At leat you learned a $30 lesson, not a $300 lesson
Definitely, buying a non-suscribable unit is a big problem.
- it was a rental
- it was a dishnetwork unit
- it has money owing on the account (although this often can be bypassed since it really isn't your problem)
- stolen unit
Your options with the rental are:
- return it and get your money back, helping out the person who sold it
- return it and get your money back plus "shipping and handling" for your time and effort as it will likely still be to their advantage
- send it back to Bell, helping the person who sold it
- throw it out. Taking a loss for you and likely screwing over the person who sold it.
Unfortunately, your choices are limited and the unit isn't of any real / legitimate use to you.
Other than returning the unit, contacting the seller isn't going to do anything for you as Bell will not allow them to sell (therefore not allow you to buy) a rental unit, nor will they allow you to start renting that unit. You can of course rent a new unit from them......but I doubt that's what you want to do.