Direct TV vs Dish

[Terry]

My sister used Dish for quite a few years. Her equipment was looking pretty ragged.

I talked her into switching to Direct TV so she could get 3 months free movies and new equipment.

Well after a little over a year she is having trouble with one of her tuner boxes. She says she has to reset the box to get it to work. It will work for a while and then she has to reset the box again.

Direct TV wants 75$ to come out and check it. I asked for a replacement box, but they say it is the cable and not the box and they want to make the 75$ service call.

I am thinking that she should just go back to Dish and get a new 3 month free movies and a free installation.

Thoughts?

BTW She said that Dish never wanted to charge her a service call the whole time she was with them.

[Charlie Morgan]

Go buy a cable and try it without installing it permanently. Just run it in through a window. If that doesn't fix the problem, then you have some ammunition. If it does fix it, you can first try just replacing the ends of the original cable. (most likely point of failure) If that doesn't do it, either install the test cable permanently, or pay them to do it.

CWM

[Joe]

If they say it is 'the cable' and assuming it is not their input cable, then why not simply buzz down to Radio Shack or Circuit City and get another cable to determine if that is the problem? It shouldn't cost much and it might just work. Minor corrosion can make high frequency stuff go funky. Happens more often in field prepared cabling than factory built assemblies/ If the experiment fails, then switching companies seems logical. Good luck.

Joe

[Terry]

The suggestions to temporary replace the cable might be an option. She lives in another state, but I do visit often.

The thing that makes me suspect the tuner is because, one trip there, I tried my nephew's tuner in his sister's room and it did not work.

But......I also tried the sister's tuner in his room and that didn't work either.

My sister has 3 tuners. From what I understand the receiver on the dish has ports for 2 tuners. This would mean that his box could be on a separate tuner.

If he leaves the box off for a period of time the unit starts working again. This makes me suspect the tuner the most.

Thanks

[jerryl]

I just had a similar problem with Directv. My DVR had to be rebooted at least once a week. They sent me a refurb box of which I had to pay $20 shipping and handling. I had to install the box and then get it activated. I spent over 3 hours on the phone getting this thing working. I was at the point of telling them to shove everything. We finally got that box working properly and whatever they did, knocked off one of my other boxes and that didn't work. One hour later, all was well and they graciously gave me 3 months of Showtime for my trouble. They also wanted to charge a service charge for a repairman to come out. One more incident like this and I'm going back to (choke) cable.

[Bob F]

Have her swap the two boxes. If the problem goes with the box, the box is the problem.

Bob

[hallerb]

do the box swap, then threaten cancellation.if your out of your contract period, they will be very accomodating

[J.C.]

I had Dish in my office and Direc in the house. I had such bad service from Direc that I now have Dish in both places.

[jim menning]

Swap one of your working ones with the suspect one. See if it fails in the other room also.

Promotional offers limited to "new customers only".

[Steve Barker]

I can't believe she let you talk her into changing for no reason.

[Terry]

I actually did call customer service and explain to them that she could go back to Dish to give them a chance to fix it free.

They declined.

[Terry]

I bet she is saying the same thing. :)

[hallerb]

new name, new SS number new phone number =3D new customer

[hallerb]

dish has boxes that output to 2 tvs at same time, GET A DVR! this saves the 5 buck mirror charge if you leave the receiver plugged into a phone line.

yopu can get lots more info a satellite guys, they specialize on satellite tv info, I am a poster there.

[mm]

I haven't read the whole thread, but if she has two tuners, can't she interchange them and see if the problem follows the tuner? That would usually mean it's a tuner problem. If the problem stays where it is, that means it's something else, like the cable.

Easier yet, to check the cables, interchange them at the receiver, and see if the problem follows the port or the cable/tuner.

Both tests may have to be done. The second first might be more important but the second is easier.