DISH Network
Reviews and Complaints

I have been trying to resolve a dispute with Dish Network since early February 2008. The date of this letter is April 22 2008. My son is disabled and on Social Security Disability and I am his assigned payee from Social Security. I pay all of his monthly bills and his payment history for the last 4 years is totally spotless. One of his receivers went out and he called Dish to get a replacement one. They delived it and sent him a return box to send back the broken one back to them. Because of his disability he was slow about returning the box and he did not inform me that that this event had even occurred. When I found out about it, I called Dish and explained his disability situation to them and had them send another box to my address so I could see that it was sent back.They said that they totally understood the situation. The box arrived and I took it to him. We packaged it up and sent it back. ( I know that he should have sent the receiver back sooner and I would not have objected the temporary charge of $100.00 on his personal account until they received the receiver back.)

(1) As of his February 02, 2008 his account was current. (as it has always been). But they debited my Sears card on 1/26/08 $100.00 and 01/31/08 another $100.00 dollars. I used my credit card to set up his account 4 years ago because he did not have a credit card. They told me that they could only debit my credit card if he was late or behind in the first year of his service to make sure he paid his bill, (of which now is in the 4th year and had never been late) so they debited my credit card without my authorization. The charge for an unreturned box is ($100.00) They debited my credit card $200.00.

(2) They charged his account $100.00 (3) more times for a total of $300.00 between my credit card and his personal bill now the total for (1) box valued at $100.00 he is being charged $500.00. (Between my credit card and his personal bill.) I know it gets confusing.

(3) I have called so many times I have lost track but I do have who I spoke with, the dates and the action they were suppose to take to resolve the situation.

(4) I was told that they would credit his account. On March 02, 2008 bill they credited his account $300.00 and then reversed $100.00 of the credit. (for what reason I do not know) so now he has a credit of $200.00 out of the $500.00

(5) April 02, 2008 bill credit card charge back $100.00 was added back to his bill but one good thing, they received the receiver and credited him the equipment fee-adjustment of $100.00. So this credit is a wash as well to $0.

(6) During the time this was going on I have continued to pay his monthly bill each month, so this would not be an issue. But they had the nerve to tell me that the money owed to him was used to pay his bill! (Now I am getting really upset)

(7) On my credit card they said that the reason it was charged was that the first attempt to charge it did not go through on 01/26/08 and they repeated it on 01/31/08. I have their statement and my credit card to prove that both charges went through.

(8) They have told me numorous times that they would send the money back to my credit card and make sure that my son's account would be credited back the money owed to him. (My credit card has yet to be credited back) and each time they credit my son's account they turn around and reverse the credit.

(9) To sum it up my son was should be current on his April bill ( as I paid $70.00) this month and each month prior it should be a normal bill. My credit card should have a $0 balance. But as his April bill stands right now he has a $22.38 credit with adding the $70.00 I just sent, for a total credit of $92.38. I still owe $200.00 on my Sears card and if they credit me the $200.00 on my Sears card they are going to take his $92.38 credit away from him and he is going to owe another $100.00 for this month according to my calculations. Where is the missing $100.00?

(10) I need some help as today when I called back Dish after calling the credit card company to see if the money had been credited back to my credit card (the $200.00) which it had not, they (Dish) spoke to me for awhile and then hung up on me after they could not explain the bill.

(11) I have all of the names and dates if needed of who I spoke to. (of course they are in India) They use American names but that is not their real names, if needed.

(12) Who can I contact for some help? I have put in a dispute with the credit card company and they are working on it but that is not going to solve the situation with Dish Network.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sorry this is so long, but after you spend 4 or 5 hours on the phone with them trying to get it straighted out it gets pretty lengthly.

I have regestored a complaint on 5 march and from on ther is no tv network at my home... I have been calling up the customer care daily n every day I get a new service centre number which is either not reachable or switched off or does not exisit... And if atall some anws he will inreturn tell to contact the customer care back..

I sugest pls be happy with ur cable tv atleast they have a better customer service.

Our service seemed fine for the 1st year until recently. I just wanted to warn others about how disappointed and disgusted I am with Dish network and that they have flaws in their system. I contacted Dish network last month about a bill that I received that was over $200. I was upset to learn that we were being charged for X-rated movies that no one in our family knew anything about. My husband and I work 12-16 hour days with little time to watch TV and all our kids are in sports and arrive home pretty much the same time in evening. I called dish network to investigate which receiver or remote ordered these movies so I could get to the bottom of this. They claimed that they have no way of providing or keeping track of this information so there was no way for me to find out if my kids were accidentally ordering these movies with their remotes or receivers. How disturbing that they make pay per view accessible to the kids. There should be a system in which they need proof of age in order to allow the x-rated movies to be accessible. Our 4 kids are between 8-15. Furthermore, I was notified that if you remove the phone cord that is hooked up to the receiver and plug it back it, it could potentially re-charge the same movie over and over again. As a Real Estate agent, I use the phone cord to charge my super key not realizing I was procuring extra charges. So we had the same pornographic movies charged on our bills over and over again. Customer service was horrible and less then empathetic. They said the charges were valid including the duplicates. The movie charges were ridiculous over $12 per movie in some cases. If anyone knows about blockbuster online, who would be stupid enough to order pay per view movies over $12 each? I canceled our service immediately! Stay with Coaxial cable!

Buyer beware - Dish Network, subsidiary of Colorado based Echostar Communications Corporation, uses deceptive advertising to lure in customers. They offer a nice promotional rate but don't deliver on their billing statements. The bills are wrong each month, with the customer being overcharged. It doesn't matter what is in your written contract with Dish Network, how many letters your write, or how many phone calls you make.

They'll do everything they can to frustrate customers to the point where they give up, rather than live up to their promises. Their promotions are scams. I am posting this because I don't want anyone else to go through what I have with Dish Network. Do yourself a favor and do not do business with this company.

I've been a Dish Network customer since August of 2007, and my bills have been wrong every single month. I signed an 18-month contract with Dish Network, which included an advertised promotional rate of $10 off for 10 months. But the $10 credit is never on the bills. So each month I call Dish and write letters disputing the charges. On the phone, their customer service reps agree with me that I should have received the rebate. They promise that the problem will be corrected on my next statement, but it never happens. To date, I've never received the promised $10 off per month.

I believe that Dish Network purposely advertised a great promotion to get people like me to sign up, but never had any intention of honoring the advertised rate. I believe they knew the average person would give up after a few complaint phone calls. Think about it, who is going to sue them over $100? If I were you, I would think twice about doing business with Dish Network. You can't believe anything they say, even if it is in a written contract.

Noticing a $5 charge on my bundled bill I called Dish Network to discover that if I did not have my television connected to a telephone line there would be a $5 charge

Connecting to a telephone line would enable me to order movies on line which I do not want to do. This seems to insure income for Dish Network lost because I do not want to order movies on line. Legal Theft?

I had initially signed up with Dish network for dish service, I had ordered the dish installation through AllSat a dish network retailer. When I signed up with Dish network the only paper that I signed was a 18 contract agreement with Dish network which clearly stated the early termination policy. I never signed any agreement with AllSat and AllSat never mentioned that there is a $295.00 early termination fee assessed by AllSat. Now when I wanted to terminate my service I was okay with paying the early termination fee from Dish Network as I had signed a contract with them. But AllSat is also charging me a early termination fee which I was never told about. What can I do.

I think that the Federal communications or attorney general should do an investigation on Dishnet. Like so many others complaints I have seen since I signed up for Dishnet. I too got ripped off big time! When I signed up I was told I could buy the local channels for $8 but found out the news was not local but clear across the country which I have no use for. Then I was never told if you don't have a land phone I would be charged an additional $5. The entire package I thought included the recievers and anything for a price of $49, and was to get a premium channel free for three months. Then they charged me for it for the three months stating they would remove it by the end of that time. Guess what? That never happened! The bill was every month $89! Then when I said enough and took off the premium "free" channel it did go down to $60 but now they claim they are allowed to raise it even though we were to have the same price until 10 months! I canceled after 7 months and they said they were going to take $150 out of my bank account for the remainder of the contract! I told them no they were not and put a stop check on them at the bank. The bank said it wasn't authorized by me so they have no right to take out of the account!

They lied about everything from the beginning! They asked me to have someone go up on the roof and get the little binocular looking thing from the dish and send it back! So I guess I will charge them You got it $150 to do their work! Why should I have to retrieve there parts from the dish?

Ripped off one more time in Ohio!

I have had many problems with Dish Network since signing up with them in January of 07. The Installation Tech had come out 3 times before the installation was complete (causing 3 missed days at work). Then when I signed the papers he gave me, I was not informed that I was signing an 18 month contract with a hefty cancellation fee, as well as permission to access my bank account at any time for any amount. I typically do not sign up for automatic deductions from my account.

The first thing that went wrong was I was late on my bill - they disconnected me and I was charged $180.00 cancellation fee. I was pretty surprised, and I got it straightened out. Dish Net got paid and everyone was happy, except me due to the overdraft fees on my account.

The next time we had a problem, I had been in the hospital and could not pay all of my bill (I had an outstanding balance of $12.00). The service had already been disconnected, and I called to make payment arrangements (which were accepted) The day before I was due to make that payment and restore my service, they took $120.00 cancellation fee out of my $50.00 bank account, overdrawing it again, and costing me more money in fees. I covered it the next day, and figured it was a small price to pay to be rid of Dish Net (there had been several service issues) but then they hit me for $400.00 more in equipment fees (apparently to avoid them you have to call specifically to ask for boxes). Which in the two hours I spent on the phone with them two days prior when they charged me the cancellation fee, no one told me about the equipment fee. My bad, though, it was in those papers I signed, somewhere in there.

They got me signed back up, refunded the money they took, and for I believe it was $49.00 got it turned back on. They did not give credit for all the overdraft fees I incurred when they took those fees out. I had to take care of all that without so much as an apology. What I didn't know is they recorded it as if I signed back up for another 18 month contract. I hopefully got that handled today when I found out. I never signed anything of the sort, and I will not be bound by it.

Now, the problem has been loss of service. I've been paying the bill on time and the service has been out about 50% of the time since before Christmas. I called today again, because it had been out for over 2 days. It does this all the time. Around Christmas it was out for a week! I called to try to get a credit on my account for the time that it's been without service. They don't believe me because I didn't call every time my service went out. I don't have time to be on the phone for an hour running tests that I've already run myself every two days. I have a family and a job and a very busy life. There is a screen in the system which tells how long it's been without service, but they can't go by that information, only by when I've called. So, they don't want to credit my account even though this has taken so much of my time, and been such an inconvenience, and I've only received half of the service I am expected to pay for.

Not to mention - the problem is their equipment is faulty and they are going to charge me at least $99.00 to come fix their switch. Although each time I have called, they've tried to explain it as something with the weather, the hook-up, something that has nothing to do with the faulty switch that is actually causing the problem.

What can I do? If I try to leave them, they'll hit my bank account so hard I'll never forget it!

I just got charged TWICE a big amount of my bill. My bill is still outstanding on their stupid website and I got charged twice, plus they told me it will take 7 to 10 BUSINESS DAYS to get a refund. After I asked for a supervisor, some kind of rude dog talked to me asking not to interrupt him while he was the first who interrupted me. He told me that I pressed the pay button twice while I never do that, because I'm a professional webmaster. I'm sure I did NOT press their stupid button twice.

Guess what, now Dish Network blocked me from reaching their customer service. When I call them, the line goes silent and then nothing. So I'm even unable to get my money back. Finally I found a different number (1-888 instead of 1-800) and the girl who identified herself to me as "Angel" she told me they refunded the extra charge (Dish tried to overcharge me twice and that's an apparent scam/fraud by Dish!) and that it will take 7 to BUSINESS days for me to get the money back! That's way too long. I asked her why they charged me 5 times bigger fee than the phone rep. told me before, but she hung up on me. I was hung up on by Dish Nerdwork SOOO MANY TIMES, that this is my last time I deal with them...

I quit and will never use dishnetwork again. I'm going to get cable. Finally I will be able to get the local weather and no more daily disconnections and monthly attempts of adding some unauthorized fees to my account.

Dishnetwork and their fraudulent activities must be confronted and every consumer affected by this horrific company must stand there ground and defend themselves. I have done many web searches to discover overwhelmingly that I am one and hundreds that have been defrauded by this company and I will not rest until justice prevails.

My ordeal began in November of 06 when I terminated services after many years with dish. Once I terminated services, I was told that boxes would be sent for me to return the equipment. After a month, still no boxes, so I phoned on several other occasions and the boxes were finally sent to me. I immediately wen to fed ex and returned every receiver and remote in my possession. About a month later, I received a bill for about 175.00, of which 75.00 I did owe, but, amazingly they were trying to say that I did not return one of the receivers--a lie, after I called and called and called and after them trying to say that the charge was for an outside piece on the receiver, etc., they finally agreed that i only owed 75.00-Okay-- I wanted the charge credited and a final bill sent to me. They kept giving me the run around, first they said I had to pay the whole bill and they would credit me (crazy) and so on. I got so frustrated and tired of calling till about several months later, around Oc.t of 07, I went ahead and sent a check for the 75.00 and wrote a long letter explaining what the deal was and asking for the 100 credit. Okay, I never heard anything else from them until, low and behold in November 07 I noticed a 100 deduction from dish network from my checking account-UNAUTHORIZED I MIGHT ADD-- I called and called and called restating my story each time to hear oh the check is in the mail, etc., oh the refund was rejected, etc. TO THIS DAY I HAVE NOT GOTTEN MY MONEY! I am currently discussing the issue with state and government authorities and have contacted a lawyer as well. SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE AGAINST THESE FRAUDS AND CHEATS! I ALSO NOTICE THAT EVERY TIME I CALL I END UP REPEATEDLY DISCUSSING MY ORDEAL---WELL ONE THING IS FOR SURE--I WILL NOT GIVE UP ! I WILL GET MY MONEY, AND ONE DAY DISH WILL HAVE TO ANTE UP TO ALL THE CONSUMERS THEY HAVE DEFRAUDED.

While we are gone, someone is setting our channels to
to Spanish channels and setting the DVR to record Spanish events. I have complained to Dishnet about this and the best they can do is tell me how to delete the events, which I already know. I want the events to NOT be recorded or accessed from my receiver. We are 2 senior citizens and the only 2 to occupy this house and pay for the dishnet programming and receiver.

Dish network promises one thing and delivers another. they promise rebates they do not give, they promise good service which they do not give, and they promise they are better then the competitor which they are not. Dish networks service is a far cry from a good. you sign the contract and they do not live up to there end of the deal.

They came to my house 2 times because of bad reception and promised the problem was fixed. I called approximately 6 times without customer satisfaction. The bills are much higher then they promise on the phone. My contract was supposed to be 39.99 a month and ended up being 70.00 a month. After rounds and rounds on the phone with the rude customer service we decided to disconnect.

They ended up charging the credit card we used for connection and this particular credit card is does not belong to the person who signed the contract. they neglect to inform you of this information when you are signing up there services. They did not send a bill for the $200 dollar disconnection fee and they took it from someone else account.

They are nothing but rip offs and when you see there fliers the best thing to do is turn and run.

I responded to an ad for a Dish Network package at the rate of $42.99 + $5.00 for local channels. When the installer was finished with the 6 hour installation, he asked me for a phone line to plug into the box. I explained that I did not have a land line phone ( I use my cell phone only). He then told me that it was going to cost an extra $5.00 per receiver. When I called Dish Network I was informed that my monthly charges were $75.00. Turns out they are charging additional fees no phone lines, having dvr revievers and even more because my particular dvrs record more than 100 hours. I wasn't told about any of this. They claim that it was all in the agreement that I signed, however, they did not leave me a copy so I have no way of knowing. If it was there, it was in very small print. I had Dish Network installed just 48 hrs ago and they have no interest in helping me. The account specialist I spoke with laughed at me, told me to make sure I bring a copy of the agreement with me when I go to court to file my suit and then flatly refused to allow me to speak with a Supervisor. If you are thinking of doing business with any satellite company, BEWARE! There is no cancellation period. These guys have no obligation to make me happy at all!

BEWARE! I have dealt with many companies in my lifetime, but without a doubt this is the worst experience I have ever had. I should have known when the set-up of satellite TV and internet took 2 hours. Every time I have contacted anyone with this company I have been hung up on at least once and sometimes twice. Customer service at this company SUCKS. Now I am being told that I cannot cancel service without paying a penalty. I can take it down to a bare minimum but cannot cancel. In other words I will be paying for something that I will never use again in my lifetime. Not only that but every time the wind blows the transmission is interrupted. Do they compensate the customer for the outage? NO! And their affiliate that installed the satellite for the internet is even worse. BLUESKY is even worse. They tell me I have to keep paying the regular monthly charge for something I am no longer using. All of this happened because at the time it was the only company available in the area unless I wanted to fork over $400.00 to install Direct TV. As it stands I gave them $199.95 at set-up and have been getting grief since. I told the last person I talked to that I wanted a copy of the "contract". I probably will not get it anytime soon. So please beware, if I had read some of the complaints for this company I would not be writing this now.

I had Dish Network as part of a bundled package with Sprint-Embarq. I called to cancel my account and was told that boxes and shipping labels would be mailed to me. Two weeks later, nothing had come, but I discovered that Dish had debited $58 from my checking account. At the time I only had $20 left (I am disabled on Social Security). They had overdrawn my account. I called various times and someone told me my money would be refunded, but I should hurry and send the boxes back. Six days after that conversation, when my Social Security check came in, Dish withdrew $600 from my account, the value of the equipment. I called, sent e-mails, faxes, left messages, everything.. today is one week later, UPS confirmed that Dish did receive all the boxes, and I am still here with no money at all. My account is overdrawn. I have no money for food, gas or medicinesl. My husband is also disabled with a kidney transplant, very sick, and I have no money for his refills. Dish Network is doing this to many customers. I never gave them my bank information. I never paid them directly. They got this information from Embarq, my phone company. My contract with Dish did NOT state they could do this. The manner in which they withdraw money from your account is, first a debit of $2, then a debit of say, $58, or $69, something small and easy to miss. They will repeat this over the course of 2 or 3 days until they have taken what they feel is the fair cost of their equipment. It is impossible to put a stop payment on their transactions because they are never the same amount. Your only recourse is to cancel your card or your entire account, and open a new one. They have put my husband's health in jeopardy with no regard whatsoever. We have no money and no one to turn to. They will do this to you too. This is not an exaggeration. If anyone reads this who can help, please e-mail me. 11/14/07

It took 6 calls over a period of 8 days to finally disconnect my service. After all was said and done, I still have to pay for two days service because of poor advice from derrick, operator number bgr. I "thought" that I had disconnected service on 10/30/07, effective 11/05/07, but that was not the case. I received no confirmation # so I was at their mercy for them to do what I requested. (I have been a customer for over 4 years!) I called back to dish today (11/07/07) to verify that my service was terminated, which it was not. It took 5 calls because I was disconnected 4 times! I will never use or recommend dish to anyone!

9/28/07 – Opened Dish Network bill and it was $389.44, $300. showed as Equipment Fee

9/28/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Mark (language barrier) and he said the charge was for a receiver that was replaced in my residence in July. I told him that I did not have possession of this receiver and why was I being charged? Mark hung up on me.

9/28/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Sidney, and told him that I needed to get my bill straightened out and the previous technician had hung up on me, he apologized. I gave Sidney the Technicians name (Kevin), and Tech # (6144) and he said that he would sent the information to upper management.

10/1/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Alissia, I explained once again that the $300.00 charge was not mine and the equipment was removed from my residence on 7/14/07 and I needed this matter resolved, she took my cell phone # and said I would receive a call in 24/48 hours.

10/3/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Jackie, she claimed that she had just started working there and would try to get a hold of a Supervisor, I was put on hold for quite some time, then she got back on the phone and said that she was speaking with a Supervisor and put me on hold again, then the line went dead.

10/3/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Paula, I again explained the situation, and she said she would add more notes to my account, and to be patient, it may take a few days, she advised me to call back again on Friday 10/5/07.

10/5/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Amber, I again explained what was going on, and she apologized and promised that a Technician would call me on Saturday 10/6/07.

10/6/07 – No Call from Dish Network

10/8/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Carol, she said that Management notes said that the receiver that I was being charged for was on its way in, and do not charge the customer for the receiver. Carol said she adjusted my account and it would be 24 to 48 hours before it would be approved.

10/10/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Maria, I needed to check the status of my account and the $300 that they were saying was going to be withdrawn from my account. Maria said that the charges will be reversed and the $300 will not be charged to my account.

10/10/07 – Called CFCU, spoke with Sally, I briefly explained my dilemma and she said to stop by a branch and fill out an Amount Dispute Form

10/11/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Yvette, yet again explained the situation and was getting rather annoyed that this was taking so much of my time and effort. She said that she sees a note on my account that $300 will be applied to my card. I was put on hold for approx. 30 minutes, then she came back on the line and verified that it was removed from my account today (10/11/07)

This payment is scheduled to be withdrawn on 10/12/07

10/12/07 – Called Dish Network, spoke with Shane, he said that the account still showed that $389.44 was to be withdrawn today.

10/12 & 10/13/07 – I watched my account and nothing was withdrawn

10/14/07 - $389.44 was withdrawn from my account by Dish Network

10/15/07 – Called Dish Network, and spoke with Michelle, I was NOT happy, I explained that Dish Network has now lied to me countless times and she said that she will correct it, it will be sent to management and it would now take 7 to 10 business days to post to my account. I told Michelle the names and dates of when Dish Network employees also promised me the same, and that I was no longer going to use Dish Network once this matter gets resolved, she said that there was a note on my account from 10/10/07 that the $300 credit was disapproved. I was so furious, that I hung up on them.

10/15/07 – Went to CFCU and filled out a Written Statement Under the Penalty of Perjury.

10/15/07 – Contacted the NYS Consumer Protection board and filled out a complaint online

10/15/07 – Filled out an Online complaint to Dish Network

10/17/07 – Received a letter from the NYS Consumer Protection Board, they sent a letter to the Dish Network Dispute Resolution Team

10/24/07 – Called Dish Network, and the automated billing said that I have a credit of $258.00, I immediately needed to talk to a person…, spoke with Sam, I told her briefly about the situation, she put me on hold while she looked at all the information, then she said that the $258 credit was because they were taking out for the October billing cycle, and I told her that in NO WAY should they be doing that. That was my $300 and I want it back into my account, and that they were not going to be using it to apply it to my account each month, Sam apologized and said that $300 would be put into my account in 3 to 5 business days, I told her that I have already contacted the NYS Consumer Protection Board, and as soon as I was done with this matter, I would be getting rid of Dish Network, she again apologized, I hung up.

10/26/07 – Called Dish Network and canceled my automatic payment.

10/29/07 – Received a voicemail from Scott at Dish Network, and he said for me to call him in regards to a complaint that I filed with the Consumer Protection Board. I called Scott back at [protected] and I explained my exhausted efforts to resolve this matter with Dish Network, and he said that he understood. I made it VERY clear that they need to put the $300 back into my bank account, and that it was very unfair of them to try to apply the money as credit to my account. He said that he would adjust the $258 to $300 and that it would be in my bank account on Friday 11/2/04, and if it was not, then to call him back. I said that I will call back first thing on Monday 11/5/07 if the money is not there. He said that if this caused any type of fees from the bank, and that I could prove it, then Dish Network would cover these charges. I said that there are none that I know of, just that $300 of my money was missing, and that I have spent countless hours trying to resolve a problem that they created. He said that Dish Network will credit my bill for 1 month of free service for my time spent on this matter.