Okay, so I get this flyer in the mail today

[Senior Citizen]

from Dish Network. Several different deals/packages on the flyer.

Right now I'm back with just local broadcast and it really sucks. Can't get FOX to stay locked in at all, ABC and NBC fade bad in the heat of the day. Antenna is turned and tuned to the highest signal strength.

......so I call to see what kind of deal I can swing with the sub-contrator that sent me the flyer. Tried to get them to throw in ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and the Outdoor Channel for free with a 24 month contract. NOPE! Don't have the authority to "throw in" any thing the operator said. I said OKAY, then put someone on the phone that does have the authority. He said NOBODY has the authority to make deals.

I thanked him for his time and said goodbye.

Anyone here ever been successful at wheeling and dealing with Dish or Direct?

SC

 

[JOERM]

No. Other then once when I canceled DirecTV but re-opened it the next day. I had a very old package they no longer offered which had more and better channels then the new ones at a cheaper price. They let me have it back.

But they can keep abc, nbc, cbs, mnsbc and all the rest of those useless stations. Fox only for me. I do have the other news channels though and once in a while I will un-block them to see what junk they are reporting. with in a few minutes i put the block back on. Sad because I'm a news junky and it is impossible to get broad news. Not just news in the USA but the world over. Fox even sucks in my opinion in most cases. They just keep repeating the same news from one hour to the next and a lot of it is just Hollywood crap. Most of what O'Reilly reports has already been reported in the past hours. There used to be a news station called News World International, it was pretty good.

 

[35Rem]

They are about the same in my opinion. You can buy the Outdoor Channel for $1.99 a month. The locals run $5 a month. It winds up being pretty pricey when it's all said and done to get a package with enough channels worth watching. I am lucky enough to have digital cable where I am.

 

[38-44HD45]

I have Direct, and have been largely satisfied with it, although the price is higher than it should be, in my opinion. We are able to get local channels (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox, as well as a couple of others) pretty well off an attic antenna, and Direct does not offer local channels. Dish is cheaper, and offers local channels, but I hear lots of complaints about service and billing problems with Dish. My Mother has Dish, and she went through a real nightmare with them, trying to straighten out a billing issue that Dish caused. She'd have switched back to Direct, but she wants her local channels and is too far away from the stations to get them on an antenna. She threatened to sue them before they fixed it.

As for negotiating, I know some folks who have threatened to leave one or the other and have gotten better deals.

 

[pinduck]

Here is a site for News junkies that you can read on your computer.http://www.crayon.net/using/links.html
Glen

 

[krissylou]

I have DirecTV and have had it for 7 years. I had problems with my converter box dying and not working any longer. DH called them and got us an upgrade to local channels, a new dish (since the one I had wouldn't pick up local channels) and a DVR. The program that I have is no longer available, but I won't change to one that costs less because I will also lose some of the channels that I have.

I have 3 months of free Showtime channels through the end of July as a Thank You for sticking with them for the past 7 years.

 

[lcdrdanr]

It's funny, we opened a Dish account when we moved here, 12 month contract with all the channels we wanted at a monthly rate of 68 bucks. That's with 3 digital recorders, they charge for each extra one. Anyway,
After the 12 months we let it go month to month and it seemed as if every other month it jumped a little bit more, after about 8 months I noticed it was over $105 a month. I said "that's it, we go with someone else".
Called them to cancel the service and they were, oh, so helpful. Kept trying to get us to keep the service for a lilttle less and a little less, I kept telling them "Heck no, I started this service for 69 bucks, that's all it's worth".
Funny thing, they "found" a plan that had what we wanted, the three receivers, all for $63 a month. But, they wanted a 24 month contract. Nope, I only do 12 month contracts.
Okay, you got it, they said.
Been that way for close to a year, now I gotta start watching the bills again.

Dan R

 

[afriqueart]

Ask to speak with customer retention. Tell them that you're getting offers for amazing deals. They'll haggle. Bottom line is this: Do they want you to be their customer or do they want you to be the competitors customer?

I've been paying my provider $60 per month for all channels plus 2 premiums and high speed internet.

 

[7.62foryou]

I have had dish for several years now. When I started local channels were not available. About 3 years ago they became available for a small fee $5.00 I think but those channels required a different receiver than I had and additional dish on the roof. There was no charge for those items. This is probably why they can't "throw in" those channels. There's not much to watch on them anyway. The wife likes some of the games shows and one of 2 sit-coms. I watch very little of the alphabet channels including fox. CNBC is about the only "news" type channel I watch. History, history intl, military channel, natl geo, etc... are what I usually watch. I have noticed that the new dishes are affected more by weather than the old ones were. I have found that's it's a take or leave deal. If you want it pay if not hang up the phone. They will however if pushed hard enough waive the requirment of getting your SS#. Imagine a SS# for sat tv, no wonder there's so much ID theif. My SS is for tax and retirement that's it.

 

[roarindan]

tv's

I've been a customer of Directv since they first started. original cost to put in the system was $300. Few yrs back NY said they had to give local channels for free so a contractor came put in a local only dish,an ran cables from the S/E corner at the dish around my old farm house to the N/W corner where the TV was, (not pretty) but no charge to me.
we have 3 recievers, 1 free 2@$5 each.my bill is $71/mo but I like others here have a package that isnt offered anymore.
We've moved and they did the sat. install,when the "war dept." said she didnt want the 3rd reciever in the front room anymore, I moved it to the garage/man cave/reloading room,and they came an connected to a cable the former owner had there,for free.
Last Sun they came and replaced the 2 dishes and put in 1 new dish and 3 new recievers,programed the tv's (well2 of 'em the garage is an old wards,but he did give me a converter box).
while we were in the garage I checked the operation and went thru my channels,I didnt have the NY yankees, told the guy it was there yesterday, he call HQ an they futzzed around and came back with the line "theres a blackout on home games". after he left I was in the house and the game was on in the livingroom!!.I called an the gal tried to tellme "i didnthave that package",... "but its on in the livinroom,not the garage or bedroom"....well she got it to me ,an i is happy. I reload,smelt lead, listen to the radio channels,watch the outdoor stuff,sports and what ever i want.

 

[Senior Citizen]

I have had dish for several years now. When I started local channels were not available. About 3 years ago they became available for a small fee $5.00 I think but those channels required a different receiver than I had and additional dish on the roof. There was no charge for those items. This is probably why they can't "throw in" those channels. There's not much to watch on them anyway. QUOTE]

XXXXXXXX

nothing except all the local news and weather.............and NASCAR on FOX and the last 11 races of the season on ABC. Yeah, I likes my racin...

And if you don't have cable or satellite you can't get the UFC's either.

SC

 

[Pasifikawv]

I have had both Dish and Direct at various times over the years.

Dish is the cheaper of the two. Their base package is $20 bucks - but you have to add $5 for local channels. You don't get much, however. Lots of family/cartoon/church channels.

Direct is typically a few dollars more for comparable packages of channels, but you get several more quality channels for the price.

Currently, I have Direct as the package selected provides the channels I want and the channels the wife wants. NFL Network was a biggie for me and there was a time when Dish did not offer it in any of their base packages. The wife wanted Once and it was not available on Dish either. Our last switch to Direct got me the sports, news, and information channels I wanted and the international, educational, and home/garden channels the wife wanted. Dish simply did not have a quality package with the majority channels we wanted.