I never had it and when I needed a new HR22 due to a lightning strike, DTV sent me a new/refurb unit no questions asked,but that was about 5 years ago. When I started having issues with my SWM16 ,I chose to take the safe route and sign up for the $10 service plan and then put up with having to reboot the SWM whenever it acted up for a month until after it took effect. That $10 saved me the $100+ for a new multiswitch. Now under the "new " service plan we are supposed to get a "free" equipment upgrade every 2 years. I'll gladly pay $100 a year to trade in my HR 21 ,HR22 for a new HR44. Another couple years and we will all be talking about the HR79.
One constant bitch long time customers have had is that DTV doesn't care and you need to jump through hoops of fire to get new equipment. It looks to me like they heard us and through the service plan they are now offering all new equipment every couple years (much like cell phone carriers). To me that is worth the $100 a year.