Sadly leaving DirecTV advice/answers please

[ed413ma]

Hello
Should I cancel early?
It is payed ahead isn't it?

Today is Sept. 29th, I want to exhaust
what is already paid for.

After 18 months will I be penalized by leaving early?
Will my 2 HR20-100's play after it is canceled?

What can I do with three boxes after I'm done?
Ebay them, do I send them back to DirecTV?
Value of ?
2 HR20-100's
1 HR22-100

Any reply is appreciated.
I hope I didn't miss a thread about this.
This forum is a wealth of info, but massive.

Thanks
Sadly:(

[Doug Brott]

What can I do with three boxes after I'm done?
Ebay them, do I send them back to DirecTV?
Value of ?
2 HR20-100's
1 HR22-100

It is almost certain that these three receivers are leased (not owned) meaning that you will need to return them to DIRECTV or they will charge you $450 per receiver. This would be in addition to any early termination fee.

[ed413ma]

Thanks Doug, for taking the time to reply

I do recall paying around $200 for each box.
will any of that money be returned?

[Doug Brott]

Thanks Doug, for taking the time to reply

I do recall paying around $200 for each box.
will any of that money be returned?

No, DIRECTV has a different model than Cable Companies. While Cable will generally charge $10-$15/month for each receiver but offer it to you with no upfront charges, DIRECTV charges $5/month for each receiver (primary receiver fee is credited back) but has an upfront charge.

[ed413ma]

YIKES!
$600 for 3 boxes that they can charge me $1350 dollars more for!

I feel like a Brown Trout that's been on the hook for 18 months!
I should have Jumped straight into the frying pan!

$10 a month basic cable is looking good!

Of course I will gladly send back the boxes
I wonder if that costs another $200 each!

Thanks...

[jpl]

After 18 months, yeah, you'll pay an early termination fee. I believe that amounts to $20/month remaining on contract. Which would come out to $120, if my math is right. As for exhausting what's already paid up... don't worry about timing it. Your final bill will be adjusted, and you'll get pro-rated back the portion you didn't use. That's what happened to me when I left.

[ed413ma]

About to call D*

How exciting!

I'm feeling like a Rainbow Trout!!

Someone wish me luck!

btw CEing has been wonderful.

[bobnielsen]

Directv will ship you some boxes (with pre-paid FedEx labels) for returning the receivers.

[ed413ma]

Call was quick
No fees for early cancellation,
due to no line of sight at new place


Adding 3rd box
brought commitment to Jan 2011
(didn't know that when I got 3rd box)

No money returned for the $600 worth of
boxes

They send out recovery boxes to return remotes
DVR's, 10 days after last day (I chose Oct. 15th)
no fee.
Final billing up to 90 days after disconnect to insure
PPV's and Sports purchases have cleared?

I was told if I pay by credit card all these fees would
hit the plastic.
No clue what the final amounts will be, I will be sure
to come back here some time in December!

So far $2580 for 18 months
my new place is $13 a month for basic cable
18 months with cable $234 will leave $2346 bucks to rent DVD's at the rental store on the other side of the trees blocking Line of Sight!!

Ye HAW!!

Thanks for all the replies
16 days left.
2 more CE's!

[dsw2112]

So far $2580 for 18 months
my new place is $13 a month for basic cable 18 months with cable $234 will leave $2346 bucks to rent DVD's at the rental store on the other side of the trees blocking Line of Sight!!

Ye HAW!!

Thanks for all the replies
16 days left.
2 more CE's!

Umm, congratulations I guess???... If you prefer $13 a month basic cable then why did you get D* anyway?

[coldsteel]

Umm, congratulations I guess???... If you prefer $13 a month basic cable then why did you get D* anyway?

It's not a preference, he had no choice due to LOS issues. I believe the 'Ye-Haw' was sarcastic...

[Nick]

Rule #1: Never rent or buy a place without LOS -- check before you move.

Rule #2: If the place you are considering does not have LOS, read Rule #1.

.

[Greg Alsobrook]

Rule #1: Never rent or buy a place without LOS -- check before you move.

Rule #2: If the place you are considering does not have LOS, read Rule #1.

.

:lol: Yep. I've made these rules very clear to my wife for our next house. And she understands completely. :)

[RACJ2]

They send out recovery boxes to return remotes
DVR's, 10 days after last day (I chose Oct. 15th)
no fee.
Final billing up to 90 days after disconnect to insure
PPV's and Sports purchases have cleared?

I was told if I pay by credit card all these fees would
hit the plastic.
No clue what the final amounts will be, I will be sure
to come back here some time in December!

So far $2580 for 18 months
my new place is $13 a month for basic cable
18 months with cable $234 will leave $2346 bucks to rent DVD's at the rental store on the other side of the trees blocking Line of Sight!!

Ye HAW!!

Thanks for all the replies
16 days left.
2 more CE's!One word of advice, be sure to keep the Fed Ex tracking numbers. Some individuals have reported that they returned the receivers and then were still billled. They were able to track the package and prove they were returned, but had to wait for a refund.

On your cost calculation for D*, you will be saving quite a bit. Although from the sounds of you savings estimate, you must be going from the Premier HD package with sports and premium channels to around 60 analog SD cable channels. So I don't know if I would be as excited as you are. Good luck though!

[Movieman]

Umm, congratulations I guess???... If you prefer $13 a month basic cable then why did you get D* anyway?

The OP might be moving somewhere that cable is discounted by an HOA.

[BattleScott]

Call was quick
No fees for early cancellation,
due to no line of sight at new place


Adding 3rd box
brought commitment to Jan 2011
(didn't know that when I got 3rd box)

No money returned for the $600 worth of
boxes

They send out recovery boxes to return remotes
DVR's, 10 days after last day (I chose Oct. 15th)
no fee.
Final billing up to 90 days after disconnect to insure
PPV's and Sports purchases have cleared?

I was told if I pay by credit card all these fees would
hit the plastic.
No clue what the final amounts will be, I will be sure
to come back here some time in December!

So far $2580 for 18 months
my new place is $13 a month for basic cable
18 months with cable $234 will leave $2346 bucks to rent DVD's at the rental store on the other side of the trees blocking Line of Sight!!

Ye HAW!!

Thanks for all the replies
16 days left.
2 more CE's!

I would be very wary of providing a credit card for the fees. I would have them bill you the final charges and cut them a check. If you give them a credit card, they can bill that card for any all fees they see fit, including ETFs that they have told you won't be charged.

[RAD]

No money returned for the $600 worth of
boxes

As Doug mentioned, DirecTV uses a different model then cable for their monthly receiver charges. DirecTV charges the same monthly charge, $5/receiver after the 1st receiver on the account. If you want additional receivers usually you can get a basic SD receiver for free plus the $5 monthly lease charge.

If you want a more advanced receiver that's where they will charge you up front for the higher end receivers, $99 for a HD receiver or SD DVR or $199 for the HD DVR.

So if cable charged you $15/month rental for a HD DVR for example that's $360 over 2 years while DirecTV would be $120 for monthly lease fee and $199 for initial charge for $319 for those same 2 years. The longer you keep DirecTV the more money you save over the cable monthly lease fee.

[dsw2112]

YIKES!
$600 for 3 boxes that they can charge me $1350 dollars more for!

I feel like a Brown Trout that's been on the hook for 18 months!
I should have Jumped straight into the frying pan!

$10 a month basic cable is looking good!

Of course I will gladly send back the boxes
I wonder if that costs another $200 each!

Thanks...


No money returned for the $600 worth of
boxes

So far $2580 for 18 months
my new place is $13 a month for basic cable
18 months with cable $234 will leave $2346 bucks to rent DVD's at the rental store on the other side of the trees blocking Line of Sight!!

Ye HAW!!

Thanks for all the replies
16 days left.
2 more CE's!

Maybe I took the posts the wrong way, but the gist seemed to suggest that the OP was not happy with the amount of money that was spent here. I guess I just don't understand the approach of tallying costs after the fact.

[profbobo]

So if cable charged you $15/month rental for a HD DVR for example that's $360 over 2 years while DirecTV would be $120 for monthly lease fee and $199 for initial charge for $319 for those same 2 years. The longer you keep DirecTV the more money you save over the cable monthly lease fee.

True. However, DirecTV also has the HD Access Fee ($240 over 24 months) and DVR Fee ($144 over 24 months). Of course you only pay these fees once per account. Depending on how many TVs you have, this could make it cheaper or more expensive than cable's pricing model.

It probably all depends on what's best for each person's situation. DirecTV is great for me. I'm grandfathered into DVR Lifetime which helps. I heard that Primestar customers are grandfathered into no extra receiver fees. Is that true?

[bonscott87]

YIKES!
$600 for 3 boxes that they can charge me $1350 dollars more for!

I feel like a Brown Trout that's been on the hook for 18 months!
I should have Jumped straight into the frying pan!

$10 a month basic cable is looking good!

Of course I will gladly send back the boxes
I wonder if that costs another $200 each!

Thanks...

A better cost comparison is to compare apples to apples.

Cable would have cost you typically $15 each per month on average, sometimes up to $24 each. But let's use $15.

So with cable you would have spent $270 *each* in monthly fees alone for the DVRs.

When you actually do the math for similar services between DirecTV and cable, DirecTV is WAY cheaper in the long run despite the up front fee. It's math that cable hopes you never do.

Certainly nothing compares to $10-15 basic cable, but you've got no HD and no DVR either. But if we want to complain about the cost of DirecTV with 3 HD DVRs then lets to a proper comparison.

Good luck.

[rey_1178]

i hope it all goes well for you. if it doesn't i guess we'll see you again soon :D

[rudeney]

A better cost comparison is to compare apples to apples.

Cable would have cost you typically $15 each per month on average, sometimes up to $24 each. But let's use $15.

So with cable you would have spent $270 *each* in monthly fees alone for the DVRs.

When you actually do the math for similar services between DirecTV and cable, DirecTV is WAY cheaper in the long run despite the up front fee. It's math that cable hopes you never do.

Yep, a few months ago, I switched my landline phone and ISP from AT&T to Charter. They tried to sell me on a "triple play" with TV, too. The rep asked me how much I was paying D*, and when I said about $110/mo, she got all excited, telling me she could save me lots of money. She then asked how many TV's I had, so I listed the four HR20's, 1 R15 and 1 H20. Of course with cable, the monthly fees on just the equipment were going to be nearly $100, plus another $75/mo for the service!

[gphvid]

Yep, a few months ago, I switched my landline phone and ISP from AT&T to Charter. They tried to sell me on a "triple play" with TV, too. The rep asked me how much I was paying D*, and when I said about $110/mo, she got all excited, telling me she could save me lots of money. She then asked how many TV's I had, so I listed the four HR20's, 1 R15 and 1 H20. Of course with cable, the monthly fees on just the equipment were going to be nearly $100, plus another $75/mo for the service!

And let me tell you about this swamp land in Arizona I have here for sale. Cheap!

[bonscott87]

And let me tell you about this swamp land in Arizona I have here for sale. Cheap!

Are you saying you don't believe him in terms of equipment charges?

Around here Charter is $13 for a DVR, add $7 to make it HD capable.
For *each* one.

So if he has 4 HR20s, to get 4 HD DVRs from Charter would be $80 a month just in equipment chargers.

Yea, cable sucks that bad.

[rudeney]

Are you saying you don't believe him in terms of equipment charges?

Actually, I took his comment to mean that Charter might as well be selling swampland. But regardless, even factoring in the up-front costs of D*, it's still more expensive! Over the last three years, I've given D* about $1,000 in up-front lease fees for my receivers. That's only $27/mo (and dropped each month I continue using it). That's much less than the extra $60-$70 cable would cost me each month.

[Ken S]

Certainly nothing compares to $10-15 basic cable, but you've got no HD and no DVR either. But if we want to complain about the cost of DirecTV with 3 HD DVRs then lets to a proper comparison.

Good luck.

Doug,

Actually with basic cable packages you do get the OTA HD channels for no extra charge. At least that's the case with Comcast in Mass, NJ and Florida. You need a digital tuner in your set, but it is there. For a DVR...Microsoft's Windows Media Center does a very nice job and there's no monthly fee for guide data.
Mix that together with Hulu, Youtube and a $9/month Netflix subscription and it's not a bad package at all.

[bonscott87]

Doug,

Actually with basic cable packages you do get the OTA HD channels for no extra charge. At least that's the case with Comcast in Mass, NJ and Florida. You need a digital tuner in your set, but it is there. For a DVR...Microsoft's Windows Media Center does a very nice job and there's no monthly fee for guide data.
Mix that together with Hulu, Youtube and a $9/month Netflix subscription and it's not a bad package at all.

I don't disagree. If I could get by without sports and a couple other things not available online then I'd go OTA only with a Tivo HD unit along with Hulu and other online with Netflix. I'd save a bunch.

But my wife would kill me if we couldn't see the Red Wings games. ;)

[Ken S]

I don't disagree. If I could get by without sports and a couple other things not available online then I'd go OTA only with a Tivo HD unit along with Hulu and other online with Netflix. I'd save a bunch.

But my wife would kill me if we couldn't see the Red Wings games. ;)

Possible solution? https://gamecenter.nhl.com/nhlgc/secure/registerform?intcmpid=nhl.com:gcl:strip

40 games a week in HD. I haven't tried it yet. I am very fond of MLB.TV though.

[Brennok]

A better cost comparison is to compare apples to apples.

Cable would have cost you typically $15 each per month on average, sometimes up to $24 each. But let's use $15.

So with cable you would have spent $270 *each* in monthly fees alone for the DVRs.

When you actually do the math for similar services between DirecTV and cable, DirecTV is WAY cheaper in the long run despite the up front fee. It's math that cable hopes you never do.

Certainly nothing compares to $10-15 basic cable, but you've got no HD and no DVR either. But if we want to complain about the cost of DirecTV with 3 HD DVRs then lets to a proper comparison.

Good luck.

This isn't always accurate though. I have three Tivo HDs with lifetime I paid $1200 for total. My Fios bill which includes phone, internet, movies and HD runs around $180 a month before my current discounts. My DTV bill was $155 a month plus $90 for the same internet and phone package I have now and didn't even include HD. Now I did have 5 Directivos versus 3 but even if you subtract the $12, Fios still works out better. Over two years the difference is around $1400 so I will have easily covered the cost of the upfront fees for Tivo hardware and then some. Not to mention I will have the option for cable card tuners with Windows 7 which wouldn't be an option on DTV.

[RAD]

This isn't always accurate though. I have three Tivo HDs with lifetime I paid $1200 for total. My Fios bill which includes phone, internet, movies and HD runs around $180 a month before my current discounts. My DTV bill was $155 a month plus $90 for the same internet and phone package I have now and didn't even include HD. Now I did have 5 Directivos versus 3 but even if you subtract the $12, Fios still works out better. Over two years the difference is around $1400 so I will have easily covered the cost of the upfront fees for Tivo hardware and then some. Not to mention I will have the option for cable card tuners with Windows 7 which wouldn't be an option on DTV.

With your Tivo's and FIOS can you make use of video on demand, PPV's or whatever that requires two way communications between the STB and the cable head end???

[Brennok]

With your Tivo's and FIOS can you make use of video on demand, PPV's or whatever that requires two way communications between the STB and the cable head end???

No not yet, but personally I don't need it. I had a HD box for 9.99 a month which I returned after the first month since I never even turned it on. I can order PPV over the phone if I want to watch it since it still unlocks it over cable cards. I just can't order from the Tivo currently. I never ordered PPV when I had DTV either and with the Directivos I couldn't use their VOD either.

Since I record everything, I have no use for VOD and have never seen the attraction of it unless you don't record or forget to record something. I have more shows now than I have time to watch since my shows transfer to my PC every night. I still have shows I haven't started from last season.

[bonscott87]

This isn't always accurate though. I have three Tivo HDs with lifetime I paid $1200 for total. My Fios bill which includes phone, internet, movies and HD runs around $180 a month before my current discounts. My DTV bill was $155 a month plus $90 for the same internet and phone package I have now and didn't even include HD. Now I did have 5 Directivos versus 3 but even if you subtract the $12, Fios still works out better. Over two years the difference is around $1400 so I will have easily covered the cost of the upfront fees for Tivo hardware and then some. Not to mention I will have the option for cable card tuners with Windows 7 which wouldn't be an option on DTV.

That's great but it's not apples to apples. The comparison here is what cable offers vs. DirecTV (or Dish). Getting stand alone Tivo's is certainly an option in some cases but would be apples to oranges just like the option to OTA/Internet/Netflix only. ;)

[Ken S]

That's great but it's not apples to apples. The comparison here is what cable offers vs. DirecTV (or Dish). Getting stand alone Tivo's is certainly an option in some cases but would be apples to oranges just like the option to OTA/Internet/Netflix only. ;)

Is it? Isn't the product delivery of video entertainment to the home along with some of the popular functions like On Demand, DVR, remote viewing? In the case of all the providers, even netflix/iptv much of the content is exactly the same as well.

The milkman used to deliver milk to our home...now we get it at the store...at the end of the day my kids are still drinking milk and the method of delivery is inconsequential.