DISH Network
Reviews and Complaints

My wife and I moved from Washington State to Atlanta, Georgia. We had planned on taking our Dish Network program with us. We rented a house that could not have a dish due to the trees and the landlord did not want a dish attached to the house. Centurylink, whom we had bought the system through a "bundle" stated that if we move and cannot take it with us, the contract is ended. So, we cancelled our Dish and moved across the country. A month later, we got a bill for $236.00. We explained to Dish that we could not have a dish nor use the system due to the trees and landlord. We were told by Dish's legal team that the CEO of the company requires, that eventhough you cannot use the system, you still have to pay. I spoke to my friend about the problem. He said that when his mother died, Dish made him pay the rest of his mother's contract, $180.00. Nice company. The CEO wants it this way, as I was told by Dish Legal. Beware of greedy CEO's and contracts at Dish Network, .even when you cannot use the system.

This morning I woke to view my Showtime and HBO programs I had recorded last night. Only I found that not only can I not watch anything that I have recorded on these two networks but anything I recorded on TMC and Flix also. Then I tried to watch any of these network channels live and I am blocked out with this High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. I went to my system info and I am turned on to receive this High band width Digital Content Protection. So I am missing about 40 channels. I tried watching them on the alternative unHD choice and I could not do that either. Dish network acted surprised and after transferring me to a "Higher Technician" I was told I would have to install a component cable ($10). Looking on the internet I learned that this cable is of lesser quality reception. What is going on here? Did these Cable companies not inform Dish of this problem or is there more here that meets the eye. I am outraged that as a paying customer to these companies that they so disregard their valued (?) customers. On their websites I find no contact info to file a complaint.

I am so sick & tired of having to call billing because the promotional price was adjusted . Auto bill pays was supposed to keep the price down, yet in a 4 month span, I have have to call & get that adjusted.
I keep getting excuses like "i don't know why the computer did that" or " the compute just assumed you wanted to UPGRADE to the premium package" & so on it goes...
In all Fairness, Direct TV pulled the same crap before i even got my dish hooked up.
Why did we go digital in the 1st place? will never get the truth..

I had been with Dish in Alaska for 12 years moved to Washington and because I could not get a line of site they let me out of my 2 year contract at that time no penalties no fees. I moved a few months later in to a house where I could get their services again so jumped on it as I really do hate Com-cast the local cable TV provider. I am not forced to move from my house in to an apartment and because my apartment sits where there is no possible way I can get a satellite signal from my patio they will certainly cancel my contract with a $400 dollar cancellation fee. I told her I would of never signed any contract that says if I can not use their services because of no line of site that I would agree to pay any fees, I am not cancelling because I want to I have no choice...her response was well you can put the account on hold...for what I asked I cant use your services I signed a year contract. Well the only option Dish offers is for you to pay the fees. I will never ever refer any one to Dish Network again. I truly had no issues with them in all the years I was with them and was just curious would anyone in their right mind sign a contract with a cable provider where if they had to move and Dish can not point the dish at the satellite sign a contract to pay the crooks for the rest of the contract? NOT I never would of agreed to that in a million years if they pointed that out. I am not cancelling because I want to its because I have no choice. CROOKS I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN EVER I WILL NEVER REFER THEM TO ANYONE I KNOW. I work in retail and we never tell our customers NO because then well they will do what I am doing...Bad mouthing them! Good job Dish what a way to have outstanding customer service.

I am a new customer to Dish and just moved from cable due to International channels. It has not even been a month that I have encountered problems with their equipement. When their tech came and installed their equipment, there equipment was faulty and I complained about it 3 times, They send me a new Joey box and again it was defective, the sound would break. On subscribing to their service, there representative never told me anything about their hidden charge of a one time fee for their equipment. I had negotiated a price with them before moving from cable and in my bill the price was higher. Also a hidden fee for their tech to come out and install the dish and receivers. Also their is a one time fee for HD. I am paying monthly fee for their equipment and HD channel and they want me to pay fee of $415 which is totally nonsense. I spoke to their customer service who were not helpful AT ALL. I WOULD NEVER RECOMMEND THEIR SERVICE TO ANYONE. PLEASE DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE AS THEY WILL RIP YOU OFF. If anyone out there can help me out and let me know what steps to take, I would apprciate it

I got statement bill from Dish that i had just open up a new installation with t.v. and cable. The address is right but i did not order any installation of a dish hook up.. The name on the statement is wrong not my name. Bill was created on 9-1-2012 and the account #[protected]. I need an affidavit from from you guys. Dish needs it before they can start investigating this problem and hopefully they can get my name clear. Please send me an affidavit as soon as possible. thank you very much.

Six months ago my wife and I called to cancel our service (Spring 2012) we originally started service in Spring 2009. We only wanted to cancel our service due to the rescission and continue downturn of the economy. My wife and I both had rescission resistant jobs in different fields. But due to the economy both incomes have dropped and our household income decreased by $17, 000. So are tried to get rid of all nonessential services. Dish told us that we still had to pay a $200 fee but we told them our contract expires in Spring. They told us no and that it actually expires in December 2012. So we decided to try to wait it out as we can not afford $200. Now our service got downgraded to 3 channels with no local channels as a result in non payment. We can not give then money we do not have! Anyway we thought our bill would then not increase, but to our horror we are still getting charge $64.95 per month for our 3 channels that we do get ( ch.130, 131 &184). My wife and I had hoped that they would cancel our contract and just make us pay the amount that we owe, but if we cancel we would still owe the $200 fee. My wife and feel that this is their fault for not trying to work with us and waiving the fee six months ago.
You know times are tough and if they would have just waived the fee six months ago we would not have this problem. As we would have cancelled! But we are locked in or trapped buy this company until December 2012 as there is nothing we can do. We feel all they care about is the money and not the customers. We told them we could not afford this and now they see the truth!

Be warned - do not use dish network…you will regret it! I had been a customer of directv for a long time but thought the idea of saving a little money per month ($20) was worth signing with dish…it was the worst experience i’ve ever had with a company in my life. Remember, everything I am about to go over is compared to directv since I had been with them for many years. From day 1, the interface or user friendliness of how everything was set-up was very un-friendly. It took many more steps to do simple tasks and at times was flat out confusing but, I kept thinking, “i’m saving $20 a month”.in retrospect, it’s as if all common sense went out the window when dish as deciding what units to offer or (And I believe this to be the case) in order for dish network to compete with directv and save a buck dish network chose an inferior product... I never had this problem with directv.in fact, it was quite the opposite. I started wondering, did I make a bad choice? Then I started to notice a common problem with the dish network recordings, each show I recorded would have several areas where the screen would go black or fuzz out or several static lines would appear making the recorded show unwatchable or annoying at best... I never had this problem with directv! I called dish network and, after waiting on hold for a long time, got people that I couldn’t understand because their english was so broken. I told the dish network cs agent, after several “what’s?” that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. I had to hang up and call back so I could get someone that could speak understandable english. Again, I got someone I couldn’t understand. The dish network cs agent tried to walk me through some reprogramming and such but it was a very long haul as I couldn’t understand anything. After a lot of time and 2 more calls attempting to fix the issue’s I was having with their unit, the dish network cs agent suggested I get a new unit. Dish network said, ‘they would send me a new unit and then I would need to send the malfunctioning unit back to them within a few days. They would be replacing the current unit for one that was the same model. I told them this unit seemed cheap and I would like to get a unit that wasn’t so cheap. I was told, “no”, unless I was willing to pay more. The idea was to save money and I didn’t want to spend more on another unit. Besides, how did I know it would be any better? A week later, I got the new unit from them stating I had a short time to send the malfunctioning unit back. I then noticed there was no return slip to send the unit back. I ended up paying $15 s/h to send their defective unit back. I then started to hook up the new unit as instructed…it didn’t work. Again I found myself calling dish network cs and again was extremely frustrated with the lack of english. After many hours of frustration and playing it for dish network, finally, the new receiver was working. It wasn’t long before I realized, the recordings were just as bad as before. The problems I was experiencing from the other receiver were identical. Needless to say, I was furious and realized I had made a very bad decision in going with dish network. It was obvious dish network had cut corners to save a buck. I should add, directv’s customer service was amazing in comparison. I always understood the person on the other line and they were always courteous. At this point, I no longer believed in nor had any faith in dish network, neither their equipment nor their customer service. I was done with dish network…done with their lousy cs, done with their unfriendly interface, done playing mr. Fix-it and done with inferior dish network products. Naturally, I wanted to cancel the service and go back to directv. I knew I would need to call dish network cs to cancel my account and was dreading the thought. I knew I would be battling just to understand them. I explained everything that took place. They informed me I would have a $300 fee charged for early cancellation. I told them I will not pay that fee with everything that has happened. The dish network agent said there is nothing they can do. I then told them that I need to speak with their superior. They transferred me, I heard music and then I was hung up on. I called back. Got a new agent who wanted me to repeat the issue rather than read through the notes so I did. Again, the agent said there is nothing they can do and I needed to pay the $300. I told that agent to put me through to their boss and they did. I spoke with a woman who had me repeat everything again. She told me there was nothing she could do and I owed the $300. I went round and round with her explaining firmly but professionally, I have been wronged here. I am cancelling your service because you failed to keep me satisfied on many levels and there is no point in continuing to do business with a company that doesn’t care about me or providing nor exercising good business practices. I told her I want to speak with your boss right now as this is going nowhere and before I could finish my sentence…she hung up on me. I called back. I told the 1st rep I want to speak with your legal department. The rep slowly but surely said, I will transfer you to our legal department. I then spoke to another cs rep and again had to explain my whole story. She said I would need to send the 1st unit back. I explained to her that I already did. She said she had no record of it. I told her a travis at the front desk signed for it about 3 weeks ago and I had a tracking number. She said send her that info and if the original unit was received she could work with me. I sent it to her…and never heard anything back so I called again. I told the first agent I need to speak with your boss. I was then transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor had me explain the whole story again and proceeded to tell me I still had to pay $300. I then told her I needed to speak with the legal department because that person said they would be willing to work with me so long as the unit was indeed returned. She said they don’t have a legal department for me to be transferred too. I told her the last lady I spoke to was from their legal department. She said the last person I spoke to was a dish network agent with the same status as her…a supervisor. I told her to let me speak to her boss and she transferred me. The next person I got on the phone said he was it that there was no one higher than him. Again, he had me explain my situation. He then replied stating I had to pay the $300 dollars. I said, so no matter what has transpired…even though your company has not lived up to any kind of satisfactory service, even though your company has inconvenienced me, even though you have wasted many hours of my time in trying rectifying this situation and inconvenienced me greatly. He said, “yes sir you still owe the $300 and you will be charged $15 dollars for each unit you need to send back…I explained to the agent that I am an internet marketer by trade. I send millions of emails daily, have social sites with huge followings, am skilled in search engine marketing. I told him the way I was being treated was wrong and explained that I would have to use my talents to warn others if this was the route he was going to take. I told him I was going to asked one more time... Give him one more chance to let me speak to someone else that could write off the $300. I again offered to pay $150 if he would pay the other half. He said there is no one else for me to speak with and I would need to pay the full $300. I told him to cancel my account immediately and that I will see to it people hear about my experience with dish network… he didn’t care? I expect dish network to do the following...- refund/write-off the $300 dollars - refund/write-off the last month of service - pay for the receivers to be sent back.

My parents had Dish for 2 years. It was a nightmare from day one. They NEVER got a clear signal in one room, and the picture was always going out. Four different installers, all blaming the previous for not doing the job correctly. Even a supervisor came out and STILL there were problems. They canceled their service after their 2 years was up. That was 7/18/2011. Today, 7/27/2012, they get a bill from them for $65. When i called, they stated that, "well your parents had Wild Blue internet, correct?" NO, they never did. Then it was "oh, let me check this out". After being on hold for 15 minutes, they come back and tell me the $30 is early termination (wrong) and the other $30 is for the materials they sent us to return the equipment! I said, "what the heck are you talking about?" He said that when THEY supply the materials to return the boxes, it's a $15 fee for each box! I said "I'm sorry but that is complete BS, when I had DISH and canceled 2 months before my parents did, I NEVER got charged for any materials to return the boxes!" I feel they are trying to take advantage of my parents because the bill is in my dad's name, and he is 82. Why is this bill coming a YEAR after disconnection? DISH is a scam. They will not get ONE dime from my parents. I was actually considering going back to them since I never had a problem. This has convinced me I NEVER will again!

extremely poor service signal in and out, they charge for cancellation of something which never worked, then deny everything.
Customer service is rude and otherwise non-existent.

When I got the Ad. in the mail claiming that "over 235" channels for $34.99 monthly for 1 year. However I got the bill and found it to be $57. dollars instead of the $34.99, I called them and they tried to tell me I need to log in on the computer to get that and that discounts. I feel that I am being cheated on by the false Ad. I dont Understand why we had to pay $157.00 the day they came (it was supposed to be free installation according to the Ad. and the phone call I made). I also feel that they should be HONEST and not abuse the Ad. and mislead people especially old people who gave up the other service so they can afford the billing. My previous service was with Direct TV and they increased the monthly to $70.00 monthly, that is why I switched to DISH Network. Now I am backfired and don't appreciate it.

I'm USMC, lived in 29 Palms, CA, on base. I was told, when I signed up, upon receiving permanent change of station orders (Anywhere!) I could cancel without a fee. I asked the employee on the phone if they were sure, and even if it was stateside, they assured me it would be fine. Well, when time to cancel came up they said nope, sorry! Talked to a 'supervisor' who had a TERRIBLE attitude, and continued to tell me 'your military contract will not save you'. The absolute nerve..the service was horrible, the support was horrible, pretty much the company is an absolute joke, and they WILL lie to you to get money. The supervisor woman would not admit anyone lied, and was absolutely horrible to talk. Every time I made a statement she just said 'Uh huh', or 'Ok'. Like she didn't care or had zero training. I decided to cancel my service and pay the 300 or so dollars, how ridiculous. This company is a joke, the service is horrible ( I had an approximately 150 channel package with 15 or so home shopping network channels, what the heck?) and expensive.

All in all, a terrible company. Would never deal with them again or recommend them to anyone, not even my worst enemy.

This happened almost two years ago, I'm not looking for any response from any DISH network representatives, so please refrain from commenting on my complaint. I just want to put this out there, this company will lie to you to get you into a contract, and this is pretty much the opposite of what I would expect from a company in the U.S. I would expect this from those scammers in Africa that send the emails with poor grammar, people along those lines. Sad thing what businesses have come to in this country. I'm back with Time Warner, and am much more satisfied at the quality of service and treatment. I had a slow cable box, they came out SAME DAY and replaced it with a brand new one, and even managed to match it to my brand and color of television. THAT is customer service.

Dish Network sent me to collections Enhanced Recovery Company after calling me about a debt I don't owe. They disconnected me totally & asked for their equip back after I asked to be MOVED. Stated they rec'd email asking for disconnect.

I have original paperwork and was not obligated towards any length of time. I would like to start a class action suit against them. They call with a recorded message all hours of the day and weekend, every day. Never talk to a live person. Have tried to call them, they do nothing.

I will not be paying. Does anyone want to start a class action law suit against them and their collector, Enhanced Recovery Company?

Called Dish network for information ONLY about their packages, installation etc. I was told I had to give them my credit card information in order to pre qualify me for installation promotion and to verify against my credit report. When I asked why you need to run my credit, I was told installation discount based on my credit worthiness, the better the credit score more discounts towards my installation. Well I fell for it . I was very specific when I hung up and told him I did not want my credit card charged and only inquiring about plans. He assured me my credit card will not be charged. I was uneasy about conversation and later day checked my online credit card account and I had been charged installation fee and 1st month of service! I called my credit card company and together we called Dish, manager there refused to take any responsibility and told me I had to call back in a few days to have my charges reversed. I was told my service would be canceled. This by the manager on duty! 4 days letter I get an email confirmation of my installation to be installed on Saturday morning! what now they are comming to my house to install a plan I never ordered! I thought this had been resolved when my credit card company and I spoke to the manager, Martin! WOW Im not even a customer and calling to inquiry about their plans has been a nightmare! i have no credit card while it gets reissued with my bank. I have to reset any auto bill pays connected to that credit card...and spending Friday night filing complaints about Dishnetwork instead of enjoying a quiet evening! GRRRR

I worked as a male straight security officer at this place and was constantly, and daily harassed by my bosses "Captain and Lieutenant" with unwanted sexual gay oriented comments such as "Man that sure is a nice package you got there in those pants" and, "Let's go in the back room its time for some Samoan rectal relations" and "Boy you look soooo sexy today in those tight pants"and "Come sit on my lap and let's talk about it". And God forbid you anger the "Captain" cause he will yell and curse you like a dog. He needs to be comitted to a mental hospital for serious, and dangerous anger issues. I didn't let on, just worked my notice and moved to another state for another job. I see they have a job open now and all I can say is beware!

I have been a dish network customer for 4 years. I always received a combined bill from AT&T for telephone service, internet service and Dish network service. Since January of this year I have received a combined bill for telephone and internet service, but no billing for Dish network service. I have not received a bill from Dish network for 3 months. I don't want to call them. My dish service is fine. Could I have just fallen off their radar?
Will I get a super large bill eventually? Will I have to pay that bill since I never received billing from them.?

I have been a customer of Dish Network for 7 plus years. Reason I left Direct Tv was they could not provide local channels out of Dothan, Alabama which is 23 miles from my house. I have paid DishNetwork for this service since a regular antenna has never worked well. But low and behold, I leave for work this morning and some brain dead person decides to change my local channels to Tallahassee Fl which is 75 plus miles to the east of me. The customer rep tells me I would have to move to Jakin, Ga which is less than 2 miles for my house. Forget asking the paying customer which the prefer. I see how this company feel about their long time customers. I am exploring my options and if DirectTv wants to pick up their business I suggest they jump on this. I strongly feel I am not the only one ill about DishNetworks not caring about their own customers...

Called dish customer service, for no reception. i told them i only had dish for 20 days & if this continues, then i don’t need the dish- if i can’t get reception. the told me the would give me a credit for the month, the i get bill asking for that month & a late payment. they tell me there is no credit for 1st month, i told them i called & talk to their rep. & they say they have no notes stating that. so because the poor customer service people can’t do there job it’s the customers job to do! the wanted to know what date & time i called, told them they are calling me a liar & won’t put up with their BS & said then disconected my service- suprise they said i have a credit know!

why should i the customer go through all that to get a credit they offered to me, then not get the credit-until i got mad! i find it BS that another american company has sent their customer service to india where i can’t understend them ( i’m sure that why the corprate guts did it & save millions of dollars to pad the there pockets, ) i’m tired of hearing we are world wide, but yet they take tax breaks for sending american jobs overseas (CROOKS)I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT’S JOBS AMERICANS WON’T DO, I’VE WATCHED ALL JOBS WE ALL USE TO DO PAY HALF OF WHAT THEY USE TO( DO THE RESEARCH I’M RIGHT ) WELL LET THE CEO’S & ALL THE OTHER MANAGEMEMT DO THEIR JOBS FOR A FLAT $50, 000.00 PER YEAR & SEE IF THEY CAN LIVE WITH IN THEIR MEANS.

Subscribed to Dish Network back in Aug. of 2007 then cancel a couple months later and payed all due fees for early termination thus keeping the equipment since now i own it. Upon trying to re-establish service now on Aug. 2011 i’ve been told by Dish Network customer service that my equipment purchased back in 2007 is been use by someone else or another account holder. But i live alone and my equipment has been in its original box since 2007. So by asking around i was told that Dish Network probably used my personal information in order to open an account for an ilegal imigrant who ca’t get a Credit card. How can i proceed about this?

it’s a sorry country when the say this is customer service, when it takes 5 minutes to go through their BS phone system, then their india people can’t speak or put notes in their systems because there not hear! great savings to screw the customer & dish management take their bonuses & laugh all the way to the bank! THE AMERICAN WAY HAS PUT US WHERE WE ARE GREED.

I called Dish Network and spoke with a sales lady, at the time I was unsure if I wanted to go with satellite TV or not. After speaking with her for approx 30 mins to an hour and after she answered all my questions we decided what she was telling me was a great deal and was exactly what I wanted for my house so we set up the install. Some of the concerns address with her that day were that we have 4 tv's that we wated to watch tv on, independently of each other, she said that 3 tv's would have that capability but the 4th would mirror the other tv's. I told her that was fine we can handle that. She also told me that you can record on the three tv's and watch something else at the same time and you would be able to watch the recorded show on any of the tv's. That sounded awesome. Boy was I wrong. I should of looked at the complaints on this company before I let them come into my house and install their cable. I only found out after the tech guy had left my house that all tv's were going and when one tv tried to change the channel it turned the other tv to that station. Everything she told me was not true. I called and talked to four different people and finally got to the dispute resolutions department and spoke with a man and he basically through the contract up and said that I was locked in for the next two years and that if I wanted I could buy another Joey system for 200.00. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I will not give you another dime for your services. I am locked into a contract for the next two years and I am very angry about them lying to their customers for a sale. I had three people waiting on my install to do a contract with them. OH THAT IS NOT HAPPENING NOW. I will let everyone know what kind of business they run.

I was a customer for 4years. There was a thunder storm 2years ago and I called the the service center I happened on a person at the other end of the line who was obnoxcious and rude. He told me a few things to try and they did not work. I continued to try and he hung up the phone. I was without service for a number of days and calling again several times. Recently I had a same problem called and the female on the other end. She told me to do a few things that did not work. Finally she said “your box is no good you can throw it out and will send you another one within five days” I thought she was talking a little out of her head.

I tried calling again and got another female who got the box going I mentioned to this female that I was expecting a box she told me she would stop the shipment.(she didn’t) I went out of town and came back and there was a box at home. I was charged 100$ on my next bill for not returning equipment. Called them, they told me to take it (which is 20 miles from me)to the nearest Ups store. Got there to find out, dish don’t ship by Ups only Fedex……well……I now had to find the Fedex store……another 10 miles. that was not all, I sent my next payment on Monday in the mail with a due date on Friday they turned off my service on Wednesday morning.

At this point, I had enough of their bad service and rude talking employees, so, I terminated my affiliation with them that same day. I received the boxes they sent me and followed the instructions and returned ALL their equipment I received my final bill with a Zero balance in August 2011. Well, it is now the end of October I received a bill for 32.10, called, and was told that I owe them for period of 10/23/11-11/2211. What is this for? SHIPPING. My point is, If you wanted me to pay shipping you should not have sent return labels.

I would have paid to sent it back to them — as bad as I wanted to have nothing to do with them, besides I will call it even for the gas and time I spent going to the Ups and Fedex store 60 miles round trip, all, only because of their poorly qualified and malfunctioning employees and equipment. I am VERY DISSATISFIED.