The Robbery & Corporate Response Part 2

Next there is Tivo…

THEY STOLED THE TIVO?? That has to be the dumbest thing ever to do. You have to register it to work and the minute you try to do that, Tivo is going to have the address of the robber or the idiot they sold it to! That is what I thought. And maybe you would think that too. But not they bosses at Tivo. Why should they let a perfectly good subscription not get sold when they can just not bother to keep track of stolen units. Yes they did transfer the life subscription we have to the new unit they sold us but now they got us buying a second unit and they have the thief buying a new subscription so Tivo makes out like a bandit.

But to be honest I have received a different answer as to what happens if someone tries to activate a stolen and reported Tivo unit. First call I was told that the only thing the Tivo unit would tell them when hooked up was the zip code the unit is in. when I pointed out that for the account they would have the address, name and phone number, the person at Tivo told me, get ready for this, they could have used a stolen card to pay for the activation. Of course they could and when the charge back came would tivo have shut off the subscription or left it on? So if the subscription is still on, then the information is good and if not, then let the police decide what to do with it.

The next call I was told what you would expect them to do, get the information, tell the person there is a people and then give the information to the police.

Then the next time I called I was told they do nothing, there is no list, no red flag and that if I wanted to know if it was reactivated I would have to call constantly to have them check the service number.

It seems that Tivo could help in catch thieves and basically take any incentive out of stealing a Tivo except they make money by having more of them out there. When I posted this on the Tivo forum the response I got for the reason that Tivo might not want to turn in someone with a stolen Tivo is that maybe you gave the Tivo to a friend or an ex and you want it back so you make a false police report and get Tivo to report the person to the police. Or better yet, you are doing it as a prank on someone like your room mate. What a bunch of idiots that would think anyone would risk making a false police report so they can mess with a roommate. More likely they are people who buy stolen property and don’t want to get caught.

I was just watching an episode of Criminal Minds and in it they said that the problem with criminals is that that don't think like us. Well maybe the bosses at Tivo and T-mobile that refuse to help find thieves and robbers also don't think like us and need to have US the honest people, take their business away until they do. For us to contact our law makers and start getting these people to cooperate in catching crooks rather than asking money from them. Someone on the Tivo forum said I should write Tivo. NO, we need to write the people that make the laws to either get Tivo shut down or to get them to play well with the honest people of the community. As far as I am concerned those that aid criminals, are criminals. And those that profit from our suffering need to be dealt with.

Next there is T-mobile and the IMEI Number...