Dish Pronto Review

This is my story with Dish Pronto.

This seems to an outfit run from India, claiming to be working from the “2nd floor of Empire State Building, HQ of Dish Network”. All these indian agents have the following names:

“Eric Bishop” – This guy was relentless in closing my account. I dont have a problem with this guy, he was polite through out. His phone number:1800 252 3701 x3209

“Sara” – Supervisor, Didnt know the address of Empire State Building, “She sarcastically asks “you should have heard of empire state building””.

“Clyde” – Some other supervisor, probably the idiot that messed up the account.

“Neil” – Eric’s supervisor.

“Ricky” – the most arrogant of all. Asks me to calm down, refuses responsibility as he did not sign me up and disconnects the line.

“Roger Mathews” – “Super Supervisor” (funny title eh!) Initially arrogant, calms down after a “talk” (gives me the address on his work place after putting me on hold for a few seconds, I ask him if its raining in NY and he hangs up and then says he was going to call me from his extension!!) Finally he was the only one that could fix the mistake THEY made.

With the characters in place, lets get on with the story.

I wanted to sign up with Dish mainly because of the World Cup Cricket broadcast, so I call Dish direct, they sign me up, Very professional call. Took me 15 minutes to sign up. All details explained very clearly, the guy even waives the sign up fee as I was switching from Comcast. With everything set, a local contractor representing Dish comes home, checks out a tree in the line of sight for the dish and says, he cant hook me up. (India didnt make the second round, so I did not care about this).

A couple of months later, “Dish” calls me again. Eric Bishop with an Indian Accent, talks to me, says they did not send a good technician earlier as Dish always tries to save some money initially and see if they can hook up the dish. I ask him if he is allowed to say such things about the company and he says he is being frank ! Also they have a new tracker device which can lock on and get the signal right even if there is a tree and that he is confident the dish would be hooked up. Huh ???

He gives me the same plan, except he adds 59.98 signing up charges. I said I am not interested and he says he will check with his “supervisors” and call me back. He calls about a week later and gives me the same story, I say No but he is relentless and says if I can find a friend who is a Dish customer, he can give me a club number, he can waive all sign up charges. (The only reason I am interested in this deal is because Comcast is so freaking expensive). I know a friend who is a Dish customer and we work everything out. I will be hooked up with 3 tvs, 2 of them hd and 1 standard. I will also get a home theatre system free. I will get an HD DVR free but there is a 5.98 charges as I dont have a land line. I decline the HD DVR. I will also get HBO movies free for 3 months. Everything is set. My monthly charge is 65.99 less 20.00 mail in for 10 months. (They run my SSN credit check 2nd time, which I hated).

I then decide to pay for the HD DVR and called back to add the option. This time “Eric” is not around, so I talk to “Clyde” who makes the change.

Then the night before my installation, Ten Points, a local contractor calls me and confirms I have 2 TVs to be hooked up. I said no, it should be 3. Nancy fom Ten Points requests I talk to “Dish” and fix this, so she can hook me up with 3. She was very helpful.

This is where the drama starts. I call “Dish”. “Ricky” picks up. He says he cant help, I have to call Dish Network, I ask them who they are, he says they are “Dish Network” ! but I have to call customer support. He claimed he did not sign me up, Eric did and he cant fix Eric’s or Clyde’s mistake. He asks me not to shout and calm down when I try to reason with him ! That pisses me off and I ‘advice’ him on how to talk to customers and ask for his manager. He puts me on hold for 5 minutes and disconnects the line. I call right back and “Sara” the supervisor picks up. I am ticked off now and ask them where they work out off and she says Empire State Building. I asked her for the address and she says “you should have heard about the building” but could not give me the address. I asked her how she got to work and she says she drives, the company has given her a car ! WOW, my company does not give me a car and I work 50-60 hours a week. She claimed she was new in NY. Hmm. New, and drives a company car to an office she does not know the address of. Hows that ?. Anwyays she also says she cannot fix the problem and forwards to call to “Roger Mathews” the “super supervisor”. Roger comes on, asks me to call Dish Network, I refuse and ask them to fix the problem. He initally says he did not make the mistake and he cannot fix it. I am very pissed now and give him a piece of my mind. Then he says he will fix the problem, but says the installation appointment will be changed. I asked him not to worry about the appointment as Nancy said all she needs is the number of TVs changed. As Roger tries to fix the problem, I probe him on where he works, same answer. “The Empire State Building”. I asked him for the address and he puts me on hold and comes back and gives me the address with a suite number of 6320. I asked him if it was raining in NY and he disconnects me. (This is hilarious!) I call him right back. Talk to “Steve” who transfers me to “Roger”. I asked why he cut me off, his answer was “I was going to go to my extension and call you” …..”Extension !! give me a f*cking break !”. The “Empire State Building” offices dont have phone systems with “forwarding capabilities”.

He fixes the number of TV issue but says the appointment has now moved to 15th. I didnt care about that. I wanted to confirm everything. He now says the home theatre is available only after 3 months and I have to pay an extra 14.95 for shipping. No body told me about this before. He also says the monthly charges are 67.99 less 20.00 mail in and not 65.99 less 20.00 mail in.

I have to talk to Eric on Sunday or Monday and see where things are. I will also wait for “Ten Points” to see if they can install a Dish. If they cannot, I am going to call these idiots almost every day and piss them off. It will be a waste of time but WILL BE FUN !

Another issue is “Roger Mathews” says they will review the tapes of conversations as they tape everything. There was no mention of recording any where or from any body. This could be a legal issue, where they are (if they really are) recording without letting the other party know.

Lets see how the drama unfolds.

UPDATE: As expected, the technician came home and in 2 minutes said Dish is not possible and there is no such thing as tracking device !

When I called back, I spoke to “Hansie”. Asking the same questions, he said it is “Snowing in New York” – In the middle of May 2007 ! Hows that? IDIOTS !

Then I called for another question and talked to “Josh Butler”. I am having fun collecting these names !

UPDATE:
Hey ! I called them for fun 3 times and got 3 more name: “Elton Mathews”, “William Smith” ! and Michael Hill (he is Hansie’s Supervisor). This is too funny.

UPDATE: Another fake name “Anna Williams” at x5368 “PHIRST CLASS TELUGU ACCENTU !” – Hilarious !

~ by neeleshshah on May 12, 2007.