Dish extended warranty comes through!

[Chris Blount]

After a couple of weeks of troubleshooting my system I narrowed a problem down to the SW64 switch. For some reason input 3A and 3B going to my 61.5 dish were acting flaky and sometimes wouldn't work.

I called Dish technical support and explained the problem and told him how I troubleshot everything. He was very impressed and pretty much said "Yep, sounds like the SW64 is broke". He immediately fixed me up with another one and thanks to the extended warranty plan, I will only pay $14.95 for shipping costs (instead of $149 for a new switch).

I urge everyone especially those who buy used equipment to sign up for the extended warranty. The best $2 a month I've ever spent. Saved me big bucks this time around.

[Scott Greczkowski]

Did they make you send the old one back? Or is it worthless to them?

[gcutler]

Anyone with a PVR (with the moving parts of a hard drive) should have the extended warranty.

[Steve Mehs]

I am so glad I don't have a SW64 anymore. There have been many posts about them dying, and plus mine that wasn't even two weeks old died. Even though my current twin/SW21 cascade limits me to two box's, and when the time for a 721 comes I'll have to either go dish pro and replace the twin with a quad, for the time being I'm satisfied.

[Bob Haller]

E replaced my 64 not long ago. Yeah they wanted the old one back. The replacement appeared brand new.

If you have CC autopay there is no shipping chatrge either.

The plastic Y of my dish 500 cracked. Yjry reluctantly replaced it/ I asked f it was worth loosing a $100 a month sub over a $10 part.

The warranty is a great deal even covering remotes which can take lots of abuse/

[Bob Haller]

for customer satisfaction reasons they should build the warranty into everyones programming package at no extrra charge.

Adding a buck to eveyone would be good and spread the cost.

[Mike123abc]

It is one thing I never understood as why you need to buy the warranty separate. I finally signed up for it just because I would be so PO-ed by my SW64 or one of my 6000s going out. They are fairly expensive. But, it is annoying and since Dish makes/sells all the boxes and you pay $5/month for every box (yes first box is already included in package price), you should get something for the $5/month other than just Dish enrichment.

[sampatterson]

Geez, I didn't even realize the extended warranty covers switches. A couple of months ago my SW64 died and I got a replacement from Dish Depot and didn't even think about the extended warranty I am paying 1.99 a month for!!!!! I just thought it was for receivers, so it covers LNBs, switch, power supply for switch, etc? Cool as I have had to replace SW64 about once every year and a half.

[Adrian_R]

Originally posted by Bob Haller
If you have CC autopay there is no shipping chatrge either.

You sure about this? Every time I have to use my extended warranty, they keep trying to charge me the $15, and I'm CC auto-pay.

Is this Dish "policy" or was this CSR roulette?

[papillo-j]

One thing that I have to give to Dish. The warrenty is only 2 bucks a month. The D* version
is 6 bucks a month.

[peters]

My Extended warranty totally came through also.

I think it was the the day my warranty became valid (One Month after you start it).

A button on my 501 remote broke off, making using the remote very difficult.

A simple call to dish and a new one was on it's way.
Yes they did charge the $14.95 (and I have Auto pay via my checking account), but I still figure I am ahead of the game..

They didn't want the old one back, thus my 1.5 year old still has his favorite toy - minus the batteries.

On a side note, I think my 1.5 year old should be a beta tester for Dish, he finds more ways than you would believe to blow up / find strange errors when he gets a hold of the remote, especially on Dish Home.

Now if only my 501 will just die and I get a 508 in return ;-)

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by peters

Now if only my 501 will just die and I get a 508 in return ;-) I know what you mean but I would hate to jinx my 501. Right now it's working nicely and much more stable than my 721.

[Jacob S]

I second that on getting the extended warranty for customers with pvr products. I imagine Dish would raise the cost of this extended warranty especially giving the fact that DirecTv charges 3 times more.

[boba]

I just ordered a replacement for my 3000. I got the extended warranty for my 501 and after about 9 months used it where I didn't expect to. I was shocked at how easy and nice the service was. Because I have CCA they are even shipping it blue label no cost to me. As a dealer I wish they treated me this good.

[tontomono]

Sweet. I posted the question of whether or not to get the extended warranty that is offered when I call and activate my 721 next week but no one has responded. But after reading this it'd end up being much cheaper to pay fifteen dollars in shipping rather than for a new receiver or whatever may fail. Thanks once again all! This place is quite helpful.

[Chris Blount]

Originally posted by tontomono
Sweet. I posted the question of whether or not to get the extended warranty that is offered when I call and activate my 721 next week but no one has responded. Sorry about tontomono. If I would have seen that I definitely would have responded.

DAMN! :) :) :) As I was sitting here typing this my SW64 arrived from Dish. I opened the box and it looks brand new and came complete with a new power inserter. I made the call only 2 days ago. Bravo Dish!

I guess I have a project for tomorrow morning. :D

[Chris Blount]

As a follow up:

I installed the new switch with the new power inserter and everything seems to work. I did find something pretty interesting though:

When I first turned on my 501 after installing the new switch, I did a switch test. It found the switch but after stepping through all 38 tests it came up as switch not found.

Then, I ran the test again and this time it found a SW42.

Ran the test again and found a SW64 but no satellites on inputs 1A & 1B.

Basically, each time I ran the test, the readings were erratic.

Then on a hunch, I rebooted the 501. Voila! Everything worked perfectly. Apparently the 501 needs to be rebooted when installing a new switch.

My 721 and 6000 had not trouble finding the new switch and didn't really need a switch test although I ran the test on each receiver anyway.

[tontomono]

Go linux! Yeah, anyways, seems like most anything needs to do a full shutdown when changing stuff, in general. Networking, etc. Just so it recognizes quicker. Still waiting for my stuff from dishdepot! Can't wait for Monday! :)

Jon