DirecTivo Reliability? (1 Viewer)

[James^Brian]

I just got back from my local store and was all set to by a new Hughes Digital DirecTivo. At a resonable cost of $249 or $189 I was about ready to go out a happy man...then came the warranty sell. Telling me about how many problems they have with these things and I shouldnt expect it to last more than a year....if that. All kinds of problems with overheating, modems, hard drives, etc. And he couldnt "in good concious sell one to me without a warranty". He goes on to say "Thats why the manufacturer only gives a " 3 or 6 month warranty. The four year warrany is $125...... 50-75% of purchase price. Makes me think, are things really problem prone, and what am I buying or is this just hype to get a commission, or a little of both. So the question to you....are these things reliable? Should I get a non DirecTivo (costs $13/mo rather than $5/mo for subscription). Should I get a warranty. or.......

 

[george kaplan]

These extended warranties are almost always a rip-off, which is why they push them so hard. There's no guarantee that something won't go wrong, but I don't think it's common. The only problems I've ever heard of are when people do things like add additional hard drives, and hell, they've violated any warranties by the time they do that anyway.

 

[Robert_J]

The most common problem is a drive failure and that's rare. You can pick up a replacement drive for under $100 and download an image of the original drive and be up and running in no time.

At a resonable cost of $249 or $189

That's not a resonable cost. If you are a current D* customer you can order one from their web site for $99 or if you are a new customer, there are online store selling two and three room systems (with 1 DirecTivo) with installation for $99.

-Robert

 

[Rick Anderson]

I ran into MULTIPLE hard drive failures with the Sony SAT T60 I used to have. Luckily I had a replacement warranty from Circuit City which guaranteed they would mail me a replacement immediately, two day air, and I could mail the old one back in the box. After doing this four times (the model was just a POS IMHO) they gave me my money back and I got two Ultimate TV units (on clearance, for less than I had paid for the one DirecTivo unit) that never broke down.
I am a BIG believer in extended replacement warranties.

 

[DeborahK]

This sounds like a total rip-off to me. When I bought my Philips DirecTiVo a coupe years back, I paid only $5 for a five year extended warranty. At that price I figured why not? Incidently, the unit has had not one single problem.

Deborah

 

[Al Fischer]

I've had my DirecTiVo for 3 years and have had no issues.

The extended warranties are there for the same people who purchase car insurance when they rent a car!! Waste of money. Unless of course, it's only $5.00 for 5 years

 

[Rick Anderson]

Actually no, it's not a waste of money by any means. It has already saved me several hundred dollars. I have an extended warranty on my cell phone and it's been replaced twice already, along with the aforementioned replacement of the SAT T60 and in-home service of two computers and a very expensive direct-view TV we used to have.
Anyone that doesn't get an extended warranty better have the money to buy another of whatever they bought.

 

[george kaplan]

Actually that's not a statistically accurate thought. The simple truth of the matter is that these companies make much more money from selling extended warranties, than they lose by honoring them. For any given individual, it could turn out to be a money saver. But it's like the lottery in that for every person who makes money, 99% lose it.

The real question for an extended warranty isn't whether you can afford to buy another one of the product or not. It's whether or not you can afford the cost of an extended warranty that you'll almost certainly never use (probabilistically). I hope the following isn't too complex.

Expected value= (how much you would have to pay for replacement)*(probability you will need replacement) - (how much you paid for warranty)*(probability you won't need replacement).

I guarantee you that the companies selling these know these probabilities and set the extended warranty cost so that your expected value is negative, and that their expected profit is positive.

 

[Rick Anderson]

That's all fine in theory. But I don't live in theory, I live in reality, and in reality I've saved far more from extended warranties than I've put into them.

 

[george kaplan]

That may very well be true. But all that proves is that you are in the minority for which the probablities have made extended warranties a good idea. For the vast majority of people, unlike you, they will lose money investing in them. The great thing about this is that it's completely up to the individual to assess the risks and benefits and decide what to do. You feel comfortable with your decision, which is great. But if someone else is trying to decide whether it is a good idea for them, it is helpful for them to understand that you are only one data point in a much larger sample, and that the positive outcome for you clearly places you in the minority. There are people who smoke 3 packs of cigarettes a day and live to be 100 and never develop lung cancer, but that doesn't mean that smoking tobacco is therefore a good idea.

 

[Charles L]

Why not go directly to the DirecTV website and get a DIRECTV w/ Tivo unit for $99. See the tivocommunity website for details.

I have had a DTivo Series 1 unit for a couple years now. No problems whatsoever.'

Charles

 

[jeff lam]

Extended warranties are more for insuring big purchases like a nice TV or high dollar item. Because you know if it goes out on you you are OK. Tell the guy who bought that $5000 TV that went out on him that an extended warranty is a waste of money. My rule that I generally follow is if it's a high dollar item ($500+) and has a shorter than 1 year MFR warranty, an extended waranty would most likely be worth purchasing especially if it's only a small percentage of the overall value of the item. Now if the EW is like 25% or more of the item's value, I may have to think about it a little more. And it doesn't make much sense at all to buy an EW (say 3 years) on an item that is covered by the MFR for 2 years.

 

[Shane Martin]

I bought a Directivo about 2 years ago and bought an extended warranty to go with it. I haven't had any problems with it yet.

 

[MarkHarrison]

Anyone that doesn't get an extended warranty better have the money to buy another of whatever they bought.

I would get an extended warranty on a very big ticket item. Other than that, yes, I can afford to replace something when it breaks. It's not that I'm rich, but that I've saved hundreds of dollars on other extended warranties that I never needed.

 

[MikeSh]

I've had 2 HDVR2 DirecTivos since Feb. Not a single problem with either of them.