Free HR20 from DTV after bad HR10-250? Any gotchas?

[bimplebean]

My HR10-250 is continually rebooting, Green screen of death, etc. I called DTV and they are sending me a free HR20-700. They say I will own it, not lease it, and that no contract extension is required. I was dumbfounded.

Has anyone else had this experience? Any gotchas? (Aside from the quality of the HR20, that is. I'll be wary.)

My plan is to try to repair the HR10-250 with a new drive (DTV says it's "definitely the hard drive"), then sell the HR20 on eBay once the HR10 is back in action. (If I can )

Do any of you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Jimbo]

My HR10-250 is continually rebooting, Green screen of death, etc. I called DTV and they are sending me a free HR20-700. They say I will own it, not lease it, and that no contract extension is required. I was dumbfounded.

Has anyone else had this experience? Any gotchas? (Aside from the quality of the HR20, that is. I'll be wary.)

My plan is to try to repair the HR10-250 with a new drive (DTV says it's "definitely the hard drive"), then sell the HR20 on eBay once the HR10 is back in action. (If I can )

Do any of you have any thoughts on this?

Thanks in advance...

Thoughts on this ???
Ya, it's a dumb idea ....
If D* is going to GIVE you a HR20-700, take it and be VERY happy.

How do you plan on watching any HD channels next year ?
All the HD (and probably SD channel eventually) will be migrating over to the MPEG4 side.

The current HR10-250 doesn't see ANY of the mpeg 4 stuff.

Jimbo

 

[bimplebean]

I hear so much bad stuff about the HR20s, but hey, if it's free I'll gladly check it out. It's just that I LOVE TIVO. (I'm sure I'm not alone in that...)

I've been using the HR10-250 as a 200hour SD recorder. I got it for $250 on eBay a few months back -- talk about lucky! We'll see how well the HR20 does, I guess..

I have a friend who works for DTV -- she tells me they're going to support the Tivos and MPEG2 HD as long as they can, but yeah, new stuff will only be on MPEG4.

 

[Hauser]

I've been using the HR10-250 as a 200hour SD recorder. I got it for $250 on eBay a few months back -- talk about lucky!

Not to burst your bubble, but I got my HR10-250 free from DTV and then when I got my FREE HR20 and 5LNB dish from DTV, they relocated my HR10 to a different TV

 

[rad]

Just one note, if your HR10-250 was purchsed, which it probably was, the HR20 will be a leased receiver most likely and you might want to check to see if they're going to say you now have a two year commitment.

 

[bimplebean]

I asked them that, specifically. They told me the HR20 would be mine, not leased, and there would be no extension of my commitment. I was pretty surprised myself.

I'll double check, though.

 

[rad]

I'd try to see if they would send you an e-mail say that, just to cover you a** since may folks have been told something by a CSR to find out later nobody knew anything about that conversation taking place.

 

[jpn]

I asked them that, specifically. They told me the HR20 would be mine, not leased, and there would be no extension of my commitment. I was pretty surprised myself.

I'll double check, though.

Just take good notes. Get the name of the people you speak-to, record their employee ID number, the date & time of your call, for your own records. AND ask them to put a note on your account stating the content of your call.

If anything comes up after delivery, you can point to your notes and the CSR records.

And be sure you cover the 5-LNB dish with installation. You haven't mentioned whether you already have one, I assume not.

 

[damaged]

Just take good notes. Get the name of the people you speak-to, record their employee ID number, the date & time of your call, for your own records. AND ask them to put a note on your account stating the content of your call.

Then kill a chicken and smear its blood all over you and the CSR, get the NSA to fly in to monitor the phone conversation, then have Jesus Christ himself notarize it, otherwise not getting a commitment, and getting a non-leased, FREE HR20 is going to be a toughie.

 

[jpn]

Then kill a chicken and smear its blood all over you and the CSR, get the NSA to fly in to monitor the phone conversation, then have Jesus Christ himself notarize it, otherwise not getting a commitment, and getting a non-leased, FREE HR20 is going to be a toughie.

Hey, gotta cover your ass... I would not be surprised if the HR20 came free, but when he calls to activate they tell him about a 2-year commitment, and overlook the 5-lnb dish.

Not that any of it would be deliberate... people make mistakes, maybe forget to get managers' approval or something, or just forget to put the proper notes on the account.

It's easier to get what you want, what you're promised, if you can present accurate facts, keep your cool, and act like a reasonable human being rather than an outraged animal.

 

[damaged]

Hey, gotta cover your ass... I would not be surprised if the HR20 came free, but when he calls to activate they tell him about a 2-year commitment, and overlook the 5-lnb dish.

Not that any of it would be deliberate... people make mistakes, maybe forget to get managers' approval or something, or just forget to put the proper notes on the account.

It's easier to get what you want, what you're promised, if you can present accurate facts, keep your cool, and act like a reasonable human being rather than an outraged animal.

I was being serious.

 

[bimplebean]

Oooookay....

Is the 5lnb dish needed for SD programming? That's all I'm going for at the moment.

<sigh>

I just wanna be happy.

 

[damaged]

Oooookay....

Is the 5lnb dish needed for SD programming? That's all I'm going for at the moment.

<sigh>

I just wanna be happy.

No, the 5 lnb is not needed for SD programming.

 

[Jimbo]

No, the 5 lnb is not needed for SD programming.

But you'll be sorry if you don't get it while you have the chance, perticularly seeing it would be FREE if you get it while upgrading.
Later when you do need it for your HD chnanels it will NOT be free.

Jimbo

 

[jpn]

But you'll be sorry if you don't get it while you have the chance, perticularly seeing it would be FREE if you get it while upgrading.
Later when you do need it for your HD chnanels it will NOT be free.

Jimbo

That brings up another issue. The CSR said his contract does not get extended, but didn't say anything about the new packages and billing.

Once he activates the HR20, they are likely to say that it's considered Advanced Technology (HD DVR) and charge the HD Access Fee. That is the stated policy and he won't have much barganing room.

One alternative is to negotiate for the SD DVR with a note on the account promising an upgrade deal on the HR20 when he's ready for it.

 

[bimplebean]

I called D*TV back today and another rep confirmed the order -- the item is mine to own, no need to return if I cancel, and my contract is not being extended.

I'm not changing programming packages at all, so I'm hoping no additional charges will accrue. I'll check with them again, though.

FWIW I have a line on fixing the HR10 pretty cheap. New hard drive, image from DVRUpgrade... I'll let y'all know if you're interested.

 

[bimplebean]

I related this story in another thread, but in a nutshell -- THEY SENT ME AN HR10-250! WOO HOO! :clap

Not only that, but I bought a new drive for $80, bought InstantCake software from another web site and had my original HR10-250 up and running last night! Now I have TWO!

All I need now is an HDTV.

Thanks all (jimbo!) for your help and information. Anyone wanna buy an R10?

 

[bimplebean]

There WAS a Gotcha. They LIED.

When I went to activate the device they told me it was LEASED. Not mine.

Now, this makes sense -- why would they just GIVE me a new DVR? I could just call up and say 'it broke' --- does that mean they'd just give me a new unit?

The rep said I didn't have to pay for it, other than the monthly fee I pay already -- but it's not mine to own as the other TWO reps told me. (Now I'll have to check to see if those ball sacks weren't lying about THAT.)

So why the f**k do they have to knowingly and willingly lie to their customers?

If I had been told up front "we'll give you a DVR to use, but it belongs to us" I'd have had no problem with that.

Now I need to know why I should not leave a company that knowingly lies to it's customers.

 

[stevesmall]

There WAS a Gotcha. They LIED.

When I went to activate the device they told me it was LEASED. Not mine.

Now, this makes sense -- why would they just GIVE me a new DVR? I could just call up and say 'it broke' --- does that mean they'd just give me a new unit?

The rep said I didn't have to pay for it, other than the monthly fee I pay already -- but it's not mine to own as the other TWO reps told me. (Now I'll have to check to see if those ball sacks weren't lying about THAT.)

So why the f**k do they have to knowingly and willingly lie to their customers?

If I had been told up front "we'll give you a DVR to use, but it belongs to us" I'd have had no problem with that.

Now I need to know why I should not leave a company that knowingly lies to it's customers.

Because they gave you a free dvr ? thats one reason ! a couple of new sats going up shortly, thats now 3 reasons.

Again the dvr was free why complain?
granted they misinformed you but i bet it was more of a low paid rep not really caring more than a directv policy to lie to customers

 

[johnml]

I received a new HR20-700 today to replace my HR10-250. I went through 3 CSR's about keeping the HR10 and move it to a bedroom, all said since I was swapping it out it would cost me $300 if I wanted to keep the HR10. the installer left the HR10, so I called Directv who then told me it would be no problem to move it to a bedroom. It's funny because I really tried to keep it prior to today but none of the CSR's would budge. Talk about CSR roulette ? Now I just have to get used to this non tivo DVR...