Early Termination Fee - No Line of Sight after Moving

[TNGTony]

Jeez..THat's an easy one. Who the hell would declare an NLOS on THAT?

You do know that I am shooting through the tree, not over it, to get 77°, right? That is against most installer's policies. If it snows a lot, one of the branches sags in the signal path. And on some windy days, the upper branches stretch upwards and glitch 72° signal. That is why most installers said no way.

 

[Kraven]

Anyone who has been through this, please share your experiences. I'm both disappointed and angry right now.

I'm asking for experiences and advice from anyone who's been through this or something similar. Am I screwed? I still have 18 months of contract left, which is quite a bit of money in termination fees!

Call Dish and tell them you've just been transfered to Canada and want to know who to call to set up your gear over there.
Account canceled within 5 minutes.

Cheers, K

 

[Tampa8]

Well Dish didnt violate its end of the contract. The contract was for service at house X.. You moved to house Y so you changed the contract not them.

I'm not at all convinced it's that easy. The inference there is you can not move unless it's to where Dish provides service, or face paying them for providing you no service. That last part is a huge sticking point. Again, I don't know what a court outcome would be but as often as I have said you signed a contract did you read it, I view this as a slightly different scenario. This isn't just about you moving, it's also that the person (company) demanding to be paid will not provide you services there. Is it all the fault of someone who has to move? I just don't know. Another way to say it, would a court say a person must know for two years they will live where Dish gives them service? Is that reasonable. There are examples where that would be the case, even in my profession so I don't see either side being a clear winning case.

 

[Gobucks]

It all depends on what equipment is put in. A customer that signs up for a Hopper and three Joeys is going to have a lot more money tied up that a customer that gets two 222 receivers. Just a 722k install for a new customer could cost Dish over $600. It can also depend on what the customer qualifies as.

Thanks for the reply! I think your exactly right. It could be more or less.

 

[BBCInc]

Just contact Claude Greiner. According to Claude and others here, it is the exception rather than the rule that anyone pays an ETF.

 

[Derwin0]

I think sprint is the only provider that has this currently and is a very neat idea!!
http://now.sprint.com/airave/?ECID=vanity:airaveaccesspoint

Nice, thanks for the link.

I just called Sprint and they're shipping me one for free.

coverage is spotty at my house, and I'm usually roaming on Verizon, but with only 1 bar.

 

[Scherrman]

Just contact Claude Greiner. According to Claude and others here, it is the exception rather than the rule that anyone pays an ETF.

I actually agree with both sides here. The customers signs a contract and should be held to it even if they do move. I also agree with Claude because Dish is just like any other business and will generally try to keep a customer happy so they keep in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. If you really feel you should not have to pay the cancellation fee I would call Dish back and explain to them the situation and how you feel about paying the cancellation fee. If Dish still says you need to pay, then talk to a supervisor and tell them you will be contacting your Attorney General about the situation. They may change their mind.

 

[Teehar]

Let me see, I sign a 24 month contract, then move to a house where reception is impossible, who is at fault here?

Lets see...House burnt to the ground due to act of god.I guess that would be the customers fault.There are tons of reasons someone might have to move,and move to a location with no los.

 

[Teehar]

Well Dish didnt violate its end of the contract. The contract was for service at house X.. You moved to house Y so you changed the contract not them.

So them no longer offering a service that you still pay for isn't a breach of contract.Or,how about them not making 100% sure there is no way to get service.Again,I think a decent legal team could win a case like that,at the very least get a quick settlement.

 

[Scherrman]

I'm sure Dish doesn't even have a physical copy of your contract on file anyway, so if you threatened with any type of legal action Dish would just let you go without a fight. Now if you went through a retailer, chances are they would have your contract on file. Dish would still let you out of contract with the threat of legal action I'd bet.

 

[dishcomm]

Where's the OP? He hasn't answered any of the suggestions for looking harder for LOS. Dish gave me 3 dishes in different locations around my house and remote garage to get all of my programming. It took a supervisor coming out to my house, but they did it.

I had to do a three dish install once.
Most times it was two. But usually the dishes were separated by quite a distance.
Sometimes it just cannot be done. Not every single property across the nation can receive a tv satellite signal.

 

[dishcomm]

So them no longer offering a service that you still pay for isn't a breach of contract.Or,how about them not making 100% sure there is no way to get service.Again,I think a decent legal team could win a case like that,at the very least get a quick settlement.

correct. Question....Who is going to spend thousands on attorney's fees to save a few hundred?

 

[Teehar]

correct. Question....Who is going to spend thousands on attorney's fees to save a few hundred?

Not one single individual.The only way it would happen is a class action.

 

[jbrelish]

Question for you Dish retailers/installers. Is it possible for a tech to go to the prospective install site and check with a signal meter or something to find out if the install feasible?

I had this sort of happen when I 1st got Dish in late 90's. Asked Echostar what if I do not have line of site? Can I send back the system I just purchased? Never given a direct answer but luckily it worked out after the tech figured out the electic main into the house was generating a pretty big magnetic field which threw off his reading by quite a bit.

 

[dvrexpander]

Question for you Dish retailers/installers. Is it possible for a tech to go to the prospective install site and check with a signal meter or something to find out if the install feasible?

I had this sort of happen when I 1st got Dish in late 90's. Asked Echostar what if I do not have line of site? Can I send back the system I just purchased? Never given a direct answer but luckily it worked out after the tech figured out the electic main into the house was generating a pretty big magnetic field which threw off his reading by quite a bit.

As an installer - rule for LOS is 5 degrees bubble around each Sat, some techs including myself may squeeze that lower but depends on the situation. If the tree looks really old or near dead and I'm say 2 degrees over it I'll put it in cause I don't forsee it causing issues down the road but if its 2 degrees say over something I know is fast growing right before spring then nope. You can't just put it on a meter cause you've already done half the job putting in the satellite to hook the meter too and that takes time, and if you can't get nothing and call a NLOS then the tech just did a bunch of work for nothing so nope NLOS and move on to get paid for work you really do properly unless you wish to pay the tech out of pocket to set that stuff up and test. Techs get paid AFTER the job is closed and done not during it hour by hour.

 

[Brian Fuller]

Question for you Dish retailers/installers. Is it possible for a tech to go to the prospective install site and check with a signal meter or something to find out if the install feasible?

I had this sort of happen when I 1st got Dish in late 90's. Asked Echostar what if I do not have line of site? Can I send back the system I just purchased? Never given a direct answer but luckily it worked out after the tech figured out the electic main into the house was generating a pretty big magnetic field which threw off his reading by quite a bit.

Despite what a lot people think we don't just have a tool we can hold in the air to check for signal we know approximately where the satellites are but we cant tell how strong the signal is without installing the dish and connecting the meter directly to the lnb


Internally we have to have 5 ft of clearance within 50 feet then 5 degrees of clearance after that. If it is a dish mover, someone still on contract, sons techs are usually willing to install inside this clearance to help the custom avoid the etf and cancellation , i warn customer if i have to do this they may lose channels and DISH can't help with that. but any new connect if they don't have that clearance we can't do it

Sent From My Samsung Hercules

 

[dishcomm]

As an installer - rule for LOS is 5 degrees bubble around each Sat, some techs including myself may squeeze that lower but depends on the situation. If the tree looks really old or near dead and I'm say 2 degrees over it I'll put it in cause I don't forsee it causing issues down the road but if its 2 degrees say over something I know is fast growing right before spring then nope. You can't just put it on a meter cause you've already done half the job putting in the satellite to hook the meter too and that takes time, and if you can't get nothing and call a NLOS then the tech just did a bunch of work for nothing so nope NLOS and move on to get paid for work you really do properly unless you wish to pay the tech out of pocket to set that stuff up and test. Techs get paid AFTER the job is closed and done not during it hour by hour.

And here lies the problem. Techs are under scrutiny in two opposing directions. One, the job must be done to Dish specifications. One of which is the line of sight for the antenna MUST have 5 degrees clearance in all 4 directions( up down left and right), if not, should the job be inspected, the job will fail. FOr an in-house tech it means a disciplinary write-up or termination. For contractor techs, the pay for the job is taken from them.
The other issue is completion rate statistics. Techs are constantly hounded to keep up their numbers. Low numbers can result in disciplinary action against the techs.

 

[Stargazer]

I have had to do some two dish installs as well, particularly those that wanted to get locals and got tree'd out. I ended up putting up a larger dish to get the locals in some cases.

 

[Derwin0]

Lets see...House burnt to the ground due to act of god.I guess that would be the customers fault.There are tons of reasons someone might have to move,and move to a location with no los.

In that case, the homeowners insurance would likely pay the termination fee.

In the case of the OP, it was his choice to move and thus break the contract. Dish is well within it's rights to enforce the contract. When I moved to Georgia, I had no line of sight. I didn't try to break my contract. Instead I just gave the system to my sister (who is in a no cable area) and just had her take over the account.

 

[mentsmin]

Requiring a customer to pay a fee when Dish is incapable of providing that customer service at a new location is simply a terrible business practice. Just because you're "right" in a legal sense doesn't necessarily mean it's the correct or even reasonable course of action to take (particularly in a case such as this, where the equipment is loaned and Dish reacquires it, anyway).