protection program and 1/2 year agreements

[byron!]

After ~18 months of use, my HR10250 bit the dust. Thankfully, I have the protection program (i think i pay like $7-8 /month for the service) for my stuff and they sent me a replacement at no cost. i activated it and removed the defective unit, shipped it back and all was good. I just got my most recent bill and now I see a 2year equipment agreement on my statement. I called billing and they said that I recently added an HD DVR to my account and that by doing so, I agreed to a 2 year agreement. I explained to the CS that I was merely replacing a defective reciever which was swapped via the protection program which I already pay for. She refused to remove the 2 year agreement from the account and even though I have no plans of leaving D* anytime soon, it really burns me up that I'm getting "double teamed" on this one. It's bad enough that I'm shelling out $7 /month just "in case" something dies, but to penalize me even further by slapping a 2 year agreement on my account for making use of a service that I PAY for is insane.

Is this D*'s policy? Any tips on how to get this removed from my account?

 

[lou_do]

After ~18 months of use, my HR10250 bit the dust. Thankfully, I have the protection program (i think i pay like $7-8 /month for the service) for my stuff and they sent me a replacement at no cost. i activated it and removed the defective unit, shipped it back and all was good. I just got my most recent bill and now I see a 2year equipment agreement on my statement. I called billing and they said that I recently added an HD DVR to my account and that by doing so, I agreed to a 2 year agreement. I explained to the CS that I was merely replacing a defective reciever which was swapped via the protection program which I already pay for. She refused to remove the 2 year agreement from the account and even though I have no plans of leaving D* anytime soon, it really burns me up that I'm getting "double teamed" on this one. It's bad enough that I'm shelling out $7 /month just "in case" something dies, but to penalize me even further by slapping a 2 year agreement on my account for making use of a service that I PAY for is insane.

Is this D*'s policy? Any tips on how to get this removed from my account?

Yes, that is their policy now. I had the same thing happen to me with a replacement of a H-10, that I got last month, to replace a E-8 that was on it's last leg. The thing that really made me mad was when I bought it, they never said anything about a 2 year commitment and when I called D* to activate it and remove my old one, they never mentioned a word about it. Like you, the first I saw of it was when I got my bill. I signed nothing or was advised of any commitment.The only paperwork I have on the receiver is the sales slip.

I had more of a problem with the sneaky way they did it, without saying anything just adding it to your bill. A nice way to treat long time customers.

I always thought an agreement involved two parties, but I guess D* has a different definition for it.

 

[byron!]

so you bought your replacement in a store right? ok... well IMO my situation is even more frustrating and dirty.... i pay a monthly fee to have my equipment "protected"... but should the day come that i actually need to take advantage of this service that I have been paying for for years, i get slapped with a penalty (ie 2 year agreement)... heck, why even pay for the protection plan.. back before i had it, i had a reciever die and i called and they replaced it at no cost and i agreed to an additional year.

 

[lou_do]

so you bought your replacement in a store right? ok... well IMO my situation is even more frustrating and dirty.... i pay a monthly fee to have my equipment "protected"... but should the day come that i actually need to take advantage of this service that I have been paying for for years, i get slapped with a penalty (ie 2 year agreement)... heck, why even pay for the protection plan.. back before i had it, i had a reciever die and i called and they replaced it at no cost and i agreed to an additional year.

I hear you, but my point was the way it was done, both to you and me, there was no agreement they just put it on the bill, without saying anything. In my case, I paid for it, they didn't give it to me. I am thinking about canceling everything, except my required package, until their imposed 2 year agreement is over. In my case it will cost them about $60.00 a month, for two years.

 

[byron!]

ya.. i couldn't agree more.