Customer retention

[bmeehan]

I called Dish yesterday to cancel my service. TW Rochester offered my $25.75/mo for Digital Cable + HBO for the first year, and $5/mo for their Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8000 DVR.

I'm currently an AT50 customer with locals (Plattsburgh/Burlington... I use my parent's address for billing). And, though I may be in the minority, I really liked the DishPVR501. It was reliable, the quality was good. I could archive if I needed to with the 2nd output on the back, or to my computer (not discussed here!). But the HD size and lack of a 2nd tuner was starting to gnaw at me. The fact that I was paying 2x for network channels (4.99 from dish for Burlington, and 7.69 to TW Rochester via cable) was also bothering me.

Let me say this: The SAE 8K is no DishPVR. For those of you who have complained about Dish's reliability in their PVR products, the SAE 8K will have you begging for that reliability and user interface again.

Anyway, I called Dish to cancel, and they transferred me to customer retention. They started with the usual "What can we do to help you? We sure don't want to lose you as a customer..." I listed my points: Lack of a HD PVR - How can they claim to the leader in high def? ; No Rochester locals (I even told him that I was cheating and claiming Plattsburgh and he told me that it didn't matter, that there was no way for him to know); and lack of a dual tuner alternative. I don't want to plunk down $300 for a 721 off ebay when there is an HD alternative coming soon that will address my dual tuner need.

So he told me "We're expecting to release the 921 in October, so if you could just hang on with us a little longer", and he comp'd me a month of service. So I'll wait until 10/18 and call them back. I'm really torn at this point. The deal for cable is soooo cheap, and by the time it expires (next August), the HD market should have sorted itself out. But in the mean time, can I live with such an inferior DVR (the Explorer 8000)?

Your thoughts?

[Bob Haller]

Do you really believe the 921 will be out by october.

Excuse me while I FALL DOWN LAUGHING:)

Octoiber 2004 ? Yeah that might work!

Maybe they will give you monthly credits till its out?

[ibglowin]

Take the "free" month.

What have you got to lose?

The October time frame for the 921 could be bunk but something 'big" has to come out of Dish very soon with regards to HD.

I just read a report that said the number of HD TV's will top 3.2 million in the USA this year. That is a 500% increase over a couple of years ago.

Remember no one else has a "921" either.

[marko]

Sort of in the same situation. I just got a new HDTV, and needed hd feed to test it out, so I signed up for TWC "satellite" special (hdtv box with all digital channels + hbo/cinemax) for $40 a month for a year. (sounds like you got an even better deal). I am keeping both dish/twc for a period of time until dish fleshes out their hdtv stuff. If dish has it together with hdtv, I will stick with dish. If it is something totally unreasonable, then I will I might just stick with TWC (or possibly directv). We will see.

[bmeehan]

I'll keep taking the free month until they stop. Bet I can get about 3 months out of them, although I'd rather get (discounted) equipment out of them. I really don't want to discontinue the service. I like the interface of the 501. But the quality of the local stations are better on cable than on Dish... I'll bet that they really compress the locals that they offer in order to supply more of them.

By far, Dish has had the most courteous and informed customer service of any television provider (D*, E* and TW)... even if they think "we should have the 921 out for October". D* was never really interested in telling me anything other than what they were currently offering, and TW couldn't tell their head from a hole in the ground!

[Scott Greczkowski]

Bob what are you going to do when the 921 comes out in October?

From what I understand there 921 will indeed be released in October (although only a limited quantity at release)

[angiodan]

Bob what are you going to do when the 921 comes out in October?

I guess he will fall down, and laugh!

[Bill R]

I think that the question should be "if the 921 comes out in October, how good will the software be?" Echostar seems to take the "Microsoft approach" in product development, that is, "get the product out on the market and fix the (software) problems later".

Can anyone name ONE Echostar product that didn't have noticable software bugs when it first came out?

[Bob Haller]

Bob what are you going to do when the 921 comes out in October?

From what I understand there 921 will indeed be released in October (although only a limited quantity at release)

Respectfully has E EVER released a receiver on schedule??

Then we have Buill R point. Whenever it comes out it will likely have bugs..

Scott I was told the 522 would be out last january and it still isnt here. I sure hope its better than your source who said the last C chat would have good news about the fee. Lately insider info isnt very reliable. Like I have a EXCELENT source that the 721 is out of current production and they are selling off the inventory before releasing the 522. Your sources dont agree..

Its a interesting industry that I used to understand better. Frankly I think Charlie has taken a back seat to beancounter managers who can screw things up. A excellent example of that is the per box DVR fee. Obviously that wasnt well considered.

Lets ee a bunch of posters stating my 921 arrived today and wrks GREAT with few bugs. Till then I DONT believe it!

[SParker]

Bill,

How about the Echostar coffee mug? :lol:

Can anyone name ONE Echostar product that didn't have noticable software bugs when it first came out?

[Peluso]

Do you really believe the 921 will be out by october. Excuse me while I FALL DOWN LAUGHING:) Octoiber 2004 ? Yeah that might work! Maybe they will give you monthly credits till its out?

I have to agree with Bob, although not to his extreme. 921 in any real volume is 1st qtr '04 If it's released in October, it'll be very very limited run. It takes a while to product hundreds of thousands of anything.

[Peluso]

Bill, How about the Echostar coffee mug? :lol:

I want one, I want one, I Want One!!!

[Jacob S]

Seeing how PVR/DVR/VOD helps keep some subscribers happy causing Dish to have less churn, I wonder how many subscribers it causes them to lose due to the bugs in software and hardware issues? Perhaps it evens out, depending on how many subscribers have issues and stay with Dish putting up with the problems.

[Mike D-CO5]

Most people who have dvrs think they did something wrong when they mess up, so I doubt the average customer churns over a missed program. Look at computers and how often they get viruses and screwups, I don't see people chunking their computers out the window when they screwup. I for one, have had very few problems with my 508s and my 721. I have been able to fix either through Dish rma or through trial and error anything that was wrong. That is why you MUST HAVE EXTENDED WARRENTY for $1.99 a month . Most people are intimidated by new technology and either except the limitations or they don't use it for what it was intended.

Look at how many people have vcrs with clocks that are still blinking 20 years after they came out. My parents never learned how to set up timers with the vcr and now I gave them a 508 and they still don't use the timers to record shows. They just surf the channels the old fashioned way. They do like the 7 day guide but they hardly will even use it for what it was intended for. :rolleyes:

[Peluso]

Baby Boomers for the most part can figure out new technology, and gen X & Y are very techno literate. The ammount of people who can't figure out something like today's DVR's although significant is a minority of the population.

[Jacob S]

The difference between computers and DVR's is that all computers tend to get some of the same problems whereas Dish receivers tend to have more problems than the DirecTivos and standalone Tivos and other similar standalone DVR's.

[Mike D-CO5]

Baby Boomers for the most part can figure out new technology, and gen X & Y are very techno literate. The ammount of people who can't figure out something like today's DVR's although significant is a minority of the population.



Most people I talk to about my dvrs don't have a clue what I am talking about. Hell they don't even understand what a Tivo is. This includes the 20 to 40 year age group of people I work with in a large state government agency.

I think the majority of the public is not as tech literate as some of the members of this board. You over estimate the public as a whole on these tech issues.

My parents are baby boomers and so am I by the definition of the span of years(1943 - 1964), and I have to do just about everything for them when they loose their lights, from resetting their sat receivers to programming their vcrs again so they can access their ota channels.

Baby boomers still out number gen x and y and will still have a lot of political clout especially as they age. They will be the biggest age group soon heading to social security. But that is a different issue entirely. :backtotop

[Peluso]

Most people I talk to about my dvrs don't have a clue what I am talking about. Hell they don't even understand what a Tivo is. This includes the 20 to 40 year age group of people I work with in a large state government agency.

Not being introduced to what a technology is vs. learning how to use a new technology are two very different things. Any Baby boomer, Gen X or Gen Y who can learn how to use Email can easily learn how to use a Tivo type product. The product is designed to be easy to use.

Your right about social security... it's a huge topic, but not for this forum.