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I’m Done with Tivo And You Should be Too
Posted by Scott on 8th June, 2009 | 23 commentsOh Tivo, how our love affair was so long and while it lasted it was pretty good. But guess what: while your hardware/software is nice, your corporation blows, and DirecTV HD DVR is, while not perfect, so much better than you.
I bought a Tivo HD for a family member in December. She didn’t like it. I returned it to Amazon. Tivo has been charging me $12.95/mo ever since for serivce on a unit I didn’t even own. I cancelled in January but they kept charging me and they claim to not have a record of the cancellation then. I called again today to cancel and was told that there would be an early termination fee. How nice, an early termination fee on a box I don’t own.
Sounds like a cell phone company. But while cell phone companies sell a phone at a deep discount in exchange for a 12 month commitment to recoup their costs and make a profit, Tivo just wants to piggy back on the ETF concept as a money making scheme. Even cell phone companies don’t charge you an ETF or monthly service fee on hardware that you return!
I’m done with you Tivo. I’m replacing my two Tivo’s with DirecTV HD DVR’s. The new standalone HD Tivo blows: it’s sluggish (the HR10-250 was half decent, but is for DirecTV only). I’ve got news for you scammer corps out there that use ETF fees to rip off consumers: your days are numbered.
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Monday, June 8th, 2009 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Web Business. If you like this post why not subscribe to my full text RSS feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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Although generally I’m against lawsuits, this seems like a good reason for a class action lawsuit. The mobile carriers like Sprint have been hit with class actions for much less.
Yes those ETFs are a big pain in the ass. This is part of the reason I use a contract-free pay-as-you-go cell phone, instead of the monthly cell phone that wants a 3 year commitment.
As for companies claiming to have no record of a cancellation request, that is just bs. It sounds like the phone rep was avoiding having another cancellation on his record. If they cancel too many accounts, the rep can miss out on bonuses.
With certain services, it is tough to avoid these large scammer corporations. It is like politics, sometimes you just have to choose the lesser of two evils.
-Jeremy
Wow, I feel really badly for you, you have to pay that fee for a present you gave to someone, it’s a darn shame. Then they made you pay the early termination fee… yeah I would be just about spitting fire at them if I were you. That’s just a money scam on their part and a complete lack of costumer support and service. DirecTV is a company that many people use and enjoy, we use them.
Wow. I’ve been away from tivo for 4 years and still miss it. Guess it’s gone downhill. I have Comcast private label boxes and they have improved but still aren’t as good as my old tivo box.
Yeah, I have notice the betrayal of Tivo. I’ve gone to Comcast also. I wonder why I never did this before, but now I know why I changed providers.
I had a similar experience with British Telecom.
They were not giving me the Broadband service I belived I was paying for. They basically said it was tough luck.
I decided to get a fibre cable broadband with 20MB.
I tried to cancel the BT supply and was told I was signed up to 12 months. I was resigned to the fact I would have to pay for the next 6 months. In fact what happened was when I had my new line connected I ported the phone line and BT said I was cancelling with immediate effect and they took the full 6 months in one payment. about $150 by direct debit.
Will not be going back to them EVER.
JZ
This is something I don’t have to worry about at all. Tivo isn’t even in New Zealand yet (its supposed to be coming soon) but I don’t think I am even going to bother with it - even more so after reading this post.
It sounds like these guys are in business to make short term money, because they sure as hell ain’t getting recommendations from satisfied customers who got sorted out. They are not in South Africa, but if and when they eventually do reach our shores I will not support them!
I never got into the tivo craze, and I am pretty happy about it. I’ll admit, I almost went over to the dark side… I mean it just looked so darn cool. I have been using DirectTV for quite some time now (6 years) and I am glad that I stayed with it. No need for tivo.
Till then,
Jean
It’s a shame that so many big companies think they can get away with abusing their customers with excessive fees. Do these companies not realize the long term damage they are doing to their reputation? The more people they rip off, the less trust people will have in them.
i got rid of my tivo long time ago for the same reason. i got myself another dvr that works good enough for me, and most important no monthly fees or any fees at all. it is virtually free to record what ever i want and when ever i want, sure its not tivo, but its FREE.
Tristar MX DVR Home Theater Digital Video Recorder PVR
https://www.newelectronx.com/proddetail.php?prod=tristar-mx-dvr
So many companies are trying to rip off consumers nowadays
Yes ruddo, but I think it’s only a small percentage compared to the rest. It’s kind of like the saying “One bad egg spoils the rest”.
Till then,
Jean
it is a nice post with have a nice article.it is really nice.keep it up..
Good thing I never got tivo
I actually built a DVR with a semi-old desktop computer a couple months ago. I bought a cheap HDTV card and I upgraded the HD to 500 GB.
I watch it during work in my office. It’s awesome.
That sounds like a great idea! Here in South Africa we’ve got DSTV that works with a dishy, decoder & smartcard. How would you go about rigging that up via a HDTV card?
Oh yes, some companies are doing everything they can to earn as much as possible, even if that includes dirty play. That kind of companies do not think about the future because at some point they can provoke real social campaign against themselves. That could be avoided with proper consumer service. Short-minded people sometimes make small money instead of getting more in future.
When a company starts to nickel and dime you for every little thing, especially an early termination free, it is a company that shouldn’t get your business.
I’ve never even used tivo before, but it sounds like it’s a company I should avoid. I hate dealing with these kind of money hungry corporations that take every chance to ding their customers with excessive fees.
In the UK we have Sky +, a fair bit of space and a decent monthly price combined with satellite
it is a nice post with have a nice article.it is really nice.keep it up..
Very surprising cancellation and specially asking for early termination fees, we would say very unfair to ask for such moeny.