Lied to by Dish Installers and Local Supervisor!

[youngfan75]

:mad:

I had Dish installed 3 weeks ago with the understanding that I would be able to have my locals in HD via the Eastern Arc sats. I was going to wait or even keep my overpriced FIOS until I could get my locals. Two installers came to my house and told me that I could not receive locals due to LOS issues. Their supervisor was actually in the area and came over to my house to look for himself. After looking things over he said I could get my locals on the EA sats in a week or two. I then said that I would like to wait until the locals were actually on the EA. He assured me that the locals would be up and running on the EA in a matter of 1-2 weeks. Being trustful I told them it was OK to do the install because I did not want them to make the trip for nothing. These were employees of Dish Network, not a subcontractor.
I am now getting the Dish Network two-step. They have no clue when or if my locals will be on the EA. In addition they told me that NO programming is guanteed but I have to pay my bill no matter what. Does this mean that if one or more of their sats stop working we all still have to pay them even if we are not receiving any broadcasts??
If anyone from Dish Network is monitoring these boards please feel free to contact me.

[thomasjk]

Pittsburgh locals are on 129 which is western arc. http://www.satelliteguys.us/thelist/index.php?search=dnall&sub=true&sort=&order=&beamMap=CIEL2_SB26.jpg

[finniganps]

If you don't want to keep your service I would call DISH NOW and see what can be done. Don't wait.....time will not help you if you don't want the service.

[James Long]

Pittsburgh has been testing on Eastern Arc for longer than I can remember.

http://jameslong.name/markets/f95.html

There seems to be no logic to how long channels test. I can understand delays launching a new market or channels because of contract disputes but the Pittsburgh channels are launched. There should not be anything holding DISH back.

[BattleZone]

I had Dish installed 3 weeks ago with the understanding that I would be able to have my locals in HD via the Eastern Arc sats.

Unfortunately, you should have come here. Also, as a general rule in life: if it isn't available today, assume it never will be, unless you have significant proof otherwise.

Another example: 3D TV. A bunch of people bought "3D Ready" TVs over the last couple of years, but the 3D format those TVs support isn't likely to be supported by any source devices, probably ever. And folks buying 3D TVs today may end up with TVs that don't support the 3D format that will eventually win out. Until you can see the 3D channels you want from the provider you want working on the TV you want, assume that it won't work, and buy accordingly.


In addition they told me that NO programming is guanteed but I have to pay my bill no matter what. Does this mean that if one or more of their sats stop working we all still have to pay them even if we are not receiving any broadcasts??

Dish doesn't own the content it provides, it merely licenses the right to distribute it, just like any other TV provider. As such, ALL TV providers put disclaimers in their agreements that they can't guarantee any specific programming, because, really, how could they? You might subscribe ONLY for, say, the Discovery Channel. What happens if they went bankrupt tomorrow and went off the air? That wouldnt' be Dish's fault, but you'd still be without Discovery, but under contract to subscribe for the rest of your term.

[Dave]

I would write the CEO of Dish and contact his office via the internet. Include the name and address of the installers that lied to you. Ask him to make it right. If it means taking the system out or a matter of installing a Dish to obtain the western arc. More that likely his office will contact you and make it right. Do not let it go. If Dish does not know there installers are lying then they Dish can not fix the problem for you.

[phrelin]

I would write the CEO of Dish and contact his office via the internet. Include the name and address of the installers that lied to you. Ask him to make it right. If it means taking the system out or a matter of installing a Dish to obtain the western arc. More that likely his office will contact you and make it right. Do not let it go. If Dish does not know there installers are lying then they Dish can not fix the problem for you.

The above is the best recommendation at this point. If you send a polite email to ceo@dishnetwork.com describing what happened. Be sure to include the phone number associated with your account and a daytime phone number. Someone from the administrative office usually responds within a week.

[Stewart Vernon]

Agreed... you should call/write until you get a satisfactory answer.

Even regular forum visitors have no surefire way of knowing when any given market locals will launch on any particular satellite... and usually installers/Dish reps. don't have any more idea either... so for one to promise you something that doesn't yet exist is a very bad thing.

If you want Dish, they should be able to re-point you to where your locals are... IF you don't want Dish or they can't point you to a place where your locals reside, then you should be able to get out of the contract (my opinion) if you were misled about something you'd have no way of knowing yourself.

[Bigg]

:mad:

I had Dish installed 3 weeks ago with the understanding that I would be able to have my locals in HD via the Eastern Arc sats. I was going to wait or even keep my overpriced FIOS until I could get my locals. Two installers came to my house and told me that I could not receive locals due to LOS issues. Their supervisor was actually in the area and came over to my house to look for himself. After looking things over he said I could get my locals on the EA sats in a week or two. I then said that I would like to wait until the locals were actually on the EA. He assured me that the locals would be up and running on the EA in a matter of 1-2 weeks. Being trustful I told them it was OK to do the install because I did not want them to make the trip for nothing. These were employees of Dish Network, not a subcontractor.
I am now getting the Dish Network two-step. They have no clue when or if my locals will be on the EA. In addition they told me that NO programming is guanteed but I have to pay my bill no matter what. Does this mean that if one or more of their sats stop working we all still have to pay them even if we are not receiving any broadcasts??
If anyone from Dish Network is monitoring these boards please feel free to contact me.

Cancel DISH if you still can, and keep FIOS. Why on earth would you take such a huge downgrade? FIOS doesn't re-encode their MPEG-2 streams, and sends them out at the full 19mbps over half of a QAM-256 channel, and also supports OpenCable. DISH is a great service, so is DirecTV, but if you have access to FIOS, it trumps all other video and data services without any shred of question.

[youngfan75]

Thanks for all the replies. I will give the ceo a nice email. I have been in touch with Dish customer service with no avail. I was actually hung up upon by a Dish customer service rep! I was explaining my situation and she was the one who told me that Dish does not guarantee any reception. I then asked her for her name and she hung up on me. I can honestly say I did not get loud, swear or anything of the sort.

As for FIOS I liked the service but due to illness I have had to cut back on $ and Dish is a less expensive provider without too much of a sacrifice in picture quality. I have sold home theater systems for the past 20 years and the best picture you can receive is through a good old antenna with a good digital tuner. Unfortunately, with the hills in my area, I cannot receive all broadcasted channels. Believe me if I could I wouldn't be upset about not having my locals on Dish. If something happens I will post a follow-up.

Thanks again.

[Bigg]

Thanks for all the replies. I will give the ceo a nice email. I have been in touch with Dish customer service with no avail. I was actually hung up upon by a Dish customer service rep! I was explaining my situation and she was the one who told me that Dish does not guarantee any reception. I then asked her for her name and she hung up on me. I can honestly say I did not get loud, swear or anything of the sort.

As for FIOS I liked the service but due to illness I have had to cut back on $ and Dish is a less expensive provider without too much of a sacrifice in picture quality. I have sold home theater systems for the past 20 years and the best picture you can receive is through a good old antenna with a good digital tuner. Unfortunately, with the hills in my area, I cannot receive all broadcasted channels. Believe me if I could I wouldn't be upset about not having my locals on Dish. If something happens I will post a follow-up.

Thanks again.


Fios's locals are passed through bit for bit, and their nationals are the full 19mbps, which is just about always higher quality than the locals, because locals typically use subchannels.

Take a look at the triple-play and contract Fios pricing if you can get out of this DISH debacle. When you account for not getting the bundle discounts to get just internet and phone in addition to DISH, Fios is a good deal. Yeah, I have a LOT of Fios envy, it's the best, and it's cheap too. :D