What dispute reason would you give? Usually card issuers will ask you if you've made any attempt to settle the situation with the merchant.

If you misrepresent that you have and they are just ignoring you, you might practically get away with it, but do know that that kind of misrepresentation might get you into trouble some day.

If however the merchant is actually unreachable for a bona fide cancellation request, that's totally on them.

The reason you would give is exactly the reason the OP gave, that Dish was deliberately not reachable for cancellation.

Yeah, the solution to that is to mandate accepting cancellations via a single click (or preferably even email, since it shouldn't be my problem if I don't remember my account details when I want to cancel).

Disputes should have been the backstop to incentivizing the market to making cancellations easier, but things apparently didn't pan out that way. So arguably, the free market has had its chance, and it's time for regulations.

> Usually card issuers will ask you if you've made any attempt to settle the situation with the merchant.

"I attempted to reach them via phone on or about _____, ___. No remedy was achieved."