Unclear instructions in equipment return kit

We're sorry to read you left us and for the inconvenience this process may have caused. Please let us help you with the receiver's return process, we'll send you a Private Message for further assistance. Santiago, DIRECTV Community Specialist

Surprised, as the HR24s haven't been returnable for years, just put them in the box and take them to the post office.  Wonder where DTV can get 500GB hard drives to refurbish them.  RID =Receiver ID number that can be viewed with the menu>Settings&Help>Settings or on the sticker attached to the HR24.

I had the same reaction when I was told that they had to be returned, @shannon02. It almost seemed motivated more by the frustration of the representative I spoke with at Retentions than any possible overarching policy to maintain large pools of reconditioned legacy equipment. I sensed some real agitation from him over the fact that I knew he'd be obligated to give me the hard sell with various justifications for continuing my service, and I'd come prepared to respond only by calmly reiterating my intention to discontinue service after each of his pitches.

One of the HR24s is itself a replacement I sourced for myself for $10 on the secondary market when a local inn decided to be an early member of the cord cutting movement and subsequently advertised their DTV gear for sale on Facebook Marketplace. I remember sharing a laugh with the DTV support agent when I called to activate it on my account after asking if they wanted the one I originally received from them sent back (it still mostly worked, but had started to glitch during rewind/fast forward operations on recorded material, from what I assume were an increasing number of bad sectors on its HDD). She said that for as long as they'd been in production, the replacement cost for new ones was likely lower than what they'd outlay in shipping costs plus parts/labor to process and rebuild it, and thus it was "my junk now." 😒

All in all, I don't mind having to send them back, I just wish that their system possessed the baseline sophistication to associate any of the kits originating from my service address with any of the equipment from my account, obviating the need to be so particular about what went where. Heck, for having gone to the trouble and expense of having custom cardboard cut and printed for the process, I'd have been thrilled simply to have the instructions printed on them be actionable as written! Originally it seemed easier to return them than chauffeur them to the county dump on one of their free electronics intake days, but perhaps I was too hasty in making that assessment... 😬

DTV replaces defective receiver for the cost of shipping $20 and surprised again that DTV activated that replacement receiver.