I did not have the warranty plan. My 508 died well outside of warranty. When I called dish they offered to exchange it for under $20. I saw no reason to carry the warranty.
Recently buttons on both my 508 and 721 remotes stopped working. I was pricing getting replacement from eBay or DishStore. I decided to call Dish and the CSR offered the prices for each replacement was $29. Then she said, "Add the warranty plan today and I can send out 1 free replacement remote...You will receive that in 2 days. On the day you receive that call back and we'll send a free replacement for the other. Once you receive that I advise you call back and cancel the warranty. This way you'll get both replacements for under $6." Within 5 days I had received both replacement remotes from dish, but I have not cancelled the warranty plan yet as I felt I should keep it at least a month.
I called dish with every intention of buying replacements, but their CSR told me to do it the other way...