Dish Network Dishnetwork moving charges, Internet

If you are with Dish - or are thinking about hooking up service with them WATCH OUT! Who knows what other little pitfalls they have built into their system to justify taking more money from you?

Heres how they got me.

About 2 - 3 months ago I called dish network because I was moving.  I explained that I'm going to a new city and I'm going to sort out housing once I get there - and would stay with relatives while I looked for places to live.  They explained that for a minimal charge (somthing like $5 to the best of my memory) they could put my service on hold for upto 6 months.  They explained that while the service was on hold the clock would also stop on my contract period.  I remember being a bit surprised that they had such a consumer friendly policy given the bad rep that these sat tv providers for customer service.  I tried to think of any of the common ways that these sat providers trick people and made sure that putting the service on hold would not trigger a new contract or fee increase. It SOUNDED free of pitfalls - so I agreed to the service hold.  Now about 3 months have passed and I'm ready to restore the service.  When I call to restore the service the first time I am told that I must pay a $100 move fee.  When I asked why and stated that my understanding when I signed up for the service was that a move would be free.  After some checking the rep told me that it normally would be free - but because I placed the service on hold status they would now have to charge for a move.  I told them I want to disconnect the service if they insist on charging this fee.  The rep transfered me to someone else - who told me essentially the same thing and that there was no possibility that they would waive the fee.  He also confirmed that it will cost $180 to end my contract - which is actually less than I thought it would cost.  Anyway, I told him I would think about it and call back.  So my position now is that I have lost $100 for which I will get no value regardless of what I do - do I pay an extra $80 to get out of the contract making the total loss $180 - but then I still want the service...  I wish I had just gone with a traditional cable TV provider to start out with.  Sure it is tempting to terminate the contract just to punish them, but in reality they won't care or even really know..  I guess the only thing I can really do is post this - and hopefully a few people will read it and not fall into the same trap.