Weaknees.com Review

When my Hughes DirecTV 40-hour DVR's hard drive failed, I had to replace it and quick.  DirecTV was not willing to send me another one unless I committed to 2 more additional years with them (I already gave them nearly 7), pay $100 for it and agree to give it back to them if I decided to get rid of my service with them AFTER the 2 years were up.  Yeah, right!  They discontinued using DVRs manufactured by other companies and decided to make their own.  And from what I hear, their own branded DVR (that does not have Tivo) is one of the worse DVRs on the market. 

I resorted to going to ebay.com to find the same DVR, but I always get concerned with getting jerked over on ebay so I did some searching and found a site that came with high and rave reviews -- weaknees.com.  Weaknees.com came to my rescue.  I was able to purchase a replacement hard drive kit.  I settled for the 250-hour hard drive so that I could get more season passes as that is the man reason why I like Tivo so much.  The 40-hour hard drive was simply not enough.   I purchased the replacement kit for $159 with an extended 2-year warranty ($29).  Standard warranty is 180-days on the upgrade kits except on the Hughes HR-10 250 which is 1 year parts/labor.  All un-upgraded Tivos and newly installed Tivo hard drives come with a complete manufacturer's warranty.  Shipping was quick and free.  I now notice that they are no longer offering the Hughes 250-hour replacement hard drive kit, but instead a 280-hour replacement kit for $10 more.  Not bad.

Weaknees.com gives you the option of upgrading your hard drive to adding to your existing storage.  You also have the option of doing the work yourself or sending your DVR to them (for an additional fee) to be upgraded (standard or deluxe upgrades).  I opted to upgrade my hard drive myself.  Upgrading the hard drive yourself is really very easy and requires no computer or computer experience to do so.  The upgrade kits comes with 1 T10 Torx L-Key, 1 T15 Torx L-Key, upgrade hard drive and upgrade instructions.  It took about 35 minutes to replace my old hard drive with the new one, call DirecTV and have them reactivate my access card, download software updates and be up and running again.  No contract or commitment and the DVR belongs to ME.

Weaknees.com also offers new subscriber plans for Tivo and DirecTV.  I am not sure if they do so for other companies.  They also offer HD DVRs and upgrades, standard satellite receivers and accessories (remotes, power supplies, modems, networking parts, cables, dishes, antennas, access cards, etc.).  There is also a buying guide on their website if you are not sure of what exactly you want/need to buy. 

Customer service is knowledgeable and quick to answer.  They are based out of California and do not outsource their customer service to other countries, and it is always nice to get some one who speaks clear English, not some one who you can barely understand yet their name is Courtney Johnson.  Go figure!

The one gripe I have about weaknees.com is that the price of the DVRs and upgrade kits is pretty steep.  I originally had a Western Digital hard drive which was replaced with a Seagate hard drive.  I understand that DVR hard drives are formatted differently, but come on now -- $159 for a 250-hour Seagate hard drive?  Seems pretty high to me.  But, I don't think they have the competition right now so they can charge these prices. 

Weaknees is still a favorite of mine.  It comes highly recommended. 

(I meant to put this review under websites, but I don't know how to do that since I am not allowed to copy and paste my review into a new one.)