DISHPLAYER OWNERS: READ THIS

Back on November 9th I sent the following letter to ceo@dishnetwork.com requesting that action be taken on replacing my Dishplayers with the 501. So far I have not received any response whatsoever.
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Dear Sir,

I'm writing you because I have found it necessary to try and put an end to
my struggles with the Dishplayer.

As you well know, the Dishplayer is plagued with bugs in the software. I
have been very patient and waiting for each upgrade only to have more bugs
introduced. Well, now I feel I must take action.

I have been a loyal Dish customer for over 2 years but have come to the
conclusion that the Dishplayer is a lemon. I have constantly had to deal
with lost recordings, lost program timers, and a wife that is mad as hell
at me and you.

Now, to the business at hand. Since the Dishplayer is obviously a faulty
product, I would ask that you simply replace both of my Dishplayers with a
PVR 501 and make good on the notion that you are a company that cares about
the customers rather than the almighty dollar. Don't write me back and quote
your "upgrade" deal for $199. Shelling out more money is not what I had in
mind especially since I give you close to $70 a month already.

Below is my name and phone number which should be all the information you
need. I will even be willing to pay for the shipping.

Thanks for your attention.

Chris Blount
phone deleted
Administrator
www.dbstalk.com
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Like I said, NO RESPONSE AT ALL! It is my conclusion that Dish Network does not care about their customers. From this day forward I will stop recommending a Dish Network system to my friends and family and strongly urge you (the reader) to do the same. The "Club Dish" certificates that I just received are also going into the garbage.

While the recent 5709 upgrade to the Dishplayer has put a band aid on a few of the problems, many other software aspects of the unit are still faulty. We as consumers don't need to put up with this kind of treatment and should demand some kind of replacement or refund.

Dish Network... You blew it... and now you are going to hear about it.

Frankly I believe a upgrade path is coming in one form or another. It just a matter of when it will occur....

On Friday I talked to Charlie's "helper" that works in his office. She is a very nice lady and knows a lot about what is going on. She basically handles elevated issues like mine that pop up. When my post here and on DBSForums was brought to her attention, she immediately called me and apologized for not replying to the e-mail that I had initially sent.

We spoke for about 45 minutes about various issues but there were two things that really stuck out.

1. The first is from my own impression that she was basically doing "damage control". She explained to me their policies about helping customers and the fact that if they do something for one customer they must do it for all. This pretty much blew my chances for getting my DP's replaced with 501's (no surprise). She also admitted that the 501 is not without problems of it's own so upgrading would not necessarily solve anything. Also, the DP was never meant to be a PVR. Originally the hard drive was placed in the unit for web surfing and that the PVR function was an "afterthought".

2. She explained to me that the 501 is not an upgrade path for the DP. She went on to say candidly that she is waiting for the 721. That unit has the best chances to really bring Dish out on top of the PVR race. I asked about a possible upgrade path from the DP to the 721 and she said it won't happen at first. A few months after the 721's release, there will probably be an upgrade deal for DP owners. Most likely in late 2002.

She said she would pass on all of my technical complaints about the DP to the engineering staff to help them solve any problems for the next update. Updates will continue for the DP but due to the nature of their agreement with Microsoft, they could be difficult to implement. She said that Dish will never involve themselves in a joint agreement like that again and admitted it was a big mistake.

Overall it was a fairly productive conversation. Charlie does read some of the e-mails that go to CEO@ECHOSTAR.COM but all of them are read by someone in his office and do get the attention they deserve. I urge everyone to keep writing them with any valid complaints and suggestions. They are listening.

We have had continued problems with the Dishplayer system since we bought it 18 months ago. I haven't had much luck with Dish Network responding to letters to Mr. Ergen or PlanetFeedback. They did respond to a couple complaints but never solved the problems.

Our Dishplayer has gotten worse over time. We've replaced it at least three times. When I called yesterday, both techs I spoke with admitted they had a programming problem and said it could take a month or two to get it fixed. One told me things like "That Dishplayer ain't nothing but a pain in the behind" and "How to fix it, throw it in the trash" and "ain't worth two cents".

When I called return authorizations, they offered me a non recording receiver. When I asked for one with recordable functions, I was offered the PVR for $199. I told them I wasn't going to pay $199 to replace a device they couldn't get to work that was under warranty for another device that had problems they've also been unable to resolve.

I already have two PVR systems which I was told before I bought them didn't have problems like the DishPlayer both by Dish Network tech support and by my local retailer/installer. The PVR systems have problems on average of once a week or more lately. In the last week, they've both froze up and required a reset. They've recorded programs and put in skips in the video and audio. They forget to record shows or do a zero minute record. They also forget to stop recording.

I think it's time Dish Network take care of their current customers. If they sold us something that won't work, they should give us our money back if they can't fix it satisfactorily within 30 days.

I don' think they have any business trying to take over DirectTV when they can't make what they currently have work. I'm writing my congressman and Senators on this and I hope everyone else does the same.

I understand the frustration you are going through.

Ever since I wrote my previous comments, my views have not changed. I still do not recommend Dish Network to my friends and family. Instead I steer them toward DirecTV and their DirecTivo that runs circles around anything Dish has.

If you are sick of your 501's, sell them and get DirecTivos. Bugs are almost non-existent and you won't lose a single recording.

If you are sick of your 501's, sell them and get DirecTivos.

Chris I think you hit something here, which may explain why Dish Network does not care.

People all over are flocking to DirecTV because of crappy Dish Network equipment. Dish knows there are problems, admits to them, but yet they don't care because...

Everyone who is flocking to DirecTV are selling their old Dish Network equipment for other people to activate!

I think if more people just put the junk equipment in the closet where the units would not make any money for Dish Network, then I think Dish would take more notice.

Why should they care if one way or another they are going to make money of their buggy equipment?

My advise if you can afford it and you do switch to DirecTV to not sell you old Dish Network equipment, instead let it rot in a closet somewhere. Dish Network will no longer benefit from the equipment, and perhaps some time in the future the equipment may be swappable for something that actually works.

Scott

Ya know, you are right about that Scott. I didn't think of that way. Not selling the equipment is the best thing to do. Simply salvaging the hard drive inside the DP is probably better anyway especially if you have a 7200. They won't sell for as much as the entire DP but it's better than nothing...and if you need for your computer, so much the better.

Guys, it's sad that the DP has had these problems. I noticed it on the very first one that I installed and vowed NOT to buy another to sell. I originally bought 20. Of the 20, 2 were DOA and no problems with the others. That was still not good odds in my book. I took one of them home with me for my house, that was about 1 1/2 yrs ago. It, within the last month, has just now started messing up. I have to say....I WAS LUCKY!!!

As far as the 501, I have had 0 problems with this unit until recently when they compressed the transpoders for Must-Carry. I, like any other consumer, don't feel that we should have to bear the 'crap' because their rocket manufacturers didn't get the satellite's ready for launch before Jan 1st. However, the alternative that DISH took with must carry, I agree with. They basically had two choices: 1)Drop over half of the locals that they presently carry or 2)compress the signal even more and everyone keeps their locals. Either one of these choices would have had ill fate with the customer base and they chose the latter. The reason that I bring this up is because a lot of the compression has brought on some of the problems that we are seeing with the DP and 501. Sadly enough, we have two choices with this too: 1)Drop DISH and go to Directv or cable or 2) wait til the spot beams are up and running. Not very good choices there either.

Well, I welcome anyone's comments about the satellite industy. Albeit negative or positive. I'm not a corporate employee or a corporate hound. I believe in making the customer happy!!!

Jeff
www.dumpcable.com (http://www.dumpcable.com)

Hi Bob. I agree with you about the upgrade path but it being "just a matter of when it will occur" is really the problem.

I think all of us have given up any and all hope that the DishPlayer will ever again perform to the level it did even after the PTV Service upgrade of 99. The real problem is that many of us have been dealing with this product, the issues associated with the product, and a complete lack of accountability from either company since June 99.

After 31 months of owning the product the last damn thing I want to hear is that it will happen eventually. The fact is that it should have happened already. The problem with that however is that jumping from the DP to say a 501 is like jumping from the frying pan and into the fire due to its problems.

I don't believe that an upgrade path involving the 721 is neccessarily the best idea either. The unit will likely have problems(hopefully not)....and it's not as if a straight trade is in order as the 721 is clearly a more capable unit that also costs more. I mention straight trade only because so many have demanded exactly that rather than a major discount on a 721 purchase.

In a world where corporate policy is to never say you're sorry, in a world where technology moves faster than does damage control, we shouldn't really be surprised when even a company that touts being consumer centric falls into the industry version of "He Said, She Said".

At the same time all of this erodes all confidence I had in Mr. Ergen being an honest man....a man claiming to value the subscribers of Dish Network. Even worse is that these pukes would sell units that have been returned and refurbished knowing fully well that even with the hardware in working order that the software seriously comprimises performance. It shouldn't be a question of when it should be a question of how badly they want to stop the negative word of mouth that they are receiving from dissatisfied customers. J

Scott, I still have my old buggy POS Dish equipment in my house sitting in two closets. I was gonna let my uncle have them for a reduced price, but he's unhappy about Dish and wants to get DirecTV now. He wants to get WTTV-4 and guess what provider has the channel he wants?