Does Charlie Care?
This week it is possible that Dish Network lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue if not more, all due to a mistake on the Dish Network website. This mistake made the $10 a month Platinum HD add on package available for free to anyone who subscribed to a Dish HD package.
On August 1st graphics appeared on Dish Networks website that read as follows:
“Special Bonus! PlatinumHD Included FREE with any HD Package!”
We first reported about this here in The Satellite Dish on Monday and yesterday we reported that Dish updated their website to change the offer for new customers only. However last night I was contacted by a number readers notifying me that the “Free with any HD Package” wording was still on the website and is still being shown to everyone.
As I write this, it has been 5 days since the new promotion has gone online and yet the mistake remains. Nowhere in that graphic is any mention that this offer is for new customers only. Dish Network had 5 days to make the corrections to their website but have only corrected some of the pages it appears on not all of them.
Now I am not a lawyer but it my belief that Dish Network should honor what is still being advertised on their website.
Hundreds of people reported online that they were able to drop their bills down $10 a month due to this mistake online since Saturday. However some are starting to report that they are getting denied when requesting the free Platinum package.
Last night I am told that CSR’s were told to stop giving the Platinum HD package to existing customers. In addition Dish Network put out a memo to employees explaining that they always have offers for new customers that existing customers are not eligible for. (Umm Dish… that is not what your website STILL says as of 10:30am ET…)
In addition Dish Network told employees that customer satisfaction is not determined by giving price breaks to existing customer, instead customer satisfaction is determined by educating customers and managing their expectations. No I am not kidding.
So who is to blame for all of this? I fear some young person fresh out of college will get the axe for this for not properly updating the website. But the blame should not go to the low man on the totem pole it should go to the person who is charge of this operation. I have never seen such a poorly executed promotion that looked like it was launched with no thought.
If I were a shareholder of Dish Network (and I am not), a financial analyst, or a reporter I would be looking into this one, asking questions and reporting on it. Something is very broken at Dish Network and it needs to be fixed. As I said it in the opening of this blog Dish is possibly losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue if not more. This loss is not due to a bad website update, this loss is due to poor corporate management.
Charlie needs to take a look at what’s happening at his company and take some immediate action. The problem is not the person updating the website the problem lies much higher then that, the question now is does Charlie Care?
Dish Sues Disney
If Charlie Ergen does not have enough going on he’s filed another lawsuit, this one against The Walt Disney Company. Dish Network claims that Disney has violated a most favored nations clause in its contract by giving Comcast and DirecTV better deals on ESPN Classic and ESPNU.
Dish wants at least 1 million dollars from ESPN.
Since the news of this broke late last night I have received emails from readers asking me if Dish customers were in any danger of losing any of their Disney owned channels such as ESPN. From my standpoint the answer to that question is no, no programming should be affected. This is a small lawsuit for a million dollars; this is something I see getting resolved quickly. (And I hope its resolved quickly as a lot of folks are waiting for Dish to add ESPNU in HD in time for football season.)
Logo commented:
Viacom is launching an HD feed soon
njjeff commented:
LOGO is not sent out in HD anywhere yet it is listed as an HD channel in the Platinum package. I pointed this out to DISH several times
fasteddie commented:
thanks for saving $ 120.00 per year
you are a good man
Now on U-Verse commented:
Yet 2 more reasons why I bolted Dish Network!
DTV commented:
HD is NOT the broadcast mandate. The mandate is DIGITAL, which means both SD and/or HD. And even then, the mandate only applies to OVER THE AIR broadcasting, NOT cable or satellite (where everything except C-Band has been digital from the start). Cable is launching digital service voluntarily in order to provide more than just the 124 channel maximum that was available with analog so they can compete with Satellite that has been digital all along and provide services like HD and VOD. All stations are not moving to HD, many are just launching HD simulcast feeds so viewers can see whataver HD content they do have in HD now. It will be a LONG time before all cable stations discontinue their SD feeds as most cable and satellite providers are unwilling to downconvert HD only channels for their SD only customers (which are still in the majority), or swap out their larger supply of SD only settops and replace them with more expensive HD capable settops to do the downconversion on the customer's end. (Not to mention many HD settops don't even come with RF outputs that many customers still need as prior to 2000, unless you purchased a TV with a built in stereo decoder, they didn't come with RCA inputs)
Reaper commented:
KSkeptic: The all digital mandate does not mean all HD. All HD is digital, but not all digital is HD - a 480i SD signal can still be digital.
This is the biggest misconception to come out of the digital transition...
KSkeptic commented:
How about a different line of reasoning.
HD is the "broadcast" mandate now, why should cable or satellite charge more for either?
Local broadcaster had to pay the upgrade costs out of pocket, but cable and satellite get to charge subscribers for the upgrade?
Sure equipment upgrade costs, but in the long run all stations are moving to HD anyway.
I for one feel ripped off...
phrelin commented:
As a 21 year Echostar customer (started in 1988 with C-band using Echostar equipment) and someone who has had "Platinum" since before the "metals" packages began, I was happy that using the online chat a CSR took of the charge. Now that Turbo appears not to be offered, Platinum should be restructured into other packages anyway.
dishnet commented:
Does Charlie care?? your column should read does dishnetwork care. charlie does not even know there IS a website.... and you all just wait, they will be boasting about this new great hd deal on the next charlie chat....
also you never mentioned that dishabsolute subscribers Get the platinum channels..but not the gold channels it was combined with..
Kheldar commented:
The HD Programming page now has a footnote: "3 = Offer available to new customers only" connected to the "Special Bonus".
john commented:
The Dish web site (as of 12:32 p.m. EDT 8/5) does not even list Platinum as an available package on the HD programming packages page. It's not at all clear that this fiasco was intended as a promotion or a step on the way to eliminating the package all together and integrating it with the other HD add-on packs.
