Monthly Service Plan-Worth the $6?

[dwarren2]

In your opinion, is the $6 monthly service plan worth it? I just came off 9 months of service plan credits for the (15/0 plan) and want to know if I should continue paying or "self insure". Thanks!

I say NO. I've been with Dish since the days of the 1000 receiver and never had the service plan. It's $72/year and I've only had Dish come here twice. Once to install a 500 and then to upgrade to HD with 2 VIP receivers. Both at no cost. I had my 722 die once and they shipped me a new one for $15 and I swapped it out myself. I think I'm way ahead of the game.

 

[Ghpr13]

I, too, have had the plan since I joined E*. I wanted to have it as a "just in case" insurance. Lately I've been thinking about canceling it. Would the $25.00 charge apply if I canceled it now? I had it for 14 months now.

Ghpr13

 

[Scherrman]

It's all personal opinion and experiences. If you go with a retailer I'mnot sure I ould get it. Some retailers charge their own service fees which can be cheaper.

 

[Jim5506]

If I need a receiver swapped, I will pay the $15.

If I need a service call, I'll call and activate the service plan, then get it fixed, then IMMEDIATELY call back and cancel the plan for the $25 charge. It is still cheaper than paying $72/year, especially if you are slightly competent at trouble shooting your own system.

It would take 3 tech visits per year to make the service plan worth keeping and not doing the add, use, drop routine.

I have had 3 tech visits in 7 years.

 

[visionman]

Sort of on the same subject...

I have the service plan promo along with the movie channels. I was able to auto cancel the movie channels when they expire in a week, but what about the service plan? I see no way to auto cancel that. Do I have to call it in? So many ways to trick the user..

 

[AntiMoz]

The service plan does not auto cancel. You have to call or do it online.

 

[DishSubLA]

Look, almost all insurance, extended warranties cost more than you may ever get when you use them. That's why the insurance companies are by far the wealthiest corporations out there, but they hide there wealth in ownerships in real estate companies and holdings of every building over 5 stories tall, and they can legally have 2 sets of books making them look poorer than other corporations. I had to head off those claiming the oil companies are richer, etc.

If these things didn't make money they would never be offered. So, we can all admit that the statistics say we end up the monetary loser. The odds are heavily in your favor that no one will ever be injured on your property causing you to have to make a claim on your homeowners insurance. Statistically, the vast majority of people never have an automobile accident that results in having to make a large claim or risk losing their home to pay damages in a civil suit. Your odds are really great you will never lose a limb or die in a commercial aircraft accident. I could go on and on, but all those bad things just do NOT happen to the vast majority of people in the U.S., and the same is pretty true when such thinking is applied to evaluating the use of Dish's Home Protection Plan or any retailers extend warranties like those offered at Best Buy, yet most of us do pay for the insurance--even if we are not required to have coverage for our car because we own it, but we buy auto insurance coverage that is sufficient to prevent us from losing our home should we be involved in an auto accident, YET the statistics are clear that we are unlikely to ever be in that position, yet we feel compelled NOT to take the RISK, no matter how remote our chances of bing in such an accident. The vast majority of our over 300,000,000 million fellow Americans are NEVER sued in civil court. That said, I do think DHPP is worth the very nominal monthly cost.

Fist, DHPP covers ALL your Dish Network equipment, you entire system, so long as all parts have the Dish Network logo or are Dish Network approved parts (such as the Holland red and blue splitters/diplexers and Eagle Aspen Home Node). This coverage include all your OWNED equipment. Owned boxes are replaced FREE of any charge and are still recognized as OWNED on your account.

Reasons for one to get DHHP are peace of mind, not having to come up with over $100 at the last minute for a home visit, not having to go out and buy another owned box when my first one stops working properly because it is beyond the Dish manufacturer warranty of 1 year, and convenience.

In my case, I have had them replace 2 OWNED 721's, a leased 722, come out to the house and tighten a loose cable that must have been loosened by my termite inspection (I saw his feet yanking my cables, but all was well for the fist week) although I SWORE I tightened them when problems started a week after termite inspection. The guy said he thought it was tight too, until he jiggled it a bit (that there would've been a $95 visit plus "labor"), another visit to re-peak and the fellow replaced a lot of cable--at no additional charge, all not in the order I've written them, but all services at absolutely NO ADDITIONAL cost: no home visit fee, no shipping fees and not I having to go out and by TWO subsequent 721's at retail prices. Those hard drives will all fail, in the end.

If one is wealthy and has lots of $$, then I would probably say that one may save money by NOT having DHPP. But, then again, there are ways to decrease what you will end up paying on your mortgage if you pay more than the minimum (there was great software that calculated it and set dates for payments to avoid penalties and my rich uncle saved almost $50,000 by paying a lot more per month), but how many of us have the extra $$ per month to SAVE that kind of money? How many of us really put money aside for when we need to pay for a Dish home visit or get a new owned box at our expense? Hey, let's save tons of interest payments and pay for our cars and homes and kitchen appliances and A/C in full at time of purchase. Think of the money we'll save. Frankly, renting is often the better, more financially wise option to buying a home for many people, but those poor folks have been inculcated with the notion of OWNING a home. Renters are actually cash rich compared to many home owners who are drowning in the additional cost of home ownership.

So, insurance is all about risk. If you wish, take the risk and save $6 per month, but gladly pay the hefty fees or nominal shipping charges. If you don't mind finding the cash at the last moment, do without DHPP. However, if you are like the rest of we masses, you aren't going to budget for a $95 home visit, and probably be pissed about shipping charge, that you may have to pay twice if the 1st replacement doesn't work out. It's up to you.

 

[grb]

I agreed with most of your assessment before you said "That said, I do think DHPP is worth the very nominal monthly cost." That statement completely contradicted your reasoning preceding the statement.

If you want "peace of mind" (although I don't know why anyone needs peace of mind over a $95 service call or a $15 shipping charge for a receiver), then put $6 a month in your piggybank to pay for these unlikely future costs. As DishSubLA states above, these "insurance" costs statistically are much higher than the actual costs, so you should have plenty of money left over in your piggybank over the years. And if you don't, you always have the option of returning your equipment and getting a new provider. Most providers will do anything to keep you, although I must admit that Dish is very complacent on customer retention, so you may have to follow through on any threats to leave Dish.

As stated in an earlier post, I have never paid any service or replacement cost on Dish's own eqipment that I lease from them.

 

[Bob Haller]

The original cost of the warranty was a $1.99

terrible software spools at the time increased their cost so much they raised the price....

 

[dwarren2]

Look, almost all insurance, extended warranties cost more than you may ever get when you use them. .

There are only 2 things that I buy extended insurance on. Expensive HDTV's and cars. In the last few months I had my 52 inch Samsung TV repaired when the inverter board failued and my cars tanny replaced when it failed at 50000 miles

 

[DishSubLA]

I agreed with most of your assessment before you said "That said, I do think DHPP is worth the very nominal monthly cost." That statement completely contradicted your reasoning preceding the statement.

If you want "peace of mind" (although I don't know why anyone needs peace of mind over a $95 service call or a $15 shipping charge for a receiver), then put $6 a month in your piggybank to pay for these unlikely future costs. As DishSubLA states above, these "insurance" costs statistically are much higher than the actual costs, so you should have plenty of money left over in your piggybank over the years. And if you don't, you always have the option of returning your equipment and getting a new provider. Most providers will do anything to keep you, although I must admit that Dish is very complacent on customer retention, so you may have to follow through on any threats to leave Dish.

As stated in an earlier post, I have never paid any service or replacement cost on Dish's own eqipment that I lease from them.

And you didn't have to pay for the replacement of your owned units? I understand your point about highlighting my contradiction, however, if you own any insurance policy--even what is considered a "good" plan--then you are guilty of a contradiction, too. All insurance, extended warranties are all "rip-offs" meaning the statistics support that you will either never have to make a claim or the claim will be far less than what you've paid in premiums and will continue to pay. That is how insurance works. Homeowners insurance, auto insurance: all among the "contradictions." The selling point--and the reason we contradict ourselves by buying insurance--is, "What will happen when the odds that are in your favor, one day aren't? What will you do? Do you have a boatload of money to face damages, civil lawsuit, whatever calamity that comes along?' That is what the insurance cos. make us feel. AT RISK. We all know insurance is bogus, but we all buy it any way knowing we'll never see the vast amount of those premium payment ever again, even if we do make a claim. Again, that's how insurance works. It's like the casinos. While there are a few of "us" who will walk away with a few hundred or a few thousand of the casino's money, the vast majority of players LOSE. That's how it works. And the bookies point spread, a lot like the insurance man's policies, plans and premiums and those lovely deductibles. And the fact that even when your claim is correct, they still refuse to pay. The reason the masses such as myself pay the man is that we can't take the risk, however small.

If you could tell us that you don't have any insurance policies, you would be my hero. I am not being sarcastic. I am quite serious, as you would be someone to admire as one who lives by the true mathematical odds and isn't so afraid, like the rest of us, as to just hand over tons of $$ to the insurance companies and isn't living a "contradiction". I would love to have that kind of courage, but I'm part of the rabble. It's the women who often make us buy the damn money losing insurance . It saves marriages.

 

[TalonDancer]

And you didn't have to pay for the replacement of your owned units?...... The reason the masses such as myself pay the man is that we can't take the risk, however small......

I think this is the salient economical point in this discussion. What is the actual risk being insured? IOW how much money would someone need to 'self-insure'?

From what I've read on this forum...

1 - Dish does not distinguish between owned and leased equipment when they need to be replaced even if you do NOT 'have the service plan'. IOW if you do not have the service plan, Dish will replace a broken receiver for $15 whether it is leased or owned. (Please correct me if this is wrong.)

2 - Dish will allow (and even recommends) that anyone that does not 'have the service plan' simply sign up for it when they need a replacement/repair. And you can cancel the plan soon after the replacement/repair is completed. There is a $25 cancellation fee but it is less than keeping the plan another 5 months.

So in purely economical terms it does not make sense to pay for the service plan until you actually need it. After which, you can decide to keep the plan or drop it for a $25 cancellation fee.

FWIW I do not have the service plan and never will. I'm one of those wacky people who self insure every thing except for our home and autos. And these are very high deductible policies, largely to insure against significant loss & liability in this hyper-litigious society. We simply don't buy anything we can't afford to replace ourselves or live without. Note: This does not mean we have bags of $$$. It means that we have ALWAYS set aside a part of our income in liquid assets (e.g. a MMF) for this purpose. So just starting out we made our own furniture (e.g. bean bags chairs), drove older/cheaper cars, didn't eat out much, etc. But eventually this frugality paid off with enough 'liquid assets' and peace of mind to self insure all except the most costly things we own

Talon Dancer

p.s. the fundamental benefit of maintaining some 'liquid assets' for self insuring vs paying for service plans and extended warranties, is that the 'liquid assets' are NOT tied to a particular device. So the same funds can be used to self-insure multiple devices. OTOH service plans and extended warranties insure you against everything going bust at the same time. An unlikely event that would usually be covered by Home Owners insurance anyway.

 

[Doug Moore]

We're thinking of coming off the $6 monthly plan as well. It used to be provided the RSAs "free" when coupled with the original TurboHD. But talking w/Dish, there's no longer any ties to programming. So, $72/year for insurance on leased equipment just doesn't make sense for us.

 

[grb]

And you didn't have to pay for the replacement of your owned units? I understand your point about highlighting my contradiction, however, if you own any insurance policy--even what is considered a "good" plan--then you are guilty of a contradiction, too. All insurance, extended warranties are all "rip-offs" meaning the statistics support that you will either never have to make a claim or the claim will be far less than what you've paid in premiums and will continue to pay. That is how insurance works. Homeowners insurance, auto insurance: all among the "contradictions." The selling point--and the reason we contradict ourselves by buying insurance--is, "What will happen when the odds that are in your favor, one day aren't? What will you do? Do you have a boatload of money to face damages, civil lawsuit, whatever calamity that comes along?' That is what the insurance cos. make us feel. AT RISK. We all know insurance is bogus, but we all buy it any way knowing we'll never see the vast amount of those premium payment ever again, even if we do make a claim. Again, that's how insurance works. It's like the casinos. While there are a few of "us" who will walk away with a few hundred or a few thousand of the casino's money, the vast majority of players LOSE. That's how it works. And the bookies point spread, a lot like the insurance man's policies, plans and premiums and those lovely deductibles. And the fact that even when your claim is correct, they still refuse to pay. The reason the masses such as myself pay the man is that we can't take the risk, however small.

If you could tell us that you don't have any insurance policies, you would be my hero. I am not being sarcastic. I am quite serious, as you would be someone to admire as one who lives by the true mathematical odds and isn't so afraid, like the rest of us, as to just hand over tons of $$ to the insurance companies and isn't living a "contradiction". I would love to have that kind of courage, but I'm part of the rabble. It's the women who often make us buy the damn money losing insurance . It saves marriages.

Wow! I didn't mean to start a debate here.

Of course I have insurance policies for issues I consider important and have significant costs associated with them, but insuring Dish's leased equipment is not one of these issues. And when the time comes for repair/replacement of their equipment, one of four things can happen:

1. Dish can replace/repair THEIR EQUIPMENT at THEIR cost.
2. I can pay a $6 charge for insurance and immediately cancel after service (@ $25).
3. I can choose to unsubscribe to Dish if they insist I pay their charges.
4. I can pay their charges to repair/replace THEIR equipment.

Number 4 is not an option for me. And the first three are not worth spending $72/year on.

 

[AntiMoz]

For the record I cancelled the service plan over the weekend. thanks to all for the great input both ways.