Dish Network Customer Service Complaint

I wanted to share this email which I have sent to the executivecustomerservice@DishNetwork.com.  It details a horrible customer service (if that is what you call it) experience my wife and I shared in our attempt to cancel service with Dish Network.  I am still waiting for a reply.

To whom it may concern -

My wife and I had a very distasteful experience with what is being called Customer Service at Dish Network.  This began when my wife contacted your Customer Service staff on Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 between 8:00am and 8:30am.  She was informed that our contract with you ended on December 4th, 2011 which was 45 days from the date she called.  The lady she spoke with informed her that it would be a $10.00 fee if we broke contract early between the time of the phone call and before December 5th.

We discussed it and made the decision to break contract early.  This was simply for economic reasons and we had actually intended on re-evaluating in 3 to 6 months.  If at that time we were capable, we planned on entertaining the idea of reconnecting with Dish since we had had nothing but good experiences with the company.

However, upon contacting Customer Service on Sunday, October 30th, 2011 we were told that the amount was actually $10.00 if within one month of cancellation.  If two months, it was actually $30.00.  And, conveniently enough your staff did not document in their call logs about our prior call in.  My wife asked to speak with a manager at this point, as the representative was not willing to deduct $20.00 from the cancellation fee.

This manager informed my wife that the pricing was actually $15.00 for one month and $30.00 for two.  So at this point, we had received our third set of amounts.  My wife again was told that the pricing couldn't be adjusted to honor the first amount we had been told.  At this point she again escalated to the next tier of support. Another manager.

This manager informed her that the amount is prorated $15 for each month of contract time you have left.  So again, $15.00 for the first month and $30 for the second.  At this point I got on the phone and expressed my disgust at how your company was handling our desire to cancel.  Even though we only had less than 4 days before we were inside the one month window (which your team didn't even suggest us wait for 4 days), your management and service staff was unwilling to budge on a mere $20.00 fee.

And to make matters worse, I was told that I would have to pay for shipping the equipment back.  And that this was an additional $15.00 fee if we use your label that is shipped with the return kit.  Again, it wasn't even suggested to us that maybe one of your Dish installers could swing by and just pick the equipment up should they be out in this area.  Or that I could drop the equipment off myself at one of your  locations.

So, you all seem to be perfectly content with throwing away 2 years of customer loyalty because of a grand total of $35 ($20 cancellation and $15 shipping).  I even warned the last manager I spoke with that if she did not help us I would never be willing to return to Dish.  If my wife and I decided to again go with a satellite or cable provider we will certainly not chose Dish Network.  I also warned her that I would warn anyone in the future not to trust your company.  Simply because of this incident.  To be honest, I am completely disgusted at how you all have treated not only myself and my wife.

If you want redeem yourselves, even in the littlest bit, I would highly recommend that you review this complaint and help to accommodate my wife and I.  Beyond that, I would expect that you inform your call centers and customer service staff that the philosophy of not honoring what you tell your customer is unacceptable.