Dish Network
Complaint 59253 Details

1/12/2012


Notice of cancellation of Contract for non working equipment and inability to get service working while working with tech, advanced techs and supervisors. Incompatible equipment, Improper installation (see 6 photos). Spoke to Juliana (sp?) on 1/12/2012 at 303-942-8600. Explained my intent to cancel and was told that equipment not working was not cause to cancel without paying cancellation fee. I, in good faith paid up front for a service. We did not get the working service and the letter will explain

Dear Dish Network:

On Dec. 15th I spoke a salesperson that I had previously spoken to and agreed to the package with 200 channels. Yet when he called me on the 15th while I was shipping he signed me up for the 250 channels. I spoke with a rep once I realized what he had done who said I could change this at any time so I let it go. This dishonesty was the first problem.

On Dec 29th, 2011 our service was installed, it took longer than expected but the tech was new and that was ok. He had difficulty getting all the televisions to work properly but assured me they were all working. We don’t use them all except when my grandson and daughter come to stay so we wouldn’t notice until then.

During the installation my husband asked the installer several times if he was going to be able to close up the holes he was drilling because he was drilling very large holes, he assured him he would. My husband explained he was concerned about moisture and pests. The Tech assured him again he didn’t have to worry. However as you can see by the photos he did not take care of the holes as promised. I also included what Direct TV had done several years ago, very professional and in very good taste. It was also behind bushes so it wasn’t seen. This tech put it along side the house next to our patio. It looks awful and is not sealed!!

I was cooking a day or two later when I noticed the kitchen tv didn’t work. So I called, they said they would have to send out a tech in a couple of days. So I had to wait. Again, I let this go.

I notice right away that we had a problem with one of our remotes, the main living room remote. We called in and had to have 2 different techs work with me to get it working. I asked if since I had a tech coming should he bring me a new remote, the tech said no because he had gotten the remote to work. I said, what it if happens again, he said it wouldn’t.

I had to call in once, twice or more daily to get the remote to work and eventually they had to send me a new remote. I had to turn the power saver off on my TV and move the control boxes 4 feet away from the tv because I have a Sony Bravia.

I was told that the Sony Bravia did not work well with your equipment and it proved to be true. I asked several times over and over if the problem could be with the control box and not the remote, I was told by the tech NO. The new remote worked for a short period of time till I turned the power saver back on to full and moved the control boxes back where they belonged which was next to the tv. I was told I would have to KEEP them at least 4 feet from the tv but we had this room built for the boxes to be where they are so….. I found that most of the techs are not knowledgeable. This makes it very difficult to work with what the customer. Some of them are good and some aren’t. It took quite a while before I finally got a tech who realized it was my TV that was the problem that was interfering with the control box which is what I was saying all along pretty much.

I am disappointed that this was not brought to our attention prior to install. If the installer had knowledge of this we would not be having to cancel our service, would have not gotten it in the first place. The tech who trained the installer told me that he forgot to tell him about the new televisions and how they respond to the signals. So They are aware! This is very upsetting to me. He could have told us. When I spoke to Julinia Or how ever you spell his name, he said we could get different control boxes and that “should” fix our problem. However, we made our decision to cancel based on the many many techs we had spoken to over the last week, who told us the problem was our tv and the signal from the TV was interfering with the equipment and we would have to move things around, turn the power save off on our TV etc. All of which was not an option for us. We should not have to change everything about our living arrangements to accommodate Dish network. Juliana also said he would also take care of the additional cost for the 2 year contract. If we decided to keep dish longer we would be responsible for the additional equipment cost, should it work. He couldn’t even guarantee it would work and we were fed up with calling in, waiting 5 days for service calls. My husband is retired and we should not have to be stressing over how to get the tv to change channels!

Next. The missing Direct TV box. I called and spoke to someone and asked them to speak to the tech and find out what he did with the direct tv boxes. No one called me back with his response. I was also unaware that there was NO box used upstairs for DISH and the box upstairs was still hooked up to the cable, still plugged up to the tv and everything was direct Tvs box. I apologize for thinking they were missing. Since no one ever got back to me with what the Tech said I had to assume the box was gone. I am embarrassed over this and was afraid the tech had taken the box since I was told HR was involved. I do not understand why it was not handled differently when I asked several times for the tech to be contacted! It could have been so simple. I got a call yesterday from Matt and was told that they knew pretty much right away what happened, that the Direct TV control box was left hooked up to my tv up stairs. I was left unaware going crazy, looking all over the house, worried sick for the tech, once I did find it afraid I had caused him to lose his job. I spent days scouring the house in places I knew the tech would not have been but I was sure the box under the tv upstairs had to belong to dish network since we just got dish and no one at dish explained otherwise when I went through the entire scenario of what happened here. I can’t tell you what a fiasco it has been dealing with you all over all this mess.

With regret we are canceling our contract. We are not going to pay a cancel fee because your equipment has never worked properly since we signed up with you all. We have given you the time but according to your own techs our tv, which we will not be changing, is not compatible. I got tired of continuing to call in over and over and I will not keep the power saver off and the living room looking silly just to keep the boxes 4 feet from the tv which is what I was told by YOUR techs I had to do in order to make it work.

I am sorry it didn’t work out with us as a customer. I am certain you can see in your records all the problems we have had with Dish Network. I was hoping it would have been a better relationship, unfortunately we have no choice but to cancel. Hopefully in the future you will be able to accommodate our type of television system with the power saving feature without it interfering with the signals.

*Under the Dish Network service agreement it states there is a 60 day installation warranty. However Dish was not even able to keep our service viable for 15 days. The last service call was scheduled would have been 4 or 5 days before a tech could get to the house and every time I called I was told a tech was coming like they did not want to work with me on my problem. I would explain, well it’s Saturday and the tech will not be here till Tuesday, I want to watch TV now!! The warranty clearly states free from defects yet your equipment does not work with our television. We called and called and until we called to cancel there was no offer to change our equipment. I understand now that the problem is that Dish uses signals instead of hooking up through cables to the TV’s directly and this has caused the problems apparently. If this had been addressed “in the beginning” when we started having issues I would not be cancelling our service. A warranty is not really very good if you are unable to honor it properly or until I am threatening to cancel.

My attorney is Art Strickland. (Personal Information Removed) Please let me know if we need to involve him further.