# Why $199 to Transfer Lifetime?



## MJedi (Jun 17, 2002)

Hello all,

Can someone explain why TiVo has to charge $199 to transfer a lifetime sub to the S3. Does it take so much effort? Lots of programming? Paperwork? How do they justify the cost? I would think that it's no big deal... just change the TiVo Service Number, right?

If they really wanted to entice their "most loyal VIP customers" they should offer this transfer for free. I would certainly do it right away if that were the case. Right now, it just seems too much of an additional cost to an already pricey S3.

Not hating! Just wondering...


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## btwyx (Jan 16, 2003)

Bacause lifetime costs TiVo. They have to provide the same service as to someone who pays them $12.95 a month, but don't make any ongoing money on it.

You may not have noticed they killed off lifetime almost entirely earlier this year. This really is a bonus (to their most loyal customers), I didn't think I'd be able to get lifetime at all. It also gets old bombproof series 1s out of the lifetime pool.


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## brewdawg (Mar 15, 2006)

The thing that disappoints me is that I have been a loyal customer for about 4.5 years. always paying the $12.95/month because I couldn't afford the $299 at any one-time. Then when they offered the lifetime a while back I didn't take advantage because the S3 was coming out, and I thought why buy lifetime for my S2, then replace it with an S3. So now I am out of luck and don't have a way to add lifetime to an S3. 

I am kind of disappointed that there is no consideration for the customers that have been their bread and butter, people like me that have payed month after month.

ah well, I guess I will bite the bullet and eat the monthly cost because I am tired of having to make trips across Dallas on Saturday mornings to replace my TWC/Comcast HD DVR. I am on my 5th one since October of last year.


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## mikesay98 (Aug 26, 2006)

brewdawg said:


> I am kind of disappointed that there is no consideration for the customers that have been their bread and butter, people like me that have payed month after month.


They told people they were ending the lifetime service months ago, so there's no way you could seriously could have expected them to offer lifetime subscriptions for the S3 (we didn't even expect the transfer deal) . They even told everyone ahead of time, so while you may not have wanted to pay the full amount at once, you had notice. Unfortunately, you made the decision to not upgrade even when we all knew the end was near.


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## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

brewdawg said:


> The thing that disappoints me is that I have been a loyal customer for about 4.5 years. always paying the $12.95/month because I couldn't afford the $299 at any one-time. Then when they offered the lifetime a while back I didn't take advantage because the S3 was coming out, and I thought why buy lifetime for my S2, then replace it with an S3. So now I am out of luck and don't have a way to add lifetime to an S3.
> 
> I am kind of disappointed that there is no consideration for the customers that have been their bread and butter, people like me that have payed month after month.
> 
> ah well, I guess I will bite the bullet and eat the monthly cost because I am tired of having to make trips across Dallas on Saturday mornings to replace my TWC/Comcast HD DVR. I am on my 5th one since October of last year.


Why can't you pay $199 to transfer lifetime from your S2?

Why are you out of luck?

-smak-


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## brewdawg (Mar 15, 2006)

mikesay98 said:


> They told people they were ending the lifetime service months ago, so there's no way you could seriously could have expected them to offer lifetime subscriptions for the S3 (we didn't even expect the transfer deal) . They even told everyone ahead of time, so while you may not have wanted to pay the full amount at once, you had notice. Unfortunately, you made the decision to not upgrade even when we all knew the end was near.


I guess that was the point of my statement was that I knew they were ending lifetime service, and I considered it. But, also kowing the S3 wascoming out, but not knowing that they were going to allow the one-time transfer, it didn't make sense to me to get the lifetime for just a couple of months and then dump the S2. At the time I didn't realize the resale market for Lifetime TIVOs. And I don;t really have a need for 2 TIVos right now since I am single and watch everything on my HD TV.


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## mick66 (Oct 15, 2004)

smak said:


> Why can't you pay $199 to transfer lifetime from your S2?
> 
> Why are you out of luck?
> 
> -smak-


_Answer to both questions:_
'Cuz his S2 is on a monthly subscription.


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## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

mick66 said:


> _Answer to both questions:_
> 'Cuz his S2 is on a monthly subscription.


Ok, it's late. I'm dumb!

I could sell him one of my lifetimers 

-smak-


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## Aiken (Feb 17, 2003)

brewdawg said:


> I am kind of disappointed that there is no consideration for the customers that have been their bread and butter, people like me that have payed month after month.


You may be bread and butter, but people like me who bought lifetime a long time ago are life-giving water. TiVo needed capital in its early years and we who fronted the money for lifetime provided it. Now that steady income from folks like you is starting to keep the bills paid, lifetime is no longer a necessary source of capital, and has thus been ended. However, to show appreciation for our early adoption and having the faith to commit, TiVo has made us the offer to allow us to keep our lifetime subs for an additional fee. (I'm only assuming the motive here--it may just be a simple goal of customer retention.)

Me, I think the offer is a *little* stingy, given that we already put $300 directly in their pocket by buying direct, but hey, nobody held a gun to our heads. I think a $99 offer would have been much more appropriate, but nobody asked me. At the very least, it would have been nice to have the option of a $99 transfer and leave the S2 dead in the water with no sub, since the 12mo sub won't get us much on ebay.


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## tunnelengineer (Jul 21, 2006)

I don't think it's too bad considering I bought a refurbished Sony S1 in 2001 for $199 and bought the lifetime service for $199 back then. I have used that unit every day for a full 5 year period (next month will mark the anniversary). I think it was worth my $3.30 per month for the service. To me, the $199 transfer fee is basically another option to purchase lifetime on the S3. I figure I have gotten my use out of the S1. It will get a little use in the bedroom over the next year, but then it may get it's proper burial. It's had a good life.

And for those that never upgraded to lifetime, that was your choice (and gamble). Us lifetime owners took a big risk long ago. It's time we are rewarded for it. Anyone with a monthly sub should be able to use the MSD pricing and have a cheaper monthly fee anyway. You can't complain about that......


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## murrays (Oct 19, 2004)

My problem is that I want to keep our S2 as well; our HD set is downstairs and our SD set is upstairs. Add the fact that a cable card will have a monthly fee and the $1k to upgrade...I'm going to sit this one out with my crappy Moxi box.

-murray


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## driver49 (Sep 25, 2003)

I have a lifetime sub for my Series 1 TiVo, and while I agree that the $199 fee to transfer to this new S3 box is a tad onerous, I'm considering it. 

But first, I am tyring to decide if it even makes sense to upgrade to the S3, which sound like it is by no means a simple deal. It means replacing my Comcast DVR, which is fine, but then the TiVo S3 becomes the hub for my entire TeeVee experience, and I somehow suspect that proposition is fraught with its own unseen perils.

So, I'm doing the research reading everything I can get my hands on to learn as much as I can about the S3 and what the experience is going to be once I yank the Comcast box and replace it with the CableCard -equipped TiVo S3. 

That we can discuss elsewhere. What I want to ask here is: does anybody know how LONG we actually have to purchase the S3 and the lifetime Xfer? A week? A month? Until some arbitrary date ? 

I called the S3 sales desk yesterday, and they didn't have a clue. I guess I'll try the VIP # later today. 

The sales desk also told me that the S3 has a DVI output. I wonder what else they don't know or know wrong? 

Thanks, 

--PS


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

driver49 said:


> I have a lifetime sub for my Series 1 TiVo, and while I agree that the $199 fee to transfer to this new S3 box is a tad onerous, I'm considering it.
> 
> That we can discuss elsewhere. What I want to ask here is: does anybody know how LONG we actually have to purchase the S3 and the lifetime Xfer? A week? A month? Until some arbitrary date ?
> --PS


You must buy the S 3 *FROM TIVO VIP* by Dec 31 and make the Xfer of Lifetime by Jan. 20th (or so)


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## tunnelengineer (Jul 21, 2006)

The details are posted in the thread that has about 500+ posts. The time frames are very obvious to find.


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## dsb411 (Sep 29, 2004)

Can they credit the 150 I paid towards the Home Media Option? Oh wait that doesnt work in a S3..


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## ehardman (Feb 18, 2004)

I don't understand all the whining about the $199 transfer fee. When you bought lifetime service for your current Tivo, you did so knowing it was *not transferrable*. Tivo has graciously given you an opportunity to transfer your lifetime plan to the Series 3, even though they are under no obligation to do so.

You should consider it a reward by Tivo to its most loyal customers.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

tunnelengineer said:


> I don't think it's too bad considering I bought a refurbished Sony S1 in 2001 for $199 and bought the lifetime service for $199 back then. I have used that unit every day for a full 5 year period (next month will mark the anniversary). I think it was worth my $3.30 per month for the service. To me, the $199 transfer fee is basically another option to purchase lifetime on the S3. I figure I have gotten my use out of the S1. It will get a little use in the bedroom over the next year, but then it may get it's proper burial. It's had a good life.
> 
> And for those that never upgraded to lifetime, that was your choice (and gamble). Us lifetime owners took a big risk long ago. It's time we are rewarded for it. Anyone with a monthly sub should be able to use the MSD pricing and have a cheaper monthly fee anyway. You can't complain about that......


Lots of people have lifetime, but you guys are the real VIPs - thanks for your early support of Tivo. This deal works out best for folks like you, as it should.


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## briankasper (Dec 1, 2004)

tunnelengineer said:


> I don't think it's too bad considering I bought a refurbished Sony S1 in 2001 for $199 and bought the lifetime service for $199 back then. I have used that unit every day for a full 5 year period (next month will mark the anniversary). I think it was worth my $3.30 per month for the service. To me, the $199 transfer fee is basically another option to purchase lifetime on the S3. I figure I have gotten my use out of the S1. It will get a little use in the bedroom over the next year, but then it may get it's proper burial. It's had a good life.


tunnelengineer, I couldn't agree more. I bought lifetime for my 20GB S1 (since upgraded to 240GB) for $249 in December, 2001. I figure $249 for nearly 5 years of service is a great deal, and the VIP offer essentially lets me buy lifetime service for my S3 for $50 less. I've already spoken with my wife about selling the S1 with its one year of service, but she said "no, let's put it in the bedroom and then donate it to charity when the year is up".

For some of us, the VIP lifetime deal for the S3 is sweet.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

IMO, considering that a good deal of Lifetimes have at least "paid for themselves", and the S3 is $799, I don't think $199 is too much a price to ask for the trasnfer.


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## tunnelengineer (Jul 21, 2006)

amen brother, amen............................

It was nice to sneak into the $199 lifetime before they raised it to $249 late in the year.


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

I'm thinking about transferring the lifetime off of my Sony Series 1 that I bought in August 2000. I paid $199 for lifetime so that's $2.73 a month. Not bad. The only reason I'm hesitant is that I have another two boxes with lifetime so even if the series 1 died (it's still going strong though) I should still qualify for the MSD, though who knows how long that will be around and how the price may change. I may sell one of my series 2 with lifetime if I got the series 3, but I really like being able to tranfer shows between my tivos now and I would lose that with the series 3. The only other hitch is that I don't have a HD tv yet, though my roommate does. I'm moving out in May so I'm just trying to determine whether this deal is good enough for me to lock it in while I can or whether I should just wait and hope the price goes down and they keep the MSD. At least I have a few months to figure it out.


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## btwyx (Jan 16, 2003)

lessd said:


> You must buy the S 3 *FROM TIVO VIP* by Dec 31 and make the Xfer of Lifetime by Jan. 20th (or so)


All these terrms are on http://tivo.com/vip


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## jones07 (Jan 30, 2001)

Oh to have ReplayTV back as a real competitor. Competition has a way of holding down pricing


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

One thing I noted from a another thread is this: Yes it does seem a little pricey to shell out $799 + $199 for the S3 with lifetime. But think about how much you could sell that puppy for on ebay with a lifetime sub! Even a few years from now when Tivo comes out with something new and better. When you figure that in, the price seems more reasonable.

I'm still on the fence though. I can't quite figure out why - I gladly shelled 1k for my receiver without even blinking. I think maybe it's because the S3 is new and unproven. Plus the cloudy future of MRV and TTG for the unit bugs me some as well. 

And of course I still don't have an HD TV either.

This might be an expensive holiday season for me.


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## bap (Dec 7, 2003)

Welshdog said:


> One thing I noted from a another thread is this: Yes it does seem a little pricey to shell out $799 + $199 for the S3 with lifetime. But think about how much you could sell that puppy for on ebay with a lifetime sub! Even a few years from now when Tivo comes out with something new and better. When you figure that in, the price seems more reasonable.


But whose to say TiVo won't let you transfer your S3 lifetime to an S4 super-HD when they come out?


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## Welshdog (Jan 4, 2005)

bap said:


> But whose to say TiVo won't let you transfer your S3 lifetime to an S4 super-HD when they come out?


I guess we now know that is a possibility don't we.


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## eisenb11 (Sep 6, 2006)

jones07 said:


> Oh to have ReplayTV back as a real competitor. Competition has a way of holding down pricing


Hehe, I don't know about ReplayTV. They're no longer in the hardware DVR market but are selling DVR software for PCs.

I'd consider them pretty insignificant at this point


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## jones07 (Jan 30, 2001)

That's why I said "back" as a real competitor. They are now insignificant, and that's why TiVo can charge what they like.

ie: Remember when Replaytv started their multi-unit discount on subscriptions, and Tivo followed a week later? I'm sure Tivo didn't want too, but they had too.............Competition is a B!tch. No worries about that now.


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## DLiquid (Sep 17, 2001)

Aiken said:


> At the very least, it would have been nice to have the option of a $99 transfer and leave the S2 dead in the water with no sub, since the 12mo sub won't get us much on ebay.


From my discussion with a TiVo CSR yesterday it seemed like the 12-month pre-pay is not transferable to another person. You could transfer ownership of the S1/S2 unit, but the pre-pay wouldn't transfer. It seems a bit weird so maybe he was wrong.


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## cc55cc55 (Sep 15, 2006)

What am I missing here?!?!?!? Since I haven't even reached payback on "lifetime" purchased 2 years ago, how can you all think it is a good deal to pay another "lifetime" fee? How about letting us get in the black before sticking it to thoes of us who kept Tivo from going under back in the day. And how can someone think it is a rip-off not to have bought lifetime a few months ago??!! 

That means you need to go another 3 years to even see the light of payback, and who says there will not be an S4 by then, that you get to pay "lifetime" for again?!?!


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## zalusky (Apr 5, 2002)

This is like complaining they brought out a new cell phone or computer a few months after you buy yours. You must have a guess that the item you bought is the beginning/end of its life and something new is coming. Would you be happier if they didnt offer it all.


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## cwerdna (Feb 22, 2001)

cc55cc55 said:


> What am I missing here?!?!?!? Since I haven't even reached payback on "lifetime" purchased 2 years ago,


If you haven't, you're probably pretty darn close. You either paid $249 or $299 for lifetime. Monthly fees are $12.95/mo now making the breakeven point ~23 months.


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## smak (Feb 11, 2000)

zalusky said:


> This is like complaining they brought out a new cell phone or computer a few months after you buy yours. You must have a guess that the item you bought is the beginning/end of its life and something new is coming. Would you be happier if they didnt offer it all.


Unfortunately I'm thinking this is true of a lot of people.

A lot of people think that the series 3 is a good value for them so they buy one.

For some people just seeing it out there at a price they don't want to pay is physically painful, so they'd rather nobody be able to buy it until they buy it.

Sad really.

-smak-


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