WeakneesReviews of weaknees.com

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 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 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.

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 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.

FWIW. I was a repeat customer with Weaknees and I have spent over $1000 with these clowns. I ordered a new DVR TIVO hard drive ( after their tech told me that is what I needed for my DVR with a locked up condition) It arrived and it was installed and it didn't fix my DVR. They said that it was bad and I would be charged for a 2nd hard drive (until it was shipped back to them ) The 2nd new hard drive didn't fix my problem either. I was going on vacation and needed it fixed so I ordered a complete DVR unit that did work. When I went to return the 2 hard drives that where purchased from them they said that I waited too long ( several days / weeks past their term and conditions) After several e-mails and complaints to their management they would only credit me with a 45% restocking fee. Nice. They are very help full when you are thinking of spending hard earned money, but if you have any problems with their products they will shut you down and keep your money. I suggested to their manager that their poor customer service ( in which I was charged for 2 of their hard drives which I didn't even need ) Then they had the nerve to charge me 45% restocking fee ( which should have 15% ) They told me that I was lucky I got anything as it was past their generous return policy.