Can I Finagle with Dish Network to get a free HD receiver?

[fustercluck]

We bought a nice 50" Plasma HDTV today, Yay! Now I have to call DishNetwork and see if they will send us out an HD receiver. I want this HD DVR receiver shown here - We've been customers for 6 or 7 years, so I think it'd be nice if they sent us that receiver for pretty cheap or for free, and still have us pay the $5/$10 a month or whatever it is. I've heard Dish Network folk are pretty easy to dicker with. If I threaten to switch satellite providers do you think they'll give me the receiver at a discount or for free? Or is not even worth trying? The receiver is normally $200 from them, which wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, but I know I actually could sign up with DirectTV and get a bunch of free HD DVRs and a month of free services or something...you know, they do lots of stuff to try and woo customers who want satellite TV.

 

[AgaBoogaBoo]

Tell them you've been looking at offers from other providers and are seeing some offering a free HD DVR and wanted to know if they could match that so that you wouldn't have to mess around with changing providers, that should be all you have to say.

 

[Queasy]

Get the DISH Network customer retention number and call them directly. Or just ask to speak to customer retention when you call the customer service line.

I was able to get a HD Tivo for free by calling the DirecTV retention number a few months ago.

 

[cheesehead]

You have been reading too much Larry Niven.

I'd go with what Queasy said - scare 'em into giving you a HD Tivo.

 

[intogamer]

finagle... my bagle?

Tell them that you would like to cancel dish network first
They'll ask why... then say that direct TV is offering XXX and Dish Network isn't good enough

Don't say Comcast or something cause they'll end up telling you technical advantages instead of offers.

work your talking skillzzz

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Get the DISH Network customer retention number and call them directly. Or just ask to speak to customer retention when you call the customer service line.

I was able to get a HD Tivo for free by calling the DirecTV retention number a few months ago.

I'm not quite sure what a retention number is, sounds familiar but I don't know what it is.

 

[michaels]

My contract was up with DN and I bought an HDTV and I threatened to switch to Direct unless I got the new subscriber deal. I got a free reciever, 10 months of service for cheap, HBO and Starz free for 2 months, free install and some other stuff.

You have to act firm and ask to cancel and they will sedn you to the cancellation department where then they will put someone on the phone that will work with you.

 

[fustercluck]

I noticed at DirectTV.com they say Dish Network won't have local channels after December 1st, is this just a bunch of bull?

If it's not, I will consider switching to DirectTV.

 

[michaels]

I had the DN guys out today fixing my dish and he told me DN offers a free antenna that mounts on your dish to pick up local channels, that was news to me, I am calling later to ask about it.

 

[olds]

Originally posted by: Adaman
I noticed at DirectTV.com they say Dish Network won't have local channels after December 1st, is this just a bunch of bull?

If it's not, I will consider switching to DirectTV.

I saw this and called Dish. They say that I will still have my locals. He said that distant channels are being affected.

EDIT:
It's bull. You said local channels the link you posted says distant.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: Adaman
I noticed at DirectTV.com they say Dish Network won't have local channels after December 1st, is this just a bunch of bull?

If it's not, I will consider switching to DirectTV.

Dish Network will loose it's Distant Network feeds, not the local channels. Those are basically the national feeds of ABC and CBS. This is only an issue to those that live in rural areas where Dish doesn't supply local channels in HD, if you do get locals from dish than this doesn't apply to you.

DirecTV is just taking advantage of the situation and playing with words.

 

[fustercluck]

Alright, thanks for the info. I'm still kinda confused as to what Distant channels are. Just the opposite of local channels basically?

DirectTV is looking like a much better deal at this point, even if i were able to get the HD DVR for free from Dish.

 

[fustercluck]

DirectTV definitely looks tempting now. Only thing that's kind of a bummer is they don't offer an HD DVR now. Only an HD receiver or a Standard DVR, not both though. Still, looks like a nice deal.

 

[merlocka]

Originally posted by: Adaman
DirectTV definitely looks tempting now. Only thing that's kind of a bummer is they don't offer an HD DVR now. Only an HD receiver or a Standard DVR, not both though. Still, looks like a nice deal.

They do, and it's MPEG4, and you get local channels in HD over it. And it has an OTA antenna input.

And, I got mine for free by calling the retention number.

It would seem to be the greatest thing in the world, except the SW seems a bit buggy.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Originally posted by: Adaman
DirectTV definitely looks tempting now. Only thing that's kind of a bummer is they don't offer an HD DVR now. Only an HD receiver or a Standard DVR, not both though. Still, looks like a nice deal.

They definitely have one that does both.

I'm curious, why does DirecTV look more attractive to you than Dish? I actually just switched to Dish from DTV due to DTV's lack of HD channels.

 

[Bryophyte]

Originally posted by: Queasy
Get the DISH Network customer retention number and call them directly. Or just ask to speak to customer retention when you call the customer service line.

I was able to get a HD Tivo for free by calling the DirecTV retention number a few months ago.

Retention wouldn't play ball with us, so we jumped ship to DirecTV and get the channel lineup we want for about 30 bucks less and nicer equipment than Dish gave us. We had been customers of Dish Network for several years.

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: DeviousTrap

Originally posted by: Adaman
DirectTV definitely looks tempting now. Only thing that's kind of a bummer is they don't offer an HD DVR now. Only an HD receiver or a Standard DVR, not both though. Still, looks like a nice deal.

They definitely have one that does both.

I'm curious, why does DirecTV look more attractive to you than Dish? I actually just switched to Dish from DTV due to DTV's lack of HD channels.

They have a model that does both, but don't have any of the units apparently. You have to sign on to a waiting list if you really want one. High demand I guess.

DirectTV looks more attractive because of the offer they're doing (link on their main page), it's a very nice package that Dish will probably not compete with, since satellite companies care much more about new customers than long time existing ones. Dish would charge me an HD and DVR fee which would add another $12 per month to the bill, which is already pretty high, and I still wouldn't have an HD programming package, and I'd probably have to pay something for Dish's HD DVR, though it's pretty possible they'd give me one free if I threatened to cancel. Anyhow, It'd be real expensive. I don't have any problem with Dish's service. One thing I don't like is how at the slightest rain the signal cuts out, actually doesn't seem to happen lately though, so maybe they fixed it or something.

Anyhow, DirectTV is looking to be the best deal. I can get an HD receiver, and a Standard DVR receiver for my room. I would of course rather have the dish HD/DVR, but it's hard to beat free, plus as a mentioned our monthly Dish Network bill would be a lot higher than it would be for Direct TV, at least for the first year, which DTV gives lots of discounts on. After that it's probably back to the standard price.