Satellite TV Wars Hit Eureka Streets
Many of you might know we signed up with Dish Network a couple years ago.
Had a guy knock on my door yesterday. He had a clipboard with a "Dish Network" decal on it. He said he was with Dish and came to upgrade our satellite dish- no charge, he said. Hmmm...that seemed strange. First I'd heard of it. Then he asked what receiver we were using. He said some receivers might have to be upgraded, too.
I was a little apprehensive as I figured the guy should already have that info if he worked for Dish Network, but I let him inside the door (the TV was just a few feet away) and showed him our receiver. He says, "Good, that's a 211. That should be fine".
Then he starts asking questions: "How do you feel about the cost of your satellite service? The folks we've spoken to in the neighborhood complain about the high cost". To make a long story short, I told him I didn't like paying $45.00 a month, either, but it's still cheaper than cable.
He then goes on and points to the shirt he's wearing. On one sleeve it says Dish Network, on the other it says Direct TV. He says "Makes no difference to me but you might want to take advantage of switching to Direct TV...blah, blah, blah". His point being he can switch me over to yet another starter deal that will give me more channels for less cost.
He went on for a while and I could see he just came to our house to get us to switch satellite networks. I ended up telling him that I never use anywhere near the channels we do have and was thinking of just switching to Dish Network's budget plan of around $25.00 a month as soon as we're eligible.
He tried one more time, telling me Direct TV might be $5.00 more but I'd get more channels. I finally just asked him if he had a business card. He seemed unprepared for that but found one, gave it to me and left.
Looking at his card after he left, I noticed it says "Provider- Direct TV". He never did come back to give me my supposed dish and receiver upgrade. Oh, I guess I would have gotten it if I'd signed up for Direct TV?
I wonder if he does the same thing for Dish Network and just goes down the street looking at satellite dishes, switching his paperwork and sales pitch to match the homeowner's TV network?
posted by Fred Mangels @ 6:25 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Dish Network sucks! Don't get it, Direct TV is far better than it and cable.
We are with Dish Network, and it's fine as far as satellite networks go.
I'm an authorized retailer for Dish Network myself and I'm sorry that happened to you. They are really cracking down on retailers that use this practice. they're just going around flipping their customers back and forth from Dish to DirecTV. It's a poor practice for retailers to do, it does niether brand any good.
Well, you can't argue with the guy's job security, assuming that's what he's doing: Go through a neighborhood and get all the Dish customers to switch to Direct TV. A year or two later, go back through the neighborhood and get them to switch back to Dish!
...is far better than it and cable.
Dish Network is fine but, all else being equal, I think I'd prefer cable. The problem being all else is not equal. Most notably the cost, and cable seems to always be more expensive than satellite, although probably not by much after you're done with the teaser deal.
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