# Tivo and Amazon backing out of deal?



## standupguy (Dec 2, 2015)

Amazon has failed to activate Tivo Roamio OTA w/PLS. Anybody else having this problem? What can we do about it? This is the 2nd time(replacement unit) it has happened.


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

https://support.tivo.com/SupportPor...mio-OTA-from-Amazon-Installation-Instructions


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## standupguy (Dec 2, 2015)

Yes I have seen that on the flyer that was included in the box sealed from Tivo. It has no MAK# on the back and when I hooked it up, the MAK# on the info page said Temporarily not available. You can't go the route of the flyer without a valid MAK#!


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

Not dead yet Jim:


"While this item is available from other marketplace sellers on this page, it is not currently offered by Amazon.com because customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here. (Thanks for the tip!)

We're working to fix the problem as quickly as possible."


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

standupguy said:


> Yes I have seen that on the flyer that was included in the box sealed from Tivo. It has no MAK# on the back and when I hooked it up, the MAK# on the info page said Temporarily not available. You can't go the route of the flyer without a valid MAK#!


It's been awhile but aren't they both listed on the box?


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## Dan203 (Apr 17, 2000)

The MAK is account specific, how could it be listed on the DVR or the box? I have the same MAK for all 6 of the TiVos on my account. 

Sorry I missed the part where it required an MAK for the activation.


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## foghorn2 (May 4, 2004)

the MAK although mentioned on the instructions, is not needed. You just need a knowledgeable Tivo support person to transfer the service from Amazon to your account.


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## standupguy (Dec 2, 2015)

Sticker on the box has TSN# but no MAK# on it. Shipping label also located on original factory sealed box, From: Tivo,Ft. Worth,Texas To: Amazon,Dallas, Texas. It has the flyer indicated, above sealed in the box.


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## standupguy (Dec 2, 2015)

Tivo Supervisor said that Amazon never created the account. Amazon said they can't do that(at least not yet).


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## standupguy (Dec 2, 2015)

foghorn2 said:


> the MAK although mentioned on the instructions, is not needed. You just need a knowledgeable Tivo support person to transfer the service from Amazon to your account.


A second call to Tivo: Tier 2 support: Lifetime is not available on this unit. Flyer in the original factory sealed box from Tivo states: "Congratulations on your purchase of the TiVo Roamio OTA with service included". This is misrepresentation from TiVo themselves! They said they can sell me a new unit w/PLS for $600. WTF!


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

I have the same problem. I think most of the blame goes to Amazon. They are selling these units but apparently are not advertising them properly for what they are (i.e they are selling non-lifetime units as lifetime).
Part of the problem appears to be that Tivo can not change a monthly box to lifetime - or , at least that is what they have told me. If they could change the status remotely they could fix this issue.

Has anyone ever had a monthly box converted to lifetime by Tivo?

It sucks but I think the only recourse is to use Amazons return policy on these.


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## JoeKustra (Dec 7, 2012)

Photo_guy said:


> Has anyone ever had a monthly box converted to lifetime by Tivo?


Yes. I dropped $300 on a basic Roamio for "all in" that was monthly for one year and the price was there when I did the order three months ago. I also just bought a basic Roamio with "all in" for $400. I'm not going 4k (Bolt) for a while.

Amazon is not doing themselves any good with this action.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

JoeKustra said:


> Amazon is not doing themselves any good with this action.


Ya they are screwing themselves and TiVo. No one is going to keep a Roamio OTA they paid $300 with lifetime if it doesn't actually come with lifetime. Amazon pays for lots of shipping, someone is stuck with a bunch of open box OTA Roamios without service that are worth what $25?, & TiVo looses customers.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

What the heck is going on with these things? Why is TiVo even selling them with Lifetime on Amazon if they don't have them on their own site? Or did Amazon buy a pile of them before TiVo raised their prices or something?

The flip side is that $299 is about what an OTA is actually worth. If TiVo thinks they are going to keep selling them with $15/mo service, they are insane.


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

atmuscarella said:


> Ya they are screwing themselves and TiVo. No one is going to keep a Roamio OTA they paid $300 with lifetime if it doesn't actually come with lifetime. Amazon pays for lots of shipping, someone is stuck with a bunch of open box OTA Roamios without service that are worth what $25?, & TiVo looses customers.


Mine is on it's way back to Amazon since it did not include lifetime as advertised. They could not send another unit, nor put me on a waiting list, since this item is now 'under review' and not available to order.
I did send a complaint to Amazon about this product issue and mentioned my wasted time. They offered me $20 credit - probably because I am a Prime member and spend a metric-buttload with them each year. YMMV.


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## Chuck_IV (Jan 1, 2002)

Bigg said:


> What the heck is going on with these things? Why is TiVo even selling them with Lifetime on Amazon if they don't have them on their own site? Or did Amazon buy a pile of them before TiVo raised their prices or something?
> 
> The flip side is that $299 is about what an OTA is actually worth. If TiVo thinks they are going to keep selling them with $15/mo service, they are insane.


If the boxes are coming with a note inside(from Tivo) saying thank you for purchasing with service includes, as per a post above, then IMO, this is on Tivo and they should be allowing the boxes to be activated as lifetimes. Tivo should not have sold them to the reseller(aka Amazon) otherwise.

While Amazon may look bad, this is insignificant to Amazon. Tivo will look just as bad, refusing to activate, what was prepackaged by Tivo, as a lifetime box.


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

Chuck_IV said:


> If the boxes are coming with a note inside(from Tivo) saying thank you for purchasing with service includes, as per a post above, then IMO, this is on Tivo and they should be allowing the boxes to be activated as lifetimes. Tivo should not have sold them to the reseller(aka Amazon) otherwise.
> 
> While Amazon may look bad, this is insignificant to Amazon. Tivo will look just as bad, refusing to activate, what was prepackaged by Tivo, as a lifetime box.


I feel the same. Mine had the letter from Tivo. Now lets see who fixes it.


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

Chuck_IV said:


> If the boxes are coming with a note inside(from Tivo) saying thank you for purchasing with service includes, as per a post above, then IMO, this is on Tivo and they should be allowing the boxes to be activated as lifetimes. Tivo should not have sold them to the reseller(aka Amazon) otherwise.
> 
> While Amazon may look bad, this is insignificant to Amazon. Tivo will look just as bad, refusing to activate, what was prepackaged by Tivo, as a lifetime box.


I agree. Mine also had the note from Tivo. I have already initiated a return to Amazon because I don't want to waste too much time on this - I already have a working system without this new box. 
It does appear there is some issues both at Amazon and Tivo. Amazon will at least refund my money but I will continue to pressure Tivo to see what they can do to compensate for this issue.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Photo_guy said:


> I agree. Mine also had the note from Tivo. I have already initiated a return to Amazon because I don't want to waste too much time on this - I already have a working system without this new box.
> It does appear there is some issues both at Amazon and Tivo. Amazon will at least refund my money but I will continue to pressure Tivo to see what they can do to compensate for this issue.


This is an TiVo problem as Amazon can't *test *each product they get to sell, Amazon has to trust the vendor, and TiVo putting the letter inside the box means that TiVo itself screw up, TiVo has no idea what Roamio basic went where so TiVo can't fix the problem on the phone by just giving you free Lifetime as one could purchase a Roamio Basic without Lifetime for far less money, then call TiVo tell TiVo they purchased from Amazon, and ask for the free Lifetime.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Has anyone botherd to send a copy of the letter to Margret and get her involved. This just seems like a simple misunderstanding that could be resolved with the proper folks involved.

Its obvious that Tivo sold these as lifetime units with the letter included stating so.


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

lessd said:


> This is an TiVo problem as Amazon can't *test *each product they get to sell, Amazon has to trust the vendor, and TiVo putting the letter inside the box means that TiVo itself screw up, TiVo has no idea what Roamio basic went where so TiVo can't fix the problem on the phone by just giving you free Lifetime as one could purchase a Roamio Basic without Lifetime for far less money, then call TiVo tell TiVo they purchased from Amazon, and ask for the free Lifetime.


So, your saying Tivo failed to document the TSN of the units that where sent to Amazon with the letters (PLS). That's pretty shoddy. You'd think they could track it down to the unit on each shipment. Wow. Should be interesting.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

lessd said:


> This is an TiVo problem as Amazon can't *test *each product they get to sell, Amazon has to trust the vendor, and TiVo putting the letter inside the box means that TiVo itself screw up, TiVo has no idea what Roamio basic went where so TiVo can't fix the problem on the phone by just giving you free Lifetime as one could purchase a Roamio Basic without Lifetime for far less money, then call TiVo tell TiVo they purchased from Amazon, and ask for the free Lifetime.


So TiVo is so incompetent that they actually don't know which boxes were sold with Lifetime, and which ones weren't? If that's really the case, that is just an epic level of incompetence. It's not impossible to put Humpty-Dumpty back together with Amazon, but man, that's bad.

The whole thing was sort of weird that they offered them via Amazon but not on their own website? You'd think they would just offer them on TiVo.com at the $299 with Lifetime price point?


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Bigg said:


> So TiVo is so incompetent that they actually don't know which boxes were sold with Lifetime, and which ones weren't? If that's really the case, that is just an epic level of incompetence. It's not impossible to put Humpty-Dumpty back together with Amazon, but man, that's bad.
> 
> The whole thing was sort of weird that they offered them via Amazon but not on their own website? You'd think they would just offer them on TiVo.com at the $299 with Lifetime price point?


What I am saying is that TiVo does not know by TSN what OEM customer gets what, in this case TiVo may have just packed the incorrect, or many incorrect units for Amazon, how would Amazon know until customers start complaining.


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## robnalex (Sep 8, 2002)

Chuck_IV said:


> If the boxes are coming with a note inside(from Tivo) saying thank you for purchasing with service includes, as per a post above, then IMO, this is on Tivo and they should be allowing the boxes to be activated as lifetimes. Tivo should not have sold them to the reseller(aka Amazon) otherwise.
> 
> While Amazon may look bad, this is insignificant to Amazon. Tivo will look just as bad, refusing to activate, what was prepackaged by Tivo, as a lifetime box.


From my chat with an obnoxious TiVo CR Rep today:

Niles (December 3, 2015 at 11:55:47 AM EST): We would take responsibility for something purchased from us directly, but as that wasn't, we wouldn't be responsible for the service sold to you. I show the TSN you had didn't have any service on it.

Me (December 3, 2015 at 11:56:40 AM EST): Your letter, included with the product, states that the product has service included.

Me (December 3, 2015 at 11:57:48 AM EST): Your unwillingness to step up and address this issue is appalling.

Niles (December 3, 2015 at 11:59:22 AM EST): We are addressing this with you. As Amazon made the claim for Product Lifetime service, you would have to contact them to get a refund. We could sell you a Product Lifetime service device directly through 877-367-8486. Amazon is third party and we would not be responsible for their sales errors.

Me (December 3, 2015 at 12:01:42 PM EST): Your letter, included with the product states that service is included, and Niles, your response is indefensible.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

robnalex said:


> From my chat with an obnoxious TiVo CR Rep today:
> 
> Niles (December 3, 2015 at 11:55:47 AM EST): We would take responsibility for something purchased from us directly, but as that wasn't, we wouldn't be responsible for the service sold to you. I show the TSN you had didn't have any service on it.
> 
> ...


You must understand the problem is between TiVo and Amazon not between you and TiVo, Amazon sold you something that was not as it should have been, the TiVo letter inside the box tells you TiVo screw up Amazon, not you as a 3rd pty. TiVo does not know if your TiVo was the one purchased from Amazon, only Amazon can make you whole, not TiVo. I would sure like to be a fly on the wall when Amazon has to pay all the return shipping and tries to make TiVo pay them back as Amazon should.


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## HerronScott (Jan 1, 2002)

standupguy said:


> A second call to Tivo: Tier 2 support: Lifetime is not available on this unit. Flyer in the original factory sealed box from Tivo states: "Congratulations on your purchase of the TiVo Roamio OTA with service included". This is misrepresentation from TiVo themselves! They said they can sell me a new unit w/PLS for $600. WTF!


Does the flyer specifically say lifetime service? It sounds more like the letter they would include with new TiVo's that are coming with the first year of service included (although you would think that would be spelled out also).

Scott


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

Can someone post a redacted copy of the letter?


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

Who is Margret? I have a copy of my letter.


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## hytekjosh (Dec 4, 2010)

Someone post a copy of the letter included in the box!


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

Nothing personal to redact. Numbers on bottom from Tivo same as their web page.


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## HD_Dude (Sep 11, 2006)

KSOC Kid said:


> Nothing personal to redact. Numbers on bottom from Tivo same as their web page.


I don't see the word lifetime...


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

Well, there's the word "Service". Tivo said I didn't have any "Service". And what I and others bought from Amazon stated PLS. I imagine there would be another letter without the word "Service" in the box if I bought the $49 unit from Best Buy.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

HD_Dude said:


> I don't see the word lifetime...


The letter says "service included" it would not say that if it were a monthly service commitment.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

Has anyone actually activated one of these units to see if it shows up as a lifetime unit? I bought three of these from Amazon, but I haven't activated any of them yet. I need to know if the lifetime offer was valid or not.

Update: I just spent the better part of the day upgrading the three Roamio OTAs I bought with 4TB hard drives. I just finished upgrading the last one and checked the System Status screen. It's showing the Account Status as 5: Product Lifetime Service. What's weird is that the other two displayed a 1: New, and the other displayed a 2 with five days left to go on the free introductory service. I'll have to hook up the first two again and see what they show.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

lessd said:


> What I am saying is that TiVo does not know by TSN what OEM customer gets what, in this case TiVo may have just packed the incorrect, or many incorrect units for Amazon, how would Amazon know until customers start complaining.


Shouldn't the one with PLS have a different SKU than the one without? This seems like some total stupidity and incompetence, one way or another. This just shouldn't be that hard.



lessd said:


> You must understand the problem is between TiVo and Amazon not between you and TiVo, Amazon sold you something that was not as it should have been, the TiVo letter inside the box tells you TiVo screw up Amazon, not you as a 3rd pty. TiVo does not know if your TiVo was the one purchased from Amazon, only Amazon can make you whole, not TiVo. I would sure like to be a fly on the wall when Amazon has to pay all the return shipping and tries to make TiVo pay them back as Amazon should.


So TiVo doesn't know which boxes they shipped with the letters and which ones they didn't? That's pathetic! This sounds like a TiVo problem, not an Amazon problem.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

HD_Dude said:


> I don't see the word lifetime...


There is no time limit. It says it includes "service", so it's on TiVo to provide said service for the life of the unit. If it was intended to be a year of service, it should have said as such.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

lessd said:


> This is an TiVo problem as Amazon can't *test *each product they get to sell, Amazon has to trust the vendor, and TiVo putting the letter inside the box means that TiVo itself screw up, TiVo has no idea what Roamio basic went where so TiVo can't fix the problem on the phone by just giving you free Lifetime as one could purchase a Roamio Basic without Lifetime for far less money, then call TiVo tell TiVo they purchased from Amazon, and ask for the free Lifetime.


amazon sells both the lifetime and non lifetime units. Amazon probably mixed up the shipments in the warehouse and sent the wrong item since they look exactly the same on the outside with the same UPC

This is an amazon problem, not a tivo problem.


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## lessd (Jan 23, 2005)

Jrr6415sun said:


> amazon sells both the lifetime and non lifetime units. Amazon probably mixed up the shipments in the warehouse and sent the wrong item since they look exactly the same on the outside with the same UPC
> 
> This is an amazon problem, not a tivo problem.


I have purchased TiVos from Amazon and never had a letter inside the box from TiVo, Amazon could not have mixed up the shipments or the TiVo letter would be missing.

The problem is between TiVo and Amazon, all that can be done now is Amazon will refund your money, until or if the problem is fixed, with the letter I tend to think TiVo is at fault unless Amazon was to do something before each shipment.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I agree. The letter does not say product life time service or All In (the current term) service is included. The current standard offer includes 1 year of service. Not lifetime.

If it were a certificate or letter indicating it included PLS, it would be very specific.

This is all on Amazon for selling something that simply was not there. They can choose to pay for the service and honor the terms of the deal (not likely) or allow you to return for a full refund. (this is easy and always the case with Amazon).

Amazon is owning up to the mistake and offering a refund. Its unfortunate that you are not getting the great deal you thought you were.

Watch for a bunch of really cheap Roamio OTA units to show up in Warehouse Deals in a few weeks. If Tivo did represent these to Amazon as PLS units and they were all returned, Amazon has plenty of muscle to stick Tivo with the bill, including all the shipping charges...Amazon is not nearly as forgiving of its suppliers as it is its customers.


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## jcthorne (Jan 28, 2002)

I agree. The letter does not say product life time service or All In (the current term) service is included. The current standard offer includes 1 year of service. Not lifetime.

If it were a certificate or letter indicating it included PLS, it would be very specific.

This is all on Amazon for selling something that simply was not there. They can choose to pay for the service and honor the terms of the deal (not likely) or allow you to return for a full refund. (this is easy and always the case with Amazon).

Amazon is owning up to the mistake and offering a refund. Its unfortunate that you are not getting the great deal you thought you were.

Watch for a bunch of really cheap Roamio OTA units to show up in Warehouse Deals in a few weeks. If Tivo did represent these to Amazon as PLS units and they were all returned, Amazon has plenty of muscle to stick Tivo with the bill, including all the shipping charges...Amazon is not nearly as forgiving of its suppliers as it is its customers.


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## namwoljr (Aug 8, 2014)

So if we follow this to its logical conclusion, there must be lifetime Roamio OTAs sold by Amazon that were sold at the $49 non-lifetime price. I bet for every unhappy person that paid $299 for a non-lifetime unit, there is someone out there that got real lucky with a lifetime unit for only $49.

As is typical of online forums, you hear much more from unhappy people than happy people. In any case, regardless of who's at fault here, Tivo would be wise to give people the benefit of the doubt here and turn these non-lifetime OTAs sold as lifetime into lifetime units. If they do, they will turn upset customers into very happy, potentially repeat customers, and if they don't they will lose them for life. It's not like these units were bought by some random person on eBay. This was shipped and sold by Amazon, one of, if not the largest retailers in the world. Tivo obviously knows that they dumped all these OTAs to be sold with lifetime on Amazon, so I can't fathom why they'd be so reluctant to make these people whole.

I also don't buy that they aren't capable of turning a non-liftetime TSN into a lifetime TSN at the mothership somewhere to keep these folks from having to go through a bunch of hassle with returning/exchanging units. This isn't like a GSM vs CDMA phone situation where the hardware is actually different. The only thing different is the unique ID assigned to each device which must be linked to some database at the mothership giving them lifetime eligibility or not. They need to just bite the bullet and go into that database, flip a 1 to a 0, and be done with it. All they should require is proof of purchase of a unit advertised with lifetime service included, which should be easily provided by Amazon.


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

I think this is resolved. My unit was activated last night by a tech from Tivo. Took about 45 minutes but he got it. I read that other posters have been finding that the service automatically transferred after several failed attempts.
So I hope all who got this great deal is activated or soon to be. Very frustrating wait, no doubt, but I got what I wanted/needed at a price I can live with. And it's only been a little over 12 hours and easy to say this is the best DVR I ever had. All my others were through Brighthouse or Directv. My monthly fees going forward are now about $51 (Netflix,Hulu,Sling TV,Showtime,Amazon). Pretty happy camper.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

I purchased three of these units from Amazon. One of them had lifetime and the other two only have 7 days of free service. They all had the Tivo letter inside the box. I don't know if the units will update to one year of service when activated. I've already restored them to factory condition and got my return shipping label from Amazon so two of them are going back.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Jrr6415sun said:


> amazon sells both the lifetime and non lifetime units. Amazon probably mixed up the shipments in the warehouse and sent the wrong item since they look exactly the same on the outside with the same UPC
> 
> This is an amazon problem, not a tivo problem.


That can't possible be right. You're assuming that TiVo sent out two different products with the same SKU? That makes no sense!



jcthorne said:


> I agree. The letter does not say product life time service or All In (the current term) service is included. The current standard offer includes 1 year of service. Not lifetime.


No, the letter clearly says service, and does NOT have any limit to the length of that service. Therefore, it is in perpetuity, i.e. PLS. READ.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

After reading some of the other threads on this topic I decided to give my non-lifetime Tivos another shot. I had them packed up and ready to drop off at UPS and sitting by the door when I read that some people had luck getting their OTAs to show lifetime status. I unpacked both of them and reran guided setup on both of them. When I checked the System Information screens they now display the units as having lifetime service.


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## shwru980r (Jun 22, 2008)

I wonder if Amazon would ever sell a Tivo with lifetime service directly from Tivo ever again.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

shwru980r said:


> I wonder if Amazon would ever sell a Tivo with lifetime service directly from Tivo ever again.


Good question. TiVo should be selling these things everywhere they can for $299. It's the right price point for the Roamio OTA, and the cost-conscious cord cutters want Lifetime. It's also a market where they don't have to compete against the incumbents' own offerings.


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## mr.unnatural (Feb 2, 2006)

If they can sell a Roamio OTA with lifetime for $299 then there's no reason why they can't sell a Roamio Basic for only slightly more to cover the cost of the cablecard bracket. It's the exact same DVR otherwise. They're already generating the guide data for older models so it doesn't cost them any more to do it for a Roamio.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Bigg said:


> Good question. TiVo should be selling these things everywhere they can for $299. It's the right price point for the Roamio OTA, and the cost-conscious cord cutters want Lifetime. It's also a market where they don't have to compete against the incumbents' own offerings.





mr.unnatural said:


> If they can sell a Roamio OTA with lifetime for $299 then there's no reason why they can't sell a Roamio Basic for only slightly more to cover the cost of the cablecard bracket. It's the exact same DVR otherwise. They're already generating the guide data for older models so it doesn't cost them any more to do it for a Roamio.


The base Roamio is being sold via the current deals for $400 with lifetime so there isn't much differance between the Roamio OTA & Roamio's clearance pricing.

There is a difference between TiVo needs to sell DVRs for to be fully profitable (covering all, development, manufacturing, marketing, & support costs, plus profit) and what TiVo might be willing to accept to clear older models out of inventory. I highly doubt that TiVo wants to sell the Roamio OTA at $300 with lifetime and will not manufacture any to intentionally be sold at this price. But who knows perhaps manufacturing cost have come down enough that TiVo is willing to sell Roamio OTA's at this price to kill the competition. If they can get the other OTA DVR manufactures out of the picture perhaps they will be able to sell the anticipated Bolt OTA at higher margins.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

atmuscarella said:


> The base Roamio is being sold via the current deals for $400 with lifetime so there isn't much differance between the Roamio OTA & Roamio's clearance pricing.
> 
> There is a difference between TiVo needs to sell DVRs for to be fully profitable (covering all, development, manufacturing, marketing, & support costs, plus profit) and what TiVo might be willing to accept to clear older models out of inventory. I highly doubt that TiVo wants to sell the Roamio OTA at $300 with lifetime and will not manufacture any to intentionally be sold at this price. But who knows perhaps manufacturing cost have come down enough that TiVo is willing to sell Roamio OTA's at this price to kill the competition. If they can get the other OTA DVR manufactures out of the picture perhaps they will be able to sell the anticipated Bolt OTA at higher margins.


I think that there is room for a couple of players in the OTA market, but TiVo has to be competitive, especially with a cost-conscious crowd. I guess the price point could be in the $399-$449 range for the Roamio OTA given the competition, but they should be able to sell it profitably for $299 to stay really competitive. The 4-tuner Tablo is $449 with Lifetime. It doesn't have a hard drive, but it will work with Rokus and Fire TVs for multi-room viewing, so that's a significant savings over buying TiVo Minis for every room.

The base Roamio should be at least $100 more than the OTA, since it provides a lot more functionality to be equally at home on OTA, cable, and FIOS.

I can't find anything with Lifetime on TiVo's website.


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

For a lot of people on cable internet though, basic cable plus a cable DVR would probably be cost competitive with any of these OTA DVRs once you factor in the discount on the internet side for having TV.


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## atmuscarella (Oct 11, 2005)

Bigg said:


> ...
> I can't find anything with Lifetime on TiVo's website.


Yes the current Roamio ($400 with lifetime) & Roamio Pro ($600 with lifetime) prices are via emails codes or via calling and getting an existing customer deal.

The OTA $300 deal seems to be dead at this time. I am still guessing this deal was more to clear inventory and not an indication that TiVo has a desire to really offer a low cost OTA DVR with lifetime service. I am also guessing that the Roamio OTA at $50 with $15/mo service deal didn't go over very well and led to the excess inventory.

What will be more telling is how TiVo prices a Bolt OTA unit if they ever release one.


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## ADent (Jan 7, 2000)

atmuscarella said:


> The OTA $300 deal seems to be dead at this time.


For the time.

With the units getting activated, maybe they will go back on sale.

I still have a unit on backorder.


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## mad.gunsmith (Jul 1, 2010)

atmuscarella said:


> Yes the current Roamio ($400 with lifetime) & Roamio Pro ($600 with lifetime) prices are via emails codes or via calling and getting an existing customer deal.


i just got the Roamio Pro this was a good deal



Photo_guy said:


> Has anyone ever had a monthly box converted to lifetime by Tivo?


yes i did on Aug 31, 2013 i Order a TiVo Roamio Plus with monthly service and on September 22, 2013 i change it to life with no issue what so ever 
also my two premiers got life after a few years as month to month


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

atmuscarella said:


> Yes the current Roamio ($400 with lifetime) & Roamio Pro ($600 with lifetime) prices are via emails codes or via calling and getting an existing customer deal.


Gotcha. That is way too good of a deal to pass up, but I just don't know where I'm going to live, and whether I'll have cable or D*. Ugh. It would totally be worth it even with the Bolt coming out since there is no practical lifetime option on those.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

namwoljr said:


> As is typical of online forums, you hear much more from unhappy people than happy people. In any case, regardless of who's at fault here, Tivo would be wise to give people the benefit of the doubt here and turn these non-lifetime OTAs sold as lifetime into lifetime units. If they do, they will turn upset customers into very happy, potentially repeat customers, and if they don't they will lose them for life. =


So Tivo would be giving the customer $599.99 (the cost of lifetime) for free to hundreds (thousands?) of customers. How would they ever make that back? It would be better off to lose the customer than give away that amount. They are getting lifetime service, how are they going to get a repeat customer off of that? They will buy their new box is 5+ years if they're even still around then? Not worth it.

I would also argue that they're not going to lose a customer for life just because they didn't give away free lifetime.


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## Jrr6415sun (Mar 31, 2006)

Bigg said:


> That can't possible be right. You're assuming that TiVo sent out two different products with the same SKU? That makes no sense!


that's a very common situation with amazon. I have received lots of products similar to this where the upc was the same but it wasn't the same as what was purchased (it was supposed to come bundled etc). This product has the same UPC, it's the same product just the service is different.


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

*Good morning Tivo Community,

In regards to the Amazon boxes coming with no service, can you please send me the TSN of your box that you purchased from Amazon that should have come with service on it. We would greatly appreciate it.
Thank You and have a great day.*


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## KSOC Kid (Nov 19, 2015)

Are you asking for those who are still having issues, or all who bought those boxes?


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## namwoljr (Aug 8, 2014)

Jrr6415sun said:


> So Tivo would be giving the customer $599.99 (the cost of lifetime) for free to hundreds (thousands?) of customers. How would they ever make that back? It would be better off to lose the customer than give away that amount. They are getting lifetime service, how are they going to get a repeat customer off of that? They will buy their new box is 5+ years if they're even still around then? Not worth it.
> 
> I would also argue that they're not going to lose a customer for life just because they didn't give away free lifetime.


No, Tivo would be honoring the lifetime service Roamio OTA purchased by the customer for $299 through Amazon. Do you think Tivo just gave these units to Amazon for free?


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## Bigg (Oct 31, 2003)

Jrr6415sun said:


> that's a very common situation with amazon. I have received lots of products similar to this where the upc was the same but it wasn't the same as what was purchased (it was supposed to come bundled etc). This product has the same UPC, it's the same product just the service is different.


That sounds like terrible inventory management!


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

KSOC Kid said:


> Are you asking for those who are still having issues, or all who bought those boxes?


*Thank You KSOC Kid for the post, to answer your question, yes just the customers who are still having the issue, which means they still have the box and have not returned it to Amazon.
Thank You again for the post.*


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

TiVoSupport_Sarah said:


> *Good morning Tivo Community,
> 
> In regards to the Amazon boxes coming with no service, can you please send me the TSN of your box that you purchased from Amazon that should have come with service on it. We would greatly appreciate it.
> Thank You and have a great day.*


Having the same issue with no service on the Amazon box I received today. New to the TiVo community, so can't send a private message. What is the best way to get you my TSN?


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

plange2015 said:


> Having the same issue with no service on the Amazon box I received today. New to the TiVo community, so can't send a private message. What is the best way to get you my TSN?


*There are 2 ways to find it.
1. On the back or bottom of the TiVo box itself.
2. In Account and System Information. From TiVo Central go to Settings And Messages then Account and System Information then System Information.*


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

*Good Afternoon TiVo Community,
Is anyone still having this issue?*


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

TiVoSupport_Sarah said:


> *Good Afternoon TiVo Community,
> Is anyone still having this issue?*


Still having the issue. My TSN is 846-0001-9080-554c. Is there something that can be done to fix this?


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

plange2015 said:


> Still having the issue. My TSN is 846-0001-9080-554c. Is there something that can be done to fix this?


*Thank You for the feedback.
I was unable to find any information for this TSN. Not for Amazon or a private customer. Would you mind double checking the number for me? It is possible that this box is inactive. Which would mean it would have to be exchanged through Amazon.*


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

TiVoSupport_Sarah said:


> *Thank You for the feedback.
> I was unable to find any information for this TSN. Not for Amazon or a private customer. Would you mind double checking the number for me? It is possible that this box is inactive. Which would mean it would have to be exchanged through Amazon.*


Checked and the number is correct. Have just received the box from Amazon and when I called to activate was told that it did not have PLS. The rep did not activate it at that time. Is my only recourse to exchange with Amazon? Thanks.


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

plange2015 said:


> Checked and the number is correct. Have just received the box from Amazon and when I called to activate was told that it did not have PLS. The rep did not activate it at that time. Is my only recourse to exchange with Amazon? Thanks.


My advice is to continue to work this out with Tivo. 
Amazon does not currently have anything to exchange so if you return it to them you will not have any replacement unless more become available soon.

Since Tivo seems to have a better handle on this issue now they will likely fix it for you relatively quickly if you contact them directly.


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

Photo_guy said:


> My advice is to continue to work this out with Tivo.
> Amazon does not currently have anything to exchange so if you return it to them you will not have any replacement unless more become available soon.
> 
> Since Tivo seems to have a better handle on this issue now they will likely fix it for you relatively quickly if you contact them directly.


Agree that Amazon does not have a solution but when I call TiVo customer support they say they can't help me either and to return it to Amazon. I am not sure what is next since both parties are telling me there is nothing they can do. In fact the only way that TiVo customer service says I can even activate the box I have is to pay for the service. Is there another way to approach TiVo with this issue?


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

plange2015 said:


> Agree that Amazon does not have a solution but when I call TiVo customer support they say they can't help me either and to return it to Amazon. I am not sure what is next since both parties are telling me there is nothing they can do. In fact the only way that TiVo customer service says I can even activate the box I have is to pay for the service. Is there another way to approach TiVo with this issue?


Any chance the Tivo you purchased from Amazon was one that required monthy service and not the lifetime included box? Those are still available from Amazon but the lifetime included boxes have not been available for a few weeks.


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

Photo_guy said:


> Any chance the Tivo you purchased from Amazon was one that required monthy service and not the lifetime included box? Those are still available from Amazon but the lifetime included boxes have not been available for a few weeks.


I had ordered this box on early November and had to wait until this week for Amazon to fulfill the offer. Definitely paid for the PLS.

Just off the phone with Amazon again and they have stepped up to the problem. They had me order a new unit (at a higher price) that will be delivered Friday and have refunded the difference to my original sale price. I will return and receive a full refund on the original box. A good solution. Fingers crossed that this works.


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## Photo_guy (Mar 12, 2015)

plange2015 said:


> Just off the phone with Amazon again and they have stepped up to the problem. They had me order a new unit (at a higher price) that will be delivered Friday and have refunded the difference to my original sale price. I will return and receive a full refund on the original box. A good solution. Fingers crossed that this works.


Excellent!:up:


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## ADent (Jan 7, 2000)

plange2015 - How long have you had your unit?

Seems like some (most?) people got theirs fixed by just waiting a few days. Others not so lucky.

I got a ship date on my unit - expected to ship today.


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## crableg (Dec 17, 2015)

Adent - I got mine yesterday. It worked perfectly and has lifetime service. I hope yours is the same.


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## plange2015 (Dec 11, 2015)

ADent said:


> plange2015 - How long have you had your unit?
> 
> Seems like some (most?) people got theirs fixed by just waiting a few days. Others not so lucky.
> 
> I got a ship date on my unit - expected to ship today.


I received mine last week after waiting 45 days for a ship date. I talked with TiVo and Amazon multiple times for more than a week and there was no way activate my box and include PLS. Returned it yesterday and will receive a new one on Monday. Good Luck.


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## TiVoSupport_Sarah (Mar 30, 2015)

*TiVo Community,
I am glad to hear that a lot of these are getting resolved. Amazon has several types of boxes from us, ones with service and ones without. From what we are seeing and hearing, is that Amazon has mistakenly shipped out incorrect boxes on a few orders which in turn has created a bit of an issue. I am very pleased to hear that they are getting this resolved.
If anyone needs any further assistance please feel free to contact me.
Thank You & Have A Great Holiday.*


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## ADent (Jan 7, 2000)

I got my unit a couple of weeks ago and finally dug it out and fired it up.

Per the sheet included inside the sealed TiVo box existing subscribers are to call Customer Service. I did, and after a 5 min wait on hold the CSR got it on my account fairly quickly. It showed up on my account online before we ended the call.

It is much faster then the TiVoHD and it will transfer a show faster then real-time.

I found a WD20EZRX 2TB drive locally and dropped it in today. Just took it out the box and dropped it into the TiVo - so much easier than older boxes.

BTW the date on the back of my box is 04-Nov-15. I must have gotten one of the last ones built. The WD5000AUDX (WD AV-GP) 500GB drive was built in 30DEC2014.


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