Are Smartcards "Married" to the Receiver?

[GaryPen]

One of the D* receivers died at work. (We have both E* and D* accounts at my company.) I have a couple of old spare receivers without smartcards lying around.

So, I was wondering if I could take the card from the dead box, put it in one of the spares, and have a D* CSR re-assign the card to the other receiver over the phone.

Or, do I need to order a new receiver/card combo from D*? (I know E* is pretty anal about that stuff.)

 

[cfb]

As far as I know, directv will want any old cards returned to them and will want you to buy a new card for any other receivers you want to activate. I believe theres a $20 charge.

 

[GaryPen]

Thanks for the quick reply. Actually, I called CS, and the nice CSR said she could activate that smartcard from the dead box on one of my spares.

I'm gonna go over and try it now. She said I may have to call back to send another "hit", as the box wasn't hooked up when she processed the activation on her computer.

 

[Mr Tony]

I've done that with Dish before. Had a 311 die on me so I swapped it out to a 811 that had a yellow card. Dish was able to swap the card out and "blacklist" (for lack of a better term) the dead 311 so nobody could activate it

 

[GaryPen]

You were able to use the card from the 311 in the 811? I always thought E* was strict about that stuff.

As for my D* issue. I wasn't able to get back into the AV closet at the company gym. So, I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it worked.

 

[yorktown]

As far as I know, directv will want any old cards returned to them and will want you to buy a new card for any other receivers you want to activate. I believe theres a $20 charge.

I've never had to return old cards to DIRECTV. Even when they send out new ones I've just thrown the old ones in the garbage.

 

[cfb]

From the directv customer agreement:

"(e) Access Card. You have received a conditional access card (referred to as the "Access Card") and a License Agreement governing your use of the Access Card while you are receiving our Service. Access Cards are nontransferable and are the exclusive property of DIRECTV. If you tell us that the original Access Card was lost, damaged, defective or stolen, we will replace it, as long as there is no evidence of unauthorized tampering with or modification of the Access Card and your account is in good standing. A replacement fee may apply (described in Section 2). Tampering with or other unauthorized modification of the Access Card is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal or civil action. Tampering with or inserting any device into your receiver other than an authorized unmodified Access Card is prohibited. DIRECTV reserves the right to cancel or replace the Access Card. Upon Request, the card must be returned to DIRECTV. If you do not return the Access Card to DIRECTV when you cancel your Service, you may be charged a fee as described in Section 2. Requesting Access Cards on behalf of other persons or for purposes other than lawful viewing of DIRECTV Service is prohibited."

The fee section says "(2) Up to $300 Access Card Replacement Fee, if you lose or fail to return your Access Card"

I guess directv is a little inconsistent about this policy. I have several old directivo's and an SD directv receiver. When I was going to reactivate the directivo's, I was told that I could not use the old access cards or the one from the other receiver, and would need to pay $20 a pop for new ones.

 

[GaryPen]

I'm gonna just buy a new receiver to replace the one in question, anyway. So, it's all moot.

Thanks for the info, everybody.

 

[Mr Tony]

You were able to use the card from the 311 in the 811? I always thought E* was strict about that stuff.

yeah they were able to. Regular tech customer service lady. No qualms about it. I told her I had a 311 that died (actually took a power surge) and showed 0 signal even though the 811 showed good. I asked could I just put the card in the 811 and have her "marry" them and she said no issues.

Well it did take about 20 minutes but it was working fine.

 

[yorktown]

I sold a DVR to a friend once. The DIRECTV CSR re-activated my old smartcard on his account no problem. They can do it.

 

[Jimbo]

From the directv customer agreement:

"(e) Access Card. You have received a conditional access card (referred to as the "Access Card") and a License Agreement governing your use of the Access Card while you are receiving our Service. Access Cards are nontransferable and are the exclusive property of DIRECTV. If you tell us that the original Access Card was lost, damaged, defective or stolen, we will replace it, as long as there is no evidence of unauthorized tampering with or modification of the Access Card and your account is in good standing. A replacement fee may apply (described in Section 2). Tampering with or other unauthorized modification of the Access Card is strictly prohibited and may result in criminal or civil action. Tampering with or inserting any device into your receiver other than an authorized unmodified Access Card is prohibited. DIRECTV reserves the right to cancel or replace the Access Card. Upon Request, the card must be returned to DIRECTV. If you do not return the Access Card to DIRECTV when you cancel your Service, you may be charged a fee as described in Section 2. Requesting Access Cards on behalf of other persons or for purposes other than lawful viewing of DIRECTV Service is prohibited."

The fee section says "(2) Up to $300 Access Card Replacement Fee, if you lose or fail to return your Access Card"

I guess directv is a little inconsistent about this policy. I have several old directivo's and an SD directv receiver. When I was going to reactivate the directivo's, I was told that I could not use the old access cards or the one from the other receiver, and would need to pay $20 a pop for new ones.

I think they are more concerned with the Current period cards, the older ones have all been removed from the list of working cards.

 

[Jimbo]

I sold a DVR to a friend once. The DIRECTV CSR re-activated my old smartcard on his account no problem. They can do it.

But they prefer NOT to.