Dish Network Beware of Rebate Offers from Dish - I cancelled them after 7 months of no rebate, not they say I'm a bad customer Englewood Colorado

I signed up for Dish in late June 2007 based on a $200 rebate promotion ($10 for HD and $10 for qualifying America's top package - each month for 10 months). I had to dig around on their website for the rebate form and had to call about getting a billing statement to mail in with the form (they had put me on paperless statements and auto billing even though I requested paper statements and refused auto-pay - I also refused the 18 month commitment). Well, in short, Dish was auto-charging the credit card I used for the activation fee and never applied the $20 rebate.

I was calling Dish every month and was told the rebate should show up the next billing cycle. They also gave me a toll-free number to call to check on the rebate status. The first time I called, it notified me that the form was received and being processed. Later when I called, the toll-free number had a message to call another toll free number and that one did not recognize my account number for the current promotion. I called Dish and asked what was going on with the rebate, and the CSR told me that there shouldn't be a problem. I offered to resend copies of my rebate form and the first statement, but she said it wasn't necessary and the rebate just takes a while to show up.

When I called Dish again in October 2007 after still not getting the rebate applied, the CSR apologized and said a credit would show up on the next statement.

Well, the next statement did not have a credit, and I was irate. I called Dish again to finally cancel my service. I had had enough of being told to wait for another statement before my bill was reduced by $20 a month, when I could get other comparable service for much cheaper without any rebate runaround. The Dish CSR then started telling me I didn't get the $20 off b/c I never bothered to submit the rebate form.

I informed her that I'd called repeatedly about the rebate and offered to resend or fax the forms; I would even do it right then, to which she replied that it was too late since the forms had to be received within 60 days of activation.

I then had to call Dish repeatedly to get them to tell me how to return the equipment (but they had no problem calling me numerous times to try to get me to sign up with them again) - thankfully, a month or so later they sent me a box to return the equipment and there were no problems there.

Now, in August 2008, I saw the TurboHD and decided to look into the silver service. I called Dish CS and was told no problem since I hadn't been a customer for six months. When I called back to order and provided all requested information, I was told I wasn't eligible since I canceled my service and Dish waived the cancellation fee. I called "BS" with the CSR since I wasn't under an 18 month commitment and there was never a cancellation fee; and then I told her the story about the rebate.

She put me on hold and then after a long wait came back telling me that her supervisor told her that I was one of many Dish customers that had canceled the service after not sending the rebate form and not wanting to pay the full amount. I was again irate - they auto-paid themselves for months of overpriced service, told me repeatedly that the rebate should show up next month, lied to me about a rebate credit being applied, and then called me a liar about every doing the rebate form. I kindly thanked her for wasting my time and hung up.

So, it's not surprising the Dish is losing customers if they treat everyone the way they treated me. Fundamentally, I think they are shady, corrupt company and need to look inward first for problems they are having.

Bottom line: Do not trust Dish (record all your phone conversations with them if you can and keep all your records). I should have known better on the rebate deal, since most companies know many customers won't bother with them and it's a big marketing gimmick. Lesson learned.

Rick
Plano, Texas
U.S.A.