Stewart Vernon said:
IF you have a riding lawnmower... and you loan it to your neighbor to use on his yard... and while he has it in his garage, a tornado hits his garage and destroys your riding lawnmower... Are you going to just go out and buy another one yourself? Or aren't you going to demand that your neighbor pay (either out of pocket or through his insurance) to replace your mower? Be honest.
If a tornado took out my neighbor's garage and not my house I'd be extremely happy.
BTW: Don't read that as a desire to see my neighbor's garage wrecked ... just given the option I wouldn't be worried about my mower.
Of course, that assumes that I like that neighbor enough to let them borrow my lawnmower - and not return it to my house immediately when finished.
Mr-Rick said:
Furniture, Cars, homes, riding lawn mowers, add whatever you want....those are big ticket items. We are talking about cheap satellite receivers.
No, we're not. We're talking about expensive receivers with a non-return penalty. Paid for owned receivers don't have a non-return penalty. Leased receivers have a non-return fee as stated in the contract: "All standard-definition receivers (301, 311, 322, 381, 512, 522, 625), $100; high-definition (HD) non-DVR receiver (211, 211k, 222, 222k, 411), $200; HD DVR receiver (612, 622, 722, 722k), $300; and SlingLoaded™ DVR receiver (922), $400."
These are the fees one agreed to when one agrees to the lease. Don't like it? Don't lease.
DISH is NOT going to charge people for the non-return of old owned receivers ... and I expect that at the end of the story when people need a new receiver they will be able to lease a replacement. Regardless of the oddly timed complaint allegedly heard on the radio.
Besides, there is a fire sale on the SD equipment now so DISH doesn't care about those receivers any more.
Who says the lost receivers are all SD? Nobody affected in Joplin had HD?
I see it like the electric meter. It is owned by the electric company. Never heard of the utility charging the customer for the cost of a new electric meter lost to a disaster.
I don't recall signing a lease agreement on my electric meter. Did you sign one? Honestly? When one cancels electric service in your town do they remove the meter and return it to the power company? No one around here does that.
If you have to compare a piece of satellite equipment to an electric meter look at the dish. That is the piece of technology that takes the signal from outside of the home and brings it inside the home. When one moves they leave the dish behind (with DISH's hope that the next person will use it). Just like an electric meter. One doesn't leave leased receivers behind ... unless one wants to pay the $100-$400 per receiver fees.