# TiVo Lifetime Subscription



## pvorlicek (Oct 18, 2007)

I'm just about ready to pull the trigger on a lifetime subscription. My biggest concern is "what happens if my unit fails". I read the terms and conditions form the TiVo web site regarding this issue:

"Because a Product Lifetime Subscription is linked to a particular TiVo DVR, you may not transfer it to any other TiVo DVR unless all the following conditions apply: (a) the TiVo DVR is being replaced pursuant to the manufacturer's or retailer's warranty; and (b) the TiVo DVR being replaced is of the same make and model as the replacement TiVo DVR; and (c) you provide us with a proof of replacement by the manufacturer or retailer. TiVo reserves the right to charge you a fee to transfer Product Lifetime Service from a TiVo DVR being replaced to a replacement TiVo DVR."

I'm comfortable with all of this EXCEPT the phrase "TiVo reserves the right to charge you a fee to transfer Product Lifetime Service from a TiVo DVR being replaced to a replacement TiVo DVR."

Does anybody know if TiVo is currently charging this fee (if I had my unit replaced by TiVo)? If yes, how much are they currently charging for this?

Thanks for any information on this matter.

Preston


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## LifeIsABeach (Feb 28, 2001)

Yes, TiVo normally charges a fee when you send in a unit to be fixed. If they can't repair it they will usually replace it with a similar unit and transfer your lifetime. However, the most common TiVo failures (hard drive, fan, etc) can be fixed fairly easily and much more cheaply than sending it back to TiVo. I have 3 TiVos ranging in age from 2 years to almost 10 years and have never had to send one to TiVo to get it fixed.


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## SueAnn (Oct 24, 2004)

My 2+ year old Tivo Series 3 starting having difficulty and Tivo sold me a refurb unit which included transferring over the lifetime warranty for $149.


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## pvorlicek (Oct 18, 2007)

Thanks!

I'll pull the trigger tonight.

Preston


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## NJ_HB (Mar 21, 2007)

For your peace of mind: I've had my Humax (Lifetime) since 2004 with an upgraded Weaknees drive - No Problems. 
Lifetime was NOT available when I bought my second TiVo also Weaknees upgraded again no problems. When that 3 year sub runs I'll have to decide what to do. (FYI the 3 year sub cost me $299 at that time.)
When I bought the TiVoHD I immediately got Lifetime since it was available. 
Most of the problems that occur with the TiVos after they have been running for a while seems to be HD related which is one of the easier DYI fixes.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

LifeIsABeach said:


> Yes, TiVo normally charges a fee when you send in a unit to be fixed. If they can't repair it they will usually replace it with a similar unit and transfer your lifetime.


TiVo *never* fixes and returns your TiVo. They always send out a refurb as a replacement unless they have no refurb's, then they'll send a new unit.


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## mp11 (Jan 29, 2008)

Did I read correctly that a lifetime on a new Tivo has to come within 30 days of activation? I thought I also read, if Tivo comes out with a new product, lifetime could be transfered to that one. Maybe that was wrong.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

mp11 said:


> Did I read correctly that a lifetime on a new Tivo has to come within 30 days of activation? I thought I also read, if Tivo comes out with a new product, lifetime could be transfered to that one. Maybe that was wrong.


A Tivo subscription is a minimum of one year, longer plans are available. If you sign up for a 1 (or 3) year plan, you can cancel or change the plan within the first 30 days. Say you wanted to get a lifetime subscription. Once past the 30 days, you can still get lifetime, after your initial commitment is up. So if you sign up for a one year plan at $12.95/month, and decide in month two, you want lifetime, you still have to finish out the initial 12 month commitment, and can then buy a lifetime subscription. By then, you will have already paid Tivo $155.40, no credit for this against the lifetime.

There is no standing transfer of lifetime when Tivo comes out with a new model. They have offered this in the past, for a fee, as a special promotion when new hardware came out. I think is was $199 last time. Since new lifetime subscriptions were not available during the last offer, this was the only way to transfer an existing lifetime sub. Since lifetime subs are available to existing Tivo subscribers for $299, my guess is Tivo won't offer lifetime transfers. At the current pricing, you could pay $100 more for a new lifetime, and keep the lifetime on the existing Tivo, or sell the existing Tivo with the lifetime sub for a higher value.


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## jrm01 (Oct 17, 2003)

itisaniceday said:


> For your peace of mind: I've had my Humax (Lifetime) since 2004 with an upgraded Weaknees drive .
> When I bought the TiVoHD I immediately got Lifetime since it was available


You and NJ_HB have the same experience.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

pdonoghu said:


> A Tivo subscription is a minimum of one year, longer plans are available. If you sign up for a 1 (or 3) year plan, you can cancel or change the plan within the first 30 days. Say you wanted to get a lifetime subscription. Once past the 30 days, you can still get lifetime, after your initial commitment is up. So if you sign up for a one year plan at $12.95/month, and decide in month two, you want lifetime, you still have to finish out the initial 12 month commitment, and can then buy a lifetime subscription. By then, you will have already paid Tivo $155.40, no credit for this against the lifetime.
> 
> There is no standing transfer of lifetime when Tivo comes out with a new model. They have offered this in the past, for a fee, as a special promotion when new hardware came out. I think is was $199 last time. Since new lifetime subscriptions were not available during the last offer, this was the only way to transfer an existing lifetime sub. Since lifetime subs are available to existing Tivo subscribers for $299, my guess is Tivo won't offer lifetime transfers. At the current pricing, you could pay $100 more for a new lifetime, and keep the lifetime on the existing Tivo, or sell the existing Tivo with the lifetime sub for a higher value.


It was $299 for a one time until the end of the year deal to transfer from a Series 1 when the Series 3 came out. That was over the $299 I paid for lifetime in the first place, so I paid $600 for lifetime on my one TiVo when I could have had lifetime on two now. (An additional lifetime is now $299.) Admittedly I would have had the new Series 3 on some other sub in the meantime, but the truth is I wouldn't have bought the S3 when I did if it wasn't for the deal. I didn't have an HDTV for many years afterwards. 

A added one year sub is $99, auto-renewing, for a current subscriber with one year commit and is transferable. I dunno if that could be applied to a bump to lifetime during the year, but that would be nice.


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## Joe01880 (Feb 8, 2009)

I bought a TiVoHD 3 weeks ago, i have a chance to pick up a series 2 with a lifetime sub for 80 bucks. When i activated my TiVoHD I prepaid for a years service. Would it be worth my effort to buy the series 2 with a lifetime sub to have the sub transfered to my TiVoHD?


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## Glich (Feb 19, 2002)

so worth it. I am going on my 10th year on my $250 life time now on a Tivo HD after my s1 finally expired.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

Joe01880 said:


> I bought a TiVoHD 3 weeks ago, i have a chance to pick up a series 2 with a lifetime sub for 80 bucks. When i activated my TiVoHD I prepaid for a years service. Would it be worth my effort to buy the series 2 with a lifetime sub to have the sub transfered to my TiVoHD?


There's no way the transfer of a lifetime sub could happen, so no, it wouldn't be worth the effort.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

netringer said:


> It was $299 for a one time until the end of the year deal to transfer from a Series 1 when the Series 3 came out. That was over the $299 I paid for lifetime in the first place, so I paid $600 for lifetime on my one TiVo when I could have had lifetime on two now.


Netringer,

The original lifetime transfer deal was only $199 (plus 1 year free service on the old unit) when the Series 3 first came out as I took advantage of it for both of my Series 1 units.

Also, we only paid $199 for the lifetime for our first Series 1 (June 2000) and $249 for lifetime on our second Series 2 (May 2002). Are you sure you paid $299 for lifetime on a Series 1? I didn't think they went to that price until the Series 2 was out.

Scott


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

Joe01880 said:


> I bought a TiVoHD 3 weeks ago, i have a chance to pick up a series 2 with a lifetime sub for 80 bucks. When i activated my TiVoHD I prepaid for a years service. Would it be worth my effort to buy the series 2 with a lifetime sub to have the sub transfered to my TiVoHD?


You cannot transfer the sub (at least not at this time). 
What you can do is buy the Series 2 with PL and put it on your account. When the year is up on the TiVo HD, you can cancel it and get the discounted Product Lifetime ($299).


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

netringer said:


> I didn't have an HDTV for many years afterwards.


Don't feel bad...I _still_ don't have an HDTV.


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## mp11 (Jan 29, 2008)

pdonoghu said:


> > Since lifetime subs are available to existing Tivo subscribers for $299, my guess is Tivo won't offer lifetime transfers.
> 
> 
> So as a Tivo customer, I can get this Lifetime for $299? Or is that for an additional lifetime on a second unit? $399 for single Tivo?


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## bkdtv (Jan 9, 2003)

mp11 said:


> So as a Tivo customer, I can get this Lifetime for $299? Or is that for an additional lifetime on a second unit? $399 for single Tivo?


That is for lifetime on another unit. Of course, you could get lifetime on another unit and then sell your existing one after its subscription expires.

You've probably noticed people selling lifetime subscriptions on ebay for $330. These are existing TiVo owners that are buying lifetime for $299 and activating DVRs for new customers, thereby robbing TiVo of $100.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

HerronScott said:


> Netringer,
> 
> The original lifetime transfer deal was only $199 (plus 1 year free service on the old unit) when the Series 3 first came out as I took advantage of it for both of my Series 1 units.
> 
> ...


 Maybe you're right. I forgot that service was only $6(?) a month in those days.

Thanks I feel better now.

(Disregard some of my rants.)

I'm still debating adding a year or lifetime to a Series 2. I have a feeling a lot of Series 2 with lifetime are going to show up on eBay come June 12.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

As long as we're on the topic, how is this possible?

I bought a Series 2 with lifetime from a seller on eBay. I look at System Information and it does indeed say "Product Lifetime Service." I ran guided setup and let it dial in and...

....can you guess?


It says "New service. Call TiVo at 800-nnn-nnn to activate."

I called Tivo to clear up this misunderstanding and add my new pride and joy to my account. The CSR says they never heard of this unit. I gave the TSN 4 times.

So...other than some slick seller selling a unit that lifetime service was transferred from (is that even possible from a Series 2?) how can this be? Is there a hack to make the Tivo look like it has lifetime? (NO, I'm not looking for the hack) This unit looked very unhacked.

The good news is my seller was good in communication and is as surprised as me and is offering a refund. I might just be out some shipping.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

netringer said:


> I called Tivo to clear up this misunderstanding and add my new pride and joy to my account. The CSR says they never heard of this unit. I gave the TSN 4 times.


When a subscription is transferred from one Tivo to another, the new tivo slips into the old one's place so the original is no longer in the system.

When the S3 was introduced, Tivo offered to transfer any lifetime sub (from S1 or S2) to a new S3 for $199. When the HD was introduced the same offer was made, but the lifetime sub had to be purchased before 10/03. As long as the original lifetimed Tivo didn't make any connections to the mother ship, the status would still show as lifetime lifetime. Once it does connect, it gets the updated status.


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## steve614 (May 1, 2006)

bkdtv said:


> You've probably noticed people selling lifetime subscriptions on ebay for $330. These are existing TiVo owners that are buying lifetime for $299 and activating DVRs for new customers, thereby robbing TiVo of $100.


This is bad news. Something like this could cause TiVo to cease offering lifetime service. Again. 

Get it while you can! :|


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

scandia101 said:


> When a subscription is transferred from one Tivo to another, the new tivo slips into the old one's place so the original is no longer in the system.
> 
> When the S3 was introduced, Tivo offered to transfer any lifetime sub (from S1 or S2) to a new S3 for $199. When the HD was introduced the same offer was made, but the lifetime sub had to be purchased before 10/03. As long as the original lifetimed Tivo didn't make any connections to the mother ship, the status would still show as lifetime lifetime. Once it does connect, it gets the updated status.


I figured. The lesson here is to either call TiVo with the TSN to check, or look at the System Information screen and see how current the listings are and when the last time it called. I guess if says Lifetime after 10/03 it's cool until TiVo offers a transfer again.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

steve614 said:


> Don't feel bad...I _still_ don't have an HDTV.


Ditto here, but we'll finally be making the plunge this fall (Had to save our pennies for the 58 inch plasma we wanted!). For the past 2 years, recording HD with our 2 Series 3's and playing it back SD on our 35 inch Toshiba has been great.

Scott


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## scoobs77 (Apr 14, 2009)

steve614 said:


> Don't feel bad...I _still_ don't have an HDTV.


I do but have no HD source to put through it, so get to watch grainy stuff on my Tosh instead


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

netringer said:


> As long as we're on the topic, how is this possible?
> 
> I bought a Series 2 with lifetime from a seller on eBay. I look at System Information and it does indeed say "Product Lifetime Service." I ran guided setup and let it dial in and...
> 
> ...


Ooooooo...is it possible that the Lifetime sub DIES if the TiVo is stored too long without calling in?



> Multi-Service Discount qualifications
> 
> 1. Initial Qualification. You must be the registered account holder of a current active paid TiVo service plan purchased from http://www.tivo.com, as further defined below, to qualify for the MULTI-SERVICE DISCOUNT (a "Qualifying Subscription"):
> 1. TiVo Service Subscription: A Qualifying Subscription must be a current monthly, annual, prepaid, or Product Lifetime Service plan to the TiVo service, as further defined below, made directly with TiVo Inc. (as opposed to with a third party service provider such as DIRECTV) in order to qualify for the MULTI-SERVICE DISCOUNT. For instance, DIRECTV DVRs with the TiVo service are ineligible to qualify as a Qualifying Subscription or to receive the MULTI-SERVICE DISCOUNT.
> ...


And no it doesn't say that that you lose eligilbity to continue lifetime service.

I'm pretty sure I stowed my Series 1 and Series 3 with lifetime unused for some long periods of time, but I think they still had usable connections to check in with TiVo.


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## Jonathan_S (Oct 23, 2001)

netringer said:


> Ooooooo...is it possible that the Lifetime sub DIES if the TiVo is stored too long without calling in?


The lifetime sub doesn't die. What happens if you box a lifetimed TiVo is that after 180 days the 2nd TiVo on your account (assuming you had one) starts getting billed at full price $12.99/month rather than at the multi-unit discount rate $9.99/month)

If you then hooked the lifetime TiVo back up and let it call it the 2nd TiVo should drop back to the lower service rate.

But the lifetime TiVo doesn't care how long its been unconnected. It still has lifetime service* and will work as soon as you hook it back up.

*Well, unless TiVo has another transfer your lifetime offer and you took advantage to transfer the service to a different TiVo


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

I have a question here -- I've had a $12.95/month sub for several years. I just added a TiVo HD with a lifetime sub at the MSD of $299. Does my $12.95/month sub stay the same? Or does it get reduced to the MSD of $9.95/month? My online account still says it's at $12.95, but I just did this recently. My guess is that it will stay at $12.95/month since I got the MSD on the lifetime.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

You can always *have to* cancel and then resubscribe it to get the MSD. Of course that means another 12 month commitment, but if you opt for the $99 one year prepay, commitment isn't an issue.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

Bierboy said:


> I have a question here -- I've had a $12.95/month sub for several years. I just added a TiVo HD with a lifetime sub at the MSD of $299. Does my $12.95/month sub stay the same? Or does it get reduced to the MSD of $9.95/month? My online account still says it's at $12.95, but I just did this recently. My guess is that it will stay at $12.95/month since I got the MSD on the lifetime.


Your lifetime qualifies you for MSD on up to 5 additional Tivos. If it still has any remaining commitment, you must finish that first. Then you can put it on month to month (or 1 year prepay) at the MSD rate. If it is already on month to month, (commitment satisfied), then call customer support to get it on MSD. You should be able to chose $9.95/month with no commitment, or one year prepay for $99, or even lifetime at $299.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

pdonoghu said:


> Your lifetime qualifies you for MSD on up to 5 additional Tivos. If it still has any remaining commitment, you must finish that first. Then you can put it on month to month (or 1 year prepay) at the MSD rate. If it is already on month to month, (commitment satisfied), then call customer support to get it on MSD. You should be able to chose $9.95/month with no commitment, or one year prepay for $99, or even lifetime at $299.


Thanks...my payment plan is "TiVo Monthly Service" but it says expiration date of April 2010 (not sure why it says that). I don't have any prepay commitment level; when I got it, I just agreed to the ongoing monthly $12.95 payment. So I'm guessing I shouldbe able to qualify for the $9.95 rate, then.


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## pdonoghu (Mar 6, 2003)

Bierboy said:


> Thanks...my payment plan is "TiVo Monthly Service" but it says expiration date of April 2010 (not sure why it says that). I don't have any prepay commitment level; when I got it, I just agreed to the ongoing monthly $12.95 payment. So I'm guessing I shouldbe able to qualify for the $9.95 rate, then.


From what you describe, you are on a monthly payment plan with a commitment until April 2010. My Tivos whose commitment have been satisfied show N/A for current plan end date. When did you put this Tivo on a plan?

I suggest you call customer support.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

pdonoghu said:


> From what you describe, you are on a monthly payment plan with a commitment until April 2010. My Tivos whose commitment have been satisfied show N/A for current plan end date. When did you put this Tivo on a plan?
> 
> I suggest you call customer support.


5 years ago  ..that's why I can't imagine I would have to satisfy another year? I'll give their CS a call.

EDIT: I just found that, too, on another page for both my TiVos. Where it said April 2010 was under my billing history. When I looked at My Account page, it said N/A for current plan end date. But when I click on "schedule a future plan", the only choices I have are the usual ones ($12.95/mo., etc. up to $399 for lifetime). So I guess I will have to call them.


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## classicsat (Feb 18, 2004)

The $12.95 will stay the same unless you do something about it, since you added the other unit as MSD. To get $9.95, you have to cancel your current service and re-sub as MSD, yes with a year for that commitment.


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## scandia101 (Oct 20, 2007)

classicsat said:


> The $12.95 will stay the same unless you do something about it, since you added the other unit as MSD. To get $9.95, you have to cancel your current service and re-sub as MSD, yes with a year for that commitment.


:up:
I keep forgetting because it hasn't directly affected me, at least not yet. MSD is for new subscriptions only. There is no longer an automatic change when a Tivo becomes eligible.


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