Dish DVR Service Fee

[Club Chapin]

Just looked at my first bill. What is this $11.96 DVR service fee? What service are they providing? They had me buy my DVR. They are not providing the DVR as part of the service, that's why I had to purchase it in addition to a programming commitment. This made this very clear when I ordered. It doesn't rely on anything outside of my 622 to record. All of the 1's and 0's for the guide, programs, and show meta-data are in the 622 in the course of being available to watch live. I don't get it. Am I missing something here? How can they get off charging me for this?

Are these guys in bed with the cable company?

 

[teachsac]

Just looked at my first bill. What is this $11.96 DVR service fee? What service are they providing? They had me buy my DVR. They are not providing the DVR as part of the service, that's why I had to purchase it in addition to a programming commitment. This made this very clear when I ordered. It doesn't rely on anything outside of my 622 to record. All of the 1's and 0's for the guide, programs, and show meta-data are in the 622 in the course of being available to watch live. I don't get it. Am I missing something here? How can they get off charging me for this?

Are these guys in bed with the cable company?

Except for the 501, 508, and 721. All DVR's have a DVR fee. It is waived with the AEP or in the case of HD the Platinum package.

 

[Club Chapin]

@#$%@^$$^#@!!

What is AEP?

 

[teachsac]

AMerica's Everything PAckage (No HD)

 

[charper1]

America's Everything Pak

 

[hobojoe]

you forgot to mention they are useing part of your dvr excuse me there dvr that your barrowing to record movies for vod you may never use.

 

[SmityWhity]

It's not their DVR, although they'll try and convince you of it when you stop service!

The $11.96 is for the 1st and 2nd month to use your DVR. And like the DVR, I don't think the OTA tuner works anymore when you and Dish get a divorce.

EDIT:
Hobojo, I just noticed my "posts" count is one different than yours.

 

[iafirebuff]

My fees are getting to be a good portion of my bill :-(

 

[iafirebuff]

Luckily I am not on a lease

 

[SmityWhity]

Yea, it won't be long before they are as bad as the cable, phone, cell, and garbage collection fees. I've been thinking about getting rid of all the phones and start using the U.S. Pony Service where 1st class mail will be delivered in about 5 days.

 

[Club Chapin]

This is off topic.

Yea, it won't be long before they are as bad as the cable, phone, cell, and garbage collection fees. I've been thinking about getting rid of all the phones and start using the U.S. Pony Service where 1st class mail will be delivered in about 5 days.

For what it's worth, I've been using Vonage and am very happy with it. It works with both my 622 and my Moviebeam (which explicitly states that it does not work with voip.)

 

[MikeD-C05]

The fees are a way to push customers to subscribing to AEP or Platinum Hd pack.

Sometimes the fees are more expensive then the extra programming. I tried to sub to the gold hd pack but I found the fees were more expensive then if I just subbed to the Platinum pack so I went with the Plat. pack and I saved myself all the dvr fees and I got a whole lot more movie channels and three hd movie channels like Hbo/Showtime/Starz hd for the same price.

If you want to save yourself the dvr fees then I would seriously think about subbing to Aep or a Platinum hd pack .

 

[Club Chapin]

I understand it, I guess. I wish they could just build it into the price. Frankly, what I am paying for the Bronze I think it too expensive for as much as I watch (Although, even with local and dvr fees still a way better buy than comcast: less money and more HD). What is the minimum package with National Geographic HD?

I wish they had an HD only package that had all HD and no SD + locals. Prorated movie packages with only HD channels would be nice too. My tune ring is most of the locals and most of the HD + CNN and Comedy Central, both of which I would forgo for an HD only package. I feel like I am paying for a lot of programming that I have absolutely no interest in.

 

[halsan40]

The fees are a way to push customers to subscribing to AEP or Platinum Hd pack.

Sometimes the fees are more expensive then the extra programming. I tried to sub to the gold hd pack but I found the fees were more expensive then if I just subbed to the Platinum pack so I went with the Plat. pack and I saved myself all the dvr fees and I got a whole lot more movie channels and three hd movie channels like Hbo/Showtime/Starz hd for the same price.

If you want to save yourself the dvr fees then I would seriously think about subbing to Aep or a Platinum hd pack .

The last time I checked it would cost me $25 more a month to go from Gold to Platinum, and that's with the DVR fee savings. Has something changed?

 

[MikeD-C05]

I meant that I would rather have more programming then more fees . The fees do nothing for me but the extra programming I can use. YOu take the Plat pack at 104.99 with locals and subtract the gold pack at 74.99 with locals and you get a $30.00 savings. I only saved 18.04 by the time I added back the two dvr fees at 2 x 5.98=11.96. So for 18.04 more I get ALL the premium movie channels plus all the hd counterparts. So I would rather have the extra premium channels that I actually watch then the fees that I don't need.

At the time I was deciding between doing the plat pack or doing say netflix for 17.99 a month and you get 3 dvds at the same time. I decided it was easier to just stay with Dish because if you add the 17.99 back in to the total cost I would be paying for Dish gold pack and netflix it would come out to be 92.98 + dvr fees 2 x 5.98 =1196 , comes out to 104.94 a 6 cent savings. So I decided that Dish was the better savings and I don't have to fool with dvds and waiting for them to arrive etc. Even Netflix is looking to do a download service to a new netflix receiver now for their customers . The mail is to slow in my opinion. I can watch many more programs from Dish for my money then to wait for dvds in the mail.

 

[C1787GJ]

I priced DVR fees from Comcast the other day, it is 15.00 Total 9.95 for the service and another 4 for the box and like 1 for the remote itself.... talk about fees. Tivo is 12.95 a month and you have to PAY for there box as well. The 5.98 a month pays for programming enhancements as well as building new boxes. I wouldn't mind the fee being gone but I understand the point of it and have noticed my 522 working better than it did a year ago. (PocketDish Support, No more Audio Drops, Name Based Recording, etc)

 

[W_Tracy_Parnell]

Dish's fees are a joke-I have DVD Recorders-no fee ever!

 

[Pepper]

How much you spend a month on blank DVDs?

oh yeah, those don't go "poof" at the end of the month either

 

[iafirebuff]

I have used DVD RW's like vcr tapes, just erase and reuse. But I have gotten spoiled with having a DVR

 

[SmityWhity]

I feel like I am paying for a lot of programming that I have absolutely no interest in.

Maybe after congress tells the cable companies that they must sell individual channels to their customers, they will then tell the satellite companies to do the same.

I still wish I could just buy The Weather Channel, HNN, and the TVGC (so that I can see what I'm not paying for)!