- Report: #619364
Complaint Review: Dish Network - Echostar - Internet
Reported By:
Matt -
Minden, Nevada, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
-
Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Dish Network - Echostar
Internet, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
www.dishnetwork.com
Categories:
Business Rating:
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Dish Network - Echostar I'm paying for 32 channels but missing 9 channels and Customer service WON'T help, Internet
I have the "dish america" package (used to be TurboHD bronze) so it's HD channels only. Went on vacation and when I came home the kids (10, 12 & 14) start immediately complaining that there is no Disney or ABC family channels. I also notice ESPN News is gone. Find out there's a dispute between E* and Disney about the cost of the HD Channels, E* didn't pay, so Disney cut them off - but just the HD channels, not the SD ones. I go to Dish Networks site and NO mention of this (even though when I called them they admitted that it's been ongoing for 10 days now). I check the channel listing of what I'm SUPPOSED to be getting, and find that I'm also not getting: E!, FoxNews, HLN, MTV, VH1, and Nick (East) (all in HD).
I call customer service and they transfer me to 3 people, who all make me repeat all my information and the nature of my problem, and then say:
"Sorry for the inconvenience, we're working on it. Just give us a couple more days."
I tell them NOTHING is going to happen over the holiday weekend, and we'll be at a minimum 15 days in to this (7/6/2010) before anyone does anything, and in the meantime my kids want to watch these channels during their summer vacation.
The CSR then lamely offerers me "a coupon for 3 free PPV movies"
I tell her PPV's are only $0.99 right now, and we've NEVER even watched one, and that's not a satisfactory solution.
I also remind her that I'm still paying the same subscription fee, but they've unilaterally breached their contract by failing to substantially perform by removing over 12% of the channels I'm paying for.
The CSR apologizes again and says there is nothing she can do.
I tell her to cancel my account then so I can get a service that provides what they advertise.
She tells me I'm in contract for another year and she'll have to charge me a $165.00 early termination fee. (and I just paid a $50.00 fee to connect an external HD to my DVR, which will be unusable without an active subscription)
I tell her no way am I authorizing that, and all she has to do is turn on the SD versions of these same channels as a reasonable accommodation, but she insists that she can't do that unless they can up-sell me to a "top 120 package" at a cost of an extra $10.00 per month - but to keep the channels I have right now in HD instead of SD, it's another $10.00 per month. Plus she finally admits that they'll also charge me an extra $5.00 to switch back to my current package, if this dispute ever gets resolved. To accommodate me for this "inconvenience" she offers me a credit of $5.00 per month for 4 months (and then $10.00 per month for 2 months)
I again decline, telling her that I want a reasonable accommodation, and if I'm willing to have the lesser signal quality of an SD channel, the least they can do is provide it at the agreed to price. I further explain that a total of $20 in credits over 2 or 4 months does not make up for a $20.00 per month cost difference + a $5.00 "downgrade" charge.
I then tell her that if their system won't allow just adding these missing channels, then they need to add whatever other channels their system requires, as that's not my fault but theirs.
The CSR was unwilling to offer anything else but cutting off my service immediately, and charging me the early termination fee plus a fee to return the equipment.
I've invested time and money in creating a PVR library that is accessible only through E* proprietary equipment, and would hate to lose it, plus I REFUSE to allow them to charge me an early termination fee, or a fee to return the equipment when they are the ones in breach of the contract and they are the ones unwilling to make an acceptable accommodation until they can resolve the problem.
As an attorney, I'm considering filing suit in the local justice court. Nevada has a statute allowing for attorneys fees to the prevailing party in matters with an amount in controversy of less than $15K, so I could potentially recover a few thousand in fees, on top of declaratory relief that the contract of adhesion was breached by E* for failure to substantially perform by only providing 23 of 32 advertised channels, but I'd rather spend my time doing something else.
Right now E* just has me so mad I can't even think straight.
Can anyone help with alternate suggestions?
