[opus472]

I'm trying out the Tivo S3. In the process, I've had to call Comcast and Tivo several times, since I keep getting message: Cablecard 2 not in normal operation. Still haven't resolved the issue, I guess it could just be a bad cablecard?

Incidentally, Comcast's service so far has been WAY better than Tivo's. They answered the phone much faster and knew more about the Tivo setup than Tivo's own techs. Not to mention that if I have to again listen to Tivo's blasting on-hold music, repeated over and over endlessly, I'm gonna scream...

 

[alyssa]

Cablecard 2 not in normal operation. Still haven't resolved the issue, I guess it could just be a bad cablecard?

That would be my assessment too
Has comcast tried reinitializing the card?
if that hasn't worked then unless CC will give you a new cable card otc it's time for a truck roll.

 

[opus472]

Went to Comcast's office today and picked up 3 more cablecards. None working so far. Their tech is coming out on Friday, we'll see...

 

[alyssa]

good luck with getting a knowledgeable tech!! They make all the difference.

 

[opus472]

good luck with getting a knowledgeable tech!! They make all the difference.

Yup. Really not sure what a tech is gonna be able to do that we haven't already done...

 

[rtmoore4]

Incidentally, Comcast's service so far has been WAY better than Tivo's. They answered the phone much faster and knew more about the Tivo setup than Tivo's own techs.

+1

When I know more about how the S3 and CableCards work than the TiVo CSR answering the phone, that's a big problem. Something else to notice, try asking for a supervisor. Every CSR who I've talked to recently has said, "I AM the supervisor." What are the odds of that, I wonder? Sounds like a scripted answer to me.

Or how about when I asked if they had a CableCard escalation team, (once it was painfully obvious the CSR I was speaking to had no clue how CableCards worked), and was told, "That's me." Yeah right.

 

[bicker]

I think TiVo's biggest problem is that they seem to have trained their tech support folks (specifically) to deny responsibility by default. They almost absolutely refuse to accept the possibility that TiVo could have any culpability for the products they have provided their customers. That is going to cause customer frustration until TiVo does something deliberate to change it.

 

[opus472]

Well, the Comcast tech came out today and, as I suspected, he didn't know any more than the people I'd been talking to by phone. It turned out that, in spite of repeating the Host and Data numbers 4 times, they'd written the numbers down wrong. Even more enjoyable was that they somehow managed during this process to delete the registration on my cable modem, thus killing my internet connection. When I called about that, the CSR at first denied that I was a Comcast customer, ignoring the fact that my modem had been working fine an hour earlier. Ain't these companies fun...

 

[opus472]

I think TiVo's biggest problem is that they seem to have trained their tech support folks (specifically) to deny responsibility by default. They almost absolutely refuse to accept the possibility that TiVo could have any culpability for the products they have provided their customers. That is going to cause customer frustration until TiVo does something deliberate to change it.

Ain't it the truth. Unfortunately, the grass is not greener elsewhere...

 

[alyssa]

Well, the Comcast tech came out today and, as I suspected, he didn't know any more than the people I'd been talking to by phone. It turned out that, in spite of repeating the Host and Data numbers 4 times, they'd written the numbers down wrong. Even more enjoyable was that they somehow managed during this process to delete the registration on my cable modem, thus killing my internet connection. When I called about that, the CSR at first denied that I was a Comcast customer, ignoring the fact that my modem had been working fine an hour earlier. Ain't these companies fun...

omg,
somehow they took out your modem too?!?

you've got me beat, Time warner switched head ends & it took my S3 10 days to get back up & running.

 

[George Webster]

Something else to notice, try asking for a supervisor. Every CSR who I've talked to recently has said, "I AM the supervisor." What are the odds of that, I wonder? Sounds like a scripted answer to me.

I have run into the same thing. Talking to a person at TIVO who obviously has no clue and when I have asked to get bumped up to a higher support level they tell me they are the highest. We all know that is bull ****

 

[bicker]

Ain't it the truth. Unfortunately, the grass is not greener elsewhere...

Well, in this niche, there really is no "elsewhere" for the grass to be greener in. While customer service suckage is pretty widespread, I believe the specific practice of denial by default is pretty limited -- I have only encountered it with such consistency at TiVo.

 

[mike_camden]

Well, in this niche, there really is no "elsewhere" for the grass to be greener in. While customer service suckage is pretty widespread, I believe the specific practice of denial by default is pretty limited -- I have only encountered it with such consistency at TiVo.

I've gotten it just about everytime I've called Comcast regarding their POS 641x DVR. It's funny because after getting the "this is the first time we've heard of thes problems" from the Comcast CSR last time on the phone, a tech they sent a coupl eof days later told me he spends almost all of his time fixing/replacing boxes with problems like these.

 

[cokyq]

That's why I finally gave up, even though they finally got it working right. Considering the high price, and the fact that the only additional HD channels I was getting via cable were Discovery HD and TNT HD (had to pay extra for MOJO HD, ESPN HD and Universal HD which I refused), I finally decided to cancel cable (TWC here in DFW area). Connected a plain jane OTA antenna outside the home, and presto, EXCELLENT over the air HD signals (29 digital channels here in the DFW area).

Cable companies are not getting one more penny from me...

 

[bicker]

I've gotten it just about everytime I've called Comcast regarding their POS 641x DVR.

My experience is completely different with Comcast. Many of the issues I've raised to Comcast they have readily acknowledged as being something they've heard about before. They attribute responsibility according to their discretion, of course, as you'd expect, but they haven't given me the default denial treatment to the extent I get it from TiVo.