Echostar - Dish Network Took $620 out of bank account Englewood Colorado

My daughter had signed up for a bundle package through Frontier Communications in July 2007. The service was connected on July 16,2007 and included Dish Network as part of the bundle. The cost was $130 per month.

The services were terrible. The phone would not work, the internet was intermittent and the Satellite service was constantly a problem to get it to work and the service would go on and off especially during the winter. The only way the phone would work is if it was unplugged from the satellite and then it had so much static you couldn't hear or talk. By August 2007 we had to get cell phones in order to be able to make or get any phone calls and be able to hear the person on the other end.

From July 2007 - January 2008 complaints were made to Dish and Frontier both to please fix this service and to send bills since none were being received. As far as the signal problems we were told that weather would affect the signal, since we get 3 months of summer storms and up to 6 months of snow and bad weather we could look forward to not having a signal during this times according to Dish. Dish said we could not unplug the phone without being charged extra for it and getting constant messages on the TV screen. There was the issue of not receiving any bills also. Frontier informed us that all the bills were sent to an address in Oregon for some reason so we attempted on several occassions to get the address corrected, finally in December 2007 Frontier corrected the address although still no bills, no refund, no nothing have been sent to this address from July 2007 and as of April 30, 2008.

A tech from Frontier came out in December and claimed the bad static was due to a problem with our phones or in the wiring inside the home, we gave up! We had bought new phones in July thinking that may have been the problem. In January 2008 we canceled the entire bundle through frontier. At that time $920 had been paid out to Frontier for this bundle - $130 X 6 = $780. We were glad to get Cable and be able to have phone, internet and tv that actually worked, so we just waited for Frontier to get around to the refund. At the time the Cable man came out in January to hook up the service he found out the problem was a bad ground at the telephone pole, some staples put through the cable (by Dish installer) to the tv which were causing some interruptions.

Our daughter then moved out of the house in January and we were not going to continue with this lousy service after she left.

Frontier had agreed to cancel all the service and waive any termination fees, the service was disconnected on January 22, 2008. As of that date there was no phone, internet or Dish signal coming in to our home. Cable was installed on January 23, 2008.

On April 21, 2008 my daughter called me in a panic, Dish had taken $120 out of her account and she didn't know why. 2 days later Dish again took $500 out of her account. These deductions caused bounced check fees, none of her bills could be paid and she didn't have money to get food and diapers for her baby. She was so upset. Then Dish contacted her by phone and told her they were going to take more money out of her account so I advised her to close her account until we could figure out what was going on.

Dish was impossible to work with and told her she just owed the money and there was nothing she could do about it. Then they told her they had contacted her at the Oregon address and sent notices, bills and demand for the equipment to be sent back. She asked why they would have sent anything to that address since they were never given that address. No explanation was given. Nothing was ever forwarded from the old oregon address to the Arizona address from either Frontier or Dish, although all other mail has been forwarded so that doesn't make much sense.

I got in contact with Mr. Wall at echostar by email. He agreed to return part of her money (approx. $90) to her account but would hold onto $530 until the equipment was returned, the UPS labels would be sent within 7-10 days. Then he went on to say that she had service fees for a few months and termination fees and that he would graciously waive these fees. I emailed him back and said what fees since there was no service, they never sent the UPS labels to return the equipment and we had made attempts by phone, in person and online to get this equipment back. No one at Dish would help us nor would they take the equipment in person when on January 22, 2008 we tried to return it, then we called the 800 number that day to get labels that never showed up. He apologized for the inconvienence. In my email back to him I assured him this was a major catastrophe for my daughter not just an inconvienence especially since they were owed no money and their equipment we have continued to try to return to no avail to their company and the company has not cooperated at all.

He has not emailed back. Dish did call my daughter 4/25/08 and tell her the labels would be here in 2 days, no labels have been received yet. At the same time Dish said the money would be put back in her account immediately, no money has been returned yet. According to Mr. Wall the approx $90 would be put back in her account within 3 to 5 days - that was on the 24th of April.

Between Dish and Frontier we paid for service we were not receiving for 6 months. We paid the monthly payments of $130 hoping that eventually we could work out whatever the problem was and continue with their services. Due to horrible customer service by both Dish and Frontier that was not possible. It would be nice to at least get back the $620 taken from our daughter's account and the $140 we overpaid to Frontier. Frontier did however cancel the service once I contacted the right person although the refund for overpayment has not been received at least she was easy to work with.

I do not appreciate Dish harassing my daughter, taking money from her bank account when nothing was due, nor having Dish say they have sent mail that has never shown up, money not being returned as agreed, labels to send back the equipment never being received. It appears from the multitude of complaints this is business as usual for Dish.

Melodie
show Low, Arizona
U.S.A.