Here is a recap of the events of last Thursday, July 12, as related to the unauthorized Dish charge of $671.42 on that day (all times are local PST):
11:17 AM - I received a call from "Ajay" who claimed he was from Dish Network. The caller ID indicated that he was calling from Dish Network, 800/333-3474. I told him we are on the do not call registry and hung up.
11:18 AM - Ajay called again and explained that he was not trying to sell anything, that the call was to address a potential service problem with my Dish account. He explained that Dish was reorienting the oribitals of various satellites, and that this could affect my Dish signal within a few weeks. He stated that Dish may need to replace my receiver and that he needed to verify some information regarding my current receiver.
Concurrently, I tried to log in to my Dish on-line account, but it appears that the password had changed -- I had to log in using my 4-digit PIN. After he stated my receiver model and service/email addresses, I felt comfortable that this was a legitimate call. He asked me to turn on my TV and read a number from the diagnostic menu. Once this was verified with his records, he told me that a replacement receiver would be mailed to me in 4-5 days and that I should return my existing receiver in the shipping box with an enclosed return mailing label. Then he told me that there would be a $99 security deposit charged to my account which would be credited after 12 months. I objected to this and told him that I will not accept any such charge. I asked him to explain what "security" they are trying to ensure. At that point he suggested that I talk with his supervisor, and Mr. Rahul Sharma joined the call. Rahul said he was a "floor supervisor" in the "Equipment & Technical Department" at Dish Network in "Michigan, Detroit" and that I would lose my TV signal if the replacement order was not processed. I told him that I was not willing to pay the security deposit that Ajay referenced, that it did not make sense to me when the issue was apparently Dish's problem. He said he understood, and that the security deposit would be refunded in 12 months. In addition, he said that they would offer a $5-$10 monthly service credit over the 12 month period. I still objected, explaining to him that I may be canceling my Dish service in the near future since Dish has dropped AMC and IFC channels. I told him that I did not want to enter into any long term commitment with Dish at that time. Furthermore, I told him that I would not authorize any charge unless I was given a copy of all terms and conditions related to the charge. Initially he objected but then agreed to send me an email with details of the charge. I confirmed with him that this would be done before I made any type of commitment regarding the receiver replacement and associated security deposit. He agreed, and told me to expect the email within one hour, and he gave me his call back number for me to contact him once I had reviewed the email (313/887-5222). He also provided his Dish ID, "MRM".
11:30 AM (approx.) - I contacted Dish via on-line chat. I told the representative that there were 2 issues -- (1) problems I was having logging into my account, and (2) the legitimacy of the calls from Ajay/Rahul. The representative apparently fixed the log in problem, and first told me that they had no record of the receiver replacement program. I called Rahul at the number he provided and told him this. He said that I need to proceed with the transaction otherwise I would lose the Dish signal. The on-line rep asked if he was from the "EVT" or "ERT" departments, and Rahul reconfirmed that he was with neither department -- he said that there were various departments and that the chat rep was probably with customer service. He said customer service did not know anything about this and that he had all my account information and that he was with the Equipment & Technical Department that is handling the issue for Dish. After I communicated this to the on-line rep, they stated that this could be legitimate, but that it should be escalated to the Executive Resolution Team (ERT). I asked the ERT on-line rep if we could talk over the phone and she said that it was not possible because she was on chat duty. She gave me her number (303/942-8605) and said that I could call and talk with another ERT rep.
12:17 PM - I called the ERT and asked for the on-line chat rep, but was told that she was unavailable. Another rep was provided to me (perhaps Adrian?). I explained all of this to him and he said there is no such program for receiver replacement and that this was probably a scam. I asked him if we could do a conference call with Rahul because I was getting very confused. He agreed. We added Rahul to the call and Rahul was adamant. However, Adrian was firm that nothing needs to be done at this time. We both told Rahul that nothing is authorized and his request to ship a new receiver and charge a security deposit is completely rejected. We ended the call with Rahul based on his acceptance of the decision and I continued with Adrian to discuss the online access problems that I was having -- it happened a few more times. He said he would disable the on-line account and that I would have to recreate it. I also asked Adrian why Dish provides private customer information to these marketing types, he had no explanation.
6:55 PM - I saw that two emails had been sent to me at 5:51 PM indicating that I had ordered equipment from Dish and that a payment had been processed. Both emails came from
[email protected]. I was furious.
6:59 PM - I logged in to my credit card account and saw the $671.42 "one-time" charge from Dish. I went to the online Dish account and was able to log in (again using the 4-digit PIN and not the password). Apparently the online account had not been disabled as was promised. I saw that the charge had been posted there as well. I called the ERT and asked for Adrian and was told that he wasn't available but that the current rep could assist me. He assured me that the charge would be reversed in 3-5 days. I was very upset that the charge is instantaneous but that a reversal would take so long.
7:06 PM - I sent my first email to Dish disputing the charge and expressing my anxiety about the "fraud and felony theft."
7:12 PM - I sent my second email to Dish disputing the charge and expressing my anxiety about the "fraud and felony theft."
7:17 PM - I contacted my credit card company and told them that this transaction was fraudulent. They said nothing could be done until the pending authorization turned into an actual charge, and the fraud department told me that it would be best to resolve this with Dish since I receive recurring charges from Dish. They also suggested that I file a police report.