New Tivo Customers Beware

[codyzumbro]

I have been a faithful TIVO customer for about 1 year this month. I loved my TIVO, but I have recently been turned off to TIVO's customer care. My TIVO broke last week, but there is more to the story:

I called tech support and after 20 min. I was told that I would have to order a new TIVO box and the price of a replacement would be $49.99! To me that did not seem right for a product that had lasted less than one year, especially when NEW customers are being offered free boxes for agreeing on a contract.

So, I called back to speak with a higher representative named Steven. I asked Steven if I could agree to a 3-year contract just like a "NEW" customer and recieve a free TIVO box. I was told no. He was quite rude.

My question: Why would a company choose new customers over a faithful customer who has always made payments on time? It seems ridiculous to give free TIVO boxes to new customers for signing a contract and make a faithful customer pay for new box even after I agreed to sign a new contract. .

So finally, I called and spoke with Alvin. He informed that he was the highest level person that a customer could speak with. He also was no help. He informed me that the only way to resolve the problem was for me to pay 49.99 for a new box. Some customer service.

IMPORTANT TO NEW CUSTOMERS: I asked Alvin how long he had worked for the company. His answer was 4 and 1/2 years. I then asked him how long each TIVO box lasts on average. He informed that while some boxes have lasted 3 years, that the average lifetime of a box is 1 and 1/2 years. SO NEW CUSTOMERS BEWARE, EACH BOX HAS AN AVERAGE LIFETIME OF 1 AND 1/2 YEARS AND AFTER 1 AND 1/2 YEARS GUESS WHAT THE REPLACEMENT COST IS FOR JUST A 40 HR. BOX? 149.99 OR FULL PRICE!


MY solution: After my one year contract is up, I will cancel my TIVO service. The cable provider in my area offers DVR capability for ~$5.00 per month and the hardware is guarnteed to be fixed for free if there are any problems. It can also record more than one program at once while watching a third program.

[Shawn95GT]

Four posts saying the same thing is hardly necessary.

[MikeMar]

let's see a 5th :)

High Five!!

http://www.duiops.net/seresvivos/galeria/osos/High%20Five!.jpg

[Shawn95GT]

Seems to be work'n his way through the forums - lol.

It sucks that this stuff happens (the problem with the Tivo), but spamming a site with an off the cuff remark from a CSR isn't particularly usefull.

Shawn

[codyzumbro]

Just wanted customers to be aware of the way I was treated. I personally hope that no one goes through the headache that I went through.

[MikeMar]

Seems to be work'n his way through the forums - lol.

It sucks that this stuff happens (the problem with the Tivo), but spamming a site with an off the cuff remark from a CSR isn't particularly usefull.

Shawn

yeah, that's why I though a giant picture was just as useful as his spamming :)

[bpurcell]

IMPORTANT TO NEW CUSTOMERS: I asked Alvin how long he had worked for the company. His answer was 4 and 1/2 years. I then asked him how long each TIVO box lasts on average. He informed that while some boxes have lasted 3 years, that the average lifetime of a box is 1 and 1/2 years. SO NEW CUSTOMERS BEWARE, EACH BOX HAS AN AVERAGE LIFETIME OF 1 AND 1/2 YEARS AND AFTER 1 AND 1/2 YEARS GUESS WHAT THE REPLACEMENT COST IS FOR JUST A 40 HR. BOX? 149.99 OR FULL PRICE!

Average lifetime of 1 1/2 years? I find that EXTREMELY unlikely. I have a feeling Alvin was pulling that number out of his butt. It's possible what he meant was the turnover rate was 1 1/2 years, which would make sense. If the breakdown timeline was an average of only 1 1/2 years, there would be mass outrage and I doubt Tivo could survive as a company if boxes routinely broke that soon.

[codyzumbro]

Does anyone have numbers that show the average lifetime of a TIVO box? Otherwise, I think made a wise decision based on the numbers I was given by TIVO's highest level of customer service. If his estimations were not correct, then maybe they should better inform their CSR's. No one in their right mind would spend $150.00 on a product that would last only 1 and 1/2 years.

[minckster]

You can get the free box today. Just buy it at the TiVo store and agree to 1, 2, or 3 years on the new box. Once your contract on the old box runs out (as you say, one more month at $12.95, presumedly), just cancel that box. You'll pay for a useless month on the old box, but that's cheaper than $50 to replace it.

Am I missing something?

[bpurcell]

No one in their right mind would spend $150.00 on a product that would last only 1 and 1/2 years.

Which is why it's so laughably untrue. If this statistic was correct, EVERYONE would know about it.

Now certainly over time the Hard Drive might need to be replaced, but not half of the boxes in 18 months. I really think he was meaning turnover rate instead of breakdown rate.

[codyzumbro]

"You can get the free box today. Just buy it at the TiVo store and agree to 1, 2, or 3 years on the new box. Once your contract on the old box runs out (as you say, one more month at $12.95, presumedly), just cancel that box. You'll pay for a useless month on the old box, but that's cheaper than $50 to replace it.

Am I missing something?"

That is too much trouble for someone to go through. Current customers should be able to that over the phone without going through the trouble of cancelling and then re-opening a new subscription. It works for the cell phone industry.

[codyzumbro]

I was also informed that with seven days left on my contract I would be charged an early cancellation fee. That is why I have to wait 7 days.

[MikeMar]

I was also informed that with seven days left on my contract I would be charged an early cancellation fee. That is why I have to wait 7 days.

that's understandable, they give you 7, the next day 8, and it's a slippery slope, that's why most if not all companies hold you to that, or else they never do.

[BLeonard]

One and a half years??

I have three Tivos, the first one bought in December of 1999 with the other two following within the next six months.

They are all still up and working fine today seven years later!

In the interest of full disclosure I should admit that I did have to replace two modems early on when affected by power surges and of course I upgraded the drives but even that was more than six years ago.

[codyzumbro]

I agreed to the contract and I'll stick to it. But once my year is up, I'm gone. It was fun while it lasted TIVO, but now I will have a cheaper alternative with more capabilities and less headache when it comes to getting some help over the phone.

[codyzumbro]

BLeonard, you should be one of TIVO's CSR's because "Alvin" straight up told me he would estimate 1 and 1/2 years.

[codyzumbro]

I have the conversation recorded, so maybe I can post a link to the mp3 version in a little while.

[ah30k]

I agreed to the contract and I'll stick to it. But once my year is up, I'm gone. It was fun while it lasted TIVO, but now I will have a cheaper alternative with more capabilities and less headache when it comes to getting some help over the phone.Why are you complaining about wasting 7 days of your contact. You make it sound like you have a lot of time left in your contract.

[ZeoTiVo]

BLeonard, you should be one of TIVO's CSR's because "Alvin" straight up told me he would estimate 1 and 1/2 years.

so get off a stupid "estimate" given to you. it is completely untrue and everyone is basically laughing at you and NOT taking you seriously. If you did have some purpose in posting this all over the place it has by now been lost. Have fun with that.

[rainwater]

so get off a stupid "estimate" given to you. it is completely untrue and everyone is basically laughing at you and NOT taking you seriously. If you did have some purpose in posting this all over the place it has by now been lost. Have fun with that.

I don't think its that far off considering a good number of TiVos are returned. It also depends on how TiVo keeps track of the stats. It could be how long people keep service on a TiVo, or it could account for how many TiVos are returned (whether for hardware problems or other reasons). However, I don't think it means that much though, because those types of stats don't really tell you how long a TiVo will actually last.

I really don't think there is a way to gauge how long a TiVo will actually last under normal circumstances, but I think most of the multiple TiVo owners on this board can attest to it being longer than what the CSR quoted (if they actually did).

[d_anders]

I have a Series 1 purchased in 2000. Never failed. Still on the original 30 hour harddrive...it's kind of a challenge now as I would like to see how long it can really last...

I have purchased 3 additional Series 2 boxes in the past 4 years (2 of them refurbs) and gave one to my sister. None of them failed. I'm not the only one.

I understand that failures occur, but I'm not the only one that has good boxes that keep running and running.

[Stu_Bee]

It's like asking how long the average lifespan of a harddrive is. (the part in the tivo that most likely will fail) Mine has failed twice...once during a move...never let someone else unbox your tivo :)

On the other hand....if your CableCompany DVR fails...do you have to pay for a replacement, or do you just take it to their office and they switch it out for you? Seems that the CableCo's would have Tivo beat on the replacement issue.

I guess it would help people if they thought of Tivo and Tivo service like a Cell phone and it's carrier plan. You own the cell phone, and if it breaks you replace it. Luckily with the Tivo, you can sometimes fix it yourself.

[TiVoStephen]

codyzumbro, I'm sorry you're upset. Please send me your contact info I'll have someone work with you to help you out.

There is absolutely no data to suggest an average TiVo DVR lasts only 1.5 years. We don't have such data, and certainly we don't train our agents to say such a thing. (I would personally say that the average DVR lasts at least 4 years given the data I've seen.) If you send me your contact info, we'll find out which agent gave you that misinformation and make sure that agent is retrained.

Best regards,
Stephen

[CrispyCritter]

The current total number of TiVos with a lifetime subscription more than 4 years old that are still calling in is 138,000 (from last quarterly report). That's over half the total number of TiVos that existed 4 years ago (from quarterly report mid 2002), and almost as many lifetime subscriptions as existed then. I think we can clearly say the year and a half figure as understood by codyzumbro is nonsense.

(Note there are certainly a fair number of TiVos who have had their lifetime transferred to a newer machine. But I wouldn't guess that that is the majority.)

[drew2k]

If you send me your contact info, we'll find out which agent gave you that misinformation and make sure that agent is retrained.This just popped some mental images into my head of a Clockwork Orange-styled "TiVo Re-education Center", with the misinformed CSR strapped to a chair, eyes propped open, watching a TiVo recording that is repeatedly instant-replaying statistics on the average life expectancy of TiVo DVRs! :eek:

[dianebrat]

This just popped some mental images into my head of a Clockwork Orange-styled "TiVo Re-education Center", with the misinformed CSR strapped to a chair, eyes propped open, watching a TiVo recording that is repeatedly instant-replaying statistics on the average life expectancy of TiVo DVRs! :eek:

and you just know the machine is making noises like a tivo...

[wmcalpin]

I’m not a TiVo expert, just got one a week ago, but I’d guess if you have a DT and you’re often recording two shows while watching one that was recorded earlier, you'll be working the HDD much harder. The stuff inside the HDD is constantly being whipped around to switch from one program to the other. If you have a ST and watch it most often when it's not recording there will be much less movement inside the drive. The room temperature, humidity, dust, etc., may be a factor also. Over time the dust puts down a thin layer of insulation causing the innards to run hotter. Lighting, power surges, frequency variations, stuff blocking the exhaust air, frequently pulling the plug, bumping it while the HDD is spinning, something stuck in the fan, etc. don’t help. Judging from the HDD activity on the DT that I have it probably won’t last a year. It’s a Seagate 320GB 7200.10 and it runs pretty warm. It wasn’t designed to be abused like this.

[LiveBlues]

I’m not a TiVo expert, just got one a week ago, but I’d guess if you have a DT and you’re often recording two shows while watching one that was recorded earlier, you'll be working the HDD much harder. The stuff inside the HDD is constantly being whipped around to switch from one program to the other. If you have a ST and watch it most often when it's not recording there will be much less movement inside the drive. The room temperature, humidity, dust, etc., may be a factor also. Over time the dust puts down a thin layer of insulation causing the innards to run hotter. Lighting, power surges, frequency variations, stuff blocking the exhaust air, frequently pulling the plug, bumping it while the HDD is spinning, something stuck in the fan, etc. don’t help. Judging from the HDD activity on the DT that I have it probably won’t last a year. It’s a Seagate 320GB 7200.10 and it runs pretty warm. It wasn’t designed to be abused like this.

Even when you are not recording anything, it is still recording for the 30 minute buffer. If your TiVo is powered on 24/7 then it is recording 24/7.

I also have a Series one that has seen over 5 years of use, and I am still on the 30g original drive. It isn't showing any signs of pending problems yet.

[wmcalpin]

If it’s working with only one program the HDD may not be moving nearly as much as when working with more than one. When working with two programs there is probably much more than twice as much movement as there is when working with one, like the 30 minute buffer, unless the drive is fragmented, because of the need to change cylinders when switching between programs.

From the way the S2DT box is made putting it on something like shag carpet might block the airflow and make it run hotter.

[chedlin]

If it’s working with only one program the HDD may not be moving nearly as much as when working with more than one. When working with two programs there is probably much more than twice as much movement as there is when working with one, like the 30 minute buffer, unless the drive is fragmented, because of the need to change cylinders when switching between programs.

From the way the S2DT box is made putting it on something like shag carpet might block the airflow and make it run hotter.

LOTS of people have been using DirecTivo units with dual tuners and had no such problems. My DirectTivos are aproximately 2 years old, but my best friend's is at least 4. My S1 lifetime is over 6.5 years, but I upgraded the HD on it and it isn't a dual tuner.

[gezzuzz]

tivo boxes are like cell phone... they cost more money to make then they are sold for... they get you in the long run.. if you cell phone breaks you normal have to buy another one.. unless you have insurance... which is extra.. some people who buy tivo boxes from places like best buy insurance for them (extended service plans).. of course this cost money.. most people rather take their chances with the hardware and keep that money in there pocket.. i say if they offered you a tivo box for $50 that fair.. sure it suck to be in that 1% of peole whos tivos crap out on them.. they can give tivo boxes a lifetime warrenty and make them a little better quality but that would jack the price up 3-4x.. makes me wonder if i call tivo and say my box broke if i can get one for $50.. i would to put one in the garage..

i picked my first phillips tivo up in 2000 or 2001 at walmart for $100 with 10 red tags on it the idea was far fetched back then .. i upgraded the hard drive and sold it for $500 a year after i got it
my sony 30 hour unit we got after that in 2002 i guess
got it for $200 and had a $100 rebate
its was defective so we sent it back
we had 2 upc code so we sent off 2 rebates
got it for FREE!!

it still runs to this day.. with out programming

we have a series 2 single tuner for a year now.. got it for like $100 with one year prepay
and we got a DT series 2 this week for $69

what i paid for all my units together i made money..

but being a tivo customer for 5-6 years now they made it all back..
and i got a great service

[wmcalpin]

No point in arguing with the facts.

Maybe they put an effort into designing it in a way that reduces wear on the HDD, reading and writing differently to minimize movement. This Seagate, with a 16MB buffer, is rattling constantly but then it didn't come with a Seagate.

[Adam1115]

I called tech support and after 20 min. I was told that I would have to order a new TIVO box and the price of a replacement would be $49.99! To me that did not seem right for a product that had lasted less than one year, especially when NEW customers are being offered free boxes for agreeing on a contract.

MY solution: After my one year contract is up, I will cancel my TIVO service. The cable provider in my area offers DVR capability for ~$5.00 per month and the hardware is guarnteed to be fixed for free if there are any problems. It can also record more than one program at once while watching a third program.

I don't get it. Your tivo contract is coming up, get a free box and agree to a contract...?

[drew2k]

Even when you are not recording anything, it is still recording for the 30 minute buffer. If your TiVo is powered on 24/7 then it is recording 24/7.I don't know if this works the same on stand-alone models, but on DirecTV models you can prevent buffering by tuning both tuners to non-existant channels, for example, channel 0 and channel 1. No buffering, so no recording.

Even if you try this on DirecTV units, though, the hard-drives are still probably spinning, as these units constantly receive guide data from the satellite stream. This means there's always bits of data being written to the drive, not to mention the daily indexing and garbage collection.

[slowburn]

Just wanted customers to be aware of the way I was treated. I personally hope that no one goes through the headache that I went through.

Im a CSR for a cell phone company and speak to so many cadyzumbro its let me speak to your Manager, I want someone above you.. Thinking they deserve speacial treatment. Its all about Me, me, me. We laugh at people like him all day at work. Products dont last forever. Stop your whinning and and get off your high horse.

I have the conversation recorded, so maybe I can post a link to the mp3 version in a little while.

Lord I wished I had a dime for all of these losers who tell me the are recording my phone call.... So Funny

[RoyK]

Im a CSR for a cell phone company and speak to so many cadyzumbro its let me speak to your Manager, I want someone above you.. Thinking they deserve speacial treatment. Its all about Me, me, me. We laugh at people like him all day at work. Products dont last forever. Stop your whinning and and get off your high horse.



Lord I wished I had a dime for all of these losers who tell me the are recording my phone call.... So Funny

Unfortunately your attitude seems to be typical among CSRs. Glad you find your vocation so amusing.

[delphinus1966]

I have three TIVOS with two of them over 5 years old and I have done nothing to them. They just keep going and going and going. One of my TIVOS is a series one Sony and it is doing just fine.

[arctanstevo]

Um,
so what's wrong with the box? Did I miss that in the thread?

[DianaMo]

My family garbage picked a series one Tivo and it still works. Wow, I miss the quality stuff my old neighbors tossed out.

OTOH, my new neighbor cat-sits for us, so I can't complain one bit.

[jfh3]

I’m not a TiVo expert, just got one a week ago, but I’d guess if you have a DT and you’re often recording two shows while watching one that was recorded earlier, you'll be working the HDD much harder. The stuff inside the HDD is constantly being whipped around to switch from one program to the other. If you have a ST and watch it most often when it's not recording there will be much less movement inside the drive. The room temperature, humidity, dust, etc., may be a factor also. Over time the dust puts down a thin layer of insulation causing the innards to run hotter. Lighting, power surges, frequency variations, stuff blocking the exhaust air, frequently pulling the plug, bumping it while the HDD is spinning, something stuck in the fan, etc. don’t help. Judging from the HDD activity on the DT that I have it probably won’t last a year. It’s a Seagate 320GB 7200.10 and it runs pretty warm. It wasn’t designed to be abused like this.

You obviously aren't a hard-drive expert either. ;)

The hard drive in a DT isn't working "harder" just because there are two program streams. The Seagate 320GB isn't a stock drive, btw.

Your point environmentals is a good one though. The best advice for maximizing the lifespan of anything with a hard drive - put it on a UPS in a well-ventilated area and keep it as dust free as possible.

[slowburn]

Unfortunately your attitude seems to be typical among CSRs. Glad you find your vocation so amusing.

When people act the way he does, youre right I will get an attitude. When people are always thinking that the CSR is lying and that they are going to get a different answer or speacial treatment by asking to speak to a manager is so crazy. Let me let you in on a little secret. When you ask to speak with a Sup or a Manager do you really think that you are transfered to one.. well guess what, youre not. You are just sent to another CSR who is pretending to be a Manager. Real Managers do not talk on the phone, the have better things to do than to listen to people cry and moan on how if they dont get this or that they are leaving and going to go to another company.
I talk to over 1500 people a week, and there is alot of good people out there. But guys like this one really cracks me up. Because Ive talk to him a thousand times and they are all the same. I would never call a company up and act the way that they do. I have a little bit more sense and respect for people than that. Just because you sign up for a service or product doesnt make you God and we dont owe you anything. We know that youre never going to be happy, and we just wait til you leave and go bother someone else at the next company you choose.

And another little secret, the customer isnt always right either.

[samo]

When people act the way he does, youre right I will get an attitude. When people are always thinking that the CSR is lying and that they are going to get a different answer or speacial treatment by asking to speak to a manager is so crazy. Let me let you in on a little secret. When you ask to speak with a Sup or a Manager do you really think that you are transfered to one.. well guess what, youre not. You are just sent to another CSR who is pretending to be a Manager. Real Managers do not talk on the phone, the have better things to do than to listen to people cry and moan on how if they dont get this or that they are leaving and going to go to another company.
I talk to over 1500 people a week, and there is alot of good people out there. But guys like this one really cracks me up. Because Ive talk to him a thousand times and they are all the same. I would never call a company up and act the way that they do. I have a little bit more sense and respect for people than that. Just because you sign up for a service or product doesnt make you God and we dont owe you anything. We know that youre never going to be happy, and we just wait til you leave and go bother someone else at the next company you choose.

And another little secret, the customer isnt always right either.
If you worked for me and I found out how you treat my customers, you would be fired before you could finish your last sentence. Along with the manager who does "not talk on the phone".

[slowburn]

If you worked for me and I found out how you treat my customers, you would be fired before you could finish your last sentence. Along with the manager who does "not talk on the phone".

Sorry to bust your bubble its not the CSR or Managers fault that Sups Or Managers dont talk to the Customer, this is Company policy. Ive work for 3 different call centers in the last 12 years and they all do this. Because they know that the people who always ask to speak to one cant be made happy. No use wasting time or money on them.

[Einselen]

Sorry to bust your bubble its not the CSR or Managers fault that Sups Or Managers dont talk to the Customer, this is Company policy. Ive work for 3 different call centers in the last 12 years and they all do this. Because they know that the people who always ask to speak to one cant be made happy. No use wasting time or money on them.

I disagree. I have asked to talk to both call center managers and even B&M managers because I know they can do more for me then the CSRs can. Also in the case of some previous Tivo CSRs due to my daily readings on here sometimes I am more informed on company policy then they might as so I ask for a Manager because they will have more time to be able to research and respond if need then the CSRs who are picking up the phone each time they hang up. Another case could be you talk to CSR get bad info come here ask about it and find out it was and call back to get up higher to a manager so they can research and find out what went wrong.

If your company has that policy I do not agree with it and I believe that is poor customer service. We all know that it is all about me and what I want. :D

[TAsunder]

How would tivo even collect such a figure? They would have to survey everyone whose tivo hasn't contacted them for x number of days and find out if it is broken or just not in use. They'd also have to verify that every tivo that failed and was included in the estimate was included due to hardware failure and not abuse/misuse/neglect.

[EchoBravo]

FWIW, I'll relay my less-than-stellar TiVo history.

Philips Series 1 .. Lasted about 2 years, then sound but no picture. Replaced with...

Series 2 .. Lasted about 1 year, then no sound and no picture. Replaced with...

Series 2 .. Have had this one about 15 months so far. If it dies soon, it will be replaced with a Cox Cable box.

I've loved TiVo since my first day with it, but I've had horrible luck with their lifespans. Add to that the (IMHO) slow & aging interface and corporate "F-you" to Mac users and I often ask why I stay.

<sigh> Then again, I've used my parents' and in-laws' satellite DVRs (non-TiVo DirecTV and Dish Network). Five minutes with those boxes and I'm craving my TiVo again.

Guess they got me.

[drew2k]

Just because you sign up for a service or product doesnt make you God and we dont owe you anything. We know that youre never going to be happy, and we just wait til you leave and go bother someone else at the next company you choose.You really don't belong in the service industry with an attitude like that. If your customer is paying for your goods and/or services, you should be treating your customers like "god" for the entire time they are on the phone with you, right up until the point one of your callers becomes verbally abusive. Only then do you have the right to be offended. Your customers are your bread and butter and help pay your paycheck, and you'd do well to remember that.

[Bighouse]

codyzumbro, I'm sorry you're upset. Please send me your contact info I'll have someone work with you to help you out..

Good on you. But, shouldn't you change your name to TivoSteevo?

[RoyK]

Ive work for 3 different call centers in the last 12 years ....

Obviously the last two didn't run a reference check. I've worked with, known, and respected many individuals in the customer service field over the years. You can't hold a candle to the worst of them.

[jfh3]

FWIW, I'll relay my less-than-stellar TiVo history.

Philips Series 1 .. Lasted about 2 years, then sound but no picture. Replaced with...

Series 2 .. Lasted about 1 year, then no sound and no picture. Replaced with...

Series 2 .. Have had this one about 15 months so far. If it dies soon, it will be replaced with a Cox Cable box.

I've loved TiVo since my first day with it, but I've had horrible luck with their lifespans. Add to that the (IMHO) slow & aging interface and corporate "F-you" to Mac users and I often ask why I stay.

<sigh> Then again, I've used my parents' and in-laws' satellite DVRs (non-TiVo DirecTV and Dish Network). Five minutes with those boxes and I'm craving my TiVo again.

Guess they got me.

Did you have your Tivo's on a UPS? If not, why not?

[Fraser+Dief]

You really don't belong in the service industry with an attitude like that.

Actually, he fits in quite nicely with the vast majority of so called customer "service" most of us ever get to talk to any more. :rolleyes:

[TAsunder]

Actually, he fits in quite nicely with the vast majority of so called customer "service" most of us ever get to talk to any more. :rolleyes:

That's not true. He didn't write his post off a cue card or with an indian accent and phrases like "As and when" or "too much of" or "Very less"

[SnakeEyes]

My S1 Philips is on it's 5th year. Cool thing is the box was free from TiVo. Thanks TiVo :)

[cwerdna]

Let's see, all the Tivos in my sig still are running on their original drives but I've added an additional drive to all but one. The oldest is the Sony SVR-2000 which has been in use since 3/1/01 (I wouldn't be surprised if the orig. 30 gig Quantum drive dies soon) and the 2nd oldest has been in use since ~4/02. None have ever have ever been sent in for repair.

It's likely the op's unit's drive died which is cheap and not that hard to replace.