On June 12th I blogged about how my Series 3 TiVo was making a lot of noise and how it had me worried. Well, after receiving several great comments, I decided to call TiVo in order to see if I could get a replacement. Getting a replacement S3 was surprisingly easy. The tech that I worked with agreed that there was probably an issue with my Series 3 and that it shouldn’t be making as much noise as it was. Within a couple of days I received a brand new Series 3 TiVo on my doorstep.
As soon as my Series 3 arrived I called Time Warner Cable (TWC) to see if I could get the CableCARDs that I was using with my broken TiVo paired up with my new S3. The customer service rep that I spoke with told me that since the cards were going to be installed in a new S3, they had to send out an installer. I tried to explain to the rep that all she needed from me was the CableCARD id from each of the CableCARDs as well as the host id from my TiVo. The rep seemed totally confused and she insisted that I needed to setup an appointment for an installer to come out to my house.
Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with having to have an installer sent out to my house. I’ve been extremely busy as of late and the last time I had TWC come out to my house it wasn’t a good experience. Because of this, I decided to call TiVo to see if there was something they could do for me. The TiVo rep that I talked to offered to three way call TWC to see if we could get the cards paired over the phone.
Even with the TiVo rep on the phone, I was unable to convince TWC that they didn’t need to send out an installer. Since I wasn’t able to get TWC to agree to simply take the required information, I decided to setup an appointment to have the cards “installed” in my replacement S3.
The appointment that I setup took place yesterday (6/27). The TWC installer showed up at my house around 11:15 to install two CableCARDs in my S3. The tech was extremely knowledgeable and he seemed a little irritated that TWC couldn’t simply take the necessary information over the phone. Along with installing both CableCARDs, the tech also provided me with some information about switched digital which has me a bit concerned (more about this in a future post).
In conclusion, I am extremely happy with the quality of TiVo’s customer service. Returning my broken Series 3 was extremely easy. Also, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that TiVo was willing to three way call TWC to see if we could get the CableCARDs paired over the phone without having to send out an installer. As far as TWC is concerned, I am once again irritated by how difficult they make it to get two CableCARDs. Hopefully I never have to call Time Warner again 
.
Have you had a similar experience with TWC or your cable company?
About Author
