With a new plasma TV and the prospects of going Hi-Def i approached my 13 year satellite company Dish network about providing me with an upgrade.Be aware that i said 13 years! When i first BOUGHT all the equipment and paid for the installation it was over 900 dollars.Two years later they were GIVING the stuff away.When i first hooked up it was only me and Hassan watching "Tehran tonight" on his Volkswagen sized sat dish.Things changed fast for the Sat industry and i was slow to give up my Sumo sized Hitachi,but pulled the trigger and got the TV i wanted.So on to the Dish Network phone tree i climbed,i knew i was going to get free equipment,but all i wanted them to do was match the Direct TV offer of free installation,i wore them down to 15.00 install fee PLUS a 5.99 a month service insurance charge,even those with little math skills would figure out that over the long term that does not bode well.So convinced i would reach someone who wanted to retain me as a customer i pursued the legendary "retention" operators three times.These people were by far the least diplomatic and borderline rude and dismissive of all the operators in "customer service"-these were the people that were the last line of defense in keeping me as a customer? Hard to believe!
It was with great pleasure that i picked up the phone and canceled the Dish service as the Direct TV installer walked into the house with my new HD boxes.My deal and two year contract included three rebates and for the first year will have more channels and be lower than the Dish package i had.The Direct TV people were nice and nicer and i am thrilled with the picture.What really won me over was the constant attempts to please a new customer and FIND added rebates and freebies to sweeten the deal.
Honestly,changing Sat services and getting set up was far more time consuming and intricate than leasing a 30,000 automobile-i kid you not.
After about 3 or 4 days the phone rang,my wife said "It's Dish Network" do you want to take this call? I said "Oh yeah"......i hope that guy was standing up because after about two minutes on the phone with me he would have an uncomfortable time sitting down,what with his new-you know what- and all.The funny thing is he said "i don't know what the problem was,we could of done an override on that,i said,do an override on this..........................
