Writing is like being able to put life into a snow globe. It takes the things that are too big and scary and reduces them into a form that I can put away when I want and look at from a distance. It also takes all that’s good in life and captures it into something I can take out when I want and look at close up and keep forever. It makes the bad things into something I can hold…and the good things into something I can hold onto. Both help so much that I need that little souvenir of life.

Thursday, January 15, 2015

The Bad Breakup

In the beginning, he couldn’t do enough for me. But things changed quickly enough. When I finally decided to end things, I was nice about it. “You’re just too much for me,” I said. The truth was I was fed up and tapped out. I was ready to move on. The DISH Satellite rep didn’t take it so well.

He begged me to take them back. Things would be different this time! He would change my plan! When I said no, he offered to leave my plan the way it was but lower the cost even more. That would have been fine if he’d done that when I called and asked for a better deal several times. But, like an abusive spouse, he was only interested in doing what I needed when it was a last-ditch effort to keep me from leaving. He didn’t care about my satisfaction. He only wanted to reel me back in.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “but it’s too late.” He argued so much, it took up all my allotted time. I had to hang up and call the next day. “Really,” I said. “I’ve found someone else and I want out.”

That was truly when DISH Network became the bad breaker-uppers of the television world. If that was the case, they wanted their stuff back, then. Not the dish, because they’re so nice, but everything else. And they didn’t want me dropping it off at their office, either. I could just mail it all back. At my expense.

“Why can’t I just drop it off?” I asked.

“It’s for your protection,” the rep said, huffily. “We might lose it.” I laughed so hard, he got mad. They also prorated the days. I had tried to cancel before my new billing cycle had started, but the delay they caused added another day to it.

Then, like television mafioso, they began calling me periodically and leaving electronic semi-threats proactively warning me I’d better send ALL of it back when I got the packing material they sent, and I’d better do it right, because they have my credit card on file! So there!

I've been free for a while, and I couldn’t be happier. I recently heard from a friend who was trying to get out of her relationship with DISH, too. She was having a similar experience.

Cads. They never change.
In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you. ~ Buddha


13 comments:

  1. Wow! I'm glad you're rid of them. Their customer service is horrible. Perhaps you could write a letter to one of the head muckety-mucks?

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  2. Places like that never let you know how to locate the head muckety-mucks. I did post on their Facebook site a few times, though, and was contacted by one of their head guys about what they might be able to do for me if only I would contact them privately rather than publicly. Again, it was like being bought off by the TV mafia. I don't like sneakiness.

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  3. Every time AT&T ups my rates, I tell them I'm leaving, and guess what? They give me a better deal. Same thing happened with the trash company. As long as there are other providers, there's a good chance of rates being reduced. What a shame the electric, gas, and water companies have no competition.

    Pat
    Critter Alley

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    1. Same thing with DISH, Pat. But every time they offer me a "deal," what goes through my mind isn't what a great deal I'm getting, but how bad my deal must have been before. Trash, too? Really? I'll have to try that, thanks!

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  4. They keep not sending me a bill! Ever since we added the internet last July, they can't get their act together. They switched me to paperless billing without telling me. If I don't get a bill, I don't pay it. Why would I? I don't know it's due. So after calling them to ask when I was getting my bill, and finding out that I wasn't getting it anymore, I paid by credit card because my payment was due. Next month, they sent me a photocopy of the amount due. Not a regular bill with the envelope and statement stub. I called again, and a dude looked up my account and said I had it set to paperless billing. AS IF I EVEN KNOW HOW TO DO THAT!

    For a couple months, I got the bill. JUST TODAY, in fact, I opened my bill and saw that I owe for this month and LAST MONTH. For which I never got a bill.

    I'd break up with DISH, but no other suitors can find my house and give me what I need.

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    1. I stream now and like it quite a lot more than I thought I would. And I hate paperless, too. I found out with my old insurance company that auto-pay is the worst when you cancel, because the only thing they aren't eager to cancel is access to your account.

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  5. Hari OM
    Ah, as in life so in telly-land, I chose to remain single.

    When I moved to UK and began setting up home last year, it nearly drove me to reverse the process, trying to get phone, i'net, utilities up and running. Australia is so straightforward (okay some would say 'behind the times') in that it has minimum 'suitors' on anything and paper bills and paying by cash is still an acceptable method. Sigh..... so glad you managed out of that abusive connection! YAM xx

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    1. I've found there is much more to being single than we are given to believe. And a few trustworthy 'suitors' are worth dozens of sneaky, underhanded ones!

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  6. Same issue here. Had to call five people to get results.

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  7. So glad you got DISH-connected, Tammy. I hate sneakiness too. Sneakiness on anyone's part will take me down the break-up path with them very quickly. Absolutely love the quote, though -- and in the end, those three things are what matters.

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  8. DISH-connected. Hee hee! Yes, the older I get, the more I realize that anything of real value is owned upfront. That Buddha was a pretty cool guy, huh?

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  9. Wow. lol We have DISH, but we haven't had any trouble so no plans to switch. When/if we do, I'll warn the hubster of your woes.

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