Forum Discussion

SteveCrone's avatar
SteveCrone
Joining in
5 months ago

Need to change Tivo box

On Monday I unboxed a new box to replace my 88 year old mother's unit. However, this is a 360 and the remote and menu system (on the screen) is too difficult for her to follow.

Phoned tech support (eventually got through), he advised that they were not able to downgrade to a lesser version. He registered a complaint for me for a manager to get back to me, however I have to be contacted, thus our mother has been without a TV for, now, 3 days. This is not good for her mental wellbeing. My feeling is that no-one is concerned.

All we want to do is get her back to a setup that she can understand, ANY ADVICE??

Pretty sure the signal can be changed to suit a V6 box and I know that has the same remote control and menu screens, as that is what I have.

Desperate to get this fixed, as yesterday she was in tears!!!

13 Replies

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  • japitts's avatar
    japitts
    Very Insightful Person
    5 months ago

    The complication is that it's not a "signal that needs changing" to suit a V6. TiVo, V6 & TV360 all use the exact same broadcast signals, but it's the box software and associated account setup that's the issue.

    When a customer migrates from TiVo-platform (TiVo or V6) to Horizon-platform (TV360), changes are made to the box itself (be it hardware swap or software install), as well as the account-side.

    The question here, would be what circumstances led to your mother's TiVo (I presume) being replaced with a TV360. Was this a fault replacement? Or did she respond to any communications/emails advising of "update is available" or somesuch?

    • SteveCrone's avatar
      SteveCrone
      Joining in
      5 months ago

      Her contract needed renewing, however when I organized this, I specifically asked will anything change, as she's 88 and will struggle with any changes to menu or remote control and was told nothing would change. Oh! how wrong.

      Eventually had an engineer visit, who helped explain how to use and made it easier for her by setting up her profile.

      Although, he could not provide a simple way of getting to recordings, so we'll revisit that at a later stage.

      As mentioned below, she could use the voice-interactive side, but this scared her and made her feel she was talking to herself (not a good idea for one's mental wellbeing!!).

      I think it's very bad that the contract advisors appear to have been told to get customers upgraded, no matter what and without HONESTLY explaining what the outcome will be and that they cannot be reverted. This is bad business practice, so not surprised many others are unimpressed and thinking of leaving VM.

      Regards, Steve

      • Sabrina_B's avatar
        Sabrina_B
        Forum Team (Retired)
        5 months ago

        Thanks for the update SteveCrone, when customers ask "would anything change", this is in reference to the contents of the package not the equipment and would ask to retain the same box, apologies for the confusion. Unfortunately it would not be possible to revert back to the box that she had prior, if her contract renewal is still covered under the 14 day cooling off period you can cancel and switch providers.

  • SteveCrone's avatar
    SteveCrone
    Joining in
    5 months ago

    On Monday I unboxed a new box to replace my 88 year old mother's unit. However, this is a 360 and the remote and menu system (on the screen) is too difficult for her to follow.

    Phoned tech support (eventually got through), he advised that they were not able to downgrade to a lesser version. He registered a complaint for me for a manager to get back to me, however I have to be contacted, thus our mother has been without a TV for, now, 3 days. This is not good for her mental wellbeing. My feeling is that no-one is concerned.

    All we want to do is get her back to a setup that she can understand, ANY ADVICE??

    Pretty sure the signal can be changed to suit a V6 box and I know that has the same remote control and menu screens, as that is what I have.

    Desperate to get this fixed, as yesterday she was in tears!!!

    • Gareth_L's avatar
      Gareth_L
      Forum Team (Retired)
      5 months ago

      Hello SteveCrone.

      Thanks for your first post and welcome to our community.

      We're sorry to hear that the 360 Box is not suitable for your mother.

      As japitts has advised, it's not possible to go back to the old software version once the upgrade has taken place.

      We do have a few customers who are not happy with the change and have since gotten used to it.

      We do have a user guide here if that helps?

      Gareth_L

       

       

  • Mr_K's avatar
    Mr_K
    Knows their stuff
    5 months ago

    I have an even better suggestion if VM won't provide the service you need - Freeview. Excellent value too. I'll be going that way when my contract ends. 

    • Roger_Gooner's avatar
      Roger_Gooner
      Alessandro Volta
      5 months ago

      Which does absolutely nothing to help the OP's 88-year-old mother now.

      • Mr_K's avatar
        Mr_K
        Knows their stuff
        5 months ago

        Neither has VMs , 'no we won't help' response.

    • japitts's avatar
      japitts
      Very Insightful Person
      5 months ago

      Freeview doesn't provide any pay-TV channels for starters.

      The OP's 88-year-old mother may or may not want these, but you can't offer solutions as cast-iron suitable without knowing this first.