TiVo (zero) Support?

[spektrum]

Hi all,

What's happened with TiVo Support? First they stopped the phone support -- now no responce from their email support. I have an open ticket with them since 16/6/11. I haven't received any feedback on progress since 27/6/11.

To cut a long story short -- I found issues with the Season Pass priorities. Basically the priories don't work and seems to be a bit random as to which season pass takes precedence. Tivo Support have analysed the box and acknowledged there is a fault, but thats about as far as they have left it. The last contact over 2 weeks ago stated they were waiting for feedback from TiVo (US), but haven't replied to any further emails.

I am disappointed with TiVo. I have had a few different DVR solutions in the past and had bought a 'brand name' product in the hope that it would have been a refined product with good support. Bit of a let down considering the cost!

[petestrash]

I agree with you 100% on the disappointing lack of support.

I have not seen or heard of your issue before.

Maybe try opening a new case, then once they respond give them the old case reference.

Peter.

[spektrum]

Very frustrating! .. My support ticket has been open since 16/6/11. After months of waiting for Support and Testing, this issue is still not resolved. Response to emails is sparse, and unhelpful. They acknowledge there is a bug in the program scheduling, but are not fixing it. I was becoming hopeful when they advised that the US development team were investigating log files, but after even waiting a further 4 weeks, no reply email, no fixes, nothing!

My advise to buyers .. there are bugs with the Australian version, the program scheduling doesn't work, and they don't provide adequate support.

[petestrash]

What are the actual problems you are experiencing?

[spektrum]

The recording priorities don't work. Here is one example .. I have set MythBusters season-pass to be priority #1, and there are 2 other season-passes that clash on some of the days. On these days, MythBusters doesn't record, and if I check the Record History, it shows it wasn't recorded due to another season-pass of a higher priority -- even though MythBusters is at #1 priority.

I received an email from Trish (Testing Manager) approx 1 month ago, who advised they are aware of this issue and have the US teams analysing the log files. We communicated a few times via email, but have not received any email update for a few weeks. All emails go unanswered.

I am an Engineer and am in the industry of software/hardware development and testing. I understand the processes are undertaken to resolved defects, and I am trying to assist them from my end, but the lack of support is frustrating.

I am running out of energy with Tivo support. Surely there must be an industry ombudsman that I can escalate this to? I will need to investigate this further...

[petestrash]

I might have been able to help if it was an EPG issue, but not with this system issue i'm afraid.

I have not encountered the bug myself and this is the first I have heard it.

If you look at the ToDo list for the future and look for Mythbusters, does it already tell you now that it will not be recorded or is it something that happens at the last minute?

Since it is not widespread maybe you can get around it.

I assume you have already tried deleting the Mythbusters SP and setting a new one.

Have you tried deleting your current SP for Mythbusters and then setting a regular SP for Mythbusters and not tell it to have priority. Then wait at least an hour and go into season passes and move the SP from the bottom of the list to the top. Check the ToDo list in an hour and see if it will record.

Peter.

[spektrum]

Hi Peter,

Yes correct, if I check the To Do list it already advises that the program won't be recorded.

I have tried just about everything that I can think of, deleting, recreating, wishlists, season-passes, resetting the unit. Unfortunately no go. The TiVo support guys gave me a big list of procedures to test and report back the results. They were aware of the issue, but said that not all units were affected. It would be better for them to change out this defective unit.

Due to their lack of support on resolving the issue, I have lodged a complaint to the ACCC. I have been patiently waiting for a resolution, but 6 months is not acceptable.

[petestrash]

It is very unlikely to be a hardware fault, it would be a software issue which potentially could effect a replacement unit also.

Have you tried a full clear and delete of the unit?

Is it still under warranty?

Peter.

[spektrum]

Not sure, how long is the warranty duration?

Haven't tried a full clear / delete. Will I lose all my recordings?

[spektrum]

I am still unsure how only a few units are affected and not others (their words) when we are all on the same hardware. Maybe different HW revisions. This would indicate mine is either (a) faulty, or (b) this HW revision contains a buggy firmware.

In either case it's not acceptable to ignore the issue. Why don't they just swap out my unit (faulty/defective/whatever) with one that does actually work.

[petestrash]

I suspect it is a software error that occurs only when certain circumstances happen. This can be hard to pinpoint the exact cause.

The Warranty is 12 Months, and if it is deemed faulty it should be swapped out if it is within this period.

That said a clear and delete everything does as the name says (including recordings), but in essence you start with an almost Virgin TiVo again. So you would likely get around the issue for a period of time and be no worse off than if you swapped units.

Peter.

[Darren King]

I am still unsure how only a few units are affected and not others (their words) when we are all on the same hardware. Maybe different HW revisions. This would indicate mine is either (a) faulty, or (b) this HW revision contains a buggy firmware

We are all running the same hardware revision. Hardware has been unchanged since the beginning. Even the onboard firmware is unchanged.

What could, however, as Peter has pointed out is that for some reason your software has a flaw. I understand you want TiVo themselves to sort this out but at the same time if you want to try a known good software version and have a spare 160GB to 1TB SATA hard disk laying around I can send you the instructions on how to do it if you send me an email. Just a thought.