Information everyone must know about the Lease Program:

[ArtWIS]

Everything listed below has been read and checked based on my notes three times so you can hope my contacts didn't forget something else.

Now to get this right as I was thinking something else and typed another. This has been such a long day going back and forth and I'm starting too look like quite a fool right now.

Okay if you cancel service within the first 12 months (for accounts with no advanced receivers) or the first 24 months (for those with an advanced receiver on the account) this is what you will pay below.

For those with no advanced boxes on the account you will pay a pro-rated charge over 12 months of upto 150.00 per account (not per box).

For those of you with advanced boxes under the account you will pay a pro-rated charge over 24 months of upto 300.00 per account (not per box).

The charges for not returning the boxes to DirecTV are listed below and aren't related to anything above but will apply under all conditions and I mean all.

If you don't return the boxes back to DirecTV within 30 days of cancelling your service you will pay the following below and these fees are per box.

SD box is 55.00.
SD DVR is 200.00.
HD box is 240.00.
HD DVR is 470.00.

You will be charged these fees if you don't return the leased hardware back to DirecTV and it doesn't matter if you cancel before or after your two year agreement.

Also note if you complete your two year agreement and cancel service as long as you return back to DirecTV all leased hardware you will avoid any charges. At this stage the only charges you "could" be charged for would be the fee for not returning the hardware.

Longhorn THANKS for sticking with this issue till you got the straight scoop. I'm waiting for the mpeg4 DVR (HR20-250?) to show up later this year. As someone else posted I think there's a good chance the upfront fee will at least be lower than predicted at this point. Time will tell!

 

[tiraggi]

They can take their upfront fee's and shove them. That takes some pair of BALLS. They will not get another dime more from me. 8+ years customer, I spend about 100.00 a month and now this B.S. I had cablevision before D* and I hated them. Customer service sucked, PQ sucked, rate increases sucked, but I may look into going back to them. Every week I get a mailer from them saying : Dear satellite customer, we want you back.... triple play 99.00 monthly...Something at D* better change and soon! CV is starting to look good and I have a short memory. While Im at it D* can take their Hearts B.S. and shove that too. I dont know how many I have nor do I give a crap. Who do they think they are. 5 hearts and they will give you free this & that... 3 hearts and you get some free programming crap... Screw this. Sorry for the rant - just want goodHD and to be treated fairly.

 

[rkr0923]

same here....been with D* for 7 years, bought ALL my equipment from retailers (not D*) installed ALL my equipment myself, never had a problem of anykind, D* has never been to my house. I will Never pay a "lease" fee.....D* keep up your BS, will drop you in a heartbeat

 

[vurbano]

So now what Im seeing for someone that cancels after a month:

499 HD DVR reciever upfront lease charge + monthly lease fee
300 programming termination fee.
-12.50 (credit for 1 month service)
if ou send the reciever back you are out $786.50 bucks and have nothing to show for it

If you keep the reciever:
499 + 300 + 470 -12.5 = $1256.50

Is it worth it? 1300 bucks?

before 2/28 I could get an Hr10-250 off ebay new for around 450 - 200 rebate = 250 dollars with the 300 cancellation fee
for a cost of $550 - 12.5 = $537.5 dollars if I cancelled after one month correct? So overnight D* has decided to screw us out of another 700 dollars.

So, how does everyone like paying for those Spaceway spotbeam sats and greedy network affiliates for HDLIL now? Hey I know what will make it all better... If Dragon comes in and tells us all how WONDERFUL its gonna be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[scotsmanron]

I can tell you right now by the time the Florida AG gets done with this the whole thing is going to change. Florida has one of the toughest consumerer equipment leasing laws in the US and this isn't going to go over well here, in my estimation.

 

[vurbano]

I can tell you right now by the time the Florida AG gets done with this the whole thing is going to change. Florida has one of the toughest consumerer equipment leasing laws in the US and this isn't going to go over well here, in my estimation.

Sad part is they will probably drop the 470 bucks or the 499 either one and just make it a 5 year commitment 60 months at 12.50 = 750 dollar termination fee, that gets them to the same 1200 dollar mark for the HDtivo or jack up the upfront fee to 900 and leave the 300 dollar cancellation fee. Either way, the consumer would have to be nuts. I think this could kill their High end HD market.

 

[scotsmanron]

You are correct, it's still the same thing and the Florida AG would figure that out. It isn't going to fly here. Like I put in an earlier post, the AG himself is running for governor. This is a good issue here with so many D* customer that are retirees.

 

[dcwebman]

The one thing that stood out is that if I had previously bought equipment that I needed to acvtivate it before 3/30. I had an H20 that I was going to put in our bedroom but the old TV in there only had a coax input and the H20 doesn't have any coax output. So D* helped me in this regards because it convinced my wife we needed to get a new Samsung 26" LCD TV that had the right connections.

 

[bleodler]

I don't see the big deal over all of this, the average consumer won't care at all. The only difference is the term 'mirror' changes to 'lease' on their bill and when/if they change providers they send the recievers back to D* instead of putting them in their closet somewhere.

 

[vurbano]

ANother problem. What happens when D* comes to my neighborhood for the mpeg4 rollout and has the Mpeg4 HD DVR out? Will we be forced into this lease agreement because the Mpeg2 HD will eventually be shut off. Will they consider anyone that upgrades to the new DVR as "leasing"?

 

[vurbano]

I don't see the big deal over all of this, the average consumer won't care at all.

The average consumer doesnt have HD and is really not relevant to this thread. The deal really isnt so bad for Joe sixpack who lives in the SD world. Except he might not go for the 2 year 300 dollar commitment.

 

[Chuck W]

This is a bit mindboggling what they are doing. They wanna compete with cable yet they have created a pircing model that is FAR WORSE than cable(at least my cable company). If I am forced to lease a box, that is one thing, but there no way I will lease a box, as well as pay a HUGE upfront fee just to use it. That is ludicrous. My cable doesn't do anything of the sort. They give you the box FOR FREE and only charge you $7 lease fee(this is for HD). The kicker is, I can leave them anytime I want and am not locked into a long term cellphone like deal, as I would with Directv.

They are going to drive away a LOT of their current customers. I'm scared to death that when the new MPEG4 HD PVR hits, when they swap me out for my HD Directivo they will throw me into the lease pool, which I WILL NOT stand for(I know they aren't doing that now, but who knows what they will try int he future).

Murdoch is turning Directv into an even WORSE choice than my cable company. Considering how bad my cable company had been, I never thought that would be possible but my cable company has been getting their act together, while Directv has been going in the opposite direction.

 

[hiker]

The upfront cost would be acceptable to me if it was a refundable deposit, just like I would have to pay to rent housing. Then upfront would be kept by D* as a cancellation fee if I cancel within the lease term. But this charge is gouging and should be illegal.

 

[vurbano]

The upfront cost would be acceptable to me if it was a refundable deposit, just like I would have to pay to rent housing. Then upfront would be kept by D* as a cancellation fee if I cancel within the lease term. But this charge is gouging and should be illegal.

I agree, you have hit the nail on the head. The upfront cost should be refundable. But thats what they are doing with the backend costs. the 470 you owe if you dont return the HR10-250. The 470 should be eliminated completely. and the 500 made refundable. But even if they do ALL of that its still a much more expensive deal than cable! You dont have to put 500 bucks down on a cable HD DVR or pay 300 bucks o=in program termination fees. This is astronomically more expensive!

 

[Stargazer]

So the figuration would be 24/12 minus the number of months you had your service multiplied by $12.50 equalling your pro-rated fee (24 - months of service x $12.50) (12 - months of service x $12.50).

By the time they get the upfront fee, pro-rated amount back, and going to reuse the receivers that get returned or get the full retail price back for used receivers, they will have a lot lower cost/risk in bringing each customer on board.

 

[calypsocowboy]

If I currently own two boxes and I'm not currently activated, they have been in the past, what happens if I don't activate them now and I wait until say May or June. When I activate them are they still considered owned by me or leased?

Thanks,
Josh

 

[jpn]

Longhorn, you have good info on the acquisition/termination costs. Isn't there more to it?

I spoke with Robert at a local homes show last weekend, he had some info about maintenance etc. Something about while you don't own the equipment, you gain some level of protection against defective equipment.

Any details regarding what happens between acquiring and terminating a lease would be helpful.

 

[Stargazer]

If you own the hardware then you can activate it when you are ready to. You may have to purchase a card though.

 

[newsposter]

I don't see the big deal over all of this, the average consumer won't care at all. The only difference is the term 'mirror' changes to 'lease' on their bill and when/if they change providers they send the recievers back to D* instead of putting them in their closet somewhere.

other than dish, what other provider has charged things like a 500 dollar nonrefundable fee up front for a DVR ? to me that's a big change for people shopping to get out of their current provider and I can't imagine any sane new customer saying 'oh yea, that sounds wonderful!"

 

[jpn]

If you own the hardware then you can activate it when you are ready to. You may have to purchase a card though.

I don't think that's entirely true. Even owned equipment is subsidized. When you buy it there is usually a stipulation that it must be activated within 21 days to avoid charge-back of the subsidy.