I received an sms today from dstv advising me to take my smartcard and decoder for a swop before 27th June otherwise I will not be able to receive the service anymore. Considering I live hundreds of km from the nearest dstv agent, I find this to be very unreasonable since i would expect that they should give me at least a month notice even if it is by use of that messaging system they use to alert for subs renewal due date.
Anybody else received this alert?

This is almost common with all South African firms....selfish and insesitive.

I received an email as opposed to an alert. When I went with my decoder and smart-card, they said that my equipment did not need replacing. I then replied to the email (which I was told originated from SA) and informed them of what transpired while requesting them to update their list so other customers are not inconvenienced but they did not even have the courtesy to acknowledge my email.

My advice to you is, before you waste your valuable time and money travelling to their offices, call their customer care (sic) line (takes about 12 minutes to get through so be patient) and confirm whether your equipment actually needs replacing.

I got the same SMS earlier in May. After driving all the way to their offices, the only thing they did was look at the smartcard (SC) and poke the decoder before sending me off with a terse "Everything's OK".

Left me wondering exactly what they were after. Probably checking if the SC is actually paired to the correct decoder as shown in their records.

I changed mine and believe me there's no difference whatsoever.