally ignored my cancellation request. I finally told the rep., "look I want to cancel the service and that I had already switched to Direct TV". What did I say that for? The rep. became rude and went on to tell me that I would be charged for cancelling my services and for the equipment that I had not returned. He even wanted me to return the remotes and the center plate in the satellite dish (are they serious).

To add insult to injury, I was told that I would need to return the equipment. I kept it for 30 days and when I didn't hear anything else about it, I threw it away. Two days later is when I found out they wanted the equipment back. Here's my thought, Dish Network is scamming consumers out of their hard earned money because the company is having a hard time during these tough economic times. I reviewed several of the other complaints on this site and the majority occurred since we have been in a recession.

Think about it, when money is tight, people cancel phone and cable services first. Therefore, they are trying to screw people out of money to offset their lost. No one informed me that I needed to return the equipment, and I talked to a Supervisor. I think that we all need to get together and sue this company for gauging the consumer. I wouldn't recommend Dish Network to anyone, they are crooked, rude and negligent. I want an attorney to call me so we can get this suit started. There are enough complaints on this website to do so, I would think.

I feel like this whole situation was a come on to get me on their service roll. I feel like they didn't really intend to install the DVR receiver. So that I could not take advantage of the promotion. I noticed today however, that if the customer has a PC - they can order the promotion and get the free DVR receiver and the free DVR service as stated for 12 months. I would not recommend DIRECTTV to anyone who is thinking of changing their service. As soon as my agreement of 18 months is fulfilled, I'm terminating the Service.

Well he got back on the phone with those stupid idiots and naturally they have no record of me ordering 3 so they charged me ANOTHER $199.00. Here is where it gets interesting. The techs were getting ready to go and I was looking at the DVR remote and I was thinking, "Ok, where is the DVR and the record button???" Not on that remote, so I asked one of the techs, "Can you show me how to set up the DVR?" And he said, "You just have a regular HD receiver." I was hot, and I told them at Dish Network that I wanted a HD DVR IN MY BEDROOM!!

Well, according to the techs, I had to take it up with Dish, so I did. Finally 2 days go by and I finally get it. Everything was running smooth until I get my bill. Remember I just got their service not even a month ago. It was $420.24. You want to see someone really mad??????? I have M.S. plus I receive SSI and we told them that we couldn't afford it and to downsize it by 2 packages and Mario said that's fine. I wanted the one package for $68.88. Ok that's fine. Well the 2nd of December, I called to see what my balance was on my SSI debit card. I only had like just over 100 some dollars. Those jerks still took out their money when we told them not to!!! I really need help. If anybody out there, please help me.

So, now, 6 months later, the disputed balance remains and continues to accrue $5 late fees, which also do not get paid, since they are disputed along with the original disputed balance. I continue paying my undisputed $100/month bill as usual. In retaliation apparently, Dish has deliberately degraded my service, as it is continually getting these non-specific error screens which just say press the up-or-down arrow key to change channels. Those along with SID error pop-ups, nag-pop-ups threatening to cut off our service if we don't pay now, etc. I'd say the pop-ups occur at least every 10-15 minutes. Constantly.

The last time I talked to a rep on the phone, they just tried to schmooze me and connive me into believing their totally screwy theory about why my late payment in July resulted in the next bill being $200, but which completely overlooks the fact that that bill did not credit the payment that was made, albeit late. So, they refuse to acknowledge that there was a double bill, and they have yet to acknowledge the payment that was made, regardless of the timeline juggling act the rep tried to confuse the issue with. They're well practiced at sophistry, that's for sure. Needless to say, I informed that rep that talking on the phone with them was pointless, I had provided the proof of my argument to them by letter, and that I expected the same from them. The rep became completely uncooperative at that point. I guess they don't want to be constrained by proof & logical argument.

I was advised of the "specials" at the time and was told there is a required deposit of $199 to start the cable service. I agreed to this, and provided my debit card information. After the transaction was complete, I then inquired about receiving internet service as well. I was transferred to an alternate provider, who advised me after taking all my information that DSL was not available in my area. They then explained I would have an option of Satellite internet, but explained that this was an ADDITIONAL deposit of $199. Unacceptable.

At this point, I told them just to cancel everything, to NOT charge my card a penny, that I would go elsewhere for cable and internet packages that would be cheaper. At first glance, they advised me it would take 7-10 days to refund my money, to which I again explained this is unacceptable - as it took them seconds to withdraw from my account! I asked to speak with a supervisor, who put me on hold, then came back and said the fastest they could refund it would be 3 to 5 days.

Now, here I am a week later. Not only has this money NOT been refunded to me, but it has been withdrawn from my bank account and resulted in overdraft fees because each time I called back I was advised it would be taken care of. 8 days later and I still have no resolution!!!

So I called and emailed the supervisor that was suggested on my bill, and I was doing my bill paying online as well. And I heard NOTHING as far as an answer to the emails or to any phone calls. The next thing I know, then there it was, a withdrawal for $170 then a few minutes later one for $400. I then went to my bank and the bank put a dispute on my account and I then called Dish Network and a real nice lady apologized and informed me it was a big mistake and someone should have contacted me. I was so furious by this time, I do not know how to describe the feeling and I am so happy my bank took off the fees and disputed the withdrawal. But then Dish Network did replace the money about 2 weeks later and then about a month later retracted it again and I also sent back the equipment and they finally did refund me $400 but will not refund the $170 and are now saying I still owe them over $500 for installation fees and a back bill, which I told them, "huh? what back bill, you turned off my services and you told me it was free installation." I have currently turned them into the states attorneys, this is outrageous and no one should have to go through this!!! and YES do NOT get them for your satellite provider!!! BEWARE of all their promotions and their hype.

I finally received my first bill and realized what had happened with a bill in late August 2008. I spoke with the DISH Customer Service department and had a shipping box sent to me. The unit was shipped by UPS and was received in El Paso, Texas on September 12, 2008. The tracking number is **. I was left with the impression that the matter was cleared. Until I received another statement in October for $404.00. Again, I called the DISH Customer Department, provided the tracking number, and was again told it had been taken care of. I received one more statement about 3 weeks later still showing the $404 balance.

I called DISH Customer Service and was again was assured that it had been cleared after providing the tracking number again. The last call was also to ATT since this was part of a bundle package. An ATT Customer Service representative spoke with the DISH Representative and the full matter was cleared and was assured by both DISH and ATT that it was all taken care of. Because they have already received the unit on September 12, 2008 as proven by the Tracking Number, I do not owe DISH any money. Please advise your customer if I obtain one more bill from them concerning this account, regardless of the amount, I will file a complaint with the Texas Public Utilities Commission and consult my attorney in regards harassment as this should have been easily resolved several months ago.

Recently we came to the decision to discontinue our Dish Network service. We were told over the phone on November 21st, 2008, to end our contract obligation, it would cost us $52.53 to prepay this bill and end the service. On this day as well, we were informed that our leased equipment would have to be shipped back within a certain time period or we would be charged for the equipment. At no point in time were we informed that our final bill would be automatically deducted from our old bank (old account) which brings us up to today.

Upon reviewing our old checking account, we saw the automatic deduction and inquired to the number given on our bank statement. That number is 800-333-3474. We spoke with Mike who informed us that the automatic deduction had been taken out through the system without any type of notification whatsoever. This caused our old bank account to be overdrawn and that bank charged us an overdraft fee of $28.00 in conjunction with the final bill of $28.56. During this call, I asked Mike who had authorized the deduction because it is an automatic deduction and was not authorized by us. He apologized and offered to refund the amount withdrawn and bill us properly for the final bill amount total. Upon asking whether or not Dish Network would compensate us for the overdraft fee of $28.00, we received no answer at all.

After the hurricane struck, I called your company to cancel my service. Your representative strongly suggested that I just transfer my service to the house that I was and currently staying at. I told her that I did not think that I had line of sight since it is a very wooded lot. She said that the technicians might be able to find a spot and that if they could not that my contract would be cancelled. I also explained to her that I did not have my equipment and that it was lost along with my ENTIRE house. We rented the property and did not have renter's insurance or could not file it with any other insurance. She stated that I would not be charged for the lost equipment. She also stated that they would bring a replacement set of equipment when the technicians came out.

When the technicians came, they stated that I had no line of sight and that a second technician would come out to verify this. Several days later, I received a phone call from YOUR representative and that the second technician came out and that he confirmed that I did not have a line of sight. She said that I would be released from my contract. I confirmed once again that I would not be charged for the lost equipment. On October 23rd, I again called to confirm that my account had been cancelled and that I would not be charged for the equipment and was told that my contract had been cancelled and my equipment charge had been waived. This was the last contact I had with your company.

Imagine my surprise when I looked at my online statement for my credit card had been charged for $501.00. I did not have my credit card on file with your company, not set up for automatic payment, and had not authorized any charges on my credit card. Luckily, it was declined! I then called the customer service line and spoke to a very unconcerned man that said that my service had been terminated on November 15th due to nonpayment and that I needed to return your equipment.

I once again explained that I did not have your equipment and that I had cancelled my account and the equipment charge had been waived. He said that they had no record of my account being cancelled. You had no record of a second technician coming out to verify the line of sight issue, and no record of my equipment charge being waived, and no record of anyone calling me. I once again tried to call and talk to your customer service department today three times!!! I was disconnected once, told that I could not talk to a supervisor, and told that I have no recourse in this matter.

I have also talked to other people affected by Hurricane Ike and were also charged (unauthorized) for equipment fees after they were told they were waived. If this is how you treat your loyal customers when they have had their entire life gone, then I will make it my personal conquest to repost this letter to as many people as I can. Maybe, just maybe, it will make someone think twice before signing up for your wonderful service. Thanks also for the box that I received by UPS this afternoon so that I could return your equipment. If I lend you my snorkel and flippers, you are more than welcome to try and find your precious equipment. I suggest first looking around Goat Island in Galveston Bay.

Shaking, and scared to death, I answer my phone with my own phone number showing up in caller ID. It was Dish Network. I am so mad, and still a little scared and shaking, and for some reason, I think it may be against FCC rules that anyone can pretend to use my own phone number, something about fraudulently accessing my number. Can Consumer Complaints check this out for me, please? Feel free to email me or call me at the above listings. Thank you so very much. I will try to calm down, now.

Well, the agent said there are additional features I can only receive if the receiver is plugged into a phone line. They offer, Pay-per-view, customer service help and bill pay. First, I have no use for a home phone. It's an added expense I don't need as my cell does everything and is mobile. I already pay my bill electronically though my financial institution, and lastly, in 8 years, I have never requested a PPV movie. I am downgrading my package, so where would this extra money for PPV movies come in handy? To me, this is just additional optional services offered which I do not plan to utilize, but am being penalized for. It's pretty ridiculous.

I have two other rooms that have Dish connections but not DVR boxes and I haven't had any problems with them. Dish Network has THE poorest service I have ever dealt with. I am beside myself with frustration and anger! 1) I want either a technician to come to my house and FIX the problem, or I want to discontinue service, without ANY penalties! 2) I want my account taken off auto pay and my payment information deleted from your system. 3) As well, I have tried numerous times to remove my son and his ex-wife from this account because they do not live here any longer and I have been the one to pay the bill from day one. I hope this matter gets resolved or I WILL call my attorney.

Finally after a month, I called technical support and they verbally instructed me on troubleshooting. This did not cure the issue. Was informed that a technician to the residence would result in a charge. At this point, I was told by the technician that there was nothing more that they could do and to just wait and maybe the problem would go away. I waited another couple of months and nothing changed. I called to cancel my subscription and was told that I would be charged a $200 cancellation fee for violating an 18-month contract that I never signed. Was offered a technician to come to the residence at no charge. I declined. Told them to cancel my subscription and that I would get a lawyer.

The next morning, I called. Again, I was hung up during transfer. I called back, and was then told I wasn't on the account and only my husband could cancel service. I could only modify service. I called again, and was told the same thing. That night, we called seven more times, each time we were dropped during transfer. My husband re-added me on the account the fifth time as a full joint account holder. Finally, the last guy gave us the direct number to call a customer service associate to cancel the service. We had asked for the direct number three occasions prior and was denied - What a nightmare!

It gets better. The dish next to never worked and the repair tech never showed up. Also, never got the gift card or rebates and Dish Network stated they never got the required forms, which with the phone records I'm using in the lawsuit set for December 29th of 2008 will show they in fact did. How does the phone record show this? Simple. The forms sent in I put my Cell phone number in, not my home phone and for a company who claims they never got the forms, somehow are able to call me on my cell now with new promotions? Also, let it be known that the promotions form they sent 3 weeks after installation had expiration dates showing the entire form expired 8 months earlier, yet they offer them over the phone.

Dish Network states I also never called them for any problems yet if you check out Ripoffreports, you will see my report from date of installation on their illegal antics. After 4 months of no service, I told them they either fix the service or I will not pay another dime. They offered me $5.00 for my inconvenience and told me if they sent a tech out, I would have to pay $29.00. I then informed them to cancel the service but refused to unless I paid an early $375 disconnection fee which states it on the contract I signed. Oh yes, the contract I didn't sign which was what the tech brought that I refused to after he put the dish on the roof. Also before I forget, Dish Network told me that form overrides any agreement I have with AT&T. Didn't sign it, so actually am under no obligation.

I ended up downloading my shows instead of getting them through Dish Network. If you think things can't get worse, they did. Dish Finally agrees to sent a tech out November 9th of 2008 to repair the problem at no charge, and even put it in writing that the dish was installed incorrectly and had to be aligned to pick up the satellite, connections not covered and holes drilled on roof not insulated hence the water damage. All in writing too. Two days later, they turn the service off because I refused to pay past balance for service I have not received and now offered only two months credit, despite the fact they have a copy of the court Subpoena for December 29th, 2008 and actually stated that yes, they acknowledge the subpoena, and that the amount is disputed, but no one is going to enforce the law that requires them to give me service as long as I pay the non-disputed amount.

Now mind you, I have only been paying for Internet and phone service. Suddenly, my internet is restricted along with the phone and this has been paid for on a monthly basis. When I called AT&T in regards to this, they also acknowledge the subpoena, and state as long as there is a balance with Dish, they will not lift the restriction. Hence they refused to upgrade my internet to the Elite 6.0 MBPS service. So I added them to the small claims case and guess what happens? They start adding phone services to my phone I did not ask for and, when I called them up, their only comment is they will not remove them unless I agree to their new package terms. Went to my local police department to file credit card fraud.

Let it be known, that none of the federal agencies are willing to prosecute or enforce the laws that outright state companies like this aren't allowed to do this. Great example is 20 years ago, AT&T got into a lawsuit with me and lost $26,000. Guess what? They never paid and the court in NY was unwilling to help in recovering this. Had both state and federal government enforced the laws and fined these big companies like they're suppose to, and enforced judgments as well, I doubt this would be happening to many people.

The service was cancelled, the refund check received, the equipment returned (make sure and keep all copies of the UPS label) and now I have received a bill for $159.00 for unreturned equipment. I emailed feedback and have kept all emails from Richard ** at Dish Network. He continuously apologizes for any inconvenience, but will not zero out our statement and indicates that until the equipment is returned he can't zero it out. I have the proof of delivery, date signed, and received... So what more is a person to do?

I have filed form 2000F with the FCC and I am waiting to hear from them. I will also file a complaint with the BBB. Something needs to be done about Dish Network and their fraudulent billing people for equipment that was returned. To top it off... I've paid rental on this equipment long enough to pay for it probably over 10 times. DON'T USE DISH NETWORK.... Stick with your local cable company... And don't sign contracts to watch TV.

Luckily, my husband use to be an installer for Dish Network, so he knew what was happening. When we moved, our receivers were programmed. Now there is a # (and I can't remember what it's called) but if you have someone close that has the same # programmed as well, they can order things and it would be billed on you. So my husband explained that to a tech on the phone and she agreed with him and told him he was right. Now, when this # was changed, it can change the other person's as well. It's just a random thing, but common. Well, I had to go all the way to Executive Services for this to be taken care of, so every month, I called and talked to the same Rep in Executive Services. We did have to move again, and I didn't have any issues after that, with that particular problem.

Then, when I thought everything was good, we had the same issue about getting our bill mailed to us. I just had a baby, just got transferred to another state, so we had things on our minds, as you can imagine. So, it's our fault for not paying attention and paying our bill, but by the time I noticed, which was about 2nd month w/out getting one, we were shut off and every charge that you can think of was deducted from our Debit card. I couldn't believe it!! We make a mistake by not paying attention, but it's ok that they not send us our bill, or give us a courtesy call about a past due amount?!

Once again, I talked w/ our Rep in Executive Services. I told her we want to pay it, that's not the issue, but we aren't paying the $800 something that was taken! She did fix our acct, refunded any bank charges. We paid what we owed, and when she began applying credits onto our acct to refund us for charges, it gave us a credit balance. Which tells me, I don't have to pay anything this month. Boy was I wrong! Even though we had a credit on our acct. we still got shut off! I was explained that, the computer sees that there is no payment made on the acct, therefore, shuts the acct off. Is it me, or does that not make any sense? Once again, our rep, had to take care of it. Since she couldn't apply the credits on the acct all at once because of that, she did it in parts. So we made our payment in Aug. Got our bill in Sept. had a credit balance. Then, we moved back home where we are from, got our bill, had a balance of $20.70 that was due, and then our current charges.

We never got the bill for $20.70 so I;m guessing it was lost during the move. We paid the $20.70, which leaves our current balance, not due yet. Last night, we get home. We are shut off again!!! And you know what their excuse was? Since we didn't make a payment in Sept. and we were shut off 3 times in 6 months, we had to pay the full balance to restore. I about flew off my handle!!! So today, I have written a letter to the BBB in Colorado. I am sick and tired of dealing with all this. I'm sick of dealing with horrible customer service. Dish Network should be ashamed of themselves.

When we called DishTV, they were rude and hung up on us because we simply asked to be shown where these exceptions are stated and requested they honor what is advertised on their website. We talked to several people and no one was even decent toward us and when I said I would like to cancel my subscription they informed me I signed a 24-month commitment and it would cost $240 to cancel. I stated they offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee and I was not satisfied. They said someone else would call and she hung up on my wife. No one ever called.

I never ordered these movies and they will not look into it. They say someone in the house is ordering them but at the times of these movies that are supposed to be ordered, it's just me and my dogs and I know they aren't calling Dish and removing my locks. They have refused to take them off my bill. I have talked to numerous people in the area with satellite and they all told me that Dish was doing that to them too.

Bottom line: too bad, since they were able to get our credit card number they would use it however they wanted. We were told by Dish that we could file Fraud charges with our bank, but they would not refund our $400.00 unless forced too. My Advice, Consumer Beware! Doesn't come close to protecting a person when these business practices are used. DISH NETWORK RIPS YOU OFF ALL THE WAY TO THE BANK.

So, I had to reschedule the appointment for the following weekend. The tech called after my phone call with DISH, to advise that he had come by, no one was home, and that he had come into the back yard to check the cables. The tech apparently didn't bother to latch the gate, so my dogs got out that afternoon. LUCKILY, I happened to be in the front yard at the time, so they didn't go anywhere. One of the dogs is deaf, never goes out by herself, and could have easily been struck by a car. To top it off (I later find out), the cables were never fixed that day anyway.

Another technician comes the following week. Discovers the cables outside are loose, and tightens them up. The problems with reception/service resolve (apparently). Now, the original request for the technician visit was under DISH NETWORK'S 90-day installation warranty, and so the visit should have been free. However, Dish has charged me $29.00 for the visit (not much, I know, but the principle counts), and refuses to reverse the charge, saying that the request and visit were outside the 90-day window. I counted the days, and my initial request was solidly inside the 90-day window.

Then 2 months later it quit working again, and again were without tv for approx 12 days. No charge this time due to being within a certain number of days from previous repair. When over the next 3 months we had over 72 days of not being able to receive some channels at all, and others went in and out... I emailed and cancelled the account. They responded by email that I would have to call which I did on 9/24/08 to the customer service and was then switched to the account specialist to disconnect. I went thru their whole spiel of charges and even told them to go ahead and ship the boxes to pickup the unit, and then told them I would dispute any remaining contract charges due to ineffective service and the lemon equipment they provided that worked less than half the time.

After they argued with me that they would still charge me for balances, I told them to ship the boxes and hung up. 2 weeks later I received my next bill. I emailed and told them I cancelled the account and would not be paying, and they told me to call. I emailed back 3 times telling them that I did call and disconnect, and they said I still needed to call in. Well I finally called in and was told the account was not closed because I did not let the representative to her satisfaction tell me of my rights and responsibilities. We will now see what happens from here. I do not plan to ever pay this company for defective equipment, poor service and very poor customer relations. And if there is any further update to this information I will update this information.

I said I think DirecTV is giving free everything but since it is not installed in my home it doesn't do me much good! All I got was attitude, no satisfaction. It may cost me $240 or so to cancel, but it is not about the money. It is about the service! The only thing that scares me JD Power rated dish #1 in service? How bad is DirecTV going to be? And who rates JD Power?

On 10/26/08, I received a bill from Dish Network saying that I owe for the equipment which was not returned. The representative stated that the equipment must be mailed back to them and that there was not a close location for me to take it to them. I feel as if I the company is being less than honest with me; although, it may simply be an innocent error on their part.

I was eventually transferred to Dan the Floor Manager and he said the same thing. I signed up in June and they have nothing to say that I ordered it, but that I must have. I again and again told Dan that these were unauthorized charges and that I wanted them removed. Not to mention this is a partial payment, so they are going to continue to bill me. I literally said, "You snuck these charges onto my bill, and are willing to lose me as a customer over this?" And was told that there was nothing that they could do. I asked for Dan's manager and was told that there was not one. Perfect.

I asked to be transferred to someone that I could lodge a formal complaint with and was told that there is not a person I could be transferred to, but that if I would take down an address I could write a letter. I could not believe the absolute indifference to me, the customer, and what was fair. Several times I asked each person, if they could understand how I did not want to pay something that I did not order, and they just didn't care. I have ordered DirecTV's service and will be canceling Dish Network. I cannot put into words how disappointed I am with their customer service. I have never been treated with such indifference once reaching supervisors and managers. They just didn't care.

I have placed numerous calls to Dish Network to cancel this service. I have jumped through hoops to try to cancel this. I have been disconnected and the staff has told me they cannot call out on their lines, therefore they cannot call me back. Their service staff has not allowed me to cancel this, instead they insist on asking me for a new address to move the dish, etc. and transferring me to other departments. I have not been successful in speaking to the correct person. Let me put this very clearly. I do not care what their policy is. I am the customer. I want this service cancelled. I DO NOT WANT THIS SERVICE. CANCEL IT. I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY BILLS AFTER SEPT 1, 2008. Thank you.

Another person came on the phone and told me that my new speeds would be very, very, very slow and my computer would time out before it would access the internet. The only thing I could do was buy a more expensive package. I refused and told the man I would not pay for a service I was not getting. I was informed that when I signed the contract I had given DISH permission to directly access my bank accounts and that if I would not buy a more expensive package I'd better modify my internet usage, because I had used 112% of my allotted bandwidth. He refused to put me through to his supervisor. The FAP policy is probably in the contract, but it is hardly emphasized when they are selling a contract.

I sure don't remember giving them permission to access my bank account. They should not be allowed to reduce the speeds so much you can't access the net at all. The lowest that seems reasonable should be dialup speeds. To be fair after I talked to them I was able to access the net to check my e-mail, but will heartily recommend to others they not use this service. I don't dispute using the bandwidth, though I am not sure how you are suppose to keep track of it. I do think them blocking total access is wrong.

When I received the first bill I called the number on the bill and was placed on hold for 30 minutes and no one came back on the line. The second bill came with no changes. Called again and when someone answered I told him that I had a problem with billing. He said to hold and one hour later I was still on hold. My third billing will be here in a couple of days and it will be the same because I have always been placed on hold after someone answers and I tell them what the problem is, but they take down no information before putting me on hold. I can't stop payment on the account because it is AT&T and they will shut my computer, internet and phone off if I stop payment.

I called AT&T to make changes on my computer charges and phone charges, but they said they did not have access to DISH and for me to call them and they will make the changes. All I want is the money back that they have taken from me. I am on a fixed income and disabled. The funds that they have so far are over $200 and I could sure use this money for medications, etc. Please help me if you can. If you can't please send me an e-mail so I won't sit and wait for help. Thanks again for your assistance.

When I asked why, and requested to speak to a supervisor, he said, "not until you hear what I would like to offer you." I said no, and suddenly, the niceness changed to arrogance, and irateness. His temperament changed, and he began yelling and screaming, repeatedly, insisting that I "listen to what I have to say about an offer that can benefit you in the future." Again, I said "no, I don't want to hear it". The more I said no, frequently asking him to allow me to speak to a supervisor.... the nastier, and more irate he became; insisting, "I will let you speak to a supervisor when you listen to what I have to offer you."

He refused to transfer the call to a supervisor, and continued screaming to the top of his voice demanding, "listen to me, I am trying to offer you something, if you will be willing to listen". He was insisting and trying to bribe me into a committed service offer that I was not interested in. This was in my opinion a form of sales marketing harassment, and should not be tolerated by consumers. I had enough of his abuse, anger, and irateness and refusals and hung up the phone. Your mediation and intervention will be appreciated. Thank you.

By this time I had enough of this company & reps. There is a 30 day trial period and told them I was done with their so called services. The lady on the phone changed for nice to a horses behind and began her threats about the $200.00 disconnect fee. I told her I was not paying a dime, that they needed to refund me for the 2 month advance payment I had given them. The lady said they were taking the $200.00 any way out of my visa account and there was no way to stop her! I was then informed that there is a third party involved and they had a nice fat bill they would have for me also. It seems like I made a deal with the devil. I hope they all rot in HELL!