Confused over existing customer offer

[Seahawker]

Hi!

I've been a Dish subscriber for several years and pay about $90/month for service. I currently own 7200, 5000 and 2800 models that are subscribed. On the Dishnetwork website, I looked at the lease receivers available. I'm not overly happy with the 7200 I have (it's noisy for one), and never have had the PVR service activated. The 5000's TV-out doesn't work (although the receiver does work with the RCA-type cables). The 2800 is fine.

I called Dish to ask what would be available to me. The CSR said I could replace up two receivers for $50, which includes shipping and installation, with either the 311, 510 or 811 models. (The installation service would be nice, not because I would have trouble hooking them up, but because right now I am having lots of trouble with the multi-switch and would like to get the system upgraded if possible.)

I thought of lots of questions to ask AFTER I got off the phone, but I was hoping some of you here might be able to answer them much better than a CSR.

• 
  Is $50 a typical price for current customers? Or should it be a free upgrade?
  
  Would it be $50 for each receiver replaced? If I'm paying $50, would I own the receiver or is this a lease?
  
  What other fees might be attached? I would like to activate the DVR feature if I ordered the 510, and I understand there is a $5 fee for this (I don't have the Everything Pack. I don't want HDTV at this point, so the 811 is not among my options. I don't even see the 311 on the Dish site, although I assume it's one of the basic models like the 301.
  

Thanks so much for any help or suggestions.
Seahawker

 

[Pepper]

I'm guessing that the $50 is two times a $24.95 fee for shipping and handling, for two receivers. They are offering you the receivers for "free" but in reality it's a lease, you will never own the new receivers.

Each DVR you add will cost $5 for the VOD fee (exceptions are 501, 508, 721 which aren't available in that promotion anyway)

Too bad you've never used the PTV service on that 7200, IMHO it is much better than the PVR/DVR service on any of the current models. I started with Dish several years ago with two 7200s and it literally changed the way I watch TV, I rarely if ever watch anything live anymore. The fee for PTV is $10, but you can most likely get that waived. One downside of the 7x00 is that they can't get your local channels if they are on SuperDish.

If you prefer to own the equipment, you might check the classifieds here or ebay for 501, 508 or 721 models for sale. I replaced two receivers with a 522, it outputs to two TV's - this added the $5 VOD fee but removed the $5 additional receiver fee so the cost is the same.

What type of multiswitch are you using?

Sorry if I've rambled and confused you further. Hope this helps.

 

[drod]

Normally under dishn it up it is 99$ but your getting the discount of 50$. The 50$ would include installation for as they had mentioned 1 or 2 recievers. They are leased so their would be a 5$ rental fee, with 3 recievers on the account your bill wouldn't go up but .02 cents. If you add the 510 their would be a 4.98 and if you add the 811 you would need to add the HD pack for 9.99 . All the information you got sounds right to me.

 

[Seahawker]

Thank you for the quick replies! I can see I came to the right place.

Too bad you've never used the PTV service on that 7200, IMHO it is much better than the PVR/DVR service on any of the current models. I started with Dish several years ago with two 7200s and it literally changed the way I watch TV, I rarely if ever watch anything live anymore. The fee for PTV is $10, but you can most likely get that waived. One downside of the 7x00 is that they can't get your local channels if they are on SuperDish.

I just missed the free PVR service on my 7200 by a few days. The promotion ended just before I activated my account. I did call them a couple of times to see if I could get the PVR function at no charge, but it wasn't possible.

What type of multiswitch are you using?

I was using the SW44 and began to have troubles. Then I unhooked one of the receivers and started using two SW21s for the other two receivers. Now I'm having problems with those, too. I would prefer to have quad LNBs instead of external switches. Maybe I'm off base on this, though. I read about the Superdish upgrade offer also, but it looks like I wouldn't qualify since I live in the Pacific Northwest, according to the fine print.

Owning the equipment isn't really important to me, since I would simply be replacing the $5/month extra receiver fee with a $5 rental fee, correct? I kind of like the idea of being able to return the receiver if it has problems.

Thank you again,
Seahawker

 

[Seahawker]

I would like to get the dual tuner 522 so that I could replace two receivers with one, but see that even though it's listed on the website as for "lease only", that model wasn't offered by the CSR as one of the available receivers. In reading around here it seems that it might be offered in January. Do you know if the 510 is a better receiver than the 522 anyway?

Normally under dishn it up it is 99$ but your getting the discount of 50$. The 50$ would include installation for as they had mentioned 1 or 2 recievers. They are leased so their would be a 5$ rental fee, with 3 recievers on the account your bill wouldn't go up but .02 cents. If you add the 510 their would be a 4.98 and if you add the 811 you would need to add the HD pack for 9.99 . All the information you got sounds right to me.

Thanks,
Seahawker