How can I get DirecTV to activate my TiVo?

1882 Views 12 Replies 7 Participants Last post by macizcool, Oct 14, 2007

macizcool

Discussion Starter · Oct 12, 2007

A friend of mine moved into a house and the previous owner left a DirecTV DVR R10. She gave it to me and it seems to be working. I called DirecTV about activating.

The problem we have is that we are old Primestar customers. We never got DVR in the past because they would make us switch our account to a current rate plan, which would raise our bill too much. They told us that we are not allowed to have our own equipment on the account.

However, we have "tricked" them in the past to activate our own equipment. We just tell them that it's replacement equipment. We've done this twice without any problems. The main problem the guy had when I called was that I wanted to activate used equipment and said the account would have to be changed.

So I am wondering how I can go about getting this ol' girl activated. Does anyone know if I would be able to call them up and say I have replacement equipment with this TiVo? Maybe if I could just get TV service going, and then call back later and get the TiVo service going? The guy also told me that this would require a new access card, is this true?

Sorry, I know it's a complex issue, but maybe someone here will know. Thanks!

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wedgecon

· #2 · Oct 12, 2007

You can keep trying the replacement equipment tatic. You just might get a CSR to go for it. But I do think it is going to be hard to convince someone that a DVR is a replacement for the equipment that was leased to a Primestar customer.

If I remember correctly all Primestar receivers were leased, there was no option to own so to keep your old Primestar contract you have to have a leased receiver.

To be honest I am not sure why they would not active an R10 as a leased receiver.

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JimSpence

· #3 · Oct 12, 2007

The other problem that you may run into is if that R10 has an outstanding balance against it from the previous owner.

You may have to finally bite the bullet and give up your grandfathered Primestar rate.

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Dr_Diablo

· #4 · Oct 12, 2007

Getting a access card is anther matter entirely... Without it u r dead in the water

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macizcool

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 12, 2007

wedgecon said:
You can keep trying the replacement equipment tatic. You just might get a CSR to go for it. But I do think it is going to be hard to convince someone that a DVR is a replacement for the equipment that was leased to a Primestar customer.

If I remember correctly all Primestar receivers were leased, there was no option to own so to keep your old Primestar contract you have to have a leased receiver.

To be honest I am not sure why they would not active an R10 as a leased receiver.

One reason I suspect that it may be possible is because the first time I did this, we started getting charged a DVR service fee. When we called about it, they said that the replacement receiver (which was just an older RCA receiver) was a DVR unit. We had to fight it for a while for them to realize that it was not. So if they made that mistake in the past (so easily), I don't see why it would be an issue to do it again.

JimSpence said:
The other problem that you may run into is if that R10 has an outstanding balance against it from the previous owner.

You may have to finally bite the bullet and give up your grandfathered Primestar rate.

I thought about the outstanding balance scenario. Does DirecTV do that?

As of right now, my parents are not willing to pay more. Our bill is already high, and IIRC, when we called last year about getting DVR, our bill was going to go up about $20. Right now, we pay one mirroring fee for all 4 receivers and all maintenance and service visits are included.

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bengalfreak

· #6 · Oct 13, 2007

macizcool said:
As of right now, my parents are not willing to pay more. Our bill is already high, and IIRC, when we called last year about getting DVR, our bill was going to go up about $20. Right now, we pay one mirroring fee for all 4 receivers and all maintenance and service visits are included.

OT..I would say that if you are paying one mirroring fee for all 4 receivers and it includes service calls, then you are getting a helluva deal and you should not think of your bill being high at all.

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macizcool

Discussion Starter · #7 · Oct 13, 2007

OK, so I called in to activate the unit. First I had to convince the CS rep to let me use my old access card. The rep was very friendly and setup the access card and the receiver ID. Once she had that in the system, she had to transfer my to another department... Something about verifying that the access card and the receiver were mine. I didn't really understand, but I just played along. When I got transferred, the guy kept asking me about the receiver and I said that a friend gave it to me. I didn't want to mention about it being left behind at my friend's house, but now that I think about it, "a friend gave it to me" does sound kinda fishy. Anyways, he said that the receiver was listed under collections and the guy who had it before owed money, so it cannot be activated, and immediately deactivated the card and receiver. Grrr.

I may try again in a couple weeks, and make sure I have a better story

Thanks for your help!

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stevel

· #8 · Oct 13, 2007

If the receiver has an outstanding balance, it doesn't matter what your story is.

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macizcool

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 13, 2007

Well, I kinda feel if they can do other things that don't follow policy, maybe there is a chance I can get away with this, as well. Not likely, but it's worth one more try...

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wedgecon

· #10 · Oct 13, 2007

Nobody has ever been able to activate a RID receiver like the R10 if there is a balance on it. DirecTV's system will not allow it despite what a CSR will attempt.

DirecTV also can not tell you who the previous owner was. If you know the owner and can get them to pay off your account you can get it activated.

Older non RID DirecTivo's and other receivers can be activated by getting a new access card but the newer receivers were designed to never be activated with a balance on them.

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macizcool

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 14, 2007

wedgecon said:
Nobody has ever been able to activate a RID receiver like the R10 if there is a balance on it. DirecTV's system will not allow it despite what a CSR will attempt.

Aaah... I see. Thanks for the insight.

It's a shame, really, because now, the receiver cannot be activated, so it will most likely be thrown away (recycled). Whereas, if DirecTV just activated it, they would be getting an additional $5.99/month from me and not wasting a perfectly good piece of equipment.

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Arcady

· #12 · Oct 14, 2007

You can buy a DirecTiVo on eBay for like $20.

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macizcool

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 14, 2007

I didn't see much on eBay except for some expensive new ones. I saw some new ones for good prices on Craigstlist, but to be honest, I really can't afford it right now. That's why I was really excited about this free one

Does anyone want to donate one to a broke college student?

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