Is FETCH TV rubbish technology?

[Snowy]

I have just ordered my second Gen 2 Fetch box in a week and a half because the first one would not pick up FTA channels after 72 hours of use and the one that arrived yesterday (Wednesday) stopped working at 5 pm today and did nothing any more. It would not even boot.

My first FETCH TV (Gen) 1 two years ago was replaced 3 times. The third time it was replaced with a Gen 2 that has lasted 18 months before the hard drive crashed and it failed to boot any more. The Gen 1 machines never worked satisfactorily. The first Gen 2 worked fine for 18 months. And now two new GEN two machines have failed almost immediately.

So almost a 100% failure rate of technology.

This is technology - supplied by OPTUS - is hopeless. Does Harvey Norman sell FETCH that has a near 100% failure rate? I would think not. Samsung / Panasonic / Toshiba / Sony / Apple with a near 100% failure rate in technology would have disappeared from earth years ago, yet FETCH survives - and worse - OPTUS continues to sell it! Or does OPTUS use the Quality Control failure units - or worse - send returned failed units onto customers who have problems with their machines?

OPTUS please explain how one customer in 3 years can have such a high technology failure rate in a product you sell in 2016. And it is not just bad luck! It's failure rate is worse than mouse cards and CD burners that went into 8086 personal computers in 1986 for heavens sake!

Regards

Snowy - One long term OPTUS client who is sick to death of rubbish FETCH technology that is provided.

[Scott_M]

Hi @Snowy, Sorry to hear you've had so much trouble with the Fetch. The Fetch TV product has in fact proven quite stable so not sure why you have had such a bad run of hardware failures with your units. I agree it does seem like it's beyond co-incidence, but if what you suggest around 100% failure  was across the board then we certainly wouldn't be continuing with the product. The hardware is supplied by Fetch TV Directly and is the exact same hardware as stocked by retail stores. Only the firmware differs. If the hardware has been returned to us then they'll investigate the failures I'm sure.

[Snowy]

Being "not sure" of why I have had so many problems is patronising, unhelpful and meaningless. Optus needs to know and the manufacture needs to actually know what failed in these systems, why and how to fix it. MTBF of these machines is aweful.

For your records and for the benefit of those interested in the potential problems they may have with this product I provide a listing of my experience.

Since December 2012 when we commenced the FETCH service our Fetch box has been replaced 5 times due to machine failures of  hardware or software/firmware.

1st machine        Gen I     lasted 10 months to failure

• Delivered 17/12/2012
• Problems 14/10/2013: Frequent audio and picture break-up on FTA/internet/recordings
• Replacement ordered 23/11/13

2nd Machine       Gen I     lasted 2 months to failure + 1 month to replace after initial order and repeat order not recorded

• Delivered 28/10/13
• Problems 06/12/2013: Picture break-up, flashing picture, no picture on FTA/internet/recordings
• Replacement ordered 09/01/2014
• Replacement reordered 20/01/2014 (system glitch as no order recorder)
• Replacement reordered again 05/02/2014 (another system glitch as no reorder order recorded)

3rd machine        Gen II    lasted 19 months to failure

• Delivered 11/02/2014
• Problem 20/09/2016: HDD crash
• Replacement ordered 20/09/2016

4th machine        Gen II    lasted 10 days to failure

• Delivered 23/09/2016
• Problem 03/10/2016: No FTA stations after 10 days – tuner unit failure
• Replacement ordered 03/10/2016

5th machine        Gen II    lasted <24 hours to failure

• Delivered 05/10/2016
• Problem 06/10/2016: machine totally unresponsive/cannot switch on or boot
• Replacement ordered 06/10/2016

6th machine        Gen II    still operating after 10 days

• Delivered 08/10/2016

By any measure this is an horrible failure rate that reflects very poorly on the manufacturer and its manufacturing process.

One good point, and complements to OPTUS is that on each occasion I have contacted your technical support this year I have spoken to a person who understands english and speaks very good english. They listened to my problem and were sympathetic to my problem. This is a completely different experience and much better experience than I have had in previous years.

[Hannah-L · Accepted solution]

Hey @Snowy, thanks for providing that info. It really is quite unusual to experience so many early life failures of the set top boxes. 😞 Have they all been placed in a well-ventilated area? If the boxes were overheating that could explain why those failures have manifested in different ways.

[Snowy · Accepted solution]

The Fetch TVs have all have sat on the same open backed shelf in my family room. There is plenty of ventilation. It is never in sunlight and it does not sit on or under or beside any other device. My 10 year old panasonic DVD/HDD recorder sits on the same shelf system and it still works fine as does my 15 year old Yamaha 5ch Reciever. These devices have never missed a beat in their long and reliable life.

[Shauna]

@Snowy Are you connecting your Fetch boxes via a power line adapter or is it connected straight to the modem? Would you be interested in checking out our Gen 3 devices? 

[Barsby]

Mate cd burners would not work with a 8086 processor and they didnt come out till early 90's.

[Jonodd]

Agree 100%

[Flashart53]

Don't agree. see my recent post regarding two failed boxes in two weeks. One stopped working and wouldn't reboot after a week or so having only recorded rpoperly half the programs I scheduled. The other box straight out of the box won't even activate with the correct code checked by Optus. And that is the only two weeks of experience I have with Yes TV. I noticed when quoting the serial number off the box and welcome letter that the word REFURB is used in the description.

So I am being sent a refurbished unit as a replacement for a failed one?

Brilliant.

I am about to cancel if this is the best Optus can do. It's annoying because I jusr cancelled my Foxtel Sport package because I was only watching ESPN on it but now I don't have that with Optus I will have to rejoin. And that's not to mention all the inconvenience of losing ALL the recordings from the failed box which I had just started some new series which are also now ruined!

All we ask is reliability.

Hopeless.

[AJ87DJ]

Recently had an issue with my Gen 3 wi-fi connection after a firmware update. This was a brand new one (3 months old) which replaced a Gen 2 that the HDD completely failed (12 months old).   

After the recent firmware update via ethernet, the wi-fi has become stable once again yet not needing the replacement that had been sent to me.
Speaking with Fetch technical support today to inform them that I no longer required the new and was returning the replacement I was told I had to keep it...
I asked why it was a refurbished item? He told me that it wouldn't be as the Gen 3 is only new...
The remote, cables and the fetch box have clearly been used previously and the box smells and is in poor condition. I clearly wasn't informed it would be replaced by a refurbished item and the delivery note states this.
Now waiting for the Level 2 techs to contact me to figure out whether or not I can keep the current box...