I believe one of the techs/installers on here recently posted that now days DirecTV ships them receivers in a box without anything else. No cables, no remotes, no instructions. They then have seperate boxes filled with whatever remotes and cables they may need to do the installs. This way they can install the boxes with materials that are already available in the customers home if possible and cut down on waste. They realized it was silly for them to put a remote, composite cables, component cables, hdmi cables, in every box with every receiver when very little of that stuff ever got used. Some people who had to get multiple receivers replaced would end up with all kinds of extra remotes that weren't needed. Same goes with cables, why give a customer composite and component cables for a receiver that is only going to be hooked up over HDMI. It also cuts down on issues like what I ran into a while back. The tech that came to my house confided in me that he kept all the extra remotes and HDMI cables himself if the customer didn't request them, and then sold them on eBay, Craigslist, local pawn shops etc, in order to make some extra money.
It really does make a lot of sense and will save them a lot of money in the long run.
However, the tech should have the cables/remotes needed available with them, and they should be provided if requested/deserved. It is unaccaptable if they don't. Don't expect them to give you a new remote every time though if the one you have still works fine, unless there is a good reason, like Blu-Ray player codes not in the old one, RF remote needed because of receiver placement, etc.
