Anyone else promised a "free" upgrade?

[klen]

I "leased" a 942 last June when I signed up. I questioned the CSR about the $250upfront lease fee, mentioning that I knew MPEG4 would be coming soon, and I didn't want to pay a $250 surcharge if the equipment would be obsolete in a year or so. The CSR reassured me that by paying this upfront "lease" fee, I would be upgraded for free if the technology changed in the near future.

Did I get anything in writing? no.
In the next few weeks, I will take it up the ladder as far as necessary, but I know up front that this may be an excersize in futility. So basically, I paid an extra $25 per month to use the 942. I will just tell them that they can charge me the $99 for the upgrade, but it will force me to downgrade my programming, and they will lose in the end. I don't even watch that much TV anyways...I listen to Sirius
($12.95/month) 4 times as much as I watch any TV. (costing me around $100/month)........

 

[Widescreen]

If you don't watch much TV, why would you bother upgrading? Keep what you have and downgrade programming.

 

[klen]

If you don't watch much TV, why would you bother upgrading? Keep what you have and downgrade programming.

Because:
1) I would have all of my locals in HD, (I only get 3 out of 6 majors right now, and one missing one is local pro football)
2) So I can have the latest and greatest, I guess
3) Because the CSR told me the upgrade would be no charge, dammit......

 

[jsanders]

The CSR reassured me that by paying this upfront "lease" fee, I would be upgraded for free if the technology changed in the near future.

Yes, that is probably a true statement. She never said "when" they would upgrade you for free though. You are amortizing the cost of your upfront lease upgrade fee over how long you have had it. Dish does the same. They make more money off of that box the longer they lease it.

They will probably upgrade you for free when MPEG-2 encoded HD is discarded, the projected time for that is around March, 2007 (in a year). It makes no sense from Dish's perspective to upgrade you now, they haven't made you lease the old box long enough yet.

I bought the 942, and then sold it. Then I bought the 622, and the upgrade cost me about $150, and I own the machine. Leases are attractive in the near term, however, purchasing is attractive in the longer term, and has a different set of advantages.

For instance, those that paid $250 to lease the 942, and then $300 to lease the 622 have already paid $550 (close to the MSRP of the receiver) and they don't even own any equipment after shelling out all that cash.

 

[RandallA]

"Because the CSR told me the upgrade would be no charge, dammit"

You know that the CSR was wrong, right? There is no way in hell that you're gonna be upgraded for free. And since the 942 you have is leased, you'll have to pay $299.00 for the 622 upgrade.

 

[klen]

"Because the CSR told me the upgrade would be no charge, dammit"

You know that the CSR was wrong, right? There is no way in hell that you're gonna be upgraded for free. And since the 942 you have is leased, you'll have to pay $299.00 for the 622 upgrade.

When I called to inquire, they did say that there would be a $200 rebate on it after April 1st, making my net outlay an extra $99, still not "free", but still a lot after already shelling out $250. Maybe I will wait and see what the deal is when we get closer to Bears season...I guess no rush yet, because I can get the Cubs in HD right now, and with summer coming up, that will be about the extent of my TV watching.........

Thanks for the responses

 

[RandallA]

The $200.00 rebate is only if you own the 921 or 942 receiver and will have to send it back. You were victim of a misinformed CSR.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

We do not yet know if it is required that someone "own" the 921 or 942 in order to qualify for the $200 rebate. In both statements made on Charlie Chats, it was not stated as a required that someone "own" the HD DVR. They said if someone "has" a 921 or 942 that they would qualify for the rebate.

 

[NOHDjunkie]

For instance, those that paid $250 to lease the 942, and then $300 to lease the 622 have already paid $550 (close to the MSRP of the receiver) and they don't even own any equipment after shelling out all that cash.

But they have two HD DVR's that would have cost $1400 + to buy. but only cost the leaser $550

ANd What advantage is there in owning? the per month cost is the same. And it's only a useable reciever if you have Dish as a service. The only advantage is resale but with the way tech changes the resale value is a big gamble.

I would much rather have the cheaper initial out of pocket expense of leasing (less than half the buy cost)

 

[teachsac]

Morning,

I have been in contact with upper management since December. I was told that the $200 applies if you lease or own. You only have to send the unit back.

Scott

 

[RandallA]

Morning,

I have been in contact with upper management since December. I was told that the $200 applies if you lease or own. You only have to send the unit back.

Scott

Well, I guess we'll find out on April 1st if the deal applies to the leased units too. My logic tells me that it will only be for those who own the receivers, why would they give you a rebate of $200.00 if the equipment belongs to them? But hey we are talking about Dish Network here and who knows what they're going to do.

I really hope that my logic is wrong and the people that got screwed by leasing the 942 get the $99.00 deal.

 

[teachsac]

Hola Randall,

At least we've got a break from the rain. That is a bright said.

They're thinking might be that with no rebate $250+$299=$549 to lease equipment that they don't own. I don't think that is good math even by E* standards.

With the $200 rebate the total cost for 18 months is $457. Probably close to their break even cost for the receiver.

If you don't have platinum the total cost is $565 with the DVR fee. Without a phone line attached the total cost would be $655.

I personally don't think owners are getting a fair shake, though.

Scott

 

[drjake]

Well, I guess we'll find out on April 1st if the deal applies to the leased units too. My logic tells me that it will only be for those who own the receivers, why would they give you a rebate of $200.00 if the equipment belongs to them? But hey we are talking about Dish Network here and who knows what they're going to do.

I really hope that my logic is wrong and the people that got screwed by leasing the 942 get the $99.00 deal.

All I can tell you as that we have been told by our DISH rep repeatedly, that the rebate will be available to lease or own customers and that we should encourage our customers to wait until April 1.

 

[klen]

All I can tell you as that we have been told by our DISH rep repeatedly, that the rebate will be available to lease or own customers and that we should encourage our customers to wait until April 1.

Exact same thing I heard.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I believe they will include leased HD DVRs in the rebate too. If not, you would think that they would have said "owned" 921s or 942s at least once during the multiple times that they discussed it.

 

[codee]

Well, I got it free in a way....I do need to wait until April 1st to actually upgrade, but I recieved a credit of $103.** for my bill for the month of march, making programming free for a month to counter the $99 lease upgrade fee come april 1st. Is it technically free? No. In all actuality though, it is. They gave me the credit so it comes out to be the same as if it was free pretty much

 

[jsanders]

But they have two HD DVR's that would have cost $1400 + to buy. but only cost the leaser $550

ANd What advantage is there in owning? the per month cost is the same. And it's only a useable reciever if you have Dish as a service. The only advantage is resale but with the way tech changes the resale value is a big gamble.

I would much rather have the cheaper initial out of pocket expense of leasing (less than half the buy cost)

I guess the jury is still out on what it will cost 942 leasers to upgrade their lease to the 622. We will find out April 1st.

For me, I sold the 942, and it cost me about $150 to upgrade to the 622 that I own. My programming costs are less than leasers. If you lease, you are going to subscribe to at least bronze + locals + dvr fee + lease fee (in the case you have only one receiver) because leasing has minimum programming requirements. I only subscribe to the old HD Pack + Voom + locals.

 

[klen]

Well, I got it free in a way....I do need to wait until April 1st to actually upgrade, but I recieved a credit of $103.** for my bill for the month of march, making programming free for a month to counter the $99 lease upgrade fee come april 1st. Is it technically free? No. In all actuality though, it is. They gave me the credit so it comes out to be the same as if it was free pretty much

How did you get that???