New Reciever new commitment?

[cristo28]

Since January I have been subscribed to D* with a one year commitment. I started with 2 room install and now through the first 4 months went to 4 rooms. Last week one of my original boxes decided it no longer wanted to do its job.

I called RCA and since it was past 90 days parts were covered but labor was not. What it would cost me to fix came close to the "off the shelf none discounted price" for a basic unit so to avoid down time I just bought another unit.

When I went to activate the new receiver and de-activate the broken item I was informed I would have to recommit for the year again, now because I always get different answers from each CSR's at D* I talked to several and went up the food chain to the "supervisor". It seems I could turn off the room completely but I could not replace a broken box without re-uping, something doesn't seem right here, anybody understand the logic?

I don't want to keeping adding time in case at the end of my contract E* looks more HD friendly then D*.

[timf]

In the past I have been able to replace an old receiver with a new one without having to commit to a year, except for when the store selling the receiver requires you to sign it. It's possible they are becoming stricter on the commitments, or you just got a bad series of agents.

[cristo28]

yes, I agree in fact I started with 2 on my system and am now at 4 with never a change of commitment required, the box I paid for was full price I made sure of that when it was bought. If this a change in policy and after talking to 4 individuals then my future business will not be with D*.

[Jacob S]

They had a change of policy according to what I heard, so it does look like you wont be dealing with D* after all. Right when I thought myself they would be a better choice they start this horse crap. I had been told that if you get a new receiver on the account that you MUST sign up for an additional year to a certain package.

Also the only 90 days for labor is not good either, whereas you get a 365 day warranty on Dish receivers. The extended warranty is cheaper too. You also dont have to buy a new card with a credit card everytime you want to have a receiver turned on or sell it to someone with Dish Network.

[TerryC]

Happened to me too. It's their new policy. Nothing you can do about it.

[cristo28]

Well they waived it this time I will keep turning the boxes off untill I am done with them, maybe they will re-think this policy, right is right.

[Jacob S]

Must be their subsidy in each of the receivers. Dish must subsidize their receivers as much as DirecTv does on nonpromotional purchases that do not require a credit card therefore does not need such a requirement. Thats just my guess and/or they just want to make more money going this route and want only long term customers.

[TerryC]

Dish PVR721 ~$500
DTV DTivo ~$200 for a better receiver in every way.

Yeah, I'd say DirecTV subsidizes more. :)

[cristo28]

The simple point is that hd means a great deal to my current and future tv viewing. I will not allow myself to get boxed in any longer then my current contact. to require a re-up of a contract to replace an existing receiver is a @$% policy. I am not sure what future source will be the hd leader. I just hope others are careful not to fall into this trap. I was also at one time a Dish customer they can be stupid also but this D* policy wins hands down.

[american_2000]

I believe they just want to make sure you are a customer for at least a year. they probably got tired of people "shopping around" by just activating for 2-3 months or whatever and then disconnecting and going to their competitor for a better deal!

[cristo28]

A year is fine, understood that, but to change the rules in the middle of any game is unacceptable. To automatically re-up someone because they are replacing an existing burnt out box is a poor business decision.

[Jacob S]

Perhaps the amount of money for programming during that one year would be worth it if it is made up on the savings on pvr products but on the basic receivers it is a different story.

Do they do this on just new receivers or on changes on the account on used receivers if you add one of those too?

[boba]

That $29.00 receiver price that is crowed about is possible because Directv subsidizes the retailer $125-150.00 on second receivers for existing customers. Directv there for requires a 1 year commitment to Total Choice so they can continue that subsidy. It is much easier paying Directv a monthly programming fee than paying a lump sum receiver fee. Of course on the other hand monthly subscriptions might be $10 less.

[Jacob S]

Have they always required this? If not then I wonder how come they did not requre this before. In other words how come are they doing this now rather than not start doing this earlier if they had such a subsidy in the receivers?

[boba]

How concerned with their bottom line were they three years ago? Now that they are being sold and the Economy has slowed down some things become more important. Remember they now have 11,000,000 subscribers they feel costs differently now than when they had 8,000,000.

[cristo28]

The first two boxes I added a HD box and a basic box no re-commitment was required the third box was just a replacement for a box gone bad, now they required it. I bought it off the shelf at BB for its listed price. It is a Sony Basic Box. The rep at BB said I was paying the current subscribers price. I know one thing about most basic CSR's if you don't like the answer you get from the first one call again and the answer might be different. I did this several times and I requested to be bumped up a level and I always got the same answer, when push came shove I told the last supervisor to just turn the extra box off, he then gave me what he called a one time waiver of the re-commitment. Thats the whole story and I am sticking to it. If these boxes are really being "subsidized" i would rather pay the higher amount upfront then stay with a company in flux. HD is important to me and I don't know how all of this will shack out by the end of this year.

[Jacob S]

Perhaps the company is having their own contract like the retailers had before directly to the consumer and relieving some burden on the retailers for the contract of one year, causing it to be lower risk.

[boba]

Jacob S it is Directv policy not the retailer's policy. "Programming Agreement: Within 30 days of purchase of your DIRECTV System equipment, you agree to activate any DIRECTV TOTAL CHOICE programming package or a DIRECTV PARA TODOS OPCION EXTRA ESPECIAL programming package(valued at $33.99 per month or above), Phoenix TV, or Jadeworld programming package. The programming package must be maintained for a period of twelve(12) consecutive months(without interruption)for each DIRECTV System purchased by you , including additional Directv receivers" This is quoted from Directv form SKU#:C03-04
at the top of the form is a box to check, that states"Check here if you are a current residential DIRECTV customer purchasing an additional DIRECTV receiver(s)."

[Mike123abc]

I would speculate it is a way to try to combat piracy. They are trying to force every new box to be subscribed. It does seem lame since I do not thing that a pirate would even activate it the first time.

[Jacob S]

I know that it is a company policy, not a retailer policy, but retailers had a policy before to keep it on for so long so that they would not get charged back, am I right, or is it just to get activated by a certain amount of time because of the buydown.