[mfsoa]

I'm hoping I'm wrong here and I was given misinformation by the DirecTV rep, but here goes:

I have an HD DirecTV tuner. Due to blockage from trees, I don't get the HD signals so I tried to drop the $10/month fee for the HD package.

I was told that if I did so, they would have to disconnect the whole tuner. So, if I want to continue to use the HD tuner for non-HD programming I still need to pay the $10/mo!!!   

Prior to getting the HD programming that I'm now trying to drop, the HD tuner worked just fine without the $10/mo.

I would think that the fee for HD is actually for the programming you get and not for the ability  to decode it!

I wrote them a nasty-gram, we'll see what they say.

I'm a bit too steamed now to try to call back and hope for a different rep but I guess that's what I'll have to do.

Hopefully this is a misunderstanding. All I want is to pay for what I get!

Does anyone else have an HD tuner and not pay for the HD programming? (like I used to be able to do?)

-Mike

[Bemopti123]

So you can't get cable or something from your location?  I would either get cable OR tell these people to come and CUT down the offending branches.  It is pretty much ridiculous for them to try to charge you for something that is not your problem.

Paul

[mfsoa]

Currently we aren't wired for cable on our little private road, buy the cable guy does come around every now and then to try to get the 5 houses on the road to all agree to have them hook us up. But maybe now's a good time to.

The trees are my choice - We haven't chopped 'em down yet (My 12 yr old son was pretty peeved that we were thinking of killing a living thing to get better TV reception - I have to work on his audio/videophile priorities!) but will probably at some point.

At this point I'm still hoping that this is a misunderstanding. Anyway, having the whopping 10-ish HD channels or not isn't that big a deal for now. I just don't want to pay for it if I don't want the channels!!

[bubba966]

Get 'em to come out and see that indeed, you don't get HD reception, but you want to keep your current tuner. I'm guessing that's why they didn't want to stop charging you for the HD tuner use as how do they know if you're just saying you don't have HD reception, or if you actually don't get HD reception. I'm sure they'd not be happy about not charging you for something you said you weren't using if you actually were using it.

Though that's not your case.

Just get them to send out a tech to prove you get nothing...

[Philistine]

Another option would be to threaten them with a switch to Dish Network - competition and loss of revenue stream works wonders to get attention.