- Report: #712790
Complaint Review: Dish Network - Internet Nationwide
Reported By:
drhuss -
Fitchburg, Wisconsin, United States of America
Submitted:
Updated:
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Author Not Confirmed
Why?
Dish Network
Internet, Nationwide, United States of America
Phone:
Web:
www.dishnetwork.com
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Dish Network Refused to send out technician!!!! Internet, Nationwide
When I was researching which company to go with for dish/cable TV, I encountered many negative reviews concerning Dish Network's customer service. I discounted them as both my father and sister are current subscribers and, while my sister had to have her dish adjusted, they are both currently pleased with their service. Also, for political reasons, it didn't feel right to give money to a company owned by Rupert Murdock nor AT&T, limiting my choices. However, recent events have been disillusioning. Today, my dish kept losing its connection (3 times for a few hours each) during what should be the last snowfall of the season in Fitchburg, Wisconsin (which melted immediately). As the weather has been quite nice this March, this was the first time I experienced inclement weather and it was very concerning that my dish immediately lost its signal. Further I believe my service could be better as:
1. My sister had similar problems with her dish. She lives in Minneapolis (which gets a lot more snow than me) and, after having a service tech out who moved/re-installed her dish (actually changed her from the east arc to the west arc), all of her problems were gone and she is now completely happy with her service.
2. My next door neighbors did not lose their signal and has their dish network satellite dish pointed at the same satellites (eastern arc).
However, when I called I was told this was impossible and that Dish Network will not send out service calls due to weather issues (even though I understood and was fine with paying 15 for the service fee). I understand that they have to wait for the weather to improve and I don't expect anyone to climb up on a wet, snowy, slippery roof; I was fine with scheduling a service call sometime in the next couple of weeks. The snow has already melted and the next week or two should be great weather-wise. The Dish network CSR reps adamantly refused to do this, even though I currently have the warranty service on my dish equipment that offers service calls (I had the dish installed on March 16th). The first time I asked to talk to a supervisor, I was hung up on. I called back and got a different CRS rep. I explained the situation and she told me that she was her home's dedicated "dish sweeper" and would go out in the winter and sweep off the snow the two times a year they had significant amounts of snow. I explained that I was in Wisconsin (she was in Ohio, near Cleveland), that this was a very minor snowfall, that we get a lot more snow than them (I was born in Cleveland and there is no comparison in the amount of snow between the two), and that it was not feasible nor safe for me to climb up on the roof every time it snowed. She still said there was nothing Dish Network could do. To this I replied "well then send someone to reinstall the dish on a fence post or on the side of my house so that I can actually reach it to do this" (there are few trees in my neighborhood and there should be LOS for this). They adamantly refused, again stating that they couldn't schedule service calls for incidents that occurred during bad weather. I asked to speak to a supervisor. This time I got through. However the man condescendingly told me that "the signals come from space" and that there "was nothing they could do." It honestly was the worst that I have ever been treated by any customer service representative, let alone a supposed supervisor (the previous lady was at least civil). I asked to be sent to retentions and was hung up on again. I had my wife call back for the 3rd time. This time she got a CSR rep located in Mexico. Finally someone actually listened and we were able to schedule someone to come out for Monday (4/4) to take a look and discuss our options which I see as follows:
1. Re-align the dish/change its location to improve signal strength.
2. Change which arc of satellites are used (as I understand it the local HD channels are only on broadcast through 61.5, however I have the OTA module for my 922 and, as such, would be perfectly fine using the western arc, 110/117/119, if the signal was better).
3. Add a second satellite dish to pick up different satellites to offset the ones with a weak signal.
4. Be reassured that everything is the best that it can be, in which case I will look at aftermarket options (dish heater, etc.).
This whole ordeal took several hours. Trust me Dish isn't worth your time.
1. My sister had similar problems with her dish. She lives in Minneapolis (which gets a lot more snow than me) and, after having a service tech out who moved/re-installed her dish (actually changed her from the east arc to the west arc), all of her problems were gone and she is now completely happy with her service.
2. My next door neighbors did not lose their signal and has their dish network satellite dish pointed at the same satellites (eastern arc).
However, when I called I was told this was impossible and that Dish Network will not send out service calls due to weather issues (even though I understood and was fine with paying 15 for the service fee). I understand that they have to wait for the weather to improve and I don't expect anyone to climb up on a wet, snowy, slippery roof; I was fine with scheduling a service call sometime in the next couple of weeks. The snow has already melted and the next week or two should be great weather-wise. The Dish network CSR reps adamantly refused to do this, even though I currently have the warranty service on my dish equipment that offers service calls (I had the dish installed on March 16th). The first time I asked to talk to a supervisor, I was hung up on. I called back and got a different CRS rep. I explained the situation and she told me that she was her home's dedicated "dish sweeper" and would go out in the winter and sweep off the snow the two times a year they had significant amounts of snow. I explained that I was in Wisconsin (she was in Ohio, near Cleveland), that this was a very minor snowfall, that we get a lot more snow than them (I was born in Cleveland and there is no comparison in the amount of snow between the two), and that it was not feasible nor safe for me to climb up on the roof every time it snowed. She still said there was nothing Dish Network could do. To this I replied "well then send someone to reinstall the dish on a fence post or on the side of my house so that I can actually reach it to do this" (there are few trees in my neighborhood and there should be LOS for this). They adamantly refused, again stating that they couldn't schedule service calls for incidents that occurred during bad weather. I asked to speak to a supervisor. This time I got through. However the man condescendingly told me that "the signals come from space" and that there "was nothing they could do." It honestly was the worst that I have ever been treated by any customer service representative, let alone a supposed supervisor (the previous lady was at least civil). I asked to be sent to retentions and was hung up on again. I had my wife call back for the 3rd time. This time she got a CSR rep located in Mexico. Finally someone actually listened and we were able to schedule someone to come out for Monday (4/4) to take a look and discuss our options which I see as follows:
1. Re-align the dish/change its location to improve signal strength.
2. Change which arc of satellites are used (as I understand it the local HD channels are only on broadcast through 61.5, however I have the OTA module for my 922 and, as such, would be perfectly fine using the western arc, 110/117/119, if the signal was better).
3. Add a second satellite dish to pick up different satellites to offset the ones with a weak signal.
4. Be reassured that everything is the best that it can be, in which case I will look at aftermarket options (dish heater, etc.).
This whole ordeal took several hours. Trust me Dish isn't worth your time.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
rock star from mars
seguin,Texas,
USA
get off your donkey and fix it
#2Consumer Comment
Fri, March 23, 2012
To: author dufuss 1st Rupert Murdoch dose not own dish network he owns some of direct tv and if he did so what??? also Murdoch dose not have a k in it. 2nd instead of talking about longitude & latitude of your dish and then in the next post giving the weather report get off your i am ,sure fat liberal a*s, get a ladder and wipe the snow off the dish! Thats what ones like you want someone else to ether pay for something for YOU or fix something for YOU while you set back on your flabbie a*s and complain! Dish net work is a good big company i have had them for over 9 yrs only trouble i ever had was with a dvr. And in 3 days they mailed me another.Paid for shiping both ways.If it snows wet snow A LOT it will lose signal so will all sat dishes!I get off my a** and go wipe the snow off & it comes back on.And it might happen may be 2xs a winter. That's my problem where i chose to live not dish networks. Next time yours goes off dont blame Rupert Murdoch! blame your lazy winning a**! Or go back to your old way of getting TV reception. You know where you use to put old bed springs on the roof of you shack with the wire to the back of your black & white TV! and how you cussed everyone else that works becouse they have good stuff and how the goverment should take from them and give it to poor people like you that dont want or think they should have to work! And no i dont work for dish network
etctam
ashland,Internet,
United States of America
Connect Your Receiver
#3General Comment
Wed, March 21, 2012
Sir,
If you connect your receivers via a phone line or a ethernet cable (on the back on the receiver) the box will send a signal to Dish whenever your satellite signal falls below the minimum to have someone come out and fix it for free.
After you connect your receiver go to your menu, system set up, diagnostics. check connection first. After it says OK for whatever connection you used, go to analysis. Send status. Starting at the top of the options on the right, go through each option, until you get a data sent confirmation code. Your receiver will now automatically do this whenever your signal drops, whether it is because of weather or not. The appointment will be free, and they will automatically call you when they receive this signal from your box. (The 922 may have different menu names, but the process should be similar).
This should have been done by the technician when you were installed as long as you have a landline phone or broadband internet connection in your home. If you want, you can probably call and have a tech come out and do this for you.
drhuss
Fitchburg,Wisconsin,
United States of America
Took technician 15 minutes
#4Author of original report
Tue, April 05, 2011
With 15 minutes of work the tech was able to increase my signal by 10 points, or about 20%. My problems with my 922 freezing up seem to have decreased.
Dish Network's techs rock. Their customer service reps? not so much. They'll do whatever they can to not send one at as that costs money.
drhuss
Fitchburg,Wisconsin,
United States of America
My exact point
#5Author of original report
Sat, April 02, 2011
I couldn't have illustrated just how bad Dish's customer service that their supposed customer "service" representative. Here was the terrible weather we were having in Madison, WI yesterday:
Mean Temperature
38 F
Max Temperature
41 F
Min Temperature
34 F
Precipitation
0.11 in
Wind
Wind Speed
4 mph
Max Wind Speed
12 mph
Max Gust Speed
18 mph
Visibility
7.5 miles
As you can see clearly these were "extreme" weather conditions (sarcasm). However I was told that, because my outage occurred during` bad weather I couldn't schedule a service technician to come out and have a look to make sure everything was aligned correctly, etc.
This is ludicrous. It's pretty simple logic that, if your dish isn't aligned correctly, you will have a weaker signal and thus, even small weather events (which this was) can cause issues.d Heck here is some advice another CSR rep gave on another complaint on this site:
"Hello! This is Dan Busa with DISH Network, I would like to address
this as there are many of misconceptions when it comes to weather and
satellite signal. If your dish is pointed correctly and all of your
connections are good the signal should not be interrupted by a light
storm. Generally speaking if you have an inch or two of snow and
relatively good signal strength you won't even notice a hiccup in
service. I live in Denver and we get some decent snow now and then,
however, in the last three years weather has caused two brief outages. So
basically the reception is prone to weather but it shouldn't be a
regular occurrence. Hope this information helps!!!
Daniel Busa
DISH Network Customer Service"
Hmmm so even Dish networks CSR's advise that, if you have outages during minor events, something might be mis-aligned with your dish. Seems like my dish should be checked out as I had nowhere near even 1/2" of snow (what little fell melted immediately). However, at the same time they'll adamantly refuse to send anyone out to see if this is the case (as the previous post explains). So basically the customer is screwed. I spent several hours until I got the rep in mexico who realized just how ridiculous the situation is.
There is also considerable evidence that something is amiss with my dish. My parents, who live ~50 miles away, only lost their signal once this winter and that was when they got 12" of wet snow. They never cleared off their dish until then. My sister also experienced issues until they changed her dish from an eastern arc one to a western arc. By the way, my signal, even when it is completely sunny out for satellite 72.7 (which carries most of the programming you actually want) ranges anywhere from 40-50 depending on the transponder. Most other people state (from forums) that theirs range from 50-60 (some even report 70). So there is reason to believe my dish is not operating optimally. Dish does collect data on signal strength (the receivers upload it), however they refused to let me know what the average values were in my area and what numbers I should expect (hence having to rely on internet forums).
Like I said, I just wanted a checkup to make sure everything was working as well as it should. This is not an unreasonable request.
BeckiB@Dish Network
Englewood,Colorado,
USA
Signal
#6UPDATE Employee
Sat, April 02, 2011
Hello drhuss, my name is Becki Barned, with DISH Network. I do want to apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you. When there is weather, and you have signal loss, we do attribute the signal loss to the weather. If the signal loss goes on before the weather, or after, then we do want to send a technician out. If you are requesting the dish to be moved, we can always have a technician come out and do that. But some can wary doing that because of the weather. However, I am glad that this has been resolved for you. If you have any future problems, feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]!!!
Becki Barned
DISH Network Customer Service
drhuss
Fitchburg,Wisconsin,
United States of America
Just to be clear
#7Author of original report
Sat, April 02, 2011
All I wanted was to be able to use my service plan (pay $15) to have a technician come out sometime in the next couple of weeks to make sure everything was aligned/working correctly. That's it. They would not let me make an appointment to do so (but gladly made an appointment the within 24 hours to do the initial install). Seriously, if it wasn't for the CSR rep in Mexico I'd likely have had to go online, by a 40 buck transponder tester, a few bucks for a compass (to measure angles) and climb up the roof and do it myself.
Completely ridiculous. If you have a bad signal, while the cable company won't be out there immediately, comcast (as bad as they are) would get to it in a week or so. I know as I had massive line interference once (there was bad static/interrupted the cable modem) that required them to rewire where my line meant the main line and they got to it pretty fast.
Go with cable, they are the lesser of two evils (or verizon FIOS if they have it in your area).
