I bought the Tablo TV 4th Gen 4-tuner on February 25, 2026, from Amazon. It stopped working around July 5, 2026. I contacted Tablo Support who had me run tests to confirm it is not working. I provided the receipt and everything sounded like they were going to cover the warranty. A couple of days later I received an email saying they had not heard from me, and I replied that I had provided all the information and was waiting for their reply. Within hours I received an email stating that the Tablo was purchased from Z’s Essentials and unfortunately are not an authorized seller and are not honoring the warranty and I would have to contact Z’s Essentials.
I went to the Amazon website and brought up my order so I could get to the Z’s Essentials website to file a warranty claim. As soon as I replied that I had a warranty claim a window popped up stating “because Amazon fulfills this order, warranty claims are processed through Amazon Customer Service. They can help you solve you warranty claim quickly.” I clicked on the popup to chat with a live agent who connected within a couple minutes.
This took several minutes chatting with the Amazon representative and during the conversation the person stated, “there is no need worry about anything as you are eligible for a refund or replacement as per availability.” Later in the conversation they stated, “please be rest assured as per your request you will the confirmation E-mail within the next 48 hours and the refund with take 3-5 business days to reflect to your account.” I got the email and it was not what I thought it was going to say. They denied the warranty claim stating that Tablo Store should honor the warranty. I went back to Amazon to explain to them what Tablo and Z’s Essentials said, and their own customer service representative stated. They still stated the warranty claim should be honored by Tablo Store. The Tablo Store keeps saying they will not honor the warranty. So, I am out $160.
hmm I feel like the Amazon seller should be the one responsible from giving you the refund unless the seller is an authorized Tablo seller, I would contact Amazon again and tell them that the seller refuses to honor the warranty claim
I’ve been back and forth with Amazon three times providing documentation of the responses from all involved including the chat I had with the Amazon rep. Amazon refuses, Tablo refuses, and the seller says Amazon should cover the warranty,
I bought a refurb 4 tuner 4th gen on Walmart sold by Tablo and got the same rope-a-dope from multiple Tablo phone calls and email support. Tablo support said talk to Walmart. Walmart said talk to Tablo.
Posted my experience here and was contacted by Tablo and they made things right.
They both do but my Tablo was sold by Tablo fulfilled by Walmart.
BOTH Amazon and Walmart have adopted the rope-a-dope honoring warranty for defective product. Customer service from both is almost non existent and Amazon is the worst.
Never thought the day would come when it is safer to buy on eBay then Amazon or Walmart.
Customer service is being replaced with AI everywhere. I feel like it is nearly impossible to get human assistance now, and therefore I hardly ever try. AND, this is the ultimate goal.
Agreed… not getting customer service whether by AI or human is one thing but NOT honoring warranty is another thing entirely. There is a legal obligation to do that.
Right, but Amazon and Walmart are not required to accept returns by law. They do have to honor their stated policies. Most items at Walmart have a 90 day return policy, but electronics have a 30 day window. Not based on the manufacturer, but based on the item type. Amazon has a 30 day return policy. The One Year Warranty comes from Tablo. I’m just saying that the seller is not “legally” obligated to honor the manufacturer’s warranty. And Tablo even states this on the Walmart Site. But, I get why you feel strongly about how you were treated. I’m just pointing out a technicality.
Warranty information
Tablo products are provided with a 100% repair or replacement warranty on hardware defects for 12 months from the date of shipment from authorized retailers.
Returned the “repacked”(?) Tablo to local Walmart no fuss no muss and easy.
Recently received defective product from Amazon and they wanted me to drive 50 round trip miles to the closest UPS store to return for refund.
THAT is their current return policy… must go to UPS Store or customer pays return shipping for DOA products. Amazon trucks go down my road all day long but can’t return to them. can’t drop off at Walgreens or local mail box place that is a UPS/FedEx pickup facility. MUST be a UPS Store.
Escalated all the way up to executive level and they said too bad i don’t live closer to a UPS Store.
After 20 years as an Amazon customer I called AMEX, disputed the charge, and threw the item in the trash. I don’t know if they closed my account and don’t care. AMEX charged the amount back to Amazon.
Neither Walmart or Amazon has to honor a manufacturer’s warranty BUT they have to deliver the product in working order as decribed on their web site or take it back for a refund. Walmart did Amazon didn’t.
Agreed, I think Amazon has gone downhill from when I first started shopping with them back in 2001. And they keep changing the return locations. Fortunately, I do have a UPS near me (and before that, a Whole Foods, and before that a Kohls) to drop off my returns. (And they used to have pickup lockers until they stopped that.)
About a Month ago, I bought a cheap Firestick that has Vega on it, therefore, my apps would not work. This also blocks side-loading. So, I returned it. They offered me $2 off to keep it. I returned it anyway. Then I wrote a 1 star review to warn other people that their app might not work. I was penalized with not being able to read or write any reviews. I appealed to their robot and was granted the ability to post and read “some” reviews. So, you bad mouth their product, you can no longer participate. I still can only see “some” of the reviews to this day.
I have gotten a lot of good deals over the years and I’ve had a lot of returns (since they made it easy and advertise it). Lately, since I’m retired, I prefer to buy locally (usually from Walmart) if I can and I only use Amazon for the things I can’t get locally.
And with Walmart, like you said, you can buy online from them (or a 3rd party) and they will take the return in store. That would be the best purchasing experience (if there is a store local to you and you don’t get stuck behind 5 people sending money to another country).
That said, I have also heard of customers being banned from making returns at Walmart as a penalty for making too many.
Once upon a time businesses genuinely valued their customers.
As time went by businesses adopted the business model of pretending to value their customers.
Then they just gave the illusion they valued their customers.
The business model today is the Walmart model that they can pi$$ off half their customers and the other half will keep them billionaires.
I’m done with Amazon and buy as little at Walmart as possible because they don’t stock product like they used to and want me to order online which kinda eliminates the need of having Walmart stores except returns are handy.
Home Depot is has embraced the same model… not in stock deliver to store.
If Yogi Berra was alive he would say… if you make is hard for me to spend money I won’t do it.
