Escape clauses in Dish's Extended Warranty*#+%&@

[Mike500]

Has anyone read the contract in the $1.99 per month extended warranty?

At their option; they can:

1. Pay you the depreciated market value of your 501, 508, or 721!

2. They can subsitute new equipment such as a 510 of a 508.


Does this mean that they can give you a 510 as a replacement, and then charge you the new DVR fees?

It just looks like you can't win, if they want to give you the shaft!

[shilton]

Has anyone read the contract in the $1.99 per month extended warranty?

At their option; they can:

1. Pay you the depreciated market value of your 501, 508, or 721!

2. They can subsitute new equipment such as a 510 of a 508.


Does this mean that they can give you a 510 as a replacement, and then charge you the new DVR fees?

It just looks like you can't win, if they want to give you the shaft!
If and I stress IF they try a stunt like that, I have two words for you...ATTORNEY GENERAL. Basically if they try to force you to take something that you didn't agree to and then make you pay for it, that's shady business practice and I am sure any attorney general would jump all over it. Your state will watch out for you if this ever happens.

[Nick]

Don't you guys have enough real problems in your insignificant miserable lives to worry about? Why get all worked up about some imaginary hypothetical remote unlikely possibility that your paranoid tormented minds dreamed up? :rolleyes: :kickbutt:


"Your state will watch out for you if this ever happens."
:thats: !rolling :rotfl:

[Bob Haller]

I understand their concern, most of us feel Dish is starting to rip us off. Like detecting a pickpocket brushing against our pants we get defense.

[Scott Greczkowski]

I tend to agree, because most of us focus so heavily on Dish Network we always tend to think they are out to screw us, when in reality they are just operating like any other company.

If you found a Comcast Cable forum somewhere chances are good you would fin people upset about this that and the other thing just as we tend to do here.

I do wish that Dish had some sort of Upgrade plan for their PVR's (such as buying an approved Hard Drive) from Dish that we could do our own upgrades or repairs to our PVR's. I consider hard drives to be a consumable item, there is only so much life in them, and ALL of them will die after so much use.

[Bob Haller]

Boy am I a example of using up hard drives. :(

They should offer a affordable upgrade of a 501 or 508 to a 510 for X dollars no pvr fee.

Frankly they should be competive like D and their TIVO, just spec the ones that can go in and let us do our thing.

[jrjcd]

nick, if E* didn't have a track record of screwing the hands that feed them on a regular basis, we probably wouldn't concern ourselves about these things...

and scott, don't EVER delude yourselve that E* is your friend-in your dealings with them, if you AREN'T operating under the maxim "keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer", one day you WILL wake up on the short end of their stick-trust me when i say it happens to everyone eventually...

[Scott Greczkowski]

Hey I am not saying Dish is the Most honest comany eaither. :)

I just am saying sometimes people read TOO FAR into things and cause themselves all kind of greif when there is actually none there. :)

[Mike500]

Extended warranties are basically not warranties at all. They are really "insurance policies" according to the Federal Trade Commission and under most other regulatory agencies. It's like car insurance. They gamble that you will not need to collect, and you get it just in case you need it. If you spent $25,000 restoring a '57 Chevy, unless you buy a special policy, the insurer has the option of repairing your vehicle or "totalling" it out and paying you the "book" value. Under no circumstances are they required to find you a '57 Chevy and restore it to the same condition as the insured vehicle.

Dish has the same option on the $1.99 per month extended warranty.

[Jacob S]

As far as I am concerned no CSR told me anything about what Mike500 had mentioned and I signed no contract to that affect either.

Also I wonder what they would think a fair depreciation amount would be? If they really tried to save money they would try to depreciate a good bit saying that they would give you $150 for the receiver then you would end up having to pay out the rest when you go to buy a replacement or try to find a used one.

What if the price of the 508's go up on ebay, from retailers, etc. due to the fact that they are more in demand due to not DVR charges? Would Dish actually (a) pay the value of the receiver if it goes up in value or (b) just take off for depreciation off the retail price from the time it was new or (c) take off for depreciation off the amount you paid for it if you were under a promotion and got it for $99 to $149? I would guess b or c. Shouldn't this be based on replacement costs instead of depreciating? Seems like they are trying to take the cheap route.

I wonder what the law states about how much depreciation off of certain goods you must get when you get coverage on them.

Also Dish would not give you a better receiver for the most part before so why would they now all of a sudden? To get the DVR fee, to make more money. That is their plan and just wait and see what happens.

If it was actually an insurance policy then shouldnt you have the option to take the money instead of a product in exchange?

[Mike500]

Jacob S;

You should have had the warranty mailed to you, shortly after you told the CSR to activate it.

Here is an online copy of it, so that you can see what I mean:

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/warranty/ext_warr/index.shtml

[Bill R]

I wonder if DISH run that through their legal department. Clearly, if they did some of the things people mentioned, many states' AG offices would be all over them.

[Homer]

Rest assured, that is neither the intent or implication. Verbiage in the warranty simply states that if your receiver breaks, it can be replaced with a "manufacturer's equivalent." Logically, if you are not paying now, they will simply add a $0 dvr fee to your account no matter the type of dvr you have. If you need a 510 later, it will fall under the same fee.

[Claude Greiner]

Lets put it this way, chances are very good that they are going to give you Equivlent or better!

One thing you got to keep in mind about this warrenty is that its being underwritten by Echostar themselves! Which means if they piss you off and screw you, then you might cancel service and they will loose you as a customer. When they loose customers, it ends up costing them more then replacing the equipment, so in a way Echostar is at the mercy of the customer.

Unlike a car insurance policy, where if you get into an accident you are at the mercy of the insurance company to give you a good settlement.

The warrenty is no more than a customer retention tool, since they loose too many customers because they do not want to pay to replace their equipment!

[Jason Kragt]

If you can live without a receiver for a month, this warranty program is a cheap way to get a replacement receiver. Just wait until it breaks, start the warranty coverage, and 30 days later, file your claim.

[Nick]

If you can live without a receiver for a month, this warranty program is a cheap way to get a replacement receiver. Just wait until it breaks, start the warranty coverage, and 30 days later, file your claim.Welcome, Jason.

So you are saying that would be honest and ethical?

[Bob Haller]

As honest as DVR fees:(

Ahh buy the warranty now. even if a remote fails it pays for itself, and chances are they wouldnt want the old remote back:)

[Mike500]

Better be sure that they want it back. They don't want you to falsely claim that the remote is bad and get another new one for free!

[Jacob S]

I have read on the boards where many have gotten a replacement remote without the old one mailed back. It costs extra shipping in which is not worth it to them or not worth the hassle. Heck, it probably dont cost much more than the shipping if not the shipping cost to make the remote. They would get a bit curious if a customer kept on saying a remote went bad.

[dbronstein]

As honest as DVR fees:(



How are DVR fees dishonest? If they tell you up front that if you buy a DVR you will have to pay a monthly fee to use it, how is that dishonest? You might not like the fees, and IMO they are unnecessary and serve only to be an easy source of revenue, but they are not dishonest.

Dennis

[rjruby]

Better be sure that they want it back. They don't want you to falsely claim that the remote is bad and get another new one for free!

I had the remote go bad for my 6000 last year. It was replaced under the extended warranty and they did not require that the defect one be returned to them.

Bob

[Jason Kragt]

Welcome, Jason.

So you are saying that would be honest and ethical?

Interesting question. Interesting because the Echostar Customer Service Representative was the one that recommended that solution when I had problems with my (out of warranty) DishPlayer. Given that she recommended the solution, combined with the fact that the DishPlayer has proven intself inherently defective from the start, I would have to say that I see no ethical problems.

Luckily though, they offered me a 501 upgrade on my next call, so I never got a chance to test the solution out.

[jerryez]

Extended warranties are a waste of money! Just like casinos, the odds are in their favor.

[Bob Haller]

Extended warranties are a waste of money! Just like casinos, the odds are in their favor.

Not on E, and I think thats at least partially behind the DVR fee. Sadly their receivers die often:(:("(


$24 a year covers it all. Heck have one remote a year die and it paid for itself

[Jacob S]

Extended warranties for the most part are a waste of money but when it comes to Dish's $1.99 a month warranty in which covers all receivers and hardware that has a Dish logo on it, its well worth it for those that have PVR receivers in which contain hard drives in which are well known to have a bit of a higher failure rate. I see very few receivers or components fail otherwise other than the remotes in which can be had for only $20-$40 now if not cheaper.

[uhf/ir]

I have read on the boards where many have gotten a replacement remote without the old one mailed back. It costs extra shipping in which is not worth it to them or not worth the hassle. Heck, it probably dont cost much more than the shipping if not the shipping cost to make the remote. They would get a bit curious if a customer kept on saying a remote went bad.

Especially if the customer was a dealer!

[Bob Haller]

Yeah Metro had that problem:(

[Low Tolerance]

Especially if the customer was a dealer!

Yeah, thats what I understand, I believe that I read a thread a few days ago that is closed now, where they were getting remotes for nothing.

[mnassour]

Extended warranties are a waste of money! Just like casinos, the odds are in their favor.

Lemme guess....you've never owned a Dishplayer? :lol:

[Bob Haller]

I never swapped my dippy DPs, wish I could say the same for later models:(