Why does D* charge to lease a receiver

[damaged]

I'm leaning toward the CSR as being correct.

You are a brave, brave man.

 

[bigtedshred]

You are a brave, brave man.

Likewise, going off a pretty vague one-line FAQ, also makes you a brave, brave man

 

[damaged]

Likewise, going off a one-line FAQ (non-binding agreement), also makes you a brave, brave man

I own. No bravery necessary, it is the information I could find, directv lease agreements are not old enough to appear in the google index yet. If you can find information in black and white that says otherwise, please post it, otherwise, I will trust what is on their site over a script reading CSR monkey any day of the week.

 

[davethis]

In the FAQ there is a question about buying equiptment.

Will I need to pay for expensive equipment?

No! Right now, you can get FREE standard installation of the equipment you need for a standard DIRECTV System in up to four rooms of your home.

So maybe if the receivers break they will replace them with whatever they use in their standard install. No matter with the receiver is HD/non-HD, DVR/non-DVR.

 

[bigtedshred]

I hear ya Damaged.. It would be great to know for sure which one is it. If it's not covered after 90 days, then yea, it would totally suck because you'd now not be getting much of benifit of 'leasing'; unless the box is 100% free (without calling/recalling/etc/etc). Hopefully someone here has the lease agreement and can chime in.

And yup, trusting a CSR is always sketchy!! No doubt there!

 

[FlyingJ]

It doesn't really matter girls! With the new system in place, any new equipment from D is being leased. Benefit or not unless you want to investigate, call D* and ask them what the going price to "own" a HR20 for example is? I am not sure you even can do it but I don't think the number would be anything anyone of us would go for.

 

[paulman182]

They are intentionally vague about it because they want you to buy the protection plan, even if you lease. I have tried to read the entire agreement on my four receivers, and I don't recall it ever plainly stating what is covered.

However, I have heard from others that if a leased receiver breaks, it is replaced for $19.95 S&H with no protection plan, and free if you do have the plan. I do not know for sure, but it makes sense that they will replace a leased receiver, in order to keep you paying for programming on that box.

The replacement may be a refurb--That much I know for a fact, because I got one during the warranty period. It works fine and looks great, but has a "Refurbished" sticker on the bottom.

I am paying for the plan because it covers the dish, switches, my 800 feet of cable (some of it buried,) and specifically mentions power surges--something we have a lot of where I live.