TiVo customer "service" sucks
Jul. 30th, 2002 08:31 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
dhenderson.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
techrecoveryI do software tech support for a living, so when I'm the victim of abysmal tech support myself, I'm all the more enraged.
It's a sad and sordid tale. Months ago, my poor Philips 60-hour TiVo started "stuttering." Every few seconds it would freeze the picture and sound, then continue after a second or two, having lost the content that was being played back while it was frozen (and it plays back even live TV, recording it to disk a fraction of a second before it shows it to you). *Very* maddening, especially since it would, in the process, lose one critical word at a time, or be so jerky as to make TV unwatchable.
So I called Customer Service. If your TiVo is broken, and even if it's under repair, here are some True Facts:
1. Customer service only works 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Pacific time. No chance I can call before I have to leave for work.
2. If I call after I get home, I'm told, cheerfully, "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." So much for any plans for the evening.
3. I could almost throw a rock from my house and hit TiVo corporate headquarters. What's the only option for getting a unit repaired or replaced? Ship it at your own expense to Tennessee, warranty or no warranty.
4. How do they return the repaired/replaced unit? Never in advance, and always via Ground priority (or 2nd day air; I can't get a consistent answer. At any rate, they pick the priority, it won't be overnight, and the customer has no options. Ever.). So count on being without your TiVo at *least* a calendar week, and that's if you go to the personal expense to ship it to them overnight (I paid for 2nd Day Air and it cost $90).
So I went into withdrawal for a week and finally got the replacement unit back July 23rd, plugged it in, and started the setup process. Care to guess what happened?
The replacement unit is broken. Won't make the initial setup phone call to the service. Grrr.
Back on the phone: "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." Another ruined evening. About a half hour of troubleshooting. Unfortunately, I'm talking to the guy on the only phone line in the house, so part of the troubleshooting I have to do after I hang up is to use my laptop to call out on the same line as the TiVo, to make sure the line works for modem connections, which it always has, did consistently for the TiVo before it died, and continues to do so for my cable box every night when it calls out to download the schedule updates. But none of that evidence fazed the tech; he *insisted* that I do a separate test of the suitability of the line for modem connections, but he *swore* to me that if the line passed the test, I'd get an "expedited return," since it was their "repaired" unit that failed. Fine. I did the test. It passed, of course. I called them back: "We are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time. Please call back then." It was 8:03 p.m.
The next day I had evening plans I couldn't cancel, so I called them back on the 25th: "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." Finally got a guy on the phone, told him the phone line passed the test as I knew it would, please gimme my expedited return info.
Not so fast. This guy was dead set on another pile of diagnostics. And, of course, it required the use of the phone line, and, of course, I had called on the house phone again. Have to call back from the cell. I begged and pleaded; told him the other guy *promised* that if my phone line passed the test I should get an expedited return. Didn't faze him a bit. Nope; we have to do all these other diagnostics. And, you guessed it, it's already too late to call back in that night.
So I have commitments I can't get out of for Friday through Monday. It's now Tuesday and *finally* I get on the cell phone. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." 17 minutes and 55 seconds into my hold time, my cell unceremoniously drops the call. Grrr. Called back. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." *Finally* I get a tech on the phone and give him my case number. The cell goes dead. I had used up all my battery.
Plugged the cell into the power adapter. Waited for it to charge enough to support its functions (why do I have to wait? I dunno.). Call back. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." This time it only takes 6 minutes and 19 seconds to suddenly drop the call without warning.
I almost never use my cell. My calling plan is for 30 minutes a month included in the base rate; I never need any more than that. This little runaround is costing me a bloody fortune. And by now I've been without useful TiVo serivice for two months.
Nothing to do but call again. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." This time, I don't know how long it took, because the phone simply powered itself off without giving me the little note about how much time I wasted on hold. I try to turn it on again. "Phone is charging; will turn on automatically." Yes, well, why won't it turn on *now*? It was just on a minute ago! It finally dawns on me that it's because it can't work off the AC adapter; it has to use the battery, which means I have to let it *fully* charge (17 hours?), and if my little fiasco next time uses up another full battery's worth of power, I'm just sh*t out of luck. I'm ready to kill somebody. What a senseless waste of time.
So I *finally* reach a tech tonight just minutes before they close, from the land line. He tells me my case notes contain precisely 3 lines that say, in essence, it's DSL interference, with no record of any of the troubleshooting already done. This guy knows a way to sort of test the modem, by having the TiVo ignore dial tone and dial out. He hears a strong modem tone when that happens, so he decides it's my phone line that's at fault. Can he explain why my TiVo always worked before it was repaired? No. Can he explain why my cable box successfully dials in and collects schedule information every night? No. Can he explain why my laptop can dial out just fine and do email and surf the Web for as long as I want with no hint of a problem? No. It's my phone line that's a problem.
I say I want the case escalated to a manager. Sorry; can't do that; it's after 8 p.m. and they've all gone home. Call back tomorrow. And sit on hold another 35 minutes? I don't *think* so. So he told me to call during the day. But what if the manager needs me to do something on the box? Out of luck; call back after work. They have no idea how lucky they are that I don't work for the post office.
It's a sad and sordid tale. Months ago, my poor Philips 60-hour TiVo started "stuttering." Every few seconds it would freeze the picture and sound, then continue after a second or two, having lost the content that was being played back while it was frozen (and it plays back even live TV, recording it to disk a fraction of a second before it shows it to you). *Very* maddening, especially since it would, in the process, lose one critical word at a time, or be so jerky as to make TV unwatchable.
So I called Customer Service. If your TiVo is broken, and even if it's under repair, here are some True Facts:
1. Customer service only works 8 a.m. - 8 p.m. Pacific time. No chance I can call before I have to leave for work.
2. If I call after I get home, I'm told, cheerfully, "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." So much for any plans for the evening.
3. I could almost throw a rock from my house and hit TiVo corporate headquarters. What's the only option for getting a unit repaired or replaced? Ship it at your own expense to Tennessee, warranty or no warranty.
4. How do they return the repaired/replaced unit? Never in advance, and always via Ground priority (or 2nd day air; I can't get a consistent answer. At any rate, they pick the priority, it won't be overnight, and the customer has no options. Ever.). So count on being without your TiVo at *least* a calendar week, and that's if you go to the personal expense to ship it to them overnight (I paid for 2nd Day Air and it cost $90).
So I went into withdrawal for a week and finally got the replacement unit back July 23rd, plugged it in, and started the setup process. Care to guess what happened?
The replacement unit is broken. Won't make the initial setup phone call to the service. Grrr.
Back on the phone: "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." Another ruined evening. About a half hour of troubleshooting. Unfortunately, I'm talking to the guy on the only phone line in the house, so part of the troubleshooting I have to do after I hang up is to use my laptop to call out on the same line as the TiVo, to make sure the line works for modem connections, which it always has, did consistently for the TiVo before it died, and continues to do so for my cable box every night when it calls out to download the schedule updates. But none of that evidence fazed the tech; he *insisted* that I do a separate test of the suitability of the line for modem connections, but he *swore* to me that if the line passed the test, I'd get an "expedited return," since it was their "repaired" unit that failed. Fine. I did the test. It passed, of course. I called them back: "We are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Pacific time. Please call back then." It was 8:03 p.m.
The next day I had evening plans I couldn't cancel, so I called them back on the 25th: "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." Finally got a guy on the phone, told him the phone line passed the test as I knew it would, please gimme my expedited return info.
Not so fast. This guy was dead set on another pile of diagnostics. And, of course, it required the use of the phone line, and, of course, I had called on the house phone again. Have to call back from the cell. I begged and pleaded; told him the other guy *promised* that if my phone line passed the test I should get an expedited return. Didn't faze him a bit. Nope; we have to do all these other diagnostics. And, you guessed it, it's already too late to call back in that night.
So I have commitments I can't get out of for Friday through Monday. It's now Tuesday and *finally* I get on the cell phone. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." 17 minutes and 55 seconds into my hold time, my cell unceremoniously drops the call. Grrr. Called back. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." *Finally* I get a tech on the phone and give him my case number. The cell goes dead. I had used up all my battery.
Plugged the cell into the power adapter. Waited for it to charge enough to support its functions (why do I have to wait? I dunno.). Call back. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." This time it only takes 6 minutes and 19 seconds to suddenly drop the call without warning.
I almost never use my cell. My calling plan is for 30 minutes a month included in the base rate; I never need any more than that. This little runaround is costing me a bloody fortune. And by now I've been without useful TiVo serivice for two months.
Nothing to do but call again. "Your hold time will be at *least* 35 minutes." This time, I don't know how long it took, because the phone simply powered itself off without giving me the little note about how much time I wasted on hold. I try to turn it on again. "Phone is charging; will turn on automatically." Yes, well, why won't it turn on *now*? It was just on a minute ago! It finally dawns on me that it's because it can't work off the AC adapter; it has to use the battery, which means I have to let it *fully* charge (17 hours?), and if my little fiasco next time uses up another full battery's worth of power, I'm just sh*t out of luck. I'm ready to kill somebody. What a senseless waste of time.
So I *finally* reach a tech tonight just minutes before they close, from the land line. He tells me my case notes contain precisely 3 lines that say, in essence, it's DSL interference, with no record of any of the troubleshooting already done. This guy knows a way to sort of test the modem, by having the TiVo ignore dial tone and dial out. He hears a strong modem tone when that happens, so he decides it's my phone line that's at fault. Can he explain why my TiVo always worked before it was repaired? No. Can he explain why my cable box successfully dials in and collects schedule information every night? No. Can he explain why my laptop can dial out just fine and do email and surf the Web for as long as I want with no hint of a problem? No. It's my phone line that's a problem.
I say I want the case escalated to a manager. Sorry; can't do that; it's after 8 p.m. and they've all gone home. Call back tomorrow. And sit on hold another 35 minutes? I don't *think* so. So he told me to call during the day. But what if the manager needs me to do something on the box? Out of luck; call back after work. They have no idea how lucky they are that I don't work for the post office.
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