local cable company just offered me 2 free HD DVRs, can I ask DirecTV to match it?

[af250xxl]

I got a call from my local cable company this afternoon. I have been using their cable modem service for several years, but never any cable TV service.

The sales rep said if I add TV service to my account now, he will give me 2 free HDTV DVRs. I asked what kind of DVR it was. He said it can record 16 hours of HD, or 50 hours of SD programming. The usual $9.99 monthly fee for HD DVR will also be waived for the next 6 months.

Here's where it gets interesting... the rep said if I give them my old DirecTV or DISH Network dish, I'll get a $50 Ameriican Express Gift Cheque and one free premium channel for 6 months(HBO, for example). What are they going to do with my old dish anyway???

I asked him if he could mail me this offer in the mail and he offered to fax it to me instead. While I waited, I called him back at the cable company to confirm that he was for real. I also got the fax with the offer details. (which is only good until 3/15)


Now the real question:

If I call DirecTV with this offer in hand, is there any chance that they'll match it?
Perhap I'll make a stronger case by simply forwarding this fax to them with a
a letter?

I don't actually expect TWO free HD DVRs, but one would be enough for me.
Or are they just gonna make me pay for it?

Thanks for any suggestions!

[baimo]

I would give it a shot

[Rob Dawn]

The usual $9.99 monthly fee for HD DVR...

If you are seriously considering switching to cable, be sure to ask if this $9.99/mo fee is for EACH HD DVR or for as many as you have. I think I have read other people say that they charge that fee PER HD DVR.

Rob

[jschmidt]

You can ALWAYS ask. I don't think it could hurt you at all. Given that the lease thing is new for them, I wouldn't expect too much bending of the rules quite yet. In my experience, they want to see how things will work as they are.

[HogarthNH]

D* would not be able to match that offer. Period.

[newsposter]

even per dvr it's cheaper than 499!!!

[hiker]

It might be even more than $9.99/mo for each additional DVR. Here, Comcrap wants $9.95/mo. for each additional DVR plus a $6.95/mo. fee for each additional digital outlet service. They even charge $6.95/mo. for a CableCARD.

[inaka]

If you are seriously considering switching to cable, be sure to ask if this $9.99/mo fee is for EACH HD DVR or for as many as you have. I think I have read other people say that they charge that fee PER HD DVR.

Rob
In my case with Comcast, it was $9.95/mo for the first HD DVR, and $16.95/mo for the second.
I opted to just have on HD DVR under the $9.95/mo, but that *includes* the HD package.

It's a great deal actually, and something that DTV can't beat.

[fastep]

I got a call from my local cable company this afternoon. I have been using their cable modem service for several years, but never any cable TV service.

The sales rep said if I add TV service to my account now, he will give me 2 free HDTV DVRs. I asked what kind of DVR it was. He said it can record 16 hours of HD, or 50 hours of SD programming. The usual $9.99 monthly fee for HD DVR will also be waived for the next 6 months.

Here's where it gets interesting... the rep said if I give them my old DirecTV or DISH Network dish, I'll get a $50 Ameriican Express Gift Cheque and one free premium channel for 6 months(HBO, for example). What are they going to do with my old dish anyway???

I asked him if he could mail me this offer in the mail and he offered to fax it to me instead. While I waited, I called him back at the cable company to confirm that he was for real. I also got the fax with the offer details. (which is only good until 3/15)


Now the real question:

If I call DirecTV with this offer in hand, is there any chance that they'll match it?
Perhap I'll make a stronger case by simply forwarding this fax to them with a
a letter?

I don't actually expect TWO free HD DVRs, but one would be enough for me.
Or are they just gonna make me pay for it?

Thanks for any suggestions!



YES - WITH CABLE THERE IS NO UP FRONT FEE (the HD DVRs are FREE!!!)

NOW for The latest price comparison:

Comcast in my area:
No upfront cost and $19.90 per month for two HD Dvrs ($9.95 ea incls HD Service)
Cablecard $5 per month (use in your own unit including personal HD DVR)

DTV : $499 upfront to lease, $32.95 per month for two HD Dvrs ($10.99 for HD service, $4.99 lease fee ea, $5.99 dvr fee each) Cannot use cablecard or any other DVR......................................................... .....................

People - THIS IS SIMPLE MATH!

With the money you pay DTV to LEASE ONE HDTivo, you can have TWO FREE CABLE HD DVRS PAID FOR OVER TWO YEARS !!!!!! Then use the $156.60 you save per year towards BUYING your own HD DVR!!!


Spend your money wisely.......................

[hiker]

....DTV : $499 upfront to lease, $32.95 per month for two HD Dvrs ($10.99 for HD service, $4.99 lease fee ea, $5.99 dvr fee each) ...Come on, fastep, get your facts straight.
$10.99 is for optional programming tier, not a service, Comcrap has the same type tier.
$4.99 lease fee is only for 2nd, 3rd,...nth DVR, not charged for 1st.
$5.99 DVR fee is for as many DVRs as you have, not each.

[Guindalf]

Hiker, save your breath - this guy's a troll. Look at some of his other posts - just about every one is slamming D*. He needs to get a life! He's a liar and a moron - and there's proof!

Once again, please don't feed the troll!

[BanditoB]

But one thing he (fastep) mentioned indirectly is that cable is offering two, count 'em...one...two, HD DVRs. According to the leasing rules on Circuit City's website DirecTV will only allow one HD DVR to be leased during any given year. This makes no sense to me. Why would they even care what hardware I wanted to run in my home?

I'm beginning to feel the conservative, Republican influence here! ;-)

[hiker]

The limit on 1 HD DVR doesn't make sense to me either. But E* has the same limit on the new VIP622 HD DVR, I think because of limited supply. I wonder if the limit also applies to the $749 HR10 purchase?

[fastep]

Come on, fastep, get your facts straight.
$10.99 is for optional programming tier, not a service, Comcrap has the same type tier.
$4.99 lease fee is only for 2nd, 3rd,...nth DVR, not charged for 1st.
$5.99 DVR fee is for as many DVRs as you have, not each.



What do you mean "optional" ???? If you want HD - it costs $10.99 per month. According to DTV, their new pricing structure includes charging an upfront fee AND a lease fee per EACH unit. In the same call which I made yesterday, I was told that there was a dvr fee of $5.99 for each DVR. I would agree that it would make more sense to charge it as a service (like HD).

So if you did indeed lower my comparison by $5.99 \month what about the $500 to lease and $100 to install for an obsolete unit! By my calculations you are still WAY AHEAD with cable ! I noticed you left that out of your observation. (A rather LARGE ommission wouldn't you say?)

Can anyone else post their findings on NEW pricing from DTV so we can clear this up? Thank you.

[fastep]

The limit on 1 HD DVR doesn't make sense to me either. But E* has the same limit on the new VIP622 HD DVR, I think because of limited supply. I wonder if the limit also applies to the $749 HR10 purchase?


I was told the 622s are limited right now. Dish told me you can use the 622 in conjunction with their older HD DVR (not sure of model). I did read that DTV will ONLY allow ONE HD DVr per account. Surely this cannot be true. (and don't call me Shirley).

Does anyone have info on this new piece of insanity?

[hiker]

fastep, go read the lease terms here (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=107877&cm_re=submarquee-_-Upgrade+your+satellite+picture+to+hi-def-_-Details&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No#DIRECTV) (click on DIRECTV lease model link). Don't believe CSRs they don't know the facts either half the time.

[fastep]

fastep, go read the lease terms here (http://www.circuitcity.com/ccd/genericContent.do?oid=107877&cm_re=submarquee-_-Upgrade+your+satellite+picture+to+hi-def-_-Details&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&BV_UseBVCookie=No#DIRECTV) (click on DIRECTV lease model link). Don't believe CSRs they don't know the facts either half the time.


Hey it appears you may be correct!!! You may have saved everyone $5.99 per month off of my comparative totals!!!

BUT WAIT!! Of course you're saving it because you can ONLY lease ONE HDTivo per account per year. (can this really be true??????)

An EXCELLENT revelation!!!!!

Looking better for DTV every second......NOT!

[primetime73]

I pay $26.96/month for 3 HR10-250's so I have no idea where you can come up with over $30/month for 2 DVR's.

HD Service: $10.99/month - - unlimited number of TV's, i.e. you only pay it once.
DVR Service: $5.99/month - - unlimited number of DVR's, again you only pay it once.
$4.99/month x2 - - two additional receivers.

Total $26.96
and would be $21.97 for only 2 HD DVR's.

I own the equipment and can sell it anytime I want, already sold the old non DVR HD tuners I had previously for about half what I paid for them or $100/each.

Still way ahead of my local cable where there is no HD DVR available, no ESPN2 HD, no Fox HD on cable and still more expensive than D* for basic and HD services. I get all the local HD's OTA thru the HR10-250 which wouldn't be possible if I had HD via cable.

In other words cable often is a very poor comparison to D* and if you are going to quote rates for D* at least try and get them right.

[newsposter]

prime sounds like your cable sucks. My tiny local company actually provides more HD than directv including all the premium movie channels and they have an agreement with comcast for their sports stuff.

Had I not gotten my OTA in clearly, I probably would have gotten the moxi box and lived with it...well maybe

[fastep]

I pay $26.96/month for 3 HR10-250's so I have no idea where you can come up with over $30/month for 2 DVR's.

HD Service: $10.99/month - - unlimited number of TV's, i.e. you only pay it once.
DVR Service: $5.99/month - - unlimited number of DVR's, again you only pay it once.
$4.99/month x2 - - two additional receivers.

Total $26.96
and would be $21.97 for only 2 HD DVR's.

I own the equipment and can sell it anytime I want, already sold the old non DVR HD tuners I had previously for about half what I paid for them or $100/each.

Still way ahead of my local cable where there is no HD DVR available, no ESPN2 HD, no Fox HD on cable and still more expensive than D* for basic and HD services. I get all the local HD's OTA thru the HR10-250 which wouldn't be possible if I had HD via cable.

In other words cable often is a very poor comparison to D* and if you are going to quote rates for D* at least try and get them right.


Sorry to hear about another sub-par cableco. It's not so bad for you though as you already own several HDTivos and sounds like your OTA Hd is good.

For new customers with similar cable performance, there may be hope with Dish Network VIP622. It's brand new and has mpeg4 with local HD, no contract (refundable) and less expensive - worth a try before getting non-refundable HDTivo.

For all others with 'all digital' cable access - DEFINITELY the best and cheapest way to go!

[fastep]

Come on, fastep, get your facts straight.
$10.99 is for optional programming tier, not a service, Comcrap has the same type tier.
$4.99 lease fee is only for 2nd, 3rd,...nth DVR, not charged for 1st.
$5.99 DVR fee is for as many DVRs as you have, not each.



Listen. I was a dedicated DTV customers for over 8 years, spent about $130 per month for programming, bought 2 hdtivos and 2 directivos and put up with "please wait" for longer than I care to think of.

DTV has rewarded me by not updating this slow piece of crap HDTivo, and replacing it (who knows when) with an even crappier NDS interface that will be eliminating the 30 second skip. Thanks again DTV.

"Comcrap" as you call them has spent the last 10 years updating their cables and equipment and recently started broadcasting in 'all digital'. They have also signed deals with tivo and panasonic to offer their customers more choices in HD Dvrs. In addition, they offer FREE hd dvrs as well as make their system compatible with any cablecard dvr (present and future). Lastly they offered me high-speed internet and all channels including HD for $59.99 plus $9.95 (hd and dvr fee) per month for 12 months with no contract.

DTV could not counter-offer. Not even for me (and I just received my VIP customer card with a "special" toll-free number).

I realize now that "VIP" really means "sucker".

Maybe Comcast is "crap" for you but for me (and many others) they are the future of HD and HD Dvrs.

[Texceo]

so fastep you want to give or sell me your hr10-250 units since you dont need them anymore?

[Redux]

so fastep you want to give or sell me your hr10-250 units since you dont need them anymore?I sent a check to one of these blowhards (continued to post up until a week or so ago, but he was called on something else and has been silent since).

Needless to say, he renegged on our deal. My mistake for taking it seriously.

I do understand the concept of frustration and momentary venting. Good, honorable people do it. But lowlifes do it more often.

[sda3]

"Comcrap" as you call them has spent the last 10 years updating their cables and equipment and recently started broadcasting in 'all digital'. They have also signed deals with tivo and panasonic to offer their customers more choices in HD Dvrs. In addition, they offer FREE hd dvrs as well as make their system compatible with any cablecard dvr (present and future).

Where do you live that comcast has changed their network to ALL DIGITAL? In my market the first 70 channels are still analog. Unfortunatley most of those are the ones I watch the most. Elswhere in the country where people I know have comcast it is the same way. You know, it is great that Comcast signed a deal with tivo, but there are still no tivo cable DVRs, but you can still get a tivo from D*. Like all the others say, you must be smoking something because DirecTv is still cheaper monthly than cable straight up. Im glad you got a promotion from comcast, but after it is over don't whine here about your cable going well over $100 a month for what D* gives you for $75. You sure make me want to run out and lease a POS motorolla DVR, just what we all want....