TiVo : TiVo Installation & what I was not informed of...

[echelon]

I had TiVo installed yesterday, after a few glitches everything seems to be up and running smoothly now, but to get this far took a fair few phone calls to VM.

This is what happened...

Ordered TiVo 2 weeks ago, I was told on the phone that my V+ HD box would be relocated to the bedroom where we had our Pace V box, and there would be no increase in the monthly fee because I was on their VIP 100 package.

I thought this was all fine, until I actually received the new contract which had discrepancies to what I was told when ordered.

When I phoned VM regarding the contract they had sent me, I was put through to the Indian call center again - so I went through the contract and pointed out that the £3 monthly fee had been added (when I placed the order, this was included in all VIP packages). It turned out that that the person that took my order had incorrectly typed the wrong code in, and I would receive a new contract stating the correct details.

Anyway, the TiVo technician turned up 20 minutes late, which did not really bother me, considering the problems he had encountered before my installation. Now, on his job sheet he was told to remove my V+ HD box from the premises, and leave me with just the new TiVo and the standard Pace V box. I told him that I had a problem with this before and queried the contract, so he phoned VM and they also confirmed that the V+ HD was infact to stay and the Pace V Box removed. After this, everything seemed to be fine and he left after installing the TiVo box in the lounge and relocating the V+ HD box in the bedroom.

Then I started looking through the TiVo box and noticed all of the Sky Movies and Sky Sports in HD were all grayed out, even though the standard Sky Movies and Sky Sports were showing fine. So then I phoned VM to find out why. After being passed around the indian call center numerous times and getting cut-off four times, I eventually got put through to the TiVo Team, and then found out why this had happened.

The woman I spoke to admitted the issue had been brought many times since TiVo had been released and it was not documented well. If you are on a VIP package you get the HD channels included, but what they do not tell you is that they are only included for one HD box on the premises. In my case the HD channels were allocated to the V+ HD box (which was now in the bedroom). She gave me the options, which were I could have the Sky Movies and Sky Sports HD channels moved to the TiVo box, or pay extra per month to have the HD package on both boxes. Since we do not have a HD Tv in the bedroom at the moment I told her to move them over to the TiVo box, which was done while I waited on the phone, and I had to reboot the TiVo box.

Now, everything is okay apart from I am still waiting for the new contract - but beware if you are keeping two HD boxes that have Sky Movies and Sky Sports, you could end up paying more a month. Really, VM should address this issue and point it out to customers.

[Stephen]

Its well documented on the VM site that the HD Sports and Movies are charged per box, so if you get them included with VIP that only covers for 1 box and would then need to pay £7 per additional STB to get the HD variants on them.

[echelon]

If it is 'well documented' on VM's website they should inform people when ordering TiVo, that there are options available. The TiVo team said they have dealt with many people requesting the same thing as myself, which to me sounds like a breakdown in communication regarding Sky HD Channels.

Yes, I agree it is £7 per month extra for the HD channels per box, but I expected them to be transfered to the TiVo box, not the V+ HD box in the bedroom. I would have paid the extra if we had another HD Tv in the bedroom, but it's an old 42" plasma bought in 2003 when Tv's were very expensive and never supported Full HD @ 1080.

[Stephen]

They would normally ask if you want them moved to the TiVo box. Who ever spoke to you must have forgotten to ask you.