ddillard
05-07-2007, 10:31 AM
Before I begin I want to preface this by letting all potential readers know that I am not complaining about Tivo. I am just running though a frustrating experience and am simply looking to vent a little bit and see if anyone else has experienced this issue while Tivo is working diligently to attempt to resolve it.
Last month I saw the promotion on for the free Series 2 (Single Tuner) Refurb with a one year contract. I already have three Tivo's in my home and have been raving about Tivo to my Brother and his wife for several years. Well I happened to see this deal around the time of my Sister-In-Law's birthday, and those wonderful "Great idea bells" starting going off in my head. I set the account up in her name with me as the billing party figuring I would get them on board with the first Tivo by paying the monthly service for the first year or so until they were good and addicted, and started wanting more boxes then just have them change the billing.
Well the unit arrived and they asked me to go down to their house to hook it up (about 125 miles away) since that would let me show them how to use it as well. I took a vacation day a few weeks and hit the road. When I got there I immediately took the unit out of the box and fired it up. Went through guided setup with a living room of anxious onlookers overseeing the process.
Then I hit the bad spot. After Guided setup there was no channel lineup. I went into the Channel Lineup in the settings menu and it wanted to repeat portions of guided setup as it said there was no channel lineup. So I figured ok maybe something just got buggy and I completed the second half of guided setup again. To my dismay and embarrasment the unit locked up right before going to the connection screen and had to be powered off by unplugging it.
I called Tivo Technical Support and went through several hours of troubleshooting between the different level techs, and they determined that there must be something wrong with the unit. So they apologized and sent me an email with a shipping label and instructions to complete the return. I explained to my family that the unit was malfunctioning, but not to worry Tivo was making it right and they would get a replacement soon and I would come back down and get it all set up for them.
I boxed the unit up and brought it back on with me. I dropped it off at the UPS Store on a Monday afternoon, and to my delight the my family let me know that they received the replacement on Thursday, which I have to say made a great impression on them concerning how fast Tivo responded. I told them I would have to wait for the next weekend to make it down to hook it back up for them.
Well last Friday I rearranged my schedule and hit the road once again. I fired up the replacement Tivo, and began guided setup, with an even bigger audience this time as a couple of neighbors had come over to see this technological marvel that they had heard me going on and on about for the past few years. (Did I mention that they live in a small country town, lol.) I finished guided setup and to my extreme embarrassment the unit again did not have a channel lineup.
So I called Tivo again. The first rep I talked to wanted to just replace the unit again saying that it had to be defective, but I was not ready to give up that easily this time. So once I was off the phone I got curious, and I went back through guided setup as though I were using my home cable connection and viola after guided setup all of the channels were listed perfectly. So I call Tech support back. I told the rep what I had done and he agreed that the issue could not be in the unit if that had worked. He then had me go back through guided setup and again it did not have a channel lineup. So he referred the case to a supervisor who has been working on finding a solution since then. To their credit they have kept me updated on the progress, which is basically that they are going to have to talk to engineering about the issue as they are stumped.
After the fact I tried setting up one of my units at home using their information and I did receive a channel lineup. But I did note that my unit has the 8.3 software on it and it is a 540 unit instead of a 542.
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue and if they have any possible solutions. And again I am not complaining about Tivo, as they have been very understanding and sympathetic through the whole ordeal and are trying to figure it out, and I do understand that it may take some time.
Just for informational purposes the information below is my families TV provider and Tivo Information.
Dish Network with Echostar Box
Their programming comes from the Charleston, WV Metropolitan Area
They do receive local channels and the are all between 2 and 69
I belive they have software version 7.1 on the box, although it might be 7.3 I am a little fuzzy on that since I only caught a glimpse of that information.
The box is manufactured by Tivo and the first three of the TSN is 542
Have tried guided setup both by wireless network adapter and good old fashioned telephone line.
Last month I saw the promotion on for the free Series 2 (Single Tuner) Refurb with a one year contract. I already have three Tivo's in my home and have been raving about Tivo to my Brother and his wife for several years. Well I happened to see this deal around the time of my Sister-In-Law's birthday, and those wonderful "Great idea bells" starting going off in my head. I set the account up in her name with me as the billing party figuring I would get them on board with the first Tivo by paying the monthly service for the first year or so until they were good and addicted, and started wanting more boxes then just have them change the billing.
Well the unit arrived and they asked me to go down to their house to hook it up (about 125 miles away) since that would let me show them how to use it as well. I took a vacation day a few weeks and hit the road. When I got there I immediately took the unit out of the box and fired it up. Went through guided setup with a living room of anxious onlookers overseeing the process.
Then I hit the bad spot. After Guided setup there was no channel lineup. I went into the Channel Lineup in the settings menu and it wanted to repeat portions of guided setup as it said there was no channel lineup. So I figured ok maybe something just got buggy and I completed the second half of guided setup again. To my dismay and embarrasment the unit locked up right before going to the connection screen and had to be powered off by unplugging it.
I called Tivo Technical Support and went through several hours of troubleshooting between the different level techs, and they determined that there must be something wrong with the unit. So they apologized and sent me an email with a shipping label and instructions to complete the return. I explained to my family that the unit was malfunctioning, but not to worry Tivo was making it right and they would get a replacement soon and I would come back down and get it all set up for them.
I boxed the unit up and brought it back on with me. I dropped it off at the UPS Store on a Monday afternoon, and to my delight the my family let me know that they received the replacement on Thursday, which I have to say made a great impression on them concerning how fast Tivo responded. I told them I would have to wait for the next weekend to make it down to hook it back up for them.
Well last Friday I rearranged my schedule and hit the road once again. I fired up the replacement Tivo, and began guided setup, with an even bigger audience this time as a couple of neighbors had come over to see this technological marvel that they had heard me going on and on about for the past few years. (Did I mention that they live in a small country town, lol.) I finished guided setup and to my extreme embarrassment the unit again did not have a channel lineup.
So I called Tivo again. The first rep I talked to wanted to just replace the unit again saying that it had to be defective, but I was not ready to give up that easily this time. So once I was off the phone I got curious, and I went back through guided setup as though I were using my home cable connection and viola after guided setup all of the channels were listed perfectly. So I call Tech support back. I told the rep what I had done and he agreed that the issue could not be in the unit if that had worked. He then had me go back through guided setup and again it did not have a channel lineup. So he referred the case to a supervisor who has been working on finding a solution since then. To their credit they have kept me updated on the progress, which is basically that they are going to have to talk to engineering about the issue as they are stumped.
After the fact I tried setting up one of my units at home using their information and I did receive a channel lineup. But I did note that my unit has the 8.3 software on it and it is a 540 unit instead of a 542.
I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this issue and if they have any possible solutions. And again I am not complaining about Tivo, as they have been very understanding and sympathetic through the whole ordeal and are trying to figure it out, and I do understand that it may take some time.
Just for informational purposes the information below is my families TV provider and Tivo Information.
Dish Network with Echostar Box
Their programming comes from the Charleston, WV Metropolitan Area
They do receive local channels and the are all between 2 and 69
I belive they have software version 7.1 on the box, although it might be 7.3 I am a little fuzzy on that since I only caught a glimpse of that information.
The box is manufactured by Tivo and the first three of the TSN is 542
Have tried guided setup both by wireless network adapter and good old fashioned telephone line.