Cancelation Question

[msmwilson2001]

I am a 10 year Direct TV customer. I was told if I purchase my own equipment to upgrade to HD that I will not be bound by any type of contract and would be able to cancel anytime without a penalty. Has anyone ever gone this route?

[Mertzen]

You would have to buy a customer owned HD box, from the likes of fleabay to make it actually owned. Getting one at BestBuy would not be an owned box.
You would also have to self install the ODU, which D* CSR won't like, you'll have to be persistent and say ' the dish is already there'.

[JLucPicard]

msmwilson2001,

Welcome to DBSTalk! :welcome_s

The HR21-Pro is an 'owned only' receiver (HD DVR). I'm not sure what the going rate is for those, but I do believe it is more than the going rate for one of the other HD DVRs, which is $199 (or less, depending on what kind of deal you could get from DirecTV).

You also could actually purchase to own any of the other receivers, but you have to do that through DirecTV and it will cost, I believe, in the neighborhood of $499 for an HD DVR.

There are numerous threads already dealing with whether it's worth OWNING your equipment versus just going with the lease and saving on the cost up front. There are also examples of the break-even point between leasing an paying the Early Termination Fee versus buying to own and paying the extra up front.

And if you don't already have the newer MPEG4 HD equipment and have to upgrade your dish, that adds another layer of trouble (a lot different than installing a dual or triple LNB) and expense as well.

You should be able to find info on that by doing a 'search' of the forum.

[NR4P]

I am a 10 year Direct TV customer. I was told if I purchase my own equipment to upgrade to HD that I will not be bound by any type of contract and would be able to cancel anytime without a penalty. Has anyone ever gone this route?

First off :welcome_s

I went through this decision point some time back. HR DVR's can cost in the neighborhood of $500-$700 for new ones. For a 10 year customer, you may get a deal for $99 or free with a contract. If you've been with them for 10 years, what's the probability you will leave?

Or do some math on the cancellation fee in the second year and you will probably find it better to pay the cancellation fee than buy new equipment up front out of your pocket.

Also, if you buy any HD product from anyone on the internet, get the RID number first and verify it with Directv. Many folks advertise "owned" equipment but they are leased, and then you can't use it.

[Mertzen]

Yeah, forgot to say you can indeed buy a box from D* but I'm not sure why anyone in their right mind would do that.

[Shades228]

The purchase price and activation cost of an owned advanced receiver almost outweighs the cost of a cancelation fee from the beginning. There are many posts with the math breakdown but you can call and ask them how much it would be for what you want to order then decide if it's worth not having a 24 mo agreement that's pro rated $20 less each month you have the service.