[BiggaAdams]

I talked to a salesman from direct tv and I just have the feeling he was trying to scam me, so I figured I'd come on here and confirm with you trusthworthy guys on this site.

Basically what I'm looking at is total choice plus, 1 standard box and 2 hd boxes. I don't want the 2 year commitment though. So I asked him if I bought the boxes myself if I could avoid the 2 year commitment and he said no because if I want HD programming I have to order HD and they bring a HD dish and box for me. He said only way to avoid commitment was to pay for my own dish, pay for my own installers and pay for my own boxes which would cost me $400+

Basically my question to you all is there any way I can get hd programming without commitment or at the worst 1 year commitment? I just dont trust this salesman and think there has to be a way to do this. Please give me your opinions, thank you so much all

 

[bobnielsen]

That's the standard policy these days. If you activate a DVR or HD receiver, there is a two year commitment; for a standard receiver it is one year. If you quit before the commitment is up, there is a $12.50/month termination fee for each month remaining on the contract, which I suppose is better than paying the Total Choice fee per month.

 

[BiggaAdams]

That's the standard policy these days. If you activate a DVR or HD receiver, there is a two year commitment; for a standard receiver it is one year. If you quit before the commitment is up, there is a $12.50/month termination fee for each month remaining on the contract, which I suppose is better than paying the Total Choice fee per month.

Well thanks. I just was hoping if I activated my own HD receiver I wouldn't be locked in. The customer sales guy was getting me very frustrated, thanks again!

 

[FavreJL04]

I have a standard receiver and single LNB dish in a box that is very old, but brand new. I called and asked if someone hooked this up would they have a commitment and they said no. They would not be eligible for the free promos, but they would not be tied to a commitment.

 

[JLucPicard]

bobneilsen pretty much summed it up a lot neater, but...

I believe if you purchased your own boxes that were (1) previously "owned" (not leased) from a private party (such as off of eBay, or got them from a friend or something) -or- (2) bought at full "owned" price, which is much more than what you can buy them for through D* or from Best Buy or most on-line retailers. For example, standard up front price for the HR20 DVR is $299. To purchase that same unit and actually "own" it would cost you around $749.

As to #1, you may find SD receivers that were previously owned and available from private parties. For HD Receivers, there may be some H20 receivers (I think) that were purchased by people prior to March 1, 2006, that would also be considered owned units. The HR20 HD DVR I mentioned above has only been available from D* under their lease agreement. There may be parties who actually paid the full, unsubsidized price (around $749) that could sell them as "owned", but I would be really careful about either of those HD boxes as they could easily be leased units and should not be being sold by the previous users.

That covers the boxes. After obtaining an "owned" box, you would also need to buy and install the appropriate dish through your own means as well.

Basically any obtaining of boxes at a subsidized price and/or dish-installation or any thing else like that on D*s part will make you subject to the two-year commitment. If you can obtain and install your receivers and dish all independent of DirecTv, then you should be able to activate without a commitment - but you would also need to be persitent with the CSR to get them to understand the situation.

 

[cariera]

What is the fear over the commitment? Is it financial?

It doesn't make sense to be to put up $800 for 2 hd boxes, plus another $100 for a standard def box, plus what another $100-$200 for a dish and an install (assuming you are not doing this yourself) just to say you own the equipment.

This would save you save you, at the most, a $300 cancellation fee.

Sure you would be able to sell your owned boxes if you cancelled, probably netting you 50% of what you paid for them.

If you are willing to invest $1000 to have owned equipment that would be useless to you if you walked away, why wouldn't you just lease the equipment and leave only $300 of your hard earned cash at risk.

I must be missing something.

 

[jimbo09]

What is the fear over the commitment? Is it financial?

It doesn't make sense to be to put up $800 for 2 hd boxes, plus another $100 for a standard def box, plus what another $100-$200 for a dish and an install (assuming you are not doing this yourself) just to say you own the equipment.

This would save you save you, at the most, a $300 cancellation fee.

Sure you would be able to sell your owned boxes if you cancelled, probably netting you 50% of what you paid for them.

If you are willing to invest $1000 to have owned equipment that would be useless to you if you walked away, why wouldn't you just lease the equipment and leave only $300 of your hard earned cash at risk.

I must be missing something.

I'd say don't switch to D*. This seems to be their "thing", to offer packages and equipment for free or cheap, and get some of the cost back with the 2 yr commitment.
I personally don't mind, because once I have eveything set-up, I am not going to change providers.

 

[iceman2a]

I talked to a salesman from direct tv and I just have the feeling he was trying to scam me, so I figured I'd come on here and confirm with you trusthworthy guys on this site.

Basically what I'm looking at is total choice plus, 1 standard box and 2 hd boxes. I don't want the 2 year commitment though. So I asked him if I bought the boxes myself if I could avoid the 2 year commitment and he said no because if I want HD programming I have to order HD and they bring a HD dish and box for me. He said only way to avoid commitment was to pay for my own dish, pay for my own installers and pay for my own boxes which would cost me $400+

Basically my question to you all is there any way I can get hd programming without commitment or at the worst 1 year commitment? I just dont trust this salesman and think there has to be a way to do this. Please give me your opinions, thank you so much all

If it is in fact true that you can buy and install your own eqpt with no commitment (I thought just activating a HD rcvr locked you in) check out http://www.thesatelliteshop.net you can buy and own H20's and an AT9!

 

[carl6]

As others have said, make absolutely certain if you are trying to "BUY" that you are not just paying the up-front lease cost. Even then, you will probably have to spend much time on the phone with DirecTV to get the equipment properly listed as owned.

I think cariera summed it up pretty good overall. There really is no advantage to owning over leasing, and the financial risk, even breaking the committment if you terminate early, is lower by leasing than buying.

Carl

 

[bobnielsen]

Additionally if it is leased and breaks, Directv will replace it for just a shipping charge (I think the two-year clock restarts, however).

 

[DblD_Indy]

What is the fear over the commitment? Is it financial?

It doesn't make sense to be to put up $800 for 2 hd boxes, plus another $100 for a standard def box, plus what another $100-$200 for a dish and an install (assuming you are not doing this yourself) just to say you own the equipment.

This would save you save you, at the most, a $300 cancellation fee.

Sure you would be able to sell your owned boxes if you cancelled, probably netting you 50% of what you paid for them.

If you are willing to invest $1000 to have owned equipment that would be useless to you if you walked away, why wouldn't you just lease the equipment and leave only $300 of your hard earned cash at risk.

I must be missing something.

Yes, you are missing bunches. To start if you buy you can recover some of your cost by selling the equipment. You can crack the case and drop in a larger hard disk with out fear of "voiding"your agreement.

I love how D*TV is happy to mention over and over that their equipment is junk without them. After upgrading to the HR20-700 I am starting to feel that since they have gone into the hardware business the equipment is junk with them.

Cariera you speak like a true D*TV Rep. you should add your D*TV CSR ID as your signature. Ah wait you have no signature....Hummmmm

To the programmers at D*TV I know you have worked hard to polish this tur*. I know you are only coding what you are ask to code. I hope your bosses are listening to this forum. Hopefully my complaints are guaranteeing you job security.

 

[BiggaAdams]

What is the fear over the commitment? Is it financial?

It doesn't make sense to be to put up $800 for 2 hd boxes, plus another $100 for a standard def box, plus what another $100-$200 for a dish and an install (assuming you are not doing this yourself) just to say you own the equipment.

This would save you save you, at the most, a $300 cancellation fee.

Sure you would be able to sell your owned boxes if you cancelled, probably netting you 50% of what you paid for them.

If you are willing to invest $1000 to have owned equipment that would be useless to you if you walked away, why wouldn't you just lease the equipment and leave only $300 of your hard earned cash at risk.

I must be missing something.

You sound just like the guy I talked to on the phone with the financial question.

This is not a financial issue, my finances are fine. I am just not a fan of being locked into something. You lose your power that way. Customer service can treat you like crap, if you have any problems with your service they can take their time fixing them since you can't just get up and leave. 1 year is one thing, but 2 years is just too much. I basically told him I'd like to see the picture first and he kept saying why would I want to cancel and go to the little cable company (comcast) whos the worst service you can get.

I also found it funny that the guy couldn't tell me what the earliest they could be out here was so I told him where I lived and he said probably Friday?

Thank you all for your posts, I appreciate it. I decided to call Comcast and start the process of canceling my service with them but they made me a good deal and they can be out here this week for the Thursday night NFL game. I'll probably be ordering Direct next football season as I gotta have the NFL sunday ticket package. I wish they weren't exclusive.

Thanks again everyone, and happy holidays.

 

[AnonomissX]

I would not fear the 2 year commitment. I know that if you have a good reason, ie, moving, financial hardship, extended travel plans or a seasonal account, etc, you can suspend your account for up to 9 months. You just have to call back before the 9 months are up, to re suspend. The time keeps ticking on the commitment, even when suspended so I for one have no qualms about commitments.

..................

On a side note, I had a tivo box power supply break off when the shelf it was on fell, and the protection plan didn't cover it...had to take a another R15 and 2 year agreement to replace it. I negotiated 3 free months showtime and bill credits for it, then 2 weeks later, I snuck in on the website and got another dvr ordered using the DVR4U2 code, completely free. I'm going to turn off another of the standard boxes and not run another line to it. I love free when you are locked in anyways

 

[ClubSteeler]

You sound just like the guy I talked to on the phone with the financial question.

This is not a financial issue, my finances are fine. I am just not a fan of being locked into something. You lose your power that way. Customer service can treat you like crap, if you have any problems with your service they can take their time fixing them since you can't just get up and leave. 1 year is one thing, but 2 years is just too much. I basically told him I'd like to see the picture first and he kept saying why would I want to cancel and go to the little cable company (comcast) whos the worst service you can get.

I also found it funny that the guy couldn't tell me what the earliest they could be out here was so I told him where I lived and he said probably Friday?

Thank you all for your posts, I appreciate it. I decided to call Comcast and start the process of canceling my service with them but they made me a good deal and they can be out here this week for the Thursday night NFL game. I'll probably be ordering Direct next football season as I gotta have the NFL sunday ticket package. I wish they weren't exclusive.

Thanks again everyone, and happy holidays.

If all you want is NFL Sunday ticket, get an old, owned, SD box, and do the simple installation yourself, doesn't even have to be a permanent installation.

You might be able to sign up with no comittment and immediately cancel all programming except NFLST. Even if somehow they force you into a 1 year comittment, then you can "suspend" your account at the end of the season. Next season you will be under no commitment, and can cancel everything but NFLST. Then NFLST will automatically renew for you every year with no other programming.

I do it. I get NFLST and only NFLST.

The main dreawback to doing this........ I watch it in SD, becasue activating a HD box would lock me into 2 years, and cancellation feees and all kinds of stuff that I want to avoid.

 

[bobnielsen]

I don't think NFLST-only subscriptions are available anymore. You are probably "grandfathered".

 

[ApK]

You sound just like the guy I talked to on the phone with the financial question.

This is not a financial issue, my finances are fine. I am just not a fan of being locked into something. You lose your power that way.

How are you "locked in" when $300 will "unlock you" whenever you like, which is less than what you'd pay to avoid the lock? If it's not financial, then it's just psychological.

And service so far for me has been very good.
When there is a problem, they seem to throw money or freebies at you at the slightest sign of unhappiness.

Better than I expected and MUCH better than Comcast.

 

[Mikey]

... I'll probably be ordering Direct next football season as I gotta have the NFL sunday ticket package. I wish they weren't exclusive.

Thanks again everyone, and happy holidays.

If you've "gotta have the NFL sunday ticket", then go ahead and do the 2-year committment. Nobody else has NFL-ST. DirecTV has it until 2009, right, or is it 2011?