# TiVo extends $99 pricing till 1/29/2011



## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

It looks like according to TiVo.com they have extended the current promotion till 1/29/2011.

This could mean a couple things. Either the deal is working really well for them or it is still too early to really get a feeling so they pushed it out another month.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

They probably have to keep it going until the sub $100 box inventory at retailers has mostly cleared. My guess is we won't see the previous service options become available until the sub $100 boxes are no longer available from retailers. This whole promotion is just a mess. The 2 year $0 up front deal sold directly from TiVo made sense to me but this 1 year $99 up front one sold by retailers is just too complicated/messy.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

innocentfreak said:


> It looks like according to TiVo.com they have extended the current promotion till 1/29/2011.
> 
> This could mean a couple things. Either the deal is working really well for them or it is still too early to really get a feeling so they pushed it out another month.


Or they don't want the people in who purchased in Dec ($99 + $20/month) to cancel under the 30 day cancel provision TiVo has.


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## innocentfreak (Aug 25, 2001)

That would always be the case though so I doubt that is the reason.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

innocentfreak said:


> That would always be the case though so I doubt that is the reason.


TiVo may have sold more units in the Dec period than they expect to sell in Jan, but it all a guess, my guess is that TiVo will keep this pricing on into the future for some time.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

lessd said:


> TiVo may have sold more units in the Dec period than they expect to sell in Jan, but it all a guess, my guess is that TiVo will keep this pricing on into the future for some time.


I tend to agree - it appears TiVo believes that for new customers the up front costs were/are more of a barrier than the monthly fees. For existing customers they have upgrade offers that let you pay for adding or upgrading a TiVo pretty much any way you want. Hope it works out for them as we all have a vested interest in TiVo sticking around for a long time.

Thanks,


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

Interestingly, Amazon direct does not have the sub $100 + 1 year $20 offer anymore (Electronics Expo via Amazon still has it though). I was just looking to see if Amazon had updated their note about $20/month service that was previously there ending Dec. 31.


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## SullyND (Dec 30, 2004)

moyekj said:


> Interestingly, Amazon direct does not have the sub $100 + 1 year $20 offer anymore


I see $97 from Amazon (Direct, not EE)


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

SullyND said:


> I see $97 from Amazon (Direct, not EE)


 I see it now too. The original warning about $20/month service requirement is no longer there though. What a mess.


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## candaceb (Jan 1, 2011)

so are you all thinking that the Amazon "monthly subscription required" note means that only the $19.99 plan is available with these, or would we be able to do an annual subscription (or lifetime)? We have a Humax machine that seems to be slowly dying, and we also want to add Netflix streaming capabilities, but not if it means paying more than the $129/year.

I guess it's a technicality, but the Tivo policy notes say "$99.99" and they're currently $97.99 on Amazon.
The other option is to go through Tivo for the upgrade, but that's $100 more than the Amazon deal for the base price.


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## candaceb (Jan 1, 2011)

I just did an online chat with tivo. Here is what I was told:

me: I am wondering if the Tivo Premiere that is currently being offered by Amazon for $97.99 is eligible for an annual $129 service contract or if I would be stuck with the $19.99/month option?
Chad: I'd be glad to assist you with that. If you purchase from an outside retailer you are guaranteed the monthly rate of $19.99 per month for the life of the box if you agree to stay with us for one year! 
Chad: If you want a service plan other than $19.99 per month then you will need to pay full price for the hardware. You can redeem this offer by going to www tivo com and then clicking the red "Shop now" button on the right side. Then, choose the $12.95 per month option, and we can change the type of service through phone support.


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## SugarBowl (Jan 5, 2007)

candaceb said:


> Chad: I'd be glad to assist you with that. If you purchase from an outside retailer you are guaranteed the monthly rate of $19.99 per month for the life of the box if you agree to stay with us for one year!


haha, he sounds like he's doing you a favor.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

innocentfreak said:


> It looks like according to TiVo.com they have extended the current promotion till 1/29/2011.
> 
> This could mean a couple things. Either the deal is working really well for them or it is still too early to really get a feeling so they pushed it out another month.


If Tivo lets the promotion expire, will that mean that a premiere purchased at the promotional rate but not yet activated would be eligible for any of the other service plans including lifetime?


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## plazman30 (Jan 23, 2005)

SugarBowl said:


> haha, he sounds like he's doing you a favor.


How long has the price been $12.95 a month? What's the chance the TiVo fee may go up above $19.95? In 5 years the people with the $99.00 boxes may make out if the rest of us are forced to pay $25.00.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

plazman30 said:


> How long has the price been $12.95 a month? What's the chance the TiVo fee may go up above $19.95? In 5 years the people with the $99.00 boxes may make out if the rest of us are forced to pay $25.00.


That why PLS is *IMHO* the only good answer.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

lessd said:


> That why PLS is *IMHO* the only good answer.


Nah. An HTPC with a Ceton InfiniTV tuner card is the best solution, at least it is for me. No monthly fees except for one cablecard rental. Best investment I ever made. I'll never have to worry about Tivo jacking up my monthly rates.


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## gthassell (Apr 22, 2003)

One option for those looking to get a deal would be to purchase from TiVo at the non-promotional rate, using a credit card that has a low price guarantee that applies to online purchases, activate at the non-$19.99 rate, and hope for (or find in advance) and Best Buy or other retailer printed ad with TiVo at a lower price - and claim the difference via your credit card price guarantee program. OR, if you find a retailer with a price match program offering a full price TiVo (good luck) buy it from them and then claim a price match after the fact.


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## Tobashadow (Nov 11, 2006)

I hope someone from Tivo read's this!

After i get myself out of my mess this month i was going to upgrade to two premiers but with all the forced $19.95 per box crap Tivo has lost a sale because now i am looking at either used Tivo HD's or convert to Windows Media Center box's and drop tivo. 

Talk about shooting yourself in the greedy foot Tivo!

I would have put up with $19.95 a month for the contract length per box for a reduced price if and only if the price went down to normal rate after the contract. But forcing me to stay at $19.95 per box after is the straw that broke the camel's back. Now instead of the $25 a month i gladly pay for equipment that has far long been subsidized, you are really close to losing it completely. I love my tivo's but i want HD so if my $300 a year is not good enough for you then my choices are the following.

A: Buy the $19.95 boxes x 2 - I don't think so!
B: Buy two used HD's and spend the money on lifetime for each - Being forced to buy older equipment sucks!
C: Buy two full price Premiers and buy lifetime or pay regular monthly on them - Why would i pay extra to Tivo for screwing me around? when option B is there!
D: Buy and setup two MCE shuttle machines - I'd Miss you Tivo but probably not for long!

Option D is looking good i have put already about 60 hours into testing and research toward that method in the last three months thanks to a Tivo chat that could have resulted in a sale of a new Premier to replace a dying Series 2 but after telling me my other long paid for Series 2 would lose MSD unless i paid full price compared to what i could buy two used HD's for on ebay just remember you did it to yourself.

All i can say is your choice to do this to your customers is telling them you want to be the most expensive option for a DVR on the market.

You don't have to drive a Masarati to the grocery store!


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

mr.unnatural said:


> Nah. An HTPC with a Ceton InfiniTV tuner card is the best solution, at least it is for me. No monthly fees except for one cablecard rental. Best investment I ever made. I'll never have to worry about Tivo jacking up my monthly rates.


I was talking about if one wants to own a TiVo, I know there are many other options for a DVR, but none are as convenient for most people on this form* IMHO *as the TiVo DRV.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Tobashadow said:


> I hope someone from Tivo read's this!
> 
> After i get myself out of my mess this month i was going to upgrade to two premiers but with all the forced $19.95 per box crap Tivo has lost a sale because now i am looking at either used Tivo HD's or convert to Windows Media Center box's and drop tivo.
> 
> ...


Here we go another TiVo costs to much bla, bla, bla post.

If you really have 2 TiVos then you should have several upgrade offers including:


Buying a new Premiere with lifetime service for $500
Buying a new Premiere for $199 and paying $12.95/mo (9.95/mo if MSD) for service
Buying a new Premiere for $199 and paying $129 ($99/yr if MSD) annually for service. 

If you really believe all of those deals are too much money then the only answer is to get something else and if you think 2 good media center PCs are going to cost you less than $1000 then I have some swamp land you should invest in.

And yes in order to have a TiVo receive a MSD you have to have another TiVo on your account that you are paying the full monthly/annual rate on or paid the full lifetime service rate for. That is nothing new.

Thanks,


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## Cventure (Mar 18, 2009)

I currently own (3) tivos that under the muti-service agreement. Now they are telling me that if I elect to upgrade to a premier XL & do not purchase from Tivo Direct the only service plan that I will be eligible for is the $19.95 per month with a 12 month contract which will revert to a monthly agreement after the original 12 month term. I feel that I am being held hostage & that Tivo is putting the screws to the open & fair market of thier authorized retailers. I may just cancel all of my Tivo subscriptions as a result.


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## moyekj (Jan 24, 2006)

FYI, just got off online chat with TiVo CSR and she stated that the monthly service pricing after the 1/29 holiday promotion has not been established yet, and she wasn't even sure if PLS would be made available again (outside the upgrade program). So there is no guarantee it will be $12.95/9.95 per month again or $399/$299 for PLS as I was assuming.


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## gthassell (Apr 22, 2003)

Frys.com still has TiVo Premieres listed at full price (299.99) - FYI - so a purchase there should be eligible for non promo pricing. Don't know what would happen with in-store pickup - as store pricing is $99.99.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

gthassell said:


> Frys.com still has TiVo Premieres listed at full price (299.99) - FYI - so a purchase there should be eligible for non promo pricing. Don't know what would happen with in-store pickup - as store pricing is $99.99.


If you don't want the $19.95/month pricing and purchase from a store other than TiVo itself you have a hassle added, you must fax in a store receipt than wait for their call at TiVos' convenience and be ready with your CC and TSN. That almost as bad as waiting for your cablecard install, what if your not home or driving, even a speaker phone would still require you to get out your CC and TSN, and obviously the store receipt can be photoshopped without much problem. Looks to me like a messy way to do business. The old rebate program now doesn't look so bad, pay $299 (or whatever) and get a $199 rebate with a $20/month commitment, or don't take the rebate and get normal MRV pricing, easy, simple to understand.


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## Cventure (Mar 18, 2009)

lessd said:


> If you don't want the $19.95/month pricing and purchase from a store other than TiVo itself you have a hassle added, you must fax in a store receipt than wait for their call at TiVos' convenience and be ready with your CC and TSN. That almost as bad as waiting for your cablecard install, what if your not home or driving, even a speaker phone would still require you to get out your CC and TSN, and obviously the store receipt can be photoshopped without much problem. Looks to me like a messy way to do business. The old rebate program now doesn't look so bad, pay $299 (or whatever) and get a $199 rebate with a $20/month commitment, or don't take the rebate and get normal MRV pricing, easy, simple to understand.


The Premiere XL @ Fry's is $499.95. It can be purchased @ other authorized retailers in the upper $200's, but as I stated previous that TIVO will hold you hostage unless you pay them the $349 in order to qualify for the multi-user rate of $9.95, or be forever penalized an additional $10.00 for as long as you continue with their subscription, even beyond the 12 month contract. Anyway you want to paint this picture, in my opinion the truth is that Tivo is screwing over their customers as well thier authorized retailers. Personally, I just do not appreciate being a hostage, especially when I have been a long term customer whom simply wants to update my existing equipment so I can continue to spend $$$$ to Tivo for many years to come. I am truly disgusted.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

It's not $19.95 forever ... unless you forget to call in and change it. You are only obligated for the 19.99 rate for the initial life of the contract - then you can change to $12.95 or $9.95 or whatever the then-current monthly rate is. For all the complaining, the pricing hasn't really changed ... just spread out over the life of the contract.


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## Cventure (Mar 18, 2009)

All I have stated here is how difficult it is to deal with TIVO when they want to control all aspects of free marketing. Why have authorized retailers if you are going to penalize all of their purchasers that most likely don't have a clue that they are going to be penalized an additional $7.00 per month unless they purchase directly from TIVO @ a higher sales price with a lower monthly subscription fee. Didn't these same Authorized retailers have to purchase this same equipment under some form of terms? 
My cable provider, Cox Communications, has offered all cable subscribers that require a tuning adaptor free DVR's for 12 months usage @ no cost, which in my case is (3) to not utilize Tivo in my home. There have been numerous reception issues over the many years that I have been a Tivo subscriber and are rearing their ugly head again since Cox has required their supplied tuning adaptors in order to receive all of their digital channels. Lets do the math; I currently pay Tivo $12.95 X 12 = $155.40 a year for the primary subscription + $9.95 X 12 months X (2) additional subscriptions + 3 X $4.00 X 12 months for cable cards for an annual total of $538.20. 
And now Tivo's policy is to restrain free trade & make me a hostage via the monthly service upcharge if I purchase from an Authorized retailer to simply permit me to upgrade my existing equipment. I was even considering keeping the Tivo that I want to replace in my teenagers room @ an additional $9.95 per month for an additional yearly income to Tivo of $119.40.
I truly enjoy the ease of Tivo & channel guide, but this is steadily becoming financially absurd. 
That initial saving of $538.20 is becoming more attractive with every keystroke if for no other reason but principle. I may soon have (2) TIVO Series III HD's + a less than 2 month old Premiere XL for sale if anyone is interested.


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## samo (Oct 7, 1999)

innocentfreak said:


> It looks like according to TiVo.com they have extended the current promotion till 1/29/2011.
> 
> This could mean a couple things. Either the deal is working really well for them or it is still too early to really get a feeling so they pushed it out another month.


The simple answer is that TiVo's Q4 ends in January. They need to show as many sales as they can to break the pattern of losing more and more net subs every quarter.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

jfh3 said:


> It's not $19.95 forever ... unless you forget to call in and change it. You are only obligated for the 19.99 rate for the initial life of the contract - then you can change to $12.95 or $9.95 or whatever the then-current monthly rate is. For all the complaining, the pricing hasn't really changed ... just spread out over the life of the contract.


Unfortunately that may not be true, I have posted the terms on the $19.95 monthly TiVo and TiVo clearly said if you want to continue service on that TiVo you must pay the same $19.99 forever as these TiVos will never be eligible for MSD pricing.
See https://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/popups/popup_ComparePlans_2010_B.html


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

samo said:


> The simple answer is that TiVo's Q4 ends in January. They need to show as many sales as they can to break the pattern of losing more and more net subs every quarter.


meh, without a directTV box available to buy any other effort will be incremental at best


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

lessd said:


> ...these TiVos will never be eligible for MSD pricing.
> See https://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/popups/popup_ComparePlans_2010_B.html


The link does not clearly state that. Yes, it does say "your service plan will continue at $19.99 per month on a month- to-month basis", but that continuing at the original rate seems to have been a common practice for TiVo from what I recall.


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## ZeoTiVo (Jan 2, 2004)

lessd said:


> TiVo and TiVo clearly said if you want to continue service on that TiVo you must pay the same $19.99 forever


that is absolutely wrong.
can you show where TiVo ever said these boxes are not eligible for MSD pricing?

aside from that - what the details say is that at the ned of the 1 or 2 years - you go on a month to month at the current rate, which for these boxes is 19.95. That is a standard practice by TiVo. You are free to cancel or to agree to a new service plan at the then current rates - eg agree to a year prepay for 129$ or 99$ depending on what other boxes you have. Even buy lifetime if it is available.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

ZeoTiVo said:


> that is absolutely wrong.
> can you show where TiVo ever said these boxes are not eligible for MSD pricing?
> 
> aside from that - what the details say is that at the ned of the 1 or 2 years - you go on a month to month at the current rate, which for these boxes is 19.95. That is a standard practice by TiVo. You are free to cancel or to agree to a new service plan at the then current rates - eg agree to a year prepay for 129$ or 99$ depending on what other boxes you have. Even buy lifetime if it is available.


Just look under* payment plans*, nothing after 11/14 about MSD or any other plan but the $19.99 plan. I do agree that TiVo can change plans on a dime but it will take till 11/14/2011 to know what options plans other than the $19.99/month will be available for the $99 TiVos that went under the $19.99/month plan. TiVo seems to want to keep all pricing options open that why I think PLS is the way to go. (In the past promotions monthly plans TiVo had said that the monthly cost would be the one in effect at the time your plan was up, this new plan does not say that, just guarantees you the $19.99 monthly plan.)


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

atmuscarella said:


> I tend to agree - it appears TiVo believes that for new customers the up front costs were/are more of a barrier than the monthly fees. For existing customers they have upgrade offers that let you pay for adding or upgrading a TiVo pretty much any way you want. Hope it works out for them as we all have a vested interest in TiVo sticking around for a long time.
> 
> Thanks,


Existing customers are equally damaged by the current pricing.

The whole $99 hardware / $19.99 monthly charge is for ALL customers who buy the Premiere or Premiere XL bundled. We are an existing customer who read the Multi-Service Discount Agreement, and the paragraph for our case (Lifetime Subscription) contains no mention of promotions disqualifying us for an MSD discount on any box. But Customer Service is insisting that the MSD is incomplete and the Payment Plan document rules instead. And as reported later in the thread, they're also happily saying that the $19.99 rate is guaranteed into the future as if we should be delighted that we're paying the highest rate they charge, will continue to do so, and have no chance of getting the MSD after the promotional period ends.

I think it's unlikely that TIVO is going to be able to construct a business model of charging lots for hardware and larger monthly DVR fees than their competitors to boot. If your box goes bad after the short warranty period, you pay more. If that happens with Verizon, they'll bring in a new box because you're renting it. And the TIVO fee from this promotion is higher than the fee from Verizon! It's pretty arrogant of TIVO to think their service and box are so superior that they can charge the highest fee and make you pay for hardware and later hardware failures too. Any edge they think they have now (larger HDD, primarily) will disappear, and then their pricing will be a huge negative. (I saw someone mentioning loss of subscriptions - maybe this is why?)

Maybe we'll all get lucky and the managers who came up with this pricing madness will get fired and the policies will be made reasonable again within a year. But I just did some math and it suggests that if we kept a box for five years, using the promotional plan ends up being hundreds of dollars more expensive than returning the boxes and then buying them at full price direct from TIVO. We're still within the 30 day period and have a FIOS box that could tide us over until we could get new TIVO boxes with reasonable pricing.

This pricing plan they've put together and their explicit exclusion of any discounts to existing customers is some of the worst customer experience management I've ever seen from any company.


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

ZeoTiVo said:


> that is absolutely wrong.
> can you show where TiVo ever said these boxes are not eligible for MSD pricing?
> ...


We have an email from Customer Service today in answer to asking about MSD in a year. We were told that we are guaranteed the $19.99 price will remain in effect after the promotional period ends. No MSD. I feel so lucky!


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

orangeboy said:


> The link does not clearly state that. Yes, it does say "your service plan will continue at $19.99 per month on a month- to-month basis", but that continuing at the original rate seems to have been a common practice for TiVo from what I recall.


We asked about MSD in a year today and Customer Service told us we'll continue to get the $19.99 rate (as if that were a good thing! We were astounded...).

If you look at the plan in the quoted link it is explicit about a continuing monthly $19.99 fee. If you look at the same link but go to the third option (I had to edit the link, subbing a "C" in for a "B" near the end), you see different language:

"Commitment period: 1-year commitment to the TiVo service required after which your service plan will continue at the then-current monthly service plan rate"

So TIVO is carefully making the middle option different from the third option. I think the interpretation offered before is correct - they're going to keep charging $19.99 indefinitely on boxes purchased at the $99 level. The language explicitly states they're going to do that.


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## GreenMonkey (May 28, 2008)

lessd said:


> That why PLS is *IMHO* the only good answer.


Unless you get unlucky with a box. Our Lifetime Tivo HD started rebooting about 6 months in. At about 12 months or so it got stuck in a green screen of death loop. I replaced the HDD (Instantcake) which stabilized it for a while. I had to re-cake it twice in 6 months and the HDMI port also broke (needs something under the cable / pushing down on the contacts inside to work).

We ended up with a refurb TivoHD upstairs on $13/mo. The old one was simply too unreliable - reboots and such at random as well as the occasional GSOD. I don't want to shell out for lifetime any more just to have it crap out.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

ThomasAlexHD said:


> Existing customers are equally damaged by the current pricing.
> 
> The whole $99 hardware / $19.99 monthly charge is for ALL customers who buy the Premiere or Premiere XL bundled. We are an existing customer who read the Multi-Service Discount Agreement, and the paragraph for our case (Lifetime Subscription) contains no mention of promotions disqualifying us for an MSD discount on any box. But Customer Service is insisting that the MSD is incomplete and the Payment Plan document rules instead. And as reported later in the thread, they're also happily saying that the $19.99 rate is guaranteed into the future as if we should be delighted that we're paying the highest rate they charge, will continue to do so, and have no chance of getting the MSD after the promotional period ends.
> 
> ...


Why did you buy one of these sub $99 boxes if you didn't want to pay $19.95/mo? If you actually are an existing TiVo customer you had other options. Depending on if your existing TiVo is lifetime or monthly you could have purchased a Premiere with lifetime for $470 or paid $199 and got service for $9.95/mo etc.. You can not have it both ways TiVo has to either get more for the boxes or more for the service.

Thanks,


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## orangeboy (Apr 19, 2004)

ThomasAlexHD said:


> We asked about MSD in a year today and Customer Service told us we'll continue to get the $19.99 rate (as if that were a good thing! We were astounded...).
> 
> If you look at the plan in the quoted link it is explicit about a continuing monthly $19.99 fee. If you look at the same link but go to the third option (I had to edit the link, subbing a "C" in for a "B" near the end), you see different language:
> 
> ...


The TiVo Payment Plans states:



> After the end of the commitment associated with your monthly service plan, TiVo will continue to charge you on a monthly basis *at the then-current monthly service plan rate*, subject to the terms of the TiVo Service Agreement.


It remains to be seen what the "then-current" rate will be. Regardless, it does NOT explicitly state that $19.99 is, and forever shall be, tied to the box. Have you asked TiVo to schedule a _new_ plan at the end of the commitment?


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## Leon WIlkinson (Feb 13, 2000)

lessd said:


> Unfortunately that may not be true, I have posted the terms on the $19.95 monthly TiVo and TiVo clearly said if you want to continue service on that TiVo you must pay the same $19.99 forever as these TiVos will never be eligible for MSD pricing.
> See https://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/popups/popup_ComparePlans_2010_B.html


I would just drop service and re activate it, since I own the box.


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## shaown (Jul 1, 2002)

Looks like the new plan is extended to 3/31/11


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## larrs (May 2, 2005)

Leon WIlkinson said:


> I would just drop service and re activate it, since I own the box.


Trust me, if you tell them at the end of the year you want to cancel the box if they will not change the service to the MSD, they'll cave in. Otherwise they are idiots- you would have met their agreement and they won't want to lose a sub. Or, worst case, you deactivate and buy another tivo off of ebay and activte it.


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## larrs (May 2, 2005)

However, $99 plus 20/mo is a total of $339. With $0 down and $19.99 for two years, it is a total of $480. For $469, you can get a box with lifetime (if you already have one lifetime box on your account).


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

_That why PLS is IMHO the only good answer. _



GreenMonkey said:


> Unless you get unlucky with a box. Our Lifetime Tivo HD started rebooting about 6 months in. At about 12 months or so it got stuck in a green screen of death loop. I replaced the HDD (Instantcake) which stabilized it for a while. I had to re-cake it twice in 6 months and the HDMI port also broke (needs something under the cable / pushing down on the contacts inside to work).
> 
> We ended up with a refurb TivoHD upstairs on $13/mo. The old one was simply too unreliable - reboots and such at random as well as the occasional GSOD. I don't want to shell out for lifetime any more just to have it crap out.


Most TiVo users have not had the bad experience you had, I had TiVos for 9 years and except for an occasional hard drive problem, I never had any other problems. I think the risk of PLS is very low, but not 0%.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

shaown said:


> Looks like the new plan is extended to 3/31/11


I think this plan will extend month to month for quite some time as i don't see how TiVo can end it without problems again about how much you paid for your TiVo, at this point it would hard case to make that you purchased a new TP before 11/14/2010 to get the MSD or PLS, the further out this plan goes the less chance that TiVo will have to offer MSD on any TP, even for people that try to lie about when their new TP was purchased.


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

atmuscarella said:


> Why did you buy one of these sub $99 boxes if you didn't want to pay $19.95/mo? If you actually are an existing TiVo customer you had other options. Depending on if your existing TiVo is lifetime or monthly you could have purchased a Premiere with lifetime for $470 or paid $199 and got service for $9.95/mo etc.. You can not have it both ways TiVo has to either get more for the boxes or more for the service.
> 
> Thanks,


Because I had no clue (not generally true!) that this was a promotional bundle as Amazon did not mention that anywhere in its description of the product. $99 seems perfectly reasonable to me as a price for this kind of electronics (I'd bet they cost a lot less than that to produce). If Amazon had identified this as a bundle with a fixed $19.95/month fee, I would not have made the purchase. It's a sensible option only if you really don't have cash up front but your monthly cashflow is OK and you're willing to pay more over the life of the product (like getting a loan).


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

orangeboy said:


> ...TiVo Payment Plans... states:
> 
> It remains to be seen what the "then-current" rate will be. Regardless, it does NOT explicitly state that $19.99 is, and forever shall be, tied to the box. Have you asked TiVo to schedule a _new_ plan at the end of the commitment?


As with the MSD not mentioning the promotional exclusion if you have an existing qualifying lifetime subscription, your quote is from a Tivo document but so is the more specific and limiting quote posted by another user. Guess which one Tivo would say rules when their own posted policies are different in two different documents? It's a basic rule of contracts to make sure all language unambiguously says the same thing that you want in the contract wherever it comes up. This is a little harder with web-based documents, but still needs to be done. The two cases here are why - a consumer will read something in one place and expect the same company to say the same thing about the same topic in other applicable legal documents.


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## ThomasAlexHD (Jan 31, 2011)

ThomasAlexHD said:


> We have an email from Customer Service today in answer to asking about MSD in a year. We were told that we are guaranteed the $19.99 price will remain in effect after the promotional period ends. No MSD. I feel so lucky!


Just wanted to report that Tivo has resolved the issue to my satisfaction. I'll return the bundled box and buy direct from Tivo with an acceptable pricing plan.


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## trip1eX (Apr 2, 2005)

Tivo will cave at $13/month. 


Funny how the $20/month rates for the subsidized box will have folks pleading for $13/month after their contract ends.

IT used to be folks would call up and get $7/month down from $13/month.


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## czazzara (Jan 29, 2011)

Before I purchased my Premiere at Best Buy I had a lengthy conversation with their customer service department. I was told that the BB box with the $19.99 lock-in was basically a way for them to finance the boxes value through the service plan. After the year is up you can certainly retain the guaranteed price of $19.99 a month or you can call TiVo and "negotiate" a better pricing plan.

I preferred my purchase through BB because the extended warranty offered by them was far superior and cheaper than the service offered by TiVo.

Other than that, all is well, eh?

Chris



trip1eX said:


> Tivo will cave at $13/month.
> 
> Funny how the $20/month rates for the subsidized box will have folks pleading for $13/month after their contract ends.
> 
> IT used to be folks would call up and get $7/month down from $13/month.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

If you're going to be stuck with the $19.99 monthly rate for life, then you might as well go with the two year commitment and get the premiere for free. Get a new free premiere every two years and cancel the service on the one you were using.


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