Can I ever be considered a "new" customer?

[nneptune]

I dropped DISH in FEb. after I got tired of Charlie holding channels hostage. I also thought that a change to Directv might be interesting after a 9 year run with E*.
I was wrong.
Their R15 DVR is horrid! I'm on my 4th one since Feb, and it's barely adequate as it is.
I want to return to E*.
I know I'll have to pay D* a damed cancellation fee (since I was foolish enough to sign a 2 year agreement), but I'll do it.
However, Is there a period of time after you leave DISH in which they would consider you a new customer again?
I want to upgrade to the 622 HD DVR.
Any help, so I don't have to sit on hold with a CSR, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
---Rich

[boba]

Officially you can never be a "NEW" customer again. You can be a returning customer and if your account was in good standing get most of the benefits of a new customer. If you left under other than good standing they canbring you back but you will probably have to pay for equipment. Now the wife possibly can be a new customer with a different phone number if she has never been a customer.

[finniganps]

I was wondering how people would like the D* DVR's (non-Tivo).......

[nneptune]

I was wondering how people would like the D* DVR's (non-Tivo).......

All I can do is bang my head against the wall, waiting for THIS unit to die.
Good lord, I made a mistake.
Truly, anyone thinking about switching...check out the D* R15 forum and learn what a piece of trash it has been for many people. Keep DISH!
They have their problems, but D* has become rather pathetic. No wonder they were giving those DVRs away!

[boba]

All I can do is bang my head against the wall, waiting for THIS unit to die.
Good lord, I made a mistake.
Truly, anyone thinking about switching...check out the D* R15 forum and learn what a piece of trash it has been for many people. Keep DISH!
They have their problems, but D* has become rather pathetic. No wonder they were giving those DVRs away!Actually the R15 is far better than DISH 522 was for the first year of it's existence but it certainly isn't of the quality that TiVo obtained for D*.:lol: :lol: :lol:

[nneptune]

Actually the R15 is far better than DISH 522 was for the first year of it's existence but it certainly isn't of the quality that TiVo obtained for D*.:lol: :lol: :lol:

yeah. like i said. I made a BIG mistake.
I HATE that thing!

[DishSubLA]

I think one can be considered a "new" customer by Dish after some period of absence. But one may never be considered a "first-time" customer if you have ever subscribed to Dish.

[Ohioankev]

Officially you can never be a "NEW" customer again. You can be a returning customer and if your account was in good standing get most of the benefits of a new customer. If you left under other than good standing they canbring you back but you will probably have to pay for equipment. Now the wife possibly can be a new customer with a different phone number if she has never been a customer.

Well here is my experience..
I bought my cousin who has never been with DISH Network dish equipment from Radioshack and they would not hook him up because he didn't have good credit. (Yeah this is after the manager at RadioShack said that if you buy the equipment there are no credit checks.... lol yeah right, he was quite upset when we returned a few hours later, and I was furious when I learned that i would have to wait 1-2 weeks to get my $200 back via RadioShack check)

On the other hand I owe DISH about $1200 from a previous DISH account but I was able to aquire a 625 on lease through AT&T. While i don't own the equipment i guess it's possible to get around the system.

[bobrap]

I know I'll have to pay D* a damed cancellation fee (since I was foolish enough to sign a 2 year agreement), but I'll do it.
---Rich

I left D* about two months ago and my cancellation fee was well over $150. I had an old box on file (R10 I think) with them and they sent a box to send them the box and charged me $20 to terminate early. Sure beats $100+!;)

[boba]

Well here is my experience..
I bought my cousin who has never been with DISH Network dish equipment from Radioshack and they would not hook him up because he didn't have good credit. (Yeah this is after the manager at RadioShack said that if you buy the equipment there are no credit checks.... lol yeah right, he was quite upset when we returned a few hours later, and I was furious when I learned that i would have to wait 1-2 weeks to get my $200 back via RadioShack check)

On the other hand I owe DISH about $1200 from a previous DISH account but I was able to aquire a 625 on lease through AT&T. While i don't own the equipment i guess it's possible to get around the system.First at&t isn't DISH Network they invested in DISH so they can resell the programming independetly of DISH. Secondly the new corporation is at&t not capitalized.:)

[rw2jn01]

As far as the 622 is concerned it doesn't matter if you're new or old... still $199...

[restart88]

Officially you can never be a "NEW" customer again. You can be a returning customer and if your account was in good standing get most of the benefits of a new customer. If you left under other than good standing they canbring you back but you will probably have to pay for equipment. Now the wife possibly can be a new customer with a different phone number if she has never been a customer.

Exactly. I believe it used to be like 2 years, and you'd probably want to get a supervisor to work with to make sure you don't get screwed. After all, this procedure probably isn't well documented in the level I CSR manuals. ;)

[restart88]

This all reminds me of my early days with both services. I didn't want to pass out my SSN to 3rd parties over the internet. Walk in stores were few then. They changed their policy to just needing a phone number and I finally decided to subscribe. Remember that this was years ago now.

More recently, some local 3rd party dealers have been marketing DBS and offering bonuses for new subs for going through them, like free DVD players (this was before the prices dropped so cheap). But they must re-sell your information to someone because those bonuses came at a price and probably still do with some of these guys. They wanted way more info than they need. I've seen some of the ads demanding not only a credit bureau but your employment history and a minimum residence requirement. :eek2:

I didn't go through that much B.S. when getting a cell phone from AT&T! (later I switched to another service that was a better plan for me and happens to be pre-paid, but that's another story) Needless to say I wouldn't trust some of the 3rd party providers at all. So I didn't recommend them to folks. You know? You never hear too much about credit worthyness when the DBS companies try to get you to sign up friends & family. ;)

Of course that may all be changing when it comes to HDTV receivers. I don't know.

[skyviewmark1]

Being a Dish Dealer, I know that after 6 months you can come back to dish as a former customer and receive all new equipment. Dish has an excellant former customer policy. But you had to have been a good customer when you were with them and you still have to qualify the same as a new customer would.. And of course you have to sign an 18 month contract.

I have been very satisfied with Dishes policy of getting it's customers back.

[cj9788]

On the other hand I owe DISH about $1200 from a previous DISH account but I was able to aquire a 625 on lease through AT&T.


And people wonder why companies want a SSN before they will do bussiness with new customers. :nono2:

[restart88]

Yea I was kind of wondering about that too, since they cut you of at what? 2 or 3 months late?? So somebody is probably holding some expensive door stops, since the receivers can't be activated. ;)