Dish Network - Greek channel billing problems

Dish Network - Greek channel billing problems

Dish Network/Customer Service

In December of 2003 we looked into getting Dish Network Satellite service for my mother in-law. She is an elderly Greek-American who had her heart set on getting Greek television, and resides in Florida part-time with us in the in-law apartment attached to our home. We have used Brighthouse Cable (previously Time/Warner) since we moved to Florida and have had excellent customer service from the company, and I really did not want to change our service, however, the company does not provide international channel selcetions.

So my husband went through (what turned out to be) the grueling process of setting up an account with Dish Network. He called customer service and spent some time on the phone trying to get a plan that would fit our needs for us and his mother. He thought that we might as well cancel our cable service and rig the whole house up with Satellite, which includes receivers for his mothers side of the house (living room and 2 bedrooms) and 1 receiver for our side of the house. We have one HDTV, and he was trying to make arrangements for that as well. He called me from work to inform me that he got a great deal on a package plan that was set up with one of the sale reps, but did not have his credit card with him to seal the deal. He got the extension number of the sales rep to so he could phone back once he had access to his credit card. He failed to get the name of the individual that he spoke with!!!

He called back and talked with a female. When he asked for her to transfer his call to the extension number, she reported that she would not be able to do that, and asked how could she be of service to him. He explained that he already had the account set up, and he needed to talk to the rep who performed the intial transaction to finish the deal. The rep really gave my husband a difficult time, saying that she needed a name, and that there were several people at the extension number that he gave her and she just could not transfer his call to that number.

Unfortunately he was never able to contact the initial sales rep, who upon approval of a supervisor gave my husband a special package deal containing the Greek TV channels, and our HDTV settup for a reasonable price along with free installation. He had to go through the same process of setting up the account with another rep, who was unable to give him the same price as the initial representive. As I recall , he was put on hold and cut off during one of the calls and had to call back and go through the process all over again. We were not wholey satisfied, and a bit frustrated by this point, but went with it anyway since my mother-in-law has to have her Greek TV and Dish Network is the only satellite company that provides this service to our knowledge.

The installation date was set up for December 24th, Christmas eve. I believe it was December 22nd that my husband received a phone call from the installation technician who had informed my husband that he could not do the install, as he did not have all of the HD components required to fulfill the installation. The following day, he received a call from a customer service representitive informing us that the technician could not come out on December 24th for the install, not giving us a reason, and that it would have to be done mid-January, however we now would have to pay for the installation which initially was supposed to be of no charge (part of a promotion?). My husband inquired as to why we would have to pay for the installation, we had a set appointment and due to error of the company not having the appropriate equipment available, we are then penalized? He had cancelled our cable service thinking that we would have the Satellite service, and went without any programming. So by this time we were feeling a bit put out and we decided that we did not want to deal with Dish Network any longer and told the rep we were no longer interested in the service. I had a strange feeling about the company and my intuition told me it would be a big mistake to do business with them.

However, my mother-in-law was furious!! She wanted her Greek TV!!! So in January 2004 my husband, who was pushed by his mother, made another attempt with Dish Network to have one receiver and only Greek channels set up in her side of the house for a set price. Again more problems. His mother speaks broken english and we must communicate for her. He had used his mothers credit card number, setting the account up in her name. She gave him the wrong credit card and was histerical, requesting us to call back and tell the company not to bill the account to that card. She resides here in Florida part time, and did not have her mail address changed prior to coming here, so she was afraid that the bill would arrive in Seattle and her credit would be ruined because no one is there to retreive it. He again called Dish Network asking the rep not to bill on that card. The rep said that there was nothing she could do. We called the credit card company then to have the bill sent here-no problem, so we could pay it promptly.

The installer arrived late in January, and the install was complete. A bill from Dish Network arrived in the amount of $104.00...my husband was quoted a price $39.99 a month for Greek channels ( there is no need for any other programming). My mother in law who is on a very fixed income was furious as to the amount of the bill, knowing that the initial hook-up prices were already taken out of her credit card. So my dear husband again called back to find out what this bill was all about. He talked to someone who told him that they had credited the hook-up prices from his mothers card and that the $104.00 was for the first two months of service. I was standing next to him when he was talking to the representive. He was very polite the entire time. If the fee is $39.99 a month x 2, that comes to $80.00 plus tax, how do you get $104.00 out of that? After much discussion, he took the reps words and hung up.

I then had him call the credit card company to see if this was true, if they did indeed credit her account, since the billing statment had not arrived. Nope!! A charge for Dish Network was still on her account, no credit!!!! Just what was this Dish Network representitive trying to do, giving us false information?? My husband again called back, trying to get to the bottom of everything and asked to speak with supervisors, etc. with pretty much no luck. Everything was turned back at us, we misunderstood the agreement, we were being uncooperative, etc. (Again, I was present during these calls and my husband was very calm up until the last call with George who is a customer resolution officer).

My husband had already spent several hours trying to get answers and resolutions. George said that there was nothing he could do for us. By this time he told George to cancel the account, that were are not satisfied with the service and to have someone come and remove their equipment from our premises and to abolish all charges. George told us that we need to disassemble everything ourselves and send it back to the company, or he could send out a technician to do it for an additional fee. My husband does not want to give this company any additional business so told George that he would remove it himself and we would mail the equipment back to Engelwood, CO. We now have to pay shipping and handling fee's out of our own pocket! You think the company could at least offer to send us appropriate packaging for all the trouble they have created for us.

I am afraid that this is not the end of it, this whole experience has been a nighmare and it bothers me that a company of this magnitude cannot pay back a customer with some sort of kick back for the needless time, effort, frustrations we have gone through to deal with matters that the company is responsible for. It seems to me that some of the representives working for this company will deceive, just to apease the customer. We have been hung up on several times, we cannot get connected to anyone who knows what is going on, and we never have gotten straight answers and unfortunately the list goes on. Not good business.

I have found some additional phone numbers for the corporate office and will continue to dispute our cause and hope to get some sort of satisfactory response. I love my Brighthouse cable service and maybe the folks at Dish Network could learn something from this company.

Kim L

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