Dish Network

I have been a DISH customer for over 12 years. I have recently been receiving letters and emails asking me to upgrade my old receiver to a Hopper.

I spoke to an agent who recommended the upgrade in view of the age of the old equipment. I agreed to do so as long as there were no additional charges to my monthly account. He offered me a package in which there were no additional charges, and in fact a slight reduction in the monthly bill from around $114 to $108. However, my next monthly bill had risen to $136.47, including new monthly equipment charges (for Hopper and Joey) of $22.00 with an additional prorated charge of $7.50.

An agent today was unable to resolve the issue, other than to generate a 'ticket' for further review. He then tried to sell me additional service!

This is a copy of the letter I sent the corporate office and their CEO last week (2/19). I have heard nothing back.

Before I sent this letter, I spoke with a Ryan Vogler in their Corporate office and two other ladies in Customer Service (I am sorry but I couldnt understand their names due to their heavy accents):

Good morning. I am hoping to reach out to someone that understands what customer service is all about as well as someone that has a little compassion and can understand the economic hardship that retired senior citizens have gone through the last several years.

I have been with Dish for over 5 years. Up until September of 2023, I had not changed one thing with my plan. In September of 2023, I spoke with one of your representatives about packages and we decided that the Americans Top 120+ was the best fit for us since it offer several sports channels.

The increase in the monthly fee was a modest $5 and change. At the time, the Dish representative indicated to me that the monthly price ($126.71) would be locked in for 2 years since I was switching to a new plan. Now let us jump to this week, 6 months later.

On 2/5/24, I received an e-mail notice that my monthly Dish bill was increasing by $10.75 to $137.46. I got on the website and engaged a chat agent.

They reviewed my bill and said that some of the promotions I was receiving were expiring. I asked then why was I told 6 months ago that the price - $126.71 - was locked for 2 years. I never got an explanation and the chat was nowhere. I then wrote a letter to the corporate office and on 2/15/24, a Ryan Vogler for the corporate office called.

Mr. Vogler reviewed my letter and indicated to me that the reason my monthly rate was increasing was that 3 of the promotions were expiring. He then indicated that the $137.46 monthly rate was only a partial increase and that my new monthly rate would go over $152.00 in March. Ryan and I discussed this for quite some time and I never got an answer to the one question that bothers me why was I told in September of 2023 that my rate of $126.71 would be locked in for 2 years.

Ryan indicated that he did not have any way of changing my rate or offering any promotions and indicated that I might call Customer Service.

After getting off the phone with Mr. Vogler, I called Customer Service. I am sorry, I did not catch the young ladys name due to her strong accent. I again went over the events that had transpired and asked her to see if there was any ways or promotions to help lower my bill, which now had ballooned to over $152.

She then dropped the bombshell. She indicated that the bill in actuality was going to be over $162. I about fainted. She tried to explain that a $25.00 promotion (not sure what that was) was dropping off as well as my promotion for eBill and Autopay.

I questioned as to why these promotions were dropping off since I was not cancelling eBill and Autopay. I did not get an answer except for her saying they are dropping off. And the big question - why was I told in September of 2023 that my rate of $126.71 would be locked in for 2 years, never got answered. Needless to say, I did not sleep well last night contemplating what I needed to do to avoid a 22% / over $35.00 a month increase to my satellite bill.

In closing I want you to understand our situation.

I am 66 retired and disabled. We are living on my social security benefit of $2,705.00 per month for a family of 3. I feel you should honor your 2-year price freeze commitment through September of 2025 as I can not afford an increase of over $35.00 per month.

I have very few interests anymore and watching tv and sports is one of them. But unless something can be done to decrease this absurd increase, I will have to make changes.