did I buy or lease my 811 for $199 in Dec 2003?

bunkerbob

Well-Known SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Dec 11, 2003
25
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Maybe a stupid question, but I just called DISH to upgrade my 811 to a 211 and was surprised to find that their records show that my 811 is leased. I thought I bought it, back in December 2003, when after reading several threads in this forum (like http://www.satelliteguys.us/archive/index.php/t-1880.html) I phoned the "executive CSR" number to get the $199 deal. I had been a DISH customer for about 18 months at that time, leasing three 301's on the Digital Home Plan. To get the $199 deal, I had to commit to a year of the HD package, and to get a free 2nd dish installation (nominally $221 installation fee), I had to sign up for locals. I thought I was buying the 811 outright, but the only documentation I have is the $199 charge on my credit card, with an entry on my account statement "DISH Network HD Receiver...$199", and a delivery charge of $24.95 (credited further down my bill as a "CCA Ship/Delivery Disc.") There isn't really anything concrete in my records to indicate whether it was a purchase or lease. and all my subsequent billing has shown something like "AT 180...Digital Home Plan, 3 RCVR", which I suppose is consistent with all three receivers being leased. Is DISH right about this one?

Thanks.
 
you got that backwards. Dish'n it up is only getting you a leased receiver.

well anyways sounds like it is leased. Did you return a 301 for the 811, that's the only whole i see
 
Last edited:
BFG: yes, I did return one of the 301's to DISH in a prepaid shipping box that they provided.
 
JPointerWI said:
the 811 has never retailed for $199, so it has to be a lease.
There was a period of time where you could buy a 6000U for $149 and a little later an 811 for $149. I took them up on both offers. Both are purchased, not leased.
:up
 
You were leasing the three 301s so when you replaced it under the terms of DHA you maintained the lease agreement just substituted the product you were leasing. Sorry but so many Americans need to learn how to read, many have posted they thought they were purchasing and were only leasing.
 
Grandude: thanks for your comments. The 2003 thread that I referenced includes numerous people stating that they were buying 811's at either the $199 that I paid, or the $149 that you mentioned. And my recollection of the DISH CSR's spiel was along the lines of "our normal sales price is $399, but right now we have a promotion where we can offer it to good customers for $199". It sure sounded like a purchase to me. But since it was just a verbal order, with no written documentation of the terms of the transaction, I don't have any evidence to support my recollection. I had hoped that some other users in this forum who remember that $199 promotion in December 2003 might be able to comment on whether it applied to purchases or leases or both.
 
Dish did offer the 811 for purchase of 199.00 when it first came out. I got my around aug-sept 2003 for 199. I was a current customer who owned my equipment. I had to commit to HD package for 1 year but I did own my 811.
 
They also offered the 811 for $99 when it first came out. I got mine at the $99 rate, sold on ebay last month for $137, not as good as I did with the 6000s but not bad.
 
marathon_1 said:
Dish did offer the 811 for purchase of 199.00 when it first came out. I got my around aug-sept 2003 for 199. I was a current customer who owned my equipment. I had to commit to HD package for 1 year but I did own my 811.

That is the same way I got my 501 back in 2001. Got it for $199 installed for being a current customer. It wasn't a lease.


Later,


BigJohn2
 
I was leasing back then when the offer came out. I was passed my lease agreement and returned my 301's and bought a 301 and then purchased a 811 off of dish. They wouldn't sell me one as long as I was leasiing.
 
I was not leasing when I got the $199 deal in Dec of 2003. It was a special promotion Dish had for existing customers, $199 for some good standing customers and $149 for others (I think these were the guys that had higher bills each month, as I only had AT60 and locals at the time). There was a 1 year agreement to the HD pack to get this pricing.

I don't remember anything about leasing being required, and I did not lease my 811. I'm not sure how it was handled for those in a lease program when the offer came out, but it doesn't sound right that you leased the 811 and still paid the $199 that others paid to own theirs. The lease program you were in may have stipulated weird rules that caused the 811 to be a leased piece of equipment since you were already leasing.

At one time, people that were in one of the lease programs were not able to get the special offers that people that owned their equipment could get. I may be thinking of a different receiver offer (like the 921).
 
I'll agree with others here...

I bought my 811 in March of 2004 for $199 with the stipulation of keeping the HD pack for a year. Sounds like things may have gotten messed up for you since you were leasing other receivers, but I never recall hearing about anyone paying $199 to be able to lease an 811.
 
Thanks to everyone for your comments. I called back DISH to argue my case, armed with more information thanks to y'all. Got bounced to a 2nd level CSR who put me on hold while he researched for about 10 minutes, then he came back to say that they may indeed have made an error right from the start in classifying my 811 as a lease, and that they were going to reclassify it as an owned receiver. eBay, here I come! Thanks again for everyone's help!
 
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