In last 2 months, expensive programs were added into my Dish Network account twice without authorization from any of my family members. I just realized anybody who knows your phone number can easily add programs to your Dish Network subscription -- no further question asked! It is that easy.

To make things worse, you have no proof whatsoever you did not do it, because the company do not keep record where the call came from.

Think twice before sign up for Dish network before they improve your account security.

An add came in the mail for Dish network. We were increasingly unsatisfied with our cable company. So, my husband called the contracted installation company to get the details on the plan they were offering. Free installation, four room set up. etc... It sounded like it would be worth while. My husband asked to set up an appointment. The gentleman (if thats the term for deviant liar) asked for our credit card and my husband said what for. I thought there would be no charges. He told him it was to hold our appointment. Cool! The installer was out in 2 days. We were set. So we started having some minor reception problems. no biggie. Then 2 weeks later we got our first bill. We were expecting in the neighborhood of $60-$70 dollars. Oh no, the wanted $115.00. On top of the $49.99 they fraudulently charged my credit card. It turned out that deviant sales rep also signed us up for auto pay to our credit card. I called dish network and had that switched over to regular pay. The dish net. rep told me my bill would go up $3.00 a month. I was very unhappy but said whatever its $3.00. He also would fix our bill to reflect the $10.00 per month discount we were supposed to be getting and adjust the pricing to what it was supposed to be. I asked why they charged my credit card 50 bucks. He told me that was the activation fee. I explained there was no activation fee supposed to be charged. Here comes the run around. My husband called when he got home to get the 50 bucks put back on our credit card. The new liar said that it was a credit from them. Mortified my husband explained to her that the charge was on his card and it was definetly not a credit from dish. She lied and said the charge would go back to our card. Next bill comes and is still up to 100 bucks and no 50 credit in sight. We had had enough. After about 3-4 hours being transfered around i spoke with a supervisor liar rick, account specialist supervisor no less. After i explained how there install company lied to us so we would sign up and how direct fraudulently charged our card he said he would go ahead and cancel our service for no early term fees. LIAR!!! I received a bill for $213 two weeks later, you guessed right early term fees. I called dish and the supervisor liar rick had totally snowed me. His notes on our conversation stated that he informed me that cancellation fees would be standing. I have never in all my life been defrauded by such a large company. They will never get those cancellation fees from me. I just cant comprehend. All there customer service reps must be prison inmates, they wont make license plates anymore...

I am a Dish Network Customer myself, - and decided to treat my mother and father-in-law (Bill and Joan Denison) to an upgraded receiver, so they could see their local channels more clearly on their TV. Since it is difficult for either of them to deal with Dish Network themselves, I have been doing all of this on their behalf at their request. The equipment upgrade charge was put on my credit card.

I am so frustrated with Dish Network company I could SCREAM!!! In mid-August of 2007 I set up an appointment to have a new receiver installed, and was told it would be $59.95. I decided the next day to upgrade to a dual-receiver HD instead for $169, - and was told that this would include the cost of installation . I noticed, however, that the most recent bill has charges for both the $59.95 and the $169.

I called on August 15th and explained the over-charge to them and was assured they would refund the $59.95, which has not happened. Additionally my in-laws were given a DVR which we never ordered, and so were charged a more expensive price as well as now being charged an extra $6.52 extra every month for DVR service they do not want.

The first bill also has all types of miscellaneous charges that were neither discussed nor agreed on.

I called on September 5th and spoke to a man, and explained the situation. He did not seem to understand, and seemed very unclear about what I was disputing, so I asked to speak to a supervisor. When he put me on hold I was disconnected. I called back and spoke to a lady who said her name was Shren. She said that the $59.95 charge was requested but never approved as the agent did not document it correctly, but she would take care of it. She again had difficulty understanding me, so I asked to speak to a supervisor, at which time I was once again disconnected. I called AGAIN and spoke with a Denise who said she would refund the installation charges, and also would schedule a new appointment to swap out the receiver so we would not pay so much. She said she was transferring me to some type of account specialist who would be authorized to set this up for me, - but once again I was mysteriously disconnected. At this point I am so frustrated with the incredibly poor customer service, that I can’t take the stress of calling again. Here are the errors on their part:

1. We should only have been charged $169 for a dual-tuner HD receiver, but were given a dual DVR receiver and charged $199 instead, as well as the $59.95 installation charge. I think this error is fairly obvious looking at the billing statement, - since the credit card charge on 8/13 was specifically for $169, NOT $199. If I had authorized a dual DVR HD receiver, the credit card charge would have been $199 instead. Now my in-laws are forced to pay an additional $6.52 every month because of receiving the incorrect equipment. I hardly think they will ever even use the DVR feature, - thus it is a wasted monthly expense.

2. I did not order the HD package. I only wanted them to have the HD receiver in the event in the future they decide to order the HD package, then they would have the correct equipment for it. I understand it is $6.00 per month extra for having this tuner, and that is OK. However, Dish Network has given them the HD package, - and even if it is free for 6 months (as the agent tried to claim) I didn’t ask for it, and now I have to cancel in 6 months and go through the hassle of dealing with incompetent billing agents.

3. I was promised that the overcharge of $59.95 would be refunded, and am now told it will not be.

4. I tried to call and resolve this and was met with incompetence and was disconnected THREE DIFFERENT TIMES. I never once yelled or raised my voice to any of the agents, but I suspect that rather than connect me to a supervisor, or spend the extra time needed to resolve my situation, each one chose to hang up on me. Either that or all three were extremely incompetent with the phone system.

Unfortunately my in-laws (and myself) are now stuck with Dish Network for the next few months, until our contracts expire. However I assure you in the meantime I will be considering ANY other options for the future, - rather than Dish Network.

We have been stood up for a prepaid install, two days in a row. We paid over $170 for the satellite but can't get them to come install it. There customer service is extremely non-responsive. The first was a work day and the second is a Saturday which we were suppose to have him come between 8am and 12. We have a 6pm travel plans and can't go out of town. It seems just signing a contract locks you into bad service and I have not even gone into reception problems during rain. A warning for paying up front for anything. We will take them to court of time for a day of work lost and travel plans and cost of dish that has not been hooked up.

In May of this year we signed up for Dish Network Service; and install date was set and what I thought would be a relatively easy experience (as we previously had satellite service) was horrendous... A technician (from See World Satellites, sub contracted by Dish Network) arrived at our home, the individual was informed as to where we wanted the receivers installed, and was allowed to go to work... I entered a room where the tech. was working and he was pulling cables through our wall??? We already had cables - so I questioned his actions, his response... I know what I'm doing I do this every day! I allowed the tech to continue about his work, when he was "apparently done", he informed me that he had pulled a cable out of our wall and could not replace it because he didn't have a "wire fish", but he was kind enough to tell me that I didn't need it??? I informed him that we had paid a contractor to install it when our house was built and it was there for a reason... he then assured me he would return and re-install a cable. The tech. then asked me to sign the paperwork (implying the work was complete and correct)... after being re-assured he would return I signed the paperwork (my stupid mistake to trust someone).

Needless to say when the tech left we only had 3 working tv's, and after a week with no return by the tech I began calling Dish Network to get the problem corrected, after several weeks I was finally given an appt. for "repair" under the 90 day warranty, I was informed that I had to be at the residence from 8:30 -4:30, so I was there, at 11:30 no show, I called Dish and was told to allow them until 4:30, at 3:30 no show or call, I called Dish again and was informed that the trouble ticket had been canceled??? Canceled because the original paperwork said everything was ok???

When we got our first copy of a bill (payed automatically on credit card) from Dish it was oh about $20.00 more than we were promised, we called Dish and they informed us because certain wires and/or cables (phone lines primarily) were not connected we were being charged extra for that... my comment to them was the equipment was exactly how it was left by their technician. Our problem I guess since we signed the paperwork the first day... Oh and so you understand the tech. put one of the receivers in a room we did not want it in and there was no phone line in that room.

We then contacted our credit card company and disputed the charges from Dish network... that got their attention and so they simply recharged our card, we disputed, etc... you get the picture... finally Dish network agreed to send a technician out to finish the install and re-install the pulled out cable. The technician (again from See World Satellites, but a different tech.) showed up, she started out by telling me all she had done for the last two weeks was fix the other installers mistakes... she started reviewing the work by the other tech. and found L n B connectors burnt? diplexers wired backwards, an eye burnt... many things wrong with the install. So she started her repair but of course did not have al the necessary equipment, and did not have a wire fish to install the removed cable. Well when this tech. left we had two working tv's and a promise that they would return (this time on the report where I was asked to sign I wrote work /install / repair not complete. Again we never got a return visit and so started calling Dish again, they would not send someone out, even though we had marked the techs. paperwork work not complete.. We spent I'd guess over 10 hours on the phone trying to resolve this issue to no avail. Again we had disputed charges on our credit card to try and get them to finish the install... this got their attention again they turned off the service to our 2 tv's.

My wife (bless her heart) called Dish without me knowing, the week before we left on vacation. When we returned from vacation she came into the house and turned on the tv... no service, she almost cried?? I asked why, she then proceeded to tell me she called Dish and asked them, what can we do to fix this problem, the gentleman she told me was very nice and told her she needed to make a "good faith payment" by check and they would take care of everything, she did... sent them check and they cashed it, plus they recharged our credit card... paid double and no service. The only way to stop Dish network from charging to our credit card every month was to close the account. But we were still out the money from the check and had no service and Dish Network would not fix the problem or restore the service...

The only option left was to file claim in small claims court, which we did(approx. 4 months of trying to resolve on our own first), the owner of the install company (See World Satellites, Indiana PA) showed up and everytime we made a point to the court his response was... our paperwork here shows you signed the statement saying everything was ok... Of course they did not have a copy of the second techs. paperwork that documented (by her own writing) the incorrect install and damages caused by the first tech... they said she never turned it in (good thing I had my copy)!!! There was a "print out" log "supposedly showing all our communications with Dish Network which they referred to numerous times... it was amazing that they had only the "records" to help them, thank goodness we had our own documentation to support us... they actually said they never talked to us about the work not being complete, they never talked to us about making a payment by check, and they never received our check... they asked us for a copy of the canceled check (well in todays world your checks are electronically deposited and the checks are mostly not returned... oh yeah and that is what Dish does... not return checks...) Fortunately we had already met with the bank and had documentation showing check no., amount, payee, date cleared, etc... It was pointed out in the court that having been paid by check and charging the credit card both constitutes fraud... well it was an oversite it was not done on purpose...

Needless to say, the court ruled in our favor, and asked us... do you want to try and have the install completed or do you just want to walk away... not a tough choice... Although the court ruled in our favor we will never "recover" the money from our check they cashed (because of their location, not local and cannot send the constable to collect), and they will probably never give us credit for the returned equipment - amazing how they loose any documentation/material they don't want to have a record of-however with the judgment against Dish Network in our hands they cannot collect on a cancellation fee, or any other fees or damage our credit.

My suggestion to everyone, don't sign anything you are not 100% sure of... we had no way of knowing that parts of the install were incorrect( you should write on their paperwork that you do not understand the installation process and equipment and therefore cannot agree that everything is correct), also never pay by check, and document everything (even to the point of recordings) and lastly if you must... file a civil complaint against Dish Network... if everyone whom they wrong does this they eventually might get the message... or better yet, save yourself the aggravation and don't deal with them at all.