Is the Digital Home Protection Plan worth it?

[soonerman]

I currently have the protection plan and, since I am under the commitment, Dish is giving me a credit for the plan. However, my commitment is up next month.

My question is, what exactly does this cover. If I am leasing my box and it goes bad, don't they cover the damages? If a storm knocks the dish out of line (which has never happened even with our Oklahoma storms) does the plan cover that?

I have a cousin who is an installer, so I am sure I could convince him to realign the dish if this ever happened. I

I just don't know if the plan is worth the $5.99 I will be paying every month. Knocking that off makes Dish an even better deal.

Thanks for your input.

 

[RedWings]

If equipment goes bad, they replace it at not charge. If a technician has to come to your house (diagnose problem, realign dish, etc...) , it'll cost you ~$25 instead of the $99.

But you can add/delete this plan as you want. So if you have an issue, call up, add the protection, then call back and set up an appointment. 30 days later....cancel it. I've done this once already without any issues.

 

[navychop]

I keep it going. I've had 6 721s pass thru my hands.

 

[Skyhi]

Wouldn't E* replace bad equip/reallign dish, DHPP or not, if you threaten to quit?

 

[drummerguy]

It's worth it to me. I've gone through three 522s, two 811s, and two 622s. The little over $200 I've spent on the plan over the past three years is much lower than the purchase price of all those replacement receivers.

 

[bigthrust]

What is with you guys going through all that equipment? I have been with Dish since they started and have NEVER had to replace a receiver. I get a new round of receivers every 2 years or so. Maybe I'm just lucky. I do take care of my stuff ( I don't suffocate it, move it around a lot, etc). I think that some people also prematurely "cry" broken when they simply just don't know how to use it. With all of that said, I do understand that electronics break and legitimately need to be replaced or repaired.

 

[RedWings]

What is with you guys going through all that equipment? I have been with Dish since they started and have NEVER had to replace a receiver. I get a new round of receivers every 2 years or so. Maybe I'm just lucky. I do take care of my stuff ( I don't suffocate it, move it around a lot, etc). I think that some people also prematurely "cry" broken when they simply just don't know how to use it. With all of that said, I do understand that electronics break and legitimately need to be replaced or repaired.

x2

Knock on wood

I"ve had a bunch of receivers with DirecTv and 2 so far with Dish (625/622) and never had one die on me. I've had a few LNBs go....but it usually takes a few years.

 

[navychop]

What is with you guys going through all that equipment? I have been with Dish since they started and have NEVER had to replace a receiver. I get a new round of receivers every 2 years or so. Maybe I'm just lucky. I do take care of my stuff ( I don't suffocate it, move it around a lot, etc). I think that some people also prematurely "cry" broken when they simply just don't know how to use it. With all of that said, I do understand that electronics break and legitimately need to be replaced or repaired.

I have my original 508 and original ViP622. Sold one 301 & turned in another one, never a problem with them. The 721 is great- when it works. It's known to have HDD and power supply problems. I got one of the first ones. Love it, will hate to see it go. And yes, all 721s I've had were in well ventilated areas and never moved.

 

[drummerguy]

What is with you guys going through all that equipment? I have been with Dish since they started and have NEVER had to replace a receiver. I get a new round of receivers every 2 years or so. Maybe I'm just lucky. I do take care of my stuff ( I don't suffocate it, move it around a lot, etc). I think that some people also prematurely "cry" broken when they simply just don't know how to use it. With all of that said, I do understand that electronics break and legitimately need to be replaced or repaired.

No, I've never prematurely cried "broken" on a receiver; and, excuse me, but I do know how to use them. I hate having them replaced, and I take care of them. Every time I've had a DVR replaced, it's been because of a hosed hard drive. It starts doing crazy things, I call tech support, we run through the normal stuff to try to fix it (which I've usually already done), then THEY say they're going to replace it. Not my idea; believe me, I'd rather not go through the hassle of replacing receivers. But hard drives fail, that's a fact of life. Guess I shouldn't record the shows I want to watch so that the hard drive and receiver lasts longer, huh?

As for getting my old 811 replaced, that was back when it didn't support Dolby Digital 5.1. I called up to complain about it, and tech support erroneously told me that the unit was faulty, and they replaced it. Later I found out that it was simply a software issue that would end up taking a heckuva long time to fix. In fact, I traded in my 811 for a 942 before they did the software fix.

 

[parabolico]

"extended protection plans" are almost never worth it since the echostar equipment is high quality and seldom defective ,that is unless your reciever will be subject to some unusual abuse;kids,pets, high heat,humidity. also if you have been an E* customer for longer than two years and have a package higher than a100 , most of the time customer care will voluntarily lower price of service calls to $50 dollars.

 

[navychop]

I Blame You!

Yes, it's YOUR FAULT!

Now that I've posted in this thread about the protection plan, I've gone into my bedroom and heard: Click pause Click. More like Ka-Chunk pause Ka-Chunk.

Many of us know that song.

I'm about to call Dish and move on to - oh, dare I say it- 721 number 7!

Lost all my recordings AGAIN! Why couldn't this thing just survived another couple of years???!!! At least I have the DHPP.

 

[navychop]

OK. A front panel reset did nothing. I unplugged it to stop the clicking noise, and plugged it back in. This time, it did not come up with a message about a hard disk failure and to call Dish. It said installation step 1, then step 2, then "installing drive image."

It did. Hard disk is completely empty, every recording is gone. It downloaded from the satellite. I can enter a channel number, and it will go there, but there is no guide data, and channel up and down do nothing. I assume this will work itself out. But this is probably fair warning that this 721 is not long for this world. And to think, we hardly ever use it since we got the ViP622.

Wonderful receiver, the 721. When it works.

And more directly on topic- do they still have 721s to ship out under the DHPP? I don't want to give up my "grandfathered" status if they want to ship out a 625 in it's place. That's $5 a month I see no benefit from. Anybody get any offer other than a direct model replacement? That day is no doubt coming, I just hope it's not here yet. I really like the 721.