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The continuation of the TV saga
Jan. 5th, 2007 08:07 pmSo Wednesday I posted about my HD Tivo stopping working after I tried to install the HDMI cable. On Wednesday, I also called DirecTV, and they arranged an appointment with a tech support guy.
On Thursday, the tech support guy showed up. I showed him the problem (starting screens visible, then blue rectangle) and he said my machine was toast. I asked if plugging in the HDMI cord could cause the problem (since that's when it happened), and he said possibly, but I should tell DirecTV that I'd done that.
He arranged for a replacement machine. He requested an HR10 (HD TiVo), but said that I'd probably get an HR20.
On Friday, the HR20 arrived. Grump grump grump. Can't fault the speed, but I really wanted a TiVo. But I wanted a working machine more, so I went to get it connected. I plugged everything in, and went through the guided setup process, and then it wanted to restart. When it restarted, it got to 82% in the "acquiring data from satellite" stage, blinked, and restarted again. It did this several times, until I gave up and unplugged it.
At this point I called DirecTV technical support. First I spent 20 minutes on hold, then I got the customer service person who said she couldn't help me and transferred me to technical support (another 10 minutes on hold). The technical support person asked a few perfunctory questions, and then said it sounded like the machine was defective, and she could send someone out to make a house call for $30. I said that I wasn't happy at paying for a service call on a brand new machine, and she said that's all she could offer me. At that point I asked to be switched to the retention department -- I don't know what waivers they can make, but given that I've been a DirecTV customer for four years, I figured I was entitled to some consideration. The tech said she could do that, or she could transfer me to advanced support, since there was a software upgrade that might solve the problem. I grabbed at that one, since I thought I had been talking to the advanced support people.
Then I got Deborah. Deborah had me try a whole bunch of things, including hitting the Menu button while the HR20 was acquiring data from the satellite (it was unresponsive any other time). It let me have a satellite check menu, but nothing else. Deborah said this should have been about eight screens in, so something was very wrong. She was just starting to make "well, this is looking broken" noises, when she asked about the access card. I was using the access card that I'd been using with the HR10, not the new one that came with the HR20. She had me switch them, then boot up again. Bingo! It went through the startup routine properly then. There followed another half hour or so of getting service working and downloading software, but everything was working. Only problem was that I didn't have a 5-LNB dish, so I couldn't get local channels in HD, and if![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ckd was right that the HR20 doesn't support over-the-air channels, then I was left without HD locals either way -- at least until I got a 5-LNB dish installed. Deborah gave me the information to request a waiver to get the national channels, and then started doing the "Have I met all your needs" sign-off thing.
As long as she'd done so well already, I asked if she thought there was any hope of troubleshooting my HR10. She sounded surprised that I'd be interested in doing so, as long as I had a working HR20, but I said "I love my TiVo" and she understood. We went through the same process I'd gone through before of hooking everything up. Just as I was finishing, she said she had to put me on hold for a minute. Which was fine, because the TiVo would take some time to boot up. So I connected the power switch, and it started booting up. And then -- just like before, the screen went to a blue rectangle. But this time, I realized that I'd bumped a button in the front of the TiVo. There was a switcher that changed among 480i, 480P, 720P, and 1080i. And when I pressed it again, it went to 480i. At which point the screen showed "Acquiring data from satellite"!
My TiVo wasn't broken! My TiVo had never been broken! If the tech support guy who made the service call had just thought of pressing that button...
So then Deborah went through the setup again to get the HR10 set up with service. At this point, I had been on the phone for over two hours. I'm so glad I had a headset, but my ear was getting achy by the time we finally finished. This time, when Deborah asked if there was anything else, I asked for contact information to pass along what a good job she'd done. She connected me to a supervisor, and I gave the attagal.
So now I have this HR20 that I probably don't want (I'll play with the HR10 for a couple of days first), and I've had a whole lot of hassle, all because a) I pressed the wrong button, and b) none of the troubleshooting lists seem to know about this little problem.
Now to see if I can get the off-air antenna hooked up directly to the TiVo. And if I have to repeat the setup -- I think I pressed the wrong button on that, too. But at least I know I pressed a button there.
I think I want to watch some TV now.
On Thursday, the tech support guy showed up. I showed him the problem (starting screens visible, then blue rectangle) and he said my machine was toast. I asked if plugging in the HDMI cord could cause the problem (since that's when it happened), and he said possibly, but I should tell DirecTV that I'd done that.
He arranged for a replacement machine. He requested an HR10 (HD TiVo), but said that I'd probably get an HR20.
On Friday, the HR20 arrived. Grump grump grump. Can't fault the speed, but I really wanted a TiVo. But I wanted a working machine more, so I went to get it connected. I plugged everything in, and went through the guided setup process, and then it wanted to restart. When it restarted, it got to 82% in the "acquiring data from satellite" stage, blinked, and restarted again. It did this several times, until I gave up and unplugged it.
At this point I called DirecTV technical support. First I spent 20 minutes on hold, then I got the customer service person who said she couldn't help me and transferred me to technical support (another 10 minutes on hold). The technical support person asked a few perfunctory questions, and then said it sounded like the machine was defective, and she could send someone out to make a house call for $30. I said that I wasn't happy at paying for a service call on a brand new machine, and she said that's all she could offer me. At that point I asked to be switched to the retention department -- I don't know what waivers they can make, but given that I've been a DirecTV customer for four years, I figured I was entitled to some consideration. The tech said she could do that, or she could transfer me to advanced support, since there was a software upgrade that might solve the problem. I grabbed at that one, since I thought I had been talking to the advanced support people.
Then I got Deborah. Deborah had me try a whole bunch of things, including hitting the Menu button while the HR20 was acquiring data from the satellite (it was unresponsive any other time). It let me have a satellite check menu, but nothing else. Deborah said this should have been about eight screens in, so something was very wrong. She was just starting to make "well, this is looking broken" noises, when she asked about the access card. I was using the access card that I'd been using with the HR10, not the new one that came with the HR20. She had me switch them, then boot up again. Bingo! It went through the startup routine properly then. There followed another half hour or so of getting service working and downloading software, but everything was working. Only problem was that I didn't have a 5-LNB dish, so I couldn't get local channels in HD, and if
ckd was right that the HR20 doesn't support over-the-air channels, then I was left without HD locals either way -- at least until I got a 5-LNB dish installed. Deborah gave me the information to request a waiver to get the national channels, and then started doing the "Have I met all your needs" sign-off thing.As long as she'd done so well already, I asked if she thought there was any hope of troubleshooting my HR10. She sounded surprised that I'd be interested in doing so, as long as I had a working HR20, but I said "I love my TiVo" and she understood. We went through the same process I'd gone through before of hooking everything up. Just as I was finishing, she said she had to put me on hold for a minute. Which was fine, because the TiVo would take some time to boot up. So I connected the power switch, and it started booting up. And then -- just like before, the screen went to a blue rectangle. But this time, I realized that I'd bumped a button in the front of the TiVo. There was a switcher that changed among 480i, 480P, 720P, and 1080i. And when I pressed it again, it went to 480i. At which point the screen showed "Acquiring data from satellite"!
My TiVo wasn't broken! My TiVo had never been broken! If the tech support guy who made the service call had just thought of pressing that button...
So then Deborah went through the setup again to get the HR10 set up with service. At this point, I had been on the phone for over two hours. I'm so glad I had a headset, but my ear was getting achy by the time we finally finished. This time, when Deborah asked if there was anything else, I asked for contact information to pass along what a good job she'd done. She connected me to a supervisor, and I gave the attagal.
So now I have this HR20 that I probably don't want (I'll play with the HR10 for a couple of days first), and I've had a whole lot of hassle, all because a) I pressed the wrong button, and b) none of the troubleshooting lists seem to know about this little problem.
Now to see if I can get the off-air antenna hooked up directly to the TiVo. And if I have to repeat the setup -- I think I pressed the wrong button on that, too. But at least I know I pressed a button there.
I think I want to watch some TV now.
