Current Status of Deals for HDDVRs?

[shendley]

I've got a friend who wants to upgrade from SD to an HDDVR. I told him that I thought he should be able to get one for $99 and he might even be able to get some credits to offset that expense since the last time I read a thread discussing deals for HDDVRs, that seemed to be a pretty common experience. But when he called yesterday, he said they dug in their heels at $199.

So I was wondering if that's about the best my friend can do, based on others' experiences, or if he should try again (though I've advised him not to call over and over again as that seems to be counterproductive) in a few days or a week. What kind of deals have you guys been seeing?

[HDTVsportsfan]

199 seemes to be the most commonly posted numbers. Every now and again you'll see a few lower. But the those seem to be far and few in between.

[curt8403]

I've got a friend who wants to upgrade from SD to an HDDVR. I told him that I thought he should be able to get one for $99 and he might even be able to get some credits to offset that expense since the last time I read a thread discussing deals for HDDVRs, that seemed to be a pretty common experience. But when he called yesterday, he said they dug in their heels at $199.

So I was wondering if that's about the best my friend can do, based on others' experiences, or if he should try again (though I've advised him not to call over and over again as that seems to be counterproductive) in a few days or a week. What kind of deals have you guys been seeing?
directv has tightened credits to the point that he will get nothing from a regular CSR, his only chance is to ask for retention and then ask then nicely

[west5648]

I was able to get mine for free(about 5 months ago), but soon after that they stopped giving out such deals. So the 199 deal is about what you get now.

[HDTVsportsfan]

DirecTV is kind of in the drivers seat now w/ D10 up and D11 to soon be up. Combine that with what appears some policy changes and the deals are very tight now.

[shendley]

It seems that things have tightened up very recently. I have another friend who upgraded his service from SD to an HDDVR about 2 months ago and he got it gratis with no hassle.

Boy, my friend's gonna be diapointed. He just bought an HDTV and has been enjoying some HD OTA. I don't know if he can talk his wife into letting him spend another $199 after buying the tv!

[Capt'n]

Here's an idea off the top of my head. Go buy a cheap H10 off craigslist. Then send an email to see what deal he can get to upgrade the out of date box. He would have to find one that wasn't previously upgraded at a discount though.

It might work, and it might not. At least he would get a box cheap and it won't be leased. If it doesn't work, he would at least get a few of the HD channels while he saves some money for the HRxx.

[curt8403]

Here's an idea off the top of my head. Go buy a cheap H10 off craigslist. Then send an email to see what deal he can get to upgrade the out of date box. He would have to find one that wasn't previously upgraded at a discount though.

It might work, and it might not. At least he would get a box cheap and it won't be leased. If it doesn't work, he would at least get a few of the HD channels while he saves some money for the HRxx.

for shame, D* will look at the activation date once it is on his account and all he will get for his trouble is a goose egg

[JLucPicard]

Deals are drying up, and what deals there may be have a lot to do with each individual account and encompasses many factors. I would be willing to bet that someone will come along and post that they just got one free, most others will say they had to pay $199.

I'm guessing if he was told $199 (and they were digging in their heels) that he isn't about to find some magic formula that will change that.

Good luck to him, though.

[josetann]

Just keep checking, they had a deal the end of January where the HD DVR only cost $100 plus shipping, I believe you could just order via the site, nothing special.

I don't think that buying an HR10-250 with the intent of getting an upgrade later would really be that unethical. I probably wouldn't try it though, because there's just no guarantee it wasn't upgraded from already, and you may have troubles getting it activated (might end up having to buy a new access card, assuming the box isn't still tied to another account). I just activated a second HR10-250 that I had bought a while back (before the HR20 came out), I won't feel bad if I decide to let them upgrade it to the HR2x (I didn't activate it for that purpose, I simply want to keep a working HD TiVo until I run out of them or the HR2x becomes just as reliable). In other words, go ahead and try it, but there's a good chance you'll end up being burned.

[shendley]

Wasn't that for new customers? My friend is a current directv customer with an SDDVR.

Just keep checking, they had a deal the end of January where the HD DVR only cost $100 plus shipping, I believe you could just order via the site, nothing special.

[josetann]

Wasn't that for new customers? My friend is a current directv customer with an SDDVR.

I know that I got that price when I called and asked. I thought I later saw it on the DirecTV's site. I'll do a quick search and see if anyone else saw it too.

Edit: Here's one thread, though apparently the price varied from customer to customer, I thought I saw it before where it was $100 for anyone, but maybe not. At any rate, when I checked and started the order process online for a new HD DVR, the price came up as $100, and this after I already ordered one from a CSR and had it activated. http://www.dbstalk.com/showthread.php?t=119916

[Capt'n]

Just keep checking, they had a deal the end of January where the HD DVR only cost $100 plus shipping, I believe you could just order via the site, nothing special.

I don't think that buying an HR10-250 with the intent of getting an upgrade later would really be that unethical. I probably wouldn't try it though, because there's just no guarantee it wasn't upgraded from already, and you may have troubles getting it activated (might end up having to buy a new access card, assuming the box isn't still tied to another account). I just activated a second HR10-250 that I had bought a while back (before the HR20 came out), I won't feel bad if I decide to let them upgrade it to the HR2x (I didn't activate it for that purpose, I simply want to keep a working HD TiVo until I run out of them or the HR2x becomes just as reliable). In other words, go ahead and try it, but there's a good chance you'll end up being burned.

My suggestion was for an H10, and not an HR10. The H10 was only available before the lease program started. The H20 was out by that time. It would be hard to find an owned HR10. But then again, they might not want to upgrade a non-dvr to a dvr at a discounted price.

[Albie]

Have him send an e-mail via the website asking about upgrade deals. He should get a reply back with a phone number and pin that is good for about a week. I did this last month and got an upgrade from an H20 to a HR20 for 99 plus shipping/tax.

[AzChuck]

I called twice, and used email to try to get the best deal i could get on an upgrade of my HR10 to an HR21. In the end, I paid the normal $199, but they gave me a year of free HD, so my net price was about $79. It seems to me that a customer who was thinking about upgrading to HD would be a more attractive customer than me (since they would ultimately net an addition $9.99 in revenue) so it is at least worth asking.

[homebase]

Not many deals nowadays. I have an HR20-700 that was upgraded from the D* SD-DVR for $99. I called this past week to see our other DVR, an old Tivo SD80, could be upgraded for a reduced price. The guy told me there was no price breaks now and that $199 is *the* price. He pointed out to the demand of the HR20's now. Makes sense I guess.

I'll try again next month.

[VLaslow]

I told a friend two weeks ago to listen nicely to the CSR when they offered $199 and then politely ask for the retention dept. He followed my suggestion and got the receiver for $99 + shipping with a free install.

BTW, he had been a good customer of DirecTV for 10 years.

[Grentz]

I got my HR21 a few weeks ago for $99 + $20 S&H. They originally did not want to budge from the $199 price but I kept asking nicely and told them about some local cable deals in my area. They then offered me the new customer price of $99.

This was with a normal CSR...not retention.

[ticor]

I think that it depends on your customer history. I'm a 10 year customer of Directv and in January when my two year commitment was about to expire, I called retention and asked them what they would do for me. I got an H21-700 for $99.00 plus shipping and HBO & Showtime free for 3 months

[inourgrave]

I upgraded my parents (customers since the late 80's) through retentions with a HD DVR, and a standard HD receiver for $128.
I was also able to get them a credit for $10 a month for a year as well making the switch from SD to HD about $8.
I didn't even bother with the regular CSR's due to reading this board. I went strait to the retention dept.. They were very helpful and did remark that my parents had been customers for a LONG time.

[Christopher Gould]

I upgraded my parents (customers since the late 80's) through retentions with a HD DVR, and a standard HD receiver for $128.
I was also able to get them a credit for $10 a month for a year as well making the switch from SD to HD about $8.
I didn't even bother with the regular CSR's due to reading this board. I went strait to the retention dept.. They were very helpful and did remark that my parents had been customers for a LONG time.

D* didn't start until like 1994. I have been customers since 09/98 and would settle for a hr21 for $99, keeping fingers crossed. In the nearly 10 years I have only had one upgrade(not out for my pocket) that was to replace two series I TIVOs with two series II to get local channels from 72.5, 3 years ago

[inourgrave]

D* didn't start until like 1994. I have been customers since 09/98 and would settle for a hr21 for $99, keeping fingers crossed. In the nearly 10 years I have only had one upgrade(not out for my pocket) that was to replace two series I TIVOs with two series II to get local channels from 72.5, 3 years ago

I couldn't remember but 94 or so seems right. Cable was awful in our area.