Thread: Dinosaur here - I have one 2700

I have never upgraded.... I suspect I've had the same receiver for maybe 10 years... own it..suits my needs just fine

I am thinking of adding a second TV in my house...
Is the 2 TV solution the way to go?

Or should I keep my 2700 in the one room instead of getting a refurb 3100?

Should I rent or buy?

I can buy a new 2700 on eBay for a few bucks.... would I be able to add it to my account?

The 3100 has a picture of the channel you are watching while the EPG is up, which is a nice upgrade from the 2700.
Seeing as you are not under contract, you should have some leverage to try and get a "deal" from Bell, similar to what they would offer new customers...

I called. They offered nothing beyond what`s on their website. $99 for another unit.
I still don`t understand the activation after talking to bell. Will I have to subscribe, or can I add my programming to multiple receivers? is there another monthly charge?

Buy the receiver, and hook it up to another cable to the dish, call them in, and they will add the programming to the receiver. There will be no extra costs, other than the receiver, and installation charges.
I don't know if its allowed, but I wonder if you can cancel, and then have another account started in your wifes name, to take advantage of the new customer deals (I think I heard of a 2 tv solution, (2) 3100 refurb receivers, + free installation...
Hopefully a bell person will confirm whether you can cancel and start an account in your wifes name.
Good luck

Paying for one $99 receiver every ten years isn't such a hard ship is it?

-Mike

yeah... $99 is no problem, but I have never missed a monthly payment for 10+ years. I have paid about $8000 to Bell for satellite TV over that time frame....Kinda pisses me off when the deals are offered to anyone but a loyal customer....
all the guy on the phone wanted to do was sell me more programming...
by doing that, Bell has made it a game ... I want to save every nickle when they act like that...

I agree scrooloose, but think that some deals could be thrown to loyal customers as well once and a while....
The problem is, he will have to call in to threaten to cancel, before getting a deal (a retention offer)
It shouldn't have to come to that, IMHO...
I know Bell isn't the only provided that caters to new customers, but it would be nice to see these big companies giving some of the deals to loyal customers too once and a while

Unfortunately for some reason the front line of CSR's are not trained to appreciate your loyalty. They are trained more to sell rather than service. You have to dig a little deeper into their ranks to find the department that will appreciate you. Bell will reward only if your are demanding.
Thousands get deals every day why not hystat.

Read my posts on the retention thread. My friend also has 2700 (more than 1 though) since 2000, and he couldn't get a good retention deal despite calling them a few times (to the Chinese speaking team though). He's decided to cancel afterall. Not everyone gets the retention deals, and I'm still unsure why some are given good deals and some are not. (My friend will get 2 months of monthly fee credited if he buys an HD receiver from retail, that's it).

Just cancel, and use another person to activate as new customer. There is nothing that they can do about it. (as a matter of fact, it is suggested by one rep talking to my friend on the phone).

It is also my experience that following the menu option for what you actually need done will patch you to someone in India who's sometimes hard to understand and only wants to sell you more programming than you need. I solved that problem a while back by taking most of the commonly offered channels anyway (when I dropped Rogers as my English channel provider late last year) because TV is my vice, but to get offers you really do need to get a Canadian call center. The only fool proof way to do that is select the "Cancel your service" menu option. You don't even really need to want to cancel your service, but it's also kind of their customer loyalty line where you can bring things up like "I'm a ten year customer" and they will look and say, "Wow, you have spent a fortune over the years, how about free rental on a something-or-other receiver for 6 months or a year". A while ago, i called in this way to upgrade my PVR. They upgraded my 5900 to a 9242 with the first 3 months rental free, and I've only been with them for three years. (the first two of which was on a small french package because I also had Rogers at the time)

It's a shame that good loyal customers have to go about getting what they'd like in a way that seems like trying to cheat the system, but the switchboard for almost every menu option (unless you pick french which i don't usually but technically could) sends you to a "big seller" in India even if all you want is to pay your bill.