Heres how they got me.

About 2 - 3 months ago I called dish network because I was moving. I explained that I'm going to a new city and I'm going to sort out housing once I get there - and would stay with relatives while I looked for places to live. They explained that for a minimal charge (somthing like $5 to the best of my memory) they could put my service on hold for upto 6 months. They explained that while the service was on hold the clock would also stop on my contract period. I remember being a bit surprised that they had such a consumer friendly policy given the bad rep that these sat tv providers for customer service. I tried to think of any of the common ways that these sat providers trick people and made sure that putting the service on hold would not trigger a new contract or fee increase. It SOUNDED free of pitfalls - so I agreed to the service hold. Now about 3 months have passed and I'm ready to restore the service. When I call to restore the service the first time I am told that I must pay a $100 move fee. When I asked why and stated that my understanding when I signed up for the service was that a move would be free. After some checking the rep told me that it normally would be free - but because I placed the service on hold status they would now have to charge for a move. I told them I want to disconnect the service if they insist on charging this fee. The rep transfered me to someone else - who told me essentially the same thing and that there was no possibility that they would waive the fee. He also confirmed that it will cost $180 to end my contract - which is actually less than I thought it would cost. Anyway, I told him I would think about it and call back. So my position now is that I have lost $100 for which I will get no value regardless of what I do - do I pay an extra $80 to get out of the contract making the total loss $180 - but then I still want the service... I wish I had just gone with a traditional cable TV provider to start out with. Sure it is tempting to terminate the contract just to punish them, but in reality they won't care or even really know.. I guess the only thing I can really do is post this - and hopefully a few people will read it and not fall into the same trap.