# Advice on broke Tivo that I sold on ebay



## replaytv

I am looking for advice, so possibly I am putting this post in the wrong forum. 
I sold a Tivo on ebay and now the buyer says the hard drive is bad. I am wondering the best way to go. I could have them ship it back to me and fix it and sell it again, refer them to insurance, have them buy another hard drive and refund them some of the price, or move to Paris and change my name. 

I like to ship Priority USPS but people don't want to pay the extra cost, so I went regular parcel post, and sure enough, the hard drive was damaged. It was insured.

The indication that the hard drive was bad was that the TIVO just stays at the starting up screen.


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## lpwcomp

If possible, have the buyer open it up and see if maybe connections got knocked loose during shipping.


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## magnus

replaytv said:


> I am looking for advice, so possibly I am putting this post in the wrong forum.
> I sold a Tivo on ebay and now the buyer says the hard drive is bad. I am wondering the best way to go. I could have them ship it back to me and fix it and sell it again, refer them to insurance, have them buy another hard drive and refund them some of the price, or move to Paris and change my name.
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/180938739492?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1562.l2649
> 
> I like to ship Priority USPS but people don't want to pay the extra cost, so I went regular parcel post, and sure enough, the hard drive was damaged. It was insured.
> 
> The indication that the hard drive was bad was that the TIVO just stays at the starting up screen.


I guess it would all depend on them. What is it that they are wanting you to do? I think all of the options you listed are good ones but it would depend on if they have the skills to fix it or even open it. I'd say to go the insurance route. That would make the most sense.


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## unitron

replaytv said:


> I am looking for advice, so possibly I am putting this post in the wrong forum.
> I sold a Tivo on ebay and now the buyer says the hard drive is bad. I am wondering the best way to go. I could have them ship it back to me and fix it and sell it again, refer them to insurance, have them buy another hard drive and refund them some of the price, or move to Paris and change my name.
> http://www.ebay.com/itm/180938739492?ssPageName=STRK:MESOX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1562.l2649
> 
> I like to ship Priority USPS but people don't want to pay the extra cost, so I went regular parcel post, and sure enough, the hard drive was damaged. It was insured.
> 
> The indication that the hard drive was bad was that the TIVO just stays at the starting up screen.


Was it the original hard drive?

Did you have the TiVo apart yourself at any time before shipping it out?

Is there a SATA/IDE adapter involved?


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## replaytv

unitron said:


> Was it the original hard drive?
> 
> Did you have the TiVo apart yourself at any time before shipping it out?
> 
> Is there a SATA/IDE adapter involved?


I bought the Tivo used with that hard drive in it so didn't have it opened up at all. I will open it up and check it when I get it back. The buyer wants to mail it back and get his money back. I mentioned having him changing the hard drive if he had one, but I imagine it would be simpler just having him ship it back. I'll probably just replace the hard drive with another one if that is what is wrong, and I imagine that is what it is.


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## lillevig

replaytv said:


> I bought the Tivo used with that hard drive in it so didn't have it opened up at all.


Just a word of advice. I first check to see if the Tivo powers up properly but then I always open it up and blow out the dust. I also run a full disk check on the drive, check the power supply, and often I go ahead and re-image the drive even if I'm not going to replace it.


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## replaytv

The buyer called and said that a local computer place said that they could replace the hard drive with a 80 gig drive for $60. I told him that wouldn't do for me, (as I can replace it for free..I have lots of TiVos laying around) and resell it. So the buyer is going to mail it back to me. I may just explore having USPS pay me the total cost because it was insured. I think they will take the Tivo, but what do I care, at least I get some of my money back.


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## cannonz

Would probably have better luck using UPS for shipping.


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## supersnoop

I once purchased a TiVo on ebay and the hard drive was damaged in transit. That's when I learned how to take apart and image a TiVo drive. He credited back $100, which I think UPS reimbursed as part of the insurance. 

Not everyone will want to bust open the unit and fiddle around with it. Remember that biggest benefit TiVo provides is that you don't have to be a computer expert to use it. I'd suggest filing with the insurance and see what happens. They should collect it from the buyer, so neither of you will have additional shipping expenses. If they don't cover it, then you can replace it yourself.


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## replaytv

cannonz said:


> Would probably have better luck using UPS for shipping.


I have been told that it is almost impossible to get your money from UPS for a claim, but don't know that first hand, other than a computer I was sent. It wasn't packed per UPS standards, so they wouldn't cover it. I didn't blame them for that. But it isn't easy to find their 'standards though that are required for shipping'.
http://www.topix.com/forum/com/ups/T1CL5B53RFF9O6OMU


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## cannonz

replaytv said:


> I have been told that it is almost impossible to get your money from UPS for a claim, but don't know that first hand, other than a computer I was sent. It wasn't packed per UPS standards, so they wouldn't cover it. I didn't blame them for that. But it isn't easy to find their 'standards though that are required for shipping'.
> http://www.topix.com/forum/com/ups/T1CL5B53RFF9O6OMU


I meant would be less likely to be damaged in first place, seems to be less handling and better care with them.


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## replaytv

I received and opened up the Tivo when it would never come up. It does have an adapter on it for the hard drive. Kinda of a flimsly thing that was disconnected. It sure wasn't connected on there well. If I had known it was like that I would have put a strap on it to hold it in place. Possibly when it was floating around it damaged something, as even when I reconnected it the fan and hard drive spin up, but the screen never goes past the first screen. I will replace the hard drive with the an appropriate one and see if that fixes it. 

I told the winner of the item to ship it back to me the same way I shipped it to him, but neglected to say 'insure it' so now I probably won't be able to get the insurance money. But probably won't be a big thing as I will be able to sell it again when I replace the hard drive. Although at a lower cost with a smaller hard drive. I have paid shipping both ways, so probably will just break even when all is done. Lots of work for nothing.


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## WVZR1

replaytv said:


> I received and opened up the Tivo when it would never come up. It does have an adapter on it for the hard drive. Kinda of a flimsly thing that was disconnected. It sure wasn't connected on there well. If I had known it was like that I would have put a strap on it to hold it in place. Possibly when it was floating around it damaged something, as even when I reconnected it the fan and hard drive spin up, but the screen never goes past the first screen. I will replace the hard drive with the an appropriate one and see if that fixes it.
> 
> I told the winner of the item to ship it back to me the same way I shipped it to him, but neglected to say 'insure it' so now I probably won't be able to get the insurance money. But probably won't be a big thing as I will be able to sell it again when I replace the hard drive. Although at a lower cost with a smaller hard drive. I have paid shipping both ways, so probably will just break even when all is done. Lots of work for nothing.


one out of how many?

I can't believe you found so many circumstances to "whine" over in a single transaction - I'd guess maybe a little more thorough inspection might have made your sale! What insurance money would you have expected had it been shipped insured?

You might want to take a couple steps back! I believe you might be a little close to the edge!!


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## Kenny4200

guys...break it up.... check if the item works...b4 you ship.... whats the saying..."measure twice...and cut once" .... we can't all be perfection...but we can sure try huh


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## replaytv

Kenny4200 said:


> guys...break it up.... check if the item works...b4 you ship.... whats the saying..."measure twice...and cut once" .... we can't all be perfection...but we can sure try huh


duh!!! of course I checked to see if it worked before I shipped it!!! I would never ship anything without testing it first.


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## lillevig

For what it's worth, I always open up boxes I buy and again if I sell them to check the power supply, blow out the dust, check the cables, etc. I did have one S1 that the buyer shipped back that at some point had the Turbonet card come off of the edge connector. Only way that could have happened (other than intentionally) was that it got dropped on the wrong side to jar it loose.


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## replaytv

lillevig said:


> For what it's worth, I always open up boxes I buy and again if I sell them to check the power supply, blow out the dust, check the cables, etc.


Yes, that is what I will do in the future.


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