I was given a Tivo for Christmas, I have had the service for 6 months. When first trying to connect to the service to download the guide, I could not get it to connect for the life of me. I called their tech support and they told me a code to use as my dialing prefix. Perfect the service connected and downloaded.

After about a month I was getting sick of running a phone cord from one end of my home to the other to connect just so I could have a guide, because I did not have wireless internet at the time. So I recently switched internet companies so I could have a wireless connection. I went to their website and got a list of USB modems that were supposedly compatible and work with the Tivo. I went through 3 of the ones off their list and not a single one worked with the Tivo. I called and informed them that none of the USB's I purchased that their site said would work worked. They offered little help other then to purchase one of their USB modems that cost upwards $70 bucks which I could not afford. So I continued using my phone line.

I recently switched phone companies to Clearwire home phone service. I went to connect the Tivo to the phone and it would not connect. I called the company and was informed that Tivo is not compatible with digital phone lines, and I would not be able to connect to the service from my phone line any longer. Their brilliant idea was to offer me an HD Tivo for a reduced price of $200 dollars. Which if Tivo is not compatible with the digital phone line I still would not be able to connect it to download the guide, Plus if I couldnt afford the $70 bucks for the USB what makes them think I could afford $200 dollars for a new Tivo.

I told them I would like to cancel my service because I am not going to keep paying for something that does not work, and they are aware it does not work. They told me I will have to pay for the remaining 6 months even though the service does not work and will no longer be used. Or I have to find someone who will take over the Tivo and payments for the 6 months. What makes them think I would recommend much less get someone to take this service after this nightmare.

I ended up ordering a DVR through my Satelite company Which is only 10 bucks a month and holds more recorded programs then the Tivo did.

I would not recommend this service to anyone unless you want to get stuck paying for a product that does not work.

After paying for a 1-year subscription to service, the TIVO stopped working. Seems like a normal enough thing to me, so I cancelled my cable (because I don't watch a lot of TV), and went on my merry way. Didn't think that I would continue to be charged $12.95 a month for service I wasn't using. Well, I thought wrong. 14 months later, when I called about the problem, I was told that in my 1-year service agreement, somewhere in there, it told me that I would be automatically renewed to monthly service, without my permission. Beware, customers, because TIVO cannot give refunds, or so I am told.

Is there anything I can do about this?

Tivo quietly added a lifetime service agreement for $399 less than three months after a purchased a 3 year plan for $299.
No upgrade was provided. It was sneaky in that I could have canceled and bought the limited plan and bought the lifetime plan but I found out a year later.
I feel cheated. It was not handled with respect for current customers.

I just tried to cancel my TiVO. For a long time now, I've noticed that the TV Guide info that opens when I press the Guide button, is wrong. And TiVO and Tribune Media Services do not feel like fixing it.

When I spoke to Justin at 877 367 8486, in their cancellation/stop the bleeding department, who was very nice, he rushed to try to keep my business. I said that during these tough times, I have to look at all luxury items and a convenience that isn't dependable has to be dropped.

He asked me to specify what exactly happens, if at all possible, and I said ok. Remember, these are just a few examples of what I've personally experienced.

If this has happened to you, and you want to keep TiVO, then call them up and give them all the details you can and don't be surprised if they make you an offer you can't refuse. It's worth a try.

Here's the specific example I gave: I saw that the BBC spy drama "MI-5" was airing at 2am. I watched the original series a few years ago and stopped only because it stopped airing in America. When I watched, it starred Matthew Macfadyen as the lead character, Tom. The last I saw it starred Rupert Penry-Jones as Adam (who hasn't been on the show for a few years now).

The info blurb says it is dated "2003" and stars "Rupert Penry-Jones." Great! I record it while I sleep.

Next day, I start playing it, and who do I see? Tom. Not Adam. Matthew is a very tall brunette and Rupert is a tall blonde.

Then, Fox News is very bad about doing this trick: they will "mark" a re-run as a "first-run", tricking my TiVO into recording every re-run, which pads their ratings. I've seen other broadcasters do something just as sneaky: they start a show later than advertised.

I'm sure Nielsen's is on to this nonsense, but who knows.

Well, Jennifer, who took the transfer to Tech Support by Justin who thought he was helping me, proceeded to try to tell me that there was nothing she could do about the first-run trick. I said yes there is, TiVO is effectively a lobbyist for its millions of customers and they most certainly can influence the show broadcasters.

Jennifer proceeded to suggest I file a complaint to TiVO using the online form. I asked what if someone doesn't have internet? She said they could go use the public library. What?! That's the second company who suggested this to me.

Wow. They really don't care about you if you don't have internet.

I told Jennifer I am making a complaint already, through her. She basically did her best to get me to stop talking to her and to go bother someone else.

She literally "paraphrased" my second concern as being "so you want me to talk to the broadcaster and make them stop mis-coding their transmissions?" She said that like it's a bad thing. I said, better TiVO than me, because no broadcaster, regardless if NBC or Fox or whatever, will listen to little me.

Jennifer proceeded to act like they wouldn't listen to "her" either. Which I found astounding. Is she really suggesting that I'm asking her to make a personal phone call?

I finally said look, just work on the first concern and let's leave it at that because I was silently picturing her arms spontaneously falling off and her tongue shrivelling to a dry stick because she stopped caring a long time ago.

I came *this* close to asking to be sent back to the Don't Let Them Leave Department and in fact call it quits after all. But I had already been on the phone way too long with them, so I'll try again later.

As I told Jennifer and Justin, I lived without TiVO before it came along, I can do it again. I still have a VCR and a lot of old tapes I can re-use. Since I have to basically go back to finding programs on my own and setting up a bunch of manual records, the only thing different is what I record on.

There is nothing on TV that I have to save, forever, in digital. Besides, I'd have to drop $600+ to buy a new TiVO in order to capture HD. I will not spend that kind of money on TV, not now. No one should. Because TiVO needs YOU a lot more than you need them.

Or we can just give up TV altogether and just take their advice: go to the public library.

I ordered a new TIVO (my 3rd) and had many issues hooking it up. When I received my AmEx bil I noticed that I was being billed for two TIVO svcs. When I called the cust. svc # I was told that unless I can illustrate that I called to cancel the other svc, I would have been billed until I got confirmation of cancellation. I want a refund for the redundant svc. billing.