Information About The DishPlayer PTV Fee

[Bill R]

Here is the latest information I have about the DishPlayer PTV fee: As of today (Monday, April 21, 2003), discussions are still going on about the fee. Nothing has been decided yet and the CSRs do NOT have up to date infomation on the future of the fee and what may (or may not) happen.

If I get any updated information I will post it.

[Jeff_R]

Thanks for the update, Bill. I just wonder if the powers that be at Dish are using this as a chance to get us to "upgrade" to a 508 or 721 reciever, for a cost. If the fee is resumed, I will disconnect my Dishplayer, eliminating the 2nd receiver fee, and make do with just my 6000. I have no plans on putting any cash out on another SD Dish reciever.

Jeff

[mnassour]

"Hello and thank you for calling DishNetwork"

"If you're a Dishplayer owner and like the fact that we've been shovelling cow dung into your receiver for the past three years, press 1."

"If you'd like us to charge you $10 a month for that privilege, press 2."

:rolleyes:

[Scott Greczkowski]

I will not be paying $9.99 or even .99 for PTV service for my Dishplayer. If they decide to charge me for PTV service then you will quickly see my Dishplayers go on Ebay where chances are Dish Network will never make a dime from these receivers again. :)

[ToddMeister]

Scott, my two Dishplayers are already headed for Ebay now that I've replaced them with PVR508's. The 721's were priced a bit higher than I was willing to spend.

I won't pay the $9.99/mo fee for a buggy service. And it was getting too difficult to watch TV, doing switch checks, entering option codes, pulling the power cord, etc, etc, etc during the past 3 years.

[TerryC]

So Dish's bad product and service result in their customers shelling out more cash on 508s so they won't have to sell out more cash on the DishPlayer. Ingenious.

Dish Network's evil plan is working perfectly. <insert maniacal laugh here>

[JBKing]

....and slowly but surely, the DishPlayer is fading away into just another chapter in the Bad Consumer Products book.

Yet so promising a product.... :(

Just want E* wants - to let the DP wither on the vine. IMO

[Bob Haller]

Yeah but it has become a favorite theft device:(

[guywall]

Quick question. I've had my DP since 10/2000. I never really new much about the PVR funciton on the DP until I started having the laundry list of problems that we have all had with the DP.
Whenever I have tried the record feature, it comes up and says, Your're trying PVR, blah blah. If you want to use this to its fullest, it is $9.95(or 9.99) per month.

Anyway you guys think I could get it for free?
I called a CSR person about a month ago and siad I'd like to try it free for a month or two. She put me on hold for a while and came back and said, nope - it is 9.99 per month. I told her thanks and that I would be looking into DirecTV so I could cancel my Dish. She didn't respond to it and just said, thanks for calling, goodbye.

Thoughts?

[TerryC]

Originally posted by guywall

Anyway you guys think I could get it for free?

Absolutely not.

[BobMurdoch]

If E* has any brains they offer a swap of a 508 for the DishPlayer for any that want to do it. Dishplayers are getting abnormally high prices on EBay which tells me that pirates are loving these things.

[ToddMeister]

TerryC:

I Ebayed the Dishplayers, they sold within 1 day (Buy-It-Now). I've more than recovered the cost of the new equipment.

My "evil" plan worked, too. <he he he he>

[TerryC]

Todd, Dish's evil plan is to get rid of the DPs (and all the problems associated with them) at no cost to them - even if the customer has to pay. Good for you for not picking up Dish's check.

[rbaer]

great idea if you are looking for a 508 or a 721. The quandry comes in if you were hoping to get a 921 to replace your 7100 and 6000. Who knows what the 7100 will be going for in the late fall or early winter (whenever the 921 actually gets released), as there may be a flood of them on the market. I am also concerned about what level of performance we can expect, after last weekends corrupted guide. Having a dishplayer with no guide that won't record isn't really of that much use to me.

[Jeff_R]

I'm not waiting until fall to dump the Dishplayer. I'm actually very, very close to doing it now. I love the timeshifting feature, since I work a lot of evenings and weekends.

If/when the 921 is released, lacking any other compelling product from any source, I will consider purchasing one. I'm pretty tired of Dish right now, and would ditch them in a heartbeat if Discovery HD was available on my local non-Comcast cable company.

Idealliy, there is a standalone HD TiVo by that time, and my cable co has decided to launch HD. They say "in the next few months". I'm hoping so!

[Jacob S]

Prepare to see many dishplayers go for sale and if too many become available at once the people may not be able to get as much out of them. I am surprised that more people dont sell them and buy a newer pvr with as much as they are getting out of them. Some are getting just as much or more out of them than what they paid for them new.

[Bill R]

A few people are reporting that their May bill contains a $99 charge for PTV service. The line on the bill aprears like this:
05/04/03-05/03/06 DISH PLAYER PERSONAL TV.............$99.00

It appears that DISH is again offering another 3 year "special" for PTV service. I think the question now is: is it worth investing another $99 for 3 years of PTV service? After all, the DishPlayer is now 4 years old and I really wonder if a lot of people plan on keeping it for 3 MORE years.

[Geronimo]

How does DISH justify offering this to SOME customers but not all?

[Five Hole]

Originally posted by Geronimo
How does DISH justify offering this to SOME customers but not all?

It may be that the billing cycle is different for them vs other people. If I don't see it on my next billing cycle then I will see what's up with that. My next billing cycle is around the 20th of May. I have not decided what I want to do. I want a 721 over 508 but I would think the 522 would be better for me. The problem is who knows when the 522 will be released.

[Geronimo]

I received a bill YESTERDAY. It is hard to believe that it was prepared before thses others. I guess I am skeptical about these claims. Then again I am a skeptical guy.

[TNGTony]

I haven't received my bill yet, but the on line version does not have the line item there.

See ya
Tony

[BobaBird]

Originally posted by Geronimo
How does DISH justify offering this to SOME customers but not all? I have a different take on this question. Why are some customers being told to pay up now? Isn't everyone covered through June 30? Are the people who thought they were buying a lifetime subscription being cut off at 3 years, not even getting an extra month or so? Or is it like Bill R said at the top of the thread - no decision has been made yet - and their billing system was set up to automatically renew a 3-year subscription based on the buy-in date?

[Geronimo]

Good point Bobabird. Whatever the decision it should apply equally. And as you point out a choice would be nice.

[marksprague]

Well I just got off the phone with a CSR. First off, I must say that the customer service orientation is sorely lacking, CS is one of the reasons that switched from D* 5 years ago. Picture quality was the other, and we all know how that is going.

Anyway, the the CSR said that the offer was from June 3 - June 3, so PTV does not expire until 6/3/2003, but not 6/30 as I too thought. With all of the problems with the DishPlayer over the years, there is no way that I am going to spend another $99 on it. The unfortunate thing is that my wife had recently complained so much that they sent me a 'replacement' DishPlayer (I have the HW contract), so now I have to return that too.

When requested (after about 10 minutes) the CSR said that he had removed the 99 charge from my account, but time will tell.

Anyway, I think I will move over to the D* PVR forum and see if there are any good deals to be had on DirectTivo's for 'New' subscribers ;-)

[Geronimo]

According to DISH the new $99 offers are a mistake. They did allow me to purchase aDP 508 a tthe $99 ratre.

[rbaer]

There are 3 weeks left of 24, after that my dishplayer is likely to find its way onto e-bay. Until football season or the Sopranos restarts, I won't use it as much anyway. I will get bye with my 6000 until football season starts, and, then, I will have to decide on a replacement. I hope the 921 is released befor the next Sopranos season, as I would love to timeshift the HD broadcast.

[Randy_B]

508 for $99, that is a great deal.