So ludicrous - it is almost funny

[Steely]

I called the internet satellite company today to cancel. They tell me that they will need their stuff back. I am like - yea - the modem, right?
"Yes and the radio transmitters."
"Where the heck are the radio transmitters?"
"They are in satellite dish on the roof."

Silence on my part before I absolute lose it..................

"You want me to climb on my TWO story roof and disassemble radio transmitters from a satellite dish?"
"Yes, or they will be a 100.00 charge. We send a manual on how to do it."
"A manual?"
"Yes, it will be there in 7 days."
" I am moving in THREE days - and you want me to get a ladder, climb to the top of my roof and pull transmitters out of something that is emitting electricity!!!! And, oh not fall off the roof in the process??"

OMG - Unbelievable. I have gotten over being mad to being slightly amused - but there is still NO way I am climbing on my roof to do that.
His words were "well anyone can do it!"....
"Really??? Not me!!! And if I did fall, you would be getting the hospital bill, and the lawsuit buddy."

 

[AnnieO]

OH.MY.WOW.

What do they do when someone doesn't send them back? Charge them? AND go get them?

Sheesh.

 

[busywend]

I thought the satellite dished were just left behind in the hopes that the next person will want to hook them up. Geesh! I hope I do not have to climb my roof - cause I am not doing it either!

 

[Shari]

Luckily, mine is in the yard. But sheesh.

 

[GoingNorth]

I have two of the suckers on the back of my house. I have cable. I've never had satellite in the years I've lived up here. I'm not going up there to retrieve them. I called the satellite provider to ask them to send someone out to get the damned things.

They told me they don't do that unless one is terminating service. Helloooo? I've NEVER had service.

 

[donna723]

I think if you just have the satellite TV you can just leave the dish and take the receiver with you but I'm not sure about how it is if you get your internet through them too. That's a whole separate system, isn't it? I have my TV through them but when I first got internet I checked with them and it was ungodly expensive! They told me that it's a separate dish from the TV dish and you have to purchase the equipment instead of renting/leasing it. As long as my satellite dish is leased for a few $$'s a month, they will fix it if something goes wrong. If I owned it, I would have to pay for repairs.

These are the same people who gave me some wild story when I called to find out why my bill was so high! I get my bill by email and it's not itemized, just the total amount. I asked the woman what part of the charges were and she said, "That's for the remote TV hookup in your RV!" OMG!! I don't HAVE an RV! I've NEVER had an RV!! I barely have an 11 year old Kia, much less an RV! They had been charging me for that for months! When I didn't get the promised bill credit I called again and was told that she was wrong, the extra charges were for something else entirely! And if you ask to speak to a supervisor, they will tell you that there isn't one and that there is no one in authority over THEM!!

 

[DDD]

Honestly I am SO sick of how businesses run in these times. Thank heavens I don't have any "dish on the roof" problems but really it's amazing how often I run into problems with stuff that shouldn't be a problem. For example I dropped the telephone company at work and went for the cable package to save money. The telephone company gave me my final bill total which I promptly sent. Next month I get a bill for almost forty bucks. I call and they tell me "oh that's not us that's xyz so call them". I still don't know who to H xyz is but I call them and the woman tells me we will credit that amount back to your telephone account. Hmmmmmm. Today I get a credit balance statement from the telephone company. I call customer service and guess what??? they no longer have customer service reps! I'm instructed to use their web site. I wonder how many hours of my time it will take to get back my almost forty bucks. It's crazy! NO I would not go on the roof if I were still twenty. Eh, Gods! DDD

 

[KTMom91]

I would have lots to say about that. And very little of it would be nice. There is no way on this earth I would put myself on a rooftop.

 

[Steely]

Yes this is INTERNET satellite - because where I live we don't have cable.

This phone conversation was so CRAZY - I almost was waiting for the hidden camera I was so shocked. I talked (yelled at) some supervisor - little he could do "he says".

I am STILL not going on my roof, even if I wanted to I couldn't - for gods sake who has a 2 story ladder on hand? So he says I will be billed 100.00. Um, not paying it - period. We will have to duke it out.

Now the TV Satellite company is another good story. I cancelled them for this Friday, and the "accidentally" cancelled me on the day I called. OOPS. NOT. So I called to have them give me back my TV service for 4 more days, and they claim "they can't fix it and they will have to send a technician which will take up to 10 days." OMG!!! On the bright side at least they aren't making me take my dish down??? LOL

Like you guys - I am SO over businesses these days - it is UNBELIEVABLE.........It has drained me cancelling and restarting services as much as packing has - GRRRR.

 

[keista]

After reading this, I am SOOOOOOOOOOO glad I didn't switch to satellite to try and save a few bucks. The phone company has been making those packages more and more appealing, but there's a reason I dumped them years ago and switched to Vonage, and it wasn't just money.

 

[HaoZi]

Shoot it down then tell them they can collect it from where it landed.

 

[donna723]

My internet is through the phone company and it still has all kinds of problems. Every time it storms my internet goes in and out for the next day or so. I have a modem and when the first one I had faded out and died, it took them FIVE DAYS to "overnight" me another modem! I was without my internet for five whole days! Thought I was gonna die!!! Couldn't access my bank records, couldn't pay the bills that I had due because I couldn't access my email. And they had charged me $14 extra to have it "overnighted"! The phone company said they couldn't credit the $14, I would have to get it refunded from UPS since it was their fault! UPS, of course, laughed hysterically, and told me, between snickers, that they didn't do that!

I've had the Directv people try to get me to do some do-it-yourself manuvers too but they've never asked me to climb up on my roof! The most frustrating thing that happened was when one of the dogs stepped on the remote and suddenly there was nothing but static! And I had no idea what buttons she had stepped on so I could un-do whatever she did! I spent an hour and a half on the phone with a service person trying all different things before I finally got the TV reception back! I had one dish on the roof but when I got a new TV I had to have a different dish installed to get the HD programming. This one is bigger and heavier and they put it on a pole next to the house. And I remember the installer telling me then that there was virtually nothing that the customer could do to the dish itself. Anything it needed would have to be done by one of their technicians. I would assume that it would be the same way with the dish for satellite internet. I can't believe they have the nerve to tell you that you have to do this yourself! What if you were 90 years old or in a wheel chair or an invalid!

 

[Hound dog]

Hmm. We had no "radio transmitters" on ours. I'd know.......it's right next to the front porch. Nor did anyone have to come collect anything. They just stopped the service, no issue. Odd.

husband did return the box thing though.

No way I'd do anything like that. I'd tell em they put the darn thing there THEY can retrieve it or do without. And I also wouldn't pay for the darn things. You're not trying to keep them, you're just not going to do their job and retrieve them. ugh If it's so important for them to get that sort of thing back put it where people can get to it and MENTION that when people sign up, for pete's sake.

Customer service has went to total hades.

 

[witzend]

When we moved in to our house, we got the same satellite company that the lady before us had. They had an empty box delivered on the doorstep and she was supposed to have it off the roof for them. Then the guy came and "installed" the dish which was already there. IOW, he called them and told them to switch the service to me. I mailed them back an empty box with HER return info on it.

It's a scam, but they will absolutely bill you if you signed the contract.

 

[Steely]

Yea wits that is exactly it....a scam!