Digital TV Converter Coupons Rendered Worthless By Lack Of Supply, Expiration

Another money-making scam by our "beloved" government officials. You'd think that after paying for their salaries with our hard-earned money (for those of us who weren't born with silver spoons in our mouths and/or got their current positions due to nepotism), they'd give us something for free, not a coupon with an expiration date! Cable company execs and board members are also probably leaping for joy. Will we ever get anyone in office who actually knows what it means to struggle financially, live paycheck to paycheck, live within a budget, etc.? Oh well...I'm done ranting.

Since I was too busy working overtime and not really concerned with the converter box hype, mine expired (like others who are more concerned with taking care of responsibilities and life than with watching mind-numbing tv). I guess I'll have to buy a converter box at full price in order to watch football.

Ok, now I'm done ranting

I received my $40 coupon in the mail.

When I tried to purchase a $40 converter box (free handling and shipping), I was told that the coupon did not have sufficient money.

Shouldn't my coupon have covered this cost?

Like a lot of you here, I never received my coupons. Ordered in July 2008, I checked the site on 3 occassions, and the response was that they were mailed to me. Maybe the postman is taking them. If they are marked so boldly (mentioned above), makes for an easy target.

I also filled appeals (especially since the last time I checked they were expired). Never a word from our always efficient gov'n. Those who received them, lucky folks you are. I think the rest of us will be paying a little extra.

Just thought I'd drop in my two cents worth about people who did the ordering for others, but they didn't get them. One of my co-workers ordered the coupons for his home on our shared laptop in our maintenance shop. I logged onto the government site to try to order mine, and it would not take my application. I finally went to a computer in our front offices, logged on, and it worked fine! I received my cards 3 weeks later... nearly to the day they were promised. Maybe the site only allows one order from each unique IP address? That would make since, to prevent fraud....
The WalMart and radio shack in my small town here in nort Texas were all sold out, but the Best Buy,20 miles away near Dallas had stacks of them for $49. Also, Radio Shack said I could order one, and pay in advance using my card... and I should definitely have in a week or two.
Hope this helps!

I ordered my coupons in October, received them in November. I tried to use them at several retailers, in-store (only one local store had any - for $80) and online, but they came up as invalid. I tried to call and email through the DTV website multiple times, and never got a response. This is ridiculous.

The Commerce Department says there's now a waiting list for anyone applying for federal coupons to pay for converter boxes ahead of the transition to digital television broadcasts. Those on the list may not get their voucher in time for next month's switchover. The waiting list started forming Sunday after the $1.34 billion funding limit set by Congress was met. The list already has 103,000 requests for coupons. The agency will send out coupons to those on the list only as unredeemed coupons currently in circulation expire. Meanwhile some lawmakers say more money needs to be freed up to help consumers make the transition. Those with cable or satellite TV or anyone who buys a television set with a digital tuner have nothing to worry about.

Got my two coupons but my neighbor did not--ordered at same time---
COMPUSA has stacks of converters---and the price is right---cost me 2 cents for two of them---plus coupons.

I signed up for a coupon and have been told I'm not eligible for one because my address is a business. I USED to work from home as an apartment manager, but no longer am. I've tried to explain and even had my mother try and get me one. She never received the coupon and I'm still waiting for the Gov. to answer my appeal. This is ridiculous!

stop wasting so much of the budget on advertising and use it to reissue coupons. there was only one box that could be used with a vcr (I need to record 3 program channels unattended per day) and the unit was unavailable. so the coupons expired and I can't get them reissued! what a joke! fcc martin has his head up his as$ again!

Personally I think the coupon program is a scam.
I ordered two coupons for myself and two for an elderly friend to be sent directly to him in an adjacent town and none were ever received.

Last month I ordered more to be sent to my father home and to my brother’s home and they too have also never been received.

When inquiring about the status, the first two sets they say have expired and the second two sets they say were sent.

Out of four orders to different locations, Zero was received.
That’s a scam.

Same here. By the time the stores started carrying the boxes, my "coupons" had expired.

TOTAL SCAM AND WASTE OF TIME

I can't help but think that someone is getting taxpayer money for this fiasco. We pay, then we pay. Then we pay some more, with interest.

Typical govt. program. Broken, expensive, useless.

My coupons also expired and i was told that in no uncertainty would they be replaced. I was so upset that I shredded them. My Daughter is 11 yrs old and has downs syndrome and she depends a lot on some of the educational programs that she watches and it helps her to learn to talk like Sesame Street and also she likes to watch some of the channels that shows animals and unless I can come up with a way to be able to afford a converter box or a tv that is hdtv ready she is not going to be able to watch anything. So that is why I think the government just tries to find more ways to get money out of the poor people. It is bad enough that the economy is bad and everyone that has a job is either getting laid off or hours are being lowered and now we won't be able to watch tv because the government decided to change air wave signals. Sure, just keep all the rich and famous people happy with all the money that they have and keep the poor people in recession like they want. I have appealed (which they do have an appeal button) but I don't know why they have it they don't pay attention to it anyways.

mine expired, so i got another address to grab the coupons, then i went into the store to get 2 and i ended up having to pay 50$ out of pocket... what a scam! why are they taking away my free tv? this is the reason why people do illegal things to get around this like downloading!

I found this website through the retailer list on DTV2009.gov, they offer a discount with your expired coupon, apexdigitalinc.com. You may also want to just go through and click on some of the other online retailers to see who else is accepting the expired coupons. Hopefully the government will offer extensions on the expired cards where they can be used for face value, cause I plan to hold on to mine a little longer to see.

personally i think this converter box coupon business is a big scam. first of all, if you have rabbit ears now, you will have to 1, get cable or some other "pay" service, 2, "buy" another tv set, or 3, get a discount coupon and "pay" the difference. okay so i call and appy for my coupon, i didn't qualify because my house is on a commercial street. so i use my grandmother's address and the coupon never came. then i used my father's address and the coupon never came. when you go the website to tell them you never received the coupon, all you get is caught in some loop and never get a response, and you can't reapply to the same address. so i guess i'm back to square one if i want to watch tv. what a total scam; another great government program at work.

my dad ordered 2 hd converter box coupons but thay had expired befor he got them this makes me angry what should i do is their a way of geting more or somthing like that if you have any helpful information plz contact me thanks

I have coupons that have expired as well. I read your blog to keep the expired coupons. Do you have any updates on this?

They gave broadcasters several years to switch over to digital. Whey do consumers only get a few months for the coupon program? I understand the suposed "theory" behind expirations and such, but they were only going to send a limited amount out, period. The coupons should have a validity date the extends even beyond February. I initially thought they were actually doing something nice, but now I can't help but wonder why else is behind it. Why the expiration date -- so they could use the money for something else since they new a large portion would not get used. You know they had to be aware that the product would be unavailable at those numbers. What a crock this program seems to be. Probably just something to win votes. If the democrats remove the expiration, vote democrat. If the republicans do, vote republican. I wasn't upset about it till I read this article and all the comments. And for what its worth, yes, my coupons are expired too.

we bought a new camper and it came with an antenna but no TV, so we bought a new TV capable of picking up analog as well as digital. Even though we camped in rural So. Vermont we picked up digital channels from Burlington and Plattsburg about 10 of them. The camper antenna has an amplifier so that is certainly a must. some digital channels fell out once in a while, but those that came in were remarkable!

We have an antenna at home (halfway between NYC and Albany) as we don't watch enough to justify cable expense. however as in most cases we learned long ago that a "rabbit ears" just don't do it. We use a dual VHF/UHF roof mounted antenna - the largest available - with a booster amplifier on it. I gets us about 20 channels - more than enough for the hour or so of daily TV watching.

Thus we expect to use converter boxes with the govt issued coupons, but like many I've hit the same snags in finding no stock in stores and now they expired!! I suggest everyone yell loudly at your gov't to repeal those expiration dates, it's another case the consumer be damned. and dont forget it's really your tax dollars that expire!!

John

These coupons are really a hassle and even worse for the elderly. My Mother has gone into Wal-Mart and Radio Shack and they are always out of stock. She did find some at a much higher price at another store. It is the poorer that have to purchase these convertors and this is making it even harder on them. Someone needs to relook this program.

Checking the govt websight on this I found they did have my address and I was elegible to get the coupons. However I never recieved the coupons.
I think its another corrupt defective government program that has failed, where they dont have enough money to pay for it. Pretty easy to have the coupons expire, if the user never gets them. Good way to keep from paying it out. I have seen RCA converters at Walmart and nowhere else. I have been looking for a tuner that can output High Def, as I was on the bleeding edge of LCD tv without the atsc tuner.
Those are 350 if you dont mind getting a TIVO with it.
Have been using PC USB high def tuners to record and watch dtv. Have found it to be highly unsatisfactory in a car or mobile environment.

What brand did you test? Dose anyone know which is best?

Mine never showed up in the mail, and from reading the FAQ on their site. If your coupons are lost or stolen, by law they cannot issue replacements.

How stupid is that? I don't know about how the mail is for other people, but our mail goes missing on a regular basis here.

I'm currently on disability and obviously have a limited income, and now I need to pay full price for a converter box? How lovely. This is a horribly mismanaged program!

I, like you have been searching for the converter boxes, and it seems that none of the retailers are getting them in. Fortunately for me, I have yet to request the coupons, knowing they would expire in three months time. I subscribe to neither cable or satellite, and have no desire to. I have two perfectly good televisions and have no desire nor the money to replace them. I have trouble finding salespeople who can even answer my questions about the converter boxes. Do the rabbit ears still have to be attached? Holding out, hoping that closer to the 2/2009 deadline, more boxes will be available. I have about decided it is a conspiracy by the retailers to get everyone to buy new TV's!!

There is a very good chance that if you only use it in the basement for emrgency situations, you have a small set of bunny-ears. If you are at far from the signal source, the traditional indoor atennas are worthless. I live 40+ miles from most of our major broadcasters and cannot pick up any signals with an indoor antenna. Even my outdoor antenna has limited signal strength. If you live fairly close to the source of the signal, you might want to pick up a new indoor antenna that can pick up UHF signals. This may help.