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Review by jchambers28 See Profile

  • Location: Alma, Crawford, AR, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
lots of HD channels
treat's good paying customers like trash, instead of fixing equipment issues they cancle your service
dont use dish network
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Comcast XFINITY
they canceled my service because I complained too much about equipment issues. Instead of fixing the issues they canceled my service I went back to cox for TV. I may pay more and get less HD channels but I do not have to put with any BS.

member for 16.8 years, 8368 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 14 years ago

nibby1966
join:2009-07-15
York, PA

nibby1966

Member

dish network

dish network is awesome

jchambers28
Premium Member
join:2007-05-12
Peculiar, MO
·Comcast XFINITY

jchambers28

Premium Member

Re: dish network

I have had them since April best move I have made they are allot better than cox cable TV I am buying another dish 1000.2 dish for my lake house I bought a acutrack 22 pro satellite meter to point my own dish I got the dish peaked allot better than the installer did.






Review by DECJ See Profile

  • Location: La Sal, San Juan, UT, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Initially a good relationship with satisfactory service, equipment, channel selection, and PQ
Took away our local channels & ripped us off for new equipment that didn't work
I would never go back to using Dish Network for any reason
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

When I first got Dish SD in the very remote & rural area we moved to in 1999 (and it was our first foray into satellite), we were very satisfied with the service, equipment, channel selection, and picture quality. However, about 2 years into the relationship, we started losing our local channels for longer and longer periods of time each day and without any notice or information coming from Dish. After a lot of back-and-forth with customer service and tech support, they finally admitted that Dish had elected to go with a new "spot beam" satellite transmission for Utah, and that we resided in a fringe area that would cause our locals to be lost for most if not all of the day. When we wouldn't agree to going with "local" channels from Denver (versus Salt Lake City), they then talked us into going with a larger diameter secondary dish with some special switching box, all of which was supposed to not cost us anything (including installation). When the installer got here, he was a total jerk, was bad-mouthing Dish as a company the whole time, and stated emphatically that he had installed a lot of these secondary dishes and that it never worked to bring in the locals better (and in fact, that it often made the situation worse), and that Dish knew it. Then to add insult to injury, he had an invoice for over $300 in parts and labor for the new installation. We paid it under protest, and when I called customer support, I got the total run-around with no acknowledgment that they had previously told me that there would be no charge. The final insult was that there was absolutely no improvement in receiving our local channels.

Since DirecTV had also come to our area (and offered our locals with no problems), we switched at that point and were very happy with DirecTV's SD service. Dish tried to get us back many times over the next couple of years, however, this was still at a time where they couldn't truly deliver local programming to our area. Since then, Dish resolved the locals issue, but I would never go back to them, especially after being ripped-off for over $300 for a bogus solution that they in fact knew was no solution at all.

member for 15.7 years, 57 visits, last login: 12.4 years ago
lodged 14 years ago

jbrewno
join:2010-01-21
Port Byron, NY

jbrewno

Member

Dish Fails.

Yes i hate dish network also, i had it at my old crib. Couldn't watch any Yankees games . Moved got Direct TV can watch all kinds of sports, including all the yankees games. Direct Tv is the shiznit for sports. Dish Net work.... FAILS.

PapaMidnight
join:2009-01-13
Baltimore, MD

1 edit

PapaMidnight

Member

What kind of customer service did you get?

I'm just curious but did you by any chance happen to get a scripted-out-of-the-country-and-obviously-exported customer service experience? I'm just asking because I know I clearly got someone who read from a script last year when I got a dish receiver (a refurbished ViP622 that had been marked as new, but that's a separate story on it's own), had it connected via Component and HDMI (just to make sure it was not an HDMI issue), and the "support" rep kept telling me to turn my TV to channel 3...
...
I'll let that one sink in for a bit.
DECJ
join:2008-06-30
La Sal, UT

DECJ

Member

Re: What kind of customer service did you get?

said by PapaMidnight:

I'm just curious but did you by any chance happen to get a scripted-out-of-the-country-and-obviously-exported customer service experience? I'm just asking because I know I clearly got someone who read from a script last year when I got a dish receiver (a refurbished ViP622 that had been marked as new, but that's a separate story on it's own), had it connected via Component and HDMI (just to make sure it was not an HDMI issue), and the "support" rep kept telling me to turn my TV to channel 3...
...
I'll let that one sink in for a bit.
Honestly, I can't remember as my dealings with Dish ended around 2002-2003. It wouldn't surprise me that might have been the case, but in reality, so many companies in the US have opted over the years to go off-shore for their customer/tech support, that it almost has become more the rule than exception (pretty sad actually).

Review by zeke56 See Profile

  • Location: Naperville, Du Page, IL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
inexpensive
poor channel selection
Not a good value for most people
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
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Value for money:

With the alternate sources of video entertainment currently available, we watch much less "TV" these days. The exception is sporting events, most of which aren't available anywhere but satellite or cable. Our criterion for choosing a TV provider therefore boiled down to which one provided a good selection of the ESPN channels plus Comcast Sportsnet at the lowest cost (after the promotional period). By that standard, Dish Network's America's Top 120 package is a good value. However, if overall channel selection is important to you, as I would guess it is for most people, it is very poor. Dish claims that this package includes over 120 channels, but that total includes about 20 audio-only channels. It also includes 18 shopping channels. Just a couple of the channels we became used to that aren't included in Dish's service are the Science channel and Animal Planet. The HD coverage of local channels is also poor. Only about 1/2 of the included local channels are provided in HD. For example, our local PBS station is not provided in HD, nor is WCIU in Chicago, which broadcasts a lot of Bulls, Cubs, and Sox games. Dish also lists Comcast Sportsnet as an HD channel, but only games (and I'm not sure if it's all of them) are shown in HD. The other 95% of the programming is only in standard def.

Time will tell whether we have actually been weaned from traditional TV enough to live without the many channels that Dish does not provide, but after a month or so, I would say I probably would not make the decision to go with Dish again.

member for 15 years, 203 visits, last login: 2.5 years ago
updated 14.1 years ago


Review by spamsnare See Profile

  • Location: Marietta, Cobb, GA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
They are desperate to keep their customers
They need to be desperate to keep their customers
They'll only act to separate you from your money
Pre Sales information:
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Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

Service dropped every time it rained. DVR that wants to record adult programs on 2nd tuner in daughter's room--and that crashed receiver when stopped. A movie recorded in 23 one minute segments. Screens are oriented toward making it too easy for anyone in household to order pay services or upgrades. Too many problems to list. Certainly not TIVO quality. Using their latest receivers too.

I wanted to cancel immediately at install, three days into service, and then 13 days into service. Customer service did anything to try to make right and said I had 30 days to try service and cancel without cost. On day 26 I canceled. They claimed they never had a 30 day period to cancel and insist on charging me $360 early termination fee. Quite simply, they lied, they didn't keep the phone recordings, they claim they aren't even capable of contacting the representatives by the codes they had given as contacts.

Calls get transferred from one person to the next and nobody is capable of terminating the contract. They are a desperate company with inferior technology that will do whatever they can to make a buck and that doesn't deserve to remain in business. Don't give them your business. Look at U-Verse if you can, or else Comcast with TIVO series 3. If you do go with Dish then do it with them directly instead of through one of their resellers. The resellers just add unnecessary costs and terms.

A lawyer may contact me for action against Dish Network. I expected to be able to terminate the contract within 30 days without cost as I was assured multiple times. Also please contact me if you were told of a 30 day period.

Paul Baumann

Marietta, GA

spamsnare@gmail.com

member for 14.5 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 14.5 years ago


Review by Bye0 See Profile

  • Location: White Salmon, Klickitat, WA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Can't Say
Customer Service
Way To Lose A Good Customer
Pre Sales information:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Today I signed up for Dish Network via their website. I wanted a no commitment plan where I pay $99 installation fee and $29.99 monthly charge with my credit card. Shortly after I signed up, a Dish Network sales rep called me to tell me my credit was not good enough for the plan. However, there was a plan identical to what I wanted, but at higher cost.

Let's see; my credit rating(about 800), was not good enough to cover a no contract deal; total financial commitment: $99, which was being paid for with a credit card with a $17,000 spending limit. Since there was no commitment, the "liability" for Dish Networks was $29.99 a month, auto pay with my credit card. I offered to pay a year in advance(with my credit card), they refused.

Even though Dish is not going to provide service, they have told me they are going to keep my social security number and credit card number on file. WHY?

Dish Network = BAIT AND SWITCH

member for 22.3 years, 117 visits, last login: 14.2 years ago
updated 15.1 years ago


Hazy Arc
join:2006-04-10
Greenwood, SC

Hazy Arc

Member

Value for Money

How can you possibly rate the "Value for Money" when you haven't spent a dime on their services?

Bye0
Computer User
join:2001-12-14
000123

Bye0

Member

Re: Value for Money

That would be zero value. Since I have to now deal with them mishandling my personal and financial information, that makes it a waste of my time and less than zero value.

Review by Equalizer55 See Profile

  • Location: Alpharetta, Fulton, GA, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Great selection of channels
Terrible reception during bad weather; horrible customer service (outsourced to India)
Go to DirectTV if you need satellite
Pre Sales information:
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Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

I had the full HD DVR and a "bronze" channel selection (no premium movie channels); we had no home phone line so we could not use any on-demand features, so I can't comment on those. Anytime it so much as rained, we would have signal problems. It may go out for only a couple of seconds, but it was still annoying, especially when watching a movie. The hard drive inside the DVR was also unreliable and would need to be reset constantly, and would often malfunction. The Indian tech support was the most annoying, as they simply couldn't understand my problems. They sent me an extra HD DVR and billed my account when all I wanted was to replace my existing one! I will admit, I really miss the Monster and Kung-Fu channels, but those are not worth the hassle. My friend in Vegas has DishNetwork and loves it; obviously, he has less weather issues.

member for 15.1 years, 8 visits, last login: 11 years ago
lodged 15.1 years ago

BigVe
join:2005-07-15
Gulliver, MI

BigVe

Member

My Opinion

Even Directv have same issues in bad weather so if you opt to go with them expect so have same problem as i did with them.We have had Dish for a few years now without problems but i would go back to Directv if the offered the Superstations we like but every time i check they say no go so i'm staying with Dish.What it goes for support i never used them(why should i?)

Review by storm5guy See Profile

  • Location: Sarasota, Sarasota, FL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
No signal in rain, pricey, channel packages are weird
The worse of the two main TV satellite providers
Pre Sales information:
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Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
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Our satellite service came after cable use, so it was a welcome changes, for a while.

We have had Dish for some time, so I'm not real sure on how it was in the beginning, so I'm speaking from recent experience.

From what I know the installers kind of had free reign of the house to do what they wanted, including running all of our lines all across the outside of the house. Later on when we had the 61.5 satellite dish installed, they pointed it through the trees which I'll discuss more below.

I honestly think the pricing plans are the worst on the planet. $5/month for locals plus another $5 for HD locals? I mean come on, we are already paying for the main channel package plus the other HD channels, you would think that they would give you a break.

The quality of the channels were quite terrible as well. The HD was alright, but I only could really compare it to our neighbors rear-projection TV while ours was an LCD. The SD channels were so compressed it wasn't even funny. You could barely read small text when on an SD channel.

Our other big issue was rain fade. Every time it rained, even a small amount, we would loose the picture. We had the guys out a couple of time for re-alignment, but that didn't help. The main culprit was the 61.5 dish that was pointed through the trees. We had a low signal from that already, that any other obstruction caused it to fade out on all the TV's, even the ones that weren't HD. There were plenty of other spots on our house to put it with a clear line of sight.

All in all, I would suggest DirecTV over Dish Network any day.

member for 15.7 years, 28 visits, last login: 14.8 years ago
lodged 15.6 years ago


Review by dez_nutz See Profile

  • Location: Arab, Marshall, AL, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Had everything worked like they said it would have been a good deal
local channels extra, horrible customer service, contractor that installed it did a crappy job
I hated dish network,
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
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I had a very troubled experience with dish network. The sales person I dealt with filled me up with all the great features of the dvr explorer and satellite in general. I will never go back to anything satellite because of this. A lot of the interactive features that I was sold on never worked. Apparently the dvr box I was renting could do it, but Dish wasn't set up for it to work and to just wait and it would be available eventually... So there you go... By features I am talking about things like pay your bill through the dish, order stuff through the dish, etc... Sounded neat but I really did need it, but the idea they covered those features with me knowing it wouldn't work didn't sit well.

This is one of a very few things I broke contract, paid my early termination fee and felt relieved. Too bad it didn't end there....

Installed within a week upon signing up for dish network, worked fine for a couple days. Then it started... The dvr box I was using just died... Luckily I hadn't totally disconnected cable or it would have been really fuzzy over air... I decided to keep basic cable and not get the local channels through dish because of this. I am too far away from major stations to receive a decent signal so cable or satellite is the only way I can really watch tv. Customer service is a joke with dish network, I have never called in and spoke to someone that at least attempted to care whether or not they had customers at all. Finally worked it out to replace the dvr... The new one they sent locked up at least once a week and had to be power cycled. Then stopped working also... So I had to get it replaced. The new one had the same issues with locking up but not as frequent. After a couple months dish dumped all the viacom channels over a contract dispute... That was irritating... When it rained or I had high winds there was no signal, I eventually decided it wasn't worth it and called to disconnect service. It was like $250 for early termination, and I had to send the equipment back at my cost. That sounded great to me, I am just relieved to not have to hear from Dish Network again. About a month later I received a notice from my bank that moved money from my savings to checking to cover a charge from dish network for like $700... I about freaked out, called dish totally pissed off and was told I was never sent the equipment back... Lucky me I saved everything from where I sent it back to them and I sent it via UPS so I had shipping details. Mailed that to Dish, then went to bank and disputed the charges as fraudulent which they removed and changed all my bank info so something like that couldn't happen again.

Over all, the service sucked, the customer service was horrible, and they fucking charged me for equipment that I had proof I had sent back before they asked me about it. I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy, I reported them to every fed and state agency that would listen and then moved on. I occasionally still get a call from Dish Network asking me if I would like to sign up for service again and if I wouldn't mind to give my reason for leaving Dish...

member for 17.1 years, 40 visits, last login: 14.6 years ago
updated 16.1 years ago


Wesley Hays
@imbroadband.com

Wesley Hays

Anon

Service and tech support is the name of this game

I'm real sorry to hear about this. There is something that can be done and if you listen real close no one else will have to go through what you did. first I'd like to say this is a response to the trouble with dish network direct tv directv retailers affiliates and or resellers of satellite tv service.

I have personally signed up with Dishnetwork service have had a few minor problems but they were taken care of quickly but not by Dish Network inc. believe it or not, Dish Network personally has a phone system/service that takes for ever to get you to the right people you need to speak with, and then if you can understand them due to there lack of good English thats another mountain to cross.

Anyway my point is sign up with a Authorized Retailer that has there own tech support team in house. there are very few Selling satellite services on the internet with tech support included and to be totally honest i only know of a few.

dishnetwork.ws and direct-tv.ws they offer totally free tech support by SBCA certified satellite technicians as long as you have signed up through them. But in this case i guess it would have been a matter of knowing who to sign up through there are hundreds of online retailers but the key question is do they offer Tech support some may think thats a trivial question until they run into problems as you did.

This solves allot of problems in the long run. I'm not affiliated with these companies other then a customer i'm just stating that knowledge of knowing this would have saved you a lot of problems and time. Hope this is helpful

dez_nutz
join:2007-02-21
Arab, AL

dez_nutz

Member

Re: Service and tech support is the name of this game

I am happy for you man, I am glad they are working out. I personally wouldn't recommend anything dish network related to anyone. A simple google search on them will provide several other tales such as mine. It feels good to not be alone but not so good to have went through it.

I wish you the best, and maybe for you they will be everything you want.

wings10
I Am Legend
Premium Member
join:2004-06-09
South Elgin, IL

wings10

Premium Member

Never had issues

Wow. I never had issues with DirecTV for 7 years and now with DISH. Seems you just got a bad installer. I ordered direct from DISH and they came out within a week and I was up and running on 4 tv's in about 2 hours.

Review by GypsyRN See Profile

  • Location: Dayton, Montgomery, OH, USA
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Great Selection of Programing
customer no service. loss of signal strength
I went back to time warner cable
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Mail,DNS,News:
Value for money:

I decided to give up Time Warner Cable TV. I was not watching it that much and to get the channels I really did watch, Discovery,History, TLC,National Geographic ect I had to have the premium bundle of shows.

I called Dish Network and was able to get the America's 250 with more HD programing to boot. They set up the install date as 3 days from when I called. The installed showed up on time, his installation was pretty fast, at least that is what I thought. He showed me how to use the remote and the programing setup. He installed an HD for the living room and a regular TV setup for my bedroom. The satellite dish went on the roof in the back of the house.

I noticed prior to calling them there were a lot of Dish Network dishes up around where I lived, in fact, my next door neighbor was using them. So far he had been pretty pleased with the service.

So, I have an 18mos contract with Dish Network. As of today it is working great, I really do like the bigger selection of HD programing.

If something changes I will update my review.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------

I went back to TWC for my Cable TV service, got the DVR HD etc... I was loosing signal strength with Dish. I called them several times, the hold time was painful to say the least. I ended up several times finally getting some real person just to have them hang up on me either accidentally or on purpose. The service center is in India, it was very hard to understand anyone when I did get a real person.

TWC just made the call, it was all set up, they came out, bingo back in business 111.00 for the entire bundle with HD and DVR, including show time.

It has been much better with TWC. I sent all the components back to Dish, the UPS guy said they send lots of these back every day! I should have asked UPS first what they thought of DIsh!!!!

member for 23.6 years, 6013 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 16.4 years ago


justmy2cents
@centurytel.net

justmy2cents

Anon

Dish...

Have had Dish Net. for about 2 years and never had any problems with the exception of rain fade in heavy rain but i knew of that prior to any ordering.Never had to deal with any customer service in India when i called so i don't know what you are talking about.All services have some issues no matter which one you choose.Had Directv before and left them because they refused so sell me Superstation package and Dish Net. could so choice was easy.Have no cable around so Off Air, Dish Net. & Directv are my choices and so far i must say i can't complain with the exception of in my eyes a to high price tag for what i get.

mikec73
@swbell.net

mikec73

Anon

dish

I have had dish network for 2 years and had directv for 8. And installed twc most of this year. Dish is far better. Customer service when I did need them answered in less than a minute and was obviously american. Signal with either never goes out. TWC regularly has problems. The DVR is leaps and bounds ahead of twc's. Dish has a lot more hd than twc too and the sd is also better quality than twcs. Most problems people have with sat is with installation. While he did it quick he obviously didnt take the time to fine tune the dish to get the best signal. UPS is dishs contracted carrier, fedex for directv. each will have alot of their respective services boxes for swap outs upgrades and the unavoidable cancels.

MainframeSysop
@AGofME.com

MainframeSysop

Anon

Dish Network

Although I have had issues with the older DVRs (the 508s because I didn't want to pay an additional $5 a month just for the DVR service) I have had no major issues. Customer Service has been frustrating at times but in the end they do resolve issues. Keep in mind: EchoStar is planning to divide it's Sat TV service from their hardware division. So hopefully Dish will continue to provide decent service with a good price.

Average Joes Bro
@comcast.net

Average Joes Bro

Anon

DISH Great so far

Had Comcast, prices went up, poor HD choices, so went with DISH over Direct TV (price better with DISH). So far I love it. The install was very late, but done well. Great signal (even with trees). They have a lot of tech support on line and via the TV. MUCH better than Comcast and less expensive for me, plus lots of HD.