After 5 great years, I'm PISSED at TiVo

kirbylile · 01-01-2006, 01:40 PM

Saturday morning (yesterday) I got a forced message when I pressed the TiVo button telling me 14 (FOURTEEN!) channels have been deleted due to a change in my cable lineup. But there has been no change, I called my cable company to be sure, and I can dial up the channels no problem with my cable remote. We're talking channels like Sundance, Logo, Trio, BET Jazz, Nick, a whole bunch of good ones.

I called TiVo and got a case number after we went through all the steps, and nothing can be done for up to 5 business days. I can't add the channels back to my "channels I receive" - they vanished.

WHY did TiVo do this and WHY did it do it just before the holiday weekend when nothing can be done?

The TiVo rep on the phone thinks it is Tribute's fault, but I have to put partial negligence on TiVo for letting that many get removed at one time, no exceptions, just before a long weekend.

For the very first time since the beginning of TiVo, I am a very, very unhappy and disappointed customer.

Yeah, I can record still by tricking TiVo and changing the channel with the cable remote, but I have to be here to do it. The show will have the wrong name in the list, and that's if I find a show that lasts the same amount of time.

P.S. I'm in Atlanta with Comcast. Wonder if other cities are suffering this?

Kirby

PeteEMT · 01-01-2006, 01:47 PM

I know youve said you at least partially blame TiVo but they get their data from Tribune and since there are thousands of cable companies, I'm sure the process is totally automated and doesn't have (nor really could have) human intervention.

I probably see channel change notices every couple of weeks as stuff is added/deleted/moved. And I've been in your position but it's always fixed itself within a few days.

DrStrange · 01-01-2006, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbylile

WHY did TiVo do this and WHY did it do it just before the holiday weekend when nothing can be done?

That coin flips both ways. If Tribune sends a large lineup change that is legit and Tivo holds it because of an upcoming holiday weekend, then when the cable company changes it's lineup on 12/29 and Tivo doesn't, the affected customers will be just as screwed as you are, and just as angry because nothing can be done over the holiday.

The differences would be that because Tivo held up correct Tribune data, they really would be completely at fault in that situation (class action, class action!) and if we assume that Tribunes changes are accurate more often than not, holding up every large change for every lineup in the country until they could check it out would a) be a burden on Tivo, b) anger everybody who's lineups didn't match for however many days Tivo took to verify the lineup with the cable company. It'd be expensive, and would create more problems and complaints than it would correct.

No system is perfect but you said it yourself - this is the first time in 5 years this has happened to you. There may be a better solution, but proposing Tivo delay every large lineup change from Tribune because a few of them might be wrong isn't it.

Joe Smith · 01-01-2006, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbylile

Saturday morning (yesterday) I got a forced message when I pressed the TiVo button telling me 14 (FOURTEEN!) channels have been deleted ... I can't add the channels back to my "channels I receive" - they vanished.

Try this: Manually tune to each missing channel and record for 1 minute.
Then they can be added to the Channels I Receive list.

-Joe

kirbylile · 01-01-2006, 03:58 PM

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it.

To the other responder, think about it, would any cable company really delete all those major channels? If they were simply moved to different channel numbers, why weren't they also subsequently re-added at the same time? I hope this never happens to you and your favorite channels.

PeteEMT · 01-01-2006, 06:15 PM

It has, and the Delete and the Add were 3-4 days apart.

mick66 · 01-01-2006, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kirbylile

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll try it.

To the other responder, think about it, would any cable company really delete all those major channels? If they were simply moved to different channel numbers, why weren't they also subsequently re-added at the same time? I hope this never happens to you and your favorite channels.

It has happened to me. I tried to get the situation rectified or at least figure out what was going on with the help of Tivo. It turned out that the change was reported before it actually took effect and I had some "bad" guide data for just over a week while TiVo was looking into it. The new channels (and/or old ones on different channels) were added at the actual time the change occurred.

cable co. > TMS > TiVo > you

I see no reason to blame Tivo.
So what did your cable company say or do when you contacted them about the problem?

murgatroyd · 01-01-2006, 08:26 PM

The last time this happened to me, I called Comcast to get a new lineup card so that I could fax the information to TiVo's lineup department, and they dutifully sent me a copy of the lineup card -- the OLD lineup.

It happens to all of us at one time or another. That's why I'm making a backup of my SP managers by adding all my SPs and major ARWLs to my planner on MeeVee (www.meevee.com). It's a useful way to cross-check what's in my To Do Lists and to help with conflict resolution as I juggle recordings on my two S1 standalones.

Jan

kirbylile · 01-01-2006, 08:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mick66

I see no reason to blame Tivo.

So what did your cable company say or do when you contacted them about the problem?

They just said there's been no changes to any lineup.

I don't give full blame to TiVo, but I do think ultimately this reflects on them. I don't subscribe to Tribune, I subscribe to TiVo. My customers think the same of me at my company.

I don't think it would be that difficult to have a trigger to flag extraneous cases. If more than 10 or so channels are about to get deleted and 75% or so of them are marked as major channels, then yes, someone at TiVo should get an email to verify it. If you're going to rely 100% on computers to update themselves you gotta have a filter -- I lost a sizeable chunk of channels, so it stands to reason another mistake could wipe out someone's entire channel list.

kirbylile · 01-06-2006, 07:33 PM

It's been a solid week, an open case #, a promise of 5 business days, and my 14 channels are still missing. No phone calls, no email, no contact, no resolution.

I guess I get to use TiVo as long as I can live with TiVo adding and deleting channels ... whenever. I'm missing out on recordings.

I'm seriously thinking of returning TiVo to the store. TiVo took my favorite channels away and can't fix the problem.

bidger · 01-06-2006, 07:55 PM

I'd call Customer Support and tell them what you wrote about taking the unit back and see what kind of response that elicits.

Stanley Rohner · 01-07-2006, 12:32 PM

Sounds like you better just return the TiVo if something like this has you so upset.