Guess you've missed the stories on here of people getting charged full price for receivers they've shipped back. Seems it took months to get straightened out. I have a 222, at the time it was cheaper for me to buy it then to pay Dish for someone to hook it up. Hooking up a couple of wires wasn't a problem for me. Now I don't have to worry if I decide to leave Dish, (been with them this century). So I came out ahead at the start, and don't have to spend time packing it up and driving to a UPS drop off or any expense at the end.
I fully understand people that had VCR's blinking 12, or aren't physically able to mount a dish or do an install, leasing and having Dish do the work is the only way to go for them. As I'm getting close to that point, if I ever upgrade, I may have to lease.
Nope, I haven't missed the stories. I've actually contributed to those stories since it's happened to me twice. Even though it was frustrating to me it is not a hard problem to solve. All you have to do is show Dish proof that you purchased it with some form of an invoice/receipt. I'm not sure why it would cost you so much when leasing. I read more stories on here about how people are able to get fees waived because they threatened to leave or just asked.