# Special Upgrade Offers by Phone Only



## Emacee (Dec 15, 2000)

My Tivo Series 3 has started showing main-screen messages about special upgrade offers for Premier. However, for these you have to call in to find out what they are (giving Tivo a chance to do some hard sell over the phone). Has anybody called? Any idea what these "special" offers are?


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## rainbow (Feb 8, 2008)

Emacee said:


> My Tivo Series 3 has started showing main-screen messages about special upgrade offers for Premier. However, for these you have to call in to find out what they are (giving Tivo a chance to do some hard sell over the phone). Has anybody called? Any idea what these "special" offers are?


I saw that on my s3 last evening as well. Curious about it, but just like you, right now I would just want to know what it is about but don't want to call and deal w/the sales aspect of that call.


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## MeInDallas (Jul 31, 2011)

I'm seeing it also on my Tivo HD's. I have no idea what it's about.


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## cmwm (Feb 2, 2007)

I just called and it is simply a no money down offer but not a better deal than they are already offering. I was told since I have a multiple user discount it would not be helpful. Sorry but for me it is a waste of time.


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## johnm4 (Jun 23, 2008)

Called in. I qualified for a "rare" offer:
$0 down + $20/month. 

I said I don't want a monthly fee, what can they do for lifetime. They said
$10 off the box and $100 off the lifetime, so
$90 for the box and $400 for lifetime total.

That's only $10 off the standing offer I've seen since the premiere came out... no deal.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

You can get that same "deal" at Amazon any time. And on occasion you can catch a Premiere for $20-$30 cheaper.

Dan


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## arw01 (Feb 22, 2003)

Waiting here for a real deal to come along. $500 for lifetime and a box is not quite what I'm looking for yet.

Thought about the Elite, but at $900 that's a little silly. Tivo needs to get on-demand through the cable companies at these kinds of prices.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

arw01 said:


> Waiting here for a real deal to come along. $500 for lifetime and a box is not quite what I'm looking for yet.
> 
> Thought about the Elite, but at $900 that's a little silly. Tivo needs to get on-demand through the cable companies at these kinds of prices.


At the ludicrous $20 (or $15)/month, $499 (or $399) for lifetime isn't really bad. It may hurt that it's up front, but overall it's a decent deal if you accept the $20 (or $15)/month value, anyway... and probably relatively comparable (or at least a significant portion of) to what you'd pay from the cable company for rental of their HD receiver/DVR.

Fortunately us Comcast users are destined to get OnDemand via the Premiere sometime soon.

Someone currently using two 2-tuner units even under grandfathered pricing could find the Elite an attractive option, since you'd replace two DVRs with one, reducing CableCARD fees from the cable company and subscription fees from TiVo (and technically having a resale value as well).


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

dswallow said:


> Someone currently using two 2-tuner units even under grandfathered pricing could find the Elite an attractive option, since you'd replace two DVRs with one, reducing CableCARD fees from the cable company and subscription fees from TiVo (and technically having a resale value as well).


I have 4 TPs in four different rooms so the Elite would do nothing for me as I already have 8 tuners (that more than my family needs) and with the streaming it makes little difference what TiVo I use to record on now. I pay only $1.5 per cable card and no AO fee so even my savings would only be $3.00/month.


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## [email protected] (Dec 1, 2007)

dswallow said:


> Someone currently using two 2-tuner units even under grandfathered pricing could find the Elite an attractive option, since you'd replace two DVRs with one, reducing CableCARD fees from the cable company and subscription fees from TiVo (and technically having a resale value as well).


There are other reasons to consider it. Both my current TiVo HD boxes have lifetime, so the only savings on my monthly bill wout be getting rid of the fee for a second digital outlet. It would take a long time to recoup the cost of an Elite at that rate.

But I'd also like to get access to Comcast VOD, and the ability to sideload shows to my Android tablet. That makes getting some sort of Premiere an attractive proposition, and if I do that I'll probably just go for the Elite to simplify scheduling the 3rd (and very occasionally 4th) tuner.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

lessd said:


> I have 4 TPs in four different rooms so the Elite would do nothing for me as I already have 8 tuners (that more than my family needs) and with the streaming it makes little difference what TiVo I use to record on now. I pay only $1.5 per cable card and no AO fee so even my savings would only be $3.00/month.


If you need output to 4 different devices, obviously you can't combine two of your 4 units into one Elite since each is needed to serve a different display device. I was thinking more in terms of those people who have two 2-tuner units hooked up to a single display who are using two units because they need use of 4 simultaneous tuners.


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## lrussell (Feb 11, 2012)

Huh, it is kinda dumb that you can't do it online, but cool.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

I'd just buy a premiere with lifetime service with a credit card and make the minimum monthly payments to the credit card company, before I'd pay $20 per month for two years to Tivo.


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