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It's been awhile since I've been on here, but I'm looking at a dead receiver and am hoping there's a more reasonable solution than what I've been offered so far, and this has historically proven to be the best resource for that. Here's the situation.
I started with DirecTV in the mid-00s on an HR20-700 fed by a Slimline dish (the setup with 2 cables and 2 BBCs; I don't know more than that). After many years of faithful service, it gave up the ghost about a year ago. At that time, DirecTV kindly replaced the dead HR20 with a new HR24 (also fed by the same Slimline dish, 2 cables, 2 BBCs, etc.), with no new contract.
That HR24 is now also dead (stuck on "Running Receiver Self-Test..." and none of the troubleshooting I've found on here has worked).
So, I called DirecTV, and after humoring their "technical support", tried to arrange for an HR34 as a replacement/upgrade. After dickering over the price for a bit, we settled on $299 for the upgrade. I was then told that it also required a new 2-year "commitment". I told her I was unwilling to do that, and she said that was the best she could do. I asked for retention (which has apparently been renamed "cancellation"), and was transferred.
The guy in cancellation/retention told me the same thing. No HR34 without $299 AND a 2-year commitment. I asked him why I wouldn't just buy one on the internet for $400 and call it a day, and he told me because my equipment all needed to be upgraded.
So, with that as the background, I *think* I have 2 questions:
1. Is it true that you cannot get an HR34 from DirecTV unless you also agree to a new 2-year contract? If that's not true, then how does one go about getting one without a new 2-year contract?
2. Is it true that my equipment needs to be upgraded? If that is true, then is that something I can either do myself or have an install guy do without signing up for a new 2-year deal? Note: My "ability" level in this department is fairly limited; I'm good if I just need to throw a splitter or something back behind the cabinet where the 2 BBCs now are, but if I need to change the dish or something, that's not in the "I can do" department.
I guess the real question is, given the above, can I go from where I am to an HR34 setup WITHOUT a new 2-year contract, and if so, how?
Thanks in advance, and if this question has been asked and answered a million times already (although I did search), I'm not above a link.
Thanks!
--Mav
I started with DirecTV in the mid-00s on an HR20-700 fed by a Slimline dish (the setup with 2 cables and 2 BBCs; I don't know more than that). After many years of faithful service, it gave up the ghost about a year ago. At that time, DirecTV kindly replaced the dead HR20 with a new HR24 (also fed by the same Slimline dish, 2 cables, 2 BBCs, etc.), with no new contract.
That HR24 is now also dead (stuck on "Running Receiver Self-Test..." and none of the troubleshooting I've found on here has worked).
So, I called DirecTV, and after humoring their "technical support", tried to arrange for an HR34 as a replacement/upgrade. After dickering over the price for a bit, we settled on $299 for the upgrade. I was then told that it also required a new 2-year "commitment". I told her I was unwilling to do that, and she said that was the best she could do. I asked for retention (which has apparently been renamed "cancellation"), and was transferred.
The guy in cancellation/retention told me the same thing. No HR34 without $299 AND a 2-year commitment. I asked him why I wouldn't just buy one on the internet for $400 and call it a day, and he told me because my equipment all needed to be upgraded.
So, with that as the background, I *think* I have 2 questions:
1. Is it true that you cannot get an HR34 from DirecTV unless you also agree to a new 2-year contract? If that's not true, then how does one go about getting one without a new 2-year contract?
2. Is it true that my equipment needs to be upgraded? If that is true, then is that something I can either do myself or have an install guy do without signing up for a new 2-year deal? Note: My "ability" level in this department is fairly limited; I'm good if I just need to throw a splitter or something back behind the cabinet where the 2 BBCs now are, but if I need to change the dish or something, that's not in the "I can do" department.
I guess the real question is, given the above, can I go from where I am to an HR34 setup WITHOUT a new 2-year contract, and if so, how?
Thanks in advance, and if this question has been asked and answered a million times already (although I did search), I'm not above a link.
Thanks!
--Mav
