Dish Tailgater Customer Service Issue

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by TURBS

I shut my receiver off in October and have it turned back on in April.
No fuss no muss



2008 2500hd Duramax
2015 Columbus 320RS
2016 nights camped "0"
2015 nights camped "34"

Now go try to turn it on again for January ONLY, then off. Then turn it on for April, then back off in May, then on in June for 2 months, then off in August.

Free cold beer if you can make that happen smoothly!

[Justkroohsn]

If you take your receiver from home and say nothing to Dish you should get your home network channels. We do it every year from NY to TX. That is with a regular satellite dish on the roof of the house. Don't know about tailgater but it seems like it should work the same way.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

Now go try to turn it on again for January ONLY, then off. Then turn it on for April, then back off in May, then on in June for 2 months, then off in August.

Free cold beer if you can make that happen smoothly!

How much beer are we talking?
Might be worth the effort! [emoji16]

[D_B Travelers]

We have Dish at home, actually dropped Verizon Fios and picked up Dish so we could just add the Tailgater for $7 a month. The only complaint I have is when we don't use the receiver in the TT for a month or so, it doesn't get the updates and I have to call customer service in Bangladesh. I have finally gotten where I start off telling them to forget their scripted crap, listen to what I am telling them, and to just send an update to my receiver. Most of the time now, they figure out that I know more about my issue than they do, and send the update which then restores my channels after about 15 minutes. If we use it daily or often, then it keeps receiving the updates and isn't an issue when we hook up for a night. Some trouble, but it is nice to get your regular channels while on the road.

[CWSWine]

Maybe I'm just having trouble under standing and I need to get right before I sign a 2 year contract.

1. I own the 211Z receiver that controls the tailgater dish and has the setup for automatic alignment of my tailgater dish. Will this work at my home working with the standard home dish system or will it only work with the tailgater system?

2. Can you use the home receivers type with the tailgater and will it setup and align the tailgate dish?

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by CWSWine

Maybe I'm just having trouble under standing and I need to get right before I sign a 2 year contract.

1. I own the 211Z receiver that controls the tailgater dish and has the setup for automatic alignment of my tailgater dish. Will this work at my home working with the standard home dish system or will it only work with the tailgater system?

2. Can you use the home receivers type with the tailgater and will it setup and align the tailgate dish?

1) yes both
2) depends on your home receiver model

[dicky1243]

Originally Posted by hrqueen

Hello: First time traveling in our 5th wheel. Bought the Tailgater at the RV dealership - hooked it up ok - called talked to them about what it was - call in only to renew the billing - month by month. You prepay the month - great - but they want to keep billing us when we don't want the service - I have called - talked to a supervisor - sent emails - but it seems their billing cycle does not recognize that type of no contracts or commitments type service.
We paid - used it for a month. Then didn't use for a couple of weeks. Called to restart - used it for a month. Had to call told them we didn't need after that month but we are still being billed.
Wrote the email because it seems so hard to talk to them about this???
Has anyone else had this problem? Our service is disconnected and we want to be able to use this in the future (when we want it) but they insist that we owe them .....
Thanks!

We have a regular Dish account and we are full timers when we won't be using it we call and put it on hold it cost 5 dollars/mo.
we use a 1000.2 dish on tri-pod i set it up in about 20mins time. I bought a zip code book off a dish installer and the set numbers are better than the ones that come up on point your dish screen.

[NMWildcat]

I think we are all in agreement about every cable company being hard to work with and all are over priced.

After trying all the major satellite companies over several years we decided that we had the best luck and options with Dish. And to make it easy on ourselves we use Dish at home and in the RV to avoid the pay as you go nightmare. Love the Tailgater. We leave the 211k (and now a 211z) receiver plugged in at home so it is always updated, then just move the receiver into the RV before we leave. And if we travel more than 200 miles from home we call up Dish and change the local channels zip code to our current location so we can get the locals. Direct TV doesn't allow that for some reason. I always call the technical help number to hopefully avoid the level 1 non-help folks. If I'm not lucky I have them transfer me to the RV technical help desk. Yes, they have one of those and they have always been helpful.

Once you get the hang of the Tailgater and how to talk to the folks at the help desk, Dish is very enjoyable.

Good Luck and enjoy!

[nosaint3]

I had direct tv with a maintenance thing and when I called for help I was put on hold for 15 minutes three times and they didn't fix anything. I cancelled and got Dish. Dish seems to go up in price a few cents a month but what gets me is they seem to want to cut off service to certain channels for a few days while contract negotiations go on. They also charge me $7.00 a month for the second receiver when I bought both my receivers. They said I had to find the installer to clarify the error. I plan to cancel them also and will let them fight for my receivers. I have my receipt for them.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by nosaint3

I had direct tv with a maintenance thing and when I called for help I was put on hold for 15 minutes three times and they didn't fix anything. I cancelled and got Dish. Dish seems to go up in price a few cents a month but what gets me is they seem to want to cut off service to certain channels for a few days while contract negotiations go on. They also charge me $7.00 a month for the second receiver when I bought both my receivers. They said I had to find the installer to clarify the error. I plan to cancel them also and will let them fight for my receivers. I have my receipt for them.

You have to pay a receiver fee even if you own it.

[satdog01]

Had Direct tv for 12 years and fought setting up the dish in the woods for several trips. Did carry the second receiver from during this time. There is a Directv tailgater knock off made by Pathways now. Two years ago switched to Dish and after a lot of arguments, did get a second receiver after not allowing the Hopper in the house, now pay $7a month and have a Pathways for Dish. Saving about $40 a month, do like the ability to tunn on and off some programming, save $6 a month turning Sports for summer months, back on in August went college football cranks up . Dish customer service is the pits, when I get a person I can 'not talk to, tell them I do not understand and call back later to get different rep. Success rate is good on this method!!

[NMWildcat]

There is $7 a month charge per receiver whether you own them or lease them. Pretty standard across the board. I think Direct charges $5? If you own them it's called a service fee, otherwise it's called a lease fee. You can't expect to get free service to an additional outlet right? It's been that way for as long as I've known.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by TURBS

How much beer are we talking?
Might be worth the effort! [emoji16]

All you can drink in a 24 hour period!

Turbs, here's why I think your way works.......I may be wrong.

DISH allows you to 'suspend' service once every year, and for a max of six months. Sounds like that's what you are doing on that receiver.

I don't want it suspended for six full months. I want to use it a month, not use it next month, use it again the next month, and alternate all year long. That's what I'm betting you can't do smoothly.

Besides, I am using a receiver from house that is in USE in the house when not in the camper. I don't want it suspended.

I'm going to stick to my guns till proven wrong. They truly do not have a true Flex RV account that works on alternate months, even if you own the receiver and satellite dish, if the RV account is the only account you have with them. In these cases, I'm going to bet a night's beer that it can't be done.

Again.........whatever you have at home........just take the receiver you have, any of the ones in the house except Genie or Hopper Clients (the Clients require wireless connection to the main receiver, but the Genie or Hopper wired version will work) with you, connect it directly via RG6 coax to a properly aligned satellite dish, and if your receiver has been 'refreshed', then connect it to the TV via HDMI cable (or RGB cable) and it'll all work.

[TURBS]

Originally Posted by BandJCarm

All you can drink in a 24 hour period!

Turbs, here's why I think your way works.......I may be wrong.

DISH allows you to 'suspend' service once every year, and for a max of six months. Sounds like that's what you are doing on that receiver.

I don't want it suspended for six full months. I want to use it a month, not use it next month, use it again the next month, and alternate all year long. That's what I'm betting you can't do smoothly.

Besides, I am using a receiver from house that is in USE in the house when not in the camper. I don't want it suspended.

I'm going to stick to my guns till proven wrong. They truly do not have a true Flex RV account that works on alternate months, even if you own the receiver and satellite dish, if the RV account is the only account you have with them. In these cases, I'm going to bet a night's beer that it can't be done.

Again.........whatever you have at home........just take the receiver you have, any of the ones in the house except Genie or Hopper Clients (the Clients require wireless connection to the main receiver, but the Genie or Hopper wired version will work) with you, connect it directly via RG6 coax to a properly aligned satellite dish, and if your receiver has been 'refreshed', then connect it to the TV via HDMI cable (or RGB cable) and it'll all work.

Do I get to pick the beer? [emoji848]

[Cathcartww]

We have DISH, but only in the trailer - have Comcast at the house. Communications by phone is difficult, but if you use the internet chat, it goes much smoother - the reps can type English much better than they speak it. We contact them when we want to start the service, or change the local channel selection - in fact, I have saved text files that I use just by up dating the dates and street addresses. The key seems to be using the right nomenclature - when you want to stop service, they call it "pausing" the service, and you can do it for 30, 60, 90, or 180 days, and they bill $5 per month to keep the account open. Since you are paying in advance, they credit your account for any unused portion of the current month, until the balance gets to 0, then start billing ....

By the way, I got fed up with the weak signal from the Tailgater, so sold it on eBay and got a Wingard Pathway X2. It was about a $100 more, but it is just as portable, has a bigger antenna, and pulls in a signal almost twice the strength of the Tailgater - a few little leaves in the way don't phase it.

[BandJCarm]

Originally Posted by Cathcartww

We have DISH, but only in the trailer - have Comcast at the house. Communications by phone is difficult, but if you use the internet chat, it goes much smoother - the reps can type English much better than they speak it. We contact them when we want to start the service, or change the local channel selection - in fact, I have saved text files that I use just by up dating the dates and street addresses. The key seems to be using the right nomenclature - when you want to stop service, they call it "pausing" the service, and you can do it for 30, 60, 90, or 180 days, and they bill $5 per month to keep the account open. Since you are paying in advance, they credit your account for any unused portion of the current month, until the balance gets to 0, then start billing ....

By the way, I got fed up with the weak signal from the Tailgater, so sold it on eBay and got a Wingard Pathway X2. It was about a $100 more, but it is just as portable, has a bigger antenna, and pulls in a signal almost twice the strength of the Tailgater - a few little leaves in the way don't phase it.

Tried that. They told me the phrase "pause" or "suspend" were the same, and it could only be done once a year.

[RooVader]

I love my pathway x2 and my dish service. I was shocked I was watching NBA playoffs last night and it was incredibly overcast and sprinkling...my little death star x2 always finds me a signal.

That said, I do get frustrated when they de-authorize it when I don't use it for a month or two. I feel like there should be a way to keep it active if it is being paid for. It doesn't even tell you it is deactivated.

The good news is I am always up and running in 5 minutes if it did go dormant so not sure why so many have issues. I just say it has been off for a few months can they hit it from the satellite, re-run the 5 minute setup and bam...good to go. 5-10 minutes of hassle once per year is well worth the enjoyment I get having the service when camping.

[lbrjet]

I only use my Tailgater the 3-4 months we travel each summer. They bill a couple of extra months and I ignore them, then the bills stop. I can understand how trying to use it every other month could be a nightmare. If they would just build a billing system for PAYGO accounts problem solved and they would have a lot more customers. Makes too much sense I guess.


2010 F250 5.4L 3.73
2011 Flagstaff 831FKBSS
Equal-i-zer 4pt 12K

[CWSWine]

Called dish tried to get information about the "Hooper Go", it says on their webpage that it's "Coming Soon" and just wanted to know "How Soon". The lady ask for my account and said didn't have one. Then she said she need my Name, Phone Number and Address. I said all I want to know is when the "Hooper Go" will be available and she said she can't give out that information with my name phone number and address. I said you need all that for information and she said yes - what a stupid policy.

[wrt111]

We have had it since 2012. When you call Dish have them transfer you to the Tailgater section. I pay about $12.00 a month. This is for warranty of receiver.
When we get to camp site we call and have it activated by zip code to get local channels. When we get home from our travels we call Dish and ask for Tailgater support, at which time our unit is placed on HOLD for up to 9 months. We get a Email when the hold is about to expire, at this time you MUST call them to keep hold or they will start billing.