do these people use a VCR then?
Skipping the DVR, in my case, years ago, was is a situation where I was concerned about paying an extra $6, $8, $10 a month for the equipment indefinitely. Things are always pretty tight for me financially, and can get really tight. I had canceled cable weeks before with the idea of not replacing it because I just couldn't afford it anymore. Only got Dish reluctantly because of their very low first year prices and because I found myself very frustrated and somewhat depressed without television and Internet (Maybe a sad commentary on me, but apparently those things are important to me). So I wanted to figure out what the bare minimum I'd be happy paying for was, and it was MSNBC and the local pro and college sports. DVR didn't seem like a requirement. I would have happily taken the free HD for life, but they wouldn't give me HD equipment without a huge surcharge.
Going on my third year with Dish, I kind of wish I would have taken the DVR for no extra setup charge. I find I've sort of moved beyond appointment type viewing for scripted television programs and wind up catching them much later via Netflix DVD. I'd rather DVR them and drop Netflix (I guess I'd need some time with both to catch up on shows I'm behind on). Would actually save me money, even if I had to Redbox movies occasionally or rent them streaming or something and factored that in. But it was a different calculation at the time. And I'd still worry about being roped into "You've got the equipment, it'll cost you to send it back for something else". The prices are already too high for me. If I were to go back to cable at some point and a DVR were part of the package with a low introductory rate, I'd say yes, and then evaluate whether to keep it or not when regular prices hit, knowing I could go to a cable company office and exchange boxes if I needed to without a surcharge.
If the DVR were still being offered with no extra monthly service fee whatsoever by Dish, as I'm told was the case some years ago, I'd have taken it and been very excited about it! I remember reading the early reviews of Tivo when it came out and saying "I need one of those!". It's a money thing, not an aversion to technology thing, in my case. I'll bet that's what's going on with installs turning down DVR in many cases. Dish goes after customers who are looking for low prices, and get people who don't want to pay a monthy DVR fee. Kind of predictable when you think about it that way. They are marketing to a group that is going to be reluctant to pay for anything that might be considered a frill (Whether because they're poor, or because they're thrifty, or whatever).
I actually do have a VCR, but not for recording (I'm not even sure one could do that with Dish and use it- you could run cord from the box to the VCR to the TV, but can the VCR record one channel while you watch another? Wouldn't you have to leave the receiver on and set to the right channel? Plus, my TV gets it's Dish signal through three multicolor imputs that provide better signal quality than coaxial cable run from the box to the VCR to the TV would, I'd imagine.). It's gathering dust in the corner of the room for the occasions when I pull out my old VCR tapes from when I was a kid.
