Deactivated Receiver

[Kirsten Klein]

Last week I called Dish Network to look into adding a Hopper and Joey. I currently have 4 receivers and 5 tvs. I recently purchased an HD tv and had installed it in the basement. i had moved one of the receivers down there and had not installed it with the new tv yet. It is not an HD receiver which is why we were looking at upgrading. During the conversation I found out they had deactivated that receiver a couple of days prior. They said a residential account cannot have more than 4 receivers (one of mine is a duo) and that the receiver was obsolete. They never called me, emailed me or sent me a letter telling me of this. A couple of months ago we had a problem and a technician was out and checked out all 4 of my receivers and never said a word about this new rule. i have had 4 receivers for about 4-5 years, and I have also been a Dish Network Customer for 10 years.

I am now looking into DIRECTV. I love Dish Network and I am interested in the new Hopper and Joey system even though I know it will cost a little more. i am willing to drop one of the tvs to make it only one Hopper and 3 Joeys because the 2 Hoppers won't "talk" to each other.

I am so mad, even after a few days, that they deactivated my receiver. Why can't I have 4 receivers, I am paying for them? I even called back to find out about this and spoke with another customer service agent and was told the same thing. When I asked about just upgrading one of my receivers for HD I was told it would cost $450. AND that I was not eligible until I returned my deactivated receiver. At least they are crediting me for the one they deactivated.

I am also upset because when the technician was out a few months ago he decided to take off the 2 dishes (one original and one HD) and combine them into one. Ok, no problem except he wouldn't take the old dishes, he said he was not allowed to and I had to dispose of them.

Anyone have any thoughts/suggestions?

 

[TheKrell]

Current policy is that no other Dish receivers can be on the same account as a Hopper. This is not a technical requirement, but rather a business rule which makes no sense to many of us on Satelliteguys.

The deactivation of your current receiver makes no sense to me either. I thought the business rule (yeah, another one of those!) was to have no more than 6 leased tuners on your account. That could be 6 solo receivers, or a duo and 5 solos, or... You get the picture. To go beyond that number, generally you need to own the receiver outright. It's not clear from the above that you were trying to activate a 5th leased receiver, or rather you only have 4 leased receivers. In either case, with only one duo receiver, your 4th (or 5th) receiver should have been allowed according to my understanding.

Recommending PM'ing your account number or phone number to a DIRT member and see if they can straighten out this mess.

 

[Kirsten Klein]

I was planning on converting completely over to the Hopper, it would be perfect in my situation. The deactivated one was leased. I purchased the duo DVR (one HD one SD) yet I still have to pay a monthly "DVR fee". So after they deactivated my receiver I have one purchased DVR and 2 leased receivers.

Thanks for the recommendation of contacting a DIRT member. I really don't want to leave Dish.

 

[TheKrell]

I am sorry to say that Dish is fee-happy. Any DVR on the account incurs the $6 fee, unless it's a 922 and then it's $10. The Hopper has it too, plus a whole home DVR fee of $4, even when you have zero Joeys. The additional receiver fees also cannot be avoided, even if you own your own receivers.

Reviewing your numbers above, I cannot see the reason for deactivating one of your receivers. Good luck!

 

[boba]

TheKrell I believe the rule is 3 leased receivers with upto 6 tuners. But that shouldn't affect Kristen unless her duo is on the account as leased.

 

[Teehar]

Yep something hokey going on.I would for sure contact a member of dirt to get the matter resolved.We have more than 4 receivers on our account one of which is leased.A couple of the receivers are pretty old 3800 and 2700.They are phasing the older legacy receivers out but in your case they would need to offer a you a replacement receiver for the one they say can no longer be activated.I can see no reasonable answer why they wouldn't either re-activate it or offer a replacement for it.If you own your receivers you can have more than 6 tuners on a residential account.

 

[dfergie]

Welcome to SatelliteGuys!! I sent a link to DIRT for their assistance...

 

[rvvaquero]

I see the day coming when you'll only be allowed one true receiver per account with peripheral receivers which slave off of it. This would prevent stacking, which is probably pretty prevalent. I mean, I know people who have their main receiver and three more, which they "rent" out to friends and recoup their expenses. Can't say I blame the satellite companies.