I have a question - I thought those of you with more Dish experience may know how best to tackle.
We have (all installed just over 3 years ago):
Hopper (not working correctly since Friday)
Hopper w/Sling
Joey
Joey
With the recent $5 increase for AT200, our bill is now $135 (AT200 - $80, DVR Service - $12, Hopper - $12, Joey 1 - $7, Joey 2 - $7, Protection Plan - $8, taxes...I guess the other Hopper is included at no charge?). In 6 weeks or so, the 6 months required to carry the protection plan will be up, and we'll be able to save $8. That puts it at $127. I'd like to call retentions and try to get a discount. I'd rather not cancel. But I am willing to threaten to cancel (and cancel if I have to), as we're pretty happy with Netflix + Hulu + Amazon Prime. We've been customers for just over 18 years. We don't autopay. We pay all bills on time. We've been out of contract for just over a year. We have Dish hooked up to 4 TV's, but we could cut one of them if we had to (and save $7 for one of the Joeys).
I feel like nearly $130 for television service with no premium movie channels is insane. It seems like every time you cut something to save $10, the bill is back up $10 within a year. Like many people, we consistently watch fewer than 10 channels. Basically we keep television service for sports (Chicago Bears football in the fall, Iowa Hawkeyes basketball in the winter, Chicago Cubs baseball in the spring & summer), news, and a few shows that aren't on Hulu. Otherwise cord-cutting would fit most of our needs. Unfortunately we can't get any locals OTA as we live 60 hilly miles from he closest television stations out of Davenport, IA. We've had the Welcome Pack before. I like the price. I don't mind the lack of channels THAT much (although I miss things like Comcast Sports Chicago). I mind the lack of HD (except for the locals) and the fact that we'd lose HD Free For Life if we dropped down to that level of programming.
So for months now I've been thinking of calling to ask for a discount. Unfortunately this has now been gummed up by our Hopper going on the fritz. It records things, but you can't watch them, it's VERY slow to respond (takes up to a minute or more for the DVR to respond to specific commands on the remote), etc...
If I contact Dish to get a replacement DVR, they'd send the same one we're sending back, correct? I'd prefer to upgrade to the newest one (H3), as I'd like to future-proof. I'd be willing to pay for it, within reason - $100 to $200 (I have no idea what they cost). I don't want to sign a new contract. The only way I'd be willing to do that would be if I could get locked in to a much lower price (new customer pricing?). I don't see that happening, although I have been impressed with some of the discounts people have reported getting in this thread.
1) Do you call retentions for both issues at once (discount on our plan + replacement DVR for the broken one)?
2) Is the DVR replacement handled by a different department? And if so, should I take care of that part first (and call about the discount in a couple of weeks)?
