<h2>Television and banks: <br>the banes of my existence</h2>

A little more than a month ago, when my satellite receiver wouldn't let me fast-forward, pause, reverse or access the programs I'd recorded on the DVR, I called DISH Network to see about rectifying this. After putting me through a battery of "tests" to find the problem, they concluded my receiver was fried, they'd send me a new one and I'd have to ship the old one to their tech repair center.

I wasn't thrilled by this, but I had no choice. Just like how, for years as a cable TV customer, I had felt I was always at the mercy of the monopoly cable franchise, I felt much the same about DISH, even though there are other options out there now. Starting over seemed like a more-than-I-wanted-to-do prospect.

The new receiver arrived in a relatively timely fashion, and I had to install it myself. I followed the directions closely, and even though it took a little while, I got it working with a bit of assistance from DISH, which I had to call near the end of the process to activate it. The DISH people reminded me to pack up the old receiver within 10 businesses days, or I could be assessed a penalty (though they didn't say what). They also said that if their techs found that the receiver's problem was my fault (and I don't know how they would be able to determine that, but I decided not to fret about it until or unless it happened) there "might" be a service charge. When I asked how much of charge, they said there was no way of telling.

Other than a few flakey problems with the remote in the back bedroom, everything thereafter went relatively fine. Until I noticed the billing on my May statement from DISH. They socked me -- with no warning -- for $400, apparently because they had decided somehow that the receiver malfunction was my fault. So I began to fret. I called DISH the next day, and as soon as I reached a live voice (I neglected to mention earlier the automated-response gantlet one must get past to reach a live person), my first words after the nice lady said, "What can I do for you today?" were, "You can remove the $400 billing this month for the malfunctioning receiver you didn't tell me was coming, or else I'm canceling my account."

To her credit, the woman stayed calm and asked what happened, and I explained the many days' worth of trouble that the malfunctioning receiver had caused me, the consternation involved in troubleshooting the problem, the trouble I went through to pack it up and return it, and the half-hour to 45 minutes it took me to install the new one. She connected me to a manager, who without much persuasion, promised me DISH would credit my account $400. I thought he meant they would cancel the billing and credit my bank account.

Unfortunately, the debit came at a time when my bank account had less than $400 in it, and because the day before I had moved a chunk of money out of my savings account to address another expense, I had no backup funds to plug the hole in my checking account until the next pay day, which wasn't until the following week. I was facing the possibility of being stuck with an overdraft fee of $64. I was furious. I called the bank to explain, and they ping-ponged me to DISH, saying the $400 was still pending, so if DISH could cancel the debit, I would be OK. I called DISH back, and they told me the debit already was shown as charged, so it was out of their hands. All they could do was to push through a separate authorization to credit the account. I knew I was stuck between a rock and a hard place. I had no court of appeals to turn to. But I still thought, at the least, that at some point I would see $400 drop back into my bank account.

I found out only today -- when I hadn't seen the money return to my bank account some two weeks later, and went to my DISH account online in hopes of finding out why not -- that DISH had meant they would credit my DISH account, not my bank account! I'm furious all over again ... but this time, I'm just going to "Let It Be."

And do more reading. Hey, I just finished a book about hobo "Reefer" Charlie Fox, and I really do enjoy going through my photography magazines ...