A little confused. Some help please?

[schaaf]

Hi.
After hating dish for the last year or so, its time to move to DirecTv. I am a little confused about how they operate vs dish.

1. Im not paying for the equipment. It would be a free HD DVR thing. This is a concern because they want you to add on that protection plan thing, but if its not my equipment, its yours - why would I care if it stops working, they will replace it right? Thats how Dish worked. I didn't buy it, was just renting it. Its their problem not mine.

2. That protection plan thing seems to imply that if you dont have it, you dont get customer support over the phone 24/7. Is that correct? I never paid a cent to dish for phone support.

3. We have the VIP 722 so we can use it for two TVs. I am pretty sure that is not the case with the DirecTv one. We would have to buy another receiver for the second TV right? So when we buy this receiver, we get to keep it when the service is up? Or does it go back to DirecTv? If it goes back to them, do I get my money back for it?

I guess Im mainly confuesd on the whole "who owns the equipment thing" because they seem to want you to pay for it, But in cases where you don't they still act as though it is still your responsibility if it were to malfunction.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[iwc5893]

Hi.
After hating dish for the last year or so, its time to move to DirecTv. I am a little confused about how they operate vs dish.

1. Im not paying for the equipment. It would be a free HD DVR thing. This is a concern because they want you to add on that protection plan thing, but if its not my equipment, its yours - why would I care if it stops working, they will replace it right? Thats how Dish worked. I didn't buy it, was just renting it. Its their problem not mine. Yep, if the receiver stops working, Direct will replace it for the cost of shipping (shipping costs waived if you have protection plan). However, the protection plan covers more than just replacing the receiver. If you dish blows out of alignment, if your multiswitch fails, or your dog chews through the cabling, you would be on the hook for the costs of the service call.

2. That protection plan thing seems to imply that if you dont have it, you dont get customer support over the phone 24/7. Is that correct? I never paid a cent to dish for phone support. You get 24/7 customer support regardless of whether or not you have the protection plan.

3. We have the VIP 722 so we can use it for two TVs. I am pretty sure that is not the case with the DirecTv one. We would have to buy another receiver for the second TV right? So when we buy this receiver, we get to keep it when the service is up? Or does it go back to DirecTv? If it goes back to them, do I get my money back for it? What do you mean "buy" the second receiver? DirecTV has pretty much gone to an all lease model which means that they retain ownership of the receivers. So the what you're paying for is the lease fee, not the purchase price. However, if you cancel your service after your contract is over, DirecTV may or may not ask for all, some, or none of your receivers back depending upon the model.

I guess Im mainly confuesd on the whole "who owns the equipment thing" because they seem to want you to pay for it, But in cases where you don't they still act as though it is still your responsibility if it were to malfunction.

Thanks for the help everyone!

See my replies above.

 

[Zynergi]

To add a bit to what iwc5893 wrote...

Hi.
After hating dish for the last year or so, its time to move to DirecTv. I am a little confused about how they operate vs dish.

1. Im not paying for the equipment. It would be a free HD DVR thing. This is a concern because they want you to add on that protection plan thing, but if its not my equipment, its yours - why would I care if it stops working, they will replace it right? Thats how Dish worked. I didn't buy it, was just renting it. Its their problem not mine.

They will replace the receiver at no cost (sans shipping) if it fails. However without the Protection Plan your contract will be extended 18/24 months depending on the type of receiver. If you have the Protection Plan you will not pay shipping Costs if you elect to re-install yourself or you will have the option for a tech to come out and further diagnose the issue and replace the receiver if need-be at no further cost for $4.99 a month. Also if any part of the system fails.. the PP will send a tech out to repair the issue, your fault, God's Fault or your Dog's fault at no additional cost, without the PP a service call is $79

2. That protection plan thing seems to imply that if you dont have it, you dont get customer support over the phone 24/7. Is that correct? I never paid a cent to dish for phone support.

You get Customer Support Regardless, with the Protection Plan you generally get more competent and knowledgable people. Not saying that general CSR's are not, just the PP Department only handles technical Issues, not order, programming issues and activations.

3. We have the VIP 722 so we can use it for two TVs. I am pretty sure that is not the case with the DirecTv one. We would have to buy another receiver for the second TV right? So when we buy this receiver, we get to keep it when the service is up? Or does it go back to DirecTv? If it goes back to them, do I get my money back for it?

You can have for FREE 1 Advanced and 3 Standard Receivers on pretty much any offer (Lease fee is $5.99 after the 1st box), some specialty offers, such as AAA may offer 1 more Adv Receiver of some sort or another, but may not offer what D* is currently. With D* FREE HDDVR Offer you would be looking at $99 for an additional HD box and $199 for an additional HDDVR Box (there may be additional Install costs which would be outside of the free install, which a Tech will quote you onsite.. such as a pole mount, excessive cableing and wall fishing). You are not technically buying the receiver, you are paying an offset cost based on a contract commitment. Simular to a Cell Phone Offer.. you get the basic flip phone free, but if you want the Blackberry Storm you pay a discounted price for a commitment. When your contract is up, you can keep the equipment as long as you maintain programming. If you cancel D*'s TOS states it needs to be returned, simular to Cable Company Boxes. No you do not get any money back.

I guess Im mainly confuesd on the whole "who owns the equipment thing" because they seem to want you to pay for it, But in cases where you don't they still act as though it is still your responsibility if it were to malfunction.

D* Ownes it.. D* will maintain the reciever.. however the rest of the install and compnets are yours and your responsibility after 90 days. PP is $4.99 a month... 16 months of payments and you buy 1 Service Call at $79. If you never have a problem, great but it is a small price to pay for insurance.

Thanks for the help everyone!

 

[schaaf]

Ok, so the 69 bucks they want to charge for the second standard receiver is like a lease equipment fee, just all up front in one lump.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Next question: Has anyone had both Dish and Direct? Which one did you like better. I liked Dishes programing packages (HD only.) But their customer service and billing was an atrocious nightmare. They managed to create not one or two but THREE accounts for us, never received bills for the one that was actually correct. This caused our payments that were going in to go to the WRONG account, thusly sending our active account into collections. Not fun.

 

[Zynergi]

They shouldnt charge for a 2nd rec. You should be able to get that and 2 more for no upfront costs. Have you tried to build on the website Good TV. Better TV. DIRECTV. ?

 

[schaaf]

I guess the DVR receivers do not count... They want 99 for those. The regular one is "free" but you pay 5 a month for it.

Anything else I should know about DirecTv before jumping the Dish ship?

 

[Jimbo]

I guess the DVR receivers do not count... They want 99 for those. The regular one is "free" but you pay 5 a month for it.

Anything else I should know about DirecTv before jumping the Dish ship?

Welcome to the site !!!

The basic rec. is free, the advanced is normally at the $ 99 you mentioned when doing what you are talking about.

Get all you rec's you need at the time of your install, you'll get the better deal.

I have been with them for several years now and another HD DVR would cost me
$ 199, at least thats what it says online, I have not called to talk to them about it though.

Jimbo

 

[Markie_Parkie]

Thanks for the questions and answers. This is puzzling to me too! I am looking at trying out Directv also.

 

[schaaf]

Ok, so after some more in-depth reading I have a few more questions.

1. It looks like the receiver can record two programs at once. Great. It has an OTA tuner too. Is this HD? Can I record HD from the OTA?

2. Contracts. BLAH. I never had a contract with Dish. I see that the price I was so excited about is actually going to go up after one year. Fine, but the problem lies in the fact its a two year contract. Is there anyway to NOT be in a 24 month commitment with them? What if I decide to cancel? Costs? Couldn't find them anywhere on the site. Is there a 30 day return period if you don't like the service?

Thanks and keep 'em comin'!

 

[Rey]

1. you can record HD over ota but to have ota you will need to add a AM21 to your new dvr. call them to see if you can have one free.

2.the only way not to get into a contract is if you buy the equipment at full price. i'm not sure if theres a 30 day period in case you want to cancel the service but any upfront costs you might have paid would not be refundable.

 

[schaaf]

There shouldn't be any upfront costs. Well according to their system builder on the DirecTv website.

It appears there are several types of receivers. HR20's, HR21's 22's etc... Is there an advantage to one over the other? What are some of the differences? I cant find anything on them on the DirecTv website.

Thanks!

 

[Rey]

You will probably get an HR21 or HR22. difference is larger hard drives. the last 3 numbers for example HR21-100 or HR21-700 is the manufacturer number. since there are no upfront costs then no worries on any type of refund. on that 30 day period you asked about,i believe the window on a cancellation for new customers is much less than that. someone else will have a better answer on this for you. my experience when i 1st signed up was a 24hr period according to the CSR. take that with a grain of salt

back then i was a current long time dish customer. i wasn't thrilled with the directv service so i canceled 3 hours after the install. i came back six months later,said bye to dish and never looked back. couldn't be happier. have in mind it will take a while to get used these dvr's but they are very good.

 

[Rey]

by the way it's unlikely that you'll get an HR20 being a new customer. the HR20 is the 1st model of the HR series.

 

[AlanRB]

You will probably get an HR21 or HR22.

Just curious, why not an HR23-700?

I am in the process of going either to D* or E* from cable. So still evaluating.

Thanks,

 

[Rey]

Just curious, why not an HR23-700?

I am in the process of going either to D* or E* from cable. So still evaluating.

Thanks,

it depends on you area. if what they have in stock is an HR21,22 or 23 that's what you'll get . if storage is an issue you could always attach an external hard drive to these dvr's

 

[AlanRB]

it depends on you area. if what they have in stock is an HR21,22 or 23 that's what you'll get . if storage is an issue you could always attach an external hard drive to these dvr's

E* charges a $40 dollar one time fee to add the external HD, what about D*?

 

[Rey]

E* charges a $40 dollar one time fee to add the external HD, what about D*?

i believe D does not charge for the addition of an external drive

 

[Jimbo]

E* charges a $40 dollar one time fee to add the external HD, what about D*?

i believe D does not charge for the addition of an external drive

I don't think D* supplies them either, unless that is something new.

Jimbo

 

[rad]

That's correct, there is no charge to connect an eSATA drive to the HR2X's. Probably because it's not an officially supported function and isn't as flexible as the Dish implementation.

 

[AlanRB]

I don't think D* supplies them either, unless that is something new.

Jimbo

Yes, you are correct E* does not supply the HD, the $40 fee is simply an activation fee so that the HD can be used.