Tivo Customer Service is terrible! - (cancel order)

[jikan11]

Ok, I know there are probably a ton of threads on the horrible service tivo has in terms of customer service, but I want to vent now so here is mine!

I will say this, I have a series 2 tivo currently, I am on my 11th month of my year commitment, I wanted to get a series 2 dual tuner Tivo to make recording shows easier for me with all the conflicting programs I like to watch.

On Friday morning I placed my order, waited and waited. Finally on Monday I received an email confirming my order, about time I thought. I called monday to see if they could tell me when the box would ship, they said it will go out tonight! I was excited, well tonight came and gone and tomorrow happened. I called Tivo back to find out if it shipped because I never got the shipping email they told me I would get. After waiting on hold an hour and a half I hung up because I had to go to an appointment. I got back, called customer service back up, waited another 30 minutes, finally got a hold of one guy and asked about the status of my order. He said "it shows that it shipped" and I asked for a tracking number, he said he doesn't see one, at that point I said I need some sort of shipment tracking information or to cancel my order. He said, I'll give you a case # and you can call back later tonight to see if it shipped yet. At that point I said, if you can't tell me the tracking info, then cancel my order now, if I Call back later I'll have to wait on hold for another 30 minutes only to find out I've been charged and it really is to late to do anything about it. He said "one moment while I process your request" and I heard on hold music once again, about 10 minutes later a woman answered and said that she was the supervisor and asked what I wanted, I said to get the tracking info or cancel my order, she said you can't cancel an order and I explained to her I wanted to see exactly where it says on my order email confirmation or on line it says that. She said go to the tivo website and search for "13-06-04", so I did and saw that it says

How can I cancel or change my order?

All orders are processed as soon as possible. We're sorry, but your order cannot be changed or canceled once it has been placed.

Well at that point I said, well that isn't exactly easy to find that now is it? And she didn't respond, so I confirmed she couldn't cancel my order and she said once again, correct. So I asked if my card had been charged yet and she said "No it hasn't" and I said "Good, because once you try to charge it, it will be reported as lost or stolen and the charge will not go through unless of course you can tell me that there is a fee for that!" She said "no there is no fee for that". So I called my bank immediatly after that, told them the scenario and they let me report the card as lost and deactivated that account number.

It's a shame, all I wanted was to cancel that order so I could go to a local store and pick up a Tivo unit so I wouldn't have to wait any longer, now because of this crummy service I am debating cancelling my current tivo at the end of this month which will thankfully be the end of my contract with them.

Like I said, the service is excellent in terms of what Tivo can do. But they fail miserably in the customer service area. I really think with them being as big as they are they need some serious improvements or else they will lose the very customers they rely on to survive.

Some may say I didn't give them enough time, but I feel like I did. I ordered Friday morning, they had all day friday, saturday, sunday and monday to get it shipped, they promised me monday it would ship. Tuesday, they told me the same thing they told me on monday. This is the SECOND TIME I had this issue with them, about 12 months between occurances!! I don't think it's to much to ask for tracking info, or if they could have told me the card was charged, the tivo was ready to go and it would be shipped that night I would have been content, but they had no clue when it would ship. And since they hadn't billed my card, I know it isn't close to shipping since they can't bill you until they have it ready to ship.

I love my Tivo, I hate the customer service.

[MickeS]

TiVo's CS sure does suck. :(

Didn't someone say it's illegal for them not to allow canceling before the order has shipped? You might want to check some of the other threads for a link to file a complaint with the FTC.

I guess I still don't understand why you had to cancel? What was so urgent about the purchase?

[jikan11]

I didn't "HAVE" to cancel, I wanted to. I am getting married soon and we are getting ready to leave for our wedding which is in another state, we are then going on a cruise, the point of the dual tuner was to record shows while we are gone so we don't miss any and can relax when we get back, spend a day or two catching up, etc. I didn't appreciate that I was lied to by customer service when they told me it would ship out Monday, that was really the main reason for wanting to cancel, they told me it would ship, it didn't. Then today they were no help and couldn't tell me when it would ship. For all I know it would show up the day after we are out of town, will be left on our door step, get stolen, etc which I know I would not be liable if it was stolen since I never signed for it, but that is more crap I would have to deal with.

I just want to call a company, get through to a person in a timely manner, get a satisfactory answer and I'm a happy person. Don't make me wait on hold over an hour, tell me then to call back later to maybe get an update on if it shipped, and refuse to offer any useful information. If they can't do that I really don't want to do business with them. I would "gulp" almost rather use my old VCR! ;)

By the way, there are MANY companies out there that have superior customer service, I'm not one of those people that are mad at every company and think every company has done wrong. This is just a terrible experience from Tivo.

[MickeS]

I just want to call a company, get through to a person in a timely manner, get a satisfactory answer and I'm a happy person. Don't make me wait on hold over an hour, tell me then to call back later to maybe get an update on if it shipped, and refuse to offer any useful information.

Yeah, I have no idea why TiVo is doing such an awful job with this. Hopefully this supposed new system they implemented (the purported reason for the shipping troubles this and last week) will help. If not, they need to get out of the business of seeling hardware...

[ZeoTiVo]

no consolation to you but last week the Series 3 fianlly was available at tivo.com. It was a hotly anticipated new product from TiVo and they were flooded with orders, had implemented a new order processing system to deal with the load and generally became two to 4 days behind in processing within an hour of starting online sales of the S3.


two weeks earlier and most likely you would have been talking about how fast they shipped it out. Unfortunately instead with the bad timing you are stuck in the middle of the S3 shipping mess. not your problem or fault just the background of what was going on.

[Rooster]

You order, 1 business day later they say it'll ship that night, the next day you call and they confirm it has shipped (all sounds kosher so far). So were you just throwing a tantrum because they didn't have your tracking number in their system yet? Sounds petty to me. Just because the CSR didn't have a tracking number handy doesn't mean that it hadn't shipped yet. It's also not that odd that they'd refuse to cancel an order after they've already shipped it to you.

I'm no TiVo appologist (I'm actually pretty dissapointed with the last update's performance issues), but I don't really see anything they did wrong here other than having a long wait time.

[rainwater]

I actually ordered another S2 DT on the same day the S3 was released. I had no problems getting order confirmation or the tracking #. The item came very quickly as well. I tend to think they used a different company to handle the S3 orders. Otherwise mine would of been affected as well.

[TiVoPhish]

Jikan,

Sounds to me like you have very unrealistic expectations. I can't say whether TiVo's CS is good or bad these days, but your issue is really a non-issue.

Standard shipping methods (Fedex, DHL, UPS) is going to ship next BUSINESS day. Not on Saturday or Sunday. You order Friday morning, it'll ship Monday. Calling Tuesday and having a temper tantrum when we're dealing with one business day sounds a little silly.

I understand if you needed it quickly, but then you should just have gone the retail route in the first place. If you were saying you called them a week later and it still hadn't shipped, and you hadn't received reasonable communications and explanations, fine. But dude, it was one day.

Me thinks your impending wedding might be stressing you out a bit ;)

[bicker]

To be fair, from my read of the OP (and of course taking into consideration that the OP is going to paint the rosiest picture of his own actions and paint the most nefarious picture of TiVo's actions), I don't see this as a good example of bad customer service.

My read is that the OP made unacceptably rash decisions and didn't do enough research before making the purchase. The "tell me what I want to know now or else" routine was very confrontational and I feel relatively unreasonable, when dealing with a small company like TiVo. Saying, specifically, "well that isn't exactly easy to find that now is it?" is unequivocally confrontation -- downright provocative. The next bit, threatening to cancel the credit card, was outrageous. Cancelling a credit card when you know that charges you did indeed authorize (though regret) are coming through should be illegal IMHO -- I see it as little different from cancelling a check that you know that the payee is going to cash.

I think customers should be held up to as high of a standard as they hold companies up to. How would you feel if a company that you called for pre-sales information pressured you to buy now or get off the telephone? How would you feel about a customer service agent being snarky with you? How would you feel if you cashed a rebate check only to have it returned for insufficient funds?

TiVo isn't perfect, but I think this thread points out just what is wrong with us, the customers, not what is wrong with them. I'm no TiVo apologist either. Check out some of the other threads and you'll see that I feel they've really messed up with the Series 3, on many levels. This, however, isn't one of them.

[leftcoastjayhawk]

Bicker, I beg to differ. (heh, heh - sorry, I could not resist...:-)

The OP clearly stated the problem was TiVos poor customer service related to their inability and unwillingingness to provide shipping information, not delivery time. Plus, TiVo hides its cancellation policy to make it even more difficult for customers to take action when TiVo's service is bad.

Frankly, I for one, applaud the OP's willingness to cancel his credit card in order to prevent TiVo from charging him for products and services they had not delivered. TiVo's cancellation policy (or lack of) is unreasonable and should not be supported.

[mick66]

Oh, your getting married. That explains everything. It's all about "venting" about the little insignificant things because you don't want to discuss the real "elephant in the room" - just keep ignoring it. You're doing a great job so far.

[pdhenry]

Not to pick sides here, but I'm glad that I'll never have business dealings with the OP.

[bicker]

The OP clearly stated the problem was TiVos poor customer service related to their inability and unwillingingness to provide shipping informationYes I know -- which I believe was an unacceptably rash action and based, at least in part, on being uninformed.

Plus, TiVo hides its cancellation policy to make it even more difficult for customers to take action when TiVo's service is bad. Oh gosh. He actually had to read something to learn about the terms and conditions of the multi-hundred dollar purchase being made. Sorry, no sympathy there. It's the same old cop-out that folks with buyer's remorse chant every time they want to shift responsibility for something onto someone else -- all because they don't want to take their responsibilities as a buyer seriously.

[Leon WIlkinson]

Oh, your getting married. That explains everything. It's all about "venting" about the little insignificant things because you don't want to discuss the real "elephant in the room" - just keep ignoring it. You're doing a great job so far.

He was going to get the DT, however the goal was to have it up and running while they are gone. If TiVo had not charged his card, most likely it has not shipped, Right? He should call TiVo if he does receive the box to workout shipping the TiVo pack.

[ufo4sale]

People who say they love TiVo and then threaten to leave when the commitment is up, is a joke. If you really like TiVo then it shouldn't matter if the CS people are bad. The TiVo service far out weights the CRAPPY cs people any day of the week.

[timckelley]

If I'm not mistaken, if you buy a DT TiVO through TiVo inc, I think they make you get a bundled deal. In light of this, especially since you already have another TiVo, I think you're better of buying thru retail and only paying $6.95 per month for the service.

[mick66]

He was going to get the DT, however the goal was to have it up and running while they are gone. If TiVo had not charged his card, most likely it has not shipped, Right? He should call TiVo if he does receive the box to workout shipping the TiVo pack.

My credit card was charged 2 days after I received my DT Tivo. Many items I purchase online don't get charged to my cc until sometime after it has shipped, usually before it arrives - but not always.

The OP got his panties on a wad over nothing.

[TivoNM]

Bicker, I beg to differ. (heh, heh - sorry, I could not resist...:-)

The OP clearly stated the problem was TiVos poor customer service related to their inability and unwillingingness to provide shipping information, not delivery time. Plus, TiVo hides its cancellation policy to make it even more difficult for customers to take action when TiVo's service is bad.

Frankly, I for one, applaud the OP's willingness to cancel his credit card in order to prevent TiVo from charging him for products and services they had not delivered. TiVo's cancellation policy (or lack of) is unreasonable and should not be supported.


Did you know that if payment is not received and a customer is within contract, their service is not cancelled within 30 days of activation (activates during shipping, at this time card is charged) account will auto cancel and that customer is sent to collections. If the customer receives the unit, cancel service, but doesn't get that box back in the stated time frame at time of cancellation, the card on file is charge the retail price of the unit. Once again, if the card can't be charged, the customer is sent to collections.

Also, which shipping option did the OP choose? If it was 1 day or even 2 day, I could understand, however, when you place an order on line it states to allow 48 hours for the order to process, plus if the OP chose ground shipping that is an additional 5-7 business days that the customer could wait to receive the order.
Don't blame tivo cs for not having the tracking number. They are not the warehouse and don't ship them out themselves. They rely on another company's system to have that info imported into their system. If they don't have access to the tracking number there is nothing the CS can do. Sounds to me like the agent told you as much as they knew, with in the time frame that you called cu, your order should've shipped. Things could've been worded differently so that the OP didn't think it absolutely without fail went out, but we are human, could've been a new agent, or could've been an agent that had been dealing with who knows how many calls asking the same thing, only about the Series 3 not the DT.

[smak]

People who say they love TiVo and then threaten to leave when the commitment is up, is a joke. If you really like TiVo then it shouldn't matter if the CS people are bad. The TiVo service far out weights the CRAPPY cs people any day of the week.

Maybe there's some mythical great PVR company that works out of the magic forest, but where exactly is a customer going to leave to that offers great customer service? Cable or Satellite?

lol

-smak-

[sdzc]

no consolation to you but last week the Series 3 fianlly was available at tivo.com. It was a hotly anticipated new product from TiVo and they were flooded with orders, had implemented a new order processing system to deal with the load and generally became two to 4 days behind in processing within an hour of starting online sales of the S3.


two weeks earlier and most likely you would have been talking about how fast they shipped it out. Unfortunately instead with the bad timing you are stuck in the middle of the S3 shipping mess. not your problem or fault just the background of what was going on.


Absolutely NOT an excuse that is feasible. Tivo should have known that they would get a heavier order volume and made plans to deal with it, by increasing the number of people handling orders and working more hours to handle the increase. This should have been transparent to their customers.

[ChuckyBox]

Let's face it, whatever you think of the OP's actions and expectations, TiVo's CS is (to be incredibly generous) spotty. And their complete inability to cancel an unshipped order (or to even know if an order has shipped or not) is absurd.

My own call to TiVo earlier this week as the Series 3 shipping debacle was winding down may serve as an illustration. (Those of you who have seen my posts know that I tend to be fairly supportive of TiVo (except the fat cats), so you know I'm not making this stuff up).

Call 1: To the number that came with my order confirmation. The woman starts looking at my order and gets confused because it seems to be two orders (see any of 500 Series 3 threads to learn why this might be). She puts me on hold to go check something. She comes back -- I can hear her, but she can't hear me. After 1.5 seconds of this, she hangs up. Okay, fine, a technical glitch. I'll call back.

[Note, however, that a good or well-trained rep would have just called me back using the number that was there, staring her in the face on my account information.]

Call 2: Same number. A different rep. Me: "I'm trying to find out the status of my order..." Her: "Sir, I do not have any information on order status." Me: "But... I just talked to someone--" Her: "Sir, they don't give us that information." And the rest of the call went just like that.

Calls 3, 4, 5, 6: Same number, spaced 1 to 20 minutes apart. Always the same woman answering, a waste of my time. Did the helpful but impatient one go on break?

Call 7: TiVo Customer Service. Work my way through the menus. Expected wait time 30-35 minutes. No thanks, I'm not going to wait that long and find out I've called the wrong number or just be hung up on by some bonehead.

Call 8: Another number from another TiVo email. "Sir, we're just the order floor. We don't have information on shipping." "Well, can you give me a number to call and find out?" "No sir, no one has that information. We send the order information to the warehouse, and they relay it to TiVo, but they won't have it for 30 days." "I find that impossible to believe. The send out shipping confirmations. Someone must have that information" Then she puts me on hold. She comes back. "No, sir, we don't have that information." "Can I speak to a supervisor please." "Um, let me see if there is one here. No, sir, she's not at her desk. But she would just tell you what I told you. Besides, another rep just told me that we got an email, and those units are now backordered." What this has to do with me, I'll never know. "Are you telling me," I say, "that there is absolutely no one I can call that will know anything about my order?" "Well, there is an escalation number..." "Yes, please give me that."

Call 9: The "escalation number" turns out to be TiVo customer service. I try a different path through the menus. Wait time: 2 minutes. I talk to a guy who knows everything. He knows my order, when it shipped, when it will be delivered, the tracking number, etc. (The only thing he didn't know was whether it would be delivered to my billing or shipping address, because some of those got swapped, don'cha know.)

So there you have it. Communication problems. Training problems. System integration problems. Who knows what else. That system will never work properly until someone grabs it by the scruff of the neck and shakes the crap out of it.

[Johncv]

Yeah, I have no idea why TiVo is doing such an awful job with this. Hopefully this supposed new system they implemented (the purported reason for the shipping troubles this and last week) will help. If not, they need to get out of the business of seeling hardware...

That the point, TiVo want to get out of the hardware business. They just want to sell the service by getting Cable Companies and other video services to provide the boxes. Cox and Comcast have already sign on to officer the service. All TiVo need is for Time-Warner and other to follow. Once enough companies provide the service where TiVo make money from the service then Tivo will no longer sell boxes.

[bicker]

So there you have it. Communication problems. Training problems. System integration problems. Who knows what else. That system will never work properly until someone grabs it by the scruff of the neck and shakes the crap out of it.Pretty much par for the course at many small companies in this country, these days. Why are you so surprised?

[ChuckyBox]

Pretty much par for the course at many small companies in this country, these days. Why are you so surprised?
I'm not in the least surprised -- people have been complaining about TiVo's customer service for as long as I've been reading this forum. What I am is annoyed, disappointed, and naively hopeful that they'll straighten the system out.

[bicker]

My point was: Why should TiVo be so radically different from the typical small business?

[MickeS]

TiVo is pretty far from the typical small business. Unless your "typical" means nationwide name recognition and national news coverage of product announcements.
The fact is that they are big enough that they should have to do something about their enormously craptastic CS system. I hope that's what they're doing now.

[bicker]

TiVo is a small business. The only thing that makes them atypical is their notoriety, but you cannot pay the bills with notoriety, you cannot staff technical support with notoriety, etc. While the notoriety helps keep promotional costs down, it has its share of down-sides as well.

The "fact" is that they're not "big enough" to have much more than what they have. Check the balance sheet.

[bicker]

I just cancelled my lifetime service transfer. The Customer Service agent could not have been more helpful, understanding, considerate or effective.

Now I'm trying to reactivate my lifetime service transfer (because somehow, everything just started working). Folks should note that if you reverse your lifetime service transfer, TiVo's records will still show that the service transfer has been "used", and therefore cannot be used again (without escalating it). They said they'll review my request later today. At this point, though, my S3 cannot even get guide data.

[Sadara]

I'm surprised you had a problem honestly. Every persons experience is different, but mine went very well. I ordered two Tivo's a little over a week ago, place the order on Friday, the order not only shipped the same time, it arrived on Monday. By the time I went to be Monday night the Tivo was setup, with one problem I didn't get the chance to look at.

Called them Tuesday to get help with the problem, was on the phone with them for 5 minutes, it was fixed, I was taken care of and on my way. I've actually been pleasantly impressed with their service.

I have another product I ordered from another company 3 weeks ago and it still hasn't arrived, I can't tell you how annoying that is!!

[bicker]

And you have digital cable?