# Just wanted to say THANKS



## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

Howdy Folks

Its been awhile since my last post to the group, but thought I'd say THANKS for all the good info over the years. Due to Dtv's ticking me off for the last time, I turned off all of there stuff tonight. I guess they dont like my chump change of $182 per month I spend with them. 

Anyway, Dish is going to be here Friday to install their stuff. I'm really going to miss my Tivo's. So can any one enlighten me on Dish's HD DVR? Am I really going to regret the change?

Thanks 

Ray Cooper


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## nrc (Nov 17, 1999)

Happy trails.

I'd suggest checking out DBSTalk for info on the Dish DVRs.

http://www.dbstalk.com


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

nrc said:


> Happy trails.
> 
> I'd suggest checking out DBSTalk for info on the Dish DVRs.
> 
> http://www.dbstalk.com


Thanks... I'm looking now. I just did not like the Dtv wanting to charge me 399 per HR10 to change over to the new ones. What a rip


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## scottjf8 (Nov 11, 2001)

grcooperjr said:


> Thanks... I'm looking now. I just did not like the Dtv wanting to charge me 399 per HR10 to change over to the new ones. What a rip


Retention didn't help you?


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## ebonovic (Jul 24, 2001)

grcooperjr said:


> Thanks... I'm looking now. I just did not like the Dtv wanting to charge me 399 per HR10 to change over to the new ones. What a rip


You do realize that the price was dropped last week.

To $199... with most getting their first HR10-250 replaced for $0


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## bigpuma (Aug 12, 2003)

ebonovic said:


> You do realize that the price was dropped last week.
> 
> To $199... with most getting their first HR10-250 replaced for $0


Not to mention some Costcos have them for $169.


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

ebonovic said:


> You do realize that the price was dropped last week.
> 
> To $199... with most getting their first HR10-250 replaced for $0


Hi Earl

Not from what Julie and her super says. 399 per is the deal. Tried calling 2 more time and got hung up both times during there transfer to the other departments.

It is really frustrating playing there game. I've been a customer for over 10 years and never ask or got any special deals except for the honor of paying 1k plus for 3 hr10's

Oh well, they win...

Ray Cooper


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## jimb726 (Jan 4, 2007)

grcooperjr said:


> Hi Earl
> 
> Not from what Julie and her super says. 399 per is the deal. Tried calling 2 more time and got hung up both times during there transfer to the other departments.
> 
> ...


Something is not right there. I mean even at its most expensive the unit was 299. Effective the 10th they dropped the price to 199 and there are countless posts that HR10's were getting reduced or free upgrades. Seems like there was a substantial dosconnect with the CSR. Not that it is surprising in any way. Heck you can go to your online account on directv.com and the price is 199 per.


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## robnalex (Sep 8, 2002)

jimb726 said:


> Something is not right there.


I agree. I got both of my HR10-250s replaced (well, not replaced because I kept them) for free: one flat-out free and the 2nd offset by credits. And it took ONE phone call (I realize I may have been lucky). First I talked to a "regular" CSR who offered the standard "going rate". I asked him if someone in Retention might be able to do better and he said "Yes, they probably can." and he transfered me. At first the Retention rep offered only one HR20 for free. I had to ASK if the 2nd could be offset by credits, and he immediately said "Sure!"

I agree with the OP that "It is really frustrating playing their game". It's a double standard that's unfair to customers who are unaware that a better deal can be had if they know the secret password. But you gotta play to win, and the OP is obviously not a very good player.


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## Jebberwocky! (Apr 16, 2005)

I think he didn't speak to retention.


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## Indiana627 (Jan 24, 2003)

Just mention to them that E* is giving away their HD DVRs for free. I did and got my HR10 swapped out with an HR20 for free.


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

Indiana627 said:


> Just mention to them that E* is giving away their HD DVRs for free. I did and got my HR10 swapped out with an HR20 for free.


I tried that. Julie told me to go ahead and switch and if I would like to go ahead and cancel today? So it's oblivious that I did not get to the right folks. As far as talking to retention goes. When asked they transferred and dropped the call... Twice. Thats when I gave up. I gave em 3 tries to resolve it politely to no avail. The forth time I called to cancel. No questions asked they just pulled the plug and said have a nice evening.

So I called dish and got 2 vip722's and 2 nondvr HD boxes for $49 setup fee. I got the same programming content starting at $106 intro fee and after the promo is offer $126 end fee. So thats going to save $40 bucks a month.

The only big negative in all of this besides being treated like crap is Ill loose my Tivos, but I guess that was going to happen eventually anyway

On another note, I stoped by Costco today and they have HR21700 units there for $169 to exsisting DTV customers. So I guess I can sum up the experince as the DTV CR staff doesn't know their but from a hole in the ground, or they just dont care about retaining old customers anymore.

Ray Cooper


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## rickmeoff (Aug 25, 2006)

grcooperjr said:


> I tried that. Julie told me to go ahead and switch and if I would like to go ahead and cancel today? So it's oblivious that I did not get to the right folks. As far as talking to retention goes. When asked they transferred and dropped the call... Twice. Thats when I gave up. I gave em 3 tries to resolve it politely to no avail. The forth time I called to cancel. No questions asked they just pulled the plug and said have a nice evening.
> 
> So I called dish and got 2 vip722's and 2 nondvr HD boxes for $49 setup fee. I got the same programming content starting at $106 intro fee and after the promo is offer $126 end fee. So thats going to save $40 bucks a month.
> 
> ...


man, what a suckfest.

the one thing i absolutely abhor about dtv, is the 'csr roulette' people hafta play in order to get the same deal as others. they should give the same deal across the board; set the freaking prices and be done with it.

what one person gets for free, the other is forced to pay $299 for?

this turns a lot of people off, and causes enough dissention that customers actually end up leaving because of it.

of course, theyll actually end up doing this (ive seen indications of it beginning) and i guarantee the prices will lean towards the high end, which still isnt fair because there are so many folks who already got equipment for free to begin with.

cant win.

if these a**holes are gonna lock us in for 2 years with a $480 buyout on leased equipment, they should be giving the hr20s away for the cost of shipping.

offer the thing for $199 - $249 and no commitment, or for free with a 2 year lock in.


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

Cnet's review of the VIP-622 says it's better than Tivo.

Somehow I'm still a little skeptical of that. Someone would have to prove that to me.

The big loss is I think it's only single-tuner OTA.


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## Scooter (Mar 15, 2000)

The 4 tuner per household rule with Dish network floors me. Whoever decided to make that rule is an idiot. I'd never jump ship for that reason alone. However, many people don't need more than two DVRs, like me. I hope your move goes well. 

Scooter


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

Scooter said:


> The 4 tuner per household rule with Dish network floors me. Whoever decided to make that rule is an idiot...




They really limit you to 4 tuners? If so, I could not agree with you more. There have been rare moments where I had 5 or 6 going at once in my house (HDDs sure do fill up fast at that rate).

DTV CSRs (and their management) always seem like they rode the short bus in Junior High, but DISH makes them seem like relative Rhodes Scholars.


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## Scooter (Mar 15, 2000)

TyroneShoes said:


> They really limit you to 4 tuners? If so, I could not agree with you more. There have been rare moments where I had 5 or 6 going at once in my house (HDDs sure do fill up fast at that rate).
> 
> DTV CSRs (and their management) always seem like they rode the short bus in Junior High, but DISH makes them seem like relative Rhodes Scholars.


Yes, 4 tuners. That means 2 DVRs. 

http://www.radioshack.com/uc/index....raphics/uc/rsk/USContent/HTML/pages/dish.html



> <Major Snip> Equipment must be returned to DISH Network upon termination of qualifying service. Limit 4 tuners per account. Monthly package price includes an equipment rental fee of $5.00 or $6.00 for first receiver, based on selected model. A monthly equipment rental fee of $5.00 or $6.00 will be charged for each receiver beyond the first, based on selected model


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## TonyTheTiger (Dec 22, 2006)

Is that a TOTAL of four tuners per account or just four maximum at the time of installation?


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## JohnnyO (Nov 3, 2002)

Scooter said:


> Yes, 4 tuners. That means 2 DVRs.


Could you open a second account at the same address and double up?


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## TyroneShoes (Sep 6, 2004)

Scooter said:


> Yes, 4 tuners. That means 2 DVRs.
> 
> http://www.radioshack.com/uc/index....raphics/uc/rsk/USContent/HTML/pages/dish.html


Disgraciade!


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## RS4 (Sep 2, 2001)

Scooter said:


> Yes, 4 tuners. That means 2 DVRs.
> 
> http://www.radioshack.com/uc/index....raphics/uc/rsk/USContent/HTML/pages/dish.html


I wonder if that just refers to the pricing in that package? I looked at the description of the VIP722 on the Dish site, but there is no fine print there showing any restrictions on the number a customer can have.


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## Scooter (Mar 15, 2000)

Perhaps this will help enlighten you a bit. This is where I learned of all of this nonsense. http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5872989#post5872989

Scooter


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## kkluba (Oct 18, 2002)

This is a strange case. I have been a long time customer and also have (had) two HR10-250's and got them both replaced free with a 5LNB dish installed for nothing. I asked for and got programming credits at the same time. I did all of this in the last month.


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## Texceo (Mar 11, 2003)

grcooperjr said:


> Howdy Folks
> 
> Its been awhile since my last post to the group, but thought I'd say THANKS for all the good info over the years. Due to Dtv's ticking me off for the last time, I turned off all of there stuff tonight. I guess they dont like my chump change of $182 per month I spend with them.
> 
> ...


What have you done with all your Directv equipment? I might be interested in it.


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

Hi again Folks

Sorry for the delay in responding, been out of town. Anyway I will try to answer the questions.



Texceo said:


> What have you done with all your DIRECTV equipment? I might be interested in it.


Most of my stuff is sold and gone,(I should say i gave it away dirt cheap) I still have 2 hr10's that are stock, all the rest is gone.



skooter said:


> The 4 tuner per household rule with Dish network floors me. Whoever decided to make that rule is an idiot. I'd never jump ship for that reason alone. However, many people don't need more than two DVRs, like me. I hope your move goes well.


Well. I have 4 VIP722's now so that's eight tuners. I asked Dish this when the statement came up and they said that they can only lease me 1 722 and 2 222's for a total of four tuners, but i could buy as many as i want. So I bought 3 reman's for $175 per shipped.

Ok so now that it's all done and installed, what's the impression? .... The PQ is allot better on most HD content than DTV. The Super Bowl was breath taking in PQ on Dish.
The rest is pretty much the same. the software on the 722 is a bit much to get us to. very cumbersome compared to TIVO.

Lastly the cost for what I have currently is $126 per month. If I take it back to where I was (hardware wise) the total cost will be about 15% more than DTV per month. What makes the cost difference is Dish charges fees per tunner instead of per DVR. So if I go back to 7 DVR's the tunner fees would $6.95 x 13 The first one is included for a total of 14 tuners.

So in the interm I'll have to use the tv 2 out on the tuners to my other TV's untill I can get 3 more 722's

Thanks

Ray Cooper


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## sjberra (May 16, 2005)

TyroneShoes said:


> They really limit you to 4 tuners? If so, I could not agree with you more. There have been rare moments where I had 5 or 6 going at once in my house (HDDs sure do fill up fast at that rate).
> 
> DTV CSRs (and their management) always seem like they rode the short bus in Junior High, but DISH makes them seem like relative Rhodes Scholars.


No different then the current availablity from ATT for Uverse, you are allowed a total of 4 feeds, of which only one can be HD, the other 3 feeds are SD, and one DVR - period


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## Scott D (Jun 17, 2001)

ebonovic said:


> You do realize that the price was dropped last week.
> 
> To $199... with most getting their first HR10-250 replaced for $0


still too much money up front for a lease unit. $0 is correct and the way it should be.


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## Scott D (Jun 17, 2001)

TyroneShoes said:


> Cnet's review of the VIP-622 says it's better than Tivo.
> 
> Somehow I'm still a little skeptical of that. Someone would have to prove that to me.
> 
> The big loss is I think it's only single-tuner OTA.


I'd have to say the VIP-622 is better than the HR20/21's


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## Charlutz (Apr 7, 2005)

grcooperjr said:


> Ok so now that it's all done and installed, whats the impression? .... The PQ is allot better on most HD content than DTV. The Super Bowl was breath taking in PQ on Dish.
> The rest is pretty much the same. the software on the 722 is a bit much to get us to. very cumbersome compared to TIVO.


Are you comparing Dish to OTA for the super bowl?


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## terpfan1980 (Jan 28, 2002)

Scott D said:


> still too much money up front for a lease unit. $0 is correct and the way it should be.


So what would your complaint be if DirecTV offered $0 charge for 'lease upgrade fees' for the hi-def DVR boxes but then insisted on charging a non-waivable installation fee of $199 for the first system and say $99 for each additional box?

If DirecTV didn't charge the money upfront on the leased equipment, they'd get it somewhere else. By raising your monthly programming costs, or by charging installation fees, or in some other means. Perhaps by charging more for the lease fees each and every month (which I'm sort of surprised they haven't resorted to yet -- just change the $4.99 additional box/leased equipment fee to $7.99 or even as much as $9.99 per box...)

Seriously though, if they changed these other fees they'd have more people b!tch!n' about how expensive DirecTV is.

I do wish they'd do away with the upfront fees for 'advanced' equipment, but I'm not stupid enough to think they wouldn't get the money back somewhere else. They most certainly would get it somewhere along the lines.


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

Charlutz said:


> Are you comparing Dish to OTA for the super bowl?


Sorry about that, I guess i should have been a bit clearer...

I was comparing DTV HD local to Dish HD Local. My next door neighbor has a h21 with the same samsung plasma. The PQ difference was very noticable


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

bdowell said:


> So what would your complaint be if DirecTV offered $0 charge for 'lease upgrade fees' for the hi-def DVR boxes but then insisted on charging a non-waivable installation fee of $199 for the first system and say $99 for each additional box?
> 
> If DirecTV didn't charge the money upfront on the leased equipment, they'd get it somewhere else. By raising your monthly programming costs, or by charging installation fees, or in some other means. Perhaps by charging more for the lease fees each and every month (which I'm sort of surprised they haven't resorted to yet -- just change the $4.99 additional box/leased equipment fee to $7.99 or even as much as $9.99 per box...)
> 
> ...


Welllllll..... I'd say no.....Here's my issues:

I paid close to $3k for the 3 hr10's from Weaknees , 4 sd Dtivo that I aquried of Ebay and paid close $180 in monthly fees for programing while never asking for a thing other than a employ discount of $5.00 a month I got. All I wanted was replacements, I'd install it my self in my media rack. The dish change was all ready done.


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## CrashHD (Nov 10, 2006)

Scooter said:


> Yes, 4 tuners. That means 2 DVRs.


*4 Tuners!!?* Shuck that fit!

Suddenly DTV's horrid customer service now seems...slightly...forgivable...maybe


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## grcooperjr (Jan 3, 2004)

Howdy Folks


Well if you all want a good laugh.....

Directv has been calling every night for the last week. My wife has been intercepting the calls to keep my blood presure down a bit. 
Anyway they got a hold of me last night. The young lady told me that they made a big mistake and wanted me back as a customer and offered to change out all of my equipment for free and a $300 programing credit and of course a 2 yr comitment. 
She was so nice I hated to tell here that she was a few weeks late and all of the equipment was replaced by Dish. I guess i should have waited a bit before signing up with Dish


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## jimb726 (Jan 4, 2007)

grcooperjr said:


> Howdy Folks
> 
> Well if you all want a good laugh.....
> 
> ...


Well that sure is a shame, however if you are happy with Dish than it doesnt really matter. I guess the only thing to take away from your story is to never take a CSR at face value.


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