F*$@K DIsh!

[tuffy]

I have dish and found the answer to be, Please transfer me to customer retention because I am cancelling". You go from robots to sales people trained to keep you. Very, very accomodating. Got the folks in to fix the problem in 24 hours, 3 months free, double DVR based on current advertised special. Magic.

This is very true! Especially if you are an NFL Sunday Ticket holder with DirecTv. They will bend over backwards and give you the world to keep you around. I got programming credit for 6 months, the superfan (nfl sunday ticket in HD) for free, and two free DVR's with free install (I already had the new HD-DVR). I think they also gave me the hd or dvr service free for a month or two. I heard on other message boards I could have gotten more if I wanted it, but in my opinion, I got enough to stick around...definitely go straight to retention to work these deals.

If the customer service rep won't transfer you to retention, do a quick search on google for dishnet or directv retention and you will find the numbers. That how I did it, I called retention directly and passed up the script reading customer service agents.

 

[indyrob]

Well I just got off the phone with these yahhooo's and I must say that thier CS sucks ass. I tried to cancel, but they keep waving the "cancelation fee's" over my head.

Still only have 1 working TV and 5 people in the house.

 

[indyrob]

I just got released from my contract!!!!

I had to cancel my debit card because they said they would charge my card regardless of me saying "I don't authorize the transaction". It took me several calls to get the right person to cancel my contract, but I did it!

 

[Kingston]

they all suck... but we have to live with em

I'm quite happy living without them.

 

[jwintosh]

have the direct tv. the only problems i've had was with the hardware (shorts in the connections). they sent me a new box which took care of the problem.

 

[indyrob]

I have dish and found the answer to be, Please transfer me to customer retention because I am cancelling". You go from robots to sales people trained to keep you. Very, very accomodating. Got the folks in to fix the problem in 24 hours, 3 months free, double DVR based on current advertised special. Magic.

When I tried that I was offered 11 days credit based on the amount of time service was interupted. I guess ol' Chuck took the last of the nice offers. Either that or they didn't like me telling them that thier contractual obligation was a crappy way of keeping people in tow for crappy service. i'm done with the dish. Comcast isn't any better but atleast it'll work when I hook up the cable.

 

[Kingston]

One way of getting out of contractual obligations (cell phones, sat, etc) is to watch your bill for any changes to their policies. If they change the timing of your billing, introduce a new charge, etc, you can often get your contract canceled by refusing to agree to those changes. A common change is to their Privacy Policy.
Doesn't always work in every circumstance and might take a few tries, but it's another option.