If you bought a TiVo with an extended warranty at Circuit City before the chain died and came back as a retail zombie, TiVo forum poster Mark has good news and bad news for you: It is still technically possible to use your warranty, but doing so requires superhuman levels of persistence.

He posted his experience for the benefit of other customers who might still be covered under a Circuit City warranty.

If you have a S3 or HD with an extended warranty from Circuit City, there’s good news and bad.

The good news – it is still valid. The insurance company behind it, Assurant is honoring them. You can call them at 800-555-4615 or http://www.cityassure.com. In fact, when I called from my home number, it even brought up the CC ticket number.

The bad news – it is a pain.

At the end of February, my HD (purchase 9/07) started to act up. Passed all kickstarts, but would still hang/stutter (if you’re here, you know the drill). So I took off the DVR Expander, went through the divorce page and rebooted. Up came the divorce page. A few more times and I reconnected the expander. No boot at all. Removed the external drive, divorce page endless loop, etc. Called TiVo, went through the drill again, this time with the cable disconnected. Conclusion, unit is bad, send in for exchange. Mentioned I wanted to pursue my extended warranty, case opened, transfer request noted.

Called the number above, was given an incident number and instructed to bring it to the nearest Radio Shack who would ship it for repair. They weren’t interested in the fact it was probably the hard drive or that TiVo would exchange it.

Waited a week, the online trackers at cityassure.com or radio shack had no record of the numbers. Went to Radio Shack. The new manager tells me it didn’t get shipped out until he arrived a few days ago. Check in a week. Wait a week, he calls depot, they tell him waiting for a part. Call Assurant, they tell me waiting for a part. Repeat second week.

Third week, same story from Radio Shack. Call Assurant, demand to talk to a supervisor. He admits that after 30 days they will either replace it or provide a check for the purchase price. Finally last Friday, after an unpleasant chat with the Radio Shack service depot, they admitted they couldn’t get the drive (never heard of the vendors here that I offered), and they told Assurant it was unrepairable. Called them Monday, said it would take their replacement department a few days to find a replacement (or make me an offer).

So today was 30 days, and I wasn’t going away. After hearing there was nothing the phone rep could do and there was no way they could call or connect me with this mysterious replacement department, I moved up the food chain to a fourth level (over the course of 75 minutes). I also sent an email to their head of PR saying I would be contacting the media and regulators about this stone walling. Finally, they agreed to send me a check for what I paid CC for the HD. I called TiVo, confirmed that since it was being replaced under a retailer warranty (provided claim number and documentation) and went to Best Buy and bought a Premiere XL.

So, if you are still covered under a CC plan, there is hope. I would suggest that you bypass Radio Shack, bite the bullet and ship it yourself to whatever depot they want. The middlemen only made it more difficult. Be sure to keep on top of these people.

Circuit City Extended Warranty – Good News/Bad News [TiVo Community Forum] (Thanks, Mike!)

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