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No Longer Activating HR-24's (or any HD-DVR)??

21327 Views 194 Replies 37 Participants Last post by  CarlosOmnivore5757
Hi everybody, here's the background. A few years ago I upgraded to an HR-44 Genie. I did not want the Genie Clients that went with the Genie and kept my other two HR-24's. This setup, with 9 tuners for recording, has worked great for me. I've had a couple HR-24's fail and they were always replaced no problem and the new ones continued to work fine in my setup.

Last Thursday the HDD in the HR-24 in our bedroom died. Called support (I have the protection plan as well) and after going thru the teeth pulling of the L1 tech from God knows what country, reading from his script, I finally get a replacement approved. We were on vacation this week and got home today so I installed the replacement HR-24 and then went to activate it. I tried the automated system and got a "system error" so I had to call them.

I got to a human pretty quickly and he tried to activate the HR-24 and was having all kinds of problems and had to "call in the sales team". After about 15 minutes of them trying and not succeeding to activate the HR-24 the guy tells me that the sales team just said it's an old receiver and they are no longer activating them! I'm like you idiots just sent me an HR-24, why would you do that if you can't activate it?? He said they just found out about this policy. I said that I also still have an HR-24 in another room and that is working fine, and he tells me that that one may not working in the future.

He then tells me I have two choices. I can get a Genie or a Genie Mini. That's it? They don't have stand alone HD DVR's anymore? He says he'll send me a Genie. I told him I already have a Genie and as far as I know you can only have one Genie on your account. He tells me no, that's changed. I said Ok send me another Genie. A minute later he comes back and says you're right, you can only have one Genie...so now my ONLY choice is to get a mini. No I'm apparently stuck so I say fine and he says a Tech has to come out to install it and the earliest appointment is AUGUST 11th!!! Are you f*&^$%# kidding me? A MONTH wait??

Support has screwed up every aspect of this issue, from telling me the wrong order numbers, to giving me a FedEx tracking number when the replacement DVR actually came by UPS, to the reps not knowing a damn thing about what they're talking about and changing their stories.

I'm a long time D* customer, from back when you could actually install the systems yourself, and I'm also a System Administrator and computer nerd, lol, so I have a pretty good idea how things work. I knew it was going to suck when AT&T took over but they just seem to be getting worse at every turn. I know that there are a bunch of knowledgeable people here and I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight on this. Is this really a new policy about not activating HD DVR's anymore (I did see one thread on another board about a week or so ago where somebody had the same problem, but there was not much info)??

Ok, long rant over, like I said we just got back from vacation today and this was not what I wanted to deal with, lol. Any thoughts are much appreciated!

Doug
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Or this

StarTech.com 50x10mm Replacement Ball Bearing Computer Case Fan TX3/LP4 Connector - 3 pin case Fan - TX3 Fan - 50mm Fan (FAN5X1TX3) , Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006B8CM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_ZW0JRQQGR5AYJ0BVP21K
Negative to both. Look at the model number in my link- AFB0512LB and a 4 PIN connector. Stick with that exact type and that link I shared appears to have the correct length of the leads.
Wonder if they will try to force a commitment......
I doubt it
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I doubt it
I think I smell my 24 overheating as we speak. lol
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Got it. Thx. Ordered the one you said. Also trying the external fan. Temp was like 140. Is now under 100. This is bs that they will not replace or allow multiple genies.
allow multiple genies.
Having more than one Genie causes technical issues.
I already have tech issues w genie and HR24s. Can’t use genie to delete any 24 recordings or genie drops off while home network. I think two would work w no clients.
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I already have tech issues w genie and HR24s. Can't use genie to delete any 24 recordings or genie drops off while home network. I think two would work w no clients.
While the technical issues can be resolved it's simply not cost efficient for AT&T to do so.
Got it. Thx. Ordered the one you said. Also trying the external fan. Temp was like 140. Is now under 100. This is bs that they will not replace or allow multiple genies.
I've been replacing fans on my DVR's starting with the problematic HR24-100's since like 2013 now. I have backup fans for each model DVR I have including the 54.

It's just so much easier than going through the ATT CSR mess and days of downtime on that DVR. Plus, I never lose any of my recordings, especially since I'm using using 1 and 2 TB SSD drives. I know others here roll differently, but every household is different.
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It's unbelievable how ATT destroyed a world class company that was once DIRECTV, what a shame.
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We missed the 6th anniversary. AT&T closed the deal to buy DIRECTV on July 24th, 2015.

DIRECTV shareholders got 1.892 shares of AT&T stock plus $28.50 for each share of old DIRECTV stock.
HDD in the HR-24 in our bedroom died.
A month ago I started having trouble with one of the HR24's.
I had an HR24 die on me this past week.
Must be a full moon. My HR24 started over heating and restarting
Weird… my HR24-100 just went belly up.
think I smell my 24 overheating as we speak. lol
Dang, something strange is going on…………is AT&T sending out a code to kill off the HR24's?
We missed the 6th anniversary. AT&T closed the deal to buy DIRECTV on July 24th, 2015.

DIRECTV shareholders got 1.892 shares of AT&T stock plus $28.50 for each share of old DIRECTV stock.
Good for the shareholders, bad for us.
Dang, something strange is going on…………is AT&T sending out a code to kill off the HR24's?
I'm standing here watching my HR-24 to see if it gasps and asks for help :eek:
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They didn't want my HR24's back when I canceled in 2017. Hard to believe they have not had any new equipment since the HS17 and C61K's in 2016. I guess the service will die when all the equipment does.
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So an update to my saga. I look on my account yesterday and check my order status for my tech appointment on August 11th. It says it was cancelled on July 29th!!! I immediately called them and gave the guy that answered the phone an earfull. He was going back and forth with his supervisor. Then they transferred me to the "tech department". Now had to start over and explain everything for like the 8th time. She seemed like she had more of a clue than the other people I've dealt with so I had some home. So, since I have a replacement HR-24 that they sent me sitting here doing nothing, I asked her if it can be activated. She says sure it can. ;) So first we go thru all the serial numbers & card numbers of all the equipment I have, which was good because they had wrong and old stuff listed on my account. Then I hook up the replacement HR24 again and we try to activate it. She's trying anything she can think of but the system keeps coming back with an error. Apparently it is true they won't activate stand alone DVR's along side Genie's anymore. The system won't let them.

So now I'm back to having to get a Mini now. Except this time she asks me if I want to install the mini myself, she'd just ship it to me?! Of course I said yes and I asked her why, a month ago when this all started, that guy said I couldn't install the mini and that a tech had to come out?? She didn't have an answer for that. Ok, they're shipping me a mini now. I then made her go through all the serial and card numbers of my equipment to verify what should be on my account and also the info on the two HR-24's I have to send back (the broken one and the new one they sent me). And explained to her that I got a letter in the snail mail saying I had to return an HR-24-100 and that model number and serial number don't match any piece of equipment I have. She tried to look up the S/N and couldn't find it anywhere. o_O

I dropped the two HR-24's I had at the UPS Store today and I just got two text messages from AT&T, with two different FedEx tracking numbers, of packages to be delivered to me tomorrow. Going to be interesting to see what show's up. ;) I've never dealt with such incompetence before, lol. Going to be interesting to see what happens going forward now that that D* is sold again...
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If your Account was moved to AT&T from D*TV --Nothing for those will change --

Notably, any pay-TV customers that are now part of the new DirecTV will continue to get any bundled wireless, Internet or HBO Max services as well as associated discounts. Those customers will need to take no action, DirecTV said.

link to full Story : DirecTV separates from AT&T, unveils 'DirecTV Stream' brand | Light Reading

Only way to escape --Is Wait and see What the "NEW" Stand alone D*TV offers for New Customers ---Then Cancel your CURRENT AT&T Service and sign up for the "NEW" D*TV if that strikes your fancy
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Well, I called retention, gave them my 4 digit account number and told them I wanted to reactivate service. She verified the account, the password, and the owned equipment on the account, and said it would be possible to reactivate service but she couldnt do it, and transferred me to the "welcome back" department, which of course was in India or the Phillippines and of course, promptly disconnected me half way through providing my information. Calling back to 800-Directv and I get another off shore. Asked for a US rep, they said there is no way to talk to a US rep. So, once again, I am without Directv service. These people really just need to go out of business and shoot their satellites into deep space.
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So I was eagerly waiting for me Genie Mini delivery today. I get home, open the box, and these incompetent a$$holes sent me yet another HR-24...that they won't activate!!! So I call yet again and say you sent me the wrong device. Now this person says "well since it's a replacement they automatically send you the same thing you had"!! I spent an hour on the phone with somebody Monday, supposedly everything was good and she was sending me a mini! I mean holy crap!!

So now this person tells me they can send me a genie Mini... But it's considered an "upgrade", even though I'm actually losing two tuners to record on! And that would trigger a two year contract! So I say you're basically forcing somebody into a two year contract or else i go down to two TV's?!?! Wouldn't budge!

Guess it's time to call retention. I'm currently getting $35 off a month for another year but if they want me to sign up for another two they better cut out another good chunk of the bill. Unreal!

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk
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