Dishnetwork Deceptive Business Practices (Jacked up monthly fee after 1 year of contract agreement Houston, Nationwide
My fiance and I signed up for satellite TV with Dishnetwork at our new house in February 2010. According to their promotion at that time, the monthly fee (for 120 channels) was $24.99 plus tax for a 2-year service agreement. Since they said that the price would be locked, we had decided to be their customer without second thought. Well, we were happy with them for a year - but not anymore!!!! Just like the old saying, "If it sounds too good to be true, more than likely, it is." Oh well, to our big surprise, when my fiance checked the bill online March 2011, the fee had gone up from $24.99 plus tax to $58!!!! Wow!!! When we called them to confront the situation, their excuse was that the agreement had stated that the price was locked in for 1 year and after that, it would be double. Funny, during the sign-up process, NO ONE ever brought that up!!!!! We had been told that the price would stay the same for 2 years. That's it. At this point, we felt like they lied to us. In other words, it was "EXTREMELY DECEIVING"!!!!! Even now, all their ads (TV, radio, even newspaper) are telling the world that the price will be guaranteed all the way throughout the contract. If we knew they are crooks, we wouldn't do business with them for sure. No kidding. Another thing that we hate about Dishnetwork is their receptions. They have very bad signal lately, ever since they jacked up the price. We had been experiencing lost signals much more frequent than last year. When we notified them about it, they said that there must be something wrong with our TVs, and equipment at home. But, wait a minute, we never touched our settings!!!! Why would we want to mess with anything??? It was totally stupid!!! They got issues, NOT US. We had made it very clear that we wouldn't renew our contract. If they truly value their customer service and realize what they have done to us, they better give us the difference back by now!!! So far we had paid them for 3 months of $58 and the total that we shouldn't be paying should be around $100. We still have 9 more months to go. If they want our referral, they must change the pricing again for these coming 9 months back to $24.99 plus tax. Or else, they will get NOTHING!!!! We will keep badmouthing them until everything is settled in a timely manner.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
mr rik
miami,Florida,
USA
HORRIBLE Customer Service!
#7Consumer Comment
Thu, June 09, 2011
I never had "dish network" but one of my neighbors did.
I had my neighbors phone tapped for personal reasons but the point is that I literally had to listen to a call to Dish "service" that was beyond awful!
Totally ignorant reps, (who passed the call numerous times) and LONG hold times.
I actually FELT SORRY for my neighbor!
And that's when I vowed to NEVER use Dish!
Ken
Greeley,Colorado,
USA
Read your contract...
#7Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 08, 2011
Try reading your contract...I've dealt with Dish since their inception and have found them to be a company with ethics and a generally reliable signal...the times I've had trouble are in bad weather and they allude to this happening.
I think if your actually READ, your contract, you'd find you don't have any ripoff here at all.
scruz369
sweeny,Texas,
United States of America
Intro Price Dude
#7REBUTTAL Individual responds
Wed, June 08, 2011
Hi Im Stephen I have had dish going on 3 yrs i started out a 47.99 a month it was 24.99 for at 120, 17.00 for the additional hd duo dvr rcvr and 6.00 for the dvr service i signed a two yr contract to get the promo which was 15.00 off the at 120 for 1 YEAR that meant the orignal package price was 39.99 before the 2/1 price increase which meant i got the package for 24.99 for the first year after that my price went up to the everyday price of 39.99 and after 2/1 44.99 a month for the remanider of the contract and i know what you where saying you where told that you would get it for 24.99 for two years but come on thats not possible the company has to make money to stay in business they give you then promos as a new cust to sign up they are valid for one year then they expir its the same with EVERY TV COMPANY att and verizon off promos for 6 months only, so to get to my point the price you were told when you signed up was for 1 year for the promotions then they expired the 21 dollars you see in the increase is probably the 15.00 new customer credit for 1 yr and the service plan free for 6 months after that it goes on your bill at 6.00 a month
Rushhourlee
Houston,Texas,
USA
What is your point??????
#7Author of original report
Tue, May 24, 2011
We went back to review our bills again. To be exact, the amount went up from $33.22 to $54.48. You mentioned it only went up by $5, right? But now you do the math, the difference is $21. If you don't believe what we said, go look into our account for details. It should be under my fiance's phone number - 832-439-4262 and his name is Frank Tou. OK, regarding to the premium channels offering, it was right after you jacked up the price. With the $21 hike, of course you would let us have them!!!! Honestly speaking, we don't care about those channels since we aren't home watching them 24/7. All we care about is what we ordered - 120 channels package, that's it. So how are you going to fix that? Not trying to be rude, your reply meant nothing to us!!! In conclusion, we won't stick around anymore after next February. The decision is confirmed UNLESS you are going to make this right and fair to your customers. FYI, the TVs are still fuzzy on and off. Your solution isn't doing any good either. The whole thing really sucks!!!!
mr rik
miami,Florida,
USA
Isn't it better to provide good customer service
#7Consumer Comment
Tue, May 24, 2011
in the beginning, than to hire these shills to do damage control?
MikeL DISH
USAYour Post
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, May 23, 2011
Hello, this is Mike LeMar with DISH Network! I read your report and would be more than happy to help you with this. The prices on all American and Latin basic packages were increased by $5.00 on February 1, 2011. The programming we provide is owned by other companies, and our prices are based on what we must pay those companies. Despite the fact that costs can change when contracts are renegotiated, we work hard to keep them as low as possible. We continue to offer the lowest everyday price in the pay-TV industry, saving our customers money every month as compared to our competitors! What sets us apart is that we are also taking two unprecedented actions by giving customers 1) a price freeze on all DISH America and America's Top packages (excluding AEP) until 2013 and 2) 12 months of premium programming at no cost! None of our competitors can say anything like that!
In regards to the signal issues you've been having, what I recommend is unplugging your receiver from the outlet for 10 seconds and then plugging it back in. Let me know if that works.
Hope that helps!