1 February 2005 Charles Ergen, CEO, DISH Network P.O. Box 9033 Littleton, CO 80160 Sir: Regarding my letter of two weeks ago that raised several issues, including your price increases for unwanted services and offers of 'free' hardware upgrades that you had no intention of fulfilling. Today I received a call from a 'Christina Atencio'. It was clear from the very start that Ms. Atencio had neither the desire nor the authority to solve any of the problems I brought up. Her goal was to 'collect feedback', and to insult my intelligence by claiming I had refused to cooperate with your 'investigation' of the mysterious DVR-522 upgrade offer. My 'refusal to cooperate' was because I expected Ms. Atencio to get the copy I faxed to 'Kimberly Kipp' of 'DISH Network Corporate' six months ago from Ms. Kipp instead of demanding that I fax yet another copy TO the company I received the certificate FROM. Ms. Atencio reminded me that I had not faxed a copy to HER personally. Can I expect a call every six months from someone new, trying to push the problem off for another six months by claiming that I am refusing to cooperate by not faxing THEM a copy of the same material? A large company like DISH Network, you could probably extend this dance for many decades were I to allow it to continue. I will not. Five PM today is the deadline. (Do you want me to fax YOU a copy, Mr. Ergen, or whatever your name is, person to whom Mr. Ergen passes the buck and is now stuck reading this letter, if you even are still reading it?) In any case, I faxed her another copy. I have no expectation that she will respond anytime soon. She's 'out of the office' tomorrow and Thursday, and she MIGHT be able to get to this on Friday. Friday is the 5th, which is, of course, after the start of my next billing cycle, and too late to cancel and avoid paying your rate increase. She has a chance to respond today, but given her lack of authority to do anything, why should she bother? She's greased the squeaky wheel by pretending to care, it doesn't require further action on her part, does it? Of course not. Thank goodness for that; she has no authority to DO anything further. Ms. Atencio's 'solution' to the upgrade issue was to offer me a DVR522 on a lease of $99 and then $5 per month. This is a strange definition of the words 'free' and 'no commitment'. That certainly is not free, and I would have a commitment to send the hardware back to you if I ever cancelled my service. Does the air in Colorado have enough oxygen for proper brain function, or are you deliberately twisting the language and hoping that nobody would notice? In Oregon we have plenty of oxygen, and not only do I notice your twist of the language, I noticed that, over 5 years, I would be paying $400 for hardware that you are GIVING TO OTHER PEOPLE FOR FREE, including sending someone to their house to install their free hardware for free. People who haven't been loyal DISH Network subscribers for many years, by the way. Ms. Atencio had no solution at all to the increase in price for unordered services. Her only involvement is to 'collect feedback'. You have my 'feedback'. Your lack of action demonstrates your true concern for your customers. Please note that by the time you receive this letter, I will no longer be amongst those you claim to care about. It has been an interesting two weeks, practicing life without DISH Network service. I've learned I can do without it. I don't think that is the lesson you wanted me to take away from all of this, but I cannot force the horse to drink, as they say, I can only point to the water and hope you cooperate. You chose not to. I suggest, in the future, when someone writes you a letter asking for a resolution to a set of problems, that you have someone who has the authority to resolve problems call, in a timely manner, and not waste your customer's time with someone who cannot do anything more than 'collect feedback'. Sincerely, John Stanley P.S. By the way, I did hear from your tele-marketers during the two weeks I was hoping to hear from you. They played me a recorded message, offering me a great deal over the high prices that 'The Devil Cable' charges. They seemed unconcerned that I was already a customer, and even if I was not, that my number is on the Federal DO NOT CALL list. You have my home number on file there, yet you cannot filter it out of the lists you give you your telemarketers, nor do you bother to filter out the numbers on the DO NOT CALL list. Yes, you really care about your customers, it seems. Please take this to heart: once I have cancelled my service, I will no longer have an ongoing commercial relationship with your company, and any telemarketing calls WILL be reported to the FTC as a violation of federal law. You probably don't care, but I thought I'd give you adequate warning. P.P.S. Note that the 'Devil Cable' has yet to offer me a 'free upgrade' that they have refused to honor, they actually deliver local channels, and they are required BY LAW to provide 30 day notice of any rate increase, which they usually accomplish. They also have figured out how NOT to telemarket me and waste my time. I also don't have to lease my television from them, nor my VCR, nor any of my other television equipment, and I don't have to give them my television when I cancel service. P.P.P.S. Not only did YOU not respond, Ms. Kipp failed to return my phone call of two weeks ago. I left a voicemail message for her asking her to call me about the 6-month-old upgrade issue. Not a word from her. I suspect that 'Kimberly Kipp' is one of those corporate fantasy people whose sole role is to deflect 'problem customers'. Let them waste their time feeding 'Kimberly's' voice mailbox, clean it out every week or so, and everyone is happy in their little cubicle jungle there at DN. P.P.P.P.S. My latest statement tells me to turn to channel 100 for information about by bill, etc, but says nothing about a rate increase. Interestingly enough, there is no channel 100. Nor is there a channel 500, to which I am supposed to turn to view PPV previews. Just two examples of 'services' you are charging me increased rates for that are not available here. Note that if the Devil Cable told me to turn to channel 5 for some programming I'm paying for and there was no channel 5, there'd be hell to pay, but it's normal operations for DISH Network, it seems. P.P.P.P.P.S. I'm fascinated by the $3.99 PPV certificate which you send me every so often, when you know that I cannot order a $3.99 PPV movie. The hardware I bought does not allow it without a telephone line attached, and you know that I don't have it attached. Of course, I could spend MORE and get PPV by calling you to order it, but the certificate is only $3.99. FREE movie? Sure. In someone's dictionary, I am sure it must be 'free'. Not mine. P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Just in case you care, and are still reading this, whoever you are, here's what I WOULD have probably accepted as a reasonable solution to the problems on the table. "No, the offer of an upgrade was an error, but your hardware is really old and you do deserve a free upgrade to a newer receiver that can get all the channels you are paying for (and maybe locals), so we'll send you that. And we'll make SIRIUS an optional service that those who want can pay for, and leave the current America's 120 at the current rate." But that's water over the dam. And you don't really care. You proved that by your "response". What does it say about your corporate culture when someone obviously cares enough about your company to physically write a letter trying to get problems resolved, practically screaming at you to not make them drop your service, and you assign someone without the authority to pick her own nose, much less solve any customer's problems, to the case?I added a hand-written PS next to my signature:
For those not involved in the industry, "churn" is the constant turnover of customers. It costs the cable industry a lot of money, and I assume it costs DISH Network a lot, too. I know cable companies try to keep their churn rates as low as they can.
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