90 day warranty...craps out on day 93! Should TiVo bend a little?

ZeoTiVo said:

your acrimonious insults aside the point stands that 3 days goes both ways. Sure we all want a company that will bend on its policies in our favor. Always makes us smile and generate more good feelings about the company. It is a valid point on this being a refurb and perhaps would allow for some more slack from the company. At the end of the day though TiVo is tyring to make a profit and is having to watch every expense, especially in SAC to do so.
Your bad luck was in catching TiVo during this stage versus some nicely profitable stage where they can loosen the policies some.

but to say it is only 3 days works both ways and that was all my post was illustrating and the point stands

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I asked an honest question in my original post....I realize that 3 days past the warranty deadline is just that....but a smartass answer wasn't really called for and brings nothing to the conversation (your first response).

That said, I appreciate the above response ...I was wondering if I was being unreasonable about this and perhaps I was. I didn't make a big deal out of this with TiVo, I simply asked and was told "sorry, but you just missed the warranty deadline" by the CSR, and it ended there.

I've had electronics with problems outside the warranty in the past...by much more than 3 days....and they've gone ahead and honored it anyway. I guess sometimes it depends on the luck of the draw (odds are that the TiVo CSR's don't have the power to bend, I would've had to talk with a supervisor).

Sir_winealot said:

I asked an honest question in my original post....I realize that 3 days past the warranty deadline is just that....but a smartass answer wasn't really called for and brings nothing to the conversation (your first response)..

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My first response was not a smart-ass answer but an example to show you why 3 days is 3 days. YMMV.
WAFA was a direct insult, very rude and far worse than any sarcasm you read into my post and that does not vary.

to BobCamp1 - yes a few of these do not break the bank and the OP might have even gotten a break if he called in a few times to different CSRs who used their discretion. I am speculating here though that the order from above is to tighten up on the policies overall in order to control expenses as TiVo looks to show a second consecutive quarter of profit. The last one was made on investment paybacks, so I have no idea if a second quarter is even possible, but if it is, you can bet the CEO at Tivo wants it really badly.

PS - I meant that TiVo just applies the next months billing 3 days before the previous month ends. thus at the end of the year they have an extra 36 days to bill for bu they just 5 days over 31 so they will call it even at an extra month of payment

I think I am going to ramble/vent a little on this one:

It is perfectly fine that TiVo:

1. Not provide a warranty as long as their minimum commitment period.
2. Disconnect local dial in numbers without any concerns.
3. Have a convoluted pricing/commitment policy.
4. Require new commitments on used equipment.

Yes all of the above (+ others) are perfectly fine it is also perfectly fine that:

1. Current TiVo supporters no longer support or recommend TiVo.
2. Potential new costumers just say no to TiVo because of TiVo's perfectly fine policies.

It is unfortunate that it now appears TiVo has been so unsuccessful in obtaining the critical mass of costumers/subscribers needed that it now has to have policies that effectively cannibalize parts of their current and/or potential costumer base.

At least I have been lucky so far - they still provide me with what I consider to be an excellent affordable service. Which, apparently is not so for others.

Thanks,

atmuscarella said:

I think I am going to ramble/vent a little on this one:

It is perfectly fine that TiVo:

1. Not provide a warranty as long as their minimum commitment period.
2. Disconnect local dial in numbers without any concerns.
3. Have a convoluted pricing/commitment policy.
4. Require new commitments on used equipment.

Yes all of the above (+ others) are perfectly fine it is also perfectly fine that:

1. Current TiVo supporters no longer support or recommend TiVo.
2. Potential new costumers just say no to TiVo because of TiVo's perfectly fine policies.

It is unfortunate that it now appears TiVo has been so unsuccessful in obtain the critical mass of costumers/subscribers needed that it now has to have policies that effectively cannibalize parts of their current and/or potential costumer base.

At least I have been lucky so far - they still provide me with what I consider to be an excellent affordable service. Which, apparently is not so for others.

Thanks,

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the thing is for this type of argument - TiVo had lifetime or just pay monthly for a long time. Then they had just pay 6.95 monthly for a second or so TiVo. they had lots of phone lines during that period.

1. can you point to the large growth that such easy going policies produced?
2. So, the question isntead is "would they have more subscribers if they kept those older, easier policies?"
3. Sure, but the hard business question becomes "Would they make enough profit off those easier policies via the greater volume of subscribers?" or in other terms "Would they get enough subscriber growth to sustain the easier policies?"
4. The answer is no as evidenced by their SEC filings.
5. so Instead they bring in business managers who look at the books and introduce changes to increase the average monthly subscription rate (it was alittle under 10 at last filing) and tighten up on the expenses.
6. deal with customers who do not wnat to deal with new plicies and watch the churn rate
7. Continue to add value to the product to make it worth all the extra policies anyway.
8. profit

of course they are at steps 6 and 7 right now so only time will tell if they followed the right course of new action, but I just get a kick out of TiVo needs to make things simple when things were completely simple for the longest time and a good bargain to boot yet the large growth was just not happening.

It wont be unfortunate at all if TiVo lives to see the day that a nice modestly priced SA HD TiVo is valued by many and cable companies employ TiVo software on their own proprietary DVRs to the delight of those who would rather have a cable company DVR.

Sirwinealot - Since you bought a refurbished unit, you probably got it for a discount ($49 or perhaps free with 1 year prepay) and the service was most likely discounted slightly too. It's a bit of a gamble. You pay less for the device and service, but you're not getting a new device with a new warranty. Out of curiousity, how much did you pay for the unit and 1 year prepay?

It's unfortunate the unit failed at day 93, however that's the nature of the beast. $49 to repair/replace an out of warranty unit isn't a bad deal. Sure it sucks having to pay any amount of money, but at least they didn't charge you more or leave you high and dry with the only option being purchasing a new unit.

Bidger - Having a product with a warranty that is shorter than the service commitment is not unusual. Take the iPhone for instance. You can only get the service from one provider, you must make a 2 year commitment at $59.99 per month minimum ($1439.76 + taxes MINIMUM if it's a new plan), and the warranty on your new $600 device is only 1 year. So you have a product that will potentially cost a minimum of $2000 over two years and you only get a 1 year warranty.