Direct TV Protection Plans

The basic plan covers only the DTV service call,shipping of replacement receivers and remotes $8.99

Here is their official page detailing the options. But below is some guidance.

DIRECTV Protection Plan & Protection Premier Plan | DIRECTV

They have 3 levels: Regular, Premier, and Premier with Accidental Damage from Handling (ADH). Higher levels are some coverage for non-DirecTV equipment (such as your TV). The additional coverage is not suggested if you already have a warranty or extra coverage on those devices.

The base plan is $8.99 a month for just DirecTV equipment. It covers the cost of service calls ($99), delivery of replacement boxes ($19.95), and remotes ($15) and boasts a free equipment upgrade every 2 years. Personally, I don't find it a good value.

At $8.99 a month, that is $107.88 a year whether you use it or not. You would need a lot of problems to make it cheaper than the one-time costs in the long run. Remotes are cheaper through authorized retailers (i.e., Amazon).

If it has been over 2 years of active service since your last upgrade (adding a TV counts), and account is in good standing, then normally you would have a free upgrade anyway. And they are not launching new equipment constantly, so it is possible to go 5 years or more without there being any new lines of equipment that is actually better.

Before calling to order an upgrade, it is suggested to post the model numbers of the boxes you currently have and what you are looking to get out of an upgrade. That way you get guidance from other customers before getting one of those agents who doesn't provide the best options for your setup.

Thanks. After dialog on this forum and direct messages and phone call from technician, Direct TV decided to send out a technician to check my equipment for the couple second blackouts that seem to be happening. They of course found nothing wrong to this common problem that is being "worked on". I have the basic protection plan. Later that night I got a mysterious email from Direct TV that the technician had completed the visit and I was now signed up for the Premier protection plan at $21. We never discussed this at all. I called Direct TV to check that this was not spam as I did not even realize there was additional plans. It was not spam, they had me signed up. After 15 minutes on the phone they put it back to the original plan. I am not happy about that.  

Nothing in my inbox but a closed out conversation.

Naturally techs have the option to offer the protection plan during service calls. Either an honest mistake or tech was padding their stats for an onsite upsell. The good thing is there is a 30 day no charge/no claim period (similar to how insurance might not cover pre-existing issues), so call DirecTV and request to go back down or remove the plan completely (the latter would be my preference as is not a good value, in my opinion).

Direct TV did call me today and apologize for what they said was a system glitch that automatically upgraded my plan. They have turned it over to systems fix the glitch so it does not happen to anyone else and thanked me for bring it up.

All is well.

Thanks