BoisePaul
02-02-06, 05:04 PM
Was looking at my "recent activity" on E*'s website and saw something I never saw before - a lease fee. :eek2: Now, having previously leased my equipment (a single 811), I was accustomed to the idea that the lease fee of the first receiver is included in the package price, or basically didn't exist. So, I went digging for information and found this in the DHA agreement:
Equipment Rental Fee: An equipment rental fee of $6.00 per month (in the case of a model 411, ViP211 or ViP622 DVR receiver) or $5.00 per month (in all other cases) for the first receiver activated is included in the promotional base programming package price.
Fine, so I'm not losing my mind. So why the lease fee I ask? I look further and find this related to DIU:
Why does DISH Network charge a $5 leased receiver fee under the DISH’n It Up promotion?
DISH Network charges this fee for each receiver leased through the Existing Customer DISH’n It Up promotion. This fee helps cover the costs associated with broadcasting programming to you through the additional receiver.
Lovely. Still wondering why when I was a lease customer before, and am still a lease customer now, do I now see this new fee, I decide to call E*. The CSR proceeds to tell me that I'm no longer a DHA customer and that the rules after DIU are different. I no longer qualify for the benefits of DHA that I enjoyed before. What?!?! Okay, now I'm not happy. Sure, I was informed of the lease fee, but nothing had indicated that I'd now be seeing the lease fee on the first receiver (of $6 no less) where none had existed before. This has been an expensive proposition. The $49 upgrade charge I can handle as it was expected. I figured my monthly bill would go up $5 (Had both HDPak and VOOM), but that's not to be. Looks like my total monthly increase is going to be $11, for a net gain of 7 HD channels, and I'm not considering the $2 increase in AT120 that I'd have seen anyhow.
Can you tell I'm not happy, especially after agreeing to 18 months of this? It turns out to be a $247 decision that I didn't realize I made. I'd say that this needs to be made a bit clearer for DHA customers who are upgrading.:mad:
Equipment Rental Fee: An equipment rental fee of $6.00 per month (in the case of a model 411, ViP211 or ViP622 DVR receiver) or $5.00 per month (in all other cases) for the first receiver activated is included in the promotional base programming package price.
Fine, so I'm not losing my mind. So why the lease fee I ask? I look further and find this related to DIU:
Why does DISH Network charge a $5 leased receiver fee under the DISH’n It Up promotion?
DISH Network charges this fee for each receiver leased through the Existing Customer DISH’n It Up promotion. This fee helps cover the costs associated with broadcasting programming to you through the additional receiver.
Lovely. Still wondering why when I was a lease customer before, and am still a lease customer now, do I now see this new fee, I decide to call E*. The CSR proceeds to tell me that I'm no longer a DHA customer and that the rules after DIU are different. I no longer qualify for the benefits of DHA that I enjoyed before. What?!?! Okay, now I'm not happy. Sure, I was informed of the lease fee, but nothing had indicated that I'd now be seeing the lease fee on the first receiver (of $6 no less) where none had existed before. This has been an expensive proposition. The $49 upgrade charge I can handle as it was expected. I figured my monthly bill would go up $5 (Had both HDPak and VOOM), but that's not to be. Looks like my total monthly increase is going to be $11, for a net gain of 7 HD channels, and I'm not considering the $2 increase in AT120 that I'd have seen anyhow.
Can you tell I'm not happy, especially after agreeing to 18 months of this? It turns out to be a $247 decision that I didn't realize I made. I'd say that this needs to be made a bit clearer for DHA customers who are upgrading.:mad: