Forum Discussion

Rick314's avatar
Rick314
New Contributor
3 years ago

TV has been out for 5 weeks now. About to cancel service.

I have cable and Internet bundled from Cox. I have my own TiVo Bolt. The cable card in the TiVo was provided by Cox. There is a tuning adapter provided by Cox between the coaxial coming into the house and the TiVo. This setup has worked great for the past 5 years.

Five weeks ago the TV and Internet stopped working around midnight and remained out for 2 or 3+ hours. I went to bed and it was working the next day, but several channels didn't work. A block of about 20 channels, then some random channels throughout the guide like HBO Signature, but all the other HBO channels worked. The TiVo error on those channels was V52

I called support and after going through all the basic steps of power cycling the tuning adapter and TiVo they decided to send a technician to my house. The signal strength checked out fine and he replaced the tuning adapter to see if that would change anything. Still the same problem. He said there was nothing more he could do, and said I have to call support back.

The info screens on the CableCARD Menu in TiVo all seem to indicate that the cable card isn't authorized. The Cox phone support doesn't seem to know much about cable cards, but they sent a message along to someone to authorize the cable card. Nothing changed -- still some channels weren't coming in. After calling support a couple days later they suggested that another technician come out and replace the cable card. The technician replaced the cable card and insisted on taking the old cable card back. FROM THAT POINT ON I HAVE NO CHANNELS WORKING FOR THE LAST 5 WEEKS!!! Only the TEST 1 (1987) channel comes in, and that works fine. Every other channel comes up with "This channel is not authorized. Contact your cable provider for more information (V58)." Or some with error V52 or "This channel is not authorized." with no error code. The TiVo is not the problem. It works and I can watch previously recorded shows. It's just the live channels are not authorized.

After the technician replaced the cable card I called phone support and gave them the new CableCARD number and Host ID from the TiVo menu which they were supposed to activate. Nothing changed in a day or two. They suggested trying another cable card, so I went to the Cox store and got another cable card (and returned the previous one), called phone support, gave them the new CableCARD number and Host ID. In the TiVo "Cisco CableCARD/Host ID Screen" screen (along with the cable card number and Host ID) it says "In order to start service for this device, please contact customer service at Ph# 800-222-2222", so it seems to indicate that it's not authorized.

After that, phone support said they "opened a ticket" for my problem. I got a call back a day later asking if the TV was working. I said no. Never heard back from them, so I had to call them the next week. They said the ticket can take 72 hours, so I waited and called back, then I was told it can take 5 business days, so I waited and called back, then they told me the ticket had been closed. I'm not sure why they would close a ticket without verifying that the issue was resolved!

This has dragged on for weeks and weeks being told someone is working on the issue then nothing gets fixed. Support says they will call back then never does. I have to call them and try to explain the whole situation over and over. It's impossible to get anyone on the phone that can actually activate the cable card and verify that it's working. It's always someone having to relay messages to someone else. Why is support set up like this?

At one point I was told there were 2 cable cards listed on my account and they were going to delete one and that would resolve the issue. Then a few weeks later they said there are still 2 cable cards listed! I only have one TiVo installed and one cable card! Still no TV working!

That night over a month ago when the cable and Internet went out for several hours seems to have caused my account to get screwed up. No one in support seems to want to take control and get this problem resolved.

I am paying over $300 a month for all this. I was told I'm paying $10 a month for some sort of advanced tech support, and if I cancel that I'll have to pay $100 for the technician's visit when he installed the cable card that completely broke all my channels!

I think I've shown incredible patience with Cox support in trying to resolve this issue, but sadly it's becoming apparent that they either can't resolve this issue or have no desire to resolve it. If it hasn't been fixed in the previous 5 weeks, then why should I have any hope that it would be fixed in the next week, 5 weeks, or 5 months? I've spent hours and hours on hold and speaking with support, all for nothing!

I'm about to cancel my service completely and move on to another TV provider unless this is miraculously resolved soon.

2 Replies

  • @Rick314. It sounds like we need to look into this issue for you. I recommend sending us an email with your full name, address, and a link to this thread/description of the issue to cox.help@cox.com. -Allan, Cox Support Forums Moderator.