Well, for anyone that is interested, I got my replacement DVR installed and up-and-running. Of course, I had issues with the infamous CSR's at Dish Network. First off, before I called, I was going to try to activate online. That's when I noticed that they had charged me $15 shipping & handling!! That wasn't gonna fly! They tried to say that the shipping would have been free if I had the $6/month warranty, but I pressed and got that waived.
Then, I started in to try and get the $40 EHD fee waived. Rep put me on hold, and came back saying that she'd meet me half way...$20. I thought about it for a second, but I figured I could press more to get the whole thing waived...plus I was still steamed that they had tried to charge me S&H in the first place. I pressed more, saying how extremely frustrating it was to lose over 35 hours of movies/TV shows, and that it had shaken my confidence in DISH and their equipment (which it has) and that the EHD feature which they called a luxury was, to me, now a necessity. She said that half way was all they could do, so I asked for a supervisor. She put me on hold, and I was transferred to a voicemail, and then disconnected!
Needless to say, I was a bit pissed off now!! I called back and got someone in billing, since i thought that's where I needed to be to get a fee waived. After going through 1 rep, and to his manager, I was transferred to Technical Service, since I was talking about the EHD feature. That's when I finally got satisfaction. I explained the situation, and the rep reviewed my account, saw that I've been a customer in good standing, never missed a payment, auto-pay billing, etc., and he promptly waived the full $40 fee, as compensation for the troubles I had to deal with. I thanked him very much and told him I wish I had gone straight to the Technical Service department in the first place!! He said that the people in the tech department really try to put themselves in the customers' shoes and that, in my situation, there's no reason that they SHOULDN'T waive the fees!
So, all's well that ends well, I guess...although it WAS touch-and-go with the first 3 reps. All I know is that if I have any problems in the future, I'll go straight to Technical Service!!