Complaining about Dish Network’s service is about to become as simple as firing up the iPhone or iPad and sending a text.
Dish Network today joined Apple Business Chat so that its subscribers can use Apple’s Messaging app to contact Dish’s customer service.
"TV should be simple, so we've made reaching our live customer service representatives as easy as sending a text," said John Swieringa, Dish’s chief operating officer, in a statement. "Adding messaging with Apple Business Chat is a powerful way to connect with us, giving another choice so you can pick what fits with your life."
Dish said that Apple Business Chat will allow subscribers to talk with a live agent, make account changes, schedule an appointment, and use their credit card on file to order a pay-per-view movie or sporting event. The app won’t display customer contact information to an agent unless the subscribers opts in.
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Of course, live chat with pay-TV customer service is not necessarily a new idea. Comcast offers Xfinity Chat. Charter offers an Ask Spectrum virtual assistant chat app that’s accessible through a browser. And DirecTV offers live chat.
For Dish, turning on Apple Business Chat is a sign of its continued dedication to the "Tuned In To You" campaign it rolled out last year in hopes of curbing subscriber losses.