# Still paying subs. Worth upgrading?



## dunkrag (Nov 1, 2002)

Bought my TiVo just as they were bowing out of the UK market - went with a monthly subscription option as was not sure if it was worth it and with them pulling out of UK I wasn't sure how long the service would last. 

Now obviously, since 2001 I think it was, I've been paying £10 a month. I don't even want to think how much that adds upto! Horrific!

Is it worth, (and can you still do it) stumping up the £200 now for a lifetime sub? No danger of the service shutting down in the next 20 months?


----------



## blindlemon (May 12, 2002)

Yes you can still buy a lifetime sub. 

If TiVo were planning to discontinue the service I don't suppose they would still be selling them 

Pete77 will be here shortly to tell you to buy a used TiVo with a lifetime sub from eBay for less than you would pay for a sub. That might be an option worth considering.


----------



## dunkrag (Nov 1, 2002)

hmm - that's a good idea actually. 
There is a lifetimed sub with 240gb hdd on ebay right now for a buy it now of &#163;200.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

blindlemon said:


> Pete77 will be here shortly to tell you to buy a used TiVo with a lifetime sub from eBay for less than you would pay for a sub. That might be an option worth considering.


No need as I see that I have now properly educated blindlemon in these matters.

Although I don't suppose if you had just a broken hard drive he would have recommend buying one in a secondhand Ebay Tivo unit rather than from him.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

dunkrag said:


> hmm - that's a good idea actually.
> There is a lifetimed sub with 240gb hdd on ebay right now for a buy it now of £200.


Its best to try and get one with a decent hard drive (ticked box on that front therefore), lifetime sub and a Cachecard if you can manage it. You would probably only have to pay around £200 for the lot these days. Also you would be saved a lot of heartache trying to do your own hard drive and Cachecard upgrade.

If you use the Advanced Search function on Ebay you can also to look only at auctions that have ended on Ebay. That should give you an idea of what things are selling for.

As to how long Tivo service will continue in the UK I would hope until at least 2010 to 2012 unless someone evil like Murdoch takes them over.


----------



## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

I brought in 2001 and was unsure, paid with a credit card so I could claim on them if during the "lifetime" tivo stopped service, I would have a issue against the card company...

If I enter into a contract with the credit card company for lifetime service, and it stops, then I recon I would have a claim to claw back my &#163;200 from them....

If you are thinking, I would use a credit card. But don't blaim me if tivo do stop service the CC just laugh,.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

6022tivo said:


> I brought in 2001 and was unsure, paid with a credit card so I could claim on them if during the "lifetime" tivo stopped service, I would have a issue against the card company...


I thought you had a whole room of Tivos you had got on the cheap from Powerhouse, Comet and Currys when they were clearing them. Still I suppose you sold most of those on via Ebay for £70 profit each or whatever and didn't buy a Lifetime Sub on any of those.



> If I enter into a contract with the credit card company for lifetime service, and it stops, then I recon I would have a claim to claw back my £200 from them....


I would have thought that so long as you had received 20 months service at £10 per month the credit card company could argue that you had not lost out by buying a Lifetime Sub. Otherwise you could claims for 100 years at £10 per month = £12,000! They have to draw the line somewhere............


----------



## Gavin (Jan 1, 2003)

6022tivo said:


> I brought in 2001 and was unsure, paid with a credit card so I could claim on them if during the "lifetime" tivo stopped service, I would have a issue against the card company...
> 
> If I enter into a contract with the credit card company for lifetime service, and it stops, then I recon I would have a claim to claw back my £200 from them....
> 
> If you are thinking, I would use a credit card. But don't blaim me if tivo do stop service the CC just laugh,.


Just remember it's the lifetime of the hardware. I doubt many of the people on here have the same original hardware in the tivo that it came with, so it could be argues the lifetime has expired already as you've already swapped out parts.


----------



## 6022tivo (Oct 29, 2002)

Gavin said:


> Just remember it's the lifetime of the hardware. I doubt many of the people on here have the same original hardware in the tivo that it came with, so it could be argues the lifetime has expired already as you've already swapped out parts.


It would be a interesting argument with the CC company. I would argue that I purchased a contract with TiVo Uk to provide me with lifetime service and data, if they went under, then I would expect something back from the CC.


----------



## maxeh (Apr 11, 2008)

Pete77 said:


> I would have thought that so long as you had received 20 months service at £10 per month the credit card company could argue that you had not lost out by buying a Lifetime Sub. Otherwise you could claims for 100 years at £10 per month = £12,000! They have to draw the line somewhere............


Well you could only ever get back what you spent, which is obvious. You would need to check you contract to see what TiVo's definition of lifetime is


----------



## ColinYounger (Aug 9, 2006)

Gavin said:


> the same original hardware in the tivo that it came with


One could argue that the hard disk is but a small sum of the parts, that is expected to expire at some point. The contract seems imprecise on details of what lifetime applies to.

Of course, TiVo could respond that by replacing the hard disk you've invalidated warranties, etc. Again the 'warranties' that you invalidate by opening the case is imprecise.

Oh. I just agreed with you.


----------



## Pete77 (Aug 1, 2006)

ColinYounger said:


> Of course, TiVo could respond that by replacing the hard disk you've invalidated warranties, etc. Again the 'warranties' that you invalidate by opening the case is imprecise.


On the other hand goods have to be "fit for the purpose" and one could argue that a product where the hard drives only last on average say 30 months either is "not fit for the purpose" or alternatively that because the Tivo is effectively a mini PC and that drives only last 24 months on average in a PVR that consumers are expected to replace certain parts of a PC that don't last as long as the main hardware (just as with oil, spark plugs and tyres on your car) and that the hard drive is one of those user replaceable parts.

The Lifetimeness of the machine is surely only related to the fact that the Tivo Service goes with the machine and that Tivo chose not to confine the Lifetime Service (as they could easily have done) only to the combination of that machine and that customer.

As 6022tivo says it is obvious that the lifetime subscription is really for the the data supplied and as long you can stil make the machine work to collect the data it is surely not of any Tivo's business as to how you maintain your Tivo machine. Changing hard drive does not alter how your machine collects the data so is again none of their business.


----------

