Second Hopper was the deal breaker

[sbrown02]

I'm a long time DirecTV customer intrigued by the new Hopper system Dish has been advertising, so a few days ago I decide to take the plunge and leave DirecTV for Dish. Now this was a monumental decision for my family for several reasons: 1) Dish doesn't carry some Disney owned channels (Disney, Disney XD, ESPNU & ABC Family) in HD; 2) Our DirecTV service has worked flawlessly over the years and my wife and kids are averse to change so making this move won't be easy; and 3) I've been reading about the problems (lock-ups, freezes, corrupted or unreadable recordings, etc.) people have been having with the new Hopper system and I'm nervous we'll experience some of the same things. Never-the-less I tell the wife and kids it'll be fine and I call Dish up to order the service.

In the order process it's explained to me that with 1 Hopper and 2 Joey's I can record 6 programs at once. That sounds great cause that's exactly what we have today with DirecTV albeit with 3 separate DVR's each with 2 tuners a piece. So I submit the order. Unfortunately they couldn't get my install done before we left on vacation so my install date was scheduled over 2 weeks out.

So now I'm on vacation and have some time on my hands so I start reading the forums to learn more about the Hopper and my new Dish service. While reading I learn that the record 6 channels at once function is really part of the PTAT feature and that the Hopper only has 3 tuners and not 6. So with PTAT turned on you can only record 2 other channels at the same time which just wouldn't work for us. Furthermore I learn that some of the channels I want in SD & HD aren't in America's Top 120 package I had initially signed up for. So no problem I think. I'll call-up and increase my package to the Top 200 tier and order a 2nd Hopper. I've read of others on these forums doig the same (ordering a 2nd Hopper) for $100 which is what they normally charge for the 1st hopper (albeit its free now while under promotion) so it shouldn't be a problem, right. Wrong.

So today I call Dish Customer Service. I explain to the lady what I want to do (upgrade my package and order a 2nd Hopper instead of a Joey). She puts me on hold for a minute and comes back and says it's $200 for the 2nd Hopper. I tell her that can't be right because I'm reading of others getting their 2nd one for $100. She tells me I'm misinformed. At this point the way she's talking to me is like totally rude. Like I have no clue what I'm talking about. I think to myself do I really want to go through all this change for nearly $300 ($200 for 2nd hopper plus new service fees)? And talking to this lady isn't helping so I say no and tell her to cancel my order.

So tell me, am I misinformed or are people getting the 2nd Hopper for $99? For me, I'm not interested in paying $200 for a piece of equipment that appears is still going through beta testing.

Thanks for letting me vent. I look forward to peoples thoughts/comments.

Thanks

Steve

 

[Bobby]

People getting the second Hopper for $100 are existing customers. They are also paying $100 for the first Hopper, for a total of $200. New customers are getting the first Hopper for free and are being charged $200 for the second Hopper. Everyone is paying the same....

 

[sparc]

As bobby noted, most new and existing customers are paying the same $200 for two hoppers. The promotions are just structured differently. Most people only need 1 hopper (+ some joeys) so the current new customer promotion is actually better than the existing customer promo.
___________________________________________

Another note... Dish has temporarily lowered the new customer requirements to get the first hopper free. They've dropped it down to Top 120 instead of requiring Top 200.

http://www.dish.com/dishdeals/summer-savings/?WT.ac=ACQ_MKTG_DISH_CAR1_0812_SSE_extended

Save up to $750 in your first year - including a FREE Hopper — with our best value package, America’s Top 120. Now only $24.99/mo* after an additional $5 monthly savings.

 

[navychop]

It's been reported that some have ordered 2 Hoppers & 2 Joeys, then when the tech arrives they cancel one Joey. Since you mentioned 1H & 2J I thought you might want just 3 boxes, not 4, saving $7/month.

 

[Tampa8]

Basically unfortunately you are wrong in how you understood it. It is correct the going rate is $200. Either free for first and $200 for second, or $100 each depending on the customer. You might be able to soften the cost by contacting a DIRT member, perhaps they can give you some programming for awhile. (Though being a new customer you may already have as much discount as you can get right now)

 

[rogerpl]

Through dish you need to order 2hoppers and two joeys, might get different deal through retailer. Some are getting two hoppers and two joeys for 100.00 and free install and send second joey back.

 

[sparc]

Through dish you need to order 2hoppers and two joeys, might get different deal through retailer. Some are getting two hoppers and two joeys for 100.00 and free install and send second joey back.

that's generally through loyalty department as an existing customer of Dish. Dish retentions is a whole different game and wouldn't apply to the OP.

The comparable thing for the OP to do is go through DirecTV retentions and see what their offers are to stay and compare it to the new customer offers from Dish.

 

[rogerpl]

that's through loyalty as an existing customer of Dish. Dish retentions is a whole different game and wouldn't apply to the OP.

The comparable thing for the OP to do is go through DirecTV retentions and see what their offers are to stay and compare it to the new customer offers from Dish.

true

 

[mackie99]

This is what I was charged when I first signed up:

One-Time Charges & Credits

May 05 Leased Receiver 199.00
May 05 Leased Receiver 99.00
May 05 Sling Adapter 30.00
May 05 Shipping & handling 0.00
328.00

When I first signed up, I had to go with 2 hoppers and 2 joeys. I came here to satelliteguy.us and asked on of the DIRT guys to cancel one of the Joeys and they were able to.
So, if they told you the first hopper was free and the second was $200 you are getting a better deal than me.

Oh, and I have not had one problem with either Hopper. They are both working flawlessly (knock on wood).

 

[satjay]

When I changed from Direct to Dish a few months back it it was 200 (199) for the second hopper, Two Hopper/one Joey has been a great system.

 

[Scherrman]

The OP definately came to the right place for his information. Always smart to check with others before signing up for anything. Dish's little marketing scheme of the Hopper recording 6 shows is very misleading although it is technically true.

The pricing your were told is correct as the others have stated and you would be smart to get 2 Hoppers unless $200 upfront is too much.

 

[sbrown02]

Thanks everyone for the responses and for clarifying how the pricing works. Very helpful.

 

[Claude Greiner]

Its just sad when they come out with an awesome product like the Hopper and you find out that you actually need 2 of them to make it function properly.

If Dish wanted a great product, they would design the thing with slots in the back to add more tuners simmilar to what you do when you want to add an over the antenna tuner.

 

[dangue]

Its just sad when they come out with an awesome product like the Hopper and you find out that you actually need 2 of them to make it function properly.

If Dish wanted a great product, they would design the thing with slots in the back to add more tuners simmilar to what you do when you want to add an over the antenna tuner.

Claude, I get that you're on an anti Dish platform these days, but comments like this hurt your credibility.

One Hopper works great for some people/households. For others it may take two or even three. Why one earth should Dish have to complicate the design to keep things all on one expandable box or create a fixed box with way more than many customers need? For that matter, what's the advantage? It's not price since a second hopper is the same price as a Joey at a second location.

You double the hard drive capacity and add redundancy to the system with two boxes. It also simplifies things to only have to code for one box instead of multiple single box setups.

The only way that I can think of where one big box would be better than two is if Dish stops improving dual hopper integration. There's no indication that this is the case. Strike that, I've thought of another situation- where a person has only one TV but needs the ability to record on more than three tuners at once. In that case, no additional monthly box fee on the big box hopper.

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[rocket69]

Id say Claude Is not anti dish but looking out for his customers. As reseller they must keep customers for 3 years and yes contract is only 2.

We have a policy for our office if customer wants hopper on more then 2 tv's we insist on a second hopper if they don't want to pay and only want 1 with 2-3 joeys we send them down the road. Homes with just 2 people any config of the hopper system should work unless they are real dvr users.

The fee should be lower or free come Feb 2013 when DTV goes live with the MVR hr34 and moca boxes like hopper but no PTAT atm but can do 6 shows on each HR34 . Current testing has two hr34 and 8 moca boxes running at once for up to 10 live streams or 12 dvr events at one time. With kids i can see how it will be a major player in every home.

 

[Laddyboy]

I don't see how Claude is hurting anything. Many thought from the start, the Hopper was underfitted with tuners, especially compared to the existing HR34.

 

[R0ss]

Let me first state that I realize every household has different TV watching habits and needs, there is no one size fits all solution.

I have been reading about folks needing two hoppers so they have Increased recording capacity and Storage capacity as well. I don't understand how folks can record and ultimately watch all the tv they are recording? We have a 722 with ota, we do record a few shows, mostly when we aren't at home or because of time conflicts, I find that we often don't watch these recordings for days, and by the time we do the show has repeated anyway and we probably watched it. We have so many DVDs that are watched once, redbox is cheap even if they don't have the newest movies, and Netflix and Hulu plus have a decent selection of movies and TV, as well as stuff that we might not have discovered other wise.

So it boggles my mind when I read about the folks who NEED a second hopper! I'm not criticizing at all I just can't wrap my head around it! I suppose if there was an easy way to archive the recordings so they could be watched without the Dish equipment it would make more sense to me but, and I realize we can't discus hacking here, there isn't so...

Again this is not intended to be a criticism at all, just one mans thoughts...

Ross

 

[Scherrman]

I absolutely needed 2 Hoppers. I record all kinds of shows and my wife has her shows that I can't stand to watch. Then we record cartoon shows and movies for my son along with having PTAT on. Almost every night we would be using all 3 tuners. Now that we have 6 tuners never have issues. My wife has actually been recording all of the olympics and we still don't have timer conflicts.

 

[Ronnie-]

I dont necessarily NEED two hoppers, but I did recently add a second. It is a rare event during the vast majority of the year that the wife and I (and our kid) would have a recording conflict with PTAT active and two more tuners, but during football season, I decided that a slight possibility was not worth it to me, and went and added the second one.

For most, and me most of the time, one with a couple of joeys would be fine.

 

[Scherrman]

It makes the most sense since it cost the same amount per month as a joey. You just have to look past the upfront fee.