Refurb HD's

[dave13077]

I ordered a refurb Tivo HD last week directly from Tivo. I also bought a brand new one from a retail store (So I could get the MSD). I went to hook both up last night and the refurb unit was DOA and the new unit works great (so far). My question is with all the reboot issues you see on the boards do we think they are just taking in the returns and just pluging them in and saying "yup powers up.... sender out". They are sending me another refrub but I am just thinking at this point I am just going to get someone elses problem.

Should I just spend the extra $50-$75 for a "new" unit or have others had good luck with the recent refurbs?

[dab9324]

I have had very good luck with refurb Tivo units. I purchased a 40 hr, and 80 hr Series 2 (single tuner) units that are still running. Both of these units are 250hr now after I upgraded.
I just purchased a Series 3 HD for Chritmas (refurb from Tivo) and it is working very well. I did get a My DVR extender with the HD unit @ Christmas but it was DOA so I had to exchange it. (I have a good one now.) I plan to upgrade the HDD in the HD unit after the Warrenty expires.
Overall I alweays recommend the reburbs to my friends. The savings on the HD unit paid for 1 year prepaid service.

[johnny99]

I bought a refurb TivoHD last year. It's been working perfectly so far.
I don't know what is the overall track record of Tivo refurbs, though.

[dbtom]

I bought one s2 refurb Tivo that was also DOA. It was dissapointing since you only needed to plug it in to figure out it was broken. Tivo replaced it quickly.

[richsadams]

I've had good luck w/TiVo refurbs...never had a bad one. I think their bench tests are just as aggressive and thorough as anyone would hope for. Only a select number of new units go through QC tests, so it would seem that the odds of getting a faulty new unit would be higher, but of course YMMV.

Now when it comes to how they are handled after they leave the warehouse...

TiVo Delivery 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgAq_KnDIPc)

TiVo Delivery 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLPxJTn34PM)

TiVo Delivery 3 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtRMO7Rdeos&feature=related)

[radioflyer410]

The Best Buy flyer has em for $199 beginning tomorrow. Only a few bucks more than refurbished and they qualify for MSD.

[egkor]

What does MSD stand for?

Thanks,
-Gary K

[egkor]

Ok, Multi Service Discount

-Gary K

[Scyber]

I have 2 refurb TiVO HDs (both from woot.com) and I have never had a problem with them. I purchased the first in March of last year and the 2nd in August.

[wireless200]

The Best Buy flyer has em for $199 beginning tomorrow. Only a few bucks more than refurbished and they qualify for MSD.

You have to buy an HDTV to get it at that price!

[radioflyer410]

You have to buy an HDTV to get it at that price!

Oh crap - well that's no fun.

[egkor]

You have to buy an HDTV to get it at that price!

I was ready to buy two TivoHDs at BB for $199 ea. Opened the flyer and saw OBTW you need to buy a HDTV too! Oh well ...

Back to the refurbs! :)

-Gary K

[orbops]

I bought a refurbished Tivo HD, and it had horrible rebooting problems. After numerous trouble tickets, they gave me a new HD unit as a replacement - but that one also kept rebooting every 2 days. 10 trouble tickets later, I threw in the towel and gave up on Tivo completely.:mad::mad::mad:

[javabird]

I bought a refurb S2DT for my mom over a year ago. It looked like new and she has never had a problem.

[wireless200]

I was ready to buy two TivoHDs at BB for $199 ea. Opened the flyer and saw OBTW you need to buy a HDTV too! Oh well ...

Back to the refurbs! :)

-Gary K

Amazon has them (new) for $230 + $13 shipping. I paid $250 incl shipping on Amazon a week ago.

I'm thinking about buying one my family and I. I bought the other one for my grandmother 'cause I didn't want her to have to mess around with the dtv decoder box and a vcr. She's liking it pretty good.

I recently dropped cable and I'm debtating whether to buy the Tivo. Don't miss cable and I'm saving a $100 a month. I don't even miss the DVR all that much but I would like to have access to more online content especially the view-instantly material on netflix. Just wish their selection was larger.

[HerronScott]

I've had good luck w/TiVo refurbs...never had a bad one. I think their bench tests are just as aggressive and thorough as anyone would hope for. Only a select number of new units go through QC tests, so it would seem that the odds of getting a faulty new unit would be higher, but of course YMMV.

Now when it comes to how they are handled after they leave the warehouse...



Unfortunately based on my brother's experience with refurbished HD's I would argue that they are not going through a very good bench test/QC. His first one had a loud buzzing in one channel and the replacement had very low volume on one tuner (although the TiVo sounds were normal so apparently a bad tuner). So far the third one is working fine although he's not installed cableCARD's yet. These were 2 very obvious defects that should have been caught assuming they didn't occur due to the shipment to him.

I had recommended the refurbished models to him to save some money and based on the good reports on them here. It was unfortunate that this was his first experience with TiVo and I would be leary now about recommending the refurbished models especially to someone new to TiVo.

Scott

[egkor]

Amazon has them (new) for $230 + $13 shipping. I paid $250 incl shipping on Amazon a week ago.


Thanks, I am going to check that out!

-Gary K

[bsl355355]

I recently purchased a Tivo HD refurb unit for $199 and have had no problems with it. The unit, remote and manual all look brand new.

[derspiess]

I've bought 3 refurbs, and all have been what I would call as-new, both in appearance and function. The only one I returned was the Series 2 single tuner, because I realized how much I needed a second tuner.

[Teeps]

I threw in the towel and gave up on Tivo completely.:mad::mad::mad:

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If the above is true; why are you wasting your time posting about it here?

[richsadams]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If the above is true; why are you wasting your time posting about it here?My WAG: The OP burned bridges when he praised TiVo over on the VHS Discussion Forum. Both members are still ticked. ;)

[joneSi]

I had one THD refurb that was a pain. It had one bad tuner, which had moving vertical lines across it. Then the replacement they sent had a bad fan which made tons of noise. I popped it open, swapped fans, and have been happily recording since.

However, I was essentially was 0 for 2 on THD refurb units. It was if nobody looked at either one for -why- it was returned.

I have also bought a s2 refurb, it is still running perfectly right now.

joneSi

[orbops]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If the above is true; why are you wasting your time posting about it here?

I'm posting because I want others to be aware that HD units have the possibility of constantly rebooting - and that customer support will let you keep replacing your Tivo for months without being able to solve the problem. Series 2 units are great, but HD seem to have a problem.

[Teeps]

I'm posting because I want others to be aware that HD units have the possibility of constantly rebooting - and that customer support will let you keep replacing your Tivo for months without being able to solve the problem. Series 2 units are great, but HD seem to have a problem.

Fair enough...

[ljcaswell]

I got a refurb unit delivered yesterday. Plugged it in and all was well. It did a service update this morning, just before my cablecard installer showed up, and then it went into a constant reboot cycle. Kinda embarrassing right in front of the TWC installer :(

I called Tivo and they are sending a new one, but now I have to schedule a new install :(