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View Full Version : Tivo with Lifetime Dies Days After Warranty: About, Retry, Fail?


Randerolf
08-06-2006, 01:19 PM
A quote from the letter that I sent Tivo:


Tuesday, August 01, 2006

To Whom it may Concern:

I am disappointed in TiVo. I purchased a refurbished unit in July of 2005 and a Lifetime Service package for $299. Almost exactly a year later, my unit does not work. Last Saturday morning, the unit became slow and then continued to reboot. I believe the hard drive has failed.

I spoke to a representative this afternoon (Case # 4956903) and she said that my warranty ended 12 days ago. I am disappointed in a product that only lasts days beyond its warranty. I’ve never had a piece of electronics die, so quickly.

Since a representative made a mistake when I bought my Tivo, I know that a one year agreement cost $155 at the time of my purchase. I got that cleared up, but I have ended up paying $144 for service which I cannot even use.

I’ve heard such great thing about Tivo, so I gave the company a chance. I loved it. I told all my friend s how great it was. I got my girlfriend to purchase one – ironically, mine died as soon as she received hers in the mail.

Paying another $149 for a replacement is unacceptable. As a college student paying my way though school, I cannot afford to buy a new TiVo every year.

I request that TiVo honor it’s warranty and/ or contact me so that we can come to some form a agreement.

I am disappointed in a company that I loved, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Randy


I'm waiting to hear their responce. I heard so many great things about TiVo, so I gave it a chance. Great product, but I'm left high and dry.

What do you think I should do? $150 seems a bit steep for me right now to replace my old unit, but I'd like to keep lifetime intact. I'm fairly good with computers and my friend knows Linux and helped me build my computer - I'm sure I could install a new hard drive. What's your advice? (Thanks I get all my tivo knowledge from here)?

xsirenonthe101x
08-06-2006, 01:22 PM
Buy a preconfigured replacement drive from PTVupgrade.com. Replacing your drive wont affect your lifetime subscription. It will cost you for the drive, but thats it.. and you can install it yourself..

cheerdude
08-06-2006, 01:38 PM
+1 or www.weaknees.com

wscannell
08-06-2006, 01:45 PM
Or you can buy a hard drive and load it yourself with Instantcake from PTVupgrade.com. Get the right version for you TiVo. A bonus is that you can have more recording space, depending on the size of the hard drive that you get.

jfh3
08-06-2006, 05:51 PM
Ditto. Don't replace the box, replace the hard drive, using either method mentioned above. Buying one from Weakness or one of the other vendors is easier, doing it yourself will be less expensive.

Actually swapping the hard drive takes 10 minutes or less.

mick66
08-06-2006, 07:10 PM
I'm sure I could install a new hard drive. What's your advice?


You need a new hard drive and you feel confident about installing it yourself.
Gee, that's a tough one.

Adam1115
08-06-2006, 08:10 PM
A quote from the letter that I sent Tivo:



I'm waiting to hear their responce. I heard so many great things about TiVo, so I gave it a chance. Great product, but I'm left high and dry.

What do you think I should do? $150 seems a bit steep for me right now to replace my old unit, but I'd like to keep lifetime intact. I'm fairly good with computers and my friend knows Linux and helped me build my computer - I'm sure I could install a new hard drive. What's your advice? (Thanks I get all my tivo knowledge from here)?

Why do you expect them to replace it when it is clearly out of warranty..?

Why do you expect nothing to break shortly after the warranty expires...??? :confused:

Your question of TiVo should be, how much can I pay you to repair my TiVo so I don't lose lifetime?

You're being unreasonable.

jfh3
08-06-2006, 09:08 PM
You need a new hard drive and you feel confident about installing it yourself.
Gee, that's a tough one.

LOL! Good one ...

jjberger2134
08-06-2006, 09:57 PM
You can replace the hard drive yourself, keep your existing subscription and increase your storage capacity. There are all sorts of upgrades available from a Do It Yourself (DIY) to actually sending your TiVo somewhere for service. Price depends on the level of assistance you receive. Of course, advice and help is always free at this forum. With that said...

I recently paid $20 for an image called instant cake from PTV upgrade. They are one of the sponsors of this website. Follow the ad link at the top of this page labeled PTV Upgrade. They are reliable and my upgrade using their CD worked out real well. Please read their terms and conditions carefully so you know what you are getting yourself into. I had a pleasant experience downloading the info, burning to a CD and then using the CD as a bootable image. My only complaint with instant cake was the image was TiVo version 5.2 or 5.3, which is fairly old now. However, after my TiVo was up and running the software was quickly updates to the current 7.2. To some, $20 is a lot of money to pay for an image that you can get free elsewhere. However, if your technical skills are somewhat lacking, the instant cake interface is pretty simple to use. There are no Linux commands that need to be entered by the user.

I also have used Weaknees (pre-imaged, plug and play drive) and was very happy. Weakness is also a sponsor of this site, and their link/ad can be found at the top of most pages in this forum. Pre-imaged drives are more money, but are truly plug and play. The companies that sell imaged drives are no bargain. You will pay a premium for having them put the image on the drive for you. I bought a weaknees (also a sponsor of this forum) pre-imaged drive about 2-3 years ago, was extremely happy with their service and professionalism, and at the time, paid $190 for a 160GB drive. I definately overpaid, now knowing what I recently did with the instant cake cd. However, for a person who does not want to get involved in the imaging process or has very little tech skills, this is a great option. The nice part is you receive a drive that is plug and play. The negative is you pay a pretty hefty premium for them to put the image on the drive. Currently, a 160GB drive is about $150 ($0.94 per GB) from weaknees. I recently bought a 250GB drive for $80 from outpost.com and paid $20 to PTV for the instant cake CD, so my total was $100 ($0.40 per GB) for a drive that is almost 60% larger.

If you want a dual drive unit, two drives will run much hotter than one so make sure that you have adequate ventilation and an additional fan (or upgraded fan) from weaknees. Also, if one drive fails you will lose both drives since they become a "married" pair.

The best advice that I can give you is to do your research, and depending on your skill level you can fix your TiVo via a free image (free tools in the upgrade center) and a small amount of money (instant cake CD) or a much larger amount of money (pre-imaged drive). Clearly, this is a situation where the more you pay the easier the upgrade becomes.