# DISH Tops DIRECTV and Cable in Customer Satisfaction in 2012



## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

*

DISH Tops DIRECTV and Cable in Customer Satisfaction in 2012 American Customer Satisfaction Index*

*DISH Continues Its Winning Streak, Now Beating Comcast, Time Warner and Charter for the Twelfth Consecutive Year*

ENGLEWOOD, CO -- (Marketwire) -- 05/15/12 -- The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) has ranked DISH (NASDAQ: DISH) first among the nation's largest satellite and cable providers in the key measures of customer experience, including overall value, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty for 2012.

Released today, this year's survey found DISH beat competing satellite TV provider DIRECTV in overall customer satisfaction, and for the twelfth year running, DISH has surpassed Comcast, Time Warner and Charter in that key criterion. DISH also led the cable and satellite industry in call center satisfaction and, for the second consecutive year, in web site satisfaction. 
"Customer satisfaction has been a big focus for DISH," said Bernie Han, chief operating officer at DISH. "We're pleased to see that our efforts to deliver a best-in-class service experience are being recognized by our customers, but we know that we have a lot more room to improve."

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. The national index is updated each quarter and month with new measures for different sectors of the economy. The overall ACSI score factors in scores from more than 225 companies in 47 industries and from government agencies over the previous four quarters. The Index was founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and is produced by ACSI LLC. ACSI can be found on the web at www.theacsi.org.

_About DISH
_DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides approximately 14.071 million satellite TV customers, as of March 31, 2012, with the highest quality programming and technology with the most choices at the best value, including HD Free for Life. Subscribers enjoy the largest high definition lineup with more than 200 national HD channels, the most international channels, and award-winning HD and DVR technology. DISH Network's subsidiary, Blockbuster L.L.C., delivers family entertainment to millions of customers around the world. DISH Network Corporation is a Fortune 200 company. Visit www.dish.com.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Link to scores: http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?op...&Itemid=212&i=Subscription+Television+Service


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

It doesn't seem as if there are statistically significant differences unless you're choosing between Charter and Fios.

There's the low tier - cable TV. Most everyone who has cable access has only one of those to choose from.

Fios seems better liked than U-Verse in the telcos.

And that one point between Dish and DirecTV isn't statistically significant.


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## Darcaine (Aug 31, 2009)

Right on for Dish and it's costumers! I'm sticking with D* because I'm to lazy to change, and it's only TV, but hopefully this spurs Directv to improve their service.

Especially their godawful DVRs (hopefully that IP streaming gateway system the FCC was talking about a couple years ago takes off this year and I can use my media PC as my DVR).


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## Shades228 (Mar 18, 2008)

phrelin said:


> It doesn't seem as if there are statistically significant differences unless you're choosing between Charter and Fios.
> 
> There's the low tier - cable TV. Most everyone who has cable access has only one of those to choose from.
> 
> ...


It is in the world of advertising.


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## lparsons21 (Mar 4, 2006)

phrelin said:


> It doesn't seem as if there are statistically significant differences unless you're choosing between Charter and Fios.
> 
> There's the low tier - cable TV. Most everyone who has cable access has only one of those to choose from.
> 
> ...


You're right, but neither was last years spread, but it didn't stop D* from braying about being #1. What they both don't say is that the actual scores are pretty pathetic for both of them.


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## nmetro (Jul 11, 2006)

sigma1914 said:


> Link to scores: http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?op...&Itemid=212&i=Subscription+Television+Service


So, if this is interpreted correctly, it is assumed that these scores are out of 100. The average, across the industry is 66, and DISH gets a 69. By the way, FIOS gets a 74.

Of course, if these scores were based on letter grades:

A 90 - 100
B 80 - 89
C 70 - 79
D 60 - 69
F Below 60

FIOS Gets a C and DISH, and most others, gets a D, as does the Subscription Television Industry. And Charter gets an F.

So, is this really something be truly proud of? Being the top of mediocre? (sarcasm)

Personally, I never had any issues with DISH, except when it came to the weird way they do billing, especially when you purchase equipment or buy something like the College Football Package. The way they credit/debit makes it next to impossible to reconcile your bill. The only other beef, is getting someone in India or the Philippines that you can't understand; but, using online chat took care of these issues.

Overall I would give them somthing of a score og 80. Over 14 years, I think I have less than 12 hours of outages total; including bad weather; 5 9s in computer uptime lingo. Much better than Qwest (now CenturyLink) DSL or COMCAST Internet. Solid equipment. Ease of replacing equipment. And, very satitified with various installers for upgrades. Maybe, we are fortunate in Northern Colorado to not have some of the horror stories I see on this blog. But, then again, it is not to difficult to drive down to DISH headquarters around here ither (about 50 or so miles) and take care of any issue that may come up.

So, despite channels being pulled, over disputes, or providers playing hardball (Disney, Rainbow, TiVo), for the most part, DISH has been a positive experience.

Now, I wish the consolidated media industry would offer more variety, but that is another story. VIacom: Many hours of CSI variants, NBC Universal - Many variants of Law & Order, et. al.. But, the worse is 6 - 8 hour blocks of the same show. Documentary channels (History, H2, Discovery Networks, National Geographic, etc. filling their schedules with reality programming which really is losly based on the subject medium of the particular channel; History wins teh award to becoming almost a 24 hour reality show channel and almost no history) One would think with over 60 years of television that there would be more variety than what there actually is streamed. This results, sometimes in, 200+ channels and nothing worth watching.


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## mdavej (Jan 31, 2007)

+1

The irony is they all get a failing grade. Dish's F is 1 point higher than DirecTV's. And the one with the highest failing grade has bragging rights. I have to drop Dish next month and go with Charter, which is the worst of all, just to get AMC back and keep BBCA (sorry, I digress). Anyway, it's a crappy situation all the way around.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

When I was in school 74 and under was an F.
So they all fail. :sure:


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## Justin85 (Jun 16, 2010)

guess they won't running this commercial anymore:


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## sregener (Apr 17, 2012)

I think it's a mistake to take this as a letter grade. Many people are unhappy with how much cable costs these days. The industry as a whole is in trouble.

While I agree that the 1% difference may not seem significant, the trends are. DirecTV dropped 1.4% over the last year, and DISH gained 3%. So one is improving and one is in decline.


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## karrank% (Sep 20, 2009)

Wheee!


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## oldengineer (May 25, 2008)

lparsons21 said:


> You're right, but neither was last years spread, but it didn't stop D* from braying about being #1. What they both don't say is that the actual scores are pretty pathetic for both of them.


Well said! I agree.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

There are lots of truths in play...

The numbers don't seem good, even in a time of poor economy and perhaps more general discontent... but they seem not good across the board for all the companies.

It's true that you wouldn't think it a bragging point to be the least worst  But you can be sure any company atop this list would brag, so let Dish have their moment in the sun this year.

I honestly don't even know how they objectively measure customer satisfaction anyway. I mean, look at Amazon for customer reviews and really read the comments. Many (if not most) negative reviews are from customers who ordered the wrong product, don't know how to properly use the product, or have an agenda... I've learned to usually not trust customer feedback that I can't independently verify, which means I don't usually trust reviews online.


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## inazsully (Oct 3, 2006)

Whenever you have a bad experience with a company or brand that company or brand goes on your S--- list. It's human nature. I like Ford you like Chevy, I like Honda you like Toyota. In reality they are all pretty much the same.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

nmetro said:


> So, is this really something be truly proud of? Being the top of mediocre? (sarcasm)
> 
> Personally, I never had any issues with DISH, except when it came to the weird way they do billing, especially when you purchase equipment or buy something like the College Football Package. The way they credit/debit makes it next to impossible to reconcile your bill. The only other beef, is getting someone in India or the Philippines that you can't understand; but, using online chat took care of these issues.
> 
> .


 Agree.


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## Santi360HD (Oct 6, 2008)

wonder if they surveyed any sports fans??...it might of come up dead last instead of mediocre..


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

mdavej said:


> +1
> 
> The irony is they all get a failing grade. Dish's F is 1 point higher than DirecTV's. And the one with the highest failing grade has bragging rights. I have to drop Dish next month and go with Charter, which is the worst of all, just to get AMC back and keep BBCA (sorry, I digress). Anyway, it's a crappy situation all the way around.


Think good thoughts, It may not go. I'm guessing 80% go 20% stays.

Not a biggie to me since I watch nothing on those channels. However if you do go are you going to get hit with a early termination fee?


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## Bill Van (Feb 12, 2008)

Santi360HD said:


> wonder if they surveyed any sports fans??...it might of come up dead last instead of mediocre..


Good point. And kudos goes to Verizon's Fios for having bragging and full disclosure advertising rights in this latest ACSI survey.

My local cable provider recently lit up over 50+ music channels with static HD album art so they could boast that they now have over 100 HD channels. Spin is spin and in the video subscription industry it's very prevalent and they all do it to some degree. When reading Dish carefully written press release most would assume Dish was rated #1.

My main concern about this survey would be the criteria used to pick the respondents. When measuring the customer satisfaction metrics give me a survey from people with their respective companies latest and greatest whole home hardware. But hey, it is what it is , it's just a survey.


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

Santi360HD said:


> wonder if they surveyed any sports fans??...it might of come up dead last instead of mediocre..


I've never been wild about athletic supporters.


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## Darcaine (Aug 31, 2009)

inazsully said:


> Whenever you have a bad experience with a company or brand that company or brand goes on your S--- list. It's human nature. I like Ford you like Chevy, I like Honda you like Toyota. In reality they are all pretty much the same.


I disagree to a point. I think it depends on the industry and the companies involved.

Apple is no where near the same as Google in the tablet/smart phone OS industries. They work completely differently and offer different things to their customers.

Google's Android is an open source operating system that anyone can download the SDK for and start developing apps, place them up for sale and download with ease and no oversight. It's a very open platform. Apple on the other hand has been very successful at building a walled garden around their ipad/iphone and have complete control over who can develop for it, what they can develop, what they can charge, etc (Apple doesn't have any support at all for Flash for instance).

Two companies in the same industry with completely different philosophies, offering very different end user experiences. They aren't even close to being pretty much the same.


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## Inkosaurus (Jul 29, 2011)

Santi360HD said:


> wonder if they surveyed any sports fans??...it might of come up dead last instead of mediocre..


No one trusts someone silly enough to cover them selves in paint and stand around in a crowd without a shirt and a huge foam finger :lol:


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## TBoneit (Jul 27, 2006)

Darcaine said:


> I disagree to a point. I think it depends on the industry and the companies involved.
> 
> Apple is no where near the same as Google in the tablet/smart phone OS industries. They work completely differently and offer different things to their customers.
> 
> ...


OTOH Android being more open has caused problems with malware on them.

This is one case where apples walled garden might, only might be better.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

_Off topic Hopper posts have been removed and split into a new thread (see link below). Please stay on topic within this thread._

*http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?p=3018659&posted=1#post3018659*


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

This may or may not mean much, but I find it interesting that on Facebook Dish has 60% of the following that DirecTV does, but they are being discussed twice as much.


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## Santi360HD (Oct 6, 2008)

Inkosaurus said:


> No one trusts someone silly enough to cover them selves in paint and stand around in a crowd without a shirt and a huge foam finger :lol:


BODY PAINT?? neither would I..I only go as far as a jersey or a cap..My money is just as green as the sophisticato's who don't watch sports.. wasn't a knock on Dish Network (being I have DirecTV)..it was a legit question if only certain circles of viewers were polled, not a very legit survey if the survey itself is curtailed to be in favor of one group instead as a broad based poll.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> This may or may not mean much, but I find it interesting that on Facebook Dish has 60% of the following that DirecTV does, but they are being discussed twice as much.


 Not to burst your Bubble, But I bet its not Good Talk! Most times its people complaining on Facebook about the service. 
But don't take my word for it check it out, I always look to see what the top complaints are.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

damondlt said:


> Not to burst your Bubble, But I bet its not Good Talk!


OK. So I took your challenge and turned off all filters.
Here are the first comments I saw.



> Please keep my secret: my family loves Dish Network! We would never go back to cable, EVER! You guys are definitely our answer to less expensive, quality entertainment, especially with our new Google TV and Blockbuster ♥





> WE HAVE HAD DISH FOR 5 YEARS AND LOVE IT





> Why can't we get Dish Network in Canada





> loving my sports great


Or were you talking about DirecTV's Facebook page?



> just spent the last hour on the phone with direct tv to be honest i hate this service they lie to you im super pissed and im stuck with them for the next 2 years arghh i cant wait to drop them!!!!!!!!





> Once again, DirecTV doesn't show up for our installation. Big surprise! This has happened to us every time we move. Maybe we're the dumb ones for staying with such a poor company.


:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Seriously, those were the first posts I saw on both pages.


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## sigma1914 (Sep 5, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> OK. So I took your challenge and turned off all filters.
> Here are the first comments I saw.
> 
> Or were you talking about DirecTV's Facebook page?
> ...


You read 2 vs 5 and think that's a good comparison? 
Keep reading... they're the same.


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

sigma1914 said:


> You read 2 vs 5 and think that's a good comparison?


I do. Would you be happier if I posted three more complaints about DirecTV?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

I'm a happy Dish customer for 10 years now... but don't fool yourself. Dish and DirecTV have similar horror stories from customers if you pay attention.

IF you get a good install and solid equipment and can afford your bill, you will be equally happy with Dish or DirecTV unless you need the specific channels currently exclusive to one or the other.

Similarly... IF you get a poor install or have a receiver failure... you might have a good customer service experience BUT you might also have a poor one. Don't hold your breath thinking one company is substantially better than the other with regards to fixing customer issues.

No offense to the DiRT reps here doing a good job helping our forum members fix their Dish problems... but they are the exception rather than the rule. We have lots of forum posts from Dish AND DirecTV customers who would sooner light themselves on fire than sign up with the company that screwed them over the last time.

You get a bad Chevy and you'll swear off them forever and sign a deal with the Ford devil... same goes if you have a bad Ford, you'll swear allegiance to Chevy and never look back.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Stewart Vernon said:


> You get a bad Chevy and you'll swear off them forever and sign a deal with the Ford devil... same goes if you have a bad Ford, you'll swear allegiance to Chevy and never look back.


I'm a Dodge Boy myself ... except in Nascar. I've never paid for a car that was not a Dodge or Plymouth.

Familiarity breeds contentment. It would take a major error by Chrysler to change me to another less familiar automaker. It would take a major error by DISH to change me to DirecTV or cable. The familiar serves the need.


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## Davenlr (Sep 16, 2006)

James Long said:


> I'm a Dodge Boy myself ... except in Nascar.


Car brands in NASCAR are a joke anyway. Ill bet there isnt a Dodge (or Chevy, Ford Toyota) part on any of those cars.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Stewart Vernon said:


> I'm a happy Dish customer for 10 years now... but don't fool yourself. Dish and DirecTV have similar horror stories from customers if you pay attention.
> 
> IF you get a good install and solid equipment and can afford your bill, you will be equally happy with Dish or DirecTV unless you need the specific channels currently exclusive to one or the other.
> 
> ...


 Exactly , and I think Directv and Dish smartened up with the face book thing. Because now they put more positives on there for better customer responses. Like contests, new series questions. There was a time that Most post from Both companys we mostly negative by customers. Remember an unhappy mouth is a lot louder then a happy one.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Davenlr said:


> Car brands in NASCAR are a joke anyway. Ill bet there isnt a Dodge (or Chevy, Ford Toyota) part on any of those cars.


The engines . I think thats about it!:lol:

They are modified by the teams, but they are Ford ,Dodge, GM plus the big one MONEY. Remember they were thinking about dropping nascar because the auto makers were going broke.


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## damondlt (Feb 27, 2006)

Marlin Guy said:


> OK. So I took your challenge and turned off all filters.
> Here are the first comments I saw.
> 
> Or were you talking about DirecTV's Facebook page?
> ...


 Dish got better at Hiding them.:lol::lol::hurah:


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## xmguy (Mar 27, 2008)

My issue was D* always had few package choices. I guess that's not much different from the cable co.s. Like Charter and such. They usually have a basic and expanded basic packages. Maybe D* will add more to bridge the gap. If Dish is gaining ahead then people must think they are doing something right. Makes me regret signing that new 2 year contract with D* to grab an HR24.


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## MysteryMan (May 17, 2010)

Stewart Vernon said:


> I'm a happy Dish customer for 10 years now... but don't fool yourself. Dish and DirecTV have similar horror stories from customers if you pay attention.
> 
> IF you get a good install and solid equipment and can afford your bill, you will be equally happy with Dish or DirecTV unless you need the specific channels currently exclusive to one or the other.
> 
> ...


+1......As Satelliteracer put it, no provider has it all. That includes the good, the bad, and the ugly.


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## Reggie3 (Feb 20, 2006)

I seem to remember that Dish was loosing subscribers compared to D*. Does that mean that we are left with just Dish devotees who obviously will stay with them?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Reggie3 said:


> I seem to remember that Dish was loosing subscribers compared to D*. Does that mean that we are left with just Dish devotees who obviously will stay with them?


Be careful there... IF you only look at the "net" numbers, then DirecTV either gains more or loses less (depending on how you want to say it) when compared to Dish.

However...

IF you look at the gross numbers... DirecTV has been losing more individual subscribers each quarter than Dish for a long time now. What masks this is that DirecTV also gains more subscribers than Dish does during those same quarters, so the overall effect is lessened.

BUT... if you are going to cite "customer satisfaction" as a reason to lose less customers... you'd have to recognize that Dish loses less per quarter than DirecTV. DirecTV just does a better job of replacing them.

Ex..

During a hypothetical quarter Dish might lose 150,000 customers while gaining 100,000 new ones... thus a loss of 50,000 overall.

Similarly, DirecTV might lose 500,000 customers while gaining 600,000 new ones during that same quarter, for an overall gain of 100,000.

So... if you only look at the bottom line, DirecTV gained 100,000 vs Dish losing 50,000 in that quarter.

BUT... if you look closely, you find that DirecTV lost 3x the amount of existing customers (perhaps due to customer satisfaction issues) that Dish did... DirecTV just always seems to do a better job of replacing those lost customers.

When I look at those kinds of numbers... as a DirecTV bean-counter, I would be looking into why so many customers leave during quarters when we attract so many new ones. It doesn't make sense. They are doing something very right to gain so many, but doing something very wrong to lose so many.


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