Question on buying a used R10 to replace a bad one.

[ddstsm]

Hi,
I'm new to this forum, and have found it very helpful recently since my R10 crashed on me recently.
I've been a DTV customer for about 7 years. I don't remember EVER having any type of contract with them, but even if I did, I'm sure it has to be over after 7 years. A couple of years ago, I bought a Tivo R10 from Best Buy. Needless to say, I've become a Tivo addict ever since.
A couple of weeks ago, our house experienced a large power surge. My Tivo box rebooted at that time, then went downhill over the next couple of days until it finally just wouldn't even complete a bootup. Using this forum, I've found that this problem has happened to many people.
I bought a used R10 from Ebay, and am currently waiting for it to arrive. A few questions.
1. Do I have to buy a new card, or can I use my existing card?
2. Do I need to worry about any type of contract renewal if I do buy a new card?
3. About how much do new cards cost, and how quickly do they arrive?
Thanks ahead of time for any help with my questions. I would call DTV to ask the questions, but I'm pretty sure they will try to sell me a new card anyway whether I need it or not. The quicker I can get my Tivo back, the quicker I can get back to sanity. Watching Prison Break last night was agony as I had to wait through commercials, and I'm not use to that anymore. I never watch anything live anymore, just so I can breeze through the commercials by watching it later.
Thanks

[litzdog911]

1. Yes, you'll probably need a new access card. Hopefully your eBay DVR was properly deactivated by the original owner or you might have trouble activating it on your account. You should have requested the "Receiver ID Number" from the seller so you could verify its subscription status with DirecTV yourself.

2. Since it's owned equipment you should not have a contract issue.

3. ~$20. Usually arrives in 2-4 days.

[rbtravis]

1. Transfer existing card. Tell CSR your old machine died due to power surge
2. NO
3. $20.00 last time I bought one, now sent priority mail.
Good Luck :D

[CrashHD]

They should transfer your old card. If you do this with a new card, there is a high probability that the replacement receiver will get activated as a "leased" unit. If it gets activated as a leased unit, there is a high probability that you will get put on a contract. Be very specific on the phone with the CSR.

Tell the CSR you are replacing an OWNED damaged unit with an OWNED undamaged replacement unit. Tell them you want this done without a committment extension. Be very specific, and emphasize these points, as you would when speaking to a child, or a person of limited intelligence, or they will find a way to screw you up. You may have to have them transfer you to the access card department. I have heard that they are the only ones who can activated "owned" receivers.


If your original R10 did not die immediately after the surge, there is a decent chance that it has no hardware damage, and it may be correctable by installing a new software image on the hard drive. If it can be fixed, your newly purchased R10 could replace another non-dvr receiver, or it could simply be spare parts.

[mp11]

Be very specific, and emphasize these points, as you would when speaking to a child, or a person of limited intelligence

:D:D:D :up:

[WSXCVB]

I purcahsed a used R10 from eBay. I did get a new card from DTV. The DTV portion works perfect.
I apperently have an old version of software and I can NOT dial-in to TIVO to activate that function. My system info say my TIVO is active. I also have another R10 that I've had for over a year, I install a 250Gb Hdd about 4 months back, it is not connected to a phone line fulltime and works just fine. I tried to dial-in to TIVO with it this week and was unable to connect.
I am unsure if this will be a problem in the future.

[Dkerr24]

I purcahsed a used R10 from eBay. I did get a new card from DTV. The DTV portion works perfect.
I apperently have an old version of software and I can NOT dial-in to TIVO to activate that function. My system info say my TIVO is active. I also have another R10 that I've had for over a year, I install a 250Gb Hdd about 4 months back, it is not connected to a phone line fulltime and works just fine. I tried to dial-in to TIVO with it this week and was unable to connect.
I am unsure if this will be a problem in the future.

The phone calls are completely unnecessary and the unit will continue to work without issues.

[ddstsm]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I got the box today, and called DTV, and they said that because I had an equipment failure, I can reuse my old access card. HOWEVER...... when they ran the receiver ID, it turns out there an an unpaid balance on the account that the box is tied to, so until the previous owner pays that balance, the box is basically useless.
In all honesty, I think this is BS. If this guys owes them money, then they should go after him, not place a lein against a box that he sold to someone else.
Anyway, I just sent him an email notifying him of this, and asking him to please contact DTV right away and take care of the balance issue. I guess we'll see what happens.
:mad::mad::mad:

[rbtravis]

Consider taking the power supply and the drive from the box you just bought replacing them into your old box, do a clear and delete everything, and see if that works. The unpaid balance is only tied to the motherboard, not to the power supply or the hard drive. The surge may not have damaged your motherboard. When replacing the power supply,make sure the flat cable is all the way in(usually white) the same for the drive connector. don't have the power plugged in with the case open. Good Luck. :)

[ddstsm]

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to at least give the seller a chance to first cleart this up properly. I'd rather not take a chance at screwing something else up if I don't have to, but I'll keep that in mind as a back-up plan. :up:

[ddstsm]

:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Alright, this is just getting rediculous. The seller called DTV right away, and handled his outstanding balance, which was great. Today, I called DTV back, and sure enough, now they are telling me that I have to order a new card. As you know, just yesterday they told me that I didn't have to specifically because my box failed, and I wasn't just upgrading to a new box. The lady today tells me that I was given incorrect information, and that you ALWAYS have to get a new card if you are adding even a used box to your account in place of another.

I'm a Customer Service Manager myself, so I get very upset when I receive back Customer Service. I doubt anything at all will come of it, but I'll be taking my complaint further. I've been with DTV for many years. I told the lady today about this forum, and that I've heard of these things happening constantly with their service, but she didn't seem to care. I didn't even get an apology of any kind, just told that I was misinformed.

The saga continues......

[dishrich]

(unfortunately) just play CSR roulette & you'll get the CORRECT work done eventually... ;)

[rbtravis]

If you want your R10 fixed, I suggest
http://www.ccscorporation.net/dss.htm
:)
its the green thing to do. :D