>My love affair with Tivo has hit a major problem. I woke up yesterday morning to a green screen of death on my TV. When I came home tonight, it was still up. I tried restarting it, but the green screen with the “severe error” message just came back. The damn machine says to call customer service. Better that I called the City of Sacramento to come out and recycle it. I would have probably gotten a faster response. The Tivo was a Christmas gift only three years ago and now it’s dead.
Be wary if you buy a Tivo this holiday season. I had to jump through about 50 hoops with the customer service people. OK, maybe not fifty, but I was on hold for like 30 minutes and had to talk to two different people before someone decided I wouldn’t have to pay the $150 fee for a new Tivo.
My only two options to get my “free” replacement are either to have my credit card charged $289 to ship out a “new” machine right away or to take my dead machine down to the “nearest” Fed Ex/UPS and ship it back to Tivo myself. After they receive the busted Tivo, they will ship out the replacement (i.e. a good fortnight before I get the “new” machine). Supposedly, if I choose curtain number one, Tivo will refund my $289 as soon as they receive my old box back.
Here’s a tip Tivo: Have a “protection plan” like DirecTV. The customer pays $5 a month and if the machine ever craps out, you just send them a new one. Unless of course, your machines crap out on a fairly regular basis. Then you might have to jack up that monthly fee to cover your nut. Better yet, make a decent product! A Tivo should last longer than most of my relationships.
Just to add salt to my Tivo inflicted wounds, I just saw a commercial for a Tivo package that is only $99!
P.S. How long should a Tivo or any DVR last? I mean, what is the lifetime of the machine?
>The Tivo people sound like jerks. I’m crossing my fingers for you that your love affair will be rekindled shortly.
>I got a tivo about 5 years ago from Best Buy and bought the replacement warranty. It went bad after about a year and Best Buy handed over a new one. When buying anything with a hard drive, you should definitely consider getting the extended warranty, because hard drives fail easily and often.
>I got the Tivo as a Christmas gift, so no warranty option for me.
The thing has made it back to the Tivo HQ or whatever. We’ll see how long it takes to get their remanufactured replacement.