captain_video
06-26-2004, 05:38 PM
I just thought I'd relay an experience I had with Orbit Communications, otherwise known as Orbitsat on the web (www.orbitsat.com). Back in January of '04 I ordered four Philips DSR7000 DirecTivos from Orbistsat via their website. Before they would ship the units I had to sign an agreement and fax it back to them indicating that I would agree to activate the receivers within 30 days of purchase or pay a surcharge. This is pretty much SOP for any retailer of DTV equipment so it was no big deal.
About one week later I received the shipment of DTivos, packed two to a box. When I opened them up I could hear things moving around inside the DTivo chassis'. This was not a good sign and my fears were confirmed when I removed the top cover to inspect the unit. Three of the four hard drives had detached themselves from the chassis and were loose inside the cases. This is because the hard drive brackets were fastened with double-sided tape and the cold weather caused the tape to lose adhesion. The Tivo boxes were packed such that they were standing on edge instead of laying flat. The vibrations from shipping combined with the cold weather caused the tape to break free.
I was able to reattach two of the drives with no problem as well as the ribbon cables that had also come loose from the hard drives bumping into them. The third drive was another issue altogether. It had bounced around inside the chassis with enough force as to crack the power supply board, rendering it totally DOA. The other two DTivos worked fine after reattaching the drives and reseating the ribbon cables. I had to get an RMA from Orbitsat to return the defective unit.
I was also prompted via e-mail to contact the Orbitsat website to indicate which access cards had been activated to show that I had fulfilled my part of the obligation. I was only able to activate 3 of the 4 access cards since the 4th was being returned and indicated in the comments section that one had been damaged during shipping.
I finally received the replacement DTivo about 4 weeks later. The replacement unit was a DSR704 and not a DSR7000 like I had originally ordered. I didn't have a problem with it so I went ahead and activated it like the others. I never received any follow-on requests to report the access card number like I had with the original DTivos so I let it slide. I was, however, receiving a multitude of e-mails requesting that I report the status of the RMA request. When I tried to report the info via the website link it kept giving me an error. The info was never processed properly, resulting in a constant barrage of RMA status requests on a daily basis.
A couple of months later I received a letter from a collection agency on behalf of Orbitsat telling me that I had to pay a surcharge on the 4th unit that was never activated. I contacted the agency and explained the situation but the person who's name was on the letter was not available so I had to deal with his assistant. I followed up on the call to see how things were progressing and I was assured that it had been taken care of and that the matter could be considered closed. They had asked me for the access card number of the replacement DTivo but I could not honestly tell them what it was although I assured the woman that it had been activated within 48 hours after receipt of the replacement DTivo. I had since activated several other DSR704's on my DTV account and didn't remember which ones were still active and which ones had been deactivated. They didn't press the issue even though I tried my best to determine what the access card number was.
-To be continued
About one week later I received the shipment of DTivos, packed two to a box. When I opened them up I could hear things moving around inside the DTivo chassis'. This was not a good sign and my fears were confirmed when I removed the top cover to inspect the unit. Three of the four hard drives had detached themselves from the chassis and were loose inside the cases. This is because the hard drive brackets were fastened with double-sided tape and the cold weather caused the tape to lose adhesion. The Tivo boxes were packed such that they were standing on edge instead of laying flat. The vibrations from shipping combined with the cold weather caused the tape to break free.
I was able to reattach two of the drives with no problem as well as the ribbon cables that had also come loose from the hard drives bumping into them. The third drive was another issue altogether. It had bounced around inside the chassis with enough force as to crack the power supply board, rendering it totally DOA. The other two DTivos worked fine after reattaching the drives and reseating the ribbon cables. I had to get an RMA from Orbitsat to return the defective unit.
I was also prompted via e-mail to contact the Orbitsat website to indicate which access cards had been activated to show that I had fulfilled my part of the obligation. I was only able to activate 3 of the 4 access cards since the 4th was being returned and indicated in the comments section that one had been damaged during shipping.
I finally received the replacement DTivo about 4 weeks later. The replacement unit was a DSR704 and not a DSR7000 like I had originally ordered. I didn't have a problem with it so I went ahead and activated it like the others. I never received any follow-on requests to report the access card number like I had with the original DTivos so I let it slide. I was, however, receiving a multitude of e-mails requesting that I report the status of the RMA request. When I tried to report the info via the website link it kept giving me an error. The info was never processed properly, resulting in a constant barrage of RMA status requests on a daily basis.
A couple of months later I received a letter from a collection agency on behalf of Orbitsat telling me that I had to pay a surcharge on the 4th unit that was never activated. I contacted the agency and explained the situation but the person who's name was on the letter was not available so I had to deal with his assistant. I followed up on the call to see how things were progressing and I was assured that it had been taken care of and that the matter could be considered closed. They had asked me for the access card number of the replacement DTivo but I could not honestly tell them what it was although I assured the woman that it had been activated within 48 hours after receipt of the replacement DTivo. I had since activated several other DSR704's on my DTV account and didn't remember which ones were still active and which ones had been deactivated. They didn't press the issue even though I tried my best to determine what the access card number was.
-To be continued