D12 setup

[Jimbo]

Understood ...

But that was 5 years ago ...

For DIRECTV to do this now though, with less than 2 years remaining before the SD turn-off in '19 is poor decision making.

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Oh, I agree ...
My point was that they were giving out HD recvrs to SD subs years ago, just not activating the HD portion.

 

[Claude Greiner]

They gave me the SD receiver when I re-opened the account. Post number 8:



Why? There is no guarantee that the subscriber is going to stick around for a few years. In my case, as soon as the promotional credits that Directv gave me run out, I am gone. (I mostly came back just for the $200 Visa gift card they were offering. Being able to make a point that it is still possible to avoid the HD fee, after fighting with Directv for more than a year over that fee and repeatedly being told by them that they would not let me downgrade, just sweetened the deal.)

There are 4 reasons why...

#1 With the new pricing and the elimination of the HD fee, there is no advantage to using standard equipment. The elimination of the fee was to prevent people from taking SD equipment to avoid the fees.

Now granted there is a $7 primary receiver fee, but again it was done to end what I call stupidity from an uneducated consumer trying to save $10.

We are at the point where there are people out there who do not know that there is a difference between SD and HD. I ask people this all day when selling Comcast and people don't know there is a difference. I have to ask if their tv is flat and rectangular or square and bulky in the back to determine what type of Tv they have.

#2 Since it's almost impossible these days to get an SD television, and with more people getting HD televisions, your really doing the customer a dis-service installing standard equipment.

There are people out there who have HD televisions who have SD equipment and only have SD equipment because when they signed up for service because they didn't understand the difference. When they signed up for service the sales person asked them if they wanted standard equipment or HD equipment. Not knowing the difference, the customer took standard because they likely thought standard equipment was cheaper, which with some providers it is.

But the real issue is that it makes the overall service seem like crap. You get a crappy blurry picture on an HD set with standard equipment. Even worse if it's connected to coax cable channel 3.

Now you got a customer who goes to their friends house, sees a great picture and thinks the issue is their provider, never thinking upgrading equipment is an option.

Why do you think the providers try to push the DVR, on demand and all these other features? They want to create value.

#3 when the customer either gets a new Tv or wants to upgrade, many will switch providers then go the upgrade route.

The fact in many cases you need a new dish, new contract, and may have to pay money frustrates people who think it should be free.

#4 for the customers who do not upgrade, now you need to upgrade them all for free when the time comes to do away with SD. Not only the providers spend money on a truck roll, but there are a small number of customers who either don't want anyone coming in their house, or something will happen with the upgrade which will lead to their cancellation.

I had a lady with Dish who had a model 4000. She was happy with the 4000. I remember the power supply went bad we replaced the power supply after she took the receiver to my office. They finally shut it down due to the card swap, and I ended up selling her a 301 and configured it exactly like her old one so I wouldn't have to go to her house.

Something happened to the 301, Dish insisted to send a tech and she refused.

She cancelled, switched to Directv and she only allowed me to swap the dish. I had to activate the receiver at my store and she would not let me in her house.

But many many many reasons. The less customer interaction the better.

 

[HoTat2]

... I had a lady with Dish who had a model 4000. She was happy with the 4000. I remember the power supply went bad we replaced the power supply after she took the receiver to my office. They finally shut it down due to the card swap, and I ended up selling her a 301 and configured it exactly like her old one so I wouldn't have to go to her house.

Something happened to the 301, Dish insisted to send a tech and she refused.

She cancelled, switched to Directv and she only allowed me to swap the dish. I had to activate the receiver at my store and she would not let me in her house.

But many many many reasons. The less customer interaction the better.

So when she switched to DIRECTV, but still wouldn't let you in the house ...

What ... she handled any necessary changes to the inside cabling, splitters, connection of the PI, CCK, etc., herself?



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[pattykay]

So much to respond to here, so here goes...

Curious though, how do you even stand it?

Well, with the credits Directv gave me, I now have the Select package for only $11.03 per month, including sales tax. That is not a bad price, even though it is SD-only. I mostly just use Directv to supplement my Dish subscription (Flex Pack without locals or any other add-ons) where I am able to watch the HD feeds for no additional charge.

Since many if not most of DIRECTV's MPEG-2 SD feeds nowadays are simply down-converts of the HD ones in 16:9 letterbox. Which short of zooming in translates into a window-box image on an HD set of course.

Yes, that is how I watch it. I do not zoom the picture. I have the receiver hooked up to two TV's, one of which is an old SD set in the bedroom, so the letterbox is not so bad on that TV.

If You requested that recvr (and got it), then why are people bashing D* about installing a SD recvr, that's what you wanted.

I am certainly not bashing Directv, for that reason anyway.

Still handing out SD receivers at this late stage which will become doorstops as soon as 1 1/2 years away is obviously bad policy.

With SD receivers, there is only a one-year commitment required (compared to a two-year commitment for HD receivers) and Directv even waived that commitment requirement to win me back. The credits Directv gave me last that long anyway, so I would not have even had a problem with making a commitment if they had required it.

My point was that they were giving out HD recvrs to SD subs years ago, just not activating the HD portion.

I wish Directv had given me that option. I could have kept the H25 I already had.

#1 With the new pricing and the elimination of the HD fee, there is no advantage to using standard equipment. The elimination of the fee was to prevent people from taking SD equipment to avoid the fees.

Now granted there is a $7 primary receiver fee, but again it was done to end what I call stupidity from an uneducated consumer trying to save $10.

The pricing depends on when you originally signed up for service. After reading about this change in the fee structure, I upgraded from the D12 (which I had picked precisely to avoid that $10 fee) to the H25 thinking that as a new HD subscriber, I would not be charged the HD fee. No such luck. I was (and still am) grandfathered under the old fee structure. Directv tries to justify charging me the $10 per month for HD by saying that they are saving me the $7 per month for the first receiver fee. Given the choice between the two fees, I would rather pay the $7 than the $10. As it is now, I am no longer paying any equipment fees whatsoever. (just sales tax)

#4 for the customers who do not upgrade, now you need to upgrade them all for free when the time comes to do away with SD. Not only the providers spend money on a truck roll...

At first, after I closed my account, Directv told me that they did not want the H25 back, which is why they did not send me a return kit. Then, when my account was re-opened with the D12, they also accidentally reactivated the H25, adding the HD fee back to my account and adding an additional receiver fee. I immediately caught the mistake when I logged into my account that same day, and I did an online chat to get the H25 deactivated and remove those fees. Then, only a few days later, Directv charged me a $45 fee for not returning the H25, so I called them to get them to reverse that fee and send me a box with a pre-paid shipping label so I could return the H25 to them. If they had let me keep the H25 I already had, like they originally said they would after I closed the account, then when the time comes for the forced upgrade to all HD equipment, I could have done the upgrade myself for free. No truck roll would have been required, nor even any shipping and handling charges for Directv to send me the new receiver. Directv blew that chance.

What ... she handled any necessary changes to the inside cabling, splitters, connection of the PI, CCK, etc., herself?

I am not surprised. Many people are do-it-yourself-ers for this type of thing, including myself to some extent.

 

[Jimbo]

So much to respond to here, so here goes...


Well, with the credits Directv gave me, I now have the Select package for only $11.03 per month, including sales tax. That is not a bad price, even though it is SD-only. I mostly just use Directv to supplement my Dish subscription (Flex Pack without locals or any other add-ons) where I am able to watch the HD feeds for no additional charge.


Yes, that is how I watch it. I do not zoom the picture. I have the receiver hooked up to two TV's, one of which is an old SD set in the bedroom, so the letterbox is not so bad on that TV.


I am certainly not bashing Directv, for that reason anyway.


With SD receivers, there is only a one-year commitment required (compared to a two-year commitment for HD receivers) and Directv even waived that commitment requirement to win me back. The credits Directv gave me last that long anyway, so I would not have even had a problem with making a commitment if they had required it.


I wish Directv had given me that option. I could have kept the H25 I already had.


The pricing depends on when you originally signed up for service. After reading about this change in the fee structure, I upgraded from the D12 (which I had picked precisely to avoid that $10 fee) to the H25 thinking that as a new HD subscriber, I would not be charged the HD fee. No such luck. I was (and still am) grandfathered under the old fee structure. Directv tries to justify charging me the $10 per month for HD by saying that they are saving me the $7 per month for the first receiver fee. Given the choice between the two fees, I would rather pay the $7 than the $10. As it is now, I am no longer paying any equipment fees whatsoever. (just sales tax)


At first, after I closed my account, Directv told me that they did not want the H25 back, which is why they did not send me a return kit. Then, when my account was re-opened with the D12, they also accidentally reactivated the H25, adding the HD fee back to my account and adding an additional receiver fee. I immediately caught the mistake when I logged into my account that same day, and I did an online chat to get the H25 deactivated and remove those fees. Then, only a few days later, Directv charged me a $45 fee for not returning the H25, so I called them to get them to reverse that fee and send me a box with a pre-paid shipping label so I could return the H25 to them. If they had let me keep the H25 I already had, like they originally said they would after I closed the account, then when the time comes for the forced upgrade to all HD equipment, I could have done the upgrade myself for free. No truck roll would have been required, nor even any shipping and handling charges for Directv to send me the new receiver. Directv blew that chance.


I am not surprised. Many people are do-it-yourself-ers for this type of thing, including myself to some extent.

You have to remember most people are not savey enough to do this type of thing.

 

[HoTat2]

You have to remember most people are not savey enough to do this type of thing.

And certainly not to be sexist, but I find this to be especially so for women....

Not due to any lack of intelligence of course. But just a general lack of interest by them in learning this type of stuff ...

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[pattykay]

And certainly not to be sexist, but I find this to be especially so for women....

Not due to any lack of intelligence of course. But just a general lack of interest by them in learning this type of stuff ...

You have to remember that the case we are discussing was probably a SD receiver. She was switching from SD Dish equipment:

...I had a lady with Dish who had a model 4000. She was happy with the 4000. I remember the power supply went bad we replaced the power supply after she took the receiver to my office. They finally shut it down due to the card swap, and I ended up selling her a 301 and configured it exactly like her old one so I wouldn't have to go to her house.

Something happened to the 301, Dish insisted to send a tech and she refused.

She cancelled, switched to Directv and she only allowed me to swap the dish. I had to activate the receiver at my store and she would not let me in her house.

The SD receiver would be relatively easy to hook up once the dish was already aimed. No power inserter required.

So when she switched to DIRECTV, but still wouldn't let you in the house ...

What ... she handled any necessary changes to the inside cabling, splitters, connection of the PI, CCK, etc., herself?