Contract ETF in the even of Death?

colebert said:

Sorry to clutter up the forum, but what happens to a D* contract in the event of the death of the subscriber?

I had a friend pass away last week and the family has turned over the disposition of all his technical services (cable, internet, satellite, phone, cell, etc) to me. Is his estate liable for the ETF or will it be waived on presentation of death certificate.

Sorry for the mobidity of the thread. Did a Google search and mostly found article relating to people talking about their receivers dying (or wishing Dish would die, lol.)

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From the Residential Customer Agreement (RCA):

D. If your Services are canceled or disconnected for any reason, you are still responsible for the payment of all outstanding balances accrued, including without limitation any applicable Fees.

Unable to find the word "death" anywhere in the RCA. Usually any assets that a deceased has remaining, stand "good" for any obligations remaining after death.
I'm not a lawyer, but it appears his estate will be liable.

It's tough to have a friend pass away. May he rest in peace.

Is this a DIRECTV (D*) or Dish (E*) question? I'm happy to move it to the proper forum.

When you receive the next monthly bill return it to the sender and mark it "Deceased". Then they will do whatever is necessary.

I think the only real way to know is to call them.

But remember, it is the 'estate' - not you or his family members that are responsible for any ETFs.

I'm not saying Dish (or DirecTV) would use arm twisting, but when my father passed away I often ran into companies that would try to convince me to pay his debts. Don't let them try to fool or guilt you into anything else.

Stuart Sweet said:

Is this a DIRECTV (D*) or Dish (E*) question? I'm happy to move it to the proper forum.

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Sorry, I just hang out in D* forums so much I just wrote D*. But it's DishNetwork.

Most companies handle death better than debt. Contact DISH and let them know what is going on and ask if there is any equipment that needs to be returned.

Waiving of contracts in such a case is handled by the company's executive resolution team, who may or may not request proof of death.

I have personal experence with this with another company. My partner passed away two years ago. Shortly after her death I called my cell phone company (Sprint) to cancel the second line that she used to share our minutes. They refused to wave the fee. When I called back a few days later to cancel the whole account because I switched carriers the retention dept. told me I should have called them and they would have cancelled that line and waved the fee.

I told them so sorry, too bad, I have already switched. It was their loss. Sure it cost me $400 to cancel both lines, but they also lost 4 other accounts from other family members once they heard that they refused to wave the fee.

Dish may waive the cancelation fee, but if the person went thru a retailer there may be a 3rd party agreement that might be a bit tougher to get waived.

A death certificate is required faxed to the CSR's. After verification the account holder expired most everything is waived once the equipment has been returned. Third party contracts are subject to whatever agreement the retailer wishes to enforce.