I came home from work to find a 'hard drive failure' error on my 722K. Since then, it has been in a constant reboot loop. Won't even let me watch live TV! So, it's pretty much a nice boat anchor right now. I chatted with a Dish representative who initially wanted to charge me $15 shipping for replacement of this leased receiver. While he agreed to waive that, I'm still out all my recordings (since it's too dead to transfer to an EHD), and without any service at all for a few days until the replacement gets here. While I'm glad the shipping was eventually waived, it seems ridiculous they should even try to charge for this at all, especially since I'm now paying for service I can't use thanks to my mega-dead 722K and have to figure out how to re-record or re-buy all the stuff I'd been saving on my DVR.
Dish charges shipping for broken receivers? And, other musings on my super-dead 722K.
- Thread starter Katie5
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Hi Katie, I am sorry for the frustration this caused. I can explain why there are charges for shipping and tech visits in some cases though. The $15 shipping fee is applied to an account if the protection plan is not active. The protection which is $7 a month covers all shipping of anything that is sent out and discounts tech visits to $15 from the usual $95. The reason there is a charge without the protection plan is the same reason that there is a charge for a tech visit. While some providers will raise prices to cover free techs and free shipping into their monthly cost. DISH has always kept prices lower by making sure that we do not charge automatically for services that might never be used by a customer. So that the only time there is a charge for something is when one is needed. Unless of course the protection plan is on the account.
If you would like to PM me with the phone number and pin number on the account I would be happy to apply a Time Without Service credit to your account for the time the receiver is being shipped to you, and of course let me know if you have anymore questions.
If you would like to PM me with the phone number and pin number on the account I would be happy to apply a Time Without Service credit to your account for the time the receiver is being shipped to you, and of course let me know if you have anymore questions.
Losing a hard drive is never an easy thing to deal with, it is a very frustrating thing. I lost my 1 TB hard drive in my desktop computer and lost all my music, and 20 years worth of digital pictures, luckily I had the pictures backed up on another drive and DVD's. The receivers are just the same as computers so it's always good to have a back up. Unfortunately there isn't any way to get those recordings off of that hard drive now, but for future reference you can hook an external hard drive up to the receiver and move recorded shows over to the hard drive. It can be a hard drive up to 2 TB's, it must have USB 2.0 and its own power supply. I wouldn't suggest using a hard drive that you use on your computer though because the minute it is hooked up tot he DISH receiver it will format the entire hard drive to work only with DISH equipment that is on your account.
I understand how the EHD works - but it's not the same as a backup. With Dish's system, it's either on the DVR or on the EHD, not both. If it were a true backup, I'd always be doing it, but as it is now it's only one one HD or another, and in either case it's a single-point failure away from being lost.
Katie5, three things.
First the shipping charge. I didn't think Dish charged to return a non working receiver if you are getting one in return. Policies do change, in my approx 15 years with Dish I have never paid to return a defective unit, or even to get an upgraded unit if it could be self-installed. If they routinely do now, it seems like a newer policy. That charge is for returning equipment combined with closing your account. I also thought the fee is now $17. In addition, you may find paperwork in the box when you get your receiver telling you to either pay the $17 fee or ship on your own. That also is something that has been sent by mistake in the past in these situations, and again, there should be no charge.
B. Return of Leased Equipment. It is your responsibility to return all leased Equipment within thirty (30) days following cancellation or disconnection of your Services. You must call 800-333-DISH (3474) to receive a return authorization number and instructions regarding acceptable methods for returning the Equipment. Options to return your Equipment include, but are not limited to, the use of a shipping label and empty box provided by DISH Network by paying a Box Return Fee (as detailed in Exhibit 1) (which price is subject to change at any time) or scheduling a DISH Network in-home service call to remove the Equipment by paying a Service Call Fee (as detailed in Exhibit 1) charge (which price is subject to change at any time). Equipment will not be deemed returned until received by DISH Network. If you do not return such Equipment undamaged and in working order, normal wear and tear excepted, and in accordance with the procedures set forth herein, then you are responsible and must pay us certain charges as described in the Package Plan Agreement.
C. Defects and Damages. You must notify us immediately of any defect in, damage to, or accident involving your leased Equipment. All maintenance and repair of such Equipment must be performed by us or our designee(s). DISH Network may charge you for any repairs that are necessitated by any damage to, or misuse of, such Equipment.
From that section of the agreement defective equipment is separated from the closing account equipment, with no mention of a charge to exchange.
As for backup - Dish is doing what is allowed, that is one copy, and it is a form of a back-up. You are correct, whether on the Dish HD or your EHD, it's one failure away from being gone, however EHD's are very reliable, and anything I feel is important is transferred there. I have seen very few failures of Dish hard drives over the last couple of years, other than older units. (always exceptions) So it's not all that risky to leave programming there. But the system Dish uses of EHD use I find actually to be about the best there is considering the use rights constraints.
Third, a tech visit does normally require a fee. In the satellite world that's just how it works. Note that Cable does not require a fee, but in reality their price structure is in most cases is much higher than Dish so you are in effect paying that fee every month....
As mentioned, getting the protection plan reduces the fee to $22,($15 + 7) and then you pay for three more months (I believe total of 4 months) of protection and can drop the protection plan, which I find reasonable.
First the shipping charge. I didn't think Dish charged to return a non working receiver if you are getting one in return. Policies do change, in my approx 15 years with Dish I have never paid to return a defective unit, or even to get an upgraded unit if it could be self-installed. If they routinely do now, it seems like a newer policy. That charge is for returning equipment combined with closing your account. I also thought the fee is now $17. In addition, you may find paperwork in the box when you get your receiver telling you to either pay the $17 fee or ship on your own. That also is something that has been sent by mistake in the past in these situations, and again, there should be no charge.
B. Return of Leased Equipment. It is your responsibility to return all leased Equipment within thirty (30) days following cancellation or disconnection of your Services. You must call 800-333-DISH (3474) to receive a return authorization number and instructions regarding acceptable methods for returning the Equipment. Options to return your Equipment include, but are not limited to, the use of a shipping label and empty box provided by DISH Network by paying a Box Return Fee (as detailed in Exhibit 1) (which price is subject to change at any time) or scheduling a DISH Network in-home service call to remove the Equipment by paying a Service Call Fee (as detailed in Exhibit 1) charge (which price is subject to change at any time). Equipment will not be deemed returned until received by DISH Network. If you do not return such Equipment undamaged and in working order, normal wear and tear excepted, and in accordance with the procedures set forth herein, then you are responsible and must pay us certain charges as described in the Package Plan Agreement.
C. Defects and Damages. You must notify us immediately of any defect in, damage to, or accident involving your leased Equipment. All maintenance and repair of such Equipment must be performed by us or our designee(s). DISH Network may charge you for any repairs that are necessitated by any damage to, or misuse of, such Equipment.
From that section of the agreement defective equipment is separated from the closing account equipment, with no mention of a charge to exchange.
As for backup - Dish is doing what is allowed, that is one copy, and it is a form of a back-up. You are correct, whether on the Dish HD or your EHD, it's one failure away from being gone, however EHD's are very reliable, and anything I feel is important is transferred there. I have seen very few failures of Dish hard drives over the last couple of years, other than older units. (always exceptions) So it's not all that risky to leave programming there. But the system Dish uses of EHD use I find actually to be about the best there is considering the use rights constraints.
Third, a tech visit does normally require a fee. In the satellite world that's just how it works. Note that Cable does not require a fee, but in reality their price structure is in most cases is much higher than Dish so you are in effect paying that fee every month....
As mentioned, getting the protection plan reduces the fee to $22,($15 + 7) and then you pay for three more months (I believe total of 4 months) of protection and can drop the protection plan, which I find reasonable.
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Just one thing to consider with DISH Networks protection plan. Why would you pay $7 per month for a service plan to waive a $15 shipping charge?
The $15 service calls are a nice part of it if you cannot trouble shoot your own system, but if your a tech guru, to simply have the protection plan to save on shipping alone is not worth it.
Last time I checked, Dish raised their rates $5 accross the board. What Dish doesn't charge in their base price, they make up in the fees they charge for various services, such as higher additional outlet fees that on average are anywhere from $1 to $11 higher than their competition, protection plans and on shipping charges to return defective equipment which historically has a higher failure rate when compaired to other providers.
The $15 service calls are a nice part of it if you cannot trouble shoot your own system, but if your a tech guru, to simply have the protection plan to save on shipping alone is not worth it.
Last time I checked, Dish raised their rates $5 accross the board. What Dish doesn't charge in their base price, they make up in the fees they charge for various services, such as higher additional outlet fees that on average are anywhere from $1 to $11 higher than their competition, protection plans and on shipping charges to return defective equipment which historically has a higher failure rate when compaired to other providers.
Tampa8: They wanted to charge her to ship the replacement, not a charge to return the dead receiver. She'll return the dead receiver in the same box as the new one with a prepaid shipping label.
Charging to ship a replacement receiver is a bad business decision. It creates bad blood down the road with the customer. This is where using the Blockbuster aquistion smartly would have helped. Turn-in your defective equipment for a replacement at a speciality Blockbuster b&m store. If the Dish csr wouldn't have budged on the shipping, well the op lost all recordings anyway. May as well switch to DirecTV. Get the new customer discount and get new equipment for free.
Ok, you want free shipping , so pay for the receiver. Simple. With a Hard Drive, it is not IF it wil fail, but when. Not having a second place to keep what you dearly want to save (a EHD) and then complaining.. Of course the EHD can fail and will sometime, chances are that both the EHD and receivers HD will die at the same time is slim.
The op wasn't complaining about losing recordings, but about the shipping charges. Why pay to get a new receiver when the receiver is owned by Dish? Like I said, if the provider wants to be a jerk about this, then switch. It's really easy to do since it seems providers would rather spend a lot of money getting new customers than spending a little to retain customers. If my family wasn't so resistant to it, I would be playing this game, getting new deals every two years. I use a couple of dvd recorders with hdd's instead of an ehd now anyway. So it doesn't matter what provider I have.
VIPx22 Failures
I just lost my VIP622 also. I've had enough hard drive disasters over the years (computers) to know that I had to keep things on the EHD. I kept very little on the DVR as it was 6 years old (the original) and I knew was far past the normal failure time of a 622. Yes I was charged $15 to return the leased receiver (I got the replacement yesterday and switched it out last night) which is a bit weird but I don't carry the protection plan and realize that's probably part of the game. My issue is that after reading this forum, backing up the EHD is really not an easy process but now that my EHD is a year old, I need to get a 2nd one (2GB this time) and figure out a way to keep it in 2 places in case one of the 2 EHDs fail.
Todd
I just lost my VIP622 also. I've had enough hard drive disasters over the years (computers) to know that I had to keep things on the EHD. I kept very little on the DVR as it was 6 years old (the original) and I knew was far past the normal failure time of a 622. Yes I was charged $15 to return the leased receiver (I got the replacement yesterday and switched it out last night) which is a bit weird but I don't carry the protection plan and realize that's probably part of the game. My issue is that after reading this forum, backing up the EHD is really not an easy process but now that my EHD is a year old, I need to get a 2nd one (2GB this time) and figure out a way to keep it in 2 places in case one of the 2 EHDs fail.
Todd
Unless you have terrible luck with receivers, paying the $15 is a better deal than the protection plan.
If you have your receiver for 6 years before it breaks:
With the protection plan ($6/month, before the recent increases): $432 (over the 6 years)
Without the protection plan: $15
Unless you are going through a receiver every 2 months, it's a better deal to just pay the one time fee. This obviously does not include any tech visits, but if you are technically inclined enough to be able to troubleshoot a dying HDD, you likely wouldn't need tech visits anyway.
On the note of backing up your recordings: can you use an imaging program to image/copy the EHD? I imagine a program that does a sector level image or copy could copy the EHD, even if files or file system are not readable by the computer.
If you have your receiver for 6 years before it breaks:
With the protection plan ($6/month, before the recent increases): $432 (over the 6 years)
Without the protection plan: $15
Unless you are going through a receiver every 2 months, it's a better deal to just pay the one time fee. This obviously does not include any tech visits, but if you are technically inclined enough to be able to troubleshoot a dying HDD, you likely wouldn't need tech visits anyway.
On the note of backing up your recordings: can you use an imaging program to image/copy the EHD? I imagine a program that does a sector level image or copy could copy the EHD, even if files or file system are not readable by the computer.
I very much disagree with Dish's policy of charging us to replace THEIR receiver. I compare it to the cable company's simple method of getting a replacement and that is, simply take the dead box to one of their offices and ask for a replacement. Total downtime could be as short as 1-2 hours. That alone isn't worth switching to cable for me though....
The show can only be on one HD at a time, so it doesn't matter if they both fail at the same time or not. If the wrong one fails, you've lost your stuff.
I have Cox Cable for internet services. Cox charges $6 per month for a service protection plan. It covers a service call, but not the modem. I had to pay for the new modem or I could have went out and bought one on my own.
My local coax cableco most certainly DOES charge for tech visits, even if the problem is outside. That was the "last straw" that pushed us to Dish.
And yes, Cadillacs cost more than Chevys.
And yes, Cadillacs cost more than Chevys.
If the show is on TV more than once just record it, transfer it to the EHD then record it again to your receivers HD. Boom, two recordings and now you can sleep better at night. As for the shipping fee on a bad receiver, I always thought Dish shipped a replacement free of charge. If it is for sure $15 then I still think that is still reasonable.
I just paid the $15 to have a replacement leased 722 sent to me. So I'm pretty sure that's policy now. It does include the return shipping as well. Just peel off the shipping label and the other side is the return label. A little odd to me was they use UPS (2 day) to get the receiver to you. Return shipping is via FEDEX Ground. Seems like they could leverage the whole shipping account for a better deal, but the carriers must not want to play ball.
