Who doesn't like TiVo?

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Who doesn't like TiVo?

Jason Kottke, is soliciting stories from readers that don't like TiVo. This could be the most valuable market research for TiVo and other PVR manufacturers ever, if they're paying attention. There are a lot of great user complaints so far.

by Matt Haughey March 19, 2004 in Op-Ed

Comments

Matt: You really see "great user complaints" there? I see precisely two people who have remotely useful arguments. And those two complaints boil down to two simple things, one of which TiVo itself would probably agree with:

(1) The UI is too slow.
(2) Customer service screws up sometimes.

The rest is useless. "My phone line was too noisy", "I'm too cool to watch TV", "I have an addictive personality and TiVo enables me", "My mate is an insensitive ass who deletes my content without asking", and so on. No matter how hard they try, TiVo's engineers will never be able to fix your broken wiring, your delicate ego, your personal foilbles, or your bad taste in women. :)

Posted by: Roger Benningfield at Mar 20, 2004 2:40:25 AM

Roger, I'd have to disagree respectfully. Although you might not find many "valid" complaints today, that particular venue could draw more in the future.

As a business owner, topics like this always grab my attention. Criticism can be converted into profits.

Posted by: Matthew at Mar 20, 2004 7:44:55 AM

I chose to build a PVR (MythTV) rather than have my viewing habits monitored bundled with other users' info and resold by TiVo.
I don't mind paying for a service, however with TiVo I must pay for service and also be subjected to certain advertising. Either have it one way or another, pay to play or play and be subject to advertising. I recognize the merits of selective advertising, however, when I'm ready to buy something, I tend to research it pretty well, hence I built a PVR, for about the same amount of money as a TiVo+lifetime service.
Ultimately, I have a system that is extensible by an avid community of developers and users, and by myself, should I ever have the time. I don't think a home-brew PVR is or every user, but it works for me, and many other technically savvy people.

Posted by: Jonathan Link at Mar 20, 2004 3:36:33 PM

I think the biggest complaint is obvious, the cost. Free PVRs and ReplayTV have proven that it can be done cheaper. If TiVo can find a way to drop the price, I think one of the biggest complaints can be overcome.

I know, if you don't want to pay for it you don't have to (and yes I know about the free service they offer), but it's still valid in my opinion.

Posted by: Kesey at Mar 21, 2004 8:57:55 AM

My only problems with tivo are 1. Channel linups continue to delete the 1 and only channel I watch ESPN2 then it takes a 2 hr phone call and 5 day wait to correct this has happened 3 times this year. By the way my cable service did not change the line up. Customer service is the worst I ever seen from any company.

Posted by: Jim Taylor at Jul 14, 2004 8:48:37 PM

Tivo's customer "service" is a joke. Im having a problem that the Tivo box doesnt recognize a station I receive. After being jerked around for 2 weeks and on hold for over 30 minutes just to be told its not their problem - call Comcast. "I cant be getting the station because its not in Tivos database" - hey idiot, Im sitting here watching the station, dont tell me I cant receive it!
They seem to expect Comcast to keep Tivo's database up to date. I cant wait until Comcast comes out with thier DVR in my area. If you have Comcast Digital Cable - my advice is to get a Comcast compatible DVR - even if you have to wait a bit. Dont waste your time and money on the Tivo.

Posted by: Rich at Oct 1, 2004 9:18:36 AM

Although it sounds appealing for Comcast to come out with its own DVR service I think it will not be very good. Comcast seems to do everything it can to make money off of advertising within their service. Even though they are one of the highest priced services they still seem to squeeze out every penny they can at the cost of the comfort of the customer (like it takes my box nearly 3 seconds to change channels because of all the advertisements each time you change channels). I can just imagine all the junk that Comcast has planned for their DVR service.

Best solution is to buy a Tivo and then modify it. Tivo doesn’t seem to mind that people are modifying their devices (and that will not be the case under Comcast). You can modify the 40Gig Tivo to add additional disk space (up to 700Gig). You can disable the profile reporting so that nobody knows what you are watching. You can add software that will allow you to transfer your Tivo multimedia files over to a PC through the Ethernet port. And if you backed up your Tivo hard drive during your Tivo modification you don’t have to worry about the Tivo hard drive crashing and turning your DVR into a paper weight. You just buy another hard drive and put your original image back onto the new drive and you’re good to go. Good luck trying to find these types of options with a Comcast DVR and even if you did then good luck with Comcast because they will surely put a stop to it (unlike Tivo).

Yes there is a risk opening up your Tivo to modify it. Although Tivo doesn’t try to prevent you from doing such a thing, they are not responsible for problems that you encounter when you tinker inside your Tivo. But even if it took you two attempts (even if you destroyed two unregistered 40Gig Tivos) you still end up with a better DVR then you can buy anywhere else. Plus when your hard drive dies you can get your Tivo back up and running without much effort. And if you are particularly enterprising you can start to sell your modified Tivo’s on eBay. I see one guy on eBay that is having no problems selling modified Tivo’s for over $1000 (not really a bad price for a fully modified DVR with 700Gig).

Tivo is just a Unix computer and when you are able to consider it that way it makes it a nice little machine. Comcast will never let you consider your DVR as a computer that you have access to. You will be subject to the “will” of Comcast and that “will” is to pump you so full of advertisements that you POP!!!!

Posted by: Daniel at Oct 16, 2004 7:41:14 AM

I have used a Replay TV for some time and after the initial learning period I have enjoyed it immensely.

I was given a TIVO series 2 with 80 hr. hard drive and full paid subscription.

After some use I can say it has got a terrible interface with the customer through the remote. It is much more complicated and unwieldy that Replay TV and locks up too often.

I don't know how it got to be so popular despite its lack of user-friendliness--probably sharp marketing.

I recommend REplay TV 1000% over TIVO!!

Posted by: Clint Ford at Mar 15, 2005 8:47:20 AM

I have to agree with the consensus above - TIVO customer service is a joke. We purchased a "reconditioned" 80 hr unit from them, eligible for rebate. After over an hour of over the phone troubleshooting (incidentally I do not have a landline phone - so the minutes were costly),they decided the unit's sound card was defective; so they did a no cost exchange. Two weeks later the replacement arrives; I have to take it to my son's to do the initial program (land line phone), same problem - bad sound card (tested in different environments so isolated to box). Repeat of hour plus dealings on the phone. Another exchange is scheduled. To top it all off, I got an e-mail indicating they denied the rebate (which is entirely legitimate) and they want me to jump through hoops to validate THEIR ERROR!!!! Absolutely the worst service I have ever encountered. If I did not enjoy the flexibility the technology offers, I'd tell them just where to shove their service and equipment!

Posted by: Marcia at May 13, 2005 12:00:35 PM

Hi,
Having a problem with a Tivo rebate. Tivo has informed me the check has been sent on four separate occassions over a period of four months, none of which I received (with a confirmed correct address) . I have contacted them (Tivo) this last time only to have the manager say that the system shows the check has been sent out (although not tracked) and that my only option is to check with the post office as they will not send another check.

Since I get all my other mail regularly in a locked mailbox, I highly doubt that this is a post office issue. It seems more likely that this is a Tivo administrative problem if not an outright scam. I asked them if they would send me the confirmation of the cancelled checks - they couldn't help me there.

I'd like to know what recourse I can tak

Posted by: Eric McCormick at Jul 26, 2005 10:48:14 AM

Hi,

I have owned a Series 1 TiVo, and recently switched to a Series 2 for the Home Media stuff.

I've called TiVo support twice. That was to activate each of the PVR's I own. That's it. I don't have any issues with programming, my TiVo NEVER locks up, and I find the interface extremely intuitive and easy to use.

I used to use Galleon on my TiVo, but with the new Yahoo stuff, I will probably just try that out. I also recently upgraded my 40GB drive with an 80GB drive that I had laying around, and it was a piece of cake to do. The only thing cumbersome about the process was that I had to keep switching hard drives in and out of my PC, but since I've already done it once, I think I could do another upgrade in less than 30 minutes.

I love my TiVo. I love the showcases that it records sometimes. I love the interface, and I love being able to transfer my shows to my PC, and burning them.

I've never used a ReplayTV, but I only hear good things about it.

Considering I got my TiVo for free after the rebate, and the only cost is the extra space I choose to put into it, and the monthly service fee, I think TiVo is well worth it and would highly recommend it.

To those that say the Customer Service is lousy, please answer me this. How many Customer Service Reps have you EVER spoken to , that you didn't think sucked?

Posted by: Jason at Dec 23, 2005 7:13:10 AM

One month out of warranty my Tivo now scambles all pictures and is inoperable. In the year I had it I spent a fair amount of time with customer service for various channel switching and downloading problems. Now it is kaput and their only offer is a replacement unit for $149! I hope this is an isolated example but I feel that 13 months use is a ripoff. Caveat emptor.

Posted by: Brent at Jan 4, 2006 4:33:33 PM

TIVO has the worst customer service. I didn't like the service, they couldn't help me figure out why it wasn't working, and now I want to cancel it. I have called the number to cancel (and to get help) 8 times since the New Years. 7 of the 8 times the wait was 30 minutes or more and that one time they weren't able to help (although they were nice on the phone). I'm sitting here now waiting (been 13 minutes) to get it over with.

Posted by: Nick at Jan 17, 2006 5:44:32 PM

lets try to get some updated movies on tivo or i will cancell my account

Posted by: vince taluskie at Feb 16, 2006 10:45:17 PM

TIVO customer service SUCKS!!!! After having the Tivo 2 unit for 1yr. 4 months a whistle noise started to sound in the middle of the night. After contacting customer service they told me the unit would have to be replaced because of "The Fan". No consolation to me, after the warranty expired after 1 yr I would have to pay $149. To hell with that. I plan on writing corporate and asking for a free new unit which I doubt they will oblige. You know what? Don't get Tivo. They make cheap recorders, sucker you in and hope that you are victim enough to pay for a refurbished model. Maybe the story ends well. I was watching too much TV.

Posted by: Magda at Mar 1, 2006 10:32:18 AM

It's not too often that I see such a bunch of crybabies as I see here. Get over yourselves, people. Computers have moving parts. Moving parts fail. It's a COMPUTER. It will NOT RUN FOREVER. For the money, it's CHEAP. How much is your time worth? I'm on my 4th tivo. I'm happy. I sold the first one because it's a series1.

My Tivo complaint? The units with DVD burners have poor encoding capabilities. That's inherent in the DVD format - not Tivo's fault.

If you think you can run a business and swap out computers for less than $150, then do so. Come back with your success story.

Everybody wants to whine and get something for free. Reality check! The world doesn't work that way!

Posted by: Brad at Mar 23, 2006 4:18:35 PM

I agree their customer service more than sucks. Thety are some of the rudest people I have come in contact. I had a panasonic replay for 4 years or so. Worked well but finally died. So thought I would get change to tivo because of all the hype. Three months later I have yet to recieve the rebate. On top of that the hard drive has frozen up after only 3 mnths and does not work. I wonder has anyone else ran into this problem? Will I get the new one they say they are sending out? From my experience with there customer service I doubt it. I say use your cable company DVR, dont use tivo.

Posted by: John at Apr 13, 2006 7:12:48 PM

after 4mos. of not receiving my $150. rebate, I checked out the status only to find that after diligently filling out the form and getting it all together, A was astonished to see that it was invalid by a Third Party Rules.
My rebate was declined, a postcard has been sent that provides additional information. Invalid reason was new service activation is needed in order to qualify. In checking over all the papers there was nothing there to indicate that. This was my 2nd one since the one before died after a year and a half....also I never did get a postcard and I know that none was never sent.they sure do get a lot of customers that way -

Posted by: Maryann at Jul 25, 2006 8:56:50 AM

As bad as customer service remains, the online advise could be worse. Instructions tell you to go to other links/ pages to modify...links don't exist! Dead ends. Do they proof their stuff?

Online scheduling is a total joke given number of problems I ahve run into.

Posted by: Laffy at Aug 19, 2006 7:54:36 PM

Tivo has the worst customer service I’ve ever encountered. I bought my Tivo box and subscription online and prepaid for 3 years. I got my Tivo box 8 days later and set it all up – since it was pre-activated, I didn’t have to call it in. Everything worked fine, until I downloaded the Tivo Desktop on my computer on Thursday of week one…

They tell you to wait 2 to 24 hours, so I waited. The next day, there was no Media Access Key (MAK) available in my Tivo box and my computer couldn’t see my recorded programs. By the way, it wasn’t a network issue because I was able to see my photos in my DVR. I called customer service and was on hold for an hour before I talked to anyone. The tech told me to uninstall, remove any hidden files, reinstall Tivo Desktop, reset my preferences to allow transfers in Tivo Desktop, and wait another 24 hours – goodbye (he didn’t even tell me what hidden files to look for, but I figured it out). This didn’t sound to me like it would work, but I tried it anyway. Guess what, come Saturday afternoon, 24 hours after my second re-install, and it still wasn’t working. I called customer service again, and this time I was on hold for 45 minutes. I explained to them the problem and they told me I had to reset my preferences to allow transfers in Tivo Desktop and wait another 24 hours. I grudgingly agreed and followed orders. Sunday afternoon came and it still wasn’t working, so I decided to wait until Monday to give it more time and hopefully see it working on Monday.

When I got home from work on Monday afternoon, Tivo Desktop still wasn’t working. I called customer service, and after being on hold for the typical 45 minutes, I was asked to explain my problem, even though I would give the tech my case number, he insisted on me explaining everything from the beginning – I guess Tivo doesn’t have a database where they can document past customer calls/complaints. After explaining my issues, AGAIN, the technician decides that I didn’t wait long enough, and tells me that it usually takes 24 to 72 hours for the MAK to be activated. I couldn’t believe the runaround I was getting!! I had no choice but to wait because these “technicians” could not help me. I’ll try to shorten this now. I called again on Tuesday (over 45 minutes on hold), explained everything again, was told that they’ll have to escalate it to engineering. I called Wednesday (50 minutes on hold), it wasn’t escalated to engineering because they needed to get some information from me that Tuesday’s tech forgot to get from me. Called Thursday (35 minutes on hold) and was told that yes, it was escalated to engineering, but engineering didn’t have time to look at it because they had a high volume of work this week – they’ll probably get to my problem by Tuesday (Monday is Labor day) and that’s the best they could do for me.

Needless to say, I was fed up with their customer service and lack of technical knowledge and support, and I didn’t have the energy or time to continue this charade. I told them I want to return my box and get a full refund, particularly because I didn’t want to get STUCK with it, or them, after the 30 day trial expired!

Posted by: Sally at Sep 1, 2006 7:02:34 PM

I have had Tivo for 7 months and really enjoyed it. I moved recently and tried to call customer support after I couldn't get Tivo to load channels correctly with my Dish Network. I called 7 different times and there was a wait time of 20-30 minutes each time. One time, after holding 20 minutes (for my convenience! I hate that term!) I did get in touch with someone. We were summarily disconnected after 2 minutes. I called today (after 2 months of dicking with this thing) and cancelled my service. Of course when you call to cancel you can get ahold on someone right away and they say "please don't leave, we can help you now" I told her they just can't treat people like this. They said they were going to charge me for 5 additional months because of a one year service agreement. I said "What service?" I am going to contest this charge on my credit card.

Posted by: TONI PETTIGREW at Oct 16, 2006 11:26:59 AM

Tivo never sent my rebate check and now saying it's too late. All the paperwork and pre qualifying was done correct. They just didn't send the check. Everyone file a TIVO complaint at the Better Business Bureau Online.
www.bbbonline.com

Posted by: RMC at Feb 9, 2007 4:29:57 AM

I just went to the Better Business Bureau San Francisco Division website.
Tivo has a very bad rating, they are not BBB members. They do not respond to the BBB nor to their customers. see the information here:
http://www.goldengatebbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=133501&language=1

Posted by: RMC at Feb 9, 2007 5:02:52 AM

I've been in contact with TiVo for four weeks now trying desperately to get my channel line-up corrected. After every call, I'm told it'll take 5-7 days. Now, after 28 days and over a dozen calls to Tivo (totaling over 10 hours on the phone, mostly on hold) it's STILL not fixed.

Posted by: at Jun 22, 2007 3:39:51 PM

I have paid about 1K for an HD Tivo and a $300 3 year subscription and I have had nothing but problems. I wrote a letter to Tivo 2 weeks ago w/ no response back after talking to customer service who says sorry we cannot do anything since it was past the initial 30 return by 30 days.

Problems consisted of....

1) timer would keep changing and recording the wrong shows by 12 hours...over and over again.

2) cable cards kept losing signal to HD chanels and the cable company says that is just what they do...only one company make the cable cards and it is always a problem.

I took these up w/ TIVO....even the 3 YEAR subscription for $300 they would not refund. I RECOMMEND TO DO YOUR SELVES A FAVOR AND NOT BUY A TIVO...stick w/ Direct TV w/ their DVR...lots cheaper and and you order PPV, fights, movies, etc...cannot do anything w/ TIVO. I am tempted to make a UTUBE video destroying the product and telling my story so no one else wastes their money.

Posted by: Brandon Hays at Nov 2, 2007 1:39:46 PM

TIVO offered me lifetime HD service for about $400 which I accepted and paid by credit card, thus creating a contract. Instead of lifetime service, they sent me a piece of paper saying that I can get the service by activating the service. The only problem is that activation means that I now have to give someone else my credit card information, and there is no valid reason they need this information two times. Since this was not part of the contract, I have refused to give my credit card information for the second time, and they remain in violation of the contract, refusing to deliver the service unless I yield.

Posted by: Durham Ellis at Jan 14, 2008 11:03:32 PM

I can't get through to customer service! The web site tells me to call them, but their phone tree is broken! They give a long introduction and then offer 3 choices. No matter which choice is given, the introduction repeats indefinitely. Since this is the only way to cancel their service, maybe this is on purpose?

Posted by: Peter Harms at Apr 3, 2008 9:25:32 AM

Peter...if they didn't have a service to allow a cancel, that would be outright fraud. I don't think they are in the business to scam someone...can you stop the payment on your credit card? Assuming you used a cc...

Posted by: Todd Lokken at Apr 10, 2008 10:21:15 AM

Tivo must be smoking something. I prepaid for 3 years. They sent an email wanting my credit card info so they can use it in Dec of 2009! Said they had to have it so they could charge my account when it ended next year. Talked to supervisor. Same dumb thing. How can a company stay in business this way. They need to be run out of business talking that way to a 3 year prepaid customer

Posted by: V Thurston at Apr 16, 2008 3:54:29 PM

a couple years ago I bought a tivo, and was in a one year contract which ended in December of 2007.
I tried to cancel my tivo service today and they said it will cost me another $90.00 dollars because I'm in a new contract that I didn't even know about!

you are thieves and I can't wait til your company (tivo) is no more!
I will never return to Tivo, and I hope others follow my example.

guess what my next song is going to be about!

Posted by: Jamie Cooper at Jun 10, 2008 2:27:35 PM

Who doesn't like TiVo?

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