"If you were me" Advice?

tabcourt

New Member
Original poster
Dec 20, 2003
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I have a PVR501 in the living room and a 301 in the bedroom. I have a dish 500 that lets the 2 receivers work independently. I also have a second dish to allow viewing local channels and future HD viewing. I have gotten the $1.99 extended warranty and it has been in effect over 30 days. Since my 501 is about 4 years old, and is starting to act funny ("wait til disk spins up" message occasionally sticks, requiring a reboot) and me remote for it is starting not to respond to key presses, I'm wondering if it is time to act on getting/swapping/buying new gear. I do want to continue with a DVR product and have no immediate plans to buy a HD tv. Given what you all know out there of the latest deals, etc. :arrow: If you were me, what would you do? Thanks out there and happy holidays.
 
Since you have the warrenty I'd say call E* and report your 501 problems and see if they'll swap it. Then sit back and see how things fall out before spending any more $'s with E*, maybe they'll have their act together a bit better in a few months.
 
I agree with rad. DISH is in a transition period now with new receivers being introduced. We'll know better what direction the company is headed in a few months.

You should also consider other options. DirecTV may have some tempting deals in the near future in conjunction with the News Corp takeover. Cable keeps improving and may be competitive in your area, particularly if you want to get broadband access in conjunction with it for a reduced cost.

I assume you have replaced the remote batteries...
 
Make sure you have Credit card auto pay or sign up for it . IF you do and you use the extended warrenty then they will waive the shipping and handeling fees. You must speak up and remind the csr of this fact and they will waive the fee for shipping and handeling. Basically getting a new receiver for free.

I just did the same thing with my 721 that I bought from Dish Depot.com. I turned the new one on and my number one tuner didn't work so I called Dish and they rmad it over night for free. I just got it today and the replacement already had the initial software download and it worked the first time no problems. I will send the new one that broke and it will cost me nothing. A replacement in two days or less , pretty impresive. I love the extended warrenty and with credit card auto pay it is always free to replace any receiver ,lnb etc.

Sorry, I sound like a Dishnetwork commercial.
 
Guess I'll sign up for autopay and wait til the receiver finally goes belly-up. Depending on when that happens, maybe there'll be a better indication on what to do - stay with DISH or jump ship. I read that Murdoch wants to get into a whole lot of interactive stufff with Direct, but of course at extra expense to subs. Thanks for your thoughts.
 
I didnt think the 501 had been out for four years, maybe three years. They will replace it with the same type of receiver and will not allow you to pay a difference for a better receiver. Consider yourself lucky if you receive it the next day or in two days, usually it takes about a week, at least with my experiences with Dish Network. I had to have three of my 501's replaced so I just sold the one I got for cheap to get rid of it, because I didnt want anymore of them, got tired of the problems.