DishTV Experience

Neither one of us likes Comcast but if we want even the most basic television reception, it's one of very few choices. In Alameda, at least there's a choice. Here, in San Leandro, there isn't unless you go with a satellite system.

I'd been comparing prices, channels and service for quite a long time when a coupon for DishTV arrived in an envelope of "local business coupons." I made the call. I didn't know I was dealing with some company that wasn't even in California. That's no big deal, I guess, but they charged their own small fee for setting up the service.

In preparation for the installation, I had to get permission from the property manager, complete forms and make sure I understood the home owners' association rules. This place is one of those nit-picky communities where snitches report you for the least little thing.

One of our neighbors found out the hard way about the association when his DishTV was installed. But as an owner, he's in a more secure position to tell them where to go..

Installation day came and went. The guy was great. He was friendly and did an awful lot of work to get that dish attached in the right place so that all the rules were met. When he left he told me that if we weren't satisfied they'd come back and take all the equipment away and there would be any charge. Great! Satisfaction guaranteed.

Very soon afterward I found a problem. My computer is also a TV and DVR (like Tivo) and works just fine with cable. Using XP Media Center, it has its own channel listings and settings. It did not work at all with the dish. I had to point a remote control toward the opposite end of the house to change channels on the bedroom's dual tuner. I put that aside thinking I could eventually figure out a way to make it work.

That night we watched some TV and didn't notice any real problems.

The next night a storm had blown in. It was overcast, raining and windy. And the reception was awful. We spent most of the time looking at a blue screen telling us the signal had been lost.

That was it. I immediately disconnected everything and re-attached the Comcast cable. I hated calling them back but a deal's a deal. We were terribly unsatisfied and with our favorite shows coming up, we didn't want to have to go through a long adjustment period. Sometimes things just need to work when you plug them in, not later.

When I was told they'd take the equipment away, I took that to mean ALL the equipment including the satellite dish on the chimney. It took an incredible amount of complaining and calling to get a supervisor to issue a work order for the installation company to come back and uninstall everything.

When the guy came to remove the dish, he said he was only there to pick up the tuners. I told him that Dish was sending boxes via UPS and I was supposed to return them that way. And he said he knew nothing about removing the dish. But I gave him the tuners. I wanted to be rid of them. But I made him give me a receipt because I anticipated trouble when I didn't send them back in the UPS boxes. (Smart move.) They eventually did call and hassled me about not returning the equipment.

Another angry call. I was getting nowhere. When I was telling my neighbor about it all, I was standing outside with a pretty clear view of our roof. That's when I noticed that the dish was pointing directly into a huge eucalyptus tree. That just made me more upset. (I really don't know what caused the picture to go out so much; wind, rain, clouds, aircraft, trees, incompetence.) I just wanted them to remove that ugly thing off the roof. It isn't our house and I know the HOA doesn't particularly like them. I only wanted the company to follow through on their representative's word.

I think their goal is to stick an dish antenna on every house in America. They just don't want to have to come back and install again when the next occupant wants service. Period.

Time has passed. I've calmed down. We haven't gotten anything from the HOA telling us we've done anything wrong which is a relief.

But DishTV has been calling us and not leaving a message. I tracked the phone number online to find out who it was. (check this site out: http://whocalled.us/) People everywhere are getting solicitation calls from them. So today, knowing what "Unknown Name 866-668-8047" actually is, I answered the call. The rep knew I didn't have service but was soliciting to try again.

I didn't like that she asked for "Mr. or Mrs. Webb" because I think that was terribly presumptious of the company to assume there was a "lady of the house," (which is another term I've heard on soliciation calls,) but she was very polite and so I was very polite. We were sickeningly polite.

And I asked, politely, that they not make any more calls. She said she'd put me on the "do not call" list.

Meanwhile, Comcast continues to grossly overcharge for the most basic service. If we weren't addicted to PBS, news, Discovery, TLC, Animal Planet and Ugly Betty, I'd just give up.