Questions about DirecTV and Receivers

Archived from groups: alt.satellite.tv,alt.dbs.directv (More info?)

"Julie P." <jporpiglia@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:G9edndy9hMrhyoneRVn-vw@comcast.com...
>I am thinking of signing up for DirectTV. You are allowed to get up to four
>receivers free, with free installation, for new customers only. As long as
>you activate all four within 30 days, you are fine and won't be charged a
>penalty. Then you can cancel up to three of them the next month, should you
>decide to have DirecTV connected to only one TV, and there is no penalty,
>and the extra receivers are yours to keep
>
> So I am thinking it would be better to get the four free receivers now,
> while I can, as a new customer, even though I have only two TV's. I would
> activate all four. I could always cancel the two extra receivers after the
> Does this make sense?

I didn't work through all the logistics of what you said, but here's
something else to consider. In my experience, and what I've run across in
research, you really don't need to "game" DirecTV this way. To keep
customers they're very liberal in equipment issues. Calls to the customer
retention department will usually either get the customer what they want or
a reasonable compromise.

Example...I had DirecTV installed recently. At the time they were running a
free install promotion and I had selected a DirecTV Tivo and 1 other plain
receiver when I placed my initial order. This would have cost me about $100,
and would have come with a $50 rebate. Essentially all I was paying for was
the Tivo. After placing the order, I thought more about it and decided I
rather have 2 Tivos instead of the 1-and-1 setup that I ordered. I called
DirecTV. They changed my order to 2 Tivos and waived the fee on the 2nd
unit. (They gave me a free Tivo.)

I didn't have to beg or cajole or anything. I just inquired what my options
were (I was prepared to pay, if necessary) and they simply said "no problem,
we'll send it out without charge."

I think that in the future if you need additional receivers, you'll find
them very easy to deal with.

The one thing that I add to this, though, is about the wiring with the
installation. If you're going to order 4 units in order to get 4 rooms
wired, then that might be worth it to have the infrastructure in place. If
it's just to get the free receivers, I wouldn't bother. By whatever future
date came around when you'd want to use them, it's likely there'd be better
technology out that you could get for free anyhow.

As a good example of this, right now DirecTV is running a promotion where
you buy a DirecTV Tivo (about $100) and it comes with a $100 rebate. Even
for existing customers.

Tony