I was a customer of Dish Network for 18 months, my contract with them ran out on Apr. 18th, 2008. Ever since March this year, I've been calling Dish Network to cancel my program. First time I called was in March to schedule a cancellation date, which was on Apr 18th; and I was told by their customer support that it was taken care of. Second time, I called again in the early Apr. to make sure my program was properly scheduled to cancel, and again I was told it was taken care of. Around Apr. 10th, I talked to their customer support again, and this time I was told my program got canceled already. The last time I talked to them regarding the cancellation was on Apr. 18th, when my contract ran out and I won’t have any fee incurred on me, I talked to one of their account manager (who’s a lady, her first name is Lucy and she speaks Chinese). She told me my account was already canceled and I didn’t have to worry about it.

Surprisingly, I continue to receive bills from Dish Network in May, and at the same time, I got phone calls from them that I have past dues in my account (I already switched to Direct TV since March), which I should not have at all, because I was told many times by their staff that my account was closed.

On May 21st, I decided to call them again to resolve this issue. My phone was directed to a first level supervisor whose name is Mark, and whose operator ID is: L3. I hope he has given me the right information since Dish Network has shown a great discontinuity in terms of delivering the right information. First of all, this gentleman showed a very rude manner and there was no apology from his side for their poor customer support so far, at the same time he was reluctant to listen to any of my complaint of their poor support. When I told him I’m not responsible for the fees because this is caused by their poor handling, he threatened to report to the collection department.

I’m very surprised to see that cancellation for Dish Network is so difficult; and miss handling of this request by 4 people in the same company; as well as the supervisor’s incapability of taking the responsibility of the company’s poor behavior, and threatening manner. Besides this, there are other poor customer supports from this company as well. 1. Dish Network had a program to reward the people who refer to them a new customer, with a $99 moving brochure and another $15 or 5 free movie coupons. Unfortunately, after I referred my friend to this company, they had never sent me the moving brochure or the coupons as they promised; I later had called once to request these coupons, but they never sent them to me as the operator told me to. 2. Disturbing telemarketing. I understand a company has telemarketing to promote their service, but Dish Network has been behaving to the extreme. I often got phone calls from this company either at 5:00 in the morning or 10:00 at night, which is very disturbing. 3. Poor quality of their dish. In the last month of my contract with their program (Feb – Mar), the dish needed to run acquiring signals every day for about 10min in the morning and evening.

I don’t know what the work ethic is for Dish Network, but I do know I have never had any issue with cancellation with any other company, or have ever encountered any cheating behavior from a company for the rewarding program; and I have never got any telemarketing phone calls from any other company that I’m in contract with.

Dish Network has greatly disappointed me, and disturbed my life with current on-going issue. I hope the consumer complaint board can help me to protect my right, and hopefully Dish Network will start to use the right way to take care of their customer’s needs.

Thank you very much for your help!
Emily Zheng
May 21, 2008

I relocated in Aug. of 2007, my new rental did not allow dish antennas, meanwhile Dish Network had a vacation hold on service until I could come to terms with my new landlord. At the time I was not told about a hold charge and I certainly was not told that after a while on hold that Dish Network would take the vacation hold off and start to charge me again. At any rate in Oct I moved out of my apt and Dish Network has been charging me ever since without my authorization. Resolution Sought: An apology for unfair business practice and another apology for awaking me at 5:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning for owing them money for a service I didn't receive. Also I would like to completely erase any amounts owed for service never received.

Date Problem Started: 08/31/2007

Date of Transaction: 05/08/2008

Amount in Dispute: $126.00

This company is horrible... they charged me a restart fee when i never even had my dish turned off.i also got over charged for the package. I can never watch tv half the times cause of the fact there reception sucks... i have had nothing but stress since i went with them... i want them gone i don't want the service no more. I want to be realized from the the contract... they lie and are rude and childish down their...

Dish Network charges consumers a $5.00 fee for each receiver you have in your home that is not connected to a phone line. This fee is unfair to consumers that don't want to order their online movies etc. Most people only have one phone line jack in a room, and their not going to move their furniture, to suite Dish Network or spend hundreds of dollars to install phone lines. This is a consumer rip off, and should be investigated by the government. After calling and complaining to customer service, I was given a cool response, with no satisfaction. Switching back to cable is looking better.

I was solicted for service by Dish Network in May 2007. The representative offered me free HD service for one year if I signed up. He said it would come in the form of a $20.00 a month rebate that I would have to send in once the dish was installed.

I signed up for the service, had the dish installed, and sent in my rebate. In December 2007, I received a letter in the mail from the rebate center stating they could not process my rebate. I called the rebate center and they told me they only needed my account number because I put my AT&T number on the rebate form. Apparently this was the wrong number so I provided them with my Dish Network account number and was told I would see the rebate in my next one to two billing cycles.

I waited until March 2008 to call back and check the status of the rebate. I remind you I have been paying the $20.00 each month for HD that I was promised I would not have to pay 9 months prior. When I called back I was told they were still processing the rebate and they would "expedite" it. I explained that I would be cancelling my service if I did not see the rebate on my next bill.

My next bill came and I still was not receiving the rebate. I called Dish Network on May 5, 2008 to cancel my service. I was told I was under contract and there would be a $93.00 cancellation fee for cancelling. Frustrated, I requested this be waived since I had fulfilled all of my obligations as they applied to me sending in the rebate, following up several times on its status, and sending in my payment on time each month. Though I had been paying the $20.00 each month for something I was told would be free, the representative told me there was nothing Dish Network could do and I would have to contact AT&T to resolve that matter.

I then spoke to a Dish Network supervisor who told me she could manually credit my account the $20.00 for six months at this time. She stated since she was offering to do this now (even though it has been one year since I sent in my rebate without any results) that I was obligated to pay the cancellation fee because they were "holding up their end of the bargain."

I called AT&T and within five minutes I was told they would gladly credit my account the $93.00 for the cancellation fee and apologized several times for all of the inconviences.

I do not understand why I had to call to cancel my service for Dish Network to offer to honor the rebate they promised me. Why couldn't this have been done six months earlier when they were having problems with the rebate center? I also don't understand why I send in a check for payment it is cashed within a week but a rebate takes a year to process? I also don't understand how I can hold up my end of the deal by making payments monthly on time yet when Dish Network does not fulfill their commitment to honor their rebate they penalize ME $93.00 and tell me tough luck, take it up with someone who cares (i.e. AT&T).

I don't ask for any type of response from you. I don't ask for any type of compensation from you as I have already cancelled my service. I will gladly pay more money to a company such as Comcast which may be more expensive but does not require a contract nor a rebate to get the product I am promised. I have always heard you get what you pay for. This is a lesson I have learned the hard way with Dish Network.

This email will be forwarded to consumeraffairs.com, my3cents.com, and complaints.com.

Thank you for your time.
Rick