Upgrades for fun and profit

[Lost Dog]

Has anyone taken here taken the step to make some extra cash on upgrades? I've been playing with the idea of offering upgrades locally (like on the local forsale newsgroup) to make a little extra spending money. There are places like Weakneas that offer this service but I'm thinking on more of the local level rather than a web based business.

My thought was if someone provided their own drive I'd charge something like $30 or $40 to do the upgrade. If they wanted their old shows saved, maybe $50 or $60...

I'm only thinking of hard drive upgrades and no hacks due to their volatile nature. A drive upgrade is pretty much a no brainer...

Anyone making a little cash on the side? Or is this an idea doomed for a headache?

[davel]

Anyone making a little cash on the side? Or is this an idea doomed for a headache?

IMHO... You are doomed for a headache!! You obviously are not a computer tech or in the service industry (not meant as a flame if you are) For $40.00 (heck even $100) you are basically saying "I will keep up with all future hacks and changes to your tivo" Why? Because that person will come back to you the next time an update comes down and will probably be impatient about a fix because once they adjust to the lifestyle you have provided them they will want to keep it. Even if you qualify the upgrade with "this is a one time deal", it won't matter.

I provided some less tech savy people with internet on multiple machines by a simple cable router and I am always on call if "I can't access my email" even if it is the mail server that is down, or the modem itself...

If you want to make money you are better off doing other things

[tytyty]

Another burned out tech so sad....

[Lost Dog]

IMHO... You are doomed for a headache!! You obviously are not a computer tech or in the service industry (not meant as a flame if you are) For $40.00 (heck even $100) you are basically saying "I will keep up with all future hacks and changes to your tivo" Why? Because that person will come back to you the next time an update comes down and will probably be impatient about a fix because once they adjust to the lifestyle you have provided them they will want to keep it. Even if you qualify the upgrade with "this is a one time deal", it won't matter.



Well, that's why I was thinking of hard drive upgrades only.. No hacks.. A drive upgrade is pretty much put it in and if it works, it will be hands off. Hacks would be a total headache and not worth the time.

[newbie]

Well, that's why I was thinking of hard drive upgrades only.. No hacks.. A drive upgrade is pretty much put it in and if it works, it will be hands off. Hacks would be a total headache and not worth the time.

I think hard drive failures are more common in Tivo than with PC's. If the drive fails under warranty I suspect customers are going to expect you to help them. If the tivo fails under warranty I can see customers telling the mfg they paid to have the unit professionally upgraded and that the warranty should be honored.

Not sure I'd get into the business (other than with people you already know).

I do agree to stay clear of any upgrade that won't survive a standard software upgrade.

[malfunct]

I think hard drive failures are more common in Tivo than with PC's. If the drive fails under warranty I suspect customers are going to expect you to help them. If the tivo fails under warranty I can see customers telling the mfg they paid to have the unit professionally upgraded and that the warranty should be honored.

Not sure I'd get into the business (other than with people you already know).

I do agree to stay clear of any upgrade that won't survive a standard software upgrade.

It might be ok if you are clear in your disclaimer (have a lawyer help you write it so it doesn't break any laws) and say that the upgrade is not supported by tivo and will void all warrenties from the manufacturer. You might want to see that you can still honor the hard drive manufacturer warranty (meaning you replace the drive for the people). That means you will need to keep around backup software images for any systems you work on in case they bite the big one.

[captain_video]

Offering hard drive upgrades may be more of a headache than you could imagine. If something goes wrong the customer will expect you to provide a fix. I've been asked numerous times if I would provide hard drive upgrades and I've declined because there's no way of telling what the buyer will do once he or she gets the hard drive. Unless you can test it for yourself in the actual unit you're taking a major gamble.

I've been selling turnkey DTivos on the side off and on for several years. I don't sell a lot of them but I've tested every unit thoroughly as a complete setup before I ship it. I provide instructions on using the installed hacks as well as copies of all software programs required to support the hacks. Instructions are also provided on how to reinstall the software should the buyer ever have a need to do so. I provide a backup of the original Tivo image and the necessary installation software for that purpose. I include a USB to ethernet or Turbonet adapter with the DTivo so it's ready to plug into a home network. I also provide links to sites such as this so the buyer can get the most out of the hacks I've installed.

I make it perfectly clear that the DTivo itself has no warranty and that the hard drive is covered by the drive manufacturer. I do, however, provide e-mail tech support should the buyer ever need assistance with getting the hacks to work. So far, I've only had one exception where a buyer could not get bash via ethernet connection and attempted to reload the software himself and botched it. Otherwise, I have had a 100% customer satisfaction rate. For the one buyer that had a problem, I had him ship the unit back to me so I could reinstall the software and test it. I am shipping it back to him at my expense.

The key is to be prepared to back what you sell and have the capability to do so. Anyone can hack a Tivo with the right software. Fixing them if something goes wrong is another matter entirely. If you're not sure how to do it for yourself then you can't expect to be able to help someone else if a problem crops up. The benefit of selling complete systems is that the buyer is less likely to screw around with it and try to hack it themselves. If they could do it themselves then they would have probably done so already.

[sealevel]

Hinsdale is turning some coin I'm sure, not really a bad idea, IMHO. But yes, you have the potential chronic "pain in the ass" syndrome. Proceed with caution, good luck. :)

TA

[AVD]

Not sure I'd get into the business (other than with people you already know).


Better with strangers.