You remember how a few weeks ago I wrote about that big temptation to buy a pretty flat screen TV? You remember how excited I was? Well I guess it was quite a lesson on temptation, how when you’re truly tempted by something, it doesn’t always end so well. Like that chocolate cake that goes straight to your hips, or that really gorgeous guy who turns into the horribly controlling boyfriend. Know what I mean?
Well that tempting TV turned into a real nightmare. Soon enough I realized that it wasn’t exactly as advertised. At Target, the sign said that it could do 1080p and that it had two HDMI ports. But instead, it could only do 1080i and only had one HDMI port. Oops.
I could have lived with that, really I could have, because the price was so good. Just to check, I went online and did some comparison shopping, to see if maybe I was missing another option around the same price that really could reach 1080p. But nope, anything in that range was more than twice as expensive. So I dealt with it, I was okay with it. I wasn’t so pleased about the singular HDMI port, since that meant to plug in both my Tivo and my PS3 I’d have to buy a $40 HDMI switcher and deal with yet another remote hanging around. But still, I was trying to remain happy and calm.
The real problem came when I started hooking up other elements of my shiny new home theater. When I hooked up my Tivo, I noticed that after a few hours, it would start acting funny. I would hit a button on the remote, the little light would blink signifying that the Tivo received the remote’s signal, but then it would take up to several seconds before it would do anything I’d asked it to. It got really frustrating and doing even the simplest of tasks took *forever*. I’d restart the Tivo, it’d be fine for a while, but inevitably after a few hours it’d start delaying everything again.
Naturally I assumed the problem was with the Tivo. I called Tivo customer support and they were absolutely fantastic. Seriously, Tivo couldn’t have been nicer. They talked me through everything, making sure there wasn’t something conflicting with the remote’s signal. Ultimately they said they’d never heard of the problem before, but guessed – as I had – that it was some kind of hardware malfunction. They paid to have the Tivo shipped back and they sent me a brand new one, which I thought was marvelous of them.
Before the new Tivo arrived, my family had new TV reception service hooked up at our house. I’d done a ton of research and found out that we could get a bundle of TV, Internet, and phone service from Verizon at the same rate we were getting for those three services from separate companies, but better yet, we’d get more channels, HD TV service, two additional TVs hooked up in the house, Internet that was four times as fast, and free unlimited long distance, all at the same cost we were already paying for inferior service. Plus it meant Mom had to deal with just one bill instead of three each month. All around it was great!
Of course, this also meant I’d get TV reception in my room! 😀 Wheeee! Hehe. So the installer guys came, they got it hooked up in my room, and ta da! I had cable!
The only weird thing was, the Verizon set top box was doing exactly the same thing the Tivo was doing. I’d hit a button on the remote, the light would blink on the set top box, but nothing would happen. Heck, this was so much worse that literally nothing would happen for a while. The signal got there, it just flat out did nothing. I figured it was just too much of a coincidence that two completely different types of hardware were doing exactly the same thing; it couldn’t be that two different types of machines and two separate pieces of software had the same malfunction. The only common element involved was my TV.
When the new Tivo showed up, I had to call Verizon back and have an installer tech come out, because Tivo HD’s replace cable set top boxes. The Tivo replaces the cable reception set top box, thanks to a multi-stream cable card decoder which is slipped into a specific slot on the front of the Tivo. That also means we don’t have to pay $10 per month to rent the HD set top box, instead only paying a lovely $3.99 per month for the cable card.
But a Verizon tech has to do the installation, so a nice guy named Mike came and set it up for me. While he was here, I told him about the difficulties I was having with the Tivo and the set top box. And sure enough, as we were setting up the cable card, this brand spankin’ new Tivo was doing exactly the same thing! I told him my theory and he said I was spot on – apparently flat-panel LCD TVs rely on software, and he said that more likely than not, the software on the TV was interfering with both the set top box and the Tivo. In other words, the TV was a pile of crap and there was nothing I could do to fix it. I’d already looked online to see if maybe I’d set up the TV wrong or if it needed a software update, but nope, there was nothing I could do. I was screwed.
And I was also not very happy.
I had my Mom take me to Target a few days later and I spoke with someone in Electronics. I told them what had happened, they spoke to their manager, and after a looooong discussion and only one threat of calling my attorney over false advertising, they finally agreed to take it back, even though I didn’t have the box and no receipt. After a bit of a hassle they were able to look up the purchase on my Mom’s Target credit card and all was well. For a while there I didn’t think we’d get away with it, but sure enough, I got my money back. Phew!
So the lesson of this story is, when it comes to TVs, don’t go with the no-name cheap ass brand that no one’s ever heard of, no matter how good a deal it is. Not only did it not work, it caused a lot of problems not just for me, but for Tivo and Verizon as well. I really feel kinda guilty about Tivo having to eat the cost of that first Tivo, but it does at least go to show that their customer service is second to none! I can’t possibly praise them highly enough for how smooth, kind, patient, and wonderful their customer service was, they’re utterly spectacular.
As for Olevia TVs, um, I can’t possibly say enough bad things about how truly sucky their TV was. I’m just glad I was able to get my money back! So last Saturday, my Mom and I went out TV shopping. I spent the afternoon slowly going to the different electronics stores in the area before I found a beautiful Sony Bravia on sale at Sears (of all places! I’m not really a big Sears fan.) The salesperson was very nice, he even gave me an extra 20% discount! I was kind of hemming and hawing at spending that much extra money, so he went and spoke with his manager to see if maybe they could lower the price just a teensy bit more. It was already on sale, but I appreciated the extra special Just Cause You’re Heather discount, hehe. 🙂
So now I have a lovely new 32″ LCD HDTV, this time from a top of the line, respectable, Japanese company. I even invested in the 5-year warranty, to make sure I don’t have to stress about problems that may come up in the future. Now I’m totally covered, even if I make a mistake and hurt it myself, it’s all okay. They’ll even come out one a year to inspect it and clean it for me! Yay!
That said, I’m now pleased to announce that my dream bedroom entertainment system is complete! I have my HD TV, my HD Tivo, and my wonderful Playstation 3! Hooray! At least that small corner of my life is good. 🙂 Now if only we could fix the other problems so easily…