Forum Discussion

Henricus's avatar
Henricus
Tuning in
4 months ago

TV Box disposal

I'm going to be recycling an old TiVo box when it gets replaced with a TV360 one. Being of a somewhat neurotic disposition when it comes to binning any IT equipment, I can't help wondering whether TV boxes retain any sensitive account information that could be of use to the bad guys for the purposes of identity theft, phishing and the like.

Does anyone know whether this is the case, and if so how to reliably zap it before I hand it over to the tender mercies of my local council? Or do I just need to trust them to make sure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands?

  • Client62's avatar
    Client62
    Alessandro Volta
    4 months ago

    VM have a very nasty habit of mentioning recycling and then asking for the kit to be returned weeks or even months later only to charge a fee if you are unable to comply.

  • Matthew_ML's avatar
    Matthew_ML
    Forum Team
    4 months ago

    Hey Henricus, thank you for reaching out and please do not worry once you send us the kit back everything will be wiped.

    As mentioned you can order some via that link or we can order you some packaging?

    Just let us know.

    • Henricus's avatar
      Henricus
      Tuning in
      4 months ago

      Hi Matt, I ordered some packaging via the link, but the resulting email I received tells me it is for a Broadband Router rather than a TiVo box. So a few things about this:

      1. Can I cancel this, as the packaging won't be big enough for a TiVo and Virgin won't be expecting it?

      2. I don't have a router to return. I had some issues in 2020 that resulted in the offshore support sending me a new one that I didn't need, so I assume this is what they are now asking me to return. No-one asked me to return it at the time, and I disposed of it. Is this going to be an issue now?

      3. Back to the original question about the TiVo box. I'm guessing as Virgin say to recycle this, which I assume is why they are not sending me the packaging for it, I am not going to be able to return it. So, is it safe to leave out for the council to pick up (I don't have transport to take it to the tip myself)? (Fwiw, my assumption is that there are no actual account details on there, just something like a Device Id that the network recognises as being linked to my account).

      • Alex_RM's avatar
        Alex_RM
        Forum Team
        4 months ago

        Hi Henricus, if the packaging has already been arranged we're unable to cancel it. You can dispose of any equipment we don't need back in an environmentally friendly way 😊

        Alex_Rm

  • jpeg1's avatar
    jpeg1
    Alessandro Volta
    4 months ago

    If you look through the user menu on the TV box, you should be able to find an option to delete all the settings.