8 Months ago I cancelled my Dish Network service. I had it for 9 years prior. I also had DTV and Mediacom Cable. I found that I watched cable and DTV mostly and I did not have HD service with Dish like I did with the other 2. OTA HD blew away all of them as far as picture quality and price(duh free) so I scaled back a little. They have called me on 2-3 occasions begging for me to come back but I could not see spending $300 a month when $200 is bad enough.
Along comes MPEG4 cool new irds and more HD stuff. So...I call get put permahold 20+ minutes ask about the new receivers and then I am told "You are not eligible for our HD service". WTF? She says she can reactivate my old units but NO HD FOR ME!
Has anyone heard this one? I think the poor girl got her wires crossed. I asked don't you want me back? She said NO not for HD SERVICE, you are not "eligible". If this is Charlie Ergen's new policy....He is off his rocker! Leave us and you can never come back?(at least for HD) I would call back but the hold time is outa control.

For give my ignorance but what are IRDs

sorry...receivers

I thought so. thanks!!!

Could it be the old 'if you erect a 600' tower,you can get the locals' syndrome??

I bailed on installing DTV because I got tired of being the 'bad guy'!

Let the clients hear the bad news (that was out of my control) from someone else!

You would think that they would be more 'client' driven but, they are a 'commodity' and are driven by the poltical natures that be!

Oh wow, pilgram, it's like we are living the same life. I refuse to have anything to do with sat unless it's my sale to my client with me installing and no lies/surprises. I had MAJOR problems with Dish and only slightly fewer with DTV. I got SO sick of being put in a position where I was supposed to honor someone else's promises. Ugly business and let me tell you, as someone who has met Mr. Ergen and many of his employees, ugly personalities. Yuck, I feel dirty even thinking back on those days. I better go take a shower.

CCD,

I think she might mean that you are not eligible for HD locals . The CSR's at Dish (and DTV I hear ) sometimes haven't a clue . I would call again .

I have been told by my satellite installer in the past that if you cancel service and wish to get reactivated and be able to take advantage of promotion, etc., that your spouse has to sign up with their ss#, etc. A good number of my customers have had to do the same thing.

Anothony,

I agree with you totally. As a veteran of the old satellite C band days I trust Charlie Ergen as far as I can throw him. Every promise that he has made to satellite dealers he has broken.

Both DTV and Dish promise "free" installations to their customers. Both know that the quality of these "free" installation are deplorable and that most "free" installers are trying to jack up charges to the customer once they get to the home. This is because both DTV and Dish do not pay squat for their installations.

Most people tell me, when they call up and complain about the installations DTV or Dish act surprised and say that they will send the company back. After waiting home several times to get the installer to come back they finally call me to come out and fix all the shoddy work that the "free" installer did.

DTV and Dish take no accountability for these "free" installers even though they know what is going on.
What a way to run a business.

Dave T

I also agree that a high number of the "free installations" that I have seen on houses look deplorable. Fortunately, I have a local satellte company that do all of my installs and they keep them neat. I used to do satellite installs as a subcontractor many moons ago, so I have some experience.
I have learned to talk to the customers early in the game about satellite placement on their houses. It drives me nuts when I see dishes halfway up walls with the wires attached all the way from the ground. I intentionally put my satellite feeds out where the customers want their dishes. Then my satellite guy knows to install the mounts within a foot or so of the penetrations. Works real slick and it looks good on the outside.

No, she said I wasn't eligible to buy an HD receiver from them. I get HD locals free on cable and ANT. She could have "meant" anything. She did not sound too bright.

I have learned to talk to the customers early in the game about satellite placement on their houses. It drives me nuts when I see dishes halfway up walls with the wires attached all the way from the ground. -from wirenuts

My personal favorite are the dishes mounted in the MIDDLE of a roof when line of sight is a non-issue. I hate to sound mean but, it's like they have down's syndrome victims mounting those beauties.

Some friends drove me around one of the really high $$ areas of Toronto a few years back, right after (I think) Canada got legitimate dish serivce rather than bookleg. House after house on this very nice street, with dishes mounted to the marble facades of these homes, some right next to the front door. I wanted to cry.

Granted the installation by these "free" installers are terrible. But, the people who live in those houses tolerate them for some reason. They could call and pay a professional to move and reinstall the system, but they don't.

The old saying goes "you get what you pay for" and these people take what they get as long as it is free.

It just blows me away when I have to go out and fix one of these systems.

Another thing is that the 95% of "free" installers don't ground their installations. I will be doing an ota hdtv and while grounding my install I see the DirecTV antenna not grounded. I tell the customer who then says "Oh...can you ground it for me?" I tell them no....my insurance only lets me ground antennas that I install and that they should call DirecTV. Haha.

Dave T

Dave T

The quality of the free installations is definetly ugly. But it is not entirely the subcontractors fault. With the price of gas and supplies they have to do six installs a day to make any money at all. At last check subcontractors are making $45.00 an install around here. A few years back $150 was common for one room and $50 for each additional.