Will dish activate used 921-942 off ebay

[iceshark]

I thought I read here that if I buy a used but CLEAR 921, 811 or 942 that Dish will not activate these for a different customer then original. This seems unfair. Could someone please clarify before I waste my money on Fleabay.
Thanks

 

[DVDDAD]

They will activate the receiver, but will not activate the old HD pak, unless you already had the old HD pak active. I'm not sure, however, if the new HD metal paks would be activated if this is the only HD receiver on our account.

 

[iceshark]

I did have a 921 activated for HD that I returned to Costco. I wonder if that would count. It would be useless to buy an HD receiver if one could not subscribe to HD. So in other words you are saying its a bad move to buy a used HD reciever?

Thanks.

 

[garys]

If you do have HD active on another receiver on your account, they should activate it. If you do not, they will not activate as the consider it an upgrade in service and you do not have a vip receiver capable of receiving "all" the HD channels.

 

[mike123abc]

It depends, many use the 921/942 for OTA HD recording and do not care about the HD pack at all. 99% of the HD I watch is OTA now. The HD channels are nice to surf to, but I really keep them because I subscribe to everything.

 

[iceshark]

If you do have HD active on another receiver on your account, they should activate it. If you do not, they will not activate as the consider it an upgrade in service and you do not have a vip receiver capable of receiving "all" the HD channels.

Excuse me but I have 3 satellites so I can receive all the HD content without a VIP receiver. So this is confusing?

 

[DishDave]

Excuse me but I have 3 satellites so I can receive all the HD content without a VIP receiver. So this is confusing?

No you can't all new hd programming is mpeg 4 which your receiver will not accept.

 

[iceshark]

what current HD is mpeg 4 only? Excuse me but I thought none till maybe next march when they switch over. I had Voom channels and all HD on my 921.

 

[sA :: Shaggy]

they will but only as a SD receiver. because they cannot receive mpeg4 channels. and soon they all will be mpeg4. (i got that info from the CEO office)

 

[iceshark]

Okay then, How about if I bought a NEW in box 921-942??? I see plenty of retailers clearing out stock. Does the not authorize for these except SD apply as well. That would be false advertising!

 

[Tom Bombadil]

If someone sells you a 921 or 942 and tells you that you could activate it as a new HD customer to get Dish's HD channels, then they are giving you false information.

 

[iceshark]

If someone sells you a 921 or 942 and tells you that you could activate it as a new HD customer to get Dish's HD channels, then they are giving you false information.

There are tons of dealer websites saying just that. Where are you getting your information from. If I did not mind sitting on hold for an hour I would ask a CSR at dish. This seems very odd.

 

[gbjbany]

the key to the definition is a. are you brand new, i.e you must order dish bronze silver etc. b, if you are not brand new, do you already have a dish hd package. in which case they will activate another hd receiver like the 942/921.
So you probably need to see if they are explicitly saying you can use this with the new hd metallic packages. that's the gotcha. if they are just saying use it to receive hd, they are not really lying, because of these exceptions.
When i asked an ebayer this question, they said "dont know. "

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I don't doubt that there are dozens of web pages that are advertising 942s as being Dish HD DVRs that can be used to watch HD programming.

For one thing, this change is very new. Dish just ceased activating 942s for HD programming for new HD customers on 2/1/06.

Secondly, Dish has soft-pedaled this announcement and many people are unaware of the new policy.

Thirdly, the 942 can still be activated as a 2nd HD receiver for someone who already has Dish HD programming. This confuses the situation.

Fourth, as Dish and their retailers are no longer selling the 942 as an HD receiver, they haven't had to put up pages on their own web site to explain the situation. They have decided to let purchasers assume the risk of knowing what they are buying from web resellers and ebay'ers.

If you buy a 942 from someone who claims it can be activated for HD programming and then you find out it can't, well then Dish is clean because they aren't saying that you can and you didn't buy it from them. It is between you and whomever you purchased it from.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Well, I searched Dish's site and they still have a page that states the 942 can receive HD programming with no disclaimer.

So someone who has recently been enticed to purchase a 942 might be able to build a complaint based upon info from Dish's own web pages.

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/products/receivers/hd/

 

[Tom Bombadil]

But then this page:

http://www.dishnetwork.com/content/programming/dishhd/receivers/index.shtml

States that new HD programming packages require a 211 or 622.

Thus someone with a recently purchased 942 who is not presently a Dish HD customer, would fail to meet the minimum requirements for a new HD package. And they no longer sell old HD packages.

 

[iceshark]

I just talked to a lead CSR and she told me that if you are a CURRENT dish network customer and have never had HD and purchase and HD receiver of any kind if it is clear of past due that they will still infact activate it for the OLD HD package. She said they were told they could not back in Feb but now for a LIMITED time that she does not know about the end date, you can in fact add the old HD package to a clear used HD receiver.

Sound like they got enough complaints.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

So, has anyone done it?

I've learned to never totally believe "A CSR told me" reports.

If you call 5 CSRs and get the same story 3 times, it is a good day for the CSRs.

They could activate the MPEG2 HD channels for one ... at least until they turn the MPEG2 HD channels off.

 

[Claude Greiner]

I sold a 921 on ebay in January with the disclaimer it had to be activated with HD programming before Febuary 1st.

The guys installer didn't show up, and the unit did not get active till the 1st week in Febuary.

The guy called me up wanting to return the system, till I finally called Executive offices and they added the package to the guys account

 

[ptech]

Within the last couple of weeks I have sold both 921's and an 811 on Ebay. All buyers are currently viewing their HD programming and very happy.

After reading through this thread it appears that some people are getting hung up on a few words. I'm only going to touch base on one, the word "NEW" It is true Dish wont activate any "new" HD content on the MPEG2 921 or 811 because they are in MPEG4 format (Kind of, but that's another thread) The remaining HD programming is in MPEG2 which may be "NEW" to that customer but still will be activated on those receivers as it will be in MPEG2 for a while yet.

When Dish states they wont activate any "NEW" HD programming on the old MPEG2 receivers, that's because they can't because the recently added programming is flagged MPEG4. Don't get hung up on the word "NEW"

Here is what you need to know when purchasing a unit off ebay and you may want to get it in writing.

1. Does the seller own the unit outright?

2. Is the unit free and clear of all charges owed to Dish? This is the big one!

3. Is the card included with the receiver.

To activate a receiver that was owned by another party will take about 15-30 minutes to change all the information with dish and remember, you WILL NOT get any of the "NEW" recently added HD content on these receivers but you will get all the HD programming that was in place at the beginning of this year.