2. You get an email the day your bill is available to view online, which is actually earlier than you would receive it thru the mail. So you actually have just as much, if not more time to review your account before it is due.
I actually did switch over to paperless billing, which is great, no problems there (Though I appreciate that I do have the option to switch back to getting a paper bill in the mail in the future if for some reason I need to cancel Internet for a while or whatever). Dish let's you do just paperless billing or just auto-pay, you don't have to do both. So I did the paperless billing, which I like (Trying to cut down on clutter coming into the apartment). But I don't like auto-pay, so I didn't opt for that part.
3. You still have the freedom to pay early. If you pay the full amount early, then the auto-pay will adjust and skip that months payment.
That is good to know. So auto-pay is a little better than I thought in that regard. Still don't want to do it, though.
4. If you want the option to take a risk on not paying your bill on time, then Dish wants the option to remind you when your bill is coming due to mitigate that risk.
I'm just saying, if the bill is due on Friday, then wait until Saturday to call me, and only do it if you're sure I haven't paid. I try to be reasonable, if I agree to pay something or owe you money, and it doesn't get paid on or before the date we agree to, calling me the next day is fine. But I don't like being called and bothered about it before it's due or on the day it's due- I'll handle remembering to do it myself. If I find I'm having trouble keeping track of that in the future, then I'll set myself up a little reminder on my cell phone calendar or some other method I find less obtrusive than the phone calls.
And while Dish may have the legal option to "remind" me with phone calls and on-screen nags with bills that aren't overdue or are already paid (I guess they do, anyway, I'm not a lawyer), they should keep in mind that customers like me also have an important option. That's the option to switch to Comcast or Directv or some other company that doesn't handle things that way when our Dish Network contracts expires. Pester your customers and they may walk eventually. Not saying I'll walk over this, but it'll be one of many factors I consider when assessing which provider I want to be with going forward after my contract expires.
The place I'm hanging out at tonight (Not my residence) has a fairly basic Comcast setup. The TV I'm watching election coverage on now just has this teeny-tiny little box that's more like a cable card than a box, no on-screen guide, etc.. But it's not really bad. A promotional rate and the option to get a discount on my Internet bill may be very tempting when the Dish contract expires. And I'll bet if I got a relatively bare-bones service (equipment wise) like this, I might even save money after the promotional rate expires (And get a decent channel selection -- I note they MSNBC and NBC Sports Network on their regular tier- otherwise similar to AT120+. With Dish I have to always be choosing whether to go with AT120+, which is affordable, or high packages which are unaffordable, just because those two channels happen to be favorites of mine, and switching tiers from month to month sometimes. With cable, that'd be a non-issue). Of course, having to deal with Comcast customer service and installation scares me after the disaster that signing up for Internet after being away for six months turned out to be. The Internet service itself is great, but I had to make several trips out to their local office, there were several appointments at my place and missed installations, they tried to go back on their promotional offer, and all sorts of stuff. I may not want to risk going through that to get their cable tv again.
There are all sorts of factors.
But I am just saying- Dish, if you're listening- here is a simple thing you can do to put one less "con" in the mental pro-con list I'll be making when my contract expires. If you're a tv provider, you want to make things as hassle free as possible. This would be easy. It's not like signing up a new channel and having to pay the channel owner, or switching a channel's tier and raising your operating costs. It's not like having to invent some new receiver or box. It's literally as simple as letting me opt out of getting calls and on-screen messages I don't want. No cost to Dish, and I'd be a happier customer and at least slightly more likely to stick with them at the end of my deal.
Maybe the workaround of giving them their own phone number instead of my own phone number will solve the issue. Hopefully it does. But I could see it causing me other issues down the line when I call and they ask for my phone number for verification or whatever.
