# Deal on Roamio Lifetime Subscription?



## jeff526 (Dec 3, 2013)

I bought my TiVo Roamio and 2 x Minis last year in November.
At the time I did not get a lifetime subscription on any of them.

When I saw that TiVo is now selling the Mini for $150 with the subscription I called last month and tried to upgrade my Mini's for $50, but failed.

I then saw an add offering a Roamio lifetime subscription for $399.99 and called once again.
I told the agent I wanted to upgrade my Roamio for $399.99 and my Mini's for $50/each.
He reluctantly said he could do the deal Minis, but the Roamio discount was only for existing users so I would need to pay the full $499.99. 
I went ahead and upgraded the mini's but not the Roamio.

My contract is up in a few days and I plan to keep my Tivo's for at least few more years. 
For $399.00 the payback is 27 months, but $499.99 is 33 months and that may be pushing it.

Has anyone been able to finagle a deal on the lifetime?


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## spaldingclan (Aug 22, 2012)

do the upgrade online and use the code PLSR to bring it down to $399


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## jihanj (Oct 7, 2013)

Okay, I called back TiVo customer service in hopes of accepting the $199 lifetime deal. Long story short, I talked with no less than 3 agents including a manager and what they told me was that the $199 deal was probably a mistake, and the person who offered it to me may have thought that I owned a Roamio basic instead of Plus. The best they could offer was $200 off which would make it $299 instead of $199.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

jihanj said:


> Okay, I called back TiVo customer service in hopes of accepting the $199 lifetime deal. Long story short, I talked with no less than 3 agents including a manager and what they told me was that the $199 deal was probably a mistake, and the person who offered it to me may have thought that I owned a Roamio basic instead of Plus. The best they could offer was $200 off which would make it $299 instead of $199.


$199 seemed too good to be true. $299 is still a good deal. Take it.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

tarheelblue32 said:


> $199 seemed too good to be true. $299 is still a good deal. Take it.


Agreed.


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## fred2 (Jan 20, 2006)

Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


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## jihanj (Oct 7, 2013)

fred2 said:


> Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


That is an excellent point.


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## kokishin (Sep 9, 2014)

fred2 said:


> Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


Using Spherular's Ebay site as a reference, the lifetime service is $300 for Roamio (basic), Plus, and Pro. IOW, consistent.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

fred2 said:


> Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


Does not the nature of the Roamio make it more or less desirable? Would that not in turn make the lifetime service more or less desirable? As someone once said, a good is worth what it will bring.


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## waynomo (Nov 9, 2002)

fred2 said:


> Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


I'm not sure what you're getting at.

I've always looked at it as you're paying for the guide data whether it's 1 tuner or 6. TiVo needs to make a profit. A good chunk of this comes from the required service. They offer discounts on older units because they've already collected fees on monthly or yearly service. It's older equipment.


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## fred2 (Jan 20, 2006)

waynomo said:


> I'm not sure what you're getting at.
> 
> I've always looked at it as you're paying for the guide data whether it's 1 tuner or 6. TiVo needs to make a profit. A good chunk of this comes from the required service. They offer discounts on older units because they've already collected fees on monthly or yearly service. It's older equipment.


I guess I was referring to Post #3 where there was reference to the fee being 199 for the Roamio Basic and 299 for the Plus. Maybe that was more of Tivo's initial miscommunication or some such.


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## Series3Sub (Mar 14, 2010)

fred2 said:


> Why should the lifetime price depend on the nature of the Roamio? Curious, as Tivo is not doing anything more between 4 and 6 tuners are they? Program guide? More?


Plus and Pro have Stream and MoCA built-in. I wonder if Liftetime fee based on level of product is a good or not. Not talking so much about this particular OP and thread, but the idea in general as just an idea. All "basic" Roamios $100 less for Lifetime than Plus and Pros? Interesting. Of course, there is officially no difference in Lifetime fee per model levels as of today.


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## ej42137 (Feb 16, 2014)

I suspect that if one has the Roamio Pro you're thinking of reasons why the lifetime price should be constant, while if you have a Premiere you're thinking it's obvious there should be a sliding scale so that you're the one getting the advantage. The universe seems to look different depending upon where you sit, I guess.


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## shaggy314 (Feb 18, 2007)

kokishin said:


> Using Spherular's Ebay site as a reference, the lifetime service is $300 for Roamio (basic), Plus, and Pro. IOW, consistent.


Exactly how does that site work? I see you pay $49 and then buy a lifetime code that is LIKELY to work but may get revoked in the future?


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## Darkon (Sep 17, 2007)

shaggy314 said:


> Exactly how does that site work? I see you pay $49 and then buy a lifetime code that is LIKELY to work but may get revoked in the future?


I haven't done it myself, but my understanding is that you get a code which you can use for the discount when ordering on the TiVo web site.

The risk of getting revoked in the future is if they determine that you weren't actually a person that received the code legitimately (from their web site where people that sell TiVo go through some training and quality for the discount) AND they decide to do something about the people that get the codes and then resell them to others.

Based on what people are saying, the risk is pretty minimal.


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## tarheelblue32 (Jan 13, 2014)

shaggy314 said:


> Exactly how does that site work? I see you pay $49 and then buy a lifetime code that is LIKELY to work but may get revoked in the future?


This thread should help explain it:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=520530


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