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Dish Network Complaint - Trying to reinstate from DISH Pause
Complaint
Update: I have now cancelled my service with DISH. I was home waiting for the Tech to show up this afternoon when I recieved a call from DISH customer service letting me know that the Tech was waiting at our house and could only wait 20 minutes before having to move on to his next order. When I said I was home and didn't see anyone at my house, she confirmed the address was correct - and proceeded to verify my OLD address from another state! When I informed her that was our old address, she looked through the account notes and confirmed that it was again their error (once again the last rep hadn't 'locked it in' their system so this time the excuse was that the order showed our old address) and went on to tell me that the next available date would be 5 days from now. I told her that was not acceptable and I would like my service installed today. She told me this wasn't possible but she could give me a small credit too.
I decided we don't need TV this bad, it's summer time and we could spend that time outdoors doing something fun and getting some exercise instead! :)
Monday, July 07, 2008
RE: Account # xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Sir or Ma’am,
I am writing this letter as I wanted to take the time to send my concerns to you regarding a recent less than desirable experience I had with your customer service department. I apologize for the length of this letter in advance, but feel it is important that you understand that I spent nearly 45 minutes on the phone with your customer service department over a simple mistake.
In mid May, I called to have our account placed on DISH Pause as my family was moving. My request went through without an issue; the charges were clearly explained to me as well as the length of time our account could be on Pause. On June 30th, I called to make an appointment to have our service re-installed at our new address. The next available time was Saturday, July 5th, which worked great for us. I asked for the morning appointment time (between 8am-12pm). I spent just under 25 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep who went over all of the details with me, including a new 2 year commitment to avoid the $49.99 installation fee. I had not previously been advised that there would be an installation fee when reinstating service from Pause, but didn’t mind the contract as we had no intention of switching providers, as we have been with DISH for about 6 years now.
On July 5th, at 12:47pm I called customer service, and spent just under 25 minutes on the phone (before being disconnected), to inquire on our appointment as no one had shown up yet, nor had anyone called to say if the Tech was running late. I spoke with “Ann” and explained the situation to her. Ann initially told me that there were no notes in my account that I had requested an appointment to have service reinstated, but she did see that I had agreed to a new 2 year contract as well as our new address had been updated. I asked Ann if it made sense that I would call in, give my new address, agree to a new 2 year contract, but not set up an appointment and she agreed it did not. I asked her to look through my account notes again and she then found the note stating the appointment date and time. She then responded by telling me the Tech had not shown up because I had not called within 24 hours to reschedule. I told her that that did not make sense as I had not called to reschedule, I was sitting at home waiting for the Tech to show up and reinstate my service per the appointment I had made on June 30th
Ann proceeded to re-verify my account information to insure she had the correct account and after she determined she did in fact have the right account, she again told me I had not called within 24 hours to reschedule and that is why a Tech had not come to my house. I again said I didn’t understand that comment because I didn’t want to reschedule my appointment, so why would I have called? Again, she did not know. After several more minutes of conversation, Ann proceeded to tell me again that she could see the appointment date and time in the notes but now she did not know why it had not been scheduled. I asked her what exactly that meant that she didn’t know why. She then wanted to verify the alternate contact # on my account and I had to interrupt her and ask her what in the world that had to do with anything. Finally, I asked to speak to a Supervisor and told Ann I was not upset with her, it was not her fault and that she didn’t need to keep apologizing, but that her explanation was not making sense to me and I needed to understand what had happened. Ann placed me on hold 3 different times while she looked for her supervisor who was either “busy” or “on break.” During one of the times I was on hold, Ann offered me a $20 credit and to reschedule my appointment time. I told her I didn’t want a credit, I wanted to know what had happened and whether or not I was going to get my service reinstated that day as I had planned. I told her if her Supervisor was busy, to please find any Supervisor for me to talk to. Again, I was placed on hold. When Ann came back, she told me she was now transferring me to her Supervisor, which she did. The Supervisor, who was male, answered the phone and when I said “Hello,” he did not respond at all so I began to repeat myself, and then I heard him say “Hello” twice and then disconnected the call. Maybe he couldn’t hear me, but maybe he didn’t want to talk to me, I tend to believe it was the latter as I could hear him just fine.
I immediately called back and this time spoke to “Christa,” and was on the phone for another 18 minutes. I explained to her that I had been on hold for a Supervisor and had been disconnected. Christa asked me if she could look at my account to see if she could help me, which I agreed. While she was pulling up my account, I recounted the last conversation I’d had with Ann. Christa immediately was able to tell me what had happened – apparently when I called on June 30th, your system didn’t recognize my new home address, so it didn’t ‘lock-in’ the appointment time and as a result, I was never scheduled on the calendar, so the Tech never even saw it. The first rep I spoke to that set up the appointment for me should have caught this but didn’t. OK, now that made sense to me. I still wasn’t happy but at least I knew what had happened and why. Christa then set up an appointment for today (Monday), locked in our new address, confirmed everything was set, and then said she was giving me my choice of one of the Premium channels free for the next 3 months since I had wasted half of my day waiting for the Tech.
I have worked in the customer service industry for the past ten years as a Manager and understand how important good customer service is. While Ann was polite and professional with me the entire time, the level of customer service I received was severely lacking. To insinuate that I didn’t reschedule the appointment and that’s why the Tech didn’t show up, and to lead me in circles by wanting to keep verifying my account information, to placing me on hold several times while she “looked” for a Supervisor are all unacceptable. It was apparent that she didn’t know what had happened and I can tell you from my own work experience, customers prefer to be told “I don’t know what happened, but let me get my Supervisor/Team Lead over here to help me figure this out and get it resolved for you,” then to be given the run-a-round.
I am assuming that you use the same technology that we do and that all of your calls are recorded. I urge you to listen to the calls I have referenced above, especially with Ann, and take the appropriate measures to insure your customer service reps are well trained and in the event they don’t know or don’t understand a situation, that they will seek out help from their leadership before the customer is to blame. Poor customer service is the #1 reason customers switch providers.
Times and dates of calls as follows:
6/30 @ 1:07 pm PST
7/5 @ 12:47 pm PST
7/5 @ 1:12 pm PST
Lastly, I went online in an attempt to locate a phone # or email address to send my concerns to, and could not find anything. I then emailed the online customer service department asking for this information and received a response back stating that the only method of contact is via the USPS, nor will they release any names. The immediate impression that this gave me is that DISH does not want to hear from its customers because most will not take the time to send a concern via the mail, which will take much longer. I encourage you to consider putting contact information on your website (even a fax # would be better than having to send via USPS) where customers can send both positive and constructive feedback.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely
I decided we don't need TV this bad, it's summer time and we could spend that time outdoors doing something fun and getting some exercise instead! :)
Monday, July 07, 2008
RE: Account # xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Dear Sir or Ma’am,
I am writing this letter as I wanted to take the time to send my concerns to you regarding a recent less than desirable experience I had with your customer service department. I apologize for the length of this letter in advance, but feel it is important that you understand that I spent nearly 45 minutes on the phone with your customer service department over a simple mistake.
In mid May, I called to have our account placed on DISH Pause as my family was moving. My request went through without an issue; the charges were clearly explained to me as well as the length of time our account could be on Pause. On June 30th, I called to make an appointment to have our service re-installed at our new address. The next available time was Saturday, July 5th, which worked great for us. I asked for the morning appointment time (between 8am-12pm). I spent just under 25 minutes on the phone with the customer service rep who went over all of the details with me, including a new 2 year commitment to avoid the $49.99 installation fee. I had not previously been advised that there would be an installation fee when reinstating service from Pause, but didn’t mind the contract as we had no intention of switching providers, as we have been with DISH for about 6 years now.
On July 5th, at 12:47pm I called customer service, and spent just under 25 minutes on the phone (before being disconnected), to inquire on our appointment as no one had shown up yet, nor had anyone called to say if the Tech was running late. I spoke with “Ann” and explained the situation to her. Ann initially told me that there were no notes in my account that I had requested an appointment to have service reinstated, but she did see that I had agreed to a new 2 year contract as well as our new address had been updated. I asked Ann if it made sense that I would call in, give my new address, agree to a new 2 year contract, but not set up an appointment and she agreed it did not. I asked her to look through my account notes again and she then found the note stating the appointment date and time. She then responded by telling me the Tech had not shown up because I had not called within 24 hours to reschedule. I told her that that did not make sense as I had not called to reschedule, I was sitting at home waiting for the Tech to show up and reinstate my service per the appointment I had made on June 30th
Ann proceeded to re-verify my account information to insure she had the correct account and after she determined she did in fact have the right account, she again told me I had not called within 24 hours to reschedule and that is why a Tech had not come to my house. I again said I didn’t understand that comment because I didn’t want to reschedule my appointment, so why would I have called? Again, she did not know. After several more minutes of conversation, Ann proceeded to tell me again that she could see the appointment date and time in the notes but now she did not know why it had not been scheduled. I asked her what exactly that meant that she didn’t know why. She then wanted to verify the alternate contact # on my account and I had to interrupt her and ask her what in the world that had to do with anything. Finally, I asked to speak to a Supervisor and told Ann I was not upset with her, it was not her fault and that she didn’t need to keep apologizing, but that her explanation was not making sense to me and I needed to understand what had happened. Ann placed me on hold 3 different times while she looked for her supervisor who was either “busy” or “on break.” During one of the times I was on hold, Ann offered me a $20 credit and to reschedule my appointment time. I told her I didn’t want a credit, I wanted to know what had happened and whether or not I was going to get my service reinstated that day as I had planned. I told her if her Supervisor was busy, to please find any Supervisor for me to talk to. Again, I was placed on hold. When Ann came back, she told me she was now transferring me to her Supervisor, which she did. The Supervisor, who was male, answered the phone and when I said “Hello,” he did not respond at all so I began to repeat myself, and then I heard him say “Hello” twice and then disconnected the call. Maybe he couldn’t hear me, but maybe he didn’t want to talk to me, I tend to believe it was the latter as I could hear him just fine.
I immediately called back and this time spoke to “Christa,” and was on the phone for another 18 minutes. I explained to her that I had been on hold for a Supervisor and had been disconnected. Christa asked me if she could look at my account to see if she could help me, which I agreed. While she was pulling up my account, I recounted the last conversation I’d had with Ann. Christa immediately was able to tell me what had happened – apparently when I called on June 30th, your system didn’t recognize my new home address, so it didn’t ‘lock-in’ the appointment time and as a result, I was never scheduled on the calendar, so the Tech never even saw it. The first rep I spoke to that set up the appointment for me should have caught this but didn’t. OK, now that made sense to me. I still wasn’t happy but at least I knew what had happened and why. Christa then set up an appointment for today (Monday), locked in our new address, confirmed everything was set, and then said she was giving me my choice of one of the Premium channels free for the next 3 months since I had wasted half of my day waiting for the Tech.
I have worked in the customer service industry for the past ten years as a Manager and understand how important good customer service is. While Ann was polite and professional with me the entire time, the level of customer service I received was severely lacking. To insinuate that I didn’t reschedule the appointment and that’s why the Tech didn’t show up, and to lead me in circles by wanting to keep verifying my account information, to placing me on hold several times while she “looked” for a Supervisor are all unacceptable. It was apparent that she didn’t know what had happened and I can tell you from my own work experience, customers prefer to be told “I don’t know what happened, but let me get my Supervisor/Team Lead over here to help me figure this out and get it resolved for you,” then to be given the run-a-round.
I am assuming that you use the same technology that we do and that all of your calls are recorded. I urge you to listen to the calls I have referenced above, especially with Ann, and take the appropriate measures to insure your customer service reps are well trained and in the event they don’t know or don’t understand a situation, that they will seek out help from their leadership before the customer is to blame. Poor customer service is the #1 reason customers switch providers.
Times and dates of calls as follows:
6/30 @ 1:07 pm PST
7/5 @ 12:47 pm PST
7/5 @ 1:12 pm PST
Lastly, I went online in an attempt to locate a phone # or email address to send my concerns to, and could not find anything. I then emailed the online customer service department asking for this information and received a response back stating that the only method of contact is via the USPS, nor will they release any names. The immediate impression that this gave me is that DISH does not want to hear from its customers because most will not take the time to send a concern via the mail, which will take much longer. I encourage you to consider putting contact information on your website (even a fax # would be better than having to send via USPS) where customers can send both positive and constructive feedback.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely
Comments:
Posted by Ponie on 2008-07-07:
Justcuz--I am IMPRESSED! From the tone of your letter, it's very obvious you work in customer service--*good* customer service. I applaud you for your calm demeanor in your letter. If you don't get a positive response from Dish after receipt of your letter, they obviously don't care about long term customers. VH, indeed!
Posted by superbowl on 2008-07-07:
Excellent review (no problem with the length). Never believe anything Dish or DirecTV tell you over the phone. Unless you get it in writing from these two companies they will never admit to anything they say or do.
Posted by justcuz3993 on 2008-07-07:
Thanks Ponie and super, appreciate the comments a lot! I won't waste too much time watching for a response from DISH, that way if it happens it will be a 'nice surprise' LOL
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