[franklin_planner]

Will DirecTV activate more than one HR34 on my account? Would like to add a 2nd one by purchasing a new one from Soild Signal. :money:

 

[davring]

The general consensus here is no more than one.

 

[say-what]

Will DirecTV activate more than one HR34 on my account? Would like to add a 2nd one by purchasing a new one from Soild Signal. :money:

First, you wouldn't be buying from Solid Signal, it's still a leased unit.

Second, even Solid Signal says one per account:

DIRECTV Only authorizes one HR34 per account
http://www.solidsignal.com/pview.as...Server-for-Whole-Home-HD-DVR-(HR34)-&more=yes

 

[dettxw]

Ask the guys who have two on their accounts.
TBlazer07, fluffybear, Sixto, and azarby come immediately to mind without doing any research.

 

[carl6]

Ask the guys who have two on their accounts.
TBlazer07, fluffybear, Sixto, and azarby come immediately to mind without doing any research.

While there are a few isolated cases where people have two, it is currently DirecTV policy to only permit one on an account. You won't be able to activate a second one even if you get ahold of one.

There are technical and logistical reasons behind this policy. It is possible it will change at some future time, but nobody knows for sure if or when.

 

[raromr]

And even if you are able to get it activated, I have been told by DTV customer adovocate center that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s - whether that is true or not, I do not know, but it may be a risk if you buy a $399 receiver and suddenly find it bricked.

 

[wingrider01]

And even if you are able to get it activated, I have been told by DTV customer adovocate center that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s - whether that is true or not, I do not know, but it may be a risk if you buy a $399 receiver and suddenly find it bricked.

bricked and buy are the wrong terms, the leased unit would be de-authorized from the account, it still would function perfectly on a different account that can get it authorized on

 

[raott]

the leased unit would be de-authorized from the account, it still would function perfectly on a different account that can get it authorized on

Which, for the end user who dropped $399, there would be no distinction. It's useless, can't use it and can't sell it and get hit with a return fee if it's not sent back (it other words D* is making a ton of money off it, $399 up front and then several hundred for the non-return).

Terrible policy that would likely cause most customers hit with it to drop D* altogether.

 

[TBlazer07]

And even if you are able to get it activated, I have been told by DTV customer adovocate center that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s - whether that is true or not, I do not know, but it may be a risk if you buy a $399 receiver and suddenly find it bricked.

That sounds like "if you open your receiver when you eventually send it back they will charge you $14,354 and call the FBI" rule. I don't believe the "we'll shut it down if we find you" theory to be true or my wife would be quite angry at me.

 

[Shades228]

That sounds like "if you open your receiver when you eventually send it back they will charge you $14,354 and call the FBI" rule. I don't believe the "we'll shut it down if we find you" theory to be true or my wife would be quite angry at me.

It is true regardless if it has impacted you, or not, at this time to tell others that it's not is just setting them up for a bad experience.

It's clearly stated on any dealers websites for a reason.

 

[TBlazer07]

It is true regardless if it has impacted you, or not, at this time to tell others that it's not is just setting them up for a bad experience.

It's clearly stated on any dealers websites for a reason.

You sentence structure had me a bit confused but I got the jist of it. Had you understood my comment you'd see I wasn't questioning whether more than 1 is permitted (because I know that limitation of 1 to be a fact).

My comment referred to the quoted poster's statement "that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s." Since DirecTV would more than likely have been the entity that supplied it and DirecTV without any doubt would have been the entity to actually activate it in the first place taking that action would be kind of dumb and antagonistic to the customer.

 

[Beerstalker]

My comment referred to the quoted poster's statement "that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s." Since DirecTV would more than likely have been the entity that supplied it and DirecTV without any doubt would have been the entity to actually activate it in the first place taking that action would be kind of dumb and antagonistic to the customer.

Shades228 works for DirecTV. He is telling you that what raromr posted is true. DirecTVs system does look for accounts with more than one HR34 on it and deactivates one of them. That deactivated HR34 has to be returned to DirecTV or else the account owner gets charged with a non-return fee just like with any other deactivated leased receiver. The people who have this happen to them do not get their $400 lease fee back either. The people this is happening are people who tried to go around the system like others here are posting and ordering 2 HR34s from 2 different vendors. He saying that people shouldn't be telling anyone to try ordering HR34s from 2 different vendors because their is a good possibility they will end up having wasted $400.

 

[raromr]

And that is all I meant when I used the term "bricked." Obviously the receiver would still work, but if it cannot be activated by the intended user it is effectively a metaphorical brick. Picky, picky.

 

[dpeters11]

And that is all I meant when I used the term "bricked." Obviously the receiver would still work, but if it cannot be activated by the intended user it is effectively a metaphorical brick. Picky, picky.

Yeah, I once got blasted for being inaccurate for leaving out the W in a DirecTV orbital slot, like they actually have satellites at both W and E.

To the user, the fact that they can't do anything with it and are out the money, it's essentially bricked for them.

 

[Shades228]

You sentence structure had me a bit confused but I got the jist of it. Had you understood my comment you'd see I wasn't questioning whether more than 1 is permitted (because I know that limitation of 1 to be a fact).

My comment referred to the quoted poster's statement "that DTV runs a program that looks for accounts with more than one HR34 and when found deactivates one of the HR34s." Since DirecTV would more than likely have been the entity that supplied it and DirecTV without any doubt would have been the entity to actually activate it in the first place taking that action would be kind of dumb and antagonistic to the customer.

DIRECTV CSR's cannot order a second HMC for an account that has one active on it. So without willfully doing something to bypass the systems it wouldn't happen ordering them through DIRECTV.

I have seen instances where people who have had 2 leased HMC's on the account get one pulled off and there isn't a refund.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

DIRECTV CSR's cannot order a second HMC for an account that has one active on it. So without willfully doing something to bypass the systems it wouldn't happen ordering them through DIRECTV.

I have seen instances where people who have had 2 leased HMC's on the account get one pulled off and there isn't a refund.

There's a clear lesson learned in that information, and an answer to the OP as well.

 

[mfryd]

...
The people this is happening are people who tried to go around the system like others here are posting and ordering 2 HR34s from 2 different vendors.
...

To be fair, there are lots of legitimate reasons to around the DirecTV ordering system.

Perhaps the most common reason to "go around the system" is to get a particular model of DVR. The DirecTV system will not let you order any particular model. You may think you have ordered a brand new HR24, but you might get a refurbished HR21 instead. "Going around" the DirecTV system in order to get a specific model of DVR is something regularly recommended on this site.

You also need to "Go around" the system if you want a particular model of remote control, or want your system wired to your specifications. Perhaps you want the small wired CCK, (good luck trying to order that from DirecTV; you'll end up with the much larger wireless CCK).

There are lots of possible reasons why DirecTV will only ship one HR34 per customer. Perhaps they are in short supply and this is how they ration them? Perhaps the documentation only mentions the single HR34 case, and they don't want to confuse people? Perhaps they don't want to train installers how to configure the HR34 with fewer active tuners (If you have multiple HR34s, you may not need to have all 5 tuners active in each HR34).

And what about the people who routinely get their receivers from Solid Signal? How are they to know about the prohibition? I got my HR34 from solid signal as it was cheaper than from DirecTV. DirecTV wanted me to pay for a truck roll for an installer. With Solid Signal, I opened the box, unplugged the old DVR, plugged in the HR34, and was on my way. I already had a SWM-16 and was prepared for the HR34 from my initial installation.

There is no reason to suspect that getting another HR34 from Solid Signal is any different then getting another HR24 for Solid Signal.

 

[RunnerFL]

There is no reason to suspect that getting another HR34 from Solid Signal is any different then getting another HR24 for Solid Signal.

Except for the fact that once you contact DirecTV to activate your 2nd HR34 they will deny your request.

 

[raott]

DIRECTV CSR's cannot order a second HMC for an account that has one active on it. So without willfully doing something to bypass the systems it wouldn't happen ordering them through DIRECTV.

I have seen instances where people who have had 2 leased HMC's on the account get one pulled off and there isn't a refund.

You immediately assume a customer is willfully doing something wrong. D*'s history in communicating isn't exactly stellar. There are still vendors who "sell" HR34s and their is zero notice about the rule.

D* allowing distributors to "sell" an unsuspecting customer an HR34 for $399 only to then not allow it to be activated, force the customer to return it or get hit with a fee seems like a great way to get the type of notice you wouldn't want from a state attorney general.

 

[SolidSignal]

For the record, receivers sold by Solid Signal are leased and we do our best to communicate that ahead of time. To protect your privacy, our online ordering system does not ask for your DIRECTV account number, so we can't tell whether or not you already have an HR34 on your account.

I know there are those who have a second HR34 on the account but we tell our customers that only one HR34 can be active on the account. Unfortunately DIRECTV places restrictions on our ability to accept returns on receivers once you have gone through the activation process. It's not up to us.

We are happy to help any way we can.