Dish Network has reached a deal with the attorneys generals of 46 states over allegations that it cheated customers during a 5-year period. The states of California, North Carolina, Illinois and Ohio are still holding out for a better settlement with the satellite TV provider.

Among the allegations, Dish Network is said to have passed off used equipment as new; charged penalties when you canceled the service; required a minimum term of service in order for you to get advertised deals; and made their promised rebates virtually impossible to get.

Dish Network has not admitted any wrongdoing, but it has agreed to pay restitution to customers. The company has also agreed to provide clearer disclosures in the future.

When Dish Network launched in 1994, the market was wide open for them because people hated their cable monopolies. All that Dish Network needed to do was provide a good customer experience. Clark will never quite understand how they blew it.

Today the consumer champ puts out a renewed call to the company to rethink how it builds relationships with customers. Dish Network honcho Charlie Ergen is welcome to come on the show and explain his side of the story.

If you filed a complaint against Dish Network between Jan. 1, 2004 and July 9, 2009, you may be eligible for compensation. Call Dish Network customer service at (888) 825-2557 or contact the office of your state's attorney general for more details.

Editors's note: This segment originally aired July 2009

Minnesota's Attorney General Lori Swanson has scored a major victory for consumers by banning one company that provided kangaroo court arbitration in credit card disputes from operating in that arena.

As part of your card-holder agreement, the banks that control most of the credit cards in the United States require any disputes to be settled in a forum where they pick the arbitrator and set the rules. This type of forum finds in favor of the banks 99.9996% of the time, according to a prior report. There's no way that could be a fair and impartial process.

Swanson's action was targeted against the National Arbitration Forum -- the country's largest administrator of credit card and consumer collections arbitrations.

"To consumers, the company said it was impartial," the attorney general said in a statement, "but behind the scenes, it worked alongside credit card companies to get them to put unfair arbitration clauses in the fine print of their contracts and to appoint the Forum as the arbitrator. Now the company is out of this business."

Throughout our nation's history, brave men and women have fought for our freedom and our branches of government. For the banksters to spit on their graves by not allowing you your day in court is an outrage.

There are, of course, other options that are more equitable than mandatory arbitration via a kangaroo court. Arizona is a leader in what's called alternative dispute resolution. This voluntary solution allows people to try to work out their problems with companies first -- with the understanding that going to court is possible if necessary.

Editors's note: This segment originally aired July 2009

Customers are using technology to bring uncooperative companies to heel in a way that marks a new chapter in consumer empowerment.

The most cited example of the past year has been Dave Carroll's United Breaks Guitars campaign. This musician couldn't get any satisfaction after United broke his guitar during a flight and refused to take responsibility for their actions. So Carroll wrote a song about it and filmed a low-budget YouTube video that made United change its mind.

In a similar way, USA Today recently spotlighted a couple whose honeymoon was botched after Expedia told them they didn't need visas to enter Russia. Expedia even denied that one of its representatives gave out such advice at first. Their prescription for a remedy? The offer of a mere $100 hotel credit.

That's when the couple started blogging while stranded in Frankfurt, Germany, because of the visa issue. The couple's friends made their compelling story viral via Twitter and Facebook. Pretty soon, everybody around the world knew all about the honeymooners.

And that's when the outrage grew so loud that Expedia couldn't ignore it any longer. The company suddenly produced a record of the conversation and fessed up to its wrongdoing.

Of course, not everyone who Tweets or blogs with a gripe will get results. But it can be a great strategy if you do it with humor or have a compelling story like the honeymooners.

As Clark has always said, go guerrilla if you must to get results with giant uncaring companies!

President Obama's proposal for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency has brought the long knives out on Capitol Hill.

Such a regulatory board is long overdue, according to Clark. People's trust in capitalism requires transparency. You need to be able to understand your options, whether you're talking about buying insurance or investment products or simply doing banking.

Comptroller of the Currency John Dugan is supposed to be watching out for the American people, but it often seems he instead wants to protect his buddies at the giant monster mega-banks.

It doesn't take a prognosticator to see that the unholy alliance of banks, brokerage houses and insurance agencies will litter Capitol Hill with money to shoot down the CFPA proposal. But the irony is that many of them are only alive because they've been pumped full of taxpayer bailout funds!

It is so past too late to have a CFPA. If one had existed through the latter 1990s and the early 2000s, we would not be in our current mess. Honesty, transparency and disclosure should be required.

As always, Clark invited Dugan to come on the show if he wants to offer rebuttal.

United Airlines plans to eliminate all human contact customer service by the end of April.

They had "customer no service" anyway -- a foreign call center staffed by people with no authority to solve problems -- but what a statement this makes. United doesn't even want to consider pretending that they offer customer service!

They're now suggesting that anyone with a complaint write a letter or send an e-mail.

The airline industry has repeatedly shown a complete lack of focus on the customer. A powerful lobby in Washington has shot down every effort to make this a customer-focused industry. Hmm…isn't it ironic that they can't seem to figure out how to make money?

The key to running a business is to treat your employees well and communicate a sense of mission to them so they can go out and help the customer. Clark refers to it as romancing your employees so they'll romance your customer.

But the airlines have made it their mission to continually cheapen their product to the point that no one wants to buy. Even as they park aircraft, they can't do it fast enough to accommodate the decline in demand brought on by years of poor customer experiences.

To paraphrase Gordon Bethune -- the man who saved Continental -- it is possible to make a pizza so cheap that no one will ever want to eat it.

Perhaps the congressman and senators who fly commercial aren't really aware of the shoddy customer service. After all, they get preferential treatment and their own private waiting rooms. But currying favor in D.C. is not a way to make money. You make money by treating your customers right.

Shame on you, United.

How should you deal with a builder who doesn't honor the terms of your warranty after you close on your home? For the past 15 years, Clark has been advising people to picket the builder at their developments. You used to have to call your jurisdiction to find out how to go about picketing, and make sure that you never said slanderous things about the builder's character. But today instead of physically picketing, people take their ire online. Business Week did a report on homeowners who have set up gripe websites. Some builders have even fought back by trying to put clauses in their contracts that aim to silence you if you do business with them. That's an infringement of free speech. A builder who is afraid of the truth is not someone you want as a business partner.

Clark knows that building a house is difficult and involves a lot of micro-management with all the day laborers and subcontractors. He advises people not to close on their home until all the contractual items are complete. If you're getting pressure to close anyway, consider hiring a lawyer to withhold money in escrow to cover any outstanding issues. This practice, known as retainage, is a standard set at 10 percent in the commercial market. Just remember that once a builder completes your house, you're yesterday's news. The only reason they have to care about you is their reputation. So consider taking your battle online if need be.

Bill collectors are trying to make it legal for them to repeatedly call your cell phone to try and collect a debt. The justification is that people usually give a cell phone number as a contact when they hire a service or conduct business. This law is probably going to go through, so Clark has a suggestion for you. Many people no longer have a home phone number so they give out their cell phones. But there is a way to give out a home phone number that doesn’t cost you a thing. Lycos is offering free home phone numbers that are answerable through your computer. So, check it out and give companies that number instead. Also, if you’re being harassed by a bill collector, your greatest ally is your answering machine. Record these calls and tell the bill collector that because you are required to. And, you can be sure the collector will start to behave or just hang up all together when you tell them that. It is against the law for bill collectors to harass you, so don’t take it.

You may have heard Clark talk about the Web site escapecellhell.org. It was complaint site for cell phone users, got very popular over the months. Consumer Reports has decided to change and expand the site, however, and its new name is hearusnow.org. The site is now a clearinghouse for complaints about TV & radio, Internet connections and, of course, phones. So, tell others about your experience. Knowledge is power!

If a company or person did a good job for you, Clark likes people to talk about it on our “Customer Yes Service” message board. But what do you do if you just keep running into that corporate brick wall and you can’t get any help from people. There are sites that allow you to vent about a company or rate the level of customer service. And people pay attention to what’s being said on these sites. Clark has chosen not to do business with a company because someone rated them poorly on epinions.com. Other sites out there are thesqueakywheel.com and complaints.com. If you’re traveling this summer, check out tripadvisor.com. People post about hotels and other places they’ve stayed and it can be extremely helpful.