WD support is useless

jrmymllr · February 10, 2016, 7:42pm

Apparently someone from WD support decided to reach out in response to a post I made several months ago. I was amazed, impressed, and hopeful. Lesson #1: never get excited until something actually happens.

I actually spoke to a a guy at WD over the phone about issues I was having. They weren’t major problems if you disregard the problems that just seem to be part of owning a Live Plus. But nonetheless, I took advantage of this opportunity. That was mid October.

1.5 months goes by and I hear nothing, so I respond back asking what the deal is. The rep says he hasn’t received an update yet on this case. Now, four months later, still nothing. It doesn’t appear they are serious about carrying through on this.

mike27oct · February 10, 2016, 9:47pm

OK, so what the heck is your issue with Live Plus? I have two of them that work fine and maybe I (or someone else) can help.

Also, maybe it is user error, I say this because if you actually have a Live Plus, you made an error by posting your message in the Live Streaming forum and not the Live Plus forum!

jrmymllr · February 10, 2016, 9:15pm

Maybe I have the incorrect forum, but anyway I have the Live, not Live Plus, and I have the old one that still supports Netflix. Obsolete product yes, but that forum isn’t very active. Plus I’m a bit confused with all the different versions of this thing.

Anyway, among the issues that others have reported with this thing, including having to downgrade firmware because the last (and possible last ever) firmware was junk, my issue was not being able to exit Youtube. I can bring up the exit dialog box, but whether I select to actually exit, or cancel, it does not exit. I have to push the blue Home button, or simply turn the thing off. Easy to push the Home button right? Well, I use a universal remote and cannot replicate the Home button. Therefore, I have to turn it off then back on to exit Youtube. I have 2 units and they both do this.

mike27oct · February 10, 2016, 9:49pm

From what I recall, when YT was “upgraded” a few years ago it could not work with the WDTVs anymore. If you want YT, use a different device other than the WDTV, e.g. a Roku, Fire TV stick, Chromecast and tablet combo, etc. You really are using old tech today for YT.

Adam_Howell · February 10, 2016, 9:28pm

This likely means your tier 1 tech is waiting on someone at a higher tier to answer his question. I suspect both tiers are swamped, and this results in your issue being queued up behind dozens of other people’s issues.

Another possibility, if your device is no longer being produced, is that they need to find someone who knows about the product. Tech Support often has high turnover, so the crew that used to know all about your device may have moved on to other departments, or even other companies. In those situations, they may need to find someone in tier 3 support that used to work on your device.

I know this doesn’t really help you with an answer, but sometimes it helps to know what is going on in the background. Also, this is just speculation on my part, but I’ve worked in Tech Support for over a decade, and have seen this exact situation many times at multiple companies. Sometimes you can get “traction” by asking for your case to be escalated.

mike27oct · February 10, 2016, 9:52pm

Also the old Live doesn’t have Netflix, either, if you ever wanted that.

Why not spend $40 on a Fire TV stick and you have modern YouTube, Netflix and Amazon Prime access, too.

Just use your WDTV for playing videos, listening to music and for photos. That is all I ever use mine for. The apps on WDTV always have been an afterthought and useless whenever there is a better option.

jrmymllr · February 11, 2016, 2:19am

The Youtube app itself works fine for the most part. It’s just simple stuff that doesn’t seem to work correctly with it.

I hate throwing stuff away just to buy something new if the old stuff works well enough. But most importantly, I’m still not aware of a device that does even part of what Roku does, plus plays local content on a network drive. That ability to stream off my network drive is important, and I know is a sticking point for many people.

If there is a device out there that does this, I’d like to know.

jrmymllr · February 11, 2016, 2:21am

Well I don’t know if mine is the “old Live” or what, but it has Netflix. And I prefer having everything in one device. I don’t know why this type of combo is so rare.

jrmymllr · February 11, 2016, 2:23am

Understood. I did phone tech support long ago, and did some in person at a company during college so I know some of what goes on behind the scenes. But 4 months without an update? I think the chances of getting a response without some action on my part is extraordinarily slim.

mike27oct · February 11, 2016, 6:28am

Well, all these gadgets have their strong and weak points and is why I have a WDTV, Roku, FireTV stick and Chromecast.

I don’t know what WDTV you have, because the old Live did not have Netflix, the next model Live Plus added Netflix, the next Streaming Media Player (SMP) had Netflix too, then the latest called WDTV Live again has no Netflix. So you have to figure out which one you have. It’s either Live Plus or SMP.
OK, well good luck with it all…