# Good Bye Dish



## K-Brown (Dec 25, 2007)

I have been with Dish since May, 1998. Today, I had to switch to Directv. After arguing with CSR for the last hour I could not take no more. I have went thru 2 622 dvr's in the last 6 months and after refusing to pay the 15 dollars for shipping and handling the 3rd time, it was time to hold or fold. I admit i have been tempted the last month or so to switch because of High Definition Programming, but this pushed me off the ledge. Even though i never post but always read this site, it has been a pleasure. Since i finally did register, i will post after install Saturday to let you know if things are greener on the other side of the fence.

Take Care!!


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Of course the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Then when you get to the other side of the fence you then look back to see the other side of the fence is greener :lol: 

Or some say that it's greener over the septic tank!


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## Henry (Nov 15, 2007)

Please do follow up, K. I'm sure you already realize that you're trading in one nightmare for another, but I for one would be interested in your observations.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

yeah let us know...you will probably still get bad csr service, but you might as well enjoy all the new HD available, instead of dealing with the "shoulda, coulda, woulda...don't have" now.

Good Luck!


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

HobbyTalk said:


> Of course the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Then when you get to the other side of the fence you then look back to see the other side of the fence is greener :lol:
> 
> Or some say that it's greener over the septic tank!


this side of the fence needs some Miracle-Gro first...:lol:


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## jal (Mar 3, 2005)

The grass is greener on the Directv side. I left Dish after 9 years and have never looked back.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The grass is greener because of all the {manure} that one has to put up with. 
On both sides of the fence. :lol:


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

jal said:


> The grass is greaner on the Directv side. I left Dish after 9 years and have never looked back.


On the customer service front... to be fair and honest, the main reason why I am a Dish customer instead of DirecTV was because my parents tried DirecTV twice and had very poor equipment and CSR experiences.


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## DanoP (Sep 29, 2006)

K-Brown said:


> I have been with Dish since May, 1998. Today, I had to switch to Directv. After arguing with CSR for the last hour I could not take no more. I have went thru 2 622 dvr's in the last 6 months and after refusing to pay the 15 dollars for shipping and handling the 3rd time, it was time to hold or fold. I admit i have been tempted the last month or so to switch because of High Definition Programming, but this pushed me off the ledge. Even though i never post but always read this site, it has been a pleasure. Since i finally did register, i will post after install Saturday to let you know if things are greener on the other side of the fence.
> 
> Take Care!!


Is there no protection plan with Dish......that allows you to ship on their coin? If there is I suppose you didn't sign on to that.

Out of curiousity, what was wrong with the 622s? Were you bitten by the HDMI bug?


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

James Long said:


> The grass is greener because of all the {manure} that one has to put up with.
> On both sides of the fence. :lol:


:lol: Aint that the truth


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## jal (Mar 3, 2005)

Not true. I left Dish because of all of the inflexibility and bad CSRs. Mt experience with Directv has been much better than with Dish


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

jal said:


> Not true. I left Dish because of all of the inflexibility and bad CSRs. Mt experience with Directv has been much better than with Dish


how long ago did you switch jal?


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## calgary2800 (Aug 27, 2006)

I've gone through the hassle of a bad 622 myself and it all depends on which CSR you get and how you convince your case you get get another one no shipping charge included.


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## nataraj (Feb 25, 2006)

I hope more people switch. Nothing will make E* act faster than a higher rate of switching ...


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## pvcleave (Mar 20, 2007)

nataraj said:


> I hope more people switch. Nothing will make E* act faster than a higher rate of switching ...


I did my part and switched  , I sincerely hope dish gets the message. I however, think it will take quite a while for them to make any changes.


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## paja (Oct 23, 2006)

jal said:


> Not true. I left Dish because of all of the inflexibility and bad CSRs. Mt experience with Directv has been much better than with Dish


Just to indicate how two ppls experiences can be so different- I left D after many years last January for the same reasons(a few others) and went to E. My experience with E has been total gratification to this point.


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## Gilitar (Aug 1, 2004)

I too have had D* and E*. The equipment is better with E* hands down. Customer service is equal with both in my experience. 

On a side note I noticed that rain fade and lightning interference was much more prevalent with D* even with a signal strength of 96. It rains here all the time so this is an added bonus for me now that I have E* again.


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## whatchel1 (Jan 11, 2006)

Gilitar said:


> I too have had D* and E*. The equipment is better with E* hands down. Customer service is equal with both in my experience.
> 
> On a side note I noticed that rain fade and lightning interference was much more prevalent with D* even with a signal strength of 96. It rains here all the time so this is an added bonus for me now that I have E* again.


The reason for the worse rain fade is D* is using the new KA band satellite frequencies. These are a much higher frequency band the KU band that E* is using.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

jal said:


> Not true. I left Dish because of all of the inflexibility and bad CSRs. Mt experience with Directv has been much better than with Dish


Not true? Your personal experience does not invalidate other's personal experience. Just because you apparently had good customer service from DirecTV doesn't mean EVERYBODY does. Perhaps a read of the D* forums would be appropriate?

And no, this isn't a "D* CSRs are stupid but E* CSRs are worse" thread or the opposite ("E* CSRs are stupid but D* CSRs are worse" for those that don't know what 'opposite' means). There are plenty of good reports about BOTH companies.

People do like to dwell on the negatives.


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## davethestalker (Sep 17, 2006)

It's sad to see someone go to the Dark side, but Dish should stand firmly behind their products. Retail stores would not get away with this sort of garbage if you kept returning a product. It's their product, it's their problem.....or they lose business.


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## ssmith10pn (Jul 6, 2005)

I would be curious to know what the problem was with the 622's also.

For you to have problems with 2 leads me to believe that the 622 wasn't the problem. If that's the case I can see E's reluctance to just ship another one.

I work for a custom AV install company and we do a limited amount of D* and E* installs. 99% are E* because D* doesn't have locals in our market.
I can think of 30 homes off the top of my head with 622's with zero problems.
In fact I can't think of a single 622 failure.
If it was a hard drive issue that isn't E*'s fault because those same hard drives drop like flies in the PC world also. Isn't China great!
So for you to have 2 fail it sounds like E* might be relieved to see you go.


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## kf4omc (Apr 11, 2006)

If you were having trouble with the 622 wait untill you get the DVR from D*!!!


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## Lyle_JP (Apr 22, 2002)

davethestalker said:


> It's sad to see someone go to the Dark side, but Dish should stand firmly behind their products.


The dark side is not DirecTV. The dark side is *cable.*


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

kf4omc said:


> If you were having trouble with the 622 wait untill you get the DVR from D*!!!


Both companies can have a few lemons. Generally speaking these days both the 622/722 and the HR-20 are very reliable


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## tomcrown1 (Jan 16, 2006)

The dark side is telco companys offering cable and Dish.


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

Lyle_JP said:


> The dark side is not DirecTV. The dark side is *cable.*


*I* am the Dark Side. End of story.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

Lord Vader said:


> *I* am the Dark Side. End of story.


The dark side of the Rose Bowl? J/K...you guys better beat them...since we couldn't


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## BNUMM (Dec 24, 2006)

ssmith10pn said:


> I would be curious to know what the problem was with the 622's also.
> 
> For you to have problems with 2 leads me to believe that the 622 wasn't the problem. If that's the case I can see E's reluctance to just ship another one.
> 
> ...


It is possible. I personally know people who have had 3 bad 622's. Your statement is making me think that maybe certain areas are receiving the bad receivers or the bad ones get sent out in batches. Of the receivers I have installed the 625 and 622 have had the most problems ( other than the 921 which seem to have problems with evey one we installed ).


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## projectorguru (Mar 5, 2007)

I left Dish Net and am with Direct now, the grass is greener over here for sure, I had no instal issues, and the channel line up is fine, both are great, but the CS is what made me switch


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## K-Brown (Dec 25, 2007)

UPDATE : My appointment for directv install was for saturday from 8 am to 12. At 8:20 AM, the installer showed up at my house which was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting more like 11am. The install went smooth. 

I am still using the channel lineup card to find channels that i like. That will take time to reprogram my memory. I have heard some posters say that Directv's hd picture is not as clear as Dish. That is false. I cannot see any difference. Both companies provide clear hd pictures. My wife has really enjoyed all the hd movie channels provided. ( We didnt have that with Dish.) I have enjoyed the weather channel in HD and i enjoyed watching the golf channel yesterday in HD. I am still sorting out all the other HD channels so no other news to report there. 

As far as the DVR's, I give Dish the edge there. Just because it is simple to use. Directs DVR has the same features, but you have to push a extra button or 2 to get the same results. 

Another poster asked what was happening with my Dish 622. What was happening was that it would cut on and off every 30 minutes or so. That would happen for a few days. Eventually, the damn thing would completely give out. I called Dish to cancel my service once i knew my Directv was installed and working properly. Since i was a customer for 11 years and spent over 100 dollars a month, the CSR did connect me up to higher management. The guy was nice and apoligized several times about the poor service and of course offered free shipping for a replacement box. I told him that is all that i wanted in the first place and if i wouldnt have had to waste over 1 hour of my life fighting with someone that didnt speak english, we wouldnt be having this conversation. 

Feel free to fire any ?s at me and i will answer them for ya.

K-Brown

PS. Directv offers hustler tv. I tried in vain boys to let the wife let me have this channel. Unfortunately, I failed. :-(


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## DanoP (Sep 29, 2006)

The intermittent connection sounds suspiciously consistent with the HDMI issue Dish has had with their 622 (and I understand other units.) Then again, you might have had a component connection for all I know.


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## MikeW (May 16, 2002)

I switched two years ago and couldn't be happier. 4 SD Tivos and 2 HR20s. All recievers are rock solid. I missed the superstations for about 2 weeks, but that was it. I don't miss wondering which channels are in jeopardy. I had several reasons to quit Dish and haven't regretted the move.


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## BobbyK (May 26, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> Both companies can have a few lemons. Generally speaking these days both the 622/722 and the HR-20 are very reliable


+1


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## lionsrule (Nov 25, 2003)

I am a dishnetwork customer (happy one) with 2 622's and ehd's on both. My parents have direct with a h20 and a hr20. I have TWO BIG complaints with direct's equipment. First is the lack of channel surfing allowed via the h20 and hr20. What I mean by that is with the 622's you can hit the right arrow button bringing up channel info and then surf up or down while still watching the show you are watching. DIRECT's receivers simply DO NOT ALLOW THIS. You have to hit guide, reducing the current program to a small square. In the same category, dish receivers allow you to SIMPLY hit guide over and over to bring up different configs of the favorites that you have set up. With the h20 and hr20 you have to go into a menu settings EVERYTIME....bad. Second complaint is the time it takes for a channel to tune whenever you change channels. One or two seconds for every channel change may not seem bad, but I could not get used to it. 

I can WAIT for dish to add HD programming. You know they WILL. You know direct's STB don't compare when you have a wife who notices the difference!!


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## Lord Vader (Sep 20, 2004)

lionsrule said:


> I am a dishnetwork customer (happy one) with 2 622's and ehd's on both. My parents have direct with a h20 and a hr20. I have TWO BIG complaints with direct's equipment. First is the lack of channel surfing allowed via the h20 and hr20. What I mean by that is with the 622's you can hit the right arrow button bringing up channel info and then surf up or down while still watching the show you are watching. DIRECT's receivers simply DO NOT ALLOW THIS. You have to hit guide, reducing the current program to a small square.


Have you tried the one-line guide? That's where the channel and program info appears at the bottom of the screen, not affecting the picture you're watching. You can then scroll through the channels without your picture changing at all. Press the blue button on the remote to get this one-line guide.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

K-Brown said:


> UPDATE : My appointment for directv install was for saturday from 8 am to 12. At 8:20 AM, the installer showed up at my house which was a pleasant surprise. I was expecting more like 11am. The install went smooth.
> 
> I am still using the channel lineup card to find channels that i like. That will take time to reprogram my memory. I have heard some posters say that Directv's hd picture is not as clear as Dish. That is false. I cannot see any difference. Both companies provide clear hd pictures. My wife has really enjoyed all the hd movie channels provided. ( We didnt have that with Dish.) I have enjoyed the weather channel in HD and i enjoyed watching the golf channel yesterday in HD. I am still sorting out all the other HD channels so no other news to report there.
> 
> ...


cool, thanks for the feedback...good luck with the Hustler tv:lol: ...do they actually charge it like a regular channel? or is it rented in blocks also


> I can WAIT for dish to add HD programming. You know they WILL. You know direct's STB don't compare when you have a wife who notices the difference!!


I used to think the same way...they WILL add more...just a little WAIT.....that thought process is dwindling ...CES will be interesting....will it be another CC....where we will just have to sit and wait.....and wait


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## dpfaunts (Oct 17, 2006)

kf4omc said:


> If you were having trouble with the 622 wait until you get the DVR from D*!!!


Yeah, you'll love it !!! Great machine! As for customer service YMMV


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## K-Brown (Dec 25, 2007)

my setup is this.
Samsung 60 inch LED LCD (hdvr) (HDMI) 1080p
Sony 40 inch Bravia HD receiver ( HDMI) 1080p
Sharp Aquos 32 inch HD receiver (HDMI) 720p


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## DanoP (Sep 29, 2006)

K-Brown said:


> my setup is this.
> Samsung 60 inch LED LCD (hdvr) (HDMI) 1080p
> Sony 40 inch Bravia HD receiver ( HDMI) 1080p
> Sharp Aquos 32 inch HD receiver (HDMI) 720p


Betcha the HDMI connection failed. For all the talk about how great the Dish hardware is, this is one lousy secret that Dish tries to hide. They say it's a software issue when it's the pin connections on the hdmi socket that break.


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## jrb531 (May 29, 2004)

Dish will add a channel or two but they do not have room for much more unless they want to give up some of those stupid PPV channels.

Until they get another Bird up the situation will not change. While you can say that this is not their fault due to failed launch attempts it is THEIR fault because they should not have waited until the last minute to get on the launch schedule.

They sat on their hands and enjoyed their lead without doing much. Now that they lost it they are scrambling to catch up.

The lead they had was wasted and THIS is their fault.

-JB


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

jrb531 said:


> Dish will add a channel or two but they do not have room for much more unless they want to give up some of those stupid PPV channels.
> 
> Until they get another Bird up the situation will not change. While you can say that this is not their fault due to failed launch attempts it is THEIR fault because they should not have waited until the last minute to get on the launch schedule.
> 
> ...


+1

you could also add Charlies "tough" negotiations with the "big guys"...you know the "unfair" pricing that only he seems to get...wonder why that is...


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

lionsrule said:


> . First is the lack of channel surfing allowed via the h20 and hr20. What I mean by that is with the 622's you can hit the right arrow button bringing up channel info and then surf up or down while still watching the show you are watching. DIRECT's receivers simply DO NOT ALLOW THIS. You have to hit guide, reducing the current program to a small square.
> 
> Second complaint is the time it takes for a channel to tune whenever you change channels. One or two seconds for every channel change may not seem bad, but I could not get used to it.


The HR/H series do allow surfing when you are watching the show as another poster pointed out already, I dont know if you just havent had the time to find this feature or what, but that one is a non issue.
On your second complaint, it sounds like you had native on which does slow down surfing, the best option, and one you are probably familiar with being with since I THINK this is the way E* boxes do it, is to set it to output at either 720p or 1080i. The picture lag is gone.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> The HR/H series do allow surfing when you are watching the show as another poster pointed out already, I dont know if you just havent had the time to find this feature or what, but that one is a non issue.
> On your second complaint, it sounds like you had native on which does slow down surfing, the best option, and one you are probably familiar with being with since I THINK this is the way E* boxes do it, is to set it to output at either 720p or 1080i. The picture lag is gone.


well that should take care of that complaint...lol

since your on the fix it kick...can you do me a favor and call Charlie, and have him light up some more HD...:lol: .....thanks in advance!


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

texaswolf said:


> well that should take care of that complaint...lol
> 
> since your on the fix it kick...can you do me a favor and call Charlie, and have him light up some more HD...:lol: .....thanks in advance!


I have him on the phone right now!


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> I have him on the phone right now!


lol...let me guess...when you mentioned new HD, he got really uncomfortable and changed the subject?


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## msmith198025 (Jun 28, 2007)

texaswolf said:


> lol...let me guess...when you mentioned new HD, he got really uncomfortable and changed the subject?


haha, nope! He said coming "soon":lol:

Sorry guys, didnt mean to stray off topic


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

msmith198025 said:


> haha, nope! He said coming "soon":lol:
> 
> Sorry guys, didnt mean to stray off topic


lol....Nice!

yeah sorry guys....back to my CES question...the reason i ask about it on tv, is so we can see any of the new stuff coming or hear any presentations...i figure someone like Gameplay, or a tech channel, may show stuff?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

G4 (E* channel 191) will have coverage of CES (not in HD, even on D*).
Coverage is at 7-9pm Monday and Tuesday night (rerun at 11p-1am, 3-5am, 9-11am, 2-4pm)

On Wednesday all four hours of coverage will be on from Noon to 4pm.
The entire four hours will also be rerun on Saturday from 9am to 1pm.


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## texaswolf (Oct 18, 2007)

very cool, thank you!


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