I have been a Dish Network customer since 2002, but this is on the verge of changing. Dish charged me $179 for a service and product (the HD DVR), which it refused to provide.

I set up the installation appointment for Sunday, August 12 between the hours of 8am and 12 pm. The technician arrived around 12:20 pm and refused to install the HD receiver because my HDTV wasn't in place. I explained to him that I just wanted the HD service set up and my HDTV would be coming in later that week. The satellite technician then berated me and told me that in the future Dish would not install until all the TVs were in the proper location as they wanted to avoid having to come back to check their work.

I explained that I knew someone who had the HD upgrade installed and asked him to go ahead with the installation. Again he refused, told me that I didn't understand his position, and berated again about my failure to be prepared for the Dish upgrade.

At this point, I asked him to leave my home, but he refused, continued to make calls to his supervisor to complain about my behavior, and then insisted that he needed his clipboard. I asked him to take off his shoes to retrieve the clipboard, which was in my bedroom, but he refused and would not leave until I retrieved his clipboard. You can imagine how upsetting his refusal to leave was as I am five one and he was a much larger man.

I called Dish Network to complain about his conduct, made it clear that it was unacceptable for me to feel threatened in my own home by a Dish technician, and to complain about the failure to provide services and products that I already paid for. He was not able to tell me the technician's name (the service agreement is for DNS LLC, Long Beach, #054841) and I was told the best they could do was to reschedule the installation with a note that the installer (which he could not identify) should not install the upgrade. In light of the poor customer service I received, I asked the customer representative (JAMES) to have the installers pick up the leased receivers, but he refused to even consider this small concession.

I cannot understand why Dish is so intent on alienating a long time (and prompt paying) customer with its callous attitude toward complaints regarding physical safety and failure to provide service and products already paid for.

Dish Network=Nightmare! I highly recommend staying away from this company. The fact that the person that called us to promote Dish and get us to sign up couldn't speak English should have been our warning sign but we were foolish and signed an 18 month contract.

Our first problem was tracking down the free DVD player that was promised. When we went to print the on line coupon which truly was one of the reasons that we agreed to go with Dish it was expired. We then had to spend two days haggling with the company that offered this deal to get the DVD player. The company that called us to sign up was called DDS out of California. I told them they really had no right to offer this promotion to customers if they couldn't honor it. After two days going back and forth they decided to honor our coupon, what they called making an acception to the expiration date. The whole deal was we needed to receive our first bill and submit it with this coupon before December 22nd. We only signed up for Dish on December 20th and our first bill didn't come until January 15th, so there was no possible way to get it to them by Dec. 22nd and they actually wanted to argue this and not give us the free DVD player.

Problem #2 We never had a signal. The minute the wind would blow or it rained the satellite would go out of service. Go forbid if their was a severe weather warning we would have no way of knowing because once the satellite went out it wouldn't come on for anywhere from 2 to 4 hours later.

Onaparticularly bad storm in April it apparently blew our Dish so far out of alignment that we had no PPV for 3 weeks. We had only had our Dish for 4 1/2 months and felt we shouldn't have to pay anything for a service call. After all Cable has free service calls for the length of time the the customer has cable, unless it's sheer stupidity that is bringing a service tech back out time after time. Dish wanted to charge $30 to fix what they called a broken switch. I told them I would no way pay for a service call for a faulty piece of equipment only 4 months old. I finally got them to come down only to $15 but they would not come otherwise. When the service tech go to my house he said it wasn't a switch regardless of the fact that we were on the phone with three other reps. who ran system tests for us, all obviously from outsourced call centers and they each said it was a switch. This technician checked on our TV in their system information menu to see what our Dish was aligned at and could tell right off of the TV that the alignment was only 70% instead of 100%. It amazed me that we talked to three other phone technicians, one of them for 2 1/2 hours and that none of the three other so called expert technical phone assistants did this particular test. It took this guy 5 minutes to say our dish was out of alignment. Even though any of the reps. could have had us check the same thing and my husband could have repositioned the dish which was on the edge of our roof,not one of them suggested this. Amazingly, it could only be found with a $30 service call. I find it interesting how they conveniently forgot this step even though they had us relay information to them about what came up on different menus as they tried countless times to figure out the problem.

Problem # 3 -Two days later we ordered a PPV and it kept breaking up the picture, interrupting the movie but we let it go. Then it happened on two other PPV's, on the third one we got fed up. We figured if we needed another service call it would at least be free since it was an issue related to the last service call and within 90 days of the last call, so we called service again. As we were reviewing the PPV'S ordered they informed us several movies had been charged to our account that we know we definetly did not order. The rep. said it came from our remote so we had to pay for them. These included according to them one Porn movie a month for each of the 8 months we had the Dish Network. The hilarious thing was that these were supposedly ordered in the middle of the day when no one was home. One night we were sitting their watching local TV and all of a sudden an ESPN basketball special event PPV came on in the middle of our show for $24,we definetly didn't order it, we don't like basketball. The same exact thing happened to my brother-in-law at the same time because they called us the next day and asked us if it happened on our TV, they did refund that saying it was a glitch in the satellite positioning and happened to many customers. I asked the m how we could be charged for movies we did not order. In my house lives myself, my husband and 5 year old son. Some of these pornos showed up during the day when my husband was at work,my son at preschool and I was out running errands. I also told them my 5 year old couldn't have accidentally ordered them because we have parental locks on all our PPV's, which they confirmed. I then asked them how do we know that they didn't just add them on our bill and say we ordered them, so they could collect whatever they felt like charging. After all they seemed to be able to access our TV from their location, run tests and adjust whatever the chose to. All I was told is that they wouldn't do that, some reassurance!.We insisted on a refund. They said they can't go back previous months to refund us. Mu husband and I thought it was interesting i that we never saw any of these supposed PPV charges on any of our previous bills, we only received online statements and we couldn't access any more than the current and previous months information. They couldn't even tell us how much we had been charged only that they would not refund us the two Porno's showing or the current movie Norbit we ordered but couldn't watch because we kept losing signal. Therefore, we couldn't even argue about past charges only the current bill. We do spend at least $30 or more a month ordering PPV family movies and movies for our son to watch and have been excellent customers always paying our full bill on time, despite all of the problems, so we felt asking for these refunds back was no big deal. We had ordered two movies prior to this and didn't get to watch all of them due to lost signal and we let those slide, but we insisted on the refund for the pornos and Norbit. They told us if we asked for any refund then they would have to block us from ordering any future PPV's. Now I ask you, who is losing out! We can go to the video store. They would rather lose their $30+ dollars a month than refund $3.99. They told us this was their policy so that customer who would abuse the PPV service and constantly call and say the didn't order it and want a refund would be deterred. We said that was a shame because we certainly weren't trying to take advantage of them. We told them go ahead and block it, its' their loss and got our $3.99 back.

Problem #4- It was at this point that we decided enough was enough and we we're going to cancel our contract even though we had 10 months left on it. We were informed that we would need to pay the remaining balance of $146.97. When I called customer service and canceled the rep. told me they would charge the cancellation fee to my credit card that I ordered Dish with 8 months ago. I specifically told the outsourced rep. that I did not want the charge applied to that card because it was my debit card that I originally used to and I would not have funds available until my husband was paid2 weeks later. I repeated this three times and this man assured me they would not do this and would send me the bill to pay the balance by check or online when i was able to. This was two weeks ago. As of today I still did not receive the shipping boxes for returning the equipment that I was told would be sent UPS. Now I know UPS usually ships in a few days so I called to find out where they were. I also asked the woman to verify what we still owed them. She proceeded to tell me $15. I asked how this could be? What happened to the $146.97 we owed?She told me that it was in fact charged to my debit card but then declined. I figured the bank rejected it so I asked if it was declined how could we not owe it still, I couldn't see Dish wiping out our bill as a favor. I went around and around with her for 15 minutes. She would tell me the account had a credit and I would say ho, if it was rejected then I should still owe the $146.97, where did the reaming balance of $15 come from and finally got so frustrated that I hung up. At this point I pulled up my bill online and saw that they did in fact credit my Dish Network bill $146.97, so it was obvious they did in fact take it from the debit card that I explicitally told them not to. My husband then called back and talked to another rep. who confirmed they did in fact charge my debit card. Which in turn will now overdraw my account bouncing several checks since my husband doesn't get paid until next Friday. I called back and spoke to three diffrent reps. today asking how they had the right to go in and touch anyone's account, especially if the were told directly not to. I was told by each that it's in our contract that they have this right if the contract is canceled to collect any equipment fees, cancellation fees etc. All they could say was they were sorry for the inconvenience and that the rep. that canceled our contract did not note our account that we didn't want the charge to be applied to our debit card so they had no way of knowing we wanted the bill sent to or house, surprise, surprise! I told the rep. as far as I was concerned it was stealing. I didn't sign anything currently giving them permission to touch my account without my knowledge. I further explained that this just put the icing on the cake, this just added to the mile long list of reasons of why we canceled our contract with Dish 10 months early and will never recommend them to anyone. Our biggest mistake was that we had them two years ago had problems with losing signal constantly, we rode out the contract went to cable and then back to Dish to try and save some money and have more variety in our channel line up, huge, huge mistake!!!

I told this rep. how can they have the right to use a credit card that was given to them 8 months ago, when people's circumstances change, cards get closed, accounts change and especially with a debit card when the money may not be available. What really irked me is that if this CSR that I had canceled our contract with had told me they needed to charge the original card as policy and could not bill me at home, I would have made sure the money was there somehow or waited until my husband was paid to cancel the service, but he explicitly assured me over and over the bill would come to my house. When I asked the CSR Jane today how I could find out who this gentleman was that canceled my contract she told me she couldn't identify him by name only an operator # due to the fact that they have over 500 call centers around the world. I then asked her for the name of the company president to write to him. She said it was Charlie Koegen. When I asked for his address or how to get a letter to him she said she couldn't tell me that. If I wanted to complain I needed to email Dish. I laughed at her and told her why in a million years would I think that would be effective. No one would read it and if they did I would get some form letter response and the same piss poor customer service I had received from day one.

Therefore, I can only hope that the more customers that have problems with Dish will add their two cents here and maybe Charlie Koegen will read this. Thank our government and George Bush for the outsourcing of America. it seems if you can get an American on the phonethey are somewhat sympathetic, sometimes able to help or at least more willing. It sucks to have all these problems but it's even worse when you can't get someone that speaks English to help you and they can only recite from a script when you have a complaint. Can I finally add thanks for letting me vent. After reading all the other complaints on this site I'm closing my debit card so they can't take anymore money without my knowledge and if I can on Monday I may still block my account since the $146.97 may not have processed at my bank yet. I'm also going to ride Dish Networks but until I get my return shipping boxes. Good luck to all and cable is the way to go avoid the nightmare!

Victory!!! I won! Dish credited me for the $49 "activation fee" that I paid day of activation that the ad stated in writing "would be refunded on my first bill, which they first tried to say "you have to call the ad company; we aren't responsible for anything promoters promise" - I said you know and have an obligation to know everything promoters bringing business to you promise and you WILL refund the $49.

Dish also caved on telling me I had to mail in a "rebate form" for the $10/month discount - I said nothing on my contract says anything about such a rebate requirement and I'm not going to pay or do anything not on my contract.

I said what you're attempting to do constitutes fraudulent advertising and fraudulent inducement and contract fraud and you know about all the lawsuits and I will contact the CA attorney general.

I said I am owed a correct bill in the mail every month and I will not pay you unless and until I receive a correct bill in the mail.

And I said I will not phone you again with my valuable time. So they caved!!! The bill was reduced from an outrageous $144 to $49.

Hope you can use this to stop this insane promotion fraud and overcharging.

I have been a loyal customer of Dish Network for nearly two years. I have never missed a payment and even put up with their deceiving ways. To start out with, the day we had the dish installed, my husband was in the house with the installer and the guy came out and told me he was finished and had me sign the order. I went back inside and he had told my husband he was going out to check the dish and would be right back to show him how to use the DVR and remotes, and he never came back. We had to stand on our bed and repeatedly push the buttons on the remote to get the second tv to work. Then when my contract of 18 months was finally up, I called to see about having the service discontinued. A lady told me if I would stay, she would give me a $10 per month adjustment. Well, month after month I would have to call in and tell them the discount was not there and they would always apologize and give me the credit and tell me that the next bill would be accurate. The next bill would say I owed the difference and that I had made a partial payment. Two days ago, I called and asked to have the service discontinued and would not take no for an answer. After asking the agent 4 times he finally put me though to some sort of "specialist" whom was extremely rude and insisted I go up on my roof and take some piece off of the receiver. I told him I was disabled and he told me that the local ACE hardware would come and take it off for me. Well, we don't have an ACE hardware, and he then told me I was going to be charged $100 if I didn't find a way to get that precious piece back to the company. I am happy to say... Monday Direct TV is coming to install a new satellite and they have offered to remove the old equipment for me. Shame on you Dish Network!!!

I signed a written 18 month contract with Dish on 6/8/07. I paid $49.99 as activation fee with written term it would be refunded on my first bill. My written contract was $44.00 per month. Instead, my first bill was $145 for the first two months and they charged me again for the $49.99 "activation fee" for a total of $175.00, when I should have been charged $88 for the first 2 months MINUS the $49.99 activation fee REFUND for a total bill of $38 -- NOT $175. I phoned 3 times, was put on hold for 45 minutes (so you'll hang up and give up) told them this was contract FRAUD, and they were rude and did not listen and refused to correct the bill. THey also told me I had to print out and send in a "rebate form" or I would be charged $54.00 per month when my contract says $44. I said zero "rebate" requirement is on my written contract, it was a full contract wherein all terms must be fully disclosed, and I was not going to take my valuable time to do anything NOT ON THE CONTRACT. Two billing flunkies and 2 supervisors were rude and refused and I hung up.

Additionally, the installer was supposed to be at my home at 8AM and did not arrive until 7PM after wasting my entire day waiting and having to phone them repeatedly to ask when, if ever, they were going to get there.
I am going to pay what I owe and not a cent more. If they send me another FRAUDULENT BILL or cut off my service I will sue them in Small Claims for the maximum $7500 for fraud, for denial of service and breach of contract, for my hours of time on the phone, and for my time waiting for the installer and for punitive damages. This is OUTRIGHT FRAUD!!!

An attorney could make a great class action suit. We should do it. Direct TV was just as bad, overbilling every month. DO NOT LET THEM BILL YOU AUTOMATICALLY!!! THey charged one woman's credit card $575 fraudulently.