DISH Network Review: Packages & Prices

The excellent DVR, competitive pricing, and cool features make DISH one of the best TV services.
The excellent DVR, competitive pricing, and cool features make DISH one of the best TV services.
Overall Rating 4.5 out of 5
Price:
$59.99–$89.99/mo.
Channels:
190–290
Contract:
2 yrs.
View PlansDISH deals
Written by:
Published 06/28/2018

OVERVIEW:

While not our first pick for serious sports lovers, DISH® offers cost-effective TV service with a solid range of channels and add-ons. Plus, DISH is the first traditional TV provider to introduce a cool new integration with Amazon’s Alexa.

Customer service could be better, but DISH still makes it pretty easy to get the channels you want without too much fuss. Most importantly, it won’t hike up the price in the middle of your contract, and the Hopper® 3 DVR runs circles around its main competitors. (Just ask Alexa.)

Dish Network Plans

Contract pricing is steady with some attractive promos.

Dish packages by price & channel count

PackagesPricingRegular pricingChannelsDetails
America's Top 120$59.99/mo.$75.99/mo.190View Plan
America's Top 120+$69.99/mo.$79.99/mo.190+View Plan
America's Top 200$79.99/mo.$89.99/mo.240+View Plan
America's Top 250$89.99/mo.$99.99/mo.290+View Plan

Like most TV service providers, DISH Network packages require a 2-year contract when you sign up. But at least when DISH gives contract pricing, it really does mean for the length of the contract. Unlike some of its competitors (*cough* DIRECTV *cough*), DISH won’t jack up your prices halfway through the term.

DISH also gives you three months of premium channels free. That means you can watch channels like Showtime and STARZ and wonder who killed Laura Palmer for free for three full months before DISH starts charging you. If you want to keep the channels after the promo period ends, you’ll need to add a premium channel package to your service.

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Tax tip:

Wondering why “Gross Receipts Tax” or “Service Provider Tax” is listed on your bill? A few states charge TV service providers special taxes and fees. They’re similar to sales taxes in other states, but instead of charging you, the state charges your TV provider. Most providers, including DISH, pass these costs right along to customers, which is why you might see them listed on your bill.

Speaking of premium channels, DISH throws you an extra one by including HBO for three months—even with its lowest priced package, America’s Top 120. You can keep up with an entire season of Game of Thrones and still have time to binge Silicon Valley before DISH starts charging you for the privilege. Just remember that after 3 months, you’ll have to add HBO to your service to the tune of $15 per month if you want to keep watching.

That $15 subscription price is the same as getting a monthly HBO NOW subscription, so if you do want to keep watching HBO shows, you might consider taking that money and switching to the streaming version with fewer ads. You can also add HBO to an existing Hulu subscription for the same price. However, Hulu’s Limited Commercials option still has multiple ad breaks throughout its shows, in which case, we’d recommend keeping HBO as part of your TV package.

Remember: DVR fees are extra

DISH Joey receiver options

Joey modelPrice per month
Original Joey$5
4K Joey$5
Super Joey$10
Wireless Joey$5

One last thing to keep in mind with DISH package pricing: it doesn’t include the (excellent) Hopper 3 DVR or its additional receivers. You’ll pay $15 per month for the DISH Hopper and an extra $5–$10 per month for each Joey receiver, depending on which model you choose.

Competitors might charge more mid-contract, but some services like DIRECTV include DVR and additional receiver costs in their pricing to begin with. So consider whether you want to get the Hopper and take your viewing to every TV in your house before you get excited by DISH prices.

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Insider tip

Like most TV service providers, DISH activation and upgrade fees can vary based on your credit qualification. Maybe keep that in mind if you’re working on rebuilding your credit score.

DISH channel lineup

DISH has most of the channels you’ll be looking for.

PricesChannelsContractDetails
DISH$59.99–$89.99/mo.120–290+2 yrs.View Plans

Even DISH’s basic package has most of the popular channels you’ll be looking for (FX and Food Network top our personal lists), but DISH channels don’t offer serious football fans their favorite options. If you want to catch a lot of games, you’ll want to consider a Multi-Sport pack add-on to get NFL RedZone, which you can use to watch college and professional football. However, even DISH’s lowest priced package includes ESPN, so if you just want the highlights, you’re good to go.

While DISH’s sports offerings might not be as comprehensive as something like DIRECTV’s NFL SUNDAY TICKET, you’ll pay almost ¼ of the price at $13 per month for the Multi-Sports pack. Plus, you’ll get access to channels like the NHL and MLB networks, so you can watch more than just football.

Equipment and features

Integration with Amazon’s Alexa wins DISH equipment an easy A.

DISH Hopper 3

If it wasn’t already clear by how many times we’ve mentioned it in this review, we’re big fans of DISH’s Hopper 3 DVR. The Hopper 3 lets you record up to 16 shows at once and gives you way more storage than leading competitors. With 2,000 hours of SD storage, you could save up enough content to binge-watch TV 24/7 for almost three straight months before you ran out of shows. We’d be concerned if you actually did that, but we’re just saying . . . you could.

Hopper specs at a glance

Recording hoursHD recording hoursRecording capacity
Hopper 3 Smart DVR2,00050016 shows at once

Compare the Hopper 3’s stats to its main competitor, DIRECTV’s Genie.

Amazon Alexa lets you ditch the remote

DISH recently added a new feature to the Hopper’s already impressive portfolio: the Hopper 3 integrates with Amazon’s Alexa. Alexa already works with various streaming services, but DISH is the first TV provider to offer an integration feature for people who want to combine their traditional TV service with their favorite home automation system.

If you already ask Alexa to stream music, turn off the lights, or play audiobooks, then you’ll love this integration. We were happy to learn that, along with being able to tell Alexa to turn on the TV or rewind a show, you can also perform specific searches based on genre or actors. You can ask Alexa to find you a horror movie then tell her to change to Too Cute! when your significant other gets scared. If nothing else, DISH’s Alexa integration proves TV service providers can still learn some new tricks. DISH hasn’t announced other plans for tech features yet, but we’re keeping an eye out.

DISH Anywhere keeps your content accessible

DISH lets you stream both live and DVR content on all your devices with DISH Anywhere. The app lets you watch shows and recordings both online and off, so planes, trains, and automobiles are all fair game for binge-watching (though maybe not if you’re the one operating them).

Info Box icon

Did you know?

DISH owns Sling TV, a streaming video service that works on every device. Want to see how it stacks up? Check out our Sling TV review.

What about DISH and 4K?

If you have a 4K TV, DISH is middle of the road. DISH does support 4K programming, but it doesn’t have a dedicated 4K channel. But DISH does offer Netflix compatibility. That matters because Netflix lets you watch most of its original shows in 4K, including hits like House of Cards, for when you want to see deception in high definition. Keep in mind, you will need DISH’s Hopper 3 DVR to access 4K capabilities.

Want a more in-depth 4K comparison? Check out our review of the best TV service for 4K.

Free installation, available nationwide

DISH’s DVR is an obvious selling point for its service, but if you just want a standard TV package with some popular channels, DISH equipment still fits the bill. It’s a satellite service, which differs from cable and means you’ll need a satellite dish. Unlike most cable providers, DISH provides free standard professional installation in up to six rooms with sign-up. We can personally confirm that satellite service installation is generally easier and more customer-friendly than the infamous cable experience. Let us know if that’s been true for you! We’d love to hear your experience, and we’ll take it into account for future reviews.

DISH is available nationwide, so if you live in a rural or remote area, you don’t have to worry about geo restrictions. Satellite TV service does require a “line of sight” to the, well, satellite, so if you notice signal issues, make sure your receiver is clear and free of debris. Especially during the winter, snow piling up around the receiver can affect reception.

Customer service

DISH beats out Comcast and Time Warner, but it still falls short overall.

You know it, we know it, everybody knows it: TV and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have lackluster customer service. We grade on a curve here, so we compare DISH’s customer service only to other TV service providers. On that note, DISH is about average.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), one of the best sources for unbiased customer service scores, ranks DISH fourth overall in subscription television services.1 DISH falls just below its biggest competitor, DIRECTV, but ranks well above secondary competitor Xfinity (Comcast).

As with other providers, we recommend using the chat feature on DISH’s website to communicate with customer service. It’s usually faster, always easier to keep records, and definitely better than waiting on the phone.

The bottom line—is DISH good?
View Plans

Overall, we recommend DISH as a cost-effective option for those who want steady prices and a killer DVR. Keep in mind that if you want both a DVR and additional receivers, DISH’s pricing may not be as cost-effective as it is without those extras, but the Hopper 3 makes it worth it, and the Amazon Alexa integration is nice.

Want to compare DISH to DIRECTV? Check out our review of the best satellite TV providers.

Tell us what you think

Do you have DISH TV? How do you think it compares to competitors like DIRECTV? We want to hear from you! And if you have any questions for us, just ask.

Sources

1. American Customer Service Index, “ACSI Telecommunications Report 2017”

  • Krissy Crowne

    Fantastic ideas – Speaking of which if you are wanting a SSA-16-BK , my company discovered a sample form here http://goo.gl/TwQ5cf

  • Carter Newsome

    Nice piece , For what it’s worth , if your business was looking for a CA FL-150 , my colleague discovered a sample form here http://goo.gl/wIei1d

  • RJW

    It says UPDATED 8/9/2016, but in a mere month the there prices have skyrocket the 120+ package isn’t 39.99 BUT 54.99 – What is the deal here

    • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

      Yeah, this has been a crazy year for DISH (and DIRECTV) prices. DISH’s 120+ is now $54.99 a month, but that’s for two-year pricing, so at least there is no second-year price increase (that’s how it used to be). We’ve heard that DISH is updating its prices again later this month, so we won’t make any updates until after we find out what’s changed.

      Thanks for looking at our review and leaving us feedback.

  • Jeff Stewart

    All…If you’re thinking of switching to Dish, think twice if you use OnDemand regularly. Constant issues plague their service. After several calls over the past year no fix in sight. Dish’s normal line they give is that this is a known issue and their technicians are currently working on the issue. This clearly is their weak link. If you don’t believe me look up error 1021 dish on demand and judge for yourself.

  • Clayton Honaker

    They’ll use misleading sales tactics and when it comes time for them to honor their quote, they’ll tell you nope, you agreed to terms not what you where quoted by our sales rep.

    I will never refer them or be a customersmall of theirs again

    • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io/ Trevor Wheelwright

      Sorry to hear that Clayton, it’s unfortunate that the agreed terms weren’t met. We definitely advise getting everything in writing when possible.

      Just curious, who are you switching to?

  • Not a Dish Fan

    I have had Dish before. Also had Direct TV, Comcast and FIOS. The current episode with DISH is AWFUL. The Hopper loses connection with the Joeys nearly every day. The message on the Joey says to uplug the Hopper for 10 seconds and reboot. I am damn tired of doing this everyday. Also, the Hopper cannot connect with my router – wired or wireless. During diagnostics, it says it is conncected. Try watching something on Demand and I get the same connection error. This also happens with a direct cat5 connection to the routers. Meanwhile, every laptop and other smart device can connect perfectly. DISH doesn’t want to admit that their system just doesn’t work, so to cancel “service” (lack of service in my book), they still say I would be breaking the contract and owe them $400+. Actually, they broke the contract by not providing the service they are getting paid for. I will need a lawyer on this and it will be well worth it – even to spend more than the term fee. I HATE DISH. Stay very far from them.

    • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io/ Trevor Wheelwright

      Hey, thanks for sharing your experience. Sorry to hear it wasn’t the best, out of curiosity, who did you switch to?

  • Mye David

    After 4 years, I wanted to cancel this service and because I ordered an extra Joey receiver last year, they extended my 2 year commitment so now I have to pay them an additional $380 to cancel. They never told me ordering a new joey will extend my commitment! They just sneak it into their contract. Who reads a 40 page contract? Then they won’t even uninstall the freaking satellite they installed on my house so it will serve as free advertising for them! DO NOT use this company unless you plan on wasting your money with them for the rest of your life.

    • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

      We checked DISH’s service agreement and we couldn’t find any mention of a contract being extended when you ask for additional equipment (https://www.dish.com/downloads/legal/residential-agreement.pdf). Of course, we could have missed it (it’s a pretty hairy contract). Did they mention where it is in the contract? If so, we’d love to share this information with other readers.

      • Mye David

        They said it is something I signed when they delivered and installed the additional Joey receiver.

        • http://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io Scott T.

          If you do find the paperwork or get an update, let us know. We’ll also keep an eye out for this kind of stuff in the future. Thanks for the heads up, and sorry that you have to deal with this.

  • Deborah

    I was considering getting the Dish,after reading Mye David comment, I think it is crazy spending another 3 hundred dollars to cancel the subscription. It sounds like,i may forget using any satellite.

  • Blake

    Lol , still my comments not posted. I’ll never use dish again, also posting on Facebook about how bad dish is!!!!

  • Blake

    Don’t buy dish, you will be sorry. I live in a new neighborhood and gonna put flyers in ever house as they get finish building saying beware of dish network . gonna post around town too on every telephone pole. I hate dish network with their lying reps

  • Jami Henriksen

    Beware of this company. They tell consumers one thing and then charge completely different amounts. We had to cancel our service and we got charged two cancellation fees as they are now considering TV and internet as two separate contracts and therefore charging fees for both.

    Service is spotty at best and customer service is non-existent. With a 95% negative review rating, it is questionable how they still have a A+ business rating.

  • dw biker kevin

    I just ordered dish 2/10/2017 hopper 4k etc . The picture quality for sports games is terrible (blury) it is ok when slow motion or close up but watching a basketball game , soccer game or football game the players become blurry , hurts my eyes to watch . I had direct tv before (perfect picture) and xfinity Comcast (good picture)
    . dish tech spent 5 hours trying to fix upon install , no help , they sent out another tech next day : no help , they sent out a 3rd tech/ supervisor from dish .The supervisor could not fix ant told me picture was blurry but told dish that the picture was fine . I was told I had 30 days to cancel , they told me I have to pay $480 to canel for early termination fee . BE WARNED , DONT EVEN TRY DISH IF YOU LIKE TO WATCH SPORTS , YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!

  • Orca Nation

    I am very disappointed with Dish Technical Support & Customer Service. My Hopper 3 Unit has been broken for the past Two Days and it took calling Customer Service 3 times over 2 days before anything was done about it, but that is only half. Now they are telling me that they will ship a new unit out, but it will be four more days before I will receive it, and get this, they are going to charge me for the shipping of the new unit. I get a new Hopper 3 from them three months ago and it already needs to be replace but, they are going to charge me for the shipping of the new unit! I been a loyal customer for DISH Network for 12 years and this how they treat you. They say they love their customers, but I know now this is only a scam to get you to commit to that two-year contract. I ask them if they could send a service guy out and that might be quicker, but if they did they would charge me for that also. Why are you charging me when the unit has gone bad and I paying for the service to get TV! To me this means they don’t care about their customers or what quality of the equipment they represent. A service guy could off have had me up a going by now, but I am stuck with no TV for a week straight. DIRECTV is looking better each day.

  • Randy Cowan

    DO NOT SIGN UP. Service is fine but once you want to cancel, they will keep charging you and then say they don’t see any charges and never send boxes hoping you will have to pay the 450 fee for not returning equipment. There is no need for these crooks in your life anymore with smart Tv’s, chromecast etc.

  • BK

    I live in a rural area and GOOD internet is hard to come by. We tried Dishnet and it was awful. Yes I expected the internet to be much slower but the problem was how often the internet would go out. I only had it for 6 months (within my 2 year contract) and canceled it and paid the stupid penalty fee ($3XX). In that 6 months I had to reset the modem at least twice a month. Towards the end, when my internet went out again the modem reset wasn’t working. After calling them 3 times in that 6 months I found myself on the phone again but this time instead I just canceled. We have Dish TV too, I only canceled the internet b/c finishing my contract would of been far more expensive then just paying the penalty fee. I begged them not to charge so much especially since I was keeping the TV. But I did sign a contract. Overall the TV is decent. I have had comcast, DirectTV, sling TV and by far dish is the worst. The satellite would go out with light rain. But mostly the DVR is crap. Their claim is their DVR can hold more and record more shows at the same time. It constantly makes mistakes. Wouldn’t record shows when you tell it to, record shows outside the correct time, record the wrong shows. The way the shows are filed under the DVR is a mess, my husband would record shows on history channel and there would be 3 folders for just one show. So you would have to go through all of them trying to find the latest episode. And it seems to miss shows all together, I would go in to try and find a show that I setup a recording and it wouldn’t be there. I would check the show and it would say there was a recording on it but nothing showed up. Customer service is bad too, most other TV companies try to keep your business, Dish could careless.

  • Liliana medina

    They used to be the best…..now they are the worst… can’t wait for my contract to be over to switch!!!!

  • Liliana medina

    DON’T DO IT!!!

  • Travis Stephenson

    I agree this has to be the worst TV company out there. They actually promote the fixed pricing and start increasing your bill 6 months into the service. I literally drop kicked their equipment to the curb – yea they wanted me to return it, really? I told them where they could pick it up.

  • Mistified Ozzy

    How did Dish get rated so highly in this article. It seems that Dish should be reported to the BBB.

  • D Flint

    Just received the new menu “upgrade”! (didn’t request it) The menu area is smaller, so you need to scroll more to see programming in the immediate future. Also, what Einstein came up with a finer font with gray lettering on a gray background? Like reading the DMV eye chart. LAME

  • Steve Schubbe

    Switched from DISH to DirecTV solely to save a little money. Been using DirecTV about a two weeks and have decided money really isn’t everything. So, the term, “money isn’t everything” seems to be correct. DirecTV controls, DVR, and picture are inferior to what we were used to with DISH. The only complaint is they are very over priced. So, I’m missing DISH but I have an extra $100 in my pocket and a TV system I don’t enjoy watching any more.

    • Anna Miles Ham

      I agree to this statement. We feel the same way!

  • rednecdastheycome

    you would think after all these years that dish has been operating that they could have spent some of the billions they have made on improving their satellite signal so it so it doesn’t wash out every time there is a heavy due or hint of rain…

  • rednecdastheycome

    customer service from by way of India..hardly can understand them

  • Maren

    I am sooo sick of dish network! We have cancelled our plan with them because we can’t get dish where we moved to. They have NOT stopped calling and harassing us to reactive our plan. We have called numerous times and wasted so much time on hold trying to get through to a live person to tell them to stop calling and harassing us. Every time they say we will take you off our calling list and they never do. It’s so annoying and I don’t know what else to do. I do not recommend dish because when you no longer want or can use their services they harass you nonstop!

  • Gaurav Dhir

    These dish people are crooks. They have installed a new hopper3 and two regular joey’s said when we get the 4k tv’s to call dish and they will swap the regular joey to 4k joey. We said okay to the install not knowing if we were to get a 4k tv which I have now with the old joey since they want to charge money for a tech to come swap for the change of a joey to 4k joey. Stuck with this not paying any extra. Or any penny extra to do the swap. The tech said they would swap it and did not mention any fees at the time. They should have as a new customer gave the 4k package to begin with so noone has to call again when upgrading to a 4k tv to have to pay again for a tech to come out and charge and also charge money for new 4k joey rediculous. Still not swapped as opted out not wanting to pay anything more. Once the contract ends probably switch to some other provider since these guys do not take customers seriously at all. They try to get you to pay for the tech and upgrade fee. When the installer to begin with being a new customer should have been given the new 4k equipment. Also should have educated their employee to not say dish will swap the old joey for the new 4k joey at the time of installing as new customer. Customer service has a different story person to person. Dish should hire people and educate them. Customer service being key I don’t see how the rating is that great unless they are paying auditors or reviewers. Also changing the story person to person is so beyond rediculous one person says something else escalades to higher up and back in same boat to begin with. I guess this company excels in bad customer service practices. BBB should be involved in this otherwise investigate why customer service person to person prices are changed hiked to different costs. If the president of this company is happy with poor customer service that president of the company should be resigning. A company should practice to be helpful. Not misleading customers. Not changing prices person to person within the company. Etc.

  • am mz

    Horrible customer service and horrible cable service. I would not recommend dish to anyone; whenever there was a storm or light rain the cable went out. High winds or a breeze the cable would go out; I would call customer service for help and they said I would have to wait it out and it may take a few days and I would still pay full price as if I had service for the whole month.
    When I finally finished my 2 year contract with them they asked me to pack all their stuff in a box they would provide me but one of the pieces of equipment was on my roof- a Comcast tech did me the favor of taking the equipment off the roof for me. Dish even took my control as part of the equipment and I had to buy a new one for my tv.. Dish or Dishlatino is NOT good and I do NOT recommend it to anyone who doesn’t want to constantly call their cable company. AVOID DISH AT ALL COSTS!!

    • Rebecca Venter

      My experience exactly…no channels…big price.

  • A

    This network is horrible, if you are thinking about prescribing, RUN!!!!! It’s so slow, it never works, and is always asking dumb questions. Run! I’m so serious, they rescently updated, more like down graded. I can’t even watch a show without answering 20 questions and you’re lucky if you get to even watch it. It is so soooooooo slow! I hate it. We are in the middle of canceling and going ANYwhere else!

  • Los Mane

    I want to report an employee on there horrible customer service she provided along with her nasty attitude she gave me during the process when i was trying to cancel my service her name is Vanessa and the they wouldn’t tell me her last name which i thought was totally bias and sneaky. furthermore her manager name is frank who i spoke to afterwards when i requested to talk to manager and displayed my displeasure and wanted her be reprimanded… if anyone knows another way i can report this employee to corporate please let me know she was so rude and nasty.

  • Roger

    Maybe this is helpful for customers cancelling after contract ends and avoiding them from drafting your bank card /credit card for an additional month. As soon as you cancel service have your bank issue a new card. If your account isn’t set up with a card just change payment method before canceling, do so a month or two before canceling. They won’t be able to draft from a lost or stolen card.

  • Joe704

    Having tried all except AT&T, I can say there are NO good TV providers. I had Dish for 12+ years, dropped it during one of their contract disputes, but am planning to return. The reason? After the introductory period, DirecTV’s costs are much too high for the basic package. It does help that I own 2 Dish 512s and a vp211 Hi-def receiver (both proven very reliable), and the satellite LNB came with the house when I bought it.
    My main complaint with Dish has been their remotes, which never seem to last longer than 2 years. And yes, tech service is poor and the foreign “helpers” difficult to understand – but that has become an almost universal problem. It all comes down to choosing the lesser evil while waiting for new player to arrive and provide a genuine choice.

  • Rock A Bye

    I changed to Directv back around 2000 from Dish and from reading the comments and reviews also from other sites I can see they have gotten worst with customer service. Don’t dare ever try to cancel their service, they are not very polite. I was thinking of maybe trying them again but it now is a definite NO and will never in the future consider it. Now that AT&T owns Directv they are a lot easier to deal with.

  • James Self

    I was with dish for over 10 years. When I got a divorce and tried to cancel the said I could. However they charged me an extra month that I didn’t use and said I had to pay. Even sent me to collections. I was loyal to them and this is how they treat me. I tried talking with them but they wouldn’t listen. I will never give another dime to them. They are crooks and should be shut down. They have no class

    • thomas

      they tried every dirty trick on me and i told them to shove it

  • Lyndsie Nelson

    Dish is by far the worst company I’ve ever dealt with. Their customer service is horrible and everything will always be the customers fault. DO NOT go with dish. Direct TV is always willing to help the customer with any problem or dissatisfaction.

  • A H

    Worst service ever. Liars, cheats & thieves. Hopper for four months-constant problems. Was sold a hd dish -tech said it didn’t exist. Got ONE HD channel. The last month we’ve hadn’t a handful of channels. Sound randomly goes out on random channels for 2-4 seconds. DVR does record or records the wrong thing. Sometimes the remote doesn’t work. Tech appoint last weekend canceled over A WASP. Was told they would reschedule-they didn’t. I called them was told it could only be rescheduled after an exterminator went out. That’s me-sprayed bug spray. Wasp dead. Next. This week we can two call for times of arrival…never showed. Called and the notes said the tech called us to reschedule. Blantant lie! Now we have to wait another two weeks to HOPEFULLY get the service we pay for. This is sucked since day one! Liars, cheaters and theives

  • WarrenOsborn

    Dish sucks! They have reduced the number of tuners available for recording on the their dvr so that customers in large households like mine cannot record without messing up what someone else is watching. Dish has also claimed we owe them an extra $126 even though we are current on our payments. This morning they shut off our service until this is paid and then turned it back on for a 9 day extension at which time the $126 they falsely claim we owe will not be paid because I do not pay and will not pay what I do not owe.

  • Yogesh Gautam

    I Have taken service of Dish TV from last 2.6 year ago. Alwys my setup box is disturbed my signal. when i calling to customer care then they convincing to me for visit of Paid Engineer for rectify the problem. they are not short out the problem on phone.
    The service of Engineer is not upto the mark problem is repeating on every month. I am facing very much problem due to same. if i am logging the problem then they are reply me that your TV is faulty without visited to my home.
    I never be suggested to any one for taking the service of dish tv.

  • Anne Casey

    The plan and price were much cheaper than my Cox cable plus DISH offered free Netflix. HOWEVER. Last night was the first attempt to stream a movie directly from Netflix. Five minutes after the film began, it stopped.
    I turned the film off then on and the play continued. A few minutes later, the same event.
    I then turned off the TV and went into my home office to watch the video via my computer.

    Tonight when I again attempted to watch another video, the TV screen had an announcement playing telling me that the Netflix was off line while DISH updated listings. So I again turned on my computer to watch my personal Netflix subscription.

    If the TV isn’t turned off in a particular way, it’s necessary to go through a multistep process to regain operation of the TV. My cable required two moves- one to turn on the TV, the second to selection a channel or function.

    DISH is definitely not user friendly! Cheaper, is not always better. I regret being stuck with it in a two year contract. I should have investigated further before accepting the great price-break deal offered by Verizon.

  • http://jakenney.com Jennifer Alison Kenney

    I just got screwed big time by Dish… I was promised a month with these I still have 16 days left but they are gone! Also don’t to OTA I get nothing half the time and signed up for an extra term! Don’t do it! https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/51f82f37910ab9ebc7299844ceda00f7c6efe5b241ebed067959f2505a1e87ff.jpg

  • Shirley and Dennis

    My husband is a truck driver who bought the dome and receiver. The first receiver he bought did not work, would not get any channels. After many calls to dish tv, who were impossible to get a hold of for a very long time, he finally got thru and was told to check the connections etc. and then was told to take the receiver to a Campground RV store to have the channels downloaded. My husband called a Campground RV store and they told him they have nothing to do with dish tv and receivers and do not download channels and they wondered why dish tv would tell people to go to Campground Rv stores. My husband was told by another rep from Dish TV to go and buy a newer receiver model. So my husband but a newer receiver and the same problem occurred with no channels. So he called Dish TV many times and the same bullshit was recommended as the first receiver. This morning my husband looked up a Satellite TV store on the GPS for stores in the Houston, Texas area. The technician volunteered to come out to the Truck Stop (he is a truck driver) to take a look at the receiver. The technician said that the receiver was owned by a previous owner who had the receiver still connected to their own network and had returned the receiver. The previous owner did not disconnect their network when they returned their receiver. So the technician disconnected the previous owners network and reconnected my husband’s receiver to his network connection and then he had all of the channels. This technician told my husband that Dish TV and Satellite Networks do not know how to fix their receivers that this is why customers who have problems cannot get any help from Dish TV and Network companies and instead will get the bullshit runaround. This technician advises customers who have problems with their receivers to take the receivers to a Satellite TV repair store instead. Dish TV needs to tell their customers the truth, that their receivers are usually returned because previous owners did not disconnect their network hookup before returning the receiver which causes the next new owner problems with not getting channels. The returned receivers have to be disconnected from previous owners networks and reconnected to the new owners networks that they have chosen to hook up to and have the receiver reset. So please everyone, who has problems with their receiver, take your receiver to a regular Satellite TV technician which can be found in the yellow pages. Dish TV will sell receivers only and are not capable of fixing receivers because they can’t be bothered to learn how to fix their own receivers. Sell, sell only. Shame on Dish TV. Hope this helps all of you with your receiver problems.

  • Caleb

    Garbage company who cares far more about profits than about the consumer. Never in my life will I be a dish network susbscriber. Show the football games !!!! It’s a tradition for families all around the country!!!!

  • pyrpower

    Absolutely the worst provider I have ever used. How are you able to even advertise that you have 4.5 stars? As Dish tries to recruit you as a new customer, get great service–after you sign the contract, terrible. For example, Dish Network messed up my billing so I did not receive a bill in the mail. Thought we had resolved this last month but the same message that service would be turned off in 48 hours appears on my television today. The worst part is the customer service: I asked for a call back because the wait time was 12 minutes. No one ever called me back. Then, I called and waited on the phone–spent the next hour plus trying to the resolve the issue. I tested Dish Network and also tried the “chat” online; I was 35th in line as a regular customer but when I changed it so I was appearing as a potential customer, I received a response within 30 seconds. Get your priorities straight Dish–word quickly gets around (as with this post) about how poor the customer service is. I selected the wrong provider…should have selected Directv (who also offered free movie channels for Thanksgiving weekend)…I don’t work for Directv but I will be selecting them as a provider once my contract is up with Dish!

  • Andrew Raymond

    I am stunned by all the negative comments I have read in this discussion about Dish customer service and performance. I had been on the phone with Dish technicians about how I was trying to switch TV’s and change TV 1 to TV2 on my 722 receiver. The upshot was that I got a new Hopper, 3 Joeys, and the same package of channels for the same price I had been paying for two 722 receivers with four TV’s. The technician who came to install (installation was free) the new system was personable, professional, and efficient. He came the very next day after I had agreed to the new deal with Dish. I had DirecTV for several years and cable for many years before that. Dish has by far been the easiest TV company for me to deal with as far as pricing issues and technical help. For people who are using the older Dish equipment, I would recommend telling Dish (and meaning it) you are going to drop Dish and go to cable or Direct TV unless you get a new Hopper and Joey system installed for the same price. It worked for me. It was to Dish’s financial benefit to keep me as a customer, since I was going to drop them. Now I have a 2-year contract for the same monthly cost that I was paying before, but a much improved system that shows a high-quality HD image on all 4 TV’s. The 722 receivers only brought HD to 2 of our TV’s and coaxial cable lower quality to the other two TV’s. I had both good and bad technicians with DirecTV and cable, so maybe some of the people complaining about Dish just had the misfortune not to get good help. The Dish technician who installed our last system was quite outstanding!

  • Divina L’Anglo

    I had alot of issues w dish in july/Aug 2017 I did a stop pay with my bank spacificly for dish after they would not accommodate me as a good paying customer yet they had been taking full payments for 2 months prior to the stop pay I placed and asked them to charge off the account and send me to collections.
    Dish cares about money more then happy customers.
    I have emails back and fourth regarding my complaint about not accommodating a customer
    They wouldn’t work with me at all reguarding a move that was unexpected wanted the fee of 100$ or more even tho they were taking payments for service at the old address 2-3 months in a row.
    After trying to get some accommodations I was ignored and only herd were sorry about your experience the account to disconnect is going to be over 300$

    Now today about 4 months later they used a different dish vender to take an unauthorized amount of 322.00 out of my account with out even sending me form of communications regarding this shady debit from my account now effecting my rent payment.

    Horrible company I recommend direct tv they like happy customers and will work with them to accomadate or at least acknowledge the concerns and issues

    This company needs to have emails and recorded calls audited and investigated along with unauthorized charges that is what collections is for and reporting to credit agencies.

    Divina L’Anglo

  • Stacy

    I work nights and signed up with Dish because they advertised 24 hour tech support… Turned out not to be true (was at one time) but not any more. They took off the On Demand feature…again no warning. Terrible customer service!!! I’ve been a customer for seven years and they let me down almost monthly… I’d call AT&T!

  • Stacy

    They sell you on features they subsequently remove without warning…24 hour tech support, Dish on Demand, channels that go away etc… Terrible customer service! I was a Direct TV customer for 12 years and left because customer service was so poor. Been with Dish for seven now… They are no better. I guess I’ll try AT&T.

  • http://www.adamevansmedia.com Adam Evans

    Bad experience! Had to go through all kinds of hoops in order to cancel services. Wish they would just let you cancel like most other services. It felt like I was dealing with a used car salesperson from 20 years ago.

  • Rebecca Venter

    We have about 1/4 of our programming as shopping networks. We have a digital fireplace channel…no real channels since local networks are free. Cant watch a local ballgame without paying premium. i would consider local cable before falling for promotional gimmicks of dishnetwork. After the initial period YOU ARE SCREWED and required to pay a lot more money to keep what you had originally. Look at local cable first!

  • Rebecca Venter

    27 SHOPPING CHANNELS AND A CARTOON FIREPLACE….i THINK I’LL GO BACK TO CABLE. there are are no channels….

  • Darrell

    Dish service is a NO GO!!!!! Don’t do it. I had a job change from Georgia to Florida and the customer representative said that I can put account on hold and when I get it turned back on that I would be right back where I was just that my contact would extend for the months I was on hold. Nothing was said about loosing my credits or my bill going up. Now that I have called to reactivate the account they said bill will be going up that I have lost my service credits. Called to talk to a supervisor and he was rude and would not listen to anything that was said. Seems like they are there to not help or to get anything completed. So once again I’d say there network is bad as well as there customer service.

  • Jay Sigel

    Yes! I have DISH in my home as well as in my motorhome. A DVR is not recommended in the RV due to heat when stored and bouncing the hard disk when on the road, so a 210 receiver does the trick. There is a $7/month charge for the extra receiver. I bought an AVerMedia EZRecorder model 310 for about $180 at Amazon. If you connect it to USB drive or put a laptop hard drive in it, you can schedule recordings on it. I have had DISH for about 12 years, using it first in my motorhome. DISH also allows you to pay for it a month (minimum) at a time, which is useful if you only use your RV a few months a year. For $7/month, it’s not worth the hassle of reactivating it when you need it. When our local, small town cable service didn’t have any HD channels, we got DISH for the home, too. When I moved, DISH moved with me. They upgraded my 722 DVR receiver to the Hopper, an amazing device. The alternative was Comcast/Xfinity. Their DVR was subpar, working only on the main TV, not the additional TVs, so I switched back to DISH after trying Xfinity for a week and becoming very frustrated with them. So if you have a receiver in your RV and your house, you only pay extra for the extra receiver (the $7). All of your channels are the same except that the local ones provided by DISH do not work when you are out of your home area (DISH says that is due to FCC regs, but if you are a full-timer, there is an exception and they’ll give you the major networks [for a fee]).

  • Karl Krasnowsky

    I hear a lot of complaints and threats to change providers here. Which of the other providers would you claim was a better choice? I’m looking to move from Comcast because I think they are the spawn of the devil, but if I’m just trading one lousy, blood sucking provider for another it would be good to know which is considered the better not “quite as bad” choice?
    I would bet I would find similar complaints if I were to check out directv reviews.

  • Pat

    Do Not Even Ask what their pricing is to sign up for service. They will make Not one but TWO hard inquiries on your credit report guaranteed to drop your score. AT&T and Dish Network do this on purpose. Why? Because if they can drop your score it lessens your chance with other competitors, then they are your only option. You will have to use a spouse or someone else to check with any other providers of cell, internet, landline or satellite services. Don’t even consider Dish or AT&T unless your a credit masochist.

  • thomas

    dish like rest of providers are only for $$$$$ and they all suck like dogcatcowhorseratmicewhaleskunkhshit

  • The Outlaw Josey Wales

    Dish sucks so bad it is like I went back in time…..I have a 65” tv and it uses half of the screen on some shows….why? Directv does not do it nor does U-verse. Their quality sucks and I would never go back to Dish once my contract is up.

    During the install the idiot fell through the ceiling and they have yet to reimburse me for the repairs and it has been almost a year.

    After this I am going back to U-verse…..never had a problem.

  • Jared Trainque

    This is easily the worst TV service I have ever tried to watch. Im just trying to watch my local NBA teams game on tv and usually they do not even have Comcast sports net to watch the Celtics so its not even an option. Today the Celtics have a game on TNT so I figured I would be able to watch the game. DISH claims that the broadcast is unavailable in my area but Comcast has the game on TNT. Also the channels are terrible and I am constantly losing connection. I do not recommend DISH to anyone ever, I hope they go out of business to save everyone from them ruining there entertainment.

  • John

    I signed up with dish little over two years ago, usual story, package went from 80 to 130 dollar as promotional period ended, l called dish to give an opportunity to give an opportunity for me to stay with them, given new customers receive an alexia device upgraded equipment and a 200 dollar prepaid card, I called to ask what they do for existing low maintenance customers.
    Reply from dish, you can pay for upgrades to equipment and promotional rates are for new customers only….? Loyalty has now value, if you sign a contract with us you can we can reduce your bill by 20 dollars. Well that showed how relevant we were as a customer. I have now canceled service and they are asking me to pay 15 dollars to ship equipment back to them??? Once you cancel customer service tone changes emensley I am absolulty discusted I was ever a customer.
    Now moved to Hulu streaming live TV have Netflix and amazon prime best decision I ever made

  • Jon Bauman

    Lousy service. They initially let me record shows, then cut that off for Sirius XM. That was a major reason I chose Dish. Too bad.They said they would upgrade my service but erased all my recorded shows and all I got was a bigger guide screen so I could see more of their garbage channels.
    Then service stopped for no apparent reason. It said no signal. A tech from a subcontractor came out and it was fixed for about 2 days. I called him back, he promised a new receiver that weekend: nothing. Broadcasts cut out all the time so you never get uninterrupted service. I called customer service. Their useless advice was to call or chat about whatever error message showed on screen. But there is no such message – just interrupted service, with bits and pieces of each sentence so broadcasts are a total joke. Dish is a bunch of ripoff artists and crooks: They are unresponsive, expensive, and utterly worthless. I would quit but they soak you for that. This is service from a third world country. I would never recommend Dish to anyone unless I was mad at them. Dish is a 4-letter word.

  • Howard Stoner

    I’ve been a Dish customer for 20 years. Quality of the signal is near-perfect… I would say I only have picture issues for a few hours per year, at most…and those are usually due to receiver glitches/hangs, not signal quality. But I wouldn’t say their prices don’t change rapidly. They’ve raised my price 3 times in the last 12 months. I’m evaluating now whether I can “cut the cord” and move to streaming, and be satisfied with the “buffering/freezing/jumping” issues and poorer dvr service than I get from Dish. I love Dish quality, but I don’t want to pay so much.

  • jman

    Signed up because as a Direct TV customer for 15 years, My new home location is blocked by huge trees. No signal. Signed with Dish 2 months ago. Tech installed TV. Works great. Another Tech installed /Dishnet. Once finished showed me onscreen (the TV with the Hopper directly attached), with a 25 Mbps plan, I was receiving at that time 23.7 Mbps. WELL THEN… It has now dropped to a max of 1.30 to 2.40 Mbps with a low of .0256 Mbps when streaming on their equipment. I signed and was promised 25 Mbps, getting about 2 or less consistently now. That is less than 8% of what I am paying for.
    If anyone else is having issues with customer service and needs help. Consider this. If there is a contract, agreed to and signed by both parties, there is an understanding that both parties WILL HONOR their portion of the contract. If at anytime the provider does not perform at the level agreed to at the time of the contract initiation and agreement. They have breached the contract. That breach makes the whole contract null and void. You will win in court if you take them there. I have, but not with dish. NOTE: Read your contract. Yes the fine print. There will be all sorts of disclaimers you signed to. Some will matter, most will not. See Dish or the provider is considered the “EXPERT” and is assumed to know all the ins and outs of the system. So they will be held accountable if what they promised does not occur, regardless of the disclaimers. Hoping they will honor their contract for my internet. We will see.

  • Ray Boldway

    I have been a customer of dish for 12 years. I also have my elderly mother on dish services. Two days ago her
    receiver finally went out. I called dish to get it replaced. 95.00. What? Wait a minute, this is your receiver that
    we pay a monthly fee for. We have had it 12 years and it needs to be replaced. “sir, would you like to buy our
    silver protection package for 8.99 a month? That covers service (except for a trip fee and deductible).” Uh, no
    I would just like you to replace you worn out receiver so that my mother can receive programming again.
    $95.00. Okay, fine. There has to be better options than this. Poor customer service and charges to customers.
    I just wanted to warn anyone else interested in dish to beware and be aware.
    thanks.

  • Wrace

    Obviously, this is a review paid for by Dish Network. Dish has a standard policy to have their customer serivce people lie to their customers on phone calls. Dish never stands behind what they commit to on their phone calls with customers. This is a business practice and procedure. One that is clearly making Dish money at their customers expense. Dish flatly refuses to back up conversations with documented proof of call. Make sure when dealing with this company you record the phone calls! Take notes with documented time and date, the rep you spoke with and all details. These will stand up in court. Dish claims the calls are recorded but then when you say well get out your recording suddenly they don’t have one.

    • Maria Millett

      Hi Wrace, we are not paid for the review itself. Here is our Disclosure page if you have any questions. https://dev-reviewsorg.pantheon.io/about/disclosure-policies/

      While we do not have any jurisdiction over how the companies we review run, we certainly do not encourage bad customer service or lies.

  • Jillxz

    Dish has plenty of sports channels. No it doesn’t have Sunday Ticket , but not many people Iknow will subscribe to this expensive package

  • Mike Stidham

    THE WORST…DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!!!!! I was a customer for 8 years. Paid my bill on time. 6 years into my contract, I added internet. It DID NOT WORK. I called to complain several times. They ultimately admitted that their service in my area wasn’t as good as they thought it would be. When I canceled, they charged me $184.00 for ‘early cancelation fee’…I HAD BEEN WITH THEM FOR 8 YEARS!!!

    I ended uo switching to Comcast, and their Xfinity system is WAAAAAAAY better, and their internet speeds blow Dish away!!

    Don’t say you weren’t warned.

  • David Pyne

    DISH NETWORK HAS THE WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!!!! Dish Network fraudulently charged me a $240 cancellation fee even though I called to cancel the telephonic solicitation sale within the three day right to rescind. Their pricing plans following their initial two year plan are outrageously high. I calculated that I would save approximately $1,050 if I switched to Direct TV (including $300 worth of gift card incentives) over a two year period. Furthermore, I have 150 mps internet service and yet their service was super slow on my receivers and literally took several seconds to even respond whenever I selected anything and then would often hang for up to a minute, if not indefinitely, when trying to access one of my DV-R recordings. Dish Network has terrible customer service and no one was willing to discuss a mutually acceptable resolution of this issue. I had to ask multiple times to talk to a manager before they transferred me and when they finally put one on the manager was just as hostile. They are all about gouging the customer and make no effort to resolve valid customer concerns and complaints. I strongly recommend that anyone considering satellite service not consider Dish Network for all of the above reasons as they will end up being extremely disappointed with their surprisingly substandard service. I would rather pay twice as much with another satellite company that has better customer service and will never consider going back to them at any point in the future unless they refund me their fraudulent charges.

  • Roberta Banks

    I am leaving dish! One of my receivers went out and I was told that I had to pay$95 for them to come out and check what was wrong. Worse customer service EVER.

  • Carl Wolf

    Wrose company they can raise your rates anytime they want if you cancel they charge you extra before your two years are up my friend move in with me they would not let him bring his box for a second tv now they making him pay 20 till July now they raised it to 24 and he not useing the box where is this fair

  • Madman

    Dish network in saint louis area is horrible, I watched a tech do an install for me, he had to call his boss to ask a question and was on the phone having to call multiple people for over an hour. I was told 3 hours and took 7

  • Rebecca L Bazmore

    False sales

  • Rebecca Bazmore

    When ordering asked for internet TV bundle. Was lead to believe that I was going to receive the bundle package. Find out after TV installation (wasn’t informed that there would be two different installations needed), LOTS of calls (repeating myself) and agents later that internet is not available in my area. Tried to cancel account but they told me that I signed a contract. Informed them that no, I signed up for the bundle not just tv. Had to escalate call to the Office of the President to try to get a resolution. Agent tells me that she will have to listen to sales call and get back to me. I then informed her that I was going to call any and all investigative reporter that will ALSO look into this matter. I can’t even watch On Demand without the internet.

  • Laura

    Dish is crap. Went to cancel my service and I have to pay a service fee. And now I was told I have to pay another 140$ for the service. That’s wrong. I now have to pay them over 300 to cancel.

  • Dominic Papalia

    Dish sucks nothing but a bait and switch organization. I signed up for a sportsman’s package that I was supposed to be able to turn on service and off when i was not a camp they set me up . When i called to shut off service they told me that I would lose all promotions. I told them to cancel they then wacked me for 468.00 for cancellation fees. These people are the worst run……..

    • Jillxz

      I’ve read the same stuff about Directv. There are people who are happy with Dish and there are those who hate it. I know a lot of people who have Dish and they all are satisfied with Dish

  • Paul R. Banks

    It’s simply unbelievable to read a review like this then read literally every single comment that says the service is awful. Clearly “Reviews.org” is pretty much a joke.

    • Maria Millett

      Paul, we try to provide the most up to date information about each product and let everyone comment and air their grievances with companies. While we can laugh at ourselves, we take our content seriously.

  • S. Hammond

    Dish reception is really sketchy. There are frequent freeze-ups, dropouts, pixilation of the screen, and the audio stops as you miss portions of the program. I have had about 5 new DVRs from Dish (at Dish’s recommendation) to try to fix the problem, but it is persistent. Dish simply does not seem to know how to fix the problem and deliver reliable reception to their customers. Yet the cost continues to increase. Also, Dish provides no “customer loyalty discounts.” Long-term Dish customers get the shaft, as only new customers qualify for real discounts. When a loyal customer uses up their allotment of discounts, their bill can double! Mine did in one month — for exactly the same service (increased from about $62 to $124). Also, beware of Dish changing out your receiver because of poor reception; this started a new 2-year contract for me, even though it was a hardware-fault that was Dish’s responsibility. This triggers a $300 cancellation fee when you tell them you just want to be done with Dish and move on to another company. I felt duped!

  • K H

    Was a average to slightly above average service…
    Newest “upgrade” completely destroyed what ease of use the system had.
    Convoluted, and far to busy with worthless, glitchy options…
    It’s like like someone said “we think the system is a little slow and hard to learn” and dish said…” oh, you think that was bad?… hold my beer and watch this”

  • Tanea

    Dish is total crap here yet again the send reps to your home to talk about all of the good things they have well dish bundled with frontire. I was completely confusing from installation. My room cable didnt work for more then two weeks with a tech being sent out to firgure what the problem is. Then once my contract was up the tv kept freezing then it went out completely.. so i cxl the service the rep was borderline harrassing me to stay when i kept saying no. Then they leave out the most valuble info dont send back the frontire router!!! So i send everything back to dish now they cant help ne there is no number to contact the returns dept make no sense at all im never ever goimg back to dish and everyone i see with dish will here how terrible their service is

  • Debra

    The hopper has a mind of its own!! I do not care for it when IT DECIDES When to change channels to a show that it is Set to RECORD ANY WAY!! I’m in the middle of a six hr. Block of Two & A Half Men & Next thing I know The Perry Mason show that is sheduled to record at 2 pm is NOW ON MY SCREEN!!!!
    As A First Time DISH TV Customer I am quite satisfied with the Hopper 3 except that it Has A Mind All Its Own and that’s NOT WHAT I PAY FOR.
    IF I wanted to have TV That changes channels on its own I would be with DIRECTV. That’s one of their Features I was especially fond of.
    I have spoke with Technical support once already on this issue & I thought they were going to fix it on their end. But the issue IS NOT FIXED!! I AM NOT HAPPY

  • Cristina

    biggest scam artists that I know. I called to check the tv packages and they asked me a lot of information to make sure I would get a better price. One of the things was a credit card just for them to have it on file. After the phone call and 5 transactions on my bank account including 1 for 49.99 they didn’t know anything about it. Now I have to go through the bank to try to dispute those transactions.

  • Vanessa

    I have never had problems with dish until this time that I signed up for service. When I first called to inquire about prices, i asked for service in 5 rooms. I decided to go with the package that was presented only to find out that the technician came for installation with a work order for only 4 rooms. A couple of days into the contract we were having problems viewing shows in the 4th room and when I called to see what was wrong, the agent said that with the hopper and 3 joeys we could only view 3 rooms and the 4th room had to join one of the other rooms viewing. Technically that is only 3 rooms. Why cant they just be up front with customers? This has me so angry!!!!

  • James Cole

    I have two Dish Network accounts, one in Indiana and one in Florida. After returning to Indiana I have made 6 calls to Customer Service in 2 days and have had 1 home service call just to restore service from vacation pause. The trouble is I have obsolete equipment and CSR’s are not knowledgeable. They will not upgrade unless I pay extra $’s and commit to 24 months service. They will soon be history. I also have Dish in Florida with the hopper receivers and have had no problems. They will probably lose both accounts as a result of their poor business practices.

  • dasfl49

    I’m in the same boat as you. The only reason I switched to Dish was that they carried TVJapan. Now they’ve been outmaneuvered by ATT/DirectTV and dropped by TVJapan, but according to the fine print in the contract, Dish reserves the right to alter or delete programming during the period of commitment. Sucks! You choose them for specific programming, but when it’s no longer offered, you’re still bound by the contract. The early termination fee is based on $20 per remaining month on the contract. I’ve had Dish for nearly ten years, but because I upgraded my equipment last year, it started a new two-year commitment.

  • Jillxz

    I have to go to Dish America 200 to get the channels I want. I can get the channels I want on Directv Select package. I MUST have the Hallmark channel , Hallmark Movie and Mystery channels , Animal Planet , Discovery ID . I cannot get all these on Dish without going to a higher package. I’m not a sports freak , so It doesn’t bother me not to have a sports channel. I get all the sports , which is football , my favorite teams only, on Locall channels

  • Merry Doll

    Tricked by Dish. Was told weather was really not a problem anymore. Was told I was signing installation papers. Wrong. It was a 2 year contact. I’m planning on moving within the next yr. why would I sign a2 yr contact. I’m stuck !!!!!

    • Tex

      Right… It’s Dish networks fault you don’t read contracts. You weren’t tricked by Dish, you didn’t read the contract. There are several places online that state it’s 2 year contract. If you called in they tell you it’s a 2 year contract and the contract itself states it’s a 2 year contract. Don’t bad mouth Dish for your lack of fundamental understanding.

  • Ron Berg

    Sports, specifically basketball on TNT, the picture is terrible, grainy faces are not clear.

    Any ideas on how to fix

  • Dishless in FL.

    Out of the past 16 days, 8 of those were without service. “Sorry, can’t get a repairman out to you for 2 weeks”. Yes another sad dish story. Never again!!

  • Nirav Patel

    Hi this is my first review , I don’t review negative for anybody .

    I am using dish since 2014with one receiver- in February month I decided to get second with reniew contract , it don’t work for me – I returned back – I asked representative and she suggest , now still I am in new contract . Last month I decreased my serviced because I cannot afford – and this month I received double bill , I want to cancel my account but I cannot . It is manipulative language they r using when called.

    Secondly, I had three dish sitting on my roof , they cannot remove this – so I tried to remove by myself and I went on roof and I felt . It was lower roof so dint get much hurt.
    Now what I hv to do , please suggest
    Niv712patel@gmail.com

  • disqus_DmiaWN1UQZ

    The picture quality is terrible. Directv’s picture is MUCH better. Do not get me wrong I have no love for DirecTV but I just cancelled DISH because there picture quality is bad, it is like streaming off the internet which is really weird because it is suppose to be coming in off the dish but the images are choppy and laggy as well as the resolution looks more like 480 or 720 when it is suppose to be 1080. I got Internet TV today and I am saving a bundle even with the early cancellation fee. Make sure you scrutinize your channel listing when they talk you into a great deal because it will be channels you never watch. I could not watch any football or hockey and we could only stream one device at a time online. The customer service representatives are the rudest people I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with. I am glad to be done with Dish and never will come back!

  • Gene Pope

    I am very unhappy with my dish because I was promised I would get 12 months of HBO when I first signed up. After 6 months they started billing me and after phone calls I straighten it out went okay for 3 months then started billing me again and when I called and explained and ask them to listen to the conversation of when I was signed up they hung up on me after more phone calls and 1 hour on the phone fighting with these people they finally conceded that they indeed had promised me one year and was so happy to inform me that they were going to give me what they promised me in the beginning. I should not have to fight and argue for over 1 hour to get what I was promised totally ridiculous and unprofessional. In addition dish receiver is constantly freezing up and after multiple phone calls they finally replaced it with one that freezes up even more. As soon as you get into the two-year agreement they forget everything they promised. If they start giving you promises to sign up make sure to get it in writing.

  • Jillxz

    As bad as I hate ATT , I will go with Directv because I get everything I want with the Select package, except for sports , which I don’t care for. With Dish, have to go with a much higher package to get all the channels I want to see. The American 200 Pk. DirectTV has the better channel lineup.

  • Tex FORD

    After two days of trying to get some support or someone, I’m throwing in the towel. Sorry dish! Let me know when you get humans back in the work force… Direct here I come.

  • JB

    Twenty plus years of Dish at over $200 a month, now I am moving. Dish is a nightmare on this end. They sent the return box to the new owners because that is the address on file. My new home is under construction, so no address except a P.O. Box which is unacceptable to Dish. They said they would email a return label to use with my own box, but did not. Seems they are eager to soak me for equipment returnable only by their rules.

  • Cyndee

    The WORST SATELLITE PROVIDER I’VE EVER HAD! As for the SO CALLED CUSTOMER SERVICE, what a laugh! They honestly have no idea what they are talking about and say about anything to get off the phone. However, when you ask for a way to ID them specifically they conveniently aren’t allowed to give that information out. Things like their employee/associates number, title and Department specific to their title. In my opinion this prevents anyone from being responsible for information being put out there! And what is great; when you ask for the supervisor or manager they are conveniently unavailable, have left for the day, or this is a good one they get their coworker to act like a supervisor or manager knowing they will never be caught because they “aren’t allowed to provide employee ID, or anything to single them out. I always ask if they are the only person with that name in customer service and you can hear them(in the I’ve been caught sound) answer very softly and low “no, I guess not.” As soon as our contract is up, in October I believe, my husband and I have decided to go to DirectV and I suppose, for lack of better words, get shoved over the coals again by them. What can I say same ole thing just a different day and people getting the coals hot! I hope this helps someone else to make an informed decision before committing to DISH NETWORK!

  • Donny Stanley

    I can basically do everything online except cancel my service. now I’m on hold for an estimated 26 minutes to talk to someone to help me. just shows im making the right choice with moving to direct tv. so I have decided to write as many bad reviews until I get to talk to someone. they want to waste my time and make it hard I will find something constructive to do with it.

  • Ed Gage

    I completely believe that this message will fall on deaf ears, if not please contact me. Around 6 months ago I opted to renew my contract for two years. When I asked rep about upgrading my equiptment to the “NEW” version of Dish equiptment including voice remote the rep flatly refused. At that point I should have dropped Dish for the totally unfriendly business practice of not providing an upgrade for a long time steady customer who had other options on the Satellite market. I had to make a decision to either drop Dish for their unfriendly business position or deal with disruption of service and contact DirectTV. So now on a weekly basis I get updates talking about how great the new features of Dish including voice remote which I wanted etc. I called Dish yesterday and was requesting the voice remote and was told how much it would cost me including shipping even though I had re-upped for a trap ($200 to send back your outdated equiptment) contract. I am just pretty disgusted with corporate approach to business that if you have a customer by the balls why be nice to them. I actually recommended to a new neighbor Dish as a provider. I sent off the $100 coupon for referrals and never received acknowledgement for Dish….Lots of come ons and promos…no backup. I will be uploading this complaint to the customer complaint blog. Your rep was nice yesterday but supervisor who dealt with my request was adjunct and stiff. Not who I want running my business. I think the $200 ridiculous penalty by Dish for early termination might be worth it in light of the new DirectTv offers which are way below your prices. I basically like Dish and its features. Your treatment of long time customers is deplorable and I will no longer recommend your business to anyone! Ed Gage Texas

  • SpokanePatriot

    Dish is pure, unadulterated, crap in terms of viewing experience. If you operate two TVs, simultaneously, the second tv is a slave to the master tv. While viewing the second tv, it’s channel automatically changes causing its view to enter an immediate rage. It’s stupid. It’s simply bad software design, when compared to Direct TV or COMCAST Infinity! It’s full on shock when your channel is changed and you then have to figure out how to get your program back. Then they tell you that you are locked in for two years because you didn’t recognize the problem before the installer left. Don’t get dish unless you’re a single tv viewer.

  • stephanie

    dish is the WORST cable company I ever had, thanks to them I paid Comcast the money I owe and have great internet/cable now. I had dish prior to moving, when I moved they came and hooked up the dish and all that and the rest of the day it was ok but the day after up to 3 weeks after the day I moved I had no signal, when I called to have someone come out and put it on the pole ( because they installed the satelight sitting on the ground facing my apartment building) they told me I than had to contact another company to mark the ground where the pole will go, I did not have to do this when the initial service was installed at my previous address, even still I canceled that apointment because I had set up a time for Comcast to come install there service, however I couldn’t keep the date with Comcast, had to push it bck a few more weeks, so until yjan I called dish back told them im still having issues lets make another appointment for someone to come, they than told me it was $95 fee to have a technician come out and fix there shit, that I pay faithfully every month, I don’t know about anyone eles but who would think that’s even ok?, than they told me well if I sign up for the protection plan another $9 a month than it would only cost $10 to have someone come out and see whats wrong… I had them for a total of 1 full month with no tv than I went to Comcast… I don’t know about anyone eles, but to have to pay extra over what you pay a month to have someone come out and fix there problem is ridiculous!!! get it together dish!!!

  • Aarika

    DO NOT GET DISH NETWORK!!!!! I wish I had read these reviews before signing up for Dish Network! First of all a 2-4 hour install took 9 hours to complete! the technician left trash scattered all over my house and property and tracked dirt and mud all throughout my house! I do not have internet at my home so 95% of the services I am paying for are apparently worthless which when I called to sign up I told them I would not have any internet at my home and it was not disclosed to me that my boxes wouldn’t do the majority of the things it was supposed to do including searching for particular programing which is a feature that would be really nice seeing how their guide is the most impossible and most confusing thing I have ever seen in my life!! I have had this service for 5 days! I have read the information booklet they left for me front to back numerous times trying to figure out how to use this STUPID system and have failed! I called today to tell them to forget it and they could just cancel my account and come get their equipment and I was informed that there is no return policy and unless I want to pay the early termination fee which is $20 dollars a month for the remainder of my 2 year contract equaling out to $480 plus another $117 dollars for my first month of service which I have only used 5 days of! THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH WHEN IT COMES TO CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SATISFACTION! Do yourself a favor, learn from my mistake and apparently everyone else’s below and pick a different provider!!

  • Kat

    Dishnetwork Sucks!!!! I moved to a different city 2 hours away and took my Dish network with me. A technician came out and said they couldn’t get a signal and then cancelled my account. I waited a a box to return the equipment except they sent the box to the wrong address. Then they sent me a email saying to return the equipment or pay fees by July 14. Today is only the 21 of June and this morning they stole my whole pay check

  • dillpickle54

    Absolutely the worst company to deal with. Tried to call customer service this morning and of course long wait times so I scheduled 9:17 call back but got no call back. Called back again and scheduled a 9:40 call back and guess what? No one called me back. My DISH box no longer working and can’t even get through to customer service!!! I seriously don’t know how this company stays in business however look at their current numbers and stock value….that says it all. The Feds need to start regulating these scam companies and force them to provide the services advertised and on-going support we ALL pay dearly for!

  • dillpickle54

    How in the world does DISH rate 4.5 stars is what I want to know!!!!!!!!!!! Possibly the worst customer support of any US based company and the Feds should investigate for defrauding customers by poor service, out of date hardware and ignoring customers calls when systems and hardware do not work. I pay my monthly bill but get no reliable service…that’s the definition of fraud. Call wait times are long and I’ve place two call back requests with HOTLINE and no one ever calls you back. You simply CANNOT reach anyone at DISH and corporate number return you to the same HOTLINE for service.

  • Kenneth Meyers

    I don’t understand all the bad reviews of Dish. I have been a customer since 2014 and have had no issues except that during a heavy thunderstorm the service is blocked but I was aware of that going in. I can’t review customer service because I have had no equipment or programming problems. The price of service was not increased during the first 2 years. Of course since then the rate has periodically increased. Because the cost was getting too hight I checked for alternate programming and found that they now offer a skinny package with optional add-ons. I chose the basic package with the news add-on and now have everything I need at half the price. I did this on the Dish web site and was immediately issued a prorated credit for the rest of the month. And the Hopper DVR really is the best in the industry (I have also used DirecTV and Comcast)

  • michelle

    Okay first off I would like to say I have had dish in the past and they were actually good, so I had them reinstalled 6 months ago. Worst mistake ever. I do not have internet at my home so 95% of the services I am paying for are apparently worthless which when I called to sign up I told them I would not have any internet at my home and it was not disclosed to me that my boxes wouldn’t do the majority of the things it was supposed to do . Nor did i recieve the Alexia that I was supposed to. So the voice remote, on demand and much more didn’t work without internet. Not even a month into having them installed the volume in my hopper started messing up, like the programming wasn’t catching up with the tv. they told me that it had to be the tv. (which was brand new at the time) Absolutely the worst company to deal with. Other than the volume, i had no isues until friday 6/16/18. Tried to call customer service, which I sat on hold for an hour to schedule a technician, which would be a week later. 6/23/18 paid spectrum the money I owed and have great internet/cable now. When I called to cancel service they told me alot of bull. 5 days of calling 5x a day waiting 25 minutes per call to get them to disconnect service, they finally done it. I was informed that there is no return policy and unless I want to pay the early termination fee which is $20 dollars a month for the remainder of my 2 year contract equaling out to $380. I also got an email saying “We’re writing to confirm cancellation of your DISH service, effective 06/27/2018. In accordance with the terms of your contract, a return fee has been charged to your DISH account for each box required to return your equipment. We appreciate your business and hope you’ll consider DISH again in the future.” They are defintely not worth the hassle.

  • Rachel

    The WORST cable and internet AND customer service I’ve ever experienced. The internet started off being so slow it might as well not be working. One day, it actually stopped working and I called probably 5 times and no one came out to fix the problem for almost a MONTH! I even talked with a supervisor who acted like it wasn’t his problem. The female I talked to on the phone was rude and could also care less. It is problem after problem with this company. Comcast is so much better and I would recommend them.

  • Jaxon Bowen

    I was a Direct TV customer for several decades. The bill went up and up. When we went on a fixed income I called Direct T.V to see if they could help us lower our monthly fee. I quickly learned that it wasn’t going to be possible! I got no where with a high pitched sales gal that didn’t care what my problem was. So..,I dropped them and called. DISH, who actually cared and helped me find a new package. They even gave me a package that didn’t have a channel we watched a lot, with no extra fee! Direct TV then proceeded to call and call offering me this and that…actually it became noxious. They just did not get it at all. So…thank you DISH for excellent customer service and saving me $. Couldn’t be happier,

  • Steve Hanson

    My experience with Dish has been abysmal and would advise all to avoid if possible. I dislike Xfinity’s corporate machine and pricing but at least they provide the product you pay for and seem to make some effort to provide customer service. Worst first…trying to cancel my service I can only do it over the phone. On the phone for 3 hours and still not disconnected (the only qualifier is that it was a Saturday that I had to call). Twice I’ve informed them that I need to cancel my deceased father’s service and each time they won’t take my phone number to call back and disconnect me. I’ve been trying for 3 hours to cancel my dad’s service. Even after asking repeatedly to take my number to call me back if we got disconnected. Other experiences, my parent’s service was set up with all types of default dvr recordings that made it unusable for my elderly parents. When we vacationed here and tried to watch a quadrennial sports event with a room full of people we ended up with a broken signal and missed most of the event. My take home: Dish cares more about profits then customer service and their product is not as reliable as other providers.

  • Dave

    Equipment is excellent when installed properly. However, there is nothing that the founder, Charlie Ergen, will do to stand behind his employees. Ride em hard and put them up wet. -coming from a 4year and 22time employee of the month.

  • Barry Brandt

    Hopper is doing something new that I hate. The guide won’t allow you to create record events for certain movies – only allows you to purchase an SD or HD version of the movie – happens on premium (HBO) and non-premium channels (FX, IFC, and Bravo). No rhyme or reason to it – seems almost random. We called Dish and they said this was a new “feature”. One of the examples was an old movie – Total Recall – the only way we could record it was to wait until it started playing and hit record while viewing the movie – unable to use the guide to record this OLD movie. So, there are legit channels that I have paid for but am unable to use the guide to setup a recording event for some (not all) of the shows – unless I want to spend $8 to $10

  • Robert

    Do not deal with theses thieves!!!!! Awful service!! Did not work during storms!! Internet is stupid slow!!! Will not honor their 30 day contract offer!!! Want $480 for 2 1/2 weeks

    • Lee Ann

      Why is CHAT offered if it doesn’t work? I don’t want to personally talk to the people that answer the phone because they are rude and scripted. This is the most frustrating website/company to deal with. I canceled my service and don’t miss them at all.

  • Melissa Kooyman

    Dude,you forgot to mention Netflix…Does not work. DVR freezes. Slow reaction to watch a show…ya think it’s frozen, it takes so long. AND NETFLIX won’t get past the ‘whos watching’page….I like NETFLIX. DISH is kinda sucky.