Satellite Television Reviews & Comments

Dish network has been nothing but great to me and their service has never failed me and the managers have always been very good to me too. love dish!

We had direct tv for a couple of years. We had a few problems receiving our bill and getting late fees. Over the past few months, our bill has increased over $40- with NO changes made by us, and direct has even taken away channels from our package. Customer service has repeatedly said that it is just a price increase. We are switching to Dish. I am sure there are problems with any satellite company, but we will be getting more channels for less. (The Dish guy is actually here at this moment. Very thorough and even suggested some changes to the order we had placed, as we were not told over the phone that having the Hopper system would mean only 3 out of our 4 tvs could be tuned in at a time.)

Dish programming is fine, a bit better than Direct. BUT, be very careful about ANY "free" channel offers for ANY amount of time. DISH will arbitrarily sign you up for premium channels. If you have an autopay and don't check your bill you may get hosed. Be very careful.

I recently had Dish Network installed. They did mess up my order, at installation, but they corrected it asap. They brought the wrong receivers, but the installer apologized and brought back the correct ones. He was very polite and understanding. We didn't even have to reschedule the appointment. The customer service reps on the phone were all helpful. The setup seems to be working great for my family, and I haven't had any problems. Hopefully, I won't. But I am please with the service so far.

Hey, I'm a customer service rep for Dish, reading all these comments inspired me to write this post. I hear many of these complaints daily while at work, a majority of which all stem from simple miscommunication or misunderstanding, so I thought to lay it all out for folks who think they have been cheated or ripped off or lied to in some way.

1. When signing up for either Dish or Direct, there is a 24 month contract if you want free install/equipment. If you don't want a contract, pay for everything upfront. By providing the installation and equipment for free, DISH invests money into you as a customer which DISH hopes to make back during the life of your account. Dish does a credit check at time of order, if you pass, the majority of things are free, if your credit isnt good, due to unpaid bills, no credit history, due to not having credit cards, or so on.. understand that you will have to pay additional charges initially and most likely be a pay in advance customer. Where everything must be paid for upfront. Including the monthly service bill.

2. Both companies offer an introductory price for new customers. After the first 12 months, the price becomes the regular monthly price.

2a. I see many existing customers complaining because they saw an advertised price on T.V or in an ad and they call in to get it. Those prices are introductory offers geared towards people who dont have dish and would like to sign up. Its the same, or similar offer that YOUVE received when YOU first signed up for dish, so dish is only being fair. DISH is a company, it is here to make money by producing a product/service. This isn't the salvation army, we try hard to please but in the end it has to make sense financially to do. So please understand. We do have the lowest prices in the industry, we do have over 8 english packages that you are able to customize to better suit your budget were as our competition has 4 packages the lowest being around the $60 range. If you find it hard to afford, re-evalute whats a NEED and a WANT. We are here to help as best we can, but understand that we are here to make a profit.

2b. Also, if you do receive free equipment, its considered leased, which means if you cancel the service, or have it disconnected for nonpayment, dish will charge the original credit card you used to open the account with for the cancellation fee(if any) and the equipment charges(if unreturned)
Regarding the fee for equipment return, yes, there is a fee for returning the equipment that DISH has loaned out to you, under the condition that if you cancel service you need to send it back to us. This fact is disclosed not only verbally, but also in writing. Dish tries to make this process as simple and hassle free as possible by sending packaging material and shipping labels to you, with the understanding that if those labels are used there will be a charge for them. If you don't want that charge, use you're own shipping method.

3. Certain promotions have different conditions, which are all disclosed to the customer at the time of order. Some are free for a certain time, then "roll to pay" which means you'll start getting billed for it unless you cancel it. As a customer, you should know what you are getting, premium channels are free for the first 3 months, the protection plan warrenty is fre for 6 months, and the new customer discount is 12 months. So if you see the bill "creeping up" look to see if any promotions have run out.

4. Customer service agents are regular people who's job is to assist you. Its a stressful job, its 60-80 calls/customers a day, all with a problem. We want to help, thats what we are here for, be civil and you are more likely to get what you want than if you call in screaming and cursing . We understand your frustrated, but understand that civility will win over argument any day.

5. At DISH we offer many promotions to existing customers as well, including Free upgrades to better equipment, free moving services, free premium channels, free previews of channels, free pay per views etc. These promotions have conditions, make sure you understand them. ASK QUESTIONS.
Disclaimer: Promotions are limited to the type and status of your account. Accounts constantly late, or have received many credits in the past, have been disconnected for nonpayment recently..may not qualify for these promotions. It makes sense, we want to reward those customers who keep their end of the bargain.


6.Direct TV is DISH's biggest competitor in the satellite business, and for the most part is a decent company. However, I do believe that DISH is the better product in all catagories; price, equipment, functions, customer service, and reliability. Dish tries hard to accomodate customers requests and problems, in fact DISH strives to accomplish this daily. We value our customers and do want to make sure that your issue, no matter how small, is important.


Again, I am a customer service rep for DISH, I hope this was helpful. Always be an educated consumer.

The dish network system is so full of "bugs" and service interruptions that I find it hard to believe it ever got off the ground. The laundry list of problems and inconsistencies is so extensive that I won't even attempt to go into it here. The bottom line is that I can't think of one thing about dish network that is superior to direct tv.

I have had an awesome experience with Dish. I have had Directv as well an the customer service I received from Dish is 10 times better. I ordered the hopper system and it works great but my family of 4 is was not working for all of us due to tuner restrictions. I called and they are sending me out an additional Hopper COMPLETELY free of charge!!!! I didn't even have to get upset at all. I just told them my case and they understood and did what they had to make me happy.

I've had both Directv and Dish. Both for more than 2 years. DTV was more expensive and did not offer a free DVR nor do they have a Dual receiver like Dish does. (And they still don't). Dish'HD DVR will do two shows of recording at once. DTVs does one. DTV does have this 5 channel DVR but it's not cheap.
Regardless, they all come out with promotional prices so my plan is to keep both dishes installed and flip flop every two years to get the best price. If I cared about sports, I guess DTV might be more attractive. They both have good and bad points about customer service, just like any company does anymore. I pay for the protection because I wouldn't want to be surprised with some fat bill if something breaks.
I wish I could get cable here, because I would definitely go to that instead. Both sat services will get blocked in bad weather, so that's a given. Cable won't have a problem.

DishNetwork is not perfect but if you speak to the right person they will solve your problem rather quickly.
For rebates Deals Specials and or billing and technical problem I use this number normally a supervisor will help you 1888-669-6145 mon thru friday 8am to 11pm saturday 9am to 10am sunday 10am to 6pm @ eastern time hope this helps you all. I use this number for additional credit and tech issues.

I've had Directv for about 15 years now and found it to be adequate untill I recently signed a new 2 year contract to upgrade to HD. I've got to say the picture couldn't be better, but the audio is totally out of sync with the video. Some channels are worse than others and so bad that I can't even watch. It's like looking at a forgien movie with another language dubbed in. I called Directv but got no satisfaction.