I know this is an old post and likely this topic has been talked to death but I just wanted to vent...
From DIRECTV Themselves: "Any reciever not purchased directly through us is leased equipment." I have no idea how they can unilaterally claim ownership of something that is not theirs but they do. They will continue to bill you the $4.99 leased reciever fee until you return the reciever that you never leased from them in the first place. (Maybe they don't actually want the old ones back but...) Beware - anything bought from anywhere (ie: Best Buy, E-Bay, Online stores) is leased equipment which you MUST return to them when you cancel your service. I have no idea how they can legally do that but they say it is all laid out in the Equipment Lease agreement - which interestingly enough you never see because you never agreed to (or entered into ) a lease with them. These guys have a lot of nerve but... The short answer is - anything you buy anywhere doesn't belong to you - it is a leased unit.... (Unless you buy it direct from them and pay the big $$$ Fee...) I never saw or was told anything even remotely like this when I activated a Tivo unit I bought on e-Bay. I even looked over the original contracts I have with them and nothing like this is mentioned (I have been a customer for many, many years). I have multiple units and have been happy so far but this has me really 'miffed' to say the least... I guess I just got burned and bought something that I can't own... Thanks for letting me vent...
They can do that because the receivers that they shipped to those retailers were leased equipment. There was an issue with the retailers failing to tell the customers that the equipment was leased, so D* has now gone to putting "Leased Equipment" stickers on the boxes. We could debate all day if it is the D*'s or the retailers responsibility to tell the customer the equipment is leased, but it won't solve anything.
In addition, even if you did own the receivers, you do not own the entire thing. The access cards have always been the property of D* and need to be returned when you no longer have service. If you read the instructions on the card wrapper, you'll see that it is very much like a software license (if you open it you agree to be bound by the terms).