Directv or Dish Network?

[juliemarie]

We've had Directv for 10 years and have been happy with it, however we are moving soon and I've noticed that Dish Network seems to be quite a bit cheaper, even after the initial new customer discount expires.

Any advice or complaints about Dish Network?

[emmasmommy]

we actually just switched back to dish from directtv...and in all honesty, i don't see much of a difference. the dish receivers have a lot more user friendly functions but as far as cost, they're pretty even here.

[BrattyMeg]

We have ATT U-Verse...see if that's offered in your area? We <3 it! Only thing that I don't like it we can only watch 4 channels at a time including what's DVRing so if it's a night where we DVR a few things it can get tricky. So far it's worked out though!

[kbbeale]

We have had both. We switched in Feb of this year to Dish and I regret it every day. I had the "deal" where you get x number of months cheaper as a new customer, but then after that, you go to regular price. Ok, easy enough, right?

WRONG!

Every month for 4 months after that, my bill was going up. I'd call every month and complain about it and they'd reverse whatever charge it was. The VERY FIRST MONTH after my "deal" was over, coinsidentally the rental of the receivers went up...the next month is was some sort of tax that increased, blah blah blah. They NEVER offered to do anything for me, just basically said "sorry" and that was it.

We are under contract with them, but I recently received a thing from DirectTV that said they will pay our termination fee to come back, and we're taking them up on it. Dish is slimy in their practices and they are not customer friendly, IMO.

[MandaT]

We've had both.

We have more channels for about the same amount of $$ here, with DirecTv.

[LibbysMommy]

We've had Directv for seven years and have been really happy with them. It's expensive, but so are all of the other companies, it seems.

[HeatherKS]

We've had DishNetwork for years now and we <3 it. My mom and dad have DirectTV and they don't have any complaints about it either. I like the setup of Dish better personally, but maybe that's just because DirectTV is a little foreign to me. LOL

[nikkiARNGwife]

We had directv for about 6-7 years and then got burned pretty bad when we tried to upgrade to HD receivers (this was about 4 years ago when they were the new thing and cost like 400 dollars) I can't remember exactly what happened with them but their customer service was really bad..bad enough to get DH angry enough to drop them righ then. When we moved here we got DISH and have been completely happy with them. One of the big pluses for Dish with us is they provide local channels which we didn't have with Direct TV.

I think though all in all they're just about the same. My parents still have Direct TV...there's a few differences in channels available but not much.

[Shawna]

We switched from Dish Network to AT&T U-Verse back in February and we like it SO much better! With Dish we lost service a lot even if it was just barely raining or the wind was blowing a tiny bit. We haven't had any issues with our service since we switched. We ended up paying around $55 to get out of the remaining few months of our contract once U-Verse was available in our area but it was totally worth it. We have their full package with all the movie and sports channels and HD service plus their internet and it is expensive but we don't have Netflix or go out to the movies or anything so it's our entertainment splurge!

[adrianka]

Totally OT - but Julie, you have a GREAT signature!

[melmos75]

One of the big pluses for Dish with us is they provide local channels which we didn't have with Direct TV.


We have DirectTV and we have local channels. When we had DishNetwork (many, many years ago) we had to pay extra for the local channels.

The only reason we have DirecTV is because of the NFL package. DH was tired of not being able to see the Vikings games. (Being a Vikings fan in WI is hard enough.) We haven't had any problems with it though and have had very few outages due to weather.

[Stacey42]

We had DISH for aes, we were one of their first subscribers & had no real problem with them. Then about 5 years ago DirectTV offered a few more channels we would like to watch for the same amount of money as DISH so we switched. We had a couple receiver issues & had to replace them but when I called to complain that by replacing them I lost all my DVR'd shows (which were kids shows) they gave me a year of free DVR service. I got an upgrade to an HD DVD for $50 and 3 free months of Showtime & HBO when I threatened to switch to DISH because of the $250 cost. DISH would have given me two free ones for switching.

Both of them have actually been very good about giving me stuff when I complain and that plus actual service quality are what I judge by. :)

[Melissa Bennett]

We were with Dish for quite a few years when we lived on the west coast. When we moved to the east coast we had nothing but problems with them and they were always trying to hide some kind of new fee or raise prices, plus we would lose signal for any little thing. We switched to Direct TV and have been pretty happy with them. Our only issue with them is when we moved this year we took our receivers with us like they tell you. Well when they came to hook us up they put in all new receivers. We asked the installation guy why and he said our other ones were too old and out dated. We thought okay. Well, found out it gave us a longer obligation with NO ONE telling us that first and asking us if we were okay with it. But other than that we have been happy with them.

[nikkiARNGwife]

I think with Direct TV the local channel availablity depends on where you are (there's some kind of weird law)...my parents still can't get local channels so they have to have one of those digital antennaes to receive local news and stuff.

[4noisyboys]

Directv!!!!!!!!!

[juliemarie]

Thanks for the replies. We've always been happy with Directv's customer service, and that is one reason I hesitate to switch, but it is quite a bit cheaper for our configuration (we have 2 dvrs, 1 being HD). Glad to hear at least a few of you are happy with dish. We really aren't picky about the packages so thats not a factor. We mostly just want the local channels, history & discovery.

Directv
$55.99 choice pkg (its $58.99 on website but we've been with them so long we are still on the old price)
$10 HD
$7 DVR
$5 2nd receiver
--------
$77.99

Dish Network
$24.99 ($39.99 after 1 year) Top 120 pkg
free for life HD
$6 dvr
$0 additional receiver
---------
$30.99 now, $45.99 in a year

and of course I calculate that as almost 2 new kits a week I can buy lol :)

[nonnie]

I have to say that we were faithful and loyal direct TV customers for almost 10 years, and after what has happened to us this month - NEVER AGAIN ..

1st - we bought a HD DVR from Best Buy for 199.00 - and another receiver for 129.00, that combined with the leased receivers we had 5. 2 DVR receivers.

When we called to cancel service because we were moving overseas - they said no problem we will send you 5 boxes to return the equipment .. No I said 2 we bought at Best Buy - No she says, when you buy them, you really are not buying them, you are leasing them long term. You can choose not to return the 2 DVR boxes and we will charge you 250 for each. ....

Long long story short, we sent the boxes back... got tracking numbers and one day low and behold we log into our account and they had without our knowledge and consent taken out 850.00. They used the card that we had been paying our bill with on line and just charged our card out of the blue.
When we called them they said that they had no received the recievers. We said no, here are the tracking numbers that show they have been delivered. Ohhh says direct tv - we will "investigate" your claim and get back to you in 30 days if we find this claim vaid, we will them mail you a check.
Really this happened
I asked how they can do this, and they said when I used my card to pay, it was implied consent to charge my card at anytime.

So we called our bank and claim that there was a fraudulent charge on our card, they used it without authorization. The bank reversed the charges and changed our debit card numbers. The bank told us that they get call all the time about direct tv doing this.... Sometimes the charges they take out are in the thousands.

When researching this on the internet, we found out there are all kinds of class action law suits against Direct TV for this -

Please read this article before you decide -
Great services - SUCH A SHADY COMPANY!!!!

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/12/a-lawsuit-filed-this-week-by-washington-state-against-directv-could-have-a-secondary-purpose-it-could-serve-as-a-textbook-fo.html

[nikkiARNGwife]

I have to say that we were faithful and loyal direct TV customers for almost 10 years, and after what has happened to us this month - NEVER AGAIN ..

1st - we bought a HD DVR from Best Buy for 199.00 - and another receiver for 129.00, that combined with the leased receivers we had 5. 2 DVR receivers.

When we called to cancel service because we were moving overseas - they said no problem we will send you 5 boxes to return the equipment .. No I said 2 we bought at Best Buy - No she says, when you buy them, you really are not buying them, you are leasing them long term. You can choose not to return the 2 DVR boxes and we will charge you 250 for each. ....

Long long story short, we sent the boxes back... got tracking numbers and one day low and behold we log into our account and they had without our knowledge and consent taken out 850.00. They used the card that we had been paying our bill with on line and just charged our card out of the blue.
When we called them they said that they had no received the recievers. We said no, here are the tracking numbers that show they have been delivered. Ohhh says direct tv - we will "investigate" your claim and get back to you in 30 days if we find this claim vaid, we will them mail you a check.
Really this happened
I asked how they can do this, and they said when I used my card to pay, it was implied consent to charge my card at anytime.

So we called our bank and claim that there was a fraudulent charge on our card, they used it without authorization. The bank reversed the charges and changed our debit card numbers. The bank told us that they get call all the time about direct tv doing this.... Sometimes the charges they take out are in the thousands.

When researching this on the internet, we found out there are all kinds of class action law suits against Direct TV for this -

Please read this article before you decide -
Great services - SUCH A SHADY COMPANY!!!!

http://redtape.msnbc.com/2009/12/a-lawsuit-filed-this-week-by-washington-state-against-directv-could-have-a-secondary-purpose-it-could-serve-as-a-textbook-fo.html


YES THIS!!...this is very similar to what happened to us...we purchased our own receivers too and seriously, after reading your story I think almost the same thing happened with us...they really tried to rip us off..and like you we'd been loyal customers for years.