Preface: I've had a TiVos since 2001. I had a couple of original TiVo. I had two or three DirecTiVos. I had a TiVo HD. And perhaps another couple in there over the years. The point is, I'm a long time and loyal TiVo customer.
The other day my HD locked at the startup screen. Almost certainly a bad hard drive, or perhaps a bad power supply. I considered fixing it, then considered my time constraints, and decided to buy a Roamio. I figured I get the latest version and can fix my HD when I have more time.
The Roamio got here with no issue. I was first a little surprised when I went to activate it and I had a wait a few hours. I thought previous TiVo activations were immediate. But perhaps not. I wasn't in a hurry to watch TV, I just prefer to have things done. No worries.
A few hours later the TiVo was working just fine. I checked online and it said I activation was still pending. Again, no worries. I went to de-activate my old TiVO. I could not find a way to do so. I check the online help, which explains very clearly how to do so. But no, I could find it. Hmmmm....
The next day I started an online chat with TiVo. (Note that the chat instructions clearly state that you can't cancel your account via chat.) The nice person on chat would not help me. When I asked why, he told me that he can't de-activate via chat. He then told me is states this clearly. I told him it does not, and that de-activation is not the same as cancelling. He politely told me he could not help me and that I needed to call.
Now I'm annoyed. Don't tell me the chat instructions say what they don't say. I'm neither blind nor hard of reading. So I call and get a very nice woman to help me. She starting to go down her "Oh no... I'm sorry to hear you're de-activating" speech when I cut her off and told her my HD was dead.
She said "ok" and proceeded to help me. She informed me that I would be billed for the HD through the end of the month. I was calling on the 2nd of the month. She told me that's their policy. Hmmmm...
So I explained to her that I've had TiVos for 13 years. I explained that as soon as I noticed my HD was dead I immediately bought and activated a new TiVo. I explained that I had no idea when my HD died, as I haven't used it in about 2 months. It could have been dead for most of this time. No matter - I'm not asking for anything back. The unit is dead. I have a new one that's already activated.
She was completely unemphatic. She was polite, but really didn't care. When I told her this was likely going to result in me returning my Roamio, she seemed equally unconcerned.
What the heck is going in with TiVO. It's not the money that's the issue for me. It could be $2 or it could be $50. What kind of idiotic company thinks it's reasonable to charge a customer for service they can't possibly use? If I hadn't activated a new TiVo I could almost, maybe, kinda see their point. And I told her this.
The Roamio looks like a very nice device. I've enjoyed every TiVo I've ever had. I just don't think this is a company I want to do business with. I'll be exercising my 30-day return policy on the service and will return my device.
MythTV or Windows Media Center won't be a TiVO, but it'll be good enough.
The other day my HD locked at the startup screen. Almost certainly a bad hard drive, or perhaps a bad power supply. I considered fixing it, then considered my time constraints, and decided to buy a Roamio. I figured I get the latest version and can fix my HD when I have more time.
The Roamio got here with no issue. I was first a little surprised when I went to activate it and I had a wait a few hours. I thought previous TiVo activations were immediate. But perhaps not. I wasn't in a hurry to watch TV, I just prefer to have things done. No worries.
A few hours later the TiVo was working just fine. I checked online and it said I activation was still pending. Again, no worries. I went to de-activate my old TiVO. I could not find a way to do so. I check the online help, which explains very clearly how to do so. But no, I could find it. Hmmmm....
The next day I started an online chat with TiVo. (Note that the chat instructions clearly state that you can't cancel your account via chat.) The nice person on chat would not help me. When I asked why, he told me that he can't de-activate via chat. He then told me is states this clearly. I told him it does not, and that de-activation is not the same as cancelling. He politely told me he could not help me and that I needed to call.
Now I'm annoyed. Don't tell me the chat instructions say what they don't say. I'm neither blind nor hard of reading. So I call and get a very nice woman to help me. She starting to go down her "Oh no... I'm sorry to hear you're de-activating" speech when I cut her off and told her my HD was dead.
She said "ok" and proceeded to help me. She informed me that I would be billed for the HD through the end of the month. I was calling on the 2nd of the month. She told me that's their policy. Hmmmm...
So I explained to her that I've had TiVos for 13 years. I explained that as soon as I noticed my HD was dead I immediately bought and activated a new TiVo. I explained that I had no idea when my HD died, as I haven't used it in about 2 months. It could have been dead for most of this time. No matter - I'm not asking for anything back. The unit is dead. I have a new one that's already activated.
She was completely unemphatic. She was polite, but really didn't care. When I told her this was likely going to result in me returning my Roamio, she seemed equally unconcerned.
What the heck is going in with TiVO. It's not the money that's the issue for me. It could be $2 or it could be $50. What kind of idiotic company thinks it's reasonable to charge a customer for service they can't possibly use? If I hadn't activated a new TiVo I could almost, maybe, kinda see their point. And I told her this.
The Roamio looks like a very nice device. I've enjoyed every TiVo I've ever had. I just don't think this is a company I want to do business with. I'll be exercising my 30-day return policy on the service and will return my device.
MythTV or Windows Media Center won't be a TiVO, but it'll be good enough.
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