[El Vato]

All,

So I called D* earlier today about one of our owned receivers that was recently replaced under the PP. It was showing up as leased so I called and asked to talk with the access card department.

While on the phone with the ACD rep, I mentioned that we like having owned receivers because it allows us the freedom to deactivate one or more of them when we want and reactivate them when we have/feel the need. He went on to mention that D* can now put individual leased receivers on "vacation mode" while allowing the subscriber to keep it at their home/residence. He went on to state that this policy change came out about a month ago and that by doing this it blurs the line between owned and leased when it comes to suspending individual receivers. No need to return a leased receiver if put on "vacation mode". I did not ask if any fees are still charged for a vacation receiver while in vacation mode (maybe reduced from $6 to $3?).

Anyone else heard about this? If it was a "regular" CSR that told me this, I wouldn't bet any money on it...but this did come from an ACD rep.

El Vato

 

[RudeDogs-DTV]

All,

So I called D* earlier today about one of our owned receivers that was recently replaced under the PP. It was showing up as leased so I called and asked to talk with the access card department.

While on the phone with the ACD rep, I mentioned that we like having owned receivers because it allows us the freedom to deactivate one or more of them when we want and reactivate them when we have/feel the need. He went on to mention that D* can now put individual leased receivers on "vacation mode" while allowing the subscriber to keep it at their home/residence. He went on to state that this policy change came out about a month ago and that by doing this it blurs the line between owned and leased when it comes to suspending individual receivers. No need to return a leased receiver if put on "vacation mode". I did not ask if any fees are still charged for a vacation receiver while in vacation mode (maybe reduced from $6 to $3?).

Anyone else heard about this? If it was a "regular" CSR that told me this, I wouldn't bet any money on it...but this did come from an ACD rep.

El Vato

Yes we an now put receivers on vacation there deactivated and your not charged for them. Its a great way for some users to save some money for a while.

 

[adamson]

Directv has been doing this upon request since leasing began, it is nothing new. I have a H24 on ice right now and it has been deactivated for months.

 

[RBTO]

I have a spare receiver that is used in a guest room and sometimes it isn't used for several months at a time. Does this type of use qualify for vacation use status? Are there any downsides to having a receiver set to vacation use? How long and what is involved in restoring them to normal use? Are there any restrictions on how often or how many times a year a receiver can be placed into this service mode?

 

[dpeters11]

I have a spare receiver that is used in a guest room and sometimes it isn't used for several months at a time. Does this type of use qualify for vacation use status? Are there any downsides to having a receiver set to vacation use? How long and what is involved in restoring them to normal use? Are there any restrictions on how often or how many times a year a receiver can be placed into this service mode?

It should be fairly quick to reactivate. You can even hook it up after a new software version is released to let it download and update.

 

[MurrayW]

I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. If you have a DVR on vacation mode, can you watch the recorded programs while it is vacationing?

 

[dpeters11]

It would deauthorize the box, recordings would not be available. Actually, even live OTA would not work.

 

[Newshawk]

Directv has been doing this upon request since leasing began, it is nothing new. I have a H24 on ice right now and it has been deactivated for months.

It may have been a de facto occurrence before but now the system officially supports "vacation/long term" disconnections.

 

[NR4P]

It may have been a de facto occurrence before but now the system officially supports "vacation/long term" disconnections.

Great update. I've been doing this for years and people actually responded to me in the past and stated that it couldn't be done. Glad its official now.

 

[wahooq]

cant be done except with owned receivers......only used for moving leased receivers...guidelines havent changed

 

[El Vato]

Well, that's why I have owned receivers. I do give this some weight as it came from a Access Card Department rep.

I forgot to post previously that he did mention another reason for this policy change was to give a small greak for people who are going through a hard time.

 

[David Ortiz]

cant be done except with owned receivers......only used for moving leased receivers...guidelines havent changed

Owned receivers can be activated and deactivated at will. There would be no point in designating an owned receiver as a "vacation/long term" deactivation. It could only apply to a leased receiver so that it would not have to be returned.

 

[wahooq]

just reading you guys from the official policy

 

[wahooq]

and whether its owned or leased there has to be a disconnect "reason" that is the one used for deact owned rcvrs like you are talking about

 

[Boston Fan]

I think I know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. If you have a DVR on vacation mode, can you watch the recorded programs while it is vacationing?

It would deauthorize the box, recordings would not be available. Actually, even live OTA would not work.

You can indeed watch recorded content from a deactivated box.

Before calling to deactivate the DVR, disconnect the cables from it. This will prevent the DVR from receiving the signal that makes the recordings unavailable. We do this with all of our DVRs every summer when we place our account on vacation hold. We are still able to watch all of the recorded content for the duration of the vacation suspend. (Just make sure that you don't reconnect those cable until you are ready to activate the receiver.)

 

[Villager]

I tried to temporarily suspend one (of two) leased receivers about 10 days ago, and I was told that that could not be done. The said they would send out a box for returning the receiver I wanted to suspend (an H20). I cancelled the suspension. I'll try again based on what is being reported here.

 

[wahooq]

im sure you will find a CSR to do it for you,if you call enough times but its against policy unless its an owned receiver if they dont know what they are doing and disconnect it with the wrong code you will be on the phone trying to figure out why you got charged for NRF , only in the instance of owned receivers and multiple home accounts can this be done per policy

 

[adamson]

Directv's H24 that I have on ice is not owned, it is leased and deactivated and no recovery kit sent. Would a moderator find out official policy please. Also I have not been charged for not returning it. Some csr's may not know how to do this and so it goes with everything at Directv.

 

[lemieuxfan67]

I just got off the phone with a CSR about deactivating a leased receiver for a couple of months. CSR said because the receiver is leased, a recovery kit would be sent and I would need to return receiver.

On a brighter note, he offered me the HMC-34 for $199 plus $49 install.

 

[wahooq]

Yep thats the policy