Complain about a product or service

DISH - Billing

Diana of North Wilkesboro, NC October 6, 2009

I tried to order Dish Network service online early Oct. 2. AFTER giving all my info, including my banking info, I was informed I did not "qualify" for their promotional discount.I decided to not accept their bait and switch way of doing business and declined to order at the regular prices and fees. They still took money from my bank account although I was not a customer and I had never been a customer.

I called and spoke with one of the Dish Network reps who assured me my money would be returned to my account by the morning of Oct.5. My money was not returned. Later in the morning, I called again and was treated very rudely. I've sent a total of three online messages as well with no response whatsoever from this company.

Again, I'm not a customer and I've never been a customer and Dish Network has taken money out of my bank account and thus far has kept it FOUR days. I'm still waiting to get back my money which they had no right to take in the first place. This evening I filed a complaint against Dish Network with the FTC.

Randall of Kerrville, TX October 4, 2009

In May I upgraded to HD. Dish required that I return the two old receivers to them via UPS. They sent four boxes (remember I only had two receivers). I sent back the two receivers. In August they said they had not received the items and charged my account 200.00. After explaining (very kindly, I might add) to four different persons I was put in touch with "Mr. R". He said the charges would be waived because I was an excellent customer with 8 years of history.

Two days later they discontinued my service, demanded the reurn of the HD receivers and threatened to take funds from my checking account. I immediately closed my account and had my service disconnected. Obvioulsy the "upgrade" in service to HD is merely an attempt to attach additonal "equipment" fees. If you try and close your account they threaten you with "you have a two year obligation and we will TAKE the money from your account".

Jie of Chicago, IL September 29, 2009

I signed up the Dish network service by calling its website number. First, i just wanted to sign up the basic, but the representives tried very hard to sell me the premium and DVR service, he told me that i can switch the service anytime, just tried it and i can change or cancel it in 90 days. With these 90 days, i tried the DVR once and didn't think that i would need to use it. So i called the dish network on the day 89 and wanted to cancel it. The representives told me that i need to pay 150 for changing the DVR equipment to the basic one if i cancel the DVR service, i explained to him that the part of informance was not communicated to me and if he can retrieve my call at the time of signing up the service, he can find out how the sale representives didn't disclose this information, he said that he can just half the 150 and i signed up with the retail and there are different rules, there is nothing he can do. I was very angry because i feel that i was tricked to make a decision without all the disclosure. So he transferred my call to the specialist, i explained my situation, she told me that she can waive the 150, but my monthly bill will go up due to the change.

I can not believe the dish network - a big company will have this kind of inappropriate business process. I feel very betrayed and angry. Now it's not the matter of 150, it's the way that they trick people to sign up/ upsell the service without disclosing all information, then adding additional cost /pricing strategy when you change the service. if all information were correctly disclosed to me, I will not be this surprised and mad. For a big company, it does this kind of scam, is not ethinal and no integrity. I went online and read many complains about the same kind of issue. Someone has to stop this!

Mark of Covina, CA September 27, 2009

On August of the 2006 year we began to receive services from your company after an Asian salesman came to our house one night and convinced us to switch from Directv to Dish Network. He promised us the price of having Dish Network would be lower than that of Directv. He said that the cost of Dish Network would only be 45 a month, compared to the 70 a month we were paying for Directv. However, when we received our bill, we were surprised to find that Dish Network did not cost 45, but 70 also.

During the time we were with Dish Network, we received no special deals or offers. We did however receive a repair bill. One day, our satellite television decided to keep losing connection and not work. When we called a service person to come and repair it, he tried to charge us for the repair bill. We did not pay him because we thought it was outrageous that we would have to pay a repair bill for equipment that does not belong to us. We did nothing to cause the equipment to break or malfunction, yet he still insisted that we had to pay him for his service. We ended up calling the technicians manager, which ultimately resulted in us not having to pay for anything.

Throughout the few years we had Dish Network, the satellite connection was always weak. Sometimes it would take forever just to get a channel because it was searching for a signal. When we tried to cancel our services with Dish Network, we were asked the reasons for our cancellation by a representative from Dish Network.

When we explained to them the details, we were eventually able to talk to the Asian sales associate who convinced us that Dish Network would be the better deal over Directv. Instead of handling the situation with professionalism, he was rude and obnoxious. When we stated that we were dissatisfied with the services, he just blew us off. Eventually, we were able to cancel our services without receiving cancellation fees by talking to a manager and was given an apology by the sales associate.

We never received the 45 price that was advertised to us by the sales associate. We decided that we could wait until our contract ended to switch back to Directtv, but the way Dish Network treated us promtly made us realize that staying with them as our provider would just result in more buyers remorse.

Andrea of Dallas, TX September 24, 2009

I was calling to get a quote on cable services on September 20,2009 . They told me they had to do a credit check, I didn't have s problem with that. They then told me I had to give them a active credit card number before they can precede any further. I told them specifically not to make any charges to my account and they reassured me.

Next thing I know they were charging my account, I preceded to tell them that wasn't the type of service I was interested in because I needed internet/phone and cable.The rep kept trying to read the disclosure and I'm trying to cut her off,because I wasn't interested, the rep did not pay any attention to me. She did her own thing, the rep tried to drown me out by talking over me. I told her that I was going to pass, she ask me why? I told her that wasn't what I was looking for. They only offer cable which the special was suppose to be 19.99 for 150 channels for 12 months, I knew it to good to be true. I told her I wasn't interested, the next thing I know is that I'm talking to a supervisor, he then informed that they already took the money which was 134.73 off my card, which mean they schedule installation service for following next day. I am not satisfied, period by this point. Ifeel violated because they did what they wanted to with the situation

Diana of Lincoln, NE September 24, 2009

Signed up for a bundle package with Windstream communications and Dish Network. Dish installed my equipment on 3/31/2009. Windstream did not install my phone service and internet until a week later because Windstream scheduled it wrong. I have been over- charged by 35 every month from April 2009 to September 2009. The problem with the bill has been with the Dish Network charges. I have not been receiving the promotional price of 37.99 I agreed to and also have been charged 5.99 for the Customer protection plan that was supposed to be free for 9 months. I was also told that although the promotion is guaranteed for 6 months that my bill would not go up until February 2010. Then it was only supposed to go up by 20 a month. I have called them each and every month with this problem and so far they have failed to correct my bill. They finally admitted that it was their error and that someone on their end disconnected my service and re-connected my service the same day, and that threw out all my discounts. They tried to say that they would credit my account in the amount of 140.00 in incriments of 35 every month for the next 6 months until the bill works itself out. However I would have to pay the amount my bill showed that I was overdue by, or they would have to disconnect my service. I told them that was unacceptable and insisted on talking to a Supervisor. I got someone who said they were an account specialist and she promised to credit my account by 175. I want out of this contract. They are in breach of our contract by not providing my service for the guaranteed amount over the 6 months term. If my phone service is interupted because of the billing issue, I have been told the Nebraska Public Commission Service will then file a complaint. Who regulates the Satelite companys?

Linda of Brooklyn, WI September 14, 2009

I agreed to services quotes at 14.99 per month and am being billed 42.99 per month. Repeated phone calls and emails to get this correct have not resulted in a correction in my bill. I was also given three months of free premium stations. At the time I signed up I told the rep that I was not interested in continuing these services past the free trial period. She informed me she would indicate this on my account and that these services would be automatically discontinued after the trial period.

Now I am being told I will need to pay a free to cancel the FREE trial. I have wasted over 3 hours on the phone, calling each month when the bill arrives trying to resolve this billing issue. Each month a new bill comes and is incorrect. I now have attempted to email so I don't have to wasted so much time on the phone, still no resolution.

Randall of Taylor Ridge, IL September 10, 2009

I originally requested Dish service in November, 2008 through AT&T. I did this because the advertised prices were lower than my cable fees. The AT&T represenative entered the order incorrectly and when the equipment was installed I did not get the HD service I asked for. Due to unfamiliarity with the service I did not discover this until a month later. I called AT&T and was informed I would have to pay an additional fee to get the service corrected and that I needed to contact Dish Network.

I contacted Dish Network and they agreed to correct the problem with no charge. It took 3 visits by Dish technicians to correct the problem. The first techician was unable to perform the work due to weather. The second technican showed up 7 hours late and refused to do any work because it was dark. The third one that actually installed the equipment was given an incorrect work order due to customer service not entering it correctly and he did not have the required equipment to do the work. He had to have another tech bring the equipment and I had to wait an additional 3 hours. Plus to perform the installation I had to sign a 2 year contract with Dish or be charged 300.

When I complained I was told there would be no charge the customer service rep told me there was nothing in my records about the error in service and I had to pay or agree to the contract. So I agreed to the contract. The tech took the original equipment with him.

A week later I received a box in the mail for the equipment and a letter threatening to turn me over to a collection agency if I didn't return the original equipment immediately. A call to customer service did get that resolved. Since then I have had problems with the service going out and breaking up which Dish has been unable to resolve. Calls to customer have produced no solution.

Customer service reps can find no record of any problems in my file and cannot effect any resolution. The last technician that serviced the equipment noted that the original installation was incorrect, due to the surrounding trees service should have never been installed, and the problems will likely continue. Currently the receiver is locking up daily and I have to unplug the receiver so that it can reboot. Customer service keeps telling me Dish is working on the solution to this problem, but cannot tell me when it will be fixed. This has been going on for 3 weeks.

In an effort to get an answer I filed a complaint with Dish on line as customer service has been worthless. The response was a form letter thanking me for my comments, informing me they could do nothing to help, and hoping I continued to enjoy Dish Network. The letter went on to say if I had problems to contact customer service.

After listening to my complaints the customer service supervisor suggested that Dish could disconnect the service if I wasn't happy, but I would be charged over 200 for early cancellation of my contract. I recently discovered that I am being charged an additional 5 amonth per receiver because the receivers are not connected to a phone line. This was never disclosed by Dish or their techs prior to or during installation. My advertised 39.95 monthly service is currently costing me over 60 a month due to undisclosed charges.

Troy of new brighton, MN September 9, 2009

ON or about 8/15/09 I called Dishnetworks customer center and placed a request to have service installed and was told i had to pay a deposit to have service setup. So I gave them my credit card information. I was told at that time that nothing would be taken from my account until service was actually setup. Well the installer came out to setup and determined that i would not be able to be serviced by them because the area would not provide a good reception area. I was told by the installer that he would call the center and let them know. That did not happen. I called myself 8/17 just to verify that he had done what he said he would do and found it had not been done so let them know what i was told by him and was told that the account would be canceled and my money would be refunded in 5 to 7 days. So i waited that time period and no refund. Called them back and was told we are sorry but that although i was told that the refund had been processed it was not, but that it would be now, and that i had to wait another 7 to 10 days this time.

Ok so i waited again the expected time and still no refund called back and again was told sorry mam but it wasn't done but that it would be escalated to some other department and they would get it down in 2-3 days. Well guess what today is 9/9 and still no refund. Today I call and asked to speak with a supervisor after about 5 minutes or so I spoke with someone name lee operator TUU she told me and low and behold she tells me that my refund request was just processed on 9/8. There should be some sort of penalty or something i would think for this type of behavior and some sort of compensation given to me other than empty apologies. As the amount was over one hundred dollars to be exact it was 155 and some change.and in this day and time with things the way they are almost of month of having that amount of money being held up is a great inconvenience that i feel should have be compensated for.

Kathleen of Livermore, CA September 7, 2009

In Feb. 2009, I ignorantly accepted Dish's offer of 3 months "Free" HBO/Starz, plus Cinemax for a penny. DON'T DO IT!!!! Let's start with the fact that wasn't free as they lead me to believe. They billed me for it. I called to complain and spent ages spent on hold, then speaking to some idiot who can't speak english for a damn! Come on now....seriously....! Then I had to argue with them about the amount that I'm actually to be credited. Finally, they pass me off to their manager, then that one passes me off to the Executive Office. What a bunch of B.S. Finally, the Exective Office (whatever!) agreed with me on what I was owed and promised to credit me. I didn't bring up the cancellation part with the EO, because the 3 idiots I spoke to before that were already supposed to have taken care of the cancellation of the "promo pack". Oh yeah, the reason I was given for having been billed in the first place? "Computer error" - I've heard this now practically evertyime I've spoken with them since.

Fast forward to today (Sept. 2009). I will take full responsibility for not having checked my bill between now and the last "credit". HOWEVER, that being said, there is NO EXCUSE for ripping off your customer - EVER! I am now (and have since May) being ILLEGALLY BILLED 12.99/mo for Starz Super Pak that I never authorized to be added to my account. I did NOT authorize this. So, the first guy I talk to tells me there was a computer error and that he'll credit me xx. I ask him to explain how he came up with that number (cause it's wrong) and he just goes on and on not making much sense at all. I ask to speak to someone who can actually help me. The second rep lamely tried to claim that I did authorize the Starz when I cancelled the promo pak - I came back clearly “ No. I did not “ and you're not going to try to pull this on me either“ I would never, ever order something I had NO intention of watching “ the channel(s) suck! Oh, and then he had the audacity to tell me that as a "courtesy" he will credit me xx amount. WHAT??!!! As a COURTESY?! Are you F-ing kidding me?! Oh, hell no you did not just say that to me. Yes. I ripped him a new one and told him that you do not give a credit as a courtesy when you've been ripping someone off. WTH!!! This time I demanded to be sent over to the Exectuive Office. Finally David at the Executive Office agreed to retro-cancel the Starz Super Pak (did I say I never ordered this) and give me the credit that I was owed.

I've now re-enrolled in paper billing only and I can guarantee you I'll be going every single Dish bill with a fine toothed comb. I'm filing a complaint with the FCC and I'm also posting this complaint to yelp. Oh, have you ever asked them a direct question? It's pretty funny/frustrating to put them on the spot and watch them b.s. their way out of it - because (I believe) they are not allowed to respond to any direct questions or statements. Its' the weirdest thing. Not one person, peon or uppity-up has ever directly answered a question of mine.

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