Weaknees Reviews 31

I was very impressed from start to finish with Weakness as they informed me that they received it, they diagnosed it right away as being a bad hard drive and a faulty fan, (which I was certain both were bad) by the error code and sound!it was making and I responded what type of upgede I wanted and they had it fixed and sent back very quickly. Also, every time I called during business hour they picked up right away and gave me exactly what I was looking for. I am extremely happy, especially since they were successful in retrieving all my saved recordings! They are a great company!!!!

I ordered a replacement 1Tb upgrade hard drive kit for my TiVo Edge For Antenna RD6F50 from weaKnees.com after confirming that it was the correct one. The kit arrived in a few days and contained the 1 TB hard drive, a tool to unscrew the two TiVo case screws, a case spreader tool to open the case plastic catches and a page with a printed link to their instruction video.

I found it curious that while their web site states they ship a “1 TB New AV Line Hard Drive” in the kit, the one they sent me was dated 28 OCT 2015. However, I decided to proceed with the replacement upgrade following their video. I have built a number of computers from scratch and installed lots of hard drives, so I am quite familiar with the process. I used a grounded anti-static wrist strap throughout the installation.

Once I had the weaKnees hard drive correctly installed and TiVo box reassembled, I followed the TiVo on screen set-up procedures which included documenting all the over the air channels currently being received by my roof top antenna. The next step would normally be the display of any of the channels selected on my TV.

None showed. Note, I had not changed any of my AV equipment, wiring, etc. and only had replaced the TiVo hard drive. I contacted TiVo and their tech ran through a number of steps and concluded that the issue was due to a hard drive failure since the TiVo was otherwise correctly communicating.
I contacted weaKnees via email per their website, since no one was reachable using their customer service phone number. Their response was that there was nothing wrong with their hard drive but “The issue in your situation is that your cable provider uses some data to program the cablecard that changes with a hard drive. Therefore, you need to contact them and have them reprogram the card once you have the new drive re-installed.”

Of course, that could not possibly be the correct explanation since as I specified in my contact with my order that I owned a TiVo Edge For Antenna RD6F50. I do not have any cable provider, it receives its content from the roof top antenna.

I sent them back an email pointing out that it wasn’t a cable unit and this was stated when I ordered it. They responded there was nothing wrong with their hard drive and I should recheck the installation. I did that and everything was done correctly but still the hard drive did not function properly. When I emailed them they responded by telling me again there was nothing wrong with the hard drive.

I then removed the weaKnees replacement hard drive and put the original hard drive back in. Again, nothing else was changed. When I powered up the TiVo, it worked perfectly.

I informed weaKnees customer service of this, and asked for the stream of emails to be forwarded up to their Customer Service Manager for escalation, they told me I could return the hard drive with me paying for the shipping cost AND that they would be charging me a 15% restocking fee ($15 minimum). They reiterated that there was nothing wrong with their hard drive and that “Per our return policy, which clearly states that return shipping costs and a 15% restocking fee apply, we adhere to these terms consistently for all returns. You acknowledged and agreed to this policy before you placed your order.”

I looked at my order and receipt for my order and did not see anything about their return policy or the restocking fee. I went back to their website and that information does not appear anywhere on the page where you select the kit you want, nor when you order the kit. I did find that information by first going to a different part of their website for a section of Q&As and in that section you then had to click on a link to get the details of their return policy.

It is unfortunate that their continued response was to state there was nothing wrong with their hard drive, even after first claiming it was caused by a cable provider using a program to make changes to the hard drive and after my removing their hard drive and reinstalling the original hard drive and the TiVo worked perfectly.

I find it unreasonable that they charge me to ship the defective drive back to them and are charging a 15% restocking fee ($15 minimum) under these circumstances. They never even remotely admit the hard drive could be defective. Perhaps the drive they shipped which was dated 2015 was refurbished by them and still sold as new? How in the world is this consistent with their statement on their website that “Our goal is 100% customer satisfaction.”

Well they do answer fast, but the answers are strange. The refurbished unit I bought had no signal, support told me to try the supplied power supply. I did exactly what they told me to do and it didn't help. They said send it back for a working unit, but then they said its working fine. OK that's great but they are accusing me of "claiming" it didn't work and not wanting to pay to send it back to me. What would a false "claim" gain me? Why not send it back to me if its working fine- which is what they were supposed to do, or refund my money if they don't want to send it back to me? Very strange.

I have used this Directv Tivo THR22 since 2012. The hard drive was formatted a couple years ago, when Directv tech dept could not make it work (can't remember the exact problem). In early January, it had the message "Hard Drive not detected." After trying to fix it again through Directv, they said I have to buy one of their new, non-Tivo dvrs. I wanted to stay with Tivo because I don't like the way the Genie works. I found WeaKnees online and emailed them. They answered my questions, I sent them my dvr, and they fixed it! The dvr had to have a new (now much larger) hard drive. The power connection had been fried and also had to be replaced. I got my dvr back today, plugged everything in, and it set up immediately with Directv on the same account -- which I had kept open. WeaKnees answered more questions for me during the repair, both on email and a phone call.

I ordered a remote control for my Tivo Edge. It was delivered promptly and works perfectly.

I had an 8 year old Tivo Roamio, for which I had purchased a lifetime license to get programming. When the hard drive failed, I was really disappointed, and thought it was over. I was so happy to find that Weaknees could send a replacement for the drive. So, I ordered it right away.
When it arrived, I went straight to install it. The installation couldn't have been easier. The directions were well written and had pictures to help me follow along. I held my breath when it was restarted, and was so happy to see my DVR resurrected. I was bummed that the videos on my external drive could not be saved, but this saved my investment in this DVR.
Thanks Weaknees!

Needed a part for my Bolt and found it all on there site could not ask for better service Thank You
There is an awful lot of information on there site and they are very helpful
Yes I will shop there again

I recently purchased a hard drive from Weaknees. The hard drive didn’t fix my TiVo problem. I then purchased a power supply. This didn’t fix my problem either. They only agreed to take back the power supply because I bought the hard drive more than 30 days ago. They already charge a 15% restocking fee and they still refused to help me out. I am not even sure if the hard drive works.

I’ve had my TiVo for 5 ½ years. Recently we had a couple of power surges and the TiVo hard drive died. Rather than paying $240+ for a new unit plus $500 for lifetime service, I decided to try WeaKnees to see if my unit could be repaired, saving a bunch on TiVo service. Great decision! They replaced the HD (upgraded to 1TB) and replaced the power adapter for a total of just under $200 including return shipping. They also suggested a UPS to keep power fluctuations from killing the HD again. The TiVo is now running through a UPS and is working like new. It only took 10 days from mailing the TiVo to receiving the repaired unit – a very reasonable turnaround time.
If you have a TiVo that was totaled, check with WeaKnees about a refurbished unit.

The shipping of the replacement part was very fast, the instructions were good, and the results were excellent, my TiVo was repaired with twice the recording time.

My Tivo Series 2 stopped downloading program updates after Tivo pushed out a software update. At first, Tivo Technical support claimed that my Internet connection was the problem (it wasn't) and then had me do the same troubleshooting steps about 8 times. If I had to give a score to their technical support from one to five, it would be -14.

Finally, they told me it was a known problem and that their engineering team was looking into it. They said they'd get back to me soon. A few days later, they sent me an email saying they wanted to do some additional troubleshooting. When I called as requested, they had no idea what troubleshooting was needed and walked me through the same procedures as before. Finally, they blamed the problems on a bad hard drive although they had no diagnostics for determining this.

Long story short, I have lifetime service so I decided to try swapping the drive. I found Weaknees, checked out their ratings, and ordered a replacement drive. Flawless experience. They helped me select the right unit, delivered it fast, and provided the tools and instructions needed to install it.

Still had problems with the Tivo guided setup though not Weaknees fault. Tivo could not find any cable service providers associated with my zip code. So they had me submit a new trouble ticket on this.

After several more Tivo tech support calls, I finally found someone who came up with the fix. Told me to change the zip code during setup to one known to produce a list of cable providers. If that worked, then I should change it back to my zip. This time, setup found my cable provider and all proceeded normally.

My Tivo is back up and running. I'd definitely buy from Weaknees again (assuming my new hard drive keeps working). But I will definitely NOT buy anything from Tivo. When this box finally dies, I'll rent from the cable company or rig up my own DVR.

I can always count on these guys. Just now, I needed a power supply for my DIRECTV H25 and they had one for me. Pretty obscure part.

I had TiVo back in the days when TiVo still made sense, and they always hooked my up for whatever I needed there.

Fast shipping.

Only ding would be the sales tax - they must be in CA. But that's not there fault - they want to good life too!

My Tivo broke. I called Tivo for help and after talking with them for awhile about my options, they recommended that I call weaknees to see if I could get my box repaired. I was very skeptical, especially after reading some of the angry reviews here. So I did my homework. First, I chatted with them online. My experience was definitely different than chatting with a huge company. I didn’t get a lot of pre-written, “How are you today?” responses and other questions and answers in broken English. I got short, clear, concise answers to my questions. They did not beat around the bush and were very frank and direct. I told them Tivo suggested that I send my Tivo in for repair and the chat rep asked questions about the symptoms, my model number, etc. and ultimately suggested that I might be able to resolve my problem without sending it in for repair. He (or she—I do not understand why they don’t use first names) told me that I could send in the unit or most likely it was just a power supply problem, which would cost less if I just bought parts and installed them myself.

I was a little reluctant to do the work myself so I called and placed an order. The phone rep was nice and knew his stuff. Took my order and we were done. There were no pressure sales tactics here. The guy offered me a shipping label for $20 and I asked whether he thought I should get the label. He asked where I lived. I said I lived not too far from them, so he said I could probably ship the unit in for less than the cost of their label. So I didn’t buy the $20 label, which I later regretted, because it was actually $25 for me to ship on my own. But I can’t blame them for trying to save me money. Total no-pressure sales here.

Soon after I shipped, I got an email from them saying they had received my unit. Then, 3 days after that, I got an email telling me what was wrong with my Tivo. Bad power supply, as they (correctly) diagnosed by chat. They told me that my original hard drive (now at least 7 years old) tested fine but that if I wanted to upgrade, they would try to copy my data to the new drive for no charge. OK, so right there, you have to ask yourself: Is this company a scam like other people are suggesting? They did NOT tell me that my 7 year old drive was dead. They told me that it was OK. They offered a new drive, did not force me to get one. And they offered to copy the data for no additional cost. Nice! I took them up on the offer and got a 1TB hard drive, 4-times the space on the drive I sent in.

A few days later, my Tivo shows up in a box packed REALLY well. I had a repair report telling me exactly what they found and what they fixed. And the Tivo started right up with all of my stuff there…and I have a ton more recording space.

I know this is a long review and I doubt anyone will even read this far :), but I have to say that even after Tivo recommended these guys, I hesitated because of all of the 1 star reviews here. I had a fantastic experience and could not be happier. I’d suggest you give them a chance before buying into the hate speech.

I sent my Tivo S3 in for repair to the HDMI port which failed because the pins had gotten bent. Other than that, the unit had worked flawlessly for years. While the unit was in for service, Weaknees contacts me and tells me that the power supply in my unit is showing signs of failing in the near future. But, if I give them another $99.99 (not kidding), they would replace the power supply. I politely declined as I was at the maximum for my investment in the unit and would accept the unit maybe working for another 6 months or, maybe if I am lucky, a year. I at least expected that it would work when returned to me as Weaknees indicated that it was in working order after the repair.

I got the unit back and, while the HDMI repair seemed to be successful, I am experiencing problems with the unit freezing so that it becomes non-working. I wrote Weaknees about the problem and they told me that these are symptoms of a failing power supply.

I'll let you be the judge on whether this is a shady scenario or not.

I am SO impressed with this company and their customer service!! I am a diving coach and found weakness.com online while searching for a place to buy a TiVo Series 1 to use for diving practice. With the first TiVo they sent, I had a hard time getting past the initial set up...after emailing back and forth, they figured out that it may just be a hard drive problem, so they actually just sent me a new hard drive with instructions on how to install it. I was terrible about emailing them in a timely manner, but they always responded within an hour or two...even after-hours!

When I was finally able to try to set-up the TiVo with the new hard drive, I was STILL having trouble getting it to work for diving practice. Once again, after numerous emails back and forth, (they always responded within minutes this time!) we were able to figure out what the issue was and they gave me clear instructions to fix it!

I am most definitely NOT technologically savvy, and I know I had to be a huge pain, but they never made me feel like the idiot I felt I came across as. They were very helpful, timely, patient, and professional! I would definitely do business with Weaknees again!! Thank you Weaknees for all your help!

UPDATE FROM PREVIOUS REVIEW:

Since my last review a few months ago, the company contacted me and gave me a full refund as long as I agreed to ammend my review. Therefore, I am updating this review to include that after many e-mails back and forth, I was credited the full amount. I STILL believe (as I have a right to my opinion) that the customer service is awful. It is unfortunate their customer service department didn't respond to my request for a refund until I posted this review, contacted a lawyer and the Better Business Bureau. My advice is to be careful when using any company to fix your TiVo. It shouldn't take a customer this much fighting and effort to get a refund when the customer is not satisfied with a company's performance. Again, this is MY opinion.

I had a Sony tivo repaired at a cost of $200.
The unit was returned in an inoperable condition. They blamed Tivo. for a software problem. Tivo said the the unit was no longer supported but this did not stop Weaknees
from repairing the unit while knowing the unit would not work.

Hi, it is will great surprise that I find myself writing this as I don't usually give reviews. I have to to say that when I called to place an order I thought I would be dealt with in the usual way. Not on this occasion. Geoff was amazing and took me through the process in the most patient and considerate way I have ever experienced. There was an issue with my non-US credit card and it was no problem, just a few extra steps to be taken, some on my end and some on his, and success. He was in no rush to move on to the next customer or that I was moving too slowly and he had things to do or anything like that. I can say only that it was a so unusually good experience that I find myself writing this review. I cannot recommend them enough, an example to everyone.

I just finished installing my second Weaknees HD replacement in my second TiVo.

I keep my TiVo's a long time (with their lifetime subscriptions), and after a number of years the telltale de-pixilation and picture breakup begins to appear. Weaknees has for years carved out a niche as the TiVo specialists. Their HD replacements work flawlessly and install in about 15 minutes. They come with the only tools you need and with superb instructions.

Plug the TiVo back in...and after the usual TiVo setting itself up again screens, all is well. (And now I have 2 TB's of space to record on!)

Kudos to Weaknees.

I have only made two negative reviews in my life so for me to make one says a great deal about my level of frustration. I read in an earlier review that this company is great when they are selling you something but that's where the good service/communication ends and I couldn't agree more. My DVR was sent in for a warranty repair because it completely stopped working (my $100 expense). Two weeks later it comes back and is doing the exact same thing I sent it to them to repair. To keep this review brief I will just say that their inability to communicate in a consistent and above board level was astonishing. Between their inability to competently repair my unit and a pure indifference towards my investment and time I would say that the concept of what they advertise is great. Their ability to follow through with that concept isn't.