We all use a DVR and for a while I had a Tivo DVR. A year ago I cancelled the service when my family wanted to go back to Comcast. But just this week I get a renewal notice for my cancelled service.
Looking up on my charge statement, Tivo had charged me for service in 2011 even though I cancelled. I called Tivo, and they knew they had me and they refused to refund the charge. They said the customer service person had kept my annual service alive so i could sell an active box. How is this a cancellation of my service?
Going back and forth, Tivo tried to upsell me on another service for a monthly fee.
My question to them is "Why should I continue service with you when you take my money provide no service for a year?" "How is canceling my service equate to charging me the annual fee so I can sell the box?"
My next steps are to fire this off to the Better Business Bureau as my credit card company can't do anything for the charge given the age of it.
Watching this happen to myself, reminds me of other data center vendors who focus on maximizing their revenue and putting the client in the bind of having little choice but to eat the costs to fix the mistakes made by picking the wrong vendor.
In the same way that Tivo is a short timer with horrible customer service, there are some other vendors out there that will be falling off the map as they have no problem with horrible customer service.
It can be impossible to find this type of information disclosed anywhere, but if you know who to talk to you can find out what really works and what doesn't. The data center vendors can benefit from people not wanting to air their dirty laundry.
My mistake: I trusted a Tivo customer support to cancel my subscription when I told them to. A charge showed up on my credit card three months later, and I neglected to audit my credit card statement for a charge I didn't expect. Shame on me for trusting Tivo.