Ask HDBeat: Why don't I own my new DIRECTV box
By Matt Burns 
posted Jul 20th 2006 11:01AM
posted Jul 20th 2006 11:01AM
Andy Pargh wrote into Engadget with a question concerning DIRECTV. He had just purchased his sixth receiver and was surprised when he was informed that he didn't own the equipment; DIRECTV did. There was a time that when you paid money for something, you owned it. But this is no longer the case with DIRECTV. in fact, this policy has been in place since March 1st. DIRECTV went to a leasing model as of that date where you pay money to have the opportunity to lease the equipment. When you cancel the service, you ether have to give back the box or face a $200 fee. Many of you are saying....'WHAT!?!? I have to pay money to use their equipment and then I have to give it back." Yup. Hey, we are just the messenger. It isn't all bad news though. If something happens to their box when you are using it, they will replace it - one a year.Thanks for the question Andy!
it's almost the same here in the UK, our satellite boxes from Sky are either free (normal digital), £50 (with HDD) and £300 (new Hi-Def with HDD), but after a year the box is ours to do with what we want even if we no longer subscribe to them
Ok fine you have the your Directv box and what happens if unfortunately you decide to discontinue your service the receiver is useless so in order for Directv to keeps costs low for equipmnet they recycle the receiver for other customers
They want to try and compete with the cable systems out there so they went to a leasing model. I guess no one told them that cable customers don't pay anything upfront for their hardware. I've got an HD-DVR that only has a monthly fee. Why can't they go to that form of a leasing model? $8 a month is a lot easier to swallow than $200 or $300 up front.
I have an HR10-250 that I paid $900 for as well as 2 HDVR2s. When the HR20 finally (if ever) comes out, I'll have to swap my HR10 out for a box that I will no longer own. Granted, I've gotten almost 2 years' use out of my current box, but I'm not thrilled about trading it in for an inferior unit. I don't know if I ever would if I could get my locals better OTA than I currently do.
Yeah...I tried pricing DirecTV as compared with my cable service, and for as much as people complain about cable, the pricing wasn't even close. I have an HD DVR, cable in every room (albeit analog expanded basic in those without boxes), 5 meg internet all for less than I would pay monthly for a comparable DirecTV setup! In addition, the startup costs alone were in excess of $600! And the icing on the cake is exactly this...that you don't own any of it! At least when I cancelled DISH a few years back I was able to sell the equipment I OWNED!
My H20 Receiver got fried in an electrical storm and D* is replacing it for free, with the caveat of $20 for shipping. Plus a supplied and prepaid Fed Ex box to ship back the ruined one.
I would gladly pay an upfront fee if it keeps them from raising the rates every month. DirecTV and Dish have invested a ton of cash in converting from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4 and they are trying to recoup some of their costs. This move might cost them a few subscribers, but in the long run it will probably improve retention. There are tons of people that switch providers each year, but if it costs you $200 out of pocket each time you switch you might think twice about it.
Wait until the cable companies make the switch to MPEG-4 and see what happens to the prices. The public is conditioned to leasing boxes so they are going to have to jack the rates to make up the difference. If will be cheap if you bundle the services, but if
you only want digital cable you'll be paying through the nose.
DanMacMan, that's because the Protection Plan by DirecTV is built in. If my equipment, which is old and owned by me, dies, DirecTV will replace it but I 'pay' for that coverage.
There is a big difference between paying a monthly lease rate, and paying a fee to be allowed to pay a monthly lease rate.
The sad part is that DirecTV never disclosed the change in the policy to its subscribers. Although few, if any of us, read the small print in those pamphlets they include in the bill, a good defense for them would have been that we notified you of this prior to the change in policy. That's my chief complaint. Like any large corporation, they are welcomed to make any changes to any policy at any time...but it's their duty to notify us prior to the change.
I live in NY and my satellite receiver went down in March and I have learnt of their new way of doing business. I wrote to the attorney general twice and apparently they don't care because they don't understand how Directv is becoming unjustly rich off of this. Forget if you return the receiver and they determing that there is damage to it that is another $200.00 that you owe them. It is bull and I'm glad people are starting to realize this.