If you read this blog often then you probably already know that I gave my in-laws a TiVo that I received from the JCPenney’s Dockers deal. One of the best things about this offer was that it included a three-month gift subscription as well as the fact that the subscription doesn’t require a one year commitment!
Since my in-laws aren’t that tech savvy I took it upon myself to setup their TiVo. If I didn’t set it up for them then they never would have done it for themselves. As you probably already know, one of the first things you need to do to setup a new TiVo is activate the subscription. In order to do this, you need to either call up TiVo’s 1-877-289-8486 number or activate the box using TiVo’s website. Since I didn’t have an internet connection handy I decided to active the subscription using the “old” method of picking up a phone 
.
Right away I ran into a problem. For whatever reason, the gift subscription code that I had wasn’t valid. The individual that I spoke with told me that they would need to elevate this issue up and that somebody would call back within the next couple of days. To be perfectly honest, I was a little concerned with this “solution”. I mean how many times have you been told that you would receive a call back from a company only to be left waiting for a call two months later?
To my surprise I received a call back from TiVo two days later! Now that’s what I call good customer service. I was told that I would receive a call back and sure enough I did! The individual that called me back told me that the issue had been resolved and that the gift subscription code that I had would now work.
I know that I’ve ragged on TiVo’s customer support before however, this time I was extremely happy with their level or response. Keep up the good work TiVo!
Not to sound like a jerk, but I’m sure you never mentioned the fact that you write a BLOG on Tivo right? You would never use the site as a way to get further on right?
I’ve had so many problems with Tivo support today that I honestly can’t believe that you had an easy time of it.
I received this in an email:
Matt,
The person that I spoke with didn’t tell me what the “fix” was. All I was told was that the problem needed to be elevated up. If I were you, I would give TiVo a call directly and see what they can do for you.
Good luck! Let us know what happens….
I’m not even sure that the person that I spoke would care about this site. I had a problem with TiVo tech support before however, this time they were great! I hope you figure out your problem(s). Let me know if there is anything I can do to help….
I’m glad that you were satisfied with their customer service, but having two wait two days for a callback would not have been acceptable to me. I would have expected (demanded) immediate resolution, i.e. over the phone. You shell out money for this thing, it should work right away.
Good point however, since the TiVo was still working I didn’t feel as though I had to have it fixed immediately. I was told that I would receive a call back and until then my TiVo would continue to receive updates and guide data. If the issue was more pressing then I would have demanded an even quicker response. For this type of issue I feel as though two days was an adequate response time.
Well,
I woke up today and tried to activate it again… it worked! I never got ahold of tech support as I kept getting disconnected, but I guess they were having some internal problem that prevented it from working.
Just wondering if you bought the tivo from the tivo store. I bought mine as Christmas gift for my wife on the 14th of December. We cracked it open on Christmas day and got the same ‘invalid’ response that you recieved. After contacting customer support I was told try again in a week!
Although my beef isn’t directly with customer service, I would very much like to strangle the idiot that is in charge of making sure the gift subscription data base and activation database are synced up!
TOTAL TIME ON HOLD WITH TIVO THIS WEEK
~3 hours
Mike,
Are you asking Matt or me (Alex). If you are asking me, I received my TiVo via the JCPenney/Dockers deal.
>>Are you asking Matt or me (Alex).
Well, input from anyone that has has the ‘invalid subcription code issue.
Funny, roaming around in the licence agreements on tivos web page turned up somthing rather interesting.
In ALL CAPS – they mention the non-functional gift subscription issue. Its the only item in the agreement that is in ‘all caps’.
Obviously they know that this is a problem. I just wish the would find the root cause and fix it as opposed to having a lawyer ‘fix it with documentaion’
Mike
Do you have a link to the page you are talking about? I’d be interested to read it…
http://www.tivo.com/2.9.1.3.asp
I belive its item #21.
What happens when the code for a lifetime subscribtion is invaled and they keep giving me the run-a-round for a fix. I’ve been on the phone every other dayfor a week with no results. I had thought of purchasing a couple more units but after the Mess that I’m having with them. I’ll build my own. In my book tivo and everything about it sucks.
It’s too bad your having such a problem. TiVo wasn’t willing to work with you on your invalid subscription?
well, I had no trouble setting it up and them taking my money, but I was unable to get it to wotk well with the Dish satelite (I have the Dish dvr that works like a dream.) I had heard good things about TIVO, so I thought I’d try it. But as I said, I could not get it to work well, so I tried to call customer service for them to help. After being on hold twice for longer than 40 minutes, I gave up and took the tivo back to the store. Well, my pain was not over! I waited on hold for more than 1 hour when I eventually got a person. He was great – but after an hour on hold, I definitely will NR+EVER touch or recommend tivo to anyone!
Nic, I’m sorry to hear that your experience wasn’t as good as mine has been. Good luck with your dishnetwork setup.