Frustrated with Dish Tech Support? Valky's Story

[yummy4tummy]

GRRRRR. Anybody out there work as a tech for Dish? I am about ready to pull the freaking satellite off the side of my house. I have called customer support so many times that we are on a first name basis now. We have had Dish for over a year without incident. In August our receiver started going out (swith problem) and they finally sent us a new receiver. New receiver just made matters worse and problems became more often and longer. They Finally offered to send a tech out free of charge (quite nice of them since I PAY A FEE FOR SERVICE PROBLEMS) after me calling to have the service disconnected and trying to jump through 5 different people's hoops to fix it. The tech shows up after 2 weeks replaced a few parts that seemed to fix reciver. Much to my dismay reciver 2 did not work AT ALL when he left. I AM STEAMING MAD! To add even more insult to injury, receiver 1 is now up to it's old tricks. It takes them 2 1/2 weeks to get another tech here. If they do not fix it once and for all tomorrow I am ripping the dish off the house and burning it.

Okay, now that I have that off my chest, back to my original question. Anybody have connections with Dish that can troubleshoot?
Thanks,

Valky

 

[gilliandanielle]

I don't have Dish connections, but I did have the same problems with them last week. They sent the tech out to my house to look at my satellite (my guide and half the channels wern't working) and he said that it was loose from some big wind we just had. He tightened everything and it is working a lot better now.

He told me (off the record) that you can disconnect with Dish, then sign up under a new name (yours instead of your husband's or vice versa or a relative's name) with a cell number and your address but Unit A or something. That way you can get new recievers, upgraded service and all the goodies new subscribers get free. I hope this helps!

 

[yummy4tummy]

Thanks Gillian but I am afraid that when I disconnect from Dish it will be forever. It takes so long to get a tech to the house, then when they make the problem even bigger you have to wait again. I live in a remote area where I get 1 channel (that you MAY be able to follow along IF you have seen the program before) via the antenna. It always seems to go out right when I am totally involved in a program. The other night my DH went to bed. I was watching the last part of The Bachelor finale when it went out. My DH ran in the living room (receiver is in the bedroom so signal went out there too) just to make sure I wasn't headed outside with the chainsaw. The only thing that I would miss with Dish is the DVR aspect where you can record things on TV1 and watch it on TV2.
Dish offered me a free month of service but what good does it do me if the service is out for the better part of the month?
I guess it gives me more time to get to my "star post" LOL

 

[thechefofnorthbend]

I will ask my DH, as he is a DISH tech here in Oregon. I will print out your post and have him write his response down and post it on here tomorrow, as he does not get home until around 10 pm PST. Hopefully he will have a good solution for you!

 

[apriljc]

I have DISH and knock on wood I haven't had many problems with them. You are right about getting a tech out to your house at a decent amount of time. I use to call them if I had a problem, but now I have DH call. If I got a guy talking to me about it they treated me like a dumb girl. Granted I am not too knowledgable about all the new technology, but to treat me like I know nothing is just rude. I hope your problem gets better. If you disconnected your DISH who would you get than?

 

[yummy4tummy]

I would probably go back to tried and true cable tv. We have a really good offer for DirecTV but just fear that they will have the same issues as far as tech support. I know that with cable there is only a 2 day wait at most. I can get a DVR through them but the Dish DVR seems to be a superior model to the one tha Charter offers.

 

[thechefofnorthbend]

DISH TECH responseHi there. My wife has asked me to post my thoughts on your receiver issue. Because I am unable to physically see what the issue maybe, this is a thought judgement based on other tech issues that I have dealed with that show the same symptoms. If you have had two rec. put in and both are faulting, it would not be the dish itself on the house, as that controls the reception and the quality of the channels. Have you tried moving your TV and setup to another wall in the house? This may sound obsurd, but bad wiring in that outlet or off of that wall (all wiring is not all the same or conducted to the same box...blah blah). Try plugging that rec. into another plug and see if the same issures arise. If so, it may be the jack in your actual TV that is causin a malfunction. I hope either of these suggestions help you out.
Brad

 

[maryhenderlite]

Sorry about your problems, I have Direct TV,(had them for 4 and half years) and love it.. They gave me a free DVR and although the box has had some quirks, they have replaced it free of charge and gave me "credit for my problems" I recommend them highly, they are having a great special for those who sign up, 4 rooms with a dvr plus (100 hours) and if you dont have a dvr then you really dont know what you are missing. I will never go without one ever again. We have 2, an old TIVO (several years old) and now this new one.. I know that if you use this number, and give them my account number they will reward both of us $50 off of our next bill.

1-866-443-8869, to order and activate service and hardware, we'll reward you both with $50 off your bill.

My account number is 023332573

I thought about Dish when I moved in August, but there were several things that I heard, that I didn't like, and choose to stick with direct tv.

 

[yummy4tummy]

Thank you Brad for your expert advice (and Darby for giving him the heads up on my problem). I know it is hard to diagnose a situation without full detail and without seeing it first hand. It is at the same time hard to post every detail that has been done troubleshooting, error codes, etc without burdening the whole CS website with this. (Sorry to all that may have been irked with this thread). I really appreciate you going out of your way to post. Fortunately tech will be here tomorrow and hopefully resolve the whole thing once and for all. If not, Mary keep a look out for that $50 reward.

No offence Brad, I don't think my blood pressure can handle another phone conversation with the tech support person reading cue cards to me. I have done so many different things that I believe that I am almost qualified to become a service tech myself. Just keep your fingers crossed. Thanks again,
Valky

 

[gilliandanielle]

Good luck Valky- let us know how it goes!

 

[yummy4tummy]

Are you ready for this? Tech guys came(I guess they came as a tag team). The receiver 2 (which is in my DD bedroom) had "WAY TOO MUCH JUICE...19 volts....which was blowing the diplexers out" It was actually shocking him while he was trying to disconnect it from the cable (Brad will understand that) He was very surprised that my house was still standing and not up in flames. How's that for a comforting thought? Anyway, the are sending me a new receiver. Receiver 1 he said was just not getting a strong enough signal so they fixed that. He gave me his card and said if we had further trouble to call them directly and there would be someone there in 2 days as opposed to 2 weeks. That makes me happy but I am now leary about the whole fire hazard thing.

 

[chefkristin]

This is why I stick with cable.

 

[PamperChefCarol]

We have had Direct TV for years, and luckily have had very little trouble with it. Of course, saying that now I am surely dooming myself!

Glad they got it fixed.

 

[maryhenderlite]

Oh my goodness, well I am glad that they found and resolved the problem, before it could have gotten ALOT worse. I hope that you are trouble free from now on.

 

[DZmom]

I too have cable. I've had both Directv and Dish and hated that everytime the wind blew the pic went all screwy!! I do a Digital Cable with a DVR receiver and pay a whole lot more for it than I did with either sat company, but prefer to pay more to have less trouble issues. I've been EXTREMELY satisfied with my service until our old company was bought out this past summer. My trouble issues are with the new company. But whenever I call the Tech is here the next biz day!

Glad your problem got fixed BEFORE it burned down your house.

 

[jrstephens]

If you are not still under contrat call and tell them you are goiing to switch to Directv if they do not fix it SOON. That worked for me and I got a free dvr receiver from that threat!

 

[yummy4tummy]

So far so good {knocking on wood...hard and loud} The receiver made it though the night without incident. Now I have to wait for receiver 2 to come in the mail. Hopefully it will be here tomorrow unless of course it is UPS. I am just thankful that they did catch the problem before my house went up in flames!
Valky