Buyer Beware!

You know what the problem with buying stuff online is? Let me tell you a little story...

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I was going to buy a Tivo because I had been spoiled the last couple of years having a DVR at my disposal. I looked online and in Circuit City and Best Buy to try and figure out what I wanted.

I settled on a Series 2 Dual Tuner Tivo. The best price I found anywhere for a new one was $150. So when I saw one on Craig's List for $70, brand new in box, I thought, eureka!

I went to purchase the item from the guy and it was just as he had said. The box hadn't even been opened yet, and he seemed to have a legitimate reason for selling it. But the box didn't have a model number anywhere, and of course, the Tivo packaging doesn't feature anything that isn't available, so I didn't know what it was lacking.

Excited, I come home and unwrap and begin to hook up the new addition to his electronic friends TV and DVD player. Not until after I had almost everything set up did I see on one of the booklets that it's the Single Tuner, not the Dual Tuner. If you've had a DVR then you realize how much of a convenience it is to be able to record something on one channel while watching something else on another. It's huge. But I thought to myself that I could deal with it. And as I'm about to complete installation and plug in the ethernet cable into the device I noticed that it only had a phone jack, or a USB connection. Eff.

Now I have to buy a USB adapter, but I didn't want a wireless adapter because we don't have a network setup in the house. We plug in directly to the wall and I didn't want to have to get a router too. The problem now is that nobody even sells wired USB adapters because it's pretty much outdated, so again I'm going to have to resort to online shopping to find what it is that I'm looking for.

I made sure to look on the Tivo website for the right kind of adapter that would be compatible with my Tivo. I settled on one of the D-Link variety because that was the cheapest I could find, and would get shipped the fastest. The problem now is that there is the D-Link DUB-E100 A1 and A2 that are compatible, but not the A4 or B1. Well at the store that I'm looking at, it doesn't specify which it is, it only says D-Link DUB-E100 and nothing else. I was anxious just for my Tivo to start working so I made the purchase, ignoring the lesson I should have just learned with the purchase of my Single Tuner Tivo.

It got here yesterday. I plug it in and...it's not compatible. I look all over the packaging to see what version it is, and only on the manual that comes with the device inside of the box does it actually say it's the B1 type that's incompatible. The great thing about electronics is that you can't really return opened computer items, particularly when you're buying from online merchants.

At this point I could try again, go for a different adapter and just make sure that it's the right one. But I thought I would start poking around on the Tivo website and some other forums to see if I can just find the Dual Tuner for cheap and not even bother with the adapter.

Turns out that on the Tivo website there are refurbished boxes for only $80. I called this morning to see if I could switch the service over to a new box and just get one of those. The guy on the other end says, "Tell you what. I'll do you one better. How about a brand new Dual Tuner Series Two for $70?"

So I thinks to myself, "are you @#$%&! kidding me?!," but what actually came out was a sheepish, "Yes, please."

I'm an idiot.