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From their own website (meaning, this is advertised publically, you don't need to have a contract in front of you to know about it):
Quote:
Requires 24-month commitment and credit qualification. Limited-time offer.
² When bundled with qualifying DISH TV packages. Requires 24-month commitment. Speeds may vary.
* Existing customer receives $5/mo. Credit for 10 months. New customer receives $50 credit on first bill. Requires 24-month commitment and credit qualification. To be valid, Referral Certificate Number
must be presented at time of order for service, prior to activation.
This is why, when I was in a similar position, I simply told them I was moving into temporary housing and could not take the service with me, but I'd be sure to call when I got to my permanent home.
There is zero reason to be truthful with these companies who are looking to screw people over on a regular basis.
It is in the contract that you signed willingly. I do not have sateliite just for this reason alone. I called to get service from Dish about 2 monthes ago and this was stated upfront in the phone call as well as on the website. And the contract that you signed when it was installed also had this on it. Sounds to me like you "chose" not to read before signing. Pay the fee and count as leason learned. The LORD doesn't teach us to be dishonest so don't be.
Call them and demand a copy of the signed contract. The Dish guy never gave me my copy the day of install when I signed it and when I called and asked for it they mailed me a BLANK ONE. I called them back b#tching for them to mail me the SIGNED CONTRACT. I had to explain that I don't want to cancel I just want my signed contract that it is my right. Two weeks later I got a letter saying they couldn't find it and I was "freed" from my contract. Losers at Dish. When I signed mine he said he'd mail me a copy. Never did. Then it turns out they didn't even have it to send me. I found my copy later in my files but threw it away. Still have their letter freeing me though. :-) It was an accident that worked out to my benefit. CALL AND DEMAND YOUR SIGNED COPY. Tell them they never gave it to you. I never signed anything the day I had a Dish installed so they lie, lie, lie. You probably didn't sign anything, like myself. And if you did they don't have the copy. And don't worry about those "you messed up people". I signed onto this site just to let you know, I hope it works out.
I read through the replies to this customers complaint in which he felt he was scammed by dish and the responses that blame him for not reading the fine print etc......well please respond to my situation since you all seem to think he should accept that he owes the money and should pay it and we are in a similar situation. However mine is with direct tv and not dish so I could care less about which company is involved rather their billing and business practices. And for additional information that I feel is helpful is that I was a manager of a corporate Sprint store for over 4 years and in sells for 3 years prior to being promoted. The reason I feel that information is helpful is to show I completely understand the use of contracts and upselling customers etc. My story starts out like this ....I decided to go with direct tv as I wanted to be able to get the nfl ticket and at the time the direct tv "authorized" reseller was running a promotion that with a two year contract the Sunday ticket was included for free. They also explained to me that after the two year contract was up the equipment belonged to me which would give me additional options when the two years was up. I could continue service but would no longer be charged a fee for the receivers, i could upgrade into new equipment and services (which would require a new contract) or i could cancel service and sell the receivers if I could find someone who had maybe damaged theirs etc.......all of that seemed pretty legit and made sense to me so I had three receivers installed in my house. Needless to say about three months after I set up service the company went out of business. But I did not have any issues at all during the first year so this didn't concern me. I was actually pretty pleased with the service. After the first year however I no longer needed the 3rd receiver and contacted their customer service. They explained to me that since it was before the 2 years was up that I would need to return the receiver and remote or I would be charged for the equipment. I completely agreed with this and they sent me the supplies to return the equipment. Sent it back and continued my service with the same programming just minus a receiver. Everything continued to go without issue until I hit about the 18 month mark. I had family come in from out of state which included my niece (age4) and my nephew (age2). A couple of days before they arrived the service went out and I began receiving an error message which directed me to call the troubleshooting line. After being on the phone with them for easily over an hour they came to the conclussion that it needed a technican to come and fix the problem. Now here is where the trouble begins. They informed me that they were extremely short handed in my area and it would be 16 days before the next opening. They also said that since I did not have their "insurance" there would be a $50.00 service fee but since I was going to receive a "courtesy" credit for the 16 days i would not have service. The problem with this is that 1. I was never asked nor told about insurance and any kind of service fee for them to charge on their equipment. I was paying a monthly fee on each receiver until the two years was over at which point i would than own the equipment and than be responsible for any repair fees. Had it been due to neglect on my part Icould understand but where it was something in the wiring of the unit to the satelite that I had no part in causing the fee was ridiculous. 2. To say that they were giving me a "courtesy" credit on service that I was being billed for was also ridiculous. So I had to wait the 16 days before my service was fixed and did not have any TV for my family during their visit. My brother who has been a customer of theirs for years did call and got them to credit the service fee. After that I was pretty upset with how they handled the situation but continued on. The month after my two years was over my house was broken into and my 50" and 42" tvs were stolen. Due to neglect from the rental company so I moved out immediately. For the most part everything of value. had been stolen so I stayed with a family friend until I found a new residence and also cleared up my suit against the property management company. I called direct tv and explained what had happened and that i needed to put my account on hold until i had a new address and new tvs. That is when I was told that until I had a $0.00 balance my account could not be put in a temp hold without it billing me. I was also told that the billing cycle had just restarted and my bill was around $230.00 and that all needed to be paid. Well I didn't have the full amount but I roughly half of it which was the amount due. She said that there was nothing she could do so I told her that I just wanted to cancel. I was than transferred and i explained why I wanted to cancel and after about 30 minutes my account was finally disconnected. I figured everything was fine until Ireceived a phone call telling me that my account was in collections. I was told that I had not returned the two receivers and I had been billed for the equipment. I was also told that everything had been sent to my previous address (which I told them numerous times was not my address anymore) and was the reason why I didn't have service and they had my new mailing address. I tried to dispute the charges since my two year contract was over, but they claimed I had to return the equipment or pay for the equipment and that the equipment was being leased to me and the contract had no bearing on that. That I misinformed by the company that had went out of business and that they would begin deducting money out of my checking account until the equipment and outstanding bill were paid. I told them that until the equipment dispute was handled I wanted my debit card removed, which the refuse to do. So as of today I cannot have money in that account or within 1 day they take out whatever is in it. I emailed them and called them telling them to remove the card and they still refuse. The equipment fees are close to $400.00. Which I refuse to pay, and I even told them I would return the equipment...........because regardless of what I was told I have no use for it, but they say since its now a collections account I cannot send back the receivers and have to pay for it. Now all of you that claim he didn't get scammed, what about me?????????
Here's an idea: Keep $440 in your pocket, just continue with the service at your new location and suck it up as hard lesson learned. What is the contract, 24 months? Not really too long. Ever occur to you that the crappy service you are anticipating during bad weather won't even come to pass or be that bad? Millions have satellite and are perfectly happy with it. Read the fine print next time. Did you sign up over the phone? That is another thing I would not recommend to anyone. Sign up at the store where you have something in black and white.
I've had Dish for five years. The agent was very careful to explain that there was a two year contract and a penalty fee if cancelled. There was no ruse. On the other hand, most of what the local cable people said about their combined phone/internet was bogus and I cancelled within a month. They tried to get me to keep it since they'd charged me for a month.
As has been said by others, its not a secret that Dish has a contract. Since they are open about it I doubt the FCC is going to tell them to stop.
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dish and direct tv questions
