I am so mad at TiVo for the green screen of death...

[ivorycassiopeia]

:mad: I am an avid TiVo fan – I purchased my first TiVo unit in 2003. I loved TiVo so much, I decided to purchase a Series 3 HD unit in 2007 (and transfer my lifetime TiVo subscription from an older unit).

I have taken great care of my TiVo units and have used them consistently for the past six years. This morning, while trying to access my Netflix instant queue, my TiVo Series 3 HD unit displayed a bright green screen which read: "The DVR has detected a serious problem and is now attempting to fix it. This will take about three hours. PLEASE DO NOT UNPLUG OR RESTART THE DVR! If, after three hours, the DVR does not restart, please call Customer Support.”

After anxiously waiting the full three hours, I called TiVo customer service. After attempting a pause/58 trick suggested by the support person, he told me if the unit could not fix itself, I would have a few options. He proceeded to inform me I could exchange my 2 year old unit (which I paid $800 for two years ago, plus the lifetime transfer fee of $199) – for $150 plus $199 lifetime transfer fee, or I could get $100 off a new unit – plus the $199 lifetime transfer fee. The only other option would be to replace the hard drive.

So now you want me to pay another $350+ because of a faulty unit your company sold to me? This is highway robbery. I have been a huge supporter of/cheerleader for TiVo over the past 6 years – telling everyone that TiVo is the best. I am extremely disappointed in this thievery by a company I held so high in esteem.

From reading posts on message boards, it seems a lot of TiVo customers near the 2-year mark have units that are failing. This does not seem like a coincidence to me.
I am going to leave my DVR plugged in overnight, and pray I don’t have to shell out $350+ for something I have enjoyed for less than 3 years. I have read TiVo is saying their product is supposed to last 6 years, but they are dying after 2. A failure of internal components is NOT a manufacturing defect for which they are responsible, but a defect which I have to pay to fix.

While TiVo is a wonderful service, the recorders are obviously faulty. A design flaw which causes many of them to fail after two years (with an expected product life of 6) seems fairly common. There is no question that this is a design flaw -- these failures are, by TiVo's own admission, not generally the fault of the owner because of misuse, but rather a failure that could not have been avoided. In another industry, this might warrant a product recall (Apple, for instance, has recalled several faulty power adaptors, etc.). Instead, TiVo is asking us, as consumers, to pay for this design flaw.

I will obviously pay for a new hard drive, since that is clearly the cheapest route – and there is no way I’m paying to transfer my lifetime service AGAIN. I'm attached to my TiVo and its service, and it has great value to me. That value cannot, to my knowledge, be duplicated by any other product or service to the quality level I have found at TiVo. So, reluctantly, I will pay. However, I should not have to, nor should anyone else. To that end, I'm sending this complaint not only to your corporate offices, but also to Complaints.com, CNN, The NY Times, and Newsday. In addition, I'll be posting it on Epinions.com, the TiVo support board, and on my blog. With luck, getting the word out will help to change this corrupt policy. :mad:

[darksurtur]

I’m not sure exactly what you want here. TiVo is pretty clear about its warranty period - a year - and you are pretty clearly out of it. It’s not like they are reneging on some sort of contract they made with you. The fact is that some percent of electronic components will fail, whether before or after a warranty ends. If it happens to you after the warranty period ends, it’s just bad luck; it eventually happens to everyone (including me, on an expensive laptop). I know it sucks.

Luckily, you have a very decent option here, unlike me and my defective laptop. Swap in a new hard drive. If you do it yourself, you can put in a new 1 TB hard drive for $100 or so + software costs + the cost of a screwdriver and a cable. You end up with a TiVo with 4x the capacity for a reasonable price.

By the way, reading posts on message boards about people griping about failures at the two-year mark doesn’t really mean anything, since you don’t know when people actually bought their units, how they used them, what percentage of overall users they are, or even if they are or are not all the same person. TiVo is not selling a defective product – in the end, that would bankrupt them, because it’s a horrible business strategy to annoy your customers. It's just that happy people usually don't sign up to post that on message boards.

[ivorycassiopeia]

I’m not sure exactly what you want here. TiVo is pretty clear about its warranty period - a year - and you are pretty clearly out of it. It’s not like they are reneging on some sort of contract they made with you. The fact is that some percent of electronic components will fail, whether before or after a warranty ends. If it happens to you after the warranty period ends, it’s just bad luck; it eventually happens to everyone (including me, on an expensive laptop). I know it sucks.

Luckily, you have a very decent option here, unlike me and my defective laptop. Swap in a new hard drive. If you do it yourself, you can put in a new 1 TB hard drive for $100 or so + software costs + the cost of a screwdriver and a cable. You end up with a TiVo with 4x the capacity for a reasonable price.

By the way, reading posts on message boards about people griping about failures at the two-year mark doesn’t really mean anything, since you don’t know when people actually bought their units, how they used them, what percentage of overall users they are, or even if they are or are not all the same person. TiVo is not selling a defective product – in the end, that would bankrupt them, because it’s a horrible business strategy to annoy your customers. It's just that happy people usually don't sign up to post that on message boards.

I'm not really sure why you are taking my venting so personally, and I don't know what money hill you're sitting on - but I work full-time, and live paycheck to paycheck. Saving up $1,000 is difficult, and I would expect a glorified cable box to last more than 2 years for $1,000.

Of course I knew there was no guarantee or lifetime warranty when I purchased my TiVo, I'm not stupid. That doesn't make this any less frustrating. Now all of my recordings are lost, and I have no access to cable. I also don't have $350+ in my back pocket to spend on getting this back up and running.

TiVo should stand by their $1,000 products when they die this soon - and they should give their loyal customers a break...like, waiving the lifetime transfer fee?

[drey]

I'm with darksurtur, what do you want us to do?

TiVo stands by their products with 1 year warranty. If unit dies after warranty expires, it happens.

I sell TiVo Series 3 upgrade drives, please PM me if you need one. I can also get you an original replacement drive very cheap if you'd like to get that instead.

Think about it this way. You buy a car with 100,000 miles warranty. Once you hit 110k and your transmission dies, what can you do? Repair the car or donate it. I'd say repairing and driving it afterwards will be a good decision.

[magnus]

Did it occur to the OP that they should have purchased an extended warranty? I did on one of my Tivos and we'll see if it pays off or not $50 for 5 years ain't bad.

[chetk]

Ivory just go out and buy an 1tb harddrive and get the image from mfslive.org. See if that fix your problem and you will still have your lifetime sub.

[richsadams]

See my response to your cross-post here (http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=7377414#post7377414).

[ZeoTiVo]

To that end, I'm sending this complaint not only to your corporate offices, but also to Complaints.com, CNN, The NY Times, and Newsday. In addition, I'll be posting it on Epinions.com, the TiVo support board, and on my blog. With luck, getting the word out will help to change this corrupt policy. :mad:
I'm not really sure why you are taking my venting so personally,
Not personally upset but cross posting a bunch of stuff about some corrupt policy of knowingly letting DVRs fail at 2 years is an insult to our intelligence. We all know you hard drive failed and that hard drives do that and there is nothing a PC maker or TiVo can do about your getting the bad luck of the draw. So just replace the hard drive and spare us the drama.

[Mikeyis4dcats]

I can't think of a single consumer electronic device with more than a year long warranty. Most are much less in fact.

And most manufacturers aren't going to sell you a discounted replacement.

[JohnBrowning]

Hard drives wear out. They are easy to change.

[Dan203]

I remember reading a least a couple of posts where people have claimed to remove the drive from the TiVo and then RMA it to the drive manufacturer. However YMMV and even if you do get a new drive it will be blank, which means you'll have hunt down a S3 disk image or pay for something like Instant Cake to make it work in your TiVo. Both of which require a certain level of PC know how to accomplish.

An easier, albeit more expensive, option is to simply buy a replacement drive from someone like DVRUpgrade or Weaknees. If you don't want to upgrade you could contact them via email and see if they have an OEM replacement hard drive for sale. They purchase new TiVos, remove the original hard drives and replace them with larger drives so they can sell complete upgraded systems. So they sometimes have those original drives sitting around and are willing to sell them. (I bought one like this once)

Dan

[bluelinex]

If TIVO had a backup service you could put in the new drive from DVR Upgrade or Weeknees. Then download all of your recording & settings & be up & running the same day & you would not have to pay the cable guy to reset the cable cards.Your lifetime service would still be intact. I would pay extra for that.

[aaronwt]

Then they would be condoning replacing the hard drive and they would be respoonsible if something goes wrong. Right now if you open up the TiVo your warranty is voided.

[JFKLS1]

To everyone, I agree with the OP, but am not completely angry about it. My S3 did the exact same thing. I bought a new HD, and Instant Caked it with no problem. The Tivo hung as before, same spot. It was not the HD, but the box. It sucks because the Tivo was $800, and now I have to shell out another $200 for another. I do realize things fail, so I am hoping for better luck with the next.....

[robertgp124]

An easier, albeit more expensive, option is to simply buy a replacement drive from someone like DVRUpgrade or Weaknees. If you don't want to upgrade you could contact them via email and see if they have an OEM replacement hard drive for sale. They purchase new TiVos, remove the original hard drives and replace them with larger drives so they can sell complete upgraded systems. So they sometimes have those original drives sitting around and are willing to sell them. (I bought one like this once)

Dan

I'm with Dan. I had a 3-4 year old Series 2. When we moved, I forgot to plug it in to the UPS (dumb). The new house seems to attract power problems. After a thunderstorm, my Series 2 died. Called Weaknees and had a new drive out in a few days. It took me about a half hour to replace the drive. It's easy - albeit a bit pricier than some of the other suggestions, but certainly not unreasonable.

Check it out.

[CrashHD]

I work full-time, and live paycheck to paycheck. Saving up $1,000 is difficult

If you're spending $1000 on a piece of consumer electronics which you can live without, I suspect I know why you are living paycheck to paycheck.

Of course I knew there was no guarantee or lifetime warranty when I purchased my TiVo,

but somehow you don't know it now? Forgetful is you?

I'm not stupid.
Really? Do you have a backup of your tivo? It's basically a computer, and we all know to backup our computers, right? 'Cuz we're not stupid.

TiVo should stand by their $1,000 products when they die this soon - and they should give their loyal customers a break...like, waiving the lifetime transfer fee?

Your hard drive died. It happens. Get over it. Fork out about $60 for a new drive, $20 for instantcake (unless you were smart enough to make a backup), deal with it, then shut up and quit bitchign like a crybaby.

[Sy-]

OK I'll give you $100 for your busted Series 3 :)

[stahta01]

For windows only type people with two or more external USB drive cases.
I recommend using WinMFS from http://www.mfslive.org/winmfs/ to backup the TiVo drives.

Note, requires Computer Hardware knowledge of how to remove and install harddrives.

I finally upgraded my Series 2 to 500GB drive (from 40GB).

Tim S

[greg_burns]

I remember reading a least a couple of posts where people have claimed to remove the drive from the TiVo and then RMA it to the drive manufacturer.

I suppose it's possible, but normally when you enter the S/N into the WD's website (http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/serialinput.asp?aspsid=434790689&custtype=end&requesttype=warranty&lang=en)it will tell you it is OEM and not under warranty. :(

[innocentfreak]

Did it occur to the OP that they should have purchased an extended warranty? I did on one of my Tivos and we'll see if it pays off or not $50 for 5 years ain't bad.

Where did you get a 5 year warranty for $50?