For instance, you can agree to a 2-year contract with a satellite TV provider such as DISH and enter into the deal by paying a certain amount for a subscription and getting free equipment. However, what one needs to know is what will happen after the expiration of the specific contract as well as the available choices. The following is a brief of what comes next when the DISH 2-year contract is due.
The Contract Ends
After 24 months of contract with DISH, you become a month-to-month customer which means you can cancel your subscription at any time. This implies that there is no long-term contract agreement that sees you tied in for a particular period and you can cancel your subscription anytime without incurring the early termination fees.
But this also means that while on the phone, any promotional rates offered, discounted service fees, or free equipment ever given to allure someone into signing a 2-year contract, will stop. Try to be ready to see your bill increase, sometimes it can increase quite drastically, depending on the promotions that you signed up for.
Equipment Considerations
While working with DISH throughout a contract period, you use such items as satellite dishes, receivers, and DVRs that belong to the company. At the end of this contract, all of this equipment is the property of DISH. So you typically have three options:
1. Continue Leasing the Equipment
You can continue paying the monthly fees for the satellite TV equipment that you have hired. This keeps you connected to DISH programming, but you’ll also incur additional monthly charges for equipment lease that was once discounted during your contract period.
2. Return the Equipment
All the equipment that was leased to you by the DISH Network can be returned by following the return process outlined below. Once the contract with the provider is over, then you have to return this equipment because if you don’t, you will be levied for its cost. To ensure that there are no further disagreements from the side of DISH, make sure you get a receipt confirming they have received the returned equipment.
3. Purchase the Equipment
To offset this, DISH permits customers to buy the leased equipment at a fair market value after the contract period expires instead of being required to return the equipment. The reality is, that acquiring the equipment will be owned by the company in the future and no more lease fees would be charged. It’s just something that one should know, that the investment in hardware can quickly end up costing a lot of money.
Programming Packages and Pricing
When you initially subscribed to the DISH, you probably got your programming package at promotional bargain prices and they offered you the options based on a 2-year contract. If that contract is not active, DISH will just switch you to the regular or base rate for your package. It is important to understand that this everyday pricing is twenty to thirty dollars per month higher than what you were paying before.
If you wish to counter this new cost increase, you may upgrade your programming to a cheaper DISH option. Determine whether you can do with a lower number of channels in the package as this may help in bringing the bill down. However, DISH tends to be more flexible with discounts for customers who are not bound by any contracts if you can contact the company and ask about any available offers.
It also can include a Regional Sports Fee in your bill after your contract has been signed. Instead of integrating the cost of a bundle of specific channels such as ESPN, local sports stations, and some regional Fox Sports stations into the base package prices, DISH rolls a portion of the cost into this standalone fee. The cost of Time Warner Cable cable television is $10-$12 per month in most locations.
Ongoing Contract Renewals
Once you are out of your contract, you no longer are bound to perform any further duties with DISH as it relates to long-term agreements. However, DISH will probably woo you passionately enough to switch to a new 1 or 2-year contract with lower promotional prices once more. This begins the cycle of scaled-down fees at first and then elevated per diem charges once that subsequent contract expires.
If you are fine with the terms and conditions mentioned in the renewal contract and wish to continue availing satellite TV services from DISH, it would be wise to go ahead and sign the new contract. However, satellite is often the least expensive when it comes to TV packages whenever the benefits of contract promotions can be obtained. It is just important to be mindful of what typically falls under the everyday prices so that you won’t be caught off guard in the future when your next contract expires. One must ponder, perhaps cord-cutting streaming alternatives would prove to be cheaper in the long run before committing to DISH again.
Leaving DISH for Good
The mere renewal of your contract staying with DISH on a month-to-month basis or entering into another contract is entirely up to you. With most cell phone plans, you always have the liberty to cancel service at any time with no early termination fee once you are out of your first two-year contract.
Satellite TV on the other hand can be quite easily abandoned if you wish to join the streaming TV bandwagon, all you need to do is return any equipment that was given to you on lease and pay any balance that is due on your bill. Make sure to include the request for DISH to deactivate your account instead of placing it in a disconnection hold in case you are changing to another provider. For a clean break from DISH, the account must be closed out and any rented equipment returned so you won’t have to deal with DISH again.
Often a long-term contract signed for a fixed term renews a range of possibilities to reconsider your TV provider’s situation. Be sure to consider your budget, programming requirements, and what current-day streaming platforms have to offer before concluding whether to remain loyal to the DISH company as you move forward into the future. It is only possible to determine what is required to meet these expectations when it is time to make that decision when the initial 2-year DISH agreement is up.
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