# Tivo HD lifetime subscription transfer offer until Nov 8 - $199



## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

Just got an email with the lifetime subscription transfer offer. Keep service on your current unit for 1 year.


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## choccy (Jan 1, 2001)

Just saw this.. I have lifetime on 2 S2s right now.

Now, if I can just find out if I can still record SD from DTV (with a box) along side HD from OTA, I might just jump on this.


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

choccy said:


> Just saw this.. I have lifetime on 2 S2s right now.
> 
> Now, if I can just find out if I can still record SD from DTV (with a box) along side HD from OTA, I might just jump on this.


You can't. The HD boxes will not record from a cable or satellite box.


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## lwilson (Mar 14, 2005)

Does this unit come with dual tuners?


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## choccy (Jan 1, 2001)

wickerbill said:


> You can't. The HD boxes will not record from a cable or satellite box.


Not even SD like older stand alone units?

Hmm, ok, then that begs the question - how much would a new Tivo HD with lifetime sell for, because I need something that'll let me record HD OTA and SD DTV, and TiVo ain't providing that  (and I have 2 S2s with lifetime.)


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

I don't remember how many offers that I have passed on, but I think it may finally be time to dump my old Philips S1. Wonder if I'll be able to convince the wife???


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## tmesser (Apr 12, 2003)

Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


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## imoldfella (Oct 2, 2007)

Anyone know a way of getting this on Amazon sourced tivos without returning them and buying again from tivo?


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

This offer came at the perfect time. I was activating my new Tivo HD, planning to use the multi-unit discount, when I checked my email to see which account I had given Tivo in the past. I wasn't expecting Tivo to offer lifetime transfer on the HD, at least not anytime soon. Time to retire my S1 (in a year).


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## Pvgibbs (Jul 5, 2005)

Hmm -- I -just- bought a S3 from Costco.com...maybe I should return it and get the HD and transfer my Lifetime from my old (but still working) Sony. 

I think the HD will handle my same set-up - Analog Cable and OTA HD local channels (no cablecards).


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


I wonder if they'll let me transfer the lifetime from my original DTivo.... I already traded up my two stand alone units. One for the unit my mom has and one for mine. I'd buy another HD unit in a heartbeat if I could transfer that DTivo lifetime.


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## dornitram (Sep 15, 2004)

And it looks like you have to buy it directly from TiVo. Oh well still might have to jump.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

dornitram said:


> And it looks like you have to buy it directly from TiVo. Oh well still might have to jump.


The S3 offer said the same thing but TiVo never enforced it. In fact, I doubt they even bother to verify it. Normally, you just give them the 2 TSNs and its done. They aren't going to try to bring up store records to find this info.


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


That makes my decision easy. I will just sell my old series 2 with lifetime on ebay and buy a Tivo HD from amazon. The money I save will pay for many years of service at $6.95 per month.


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## rchavez (Sep 29, 2007)

wickerbill said:


> That makes my decision easy. I will just sell my old series 2 with lifetime on ebay and buy a Tivo HD from amazon. The money I save will pay for many years of service at $6.95 per month.


I assume you mean that you're going to sell your series 2 box, without the lifetime service, right?


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## HDTiVo (Nov 27, 2002)

rainwater said:


> The S3 offer said the same thing but TiVo never enforced it. In fact, I doubt they even bother to verify it. Normally, you just give them the 2 TSNs and its done. They aren't going to try to bring up store records to find this info.


I am sure they will allow the same thing. BTW I just registered a retail HD online and there was no option for LT transfer. You have to call the number, which is the same as before I think.


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## JonHB (Aug 28, 2007)

I just activated my Tivo HD on September 9th and pay $6.95/mo as my second unit (S1 being the lifetime 1st unit). Would they let me transfer my lifetime to this unit or would I have to buy another HD unit?


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> I wonder if they'll let me transfer the lifetime from my original DTivo.... I already traded up my two stand alone units. One for the unit my mom has and one for mine. I'd buy another HD unit in a heartbeat if I could transfer that DTivo lifetime.


They did allow DTiVo lifetime transfers with the S3 lifetime transfer deal offered before the TiVo HD was released, so it wouldn't be out of the question...


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## faerie (Sep 1, 2003)

Just to confirm, I'd need to move over to comcast cablecards with this unit?


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

HDTiVo said:


> I am sure they will allow the same thing. BTW I just registered a retail HD online and there was no option for LT transfer. You have to call the number, which is the same as before I think.


No, I just tried to get the transfer with a new unactivated Tivo HD I bought from Vann's. I was told I had to buy the new Tivo HD at the time of transferring. Even talked to a supervisor, who said the same. I complained, but to no avail. It's a stupid policy; I'll have to re-pack it and send it back to Vann's. I may decide to stick with my Series 1 and the cable DVR for HD.


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

sbourgeo said:


> They did allow DTiVo lifetime transfers with the S3 lifetime transfer deal offered before the TiVo HD was released, so it wouldn't be out of the question...


Hmmmm, I'll have to put my Dtivo serial number in the web page and see what happens.


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

Man, I am a chump. A freaking s3 beta testing overpaying chump.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

I guess I should have planned differently way back when, but it would be nice if they would extend an offer like this to folks who have been month to month for X months.


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## DVDivo Tim (Nov 27, 2003)

How set in stone is the activation date cutoff? I activated my lifetime on Nov. 22, 2003.


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

rchavez said:


> I assume you mean that you're going to sell your series 2 box, without the lifetime service, right?


Nope, it was activated in 2004 so I can't transfer lifetime off of it. My original tivo that was activated in August 2000 had the lifetime transferred off of it last fall for my series 3. My other tivos with lifetime were activated after the cutoff date so I can't participate in this offer. I will just sell the box with lifetime on ebay and just put my tivo HD on a $6.95 monthly account. Too bad for tivo.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


That's disappointing. I activated my TiVo in October, 2002 but didn't go lifetime until after the cutoff. Just means TiVo won't be getting my $500, I guess. Maybe I should send them a thank you?


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## dbtom (Feb 14, 2002)

This is a really hard choice. Amazon has the Tivo HD for $249 so your net cost for this deal is $50 + $200 = $250 since you need to buy at the Tivo store. $250 / 6.95= almost 3 years of service with MSD. Plus the deal says that you cannot return or exchange the Tivo HD under any circumstances (it's also in bold so I guess they are serious). I'm primarily worried that I'll have cable card install problems (that cost $40 by the way). If I can't get it to work, then I'll be stuck with it and I can't go back to using a cable box / Tivo combo. I'm leaning on passing for now.


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## segaily (Aug 3, 2003)

DVDivo Tim said:


> How set in stone is the activation date cutoff? I activated my lifetime on Nov. 22, 2003.


Mine was activated Oct 23, 2003. Oh well maybe when there is a series 4.  No I have not heard anything about a series 4. It is a joke!


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## dwit (May 5, 2004)

Wonder why they won't transfer more recent lifetime activations?


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## Globular (Jun 9, 2004)

So those of us who jumped on the TiVoHD when it came out, paid full price, and acted as virtual beta testers for software that wasn't ready yet are left out in the cold and can't do a lifetime transfer.

Thanks a lot TiVo! Grrr...


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

dbtom said:


> This is a really hard choice. Amazon has the Tivo HD for $249 so your net cost for this deal is $50 + $200 = $250 since you need to buy at the Tivo store. $250 / 6.95= almost 3 years of service with MSD. Plus the deal says that you cannot return or exchange the Tivo HD under any circumstances (it's also in bold so I guess they are serious). I'm primarily worried that I'll have cable card install problems (that cost $40 by the way). If I can't get it to work, then I'll be stuck with it and I can't go back to using a cable box / Tivo combo. I'm leaning on passing for now.


You're forgetting the free year of service you get to keep on your series 2. If you can make use of a second, non-HD Tivo, that is. This saves you $83.40. So your net cost is $166.60. That's 2 years of service with the multi service discount.

I'm starting to wonder how this would ever pay off. I suppose if you only wanted to have 1 TiVo you could get the year service on the S2 and then sell it that way. What would that go for on Ebay?


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

I JUST got an HD Tivo (400 hr) from Weaknees. It has not even been activated yet.

Since they are a approved Tivo seller, can I get this deal? It would REALLY suck if I JUST paid all this money and can't get this deal...


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## DVDivo Tim (Nov 27, 2003)

DVDerek said:


> That's disappointing. I activated my TiVo in October, 2002 but didn't go lifetime until after the cutoff. Just means TiVo won't be getting my $500, I guess. Maybe I should send them a thank you?


I'm with you on that. I'm just so disappointed with the way they do business nowadays that I might just sell my current Tivo (a Pioneer DVD Recorder with Lifetime 2 months too late) and go exclusively with my EyeTV/Mac Mini setup.


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## JonHB (Aug 28, 2007)

We all know better, but it seems kind of cheesy that they call it a 180-hour Tivo HD (when added to your cart at the Tivo site).

-----------------------------
180-hour TiVo HD DVR- Product Lifetime Transfer Offer. Upon receipt contact 877-367-8486 to complete your Product Lifetime transfer
Free Ground Shipping details 
-----------------------------


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

Yeah, the more I crunch the numbers, the more I think this isn't that great of a deal. I can sell my lifetime series 2 with lifetime and get a decent amount of money that will more than cover the cost of an HD from amazon along with a couple of years of service. With this purchase, I wouldn't really have a need for the free year on the series 2 and without lifetime it is just about worthless.

Thanks, tivo, for excluding me because I might have made a foolish decision otherwise!


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## schwinn (Sep 18, 2004)

DVDerek said:


> You're forgetting the free year of service you get to keep on your series 2. If you can make use of a second, non-HD Tivo, that is. This saves you $83.40. So your net cost is $166.60. That's 2 years of service with the multi service discount.
> 
> I'm starting to wonder how this would ever pay off. I suppose if you only wanted to have 1 TiVo you could get the year service on the S2 and then sell it that way. What would that go for on Ebay?


Yeah, but the "free year of service" is actually a downgrade from the free lifetime you would get by NOT taking this deal and doing the $6.95/mo method. So, the original analysis is more accurate - about 3 years of service (if you buy from Amazon for $249) until you break even.

Personally, I'll stick to the $6.49/mo plan instead... and keep my lifetimed S1 running.

I know Tivo wants to dump the S1 users, but this trickery won't work on me... this isn't really that good of a deal, as far as I can see.

EDIT: The real question is, what about SDV video? Has this been resolved yet? I think it hasn't... so what happens in <3 years? The TivoHD becomes obsolete for one that does support SDV. Yet another reason NOT to take the lifetime transfer here.


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

nyny523 said:


> I JUST got an HD Tivo (400 hr) from Weaknees. It has not even been activated yet.
> 
> Since they are a approved Tivo seller, can I get this deal? It would REALLY suck if I JUST paid all this money and can't get this deal...


I would try it. For the S3 lifetime deal there were no issues using boxes bought at retail even though it said it wasn't allowed. If it doesn't work, you can always get a refund. Frankly, I doubt the TiVo rep will even know where you bought it from.


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

rainwater said:


> I would try it. For the S3 lifetime deal there were no issues using boxes bought at retail even though it said it wasn't allowed. If it doesn't work, you can always get a refund. Frankly, I doubt the TiVo rep will even know where you bought it from.


Thank you! I will do this and let you know how it goes...I am getting everything set up over the weekend.


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## dbtom (Feb 14, 2002)

DVDerek said:


> You're forgetting the free year of service you get to keep on your series 2. If you can make use of a second, non-HD Tivo, that is. This saves you $83.40. So your net cost is $166.60. That's 2 years of service with the multi service discount.


Yeah I didn't consider the free year. I already have DVRs on all my TVs: 3 Tivos and 1 SA 8300. The free year of service would probably go to my in-laws so I didn't put much value on that


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## bilbo (Dec 7, 2004)

Even if I was eligible, I say no thanks to this offer.

I can get an original Series 3 from Circuit City for $599.99. I've got a 10% off AAA coupon which would take $60 off. And if I click through Discover Card's ShopDiscover "Portal," I should get an additional 5% Cash Back (about another $25).

So I could pay $515 plus tax minus a $200 rebate for about $315. Sure I will be out an additional $15 while I wait for the $200 rebate and I will be paying $7 per month on MSD, but the S2 I have with LT (activated/purchased in January 2005) is worth about $300 on EBay. Or I could give it to someone else who could use the MSD discount when they get an original Series3 or a Series3 TivoHD.


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

rainwater said:


> I would try it. For the S3 lifetime deal there were no issues using boxes bought at retail even though it said it wasn't allowed. If it doesn't work, you can always get a refund. Frankly, I doubt the TiVo rep will even know where you bought it from.


As I said above, I tried it and it didn't work. Tivo told me I had to buy the new Tivo HD from them. Maybe they will change their tune down the road or a different CSR will allow it.


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## faerie (Sep 1, 2003)

As someone with a single TV who can't get the MSD, I think this works out pretty well. According to my math, if we were to upgrade to HD, the best deal is a 3 year monthly for $12.95/mo. Transferring the lifetime for $199 works out to be about 16 months of service.


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## Eccles (Dec 27, 2001)

With a new 52" LCD on the way - our first HDTV - the timing of this offer couldn't have been better, but like some others, I'm concerned about the whole SDV issue. TW here in Austin is moving pretty much everything to SDV just as fast as their greedy little legs will carry them, and I'm loathe to transfer my Lifetime to a machine which may be obsoleted in a year or so. Perhaps I'll pick up an HD and go month-to-month on it with MSD, and keep the Lifetime in reserve until the next generation TiVo comes down the pike.

It does appear that TiVo is starting to make a habit of this sort of offer every few months, as more and more Lifetime subs roll past their 4-year anniversary and are thus fully amortized in TiVo's revenue stream. If I was one of the folks bemoaning the fact that their Lifetime date misses the cutoff by a few weeks, I'd be looking towards a similar offer around Christmas time as another bookkeeping quarter rolls around.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

DVDivo Tim said:


> I'm with you on that. I'm just so disappointed with the way they do business nowadays that I might just sell my current Tivo (a Pioneer DVD Recorder with Lifetime 2 months too late) and go exclusively with my EyeTV/Mac Mini setup.


Eh, they're still providing me the "Lifetime" of service I bought on the original box under the terms that I agreed to when I bought it. I think they're leaving business on the table with the cutoff date on this offer, but it's their right.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

faerie said:


> As someone with a single TV who can't get the MSD, I think this works out pretty well. According to my math, if we were to upgrade to HD, the best deal is a 3 year monthly for $12.95/mo. Transferring the lifetime for $199 works out to be about 16 months of service.


Series 2 with 1 year of service seems to sell on Ebay for about $200. So you'd be looking at Upgrading your TiVo and keeping lifetime for only the cost of the HD TiVo ($299). This presumes that 1 year of service is transferable...

*EDIT* - It seems those completed auctions were for new units or at least units that still had the boxes.


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## Eccles (Dec 27, 2001)

DVDerek said:


> This presumes that 1 year of service is transferable...


... which it is not, according to the fine print.


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## faerie (Sep 1, 2003)

Ah, see, we'd be giving the S2 unit to a family member to use... So if under the fine print, we can't actually transfer the old unit to them, then maybe this doesn't do us any good.


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## hansendc (Nov 1, 2003)

I have an old Lifetime'd Sony Series 1 activated in 2001. It oddly won't qualify for some reason. Anybody else see this?


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## rodneyb (Oct 29, 2003)

nyny523 said:


> I JUST got an HD Tivo (400 hr) from Weaknees. It has not even been activated yet.
> 
> Since they are a approved Tivo seller, can I get this deal? It would REALLY suck if I JUST paid all this money and can't get this deal...


 I'm in the same exact boat as you. UPS is scheduled to get here with my brand new s3 tivo from weaknees tomorrow. Comcast is scheduled to show up on Saturday.

I hope I can qualify for this offer since it's a brand new Tivo.


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## andersonsrus (Jun 28, 2005)

We just goy Comcast DVR after getting a HD TV and we were lifetimes on 2 Tivo to begin with.

With the HD Tivo can you watch Live TV and record another?

Also what has your luck been with the cable cards?
There is a no return policy on this and I am afaraid that the cards won;t work and then I am stuck. Because what might happen Comcast will say its the Tivo and Tivo will say comcast. or am I better off with the 3 year prepaid paln or wait until the Comast/Tivo units show up?

Info Please


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## rainwater (Sep 21, 2004)

Koan said:


> As I said above, I tried it and it didn't work. Tivo told me I had to buy the new Tivo HD from them. Maybe they will change their tune down the road or a different CSR will allow it.


You will have to just push harder with the CSR. It would not be fair to someone who just bought a Tivo HD to have to return it and purchase from tivo.com to get the deal. And I am pretty sure Best Buy, etc wouldn't appreciate it if this deal was forcing users to send their boxes back to them.


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## joshguy875 (Mar 10, 2006)

Why have they stipulated that this is only valid for lifetime subscriptions made prior to Oct 1, 2003? It seems like they should be taking any chance they have to get money out of a lifetime subscriber regardless of sign up date.


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## edifice (Feb 10, 2005)

I have a lifetime subscription that shows up on my Tivo account that should have been transfered to a new owner that bought my old Tivo. Has anyone here sold a Tivo with a lifetime subscription attached? I assume the TiVo Service Number should have disappeared from my account when the new owner called Tivo should it not? I sold it almost 2 years ago.

The reason I ask is that it is tempting to buy the new Tivo HD and ask them to transfer my lifetime that shouldn't still be showing up in my account. Obviously if the old box is still alive and in use this would cause some issues for the person I sold it to.. Or I could be lucky and the box might be dead and not in use.. Another interesting thing is that it does not show up in Amazon Unbox so this would mean that the software is not up to date and that it is not being used. Is my thought process correct? ARGHHH what shall I do!!

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks
Brian


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## tomryan (Sep 9, 2006)

what you should do is nothing, you sold it as is with lifetime, you collected the money. Its done. You could of course reach out to the person who bought it and see if they are using it, etc.



edifice said:


> I have a lifetime subscription that shows up on my Tivo account that should have been transfered to a new owner that bought my old Tivo. Has anyone here sold a Tivo with a lifetime subscription attached? I assume the TiVo Service Number should have disappeared from my account when the new owner called Tivo should it not? I sold it almost 2 years ago.
> 
> The reason I ask is that it is tempting to buy the new Tivo HD and ask them to transfer my lifetime that shouldn't still be showing up in my account. Obviously if the old box is still alive and in use this would cause some issues for the person I sold it to.. Or I could be lucky and the box might be dead and not in use.. Another interesting thing is that it does not show up in Amazon Unbox so this would mean that the software is not up to date and that it is not being used. Is my thought process correct? ARGHHH what shall I do!!
> 
> ...


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## Keith Mickunas (Jul 23, 2003)

I have an old series 1, I know it's older than 5 years, with a lifetime subscription. I just got a TivoHD from Amazon, it arrived today, and I have FIOS coming out tomorrow with the cablecards. I was planning to buy the 3 year subscription, then I saw this special and was hoping to beg and plead my way into this offer. 

But now after reading this thread I see I have other options. Am I correct in understanding that I can add this TivoHD as a second unit under my existing lifetime subscription and only pay $6.95 a month? In which case the cost of the transfer plus the extra $50 I would have to spend buying this from Tivo (not to mention the return to Amazon) would only benefit me if I use this for more than three years.


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## edifice (Feb 10, 2005)

tomryan said:


> what you should do is nothing, you sold it as is with lifetime, you collected the money. Its done. You could of course reach out to the person who bought it and see if they are using it, etc.


You are absolutely right tomryan. I am being greedy. Thanks for the kick in the head.

Brian


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

faerie said:


> As someone with a single TV who can't get the MSD, I think this works out pretty well. According to my math, if we were to upgrade to HD, the best deal is a 3 year monthly for $12.95/mo. Transferring the lifetime for $199 works out to be about 16 months of service.


Actually your best deal is $299 for 3 years of service prepaid, amounting to $8.31/month. The $199 lifetime transfer then works out to be 24 months of service. Though getting the free 12 months of service on the older TiVo receiver as part of the lifetime transfer has a value that needs to be factored in, too.


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## David Scavo (Dec 14, 1999)

joshguy875 said:


> Why have they stipulated that this is only valid for lifetime subscriptions made prior to Oct 1, 2003? It seems like they should be taking any chance they have to get money out of a lifetime subscriber regardless of sign up date.


I believe TIVO prorates the lifetime sub fee over a 4 year period. So lifetimes sold before Oct 2003 are no longer revenue producing subs.


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## DeeJayK (May 15, 2002)

I have a S1 that was activated with Lifetime prior to January 2000. I've heard something about this being a "grandfathered" unit which gives me the right to transfer this subscription to another box for free.

I'm considering moving up to an HD (or maybe an S3) and am wondering if anyone can give me details on this rumor?

If it's true, are there limitations on where I can purchase the new unit (i.e. only direct from Tivo)? How do I go about making the subscription transfer?

Thanks for any assistance!


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## dig_duggler (Sep 18, 2002)

Anyone want to bet a large sum of money this offer doesn't expire when it's supposed to?


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## jeffk (Oct 15, 2002)

Not exactly happy about this. When they did the VIP offer for Series 3 it was assumed it was a VIP offer, not just a run of the mill we'll do this from time to time, and is the reason I bit the bullet when the series 3 prices were still up there. Doesn't make me feel very important now that the same offer is extended later on the much cheaper product. I guess tivo feels they need some more cash and forget about their vip early adopters by offering the same deal again. 

Don't get me wrong I love my tivo, and couldn't do without it, but disappointed they offered the deal again.


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## travelmad (Aug 17, 2002)

wickerbill said:


> The HD boxes will not record from a cable or satellite box.


Is that right? I now have DirecTV and an HD set, working fine with my old Series 1. I've been dying to upgrade to a Series 3 HD, just hadn't done it because I wanted to keep my lifetime subscription (purchased well before 2003).

Are you telling me I shouldn't bother? Why would this Tivo not record off my DirecTV box? I have the Series 1 hooked up serially and use the infrared transmitters to have Tivo's remote change channels on the DirecTV box. It all works, except of course the Tivo doesn't record in HD.


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## jeffk (Oct 15, 2002)

Because theres no way to do serially control or IR control of this box, its strictly OTA or cable.



travelmad said:


> Is that right? I now have DirecTV and an HD set, working fine with my old Series 1. I've been dying to upgrade to a Series 3 HD, just hadn't done it because I wanted to keep my lifetime subscription (purchased in 2000).
> 
> Are you telling me I shouldn't bother? Why would this Tivo not record off my DirecTV box? I have the Series 1 hooked up serially and use the infrared transmitters to have Tivo's remote change channels on the DirecTV box. It all works, except of course the Tivo doesn't record in HD.


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## travelmad (Aug 17, 2002)

jeffk said:


> Because theres no way to do serially control or IR control of this box, its strictly OTA or cable.


  This is devastating. Or, just deeply annoying. I was all excited and ready to throw 500 bucks at Tivo. Now it looks like I will have that lifetime subscription on my Series 1 for, well, a lifetime!


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## imoldfella (Oct 2, 2007)

They must not have gotten the "easy to do business with" memo. 

Jim


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

choccy said:


> Not even SD like older stand alone units?
> 
> Hmm, ok, then that begs the question - how much would a new Tivo HD with lifetime sell for, because I need something that'll let me record HD OTA and SD DTV, and TiVo ain't providing that  (and I have 2 S2s with lifetime.)


Why wouldn't you just:
TivoHD for OTA HD
S2 for DTV SD

MRV (in November, as announced by Tivo on this board) to watch whatever you want, when you want.

?


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

rainwater said:


> You will have to just push harder with the CSR. It would not be fair to someone who just bought a Tivo HD to have to return it and purchase from tivo.com to get the deal. And I am pretty sure Best Buy, etc wouldn't appreciate it if this deal was forcing users to send their boxes back to them.


That's what I told them. I pushed with the CSR and pushed with her supervisor. They were apologetic, but unmoving. It may be in a week or two when new buyers have received their units under this offer that CSRs won't ask where it was bought. I actually never told them though where I bought mine. By all means, give it a try. I would like to hear that someone has had success.


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## JonHB (Aug 28, 2007)

There's not a lot of incentive here to "upgrade". In addition to my S1 and THD, I also have a FIOS HD DVR. No, not as nice as THD, but it's no slouch either.

I know you shouldn't compare apples and oranges, but

(Delete) FIOS HD DVR at $12.99 / mo
(Add) Two Cablecards at $ 5.90 / mo
Net FIOS account savings of $7.09 / mo.
Payback of Tivo HD DVR w/ lifetime is ($300+$199)/7.09 = 70 months!!!

I love my THD over the FIOS DVR, but from a payback point of view, it takes almost 6 years to recoup the investment. That doesn't take into consideration no warranty on the Tivo (after the initial warranty) and whether the THD will even work with IPTV or SDV or whatever else comes down the pike in 1 - 6 years.

Hmm....I'm not ruling it out, but somehow, I'm just not feeling it....


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## wildminer (Apr 14, 2003)

I activated 2 TiVo HDs a couple weeks ago that I purchased from Amazon. I also own a Series 2 TiVo with Lifetime that was purchased in 2002. I called TiVo to see if they would let me transfer my Lifetime to one of my new TiVo HDs. The TiVo representative looked at my account and said that I qualified for the transfer. He asked which TiVo HD I wanted to transfer Lifetime to and then asked for a credit card. He then tried to submit the request but his "tool" wouldn't process it. He said his tool was broken but he had another method of trying to make it go through but that he'd have to get back to me in 24 to 48 hours. He reiterated that I do qualify and that he'd get it taken care of. With that said, I'm not too hopeful it will go through since I purchased the TiVos before this offer was available.


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## Tanquen (Jun 1, 2002)

I have three TiVo's all with lifetime subs, would it matter which of the three I moved to the TiVoHD? 

S1 Jul 14, 2001 
S1 Jul 20, 2002
S2 Jul 18, 2003

I was also wondering about cable cards. Is it normal to have to pay for them and have to pay a monthly fee? I now have no cable box and am only getting analog cable channels and was planning to HD from over the air only. Do I need a cable card?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Tanquen said:


> I have three TiVo's all with lifetime subs, would it matter which of the three I moved to the TiVoHD?
> 
> S1 Jul 14, 2001
> S1 Jul 20, 2002
> ...


Since all your units are post-January 20, 2000 lifetime, there's really no difference between them since none are eligible for the one-time grandfathered lifetime transfer. I'd probably pick the oldest of the Series 1's.

Whether (and how much) your cable company charges for CableCARDs will depend on their policy; it varies. But if you're happy limiting yourself only to their analog lineup and you can receive all the digital local stations with an antenna, you don't need CableCARDs.


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## choccy (Jan 1, 2001)

AbMagFab said:


> Why wouldn't you just:
> TivoHD for OTA HD
> S2 for DTV SD
> 
> ...


I already have every current and last gen hooked up to my HDTV plus other devices.. I'm trying to get rid of some, not add even more  but also I'd then need another sub to run both boxes. OK, so for the next 12 months my S2 would still be subbed, but after that I'd then be paying another $6.95/month I otherwise wouldn't have to. Plus, I'd already decided I wasn't going to sign up to any of the new tivo subs when they radically increased all their prices - I have my 2 lifetimes and 1 at $6.95/month. I can justify swapping out a lifetime for another lifetime, but no more subs.


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## m_jonis (Jan 3, 2002)

edifice said:


> I have a lifetime subscription that shows up on my Tivo account that should have been transfered to a new owner that bought my old Tivo. Has anyone here sold a Tivo with a lifetime subscription attached? I assume the TiVo Service Number should have disappeared from my account when the new owner called Tivo should it not? I sold it almost 2 years ago.
> 
> Brian


Well, you'd THINK it should have disappeared from your account. But Tivo apparently has some kind of magical database that is write only and can never be edited or allow for records to be erased, so it will show up on your account forever and ever (until maybe Tivo upgrades to DOS and some 1980's database that let's you delete a record).


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## faerie (Sep 1, 2003)

If we do this transfer, we will have a S2 with 12 mos service that's non-transferable according to what I'm reading here. If we were to give this unit to a family member without transferring it into their name, would Tivo really know the difference?


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## mshaikun (Feb 17, 2003)

Have always bought from Best Buy as its extended warranty is the cheapest I've found and with TIVO units extended warranties are not a bad idea. I price by adding box plus warranty plus shipping plus sales tax and Best Buy has been a winner for me. So until Tivo lets me Best Buy! I'll not buy.

BTW, how much recording time do you really get? 20 hours HD would be nice if at 1080 not 720. My guess is that using best HD the recording time will be well under 10 hours.


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## synch22 (Dec 30, 2003)

yeah as a early adopter i shelled out close to 1k for the S3 and transfer of lifetime, I made the move because i thought this was it it was then or never again would lifetime come up.

Tivo is acting in desperation it seems so i guess i would rather have tivo exist and me get shafted a bit than tivo go under.....

Us S3 guys got the shaft, tivo released a new version way too quick...the additional lifetime offer is icing on the cake.

As far as guys saying that its the risk of being an early adopter...how many times have you seen a new release within months?? Hell even Steve Jobs had a heart..


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

synch22 said:


> yeah as a early adopter i shelled out close to 1k for the S3 and transfer of lifetime, I made the move because i thought this was it it was then or never again would lifetime come up.


Yeah, I made the leap last year, too.  I could have sworn last year they told us "V.I.P." subscribers that this was the absolute last chance, only possible way to get Lifetime service on a new box.

I get the feeling that with the drop in subscriber numbers that they're trying anything to boost them back up again. Kinda of explains the short time window for this newest, last-chance, only possible way to get Lifetime service. They enroll your old TiVo unit into a recurring billing plan (first year "free" -- for $199), and then you probably count as two subscriptions.


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## JFalc (May 3, 2005)

I just bought one of these TIVO HDs from TIVO DIRECT purusant to the 199 transfer offer.
My order confirmation says 1 TIVO HD and 1 TIVO TRANSFER LETTER. I think this is how TIVO is going to track where you bought the TIVO from to know whether you get the 199 lifetime transfer or not.
Just an FYI.
-John


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

mshaikun said:


> BTW, how much recording time do you really get? 20 hours HD would be nice if at 1080 not 720. My guess is that using best HD the recording time will be well under 10 hours.


And you would be wrong. You will most likely get a little more than 20 hours of HD as most HD shows on my series 3 are between 4-7 GB per hour.


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## wdwms (Jan 10, 2003)

This one is a no-brainer for us...

First we already have an S3 that has lifetime. My mothers old S1 modem died and she has an S2 so we xferred the lifetime back in May to our S3. 

We have an S1 dating back to March 3, 2001 with lifetime
and an S2 with lifetime we bought off of craigslist last week for $50 (steal of the year!)

We only use two tivos, so what we are doing is getting the TivoHD, xferring the S1 lifetime to the TivoHD. Then we'll put the S2 on eBay, which I'll upgrade to 200+ hours with some spare drives. That should bring in about $400 or so, based on current eBay trends.
So $300 for the TivoHD, $200 lifetime xfer, $50 for the S2 = $550. Subtract out $400 from the sale of the S2, and it's costing me $150..

We'll shutdown the S1 for good, no use for 3 machines in our household...


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

jeffk said:


> Not exactly happy about this. When they did the VIP offer for Series 3 it was assumed it was a VIP offer, not just a run of the mill we'll do this from time to time, and is the reason I bit the bullet when the series 3 prices were still up there. Doesn't make me feel very important now that the same offer is extended later on the much cheaper product. I guess tivo feels they need some more cash and forget about their vip early adopters by offering the same deal again.
> 
> Don't get me wrong I love my tivo, and couldn't do without it, but disappointed they offered the deal again.


I really don't get these complaints. TiVo offered you a deal and you took it and now your upset other people are getting the same deal? Do you feel not VIP enough or something?


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## tlc (May 30, 2002)

schwinn said:


> Personally, I'll stick to the $6.49/mo plan instead... and keep my lifetimed S1 running.


This is where I'm at. But not by choice -- I bought my TiVo HD on MSD a couple of weeks ago. 

I have a question that might affect some decisions here, though. If my lifetimed S1 dies and stops pulling data, do they detect it and bump me to a non-MSD price?

tlc


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## moolman (Dec 22, 2005)

Have to agree, why are the early adopters complaining that others are getting lifetime now.

You seriously didn't know that they price of the S3 was going to drop in a year, if you didn't you were pretty dumb. I bet you thought that pentium you bought for $500 long ago would still go for a good price on ebay.  

You got to have a S3 a year before others, that extra $500 or whatever is the price of it.

Would it satisfy you more if they didn't offer these people lifetime transfers, even though this doesn't affect you in anyway? Just the idea someone gets a good deal pisses you off?


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## EVizzle (Feb 13, 2005)

Loving my MSD from my S2 lifetime and S3, no real need to add a THD but I say anyone without an HD capable Tivo needs to do it, even without an HDTV!


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## IJustLikeTivo (Oct 3, 2001)

sbourgeo said:


> They did allow DTiVo lifetime transfers with the S3 lifetime transfer deal offered before the TiVo HD was released, so it wouldn't be out of the question...


I entered the service number for that unit and it said it wasn't eligible. I wonder if a phone call will help......


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## schwinn (Sep 18, 2004)

faerie said:


> If we do this transfer, we will have a S2 with 12 mos service that's non-transferable according to what I'm reading here. If we were to give this unit to a family member without transferring it into their name, would Tivo really know the difference?


I would think not - I don't think transferring the name has any impact on the device... as long as you don't go out and cancel the remaining 12-months on it. After the 12 months, you could, in theory, start paying monthly for it, if you wanted to, and it should keep working. I have a friend who currently has his sibling's S1 lifetime, and it continues to work at his address with no issues... I don't see why Tivo would care at all.

On the flip side, you could also simply keep the lifetime on it, give it to your family member, and then use the MRD discounted monthly price on your new TivoHD (or any other unit) at $6.95/mo... again, as long as they keep it running, it should make no visible difference to Tivo?

That begs the question that was asked above:


tlc said:


> If my lifetimed S1 dies and stops pulling data, do they detect it and bump me to a non-MSD price?


I'm wondering this myself, just for curiousity's sake... anyone know?


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

moolman said:


> Have to agree, why are the early adopters complaining that others are getting lifetime now.


Because TiVo under Rogers has been adamant about getting rid of Lifetime service. Last year's Lifetime transfer offer specifically noted it wouldn't be offered again. In fact, I'm sure one of Shanon's videoclips specifically said so.



moolman said:


> You seriously didn't know that they price of the S3 was going to drop in a year, if you didn't you were pretty dumb.


Of course we all knew the price was going to go down. There was definite time pressure for the Lifetime offer to expire, which prompted many of us to go ahead and buy an expensive, untested box despite the crazy price. Luckily some of us were able to take advantage of the Costco and Dell sales, and a few others were able to find Best Buy coupons.

If we had known Tivo was lying/crying wolf and would offer yet another Lifetime transfer on a cheaper box, it should be obvious most of us would have waited. Especially seeing as the S3 unit seems to have become the redheaded stepchild of the Tivo family.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

Narf54321 said:


> Because TiVo under Rogers has been adamant about getting rid of Lifetime service. Last year's Lifetime transfer offer specifically noted it wouldn't be offered again. In fact, I'm sure one of Shanon's videoclips specifically said so.


You're gonna have to find some evidence of that to back it up. I don't remember that at all, in fact many members here have speculated about when an offer like this would come up again.


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## krivera1 (Dec 28, 2002)

I'm still confused about something on this upgrade S3 unit.....

I don't have cable (I have DIRECTV with HR10-250's), but I may upgrade an S1 unit I have that I'm not currently using. However, I would only use it to record OTA programming.

1) Does it have dual ATSC OTA tuners so I can record two shows at once?
2) Does it have an NTSC tuner for non-digital channels?
3) If the answer is no to either of the above, then does the other more expensive S3 unit do both?

Thanks for your help!

Ken


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

MickeS said:


> You're gonna have to find some evidence of that to back it up. I don't remember that at all, in fact many members here have speculated about when an offer like this would come up again.


It definitely happened. I'm sure in legalize language, this is not the same _exact_ offer, so they'll weasel out. But it still makes Tivo sound like they've cried wolf too many times.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

krivera1 said:


> I'm still confused about something on this upgrade S3 unit.....
> 
> I don't have cable (I have DIRECTV with HR10-250's), but I may upgrade an S1 unit I have that I'm not currently using. However, I would only use it to record OTA programming.
> 
> ...


Both the TiVoHD and Series3 have dual tuners; each tuner can record ATSC OTA channels, NTSC analog cable channels, and QAM digital cable channels.


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## ehanson (Sep 25, 2003)

I have one S2 with lifetime service. I want to upgrade to HD but keep the S2 in service as well. It seems obvious that I could just buy the HD and get the MSD on that box (option 1) but I'm concerned (as I've noted a couple of others are) about what happens when my S2 dies. So I'm thinking transfer the lifetime service to the HD and get the MSD on the S2 (Option 2). However, the offer says "This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount." (with the spelling error and everything!) Do you all take this to mean Option 2 is not an option?


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## djw (Jan 20, 2003)

I just don't get paying for lifetime and the paying for it again... I suppose I always thought it was MY lifetime


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## wdwms (Jan 10, 2003)

djw said:


> I just don't get paying for lifetime and the paying for it again... I suppose I always thought it was MY lifetime


I have no issue with it. For instance, our S1 has had lifetime since March 3, 2001.. that is 6 years, 7 months and 10 days! or in terms of months 79.33 I paid $199 for lifetime back then, so $199 / 79.33 months = $2.51 a month for service. Longer you use it, that value goes down.

So lets say I now pay to have my lifetime transferred and I shut down my S1 for good... I've now paid a total of $398...i'm now at $398 / 79.33 which is $5.01 per month. If i use the TivoHD for 2 years, it would be $398 / 103.33 which is $3.85 per month; 3 years $3.45, etc... Cheaper than any subscription Tivo offers.

If you want to "reset" the counter w/the TivoHD, thats fine.. $199 / 24 is $8.30 a moth, and for 3 years is $5.52...

Its all how you look at it.. I love my Tivos, and my $200 helps them stay in business a bit longer and get the service I need, i'm ok with that..

-t


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

ehanson said:


> I have one S2 with lifetime service. I want to upgrade to HD but keep the S2 in service as well. It seems obvious that I could just buy the HD and get the MSD on that box (option 1) but I'm concerned (as I've noted a couple of others are) about what happens when my S2 dies. So I'm thinking transfer the lifetime service to the HD and get the MSD on the S2 (Option 2). However, the offer says "This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount." (with the spelling error and everything!) Do you all take this to mean Option 2 is not an option?


When you transfer lifetime your old unit will get 12 months of free service; after that you can choose your level of commitment on the old unit, if you want to keep it in service, and it'll receive MSD pricing.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

Narf54321 said:


> It definitely happened. I'm sure in legalize language, this is not the same _exact_ offer, so they'll weasel out. But it still makes Tivo sound like they've cried wolf too many times.


The fact remians... and offer was presented. Buy this TiVo at this price. Pay this price to transfer your lifetime service. This offer expires on this date. You weighed the pros and cons and you were well aware of the costs (and that they might very well drop - or even that TiVo might go out of business!).

You took the offer and now you're just upset someone else got a better one. Wah, wah, wah.


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## choccy (Jan 1, 2001)

Narf54321 said:


> Because TiVo under Rogers has been adamant about getting rid of Lifetime service. Last year's Lifetime transfer offer specifically noted it wouldn't be offered again. In fact, I'm sure one of Shanon's videoclips specifically said so.


Well, technically, it hasn't happened again.. this is an offer to transfer to the Tivo HD unit, not the S3, right? That's a completely different offer. I don't believe the promised never to allow lifetime transfers ever again, ever.

I'm sure if/when they come up with another box they'll offer lifetime transfers to that, too.


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## jeffk (Oct 15, 2002)

DVDerek said:


> I really don't get these complaints. TiVo offered you a deal and you took it and now your upset other people are getting the same deal? Do you feel not VIP enough or something?


It was sold as this was a one time thing, it pushed me to get the series 3 at the time. I would of waited if this was not a '1 time deal' like they advertised it.


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## bilbo (Dec 7, 2004)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


I am actually glad they are putting the 4 year limitation on these latest Lifetime service transfer offers. By February 2009 (when my remaining S2 Tivo will have had Lifetime for over four years -- which works out to $6.25 per month over that time frame), they may be offering a $199 Lifetime Transfer to a Series 4 Tivo.

I might actually be tempted to do another Lifetime Transfer (took advantage of the original VIP lifetime transfer to the original Series 3), but Tivo is keeping me in check. I am going to be extremely tempted to buy another original Series 3 when/if Tivo goes live with High-Definition transfers next month (we are supposed to see this by the end of November?).

Speaking of February 2009, it will be strange to have a Tivo when George W. Bush isn't President. It doesn't seem like he was President when I got my first Tivo in early 2002, but by golly he was.


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## morac (Mar 14, 2003)

While this is good for consumers the fact that they are willing to do a lifetime transfer on the HD, probably means it isn't selling that well (ie: they're trying to drive up sales).


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## Ishma (Sep 8, 2006)

jeffk said:


> It was sold as this was a one time thing, it pushed me to get the series 3 at the time. I would of waited if this was not a '1 time deal' like they advertised it.


It was a one time deal. I haven't seen another Lifetime offer on the Series3.

I don't think it's realistic to think TiVo meant no lifetime offers on any other product ever.

My two cents...


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

morac said:


> While this is good for consumers the fact that they are willing to do a lifetime transfer on the HD, probably means it isn't selling that well (ie: they're trying to drive up sales).


I think of it more like they are trying to get rid of money-losing lifetime subscriptions that are still calling in. Since after 4 years, the TiVo is no longer on the books but is still costing them money in support costs. By upgrading these, they get the old units out of the pipeline and make some money off of them.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

DancnDude said:


> I think of it more like they are trying to get rid of money-losing lifetime subscriptions that are still calling in. Since after 4 years, the TiVo is no longer on the books but is still costing them money in support costs. By upgrading these, they get the old units out of the pipeline and make some money off of them.


I hardly think the old Lifetimes are all *that* taxing on their system.
Because of how they do the Lifetime transfer, what you're actually doing is paying $199 to enroll the old box into a new subscription for the "free year".

I highly suspect this is a way to boost the subscriptions numbers, especially since they show a net loss of subs last quarter.


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

DancnDude said:


> I think of it more like they are trying to get rid of money-losing lifetime subscriptions that are still calling in. Since after 4 years, the TiVo is no longer on the books but is still costing them money in support costs. By upgrading these, they get the old units out of the pipeline and make some money off of them.


This might have made sense if Tivo was offering the lifetime transfer on units purchased anywhere, but the offer is only for Tivo HDs bought directly from Tivo. The only sense I can make out of it is that Tivo has too much stock on hand. Otherwise, why omit the resellers?


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## mrmike (May 2, 2001)

Koan said:


> This might have made sense if Tivo was offering the lifetime transfer on units purchased anywhere, but the offer is only for Tivo HDs bought directly from Tivo. The only sense I can make out of it is that Tivo has too much stock on hand. Otherwise, why omit the resellers?


The VIP offer had the same verbiage. Didn't stop folks from getting transfers on other boxen.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

DVDerek said:


> You took the offer and now you're just upset someone else got a better one. Wah, wah, wah.


What I'm upset about is that TiVo staunchly ended the 'Lifetime Subscription' offer ostensibly because it was somehow costing them too much. (huh?) By offering LT transfers to S3 buyers, then to Dual-Tuner buyers, and now to TivoHD buyers -- the Lifetime service can't be hurting their bottom line that much.

What I'd certainly prefer that they do is simply reinstate the Lifetime option across the board for all purchasers, even at $499 or whatever. It would be a step in the right direction which would allow me to recommend Tivo to other people again.


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## Wheens (Jan 1, 2003)

how does one find out his lifetime subscription start date?


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## wickerbill (Apr 4, 2002)

Wheens said:


> how does one find out his lifetime subscription start date?


Login to your tivo account and look at the billing information. You could also just go to the offer page and put in your tivo service number and it will tell you if it qualifies.


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

mrmike said:


> The VIP offer had the same verbiage. Didn't stop folks from getting transfers on other boxen.


Doesn't change the intent. It also remains to be seen with this offer - they turned me down when I tried it.


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## edifice (Feb 10, 2005)

m_jonis said:


> Well, you'd THINK it should have disappeared from your account. But Tivo apparently has some kind of magical database that is write only and can never be edited or allow for records to be erased, so it will show up on your account forever and ever (until maybe Tivo upgrades to DOS and some 1980's database that let's you delete a record).


Yes this does seem to be the case.. I called them and asked them why it still shows up and they said they did not know. They are confirmed that I did transfer the subscription to the new owner.

Brian


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Narf54321 said:


> What I'm upset about is that TiVo staunchly ended the 'Lifetime Subscription' offer ostensibly because it was somehow costing them too much. (huh?) By offering LT transfers to S3 buyers, then to Dual-Tuner buyers, and now to TivoHD buyers -- the Lifetime service can't be hurting their bottom line that much.
> 
> What I'd certainly prefer that they do is simply reinstate the Lifetime option across the board for all purchasers, even at $499 or whatever. It would be a step in the right direction which would allow me to recommend Tivo to other people again.


They're not creating new lifetime subscribers; they're getting more money from existing lifetime subscribers. These subscribers would be there anyway. Now they've gained another $199 from them for what they were already getting. And they're also gaining whatever profit there is in the hardware (or related sales), if any.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

IJustLikeTivo said:


> I entered the service number for that unit and it said it wasn't eligible. I wonder if a phone call will help......


FYI, previous threads discussing this for the S3 lifetime transfer offer:

DirecTiVo lifetime now transferable to Series3?
VIP offer and DirecTivo


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

As far as DirecTV transfers go, there's really no room for ambiguity with this offer:

http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html

4. Product Lifetime Subscriptions eligible to be transferred to a Qualifying DVR pursuant to this Offer must be (1) activated prior to October 1, 2003 and (2) not have been previously transferred pursuant to any prior transfer offer from TiVo. Only registered account owners of a Product Lifetime Subscription may transfer such Product Lifetime Subscription to the Qualifying DVR specified above in conjunction with this offer. *DirectTV DVRs with TiVo service not eligible for offer.*


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

Narf54321 said:


> What I'm upset about is that TiVo staunchly ended the 'Lifetime Subscription' offer ostensibly because it was somehow costing them too much. (huh?)


Oh really? When did they say this? Promotions come and promotions go. Rebates, sales, you name it. Maybe they ended the promo because they reached the number of customers they intended to target. Maybe they ended it because they didnt think they needed it anymore. Maybe they ended it to focus attention away from the S3 while they were getting ready to crank out the HD.



> By offering LT transfers to S3 buyers, then to Dual-Tuner buyers, and now to TivoHD buyers -- the Lifetime service can't be hurting their bottom line that much.


The LT service transfer gives them a quick influx of cash. Sometimes they decide they want that, other times they decide they don't. They are a business and are free to decide what they want and how they want to go about getting it.



> What I'd certainly prefer that they do is simply reinstate the Lifetime option across the board for all purchasers, even at $499 or whatever. It would be a step in the right direction which would allow me to recommend Tivo to other people again.


And I'd prefer a pony. And lifetime at $1 too! That's great that it's what you want but they clearly think the economics of that doesn't scale and does not make them an attractive publicly traded company.

As for the "offer ends soon!" aspect of the argument - you must have a whole garage full of new cars, and various electronics still in their UPC-less boxes. Offers ALWAYS end soon. More offers ALWAYS come about. Maybe they wont be the exact offer on the exact item you want. Maybe it'll be worse, maybe it'll be better. You made a choice to act on the offer. Quit. Whining.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

dswallow said:


> They're not creating new lifetime subscribers; they're getting more money from existing lifetime subscribers. These subscribers would be there anyway. Now they've gained another $199 from them for what they were already getting. And they're also gaining whatever profit there is in the hardware (or related sales), if any.


I think Rogers already stated they don't really make much on the hardware itself.

What I think they really get is another 'subscription' to roll into the next quarterly numbers for Wall Street.


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

dswallow said:


> They're not creating new lifetime subscribers; they're getting more money from existing lifetime subscribers. These subscribers would be there anyway. Now they've gained another $199 from them for what they were already getting. And they're also gaining whatever profit there is in the hardware (or related sales), if any.


More importantly, they're likely gaining a new box. It's probably more likely that you'll add the THD to your account, along with whatever existing box has lifetime, than that you'll simply swap out the old box and add the new box. Especially with the 1-year free service on the old box.

So for (at least) a year, they've increased all their lifetime transfer accounts by a box. Looks good on the annual reports, and hopefully you'll get more addicted to Tivo, especially when MRV is fully enabled.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

dswallow said:


> *DirectTV DVRs with TiVo service not eligible for offer.*


Oh well, so much for that idea...


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

DVDerek said:


> Oh really? When did they say this?


March, 2006
There's a percentage of customers who don't want to be trapped in a recurring cost plan, especially for a luxury item such as TiVo. That's why when the last-chance LT transfer for the S3 came about many of us jumped on it.



> And I'd prefer a pony. And lifetime at $1 too! That's great that it's what you want but they clearly think the economics of that doesn't scale and does not make them an attractive publicly traded company.


Given that Tivo has lost the grassroots support of folks like me, and is coincidentally suffering subscription losses, I'd say these new 'economics' are making them into an unattractive company. (And yes, I sold off my TIVO shares when they started changing and muddying the subscription plans. It became clear the company was headed in the wrong direction.)



> As for the "offer ends soon!" aspect of the argument - you must have a whole garage full of new cars, and various electronics still in their UPC-less boxes. Offers ALWAYS end soon.


Don't be silly. Nobody believes the car manufacturers because they make these offers all the time. And likewise, Tivo Inc. has shown its stripes and nobody believes them anymore, either.



> Quit. Whining.


Didn't you know? Al Gore invented the Internet for complaining.


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## Eccles (Dec 27, 2001)

dswallow said:


> They're not creating new lifetime subscribers; they're getting more money from existing lifetime subscribers. These subscribers would be there anyway. Now they've gained another $199 from them for what they were already getting. And they're also gaining whatever profit there is in the hardware (or related sales), if any.


Precisely. It makes sense from a bookkeeping point-of-view as Lifetime subscriptions are amortized over four years on their books, so once they reach their 4th anniversary they no longer appear in the revenue column. By offering a $199 transfer option, TiVo effectively gets a fresh subscription which they can amortize over the next four years. I will be very surprised if they don't continue to make these rolling offers to refresh their revenue numbers on Lifetime subs, possibly even each quarter.

Since Time-Warner Austin is pushing SDV so aggressively, I think my best option is to go with their SA8300HD DVR for my HD content for now and retain my S2 for analog SD content - I'm confident that there will be a chance to transfer my lifetime subscription to a forthcoming SDV-capable HD TiVo before too very long. I just hope the 8300HD's interface and unreliability don't drive me up the wall before then!


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## Eccles (Dec 27, 2001)

Narf54321 said:


> What I'm upset about is that TiVo staunchly ended the 'Lifetime Subscription' offer ostensibly because it was somehow costing them too much.
> 
> March, 2006


Nowhere in that announcement does it say why they dropped Lifetime. You're putting words into their mouths.


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## TiivoDog (Feb 14, 2007)

ehanson said:


> I have one S2 with lifetime service. I want to upgrade to HD but keep the S2 in service as well. It seems obvious that I could just buy the HD and get the MSD on that box (option 1) but I'm concerned (as I've noted a couple of others are) about what happens when my S2 dies. So I'm thinking transfer the lifetime service to the HD and get the MSD on the S2 (Option 2). However, the offer says "This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount." (with the spelling error and everything!) Do you all take this to mean Option 2 is not an option?





dswallow said:


> When you transfer lifetime you're old unit will get 12 months of free service; after that you can choose your level of commitment on the old unit, if you want to keep it in service, and it'll receive MSD pricing.


Yes, so effectively you are only paying $115.60 for your upgrade from your Series2 to the TivoHD, so that should sound more palatable, eh?

$199.00 Lifetime Upgrade to TivoHD
$ 83.40 Less 12 Months of free service on your Series2 ($6.95 x 12 mos)
$115.60 Net Payment

I took the plunge last year, when I upgraded 3 new Series3 units and kept my 3 Series2 units for my boys. Now, I might just jump on the TivoHD bandwagon and ditch/sell their Series2 units in lieu of new TivoHD units that have now been reasonably priced (e.g. Amazon $249.99).


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## moolman (Dec 22, 2005)

Narf54321,
I think we learned a valueable lesson from this thread that you can take for the rest of your life. Don't believe salesman and their pitches of limited time offers, especially from used car salesmen and Tivo salesmen.


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

Eccles said:


> Nowhere in that announcement does it say why they dropped Lifetime. You're putting words into their mouths.


You mean nowhere where it specifically says:
"The product lifetime service option will be eliminated next week."


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## nigebj (Sep 8, 2004)

Why oh why must we have the "Tivo should let me transfer my Lifetime subscription I paid for 'n' years ago" and "The deal I see today is better than the one I couldn't live without last <insert date>" debate everytime Tivo try to drive up their sales. After all, as noted by someone else earlier - this is NOT to make any existing customers feel good, bad or otherwise - it's just an excuse to move more units AND get an extra $200 out of the "paid once and happy until they release a new unit" crowd.

Grow up - Lifetime was, is and always will be - the life of the unit. Tivo just allow you to 'move' that Lifetime subscription occasionally because you demonstrated a distinct dislike for monthly fees - and they'll lose you completely otherwise.

Anyway - as my Lifetime was activated too late (for this offer) - it'll just Keep me from moving on a new TivoHD just yet. That said, MSD means there's an almost 3 year recovery anyway - can anyone say 'Series 4'


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

moolman said:


> Narf54321,
> I think we learned a valueable lesson from this thread that you can take for the rest of your life. Don't believe salesman and their pitches of limited time offers, especially from used car salesmen and Tivo salesmen.


But Shanon wooed me so well, especially when she said I was a "V.I.P." and she would never offer this deal to anyone ever again. 

(I hear the new LT transfer offers are flat emails.)


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## David Scavo (Dec 14, 1999)

dswallow said:


> They're not creating new lifetime subscribers; they're getting more money from existing lifetime subscribers. These subscribers would be there anyway. Now they've gained another $199 from them for what they were already getting. And they're also gaining whatever profit there is in the hardware (or related sales), if any.


And they are turning a lifetime box into a box that goes monthly in 12 months.

That box that might be given away to a non-TIVO user (hey try this it comes with a free year of service), kept at the monthly rate (oops forgot to cancel that), etc....


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## DancnDude (Feb 7, 2001)

Eccles said:


> Nowhere in that announcement does it say why they dropped Lifetime. You're putting words into their mouths.


Check out this post


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## Eccles (Dec 27, 2001)

DancnDude said:


> Check out this post


OK, I've read that, but I still don't see anywhere where they say "Lifetime was costing us too much" per Narf's ealier quote, but merely that they decided to do away with it in favor of their new pricing structure.

I'm prepared to accept the _assumption _that that was a contributing factor in their decision, but I don't recall anyone from TiVo explicitly saying as much.

Semantics, I guess, and I'll let it drop at that.


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## dmichels82 (Oct 12, 2007)

I just bought a TiVoHD at Best Buy and transferred the service without any problem. I was worried because the rep asked me if I was going to buy the box from the website or if I got it somewhere else but when I said that I had gotten it from Best Buy she didn't care.


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## fatlard (Jun 30, 2003)

great news that they let you transfer


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

dmichels82 said:


> I just bought a TiVoHD at Best Buy and transferred the service without any problem. I was worried because the rep asked me if I was going to buy the box from the website or if I got it somewhere else but when I said that I had gotten it from Best Buy she didn't care.


Glad to hear it. I'll have to try again and hopefully get your CSR.


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## rodneyb (Oct 29, 2003)

which department should you select when you call the number. I just tried 15 times in a row. The first 14 times it was busy, the 15th time I got through and picked the new activation department and I got sent to voicemail.


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## mrmike (May 2, 2001)

rodneyb said:


> which department should you select when you call the number. I just tried 15 times in a row. The first 14 times it was busy, the 15th time I got through and picked the new activation department and I got sent to voicemail.


The phones may have been out


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## Narf54321 (Mar 30, 2005)

Eccles said:


> "Lifetime was costing us too much"
> 
> I'm prepared to accept the _assumption _that that was a contributing factor in their decision, but I don't recall anyone from TiVo explicitly saying as much.


Its a common refrain from the Rogers supporters and a few spreadsheet jockeys on this site. Apparently we Lifetimers don't have any monetary value to add for TiVo, or worse: that we're a "drain" on the company resources.

Zatz did a interesting breakdown of customer churn about six months ago or so, where they noted Lifetime users cost more than the "revenue" brought in from the Tivo ads. It's probably the closest to an actual account without picking apart a ton of boring old quarterly reports. All of this ignores efforts we make to turn other folks onto Tivo products.

(Insert Wilde's quote about the bean counters knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing).

In stark contrast to the article's glad-handing of Rogers and his revenue performance, six months later we're now seeing large dropoffs in subscribers.

The real point to our frustration is watching the company we love sink lower into the realm shared by shady cell-phone like sales tactics.


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## schwinn (Sep 18, 2004)

TiivoDog said:


> Yes, so effectively you are only paying $115.60 for your upgrade from your Series2 to the TivoHD, so that should sound more palatable, eh?
> 
> $199.00 Lifetime Upgrade to TivoHD
> $ 83.40 Less 12 Months of free service on your Series2 ($6.95 x 12 mos)
> ...


Or, looking at it the other way:
$ 0.00 Keep the existing LT on your older box
$ 83.40 12 months of service on your new TivoHD
$ 83.40 Net Payment

Both scenarios allow you to run both units for the first year. After the first year, keeping both boxes running costs another $83.40 per year... making the 2nd and following years equivalent.

So, the bottom line - For those who don't need/want 2 boxes running, the first option is clearly cheaper after approximately the second year... since you don't have to keep paying the ~$83 per year, as you would in the second scenario.

If you want to keep only one box running, and plan to keep it for at least 2 years, then scenario 1 works better. If you want to keep both running, then scenario 2 is a little better.

My 2c...


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


Raw deal! Both my lifetimes (including series 1) were activated more recently than that. 

Correction! My series 2 was activated on 4-23-2003, so it qualifies. 

But I'd rather transfer the series 1, but I activated lifetime on that one on 3-14-2006


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## choccy (Jan 1, 2001)

timckelley said:


> But I'd rather transfer the series 1, but I activated lifetime on that one on 3-14-2006


Why on earth would you activate an S1 for lifetime in 2006 when you could have picked up a new S2 for practically free at that time?


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

I have an S1 TiVo that's had lifetime on it since May of 2000 (and is still in heavy daily use). If I get even half that life out of a new TiVo HD that replaces it then I'd be ahead of the game financially if I paid the $200 up front for lifetime service, even considering the discount on additional units. I'll have no need for the S1 unit after I upgrade to an HD.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

choccy said:


> Why on earth would you activate an S1 for lifetime in 2006 when you could have picked up a new S2 for practically free at that time?


I actually bought it in January, 2005 (a used TiVo I bought off ebay) but used it unsubbed for a whole year. My idea at the time was that I really didn't need two subs in the house, and that manual recordings would be fine for my needs. I let my wife keep the subbed S2 while I got the unsubbed S1. The difference in features at that time were fairly small to me. (I didn't care about folders, for example.)

Later, in 2006, a drive went bad, and I fixed it myself. But while it was out of commission, I was borrowing my wife's TiVo, and suddenly realized how much nicer it was to have a subscription, so after I fixed the TiVo, I went ahead and subbed monthly using the multi-TiVo discount, but then they announced Lifetiems were permenantly being eliminated, so as this was my last chance to get a lifetime, or forever hold my peace, I decided my S1 had enough life left in it to justify subbing it lifetime.

Now, the other drive (it's a 2-drive model) just went bad, and I just fixed that one a few days ago, using a drive I had lieing around my house, so the repair was 100% free.  I still haven't recouped the cost of my lifetime as it's only been 1.5 years since I subbed it, but the S1 is still going strong.

Oh, but to answer the question why, in 2006, when I first subbed the thing, why didn't I just get an S2, the answer is because my S1 was an upgraded model with a fairly large amount of space. Well, I guess I could have just move the drives over to a new S2, but then I think I would have also needed a special cooling system installed, as S2's have more trouble than S1's handling 2 drives. Also, I didn't think it was worth the work to set all that up, when I already had a perfectly fine working S1 with all the space I wanted, and I didn't really care about the extra features at that time.

(Admittedly, later on, I regretting not having the ability move shows between TiVos, so maybe it was a mistake not getting an S2.)


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## Sirwill (Dec 26, 2002)

So I bought a HD at COSTCO today for $279. Called tonight and transfered my lifetime to it with NO issues what so ever. 

So that to me says it doesn't matter where you buy it from. 

Now if Only I could justify doing my other S1 with lifetime... Of course I don't even have an HD TV YET.


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## kingmob (Jan 27, 2007)

I just transferred Lifetime from a Series 1 (11/2000 subscription) to a TiVo HD purchased at Best Buy. The CSR asked for information about the email that I received about the offer but that was it. Nothing about where I bought the THD.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

DeeJayK said:


> I have a S1 that was activated with Lifetime prior to January 2000. I've heard something about this being a "grandfathered" unit which gives me the right to transfer this subscription to another box for free.
> 
> I'm considering moving up to an HD (or maybe an S3) and am wondering if anyone can give me details on this rumor?
> 
> ...


I didn't see an answer to this.

If you have a grandfathered Series 1, you can transfer the lifetime service to any new Tivo, purchased from any place you like.

To do this, call Tivo. They will want the Tivo serial number of the Series 1 and the new Tivo. They will transfer the service (takes a few minutes). When the transfer is complete, there will be no service on the Series 1 box (though you can still use limited recording functions on most S1 boxes).


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Koan said:


> This might have made sense if Tivo was offering the lifetime transfer on units purchased anywhere, but the offer is only for Tivo HDs bought directly from Tivo. The only sense I can make out of it is that Tivo has too much stock on hand. Otherwise, why omit the resellers?


Easy. Tivo loses money on every THD box sold by retailers. They essentially break even on selling the hardware directly at $299. It's in their best interests to promote direct sales.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

AbMagFab said:


> More importantly, they're likely gaining a new box. It's probably more likely that you'll add the THD to your account, along with whatever existing box has lifetime, than that you'll simply swap out the old box and add the new box. Especially with the 1-year free service on the old box.
> 
> So for (at least) a year, they've increased all their lifetime transfer accounts by a box. Looks good on the annual reports, and hopefully you'll get more addicted to Tivo, especially when MRV is fully enabled.


True, but even if the old box is retired in a year, the end user is now using a Series 3 platform box, not a Series 1, and can use broadband services like Amazon Unbox that generate additional revenue.


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

synch22 said:


> yeah as a early adopter i shelled out close to 1k for the S3 and transfer of lifetime, I made the move because i thought this was it it was then or never again would lifetime come up.
> 
> Tivo is acting in desperation it seems so i guess i would rather have tivo exist and me get shafted a bit than tivo go under.....
> 
> ...





Narf54321 said:


> Yeah, I made the leap last year, too. I could have sworn last year they told us "V.I.P." subscribers that this was the absolute last chance, only possible way to get Lifetime service on a new box.
> 
> I get the feeling that with the drop in subscriber numbers that they're trying anything to boost them back up again. Kinda of explains the short time window for this newest, last-chance, only possible way to get Lifetime service. They enroll your old TiVo unit into a recurring billing plan (first year "free" -- for $199), and then you probably count as two subscriptions.


Even tho I didn't jump on the previous LT offer, I seriously considered it and poured over the info in various threads. You are correct, they definitely made it sound like this was going to be a "once in a tivo lifetime" offer - They were never going to offer this again. BUT, the part where you "1K VIP's" erred was not doing enough research and taking TiVo's history into acct. You bought the speel, and somehow covinced yourself that shelling out $800-$1K to have this new gadget was worth it to you. And you know what? I'm sure it probably was worth it, especially if you had the cash to spare. But what you KNEW (and chose to ignore or push to the back of your mind) is:
- Sooner or later an S3 rebate would be introduced. $200 seemed to be the figure floating around. Speculators were correct.
- TiVo would have to introduce a less expensive "gap device" between the S2DT and S3. I think it was being referred to as the S2.5 or HDlite.
- TiVo wants S1 LT boxes out of circulaton (therefore at least other LT xfer offers for hos boxes were going to come up)

You probably bought the line when they said that only S3's purchased from tivo.com qualified too, just like they are saying with this HD offer. Give it a week or so, and I'm sure we'll start hearing reports of retail purchases qualifying - Oh wait! that's already happening lol. I also predict that if I bought a retail S3, they'd prolly allow the xfer too.

Like others, you could've have just added the S3 via MSD, giving yourself the flexibility to redeem the rebate, and swap or add new equipment later on...
When we really want to buy somethig we make many excuses and ignore many reasons to wait. Early S3 LT adapters made those buying justifications. You wanted that LTS3 and were willing to pay for it. You knew the pro's and con's and decided to take the risk. Chalk it up to "Early Adapter" tax we all pay on newly introduced items.

If it's any consolation, the "VIP offer" was still an exclusive 1 time deal, the latest offers have subscription date requirements, whereas the VIP was open to any LT subs. Many who took the offer prolly wouldn't have qualified for this one.

PS - Hang on to those pre2003 boxes, especially the non networked S1's. I suspect TiVo will makeus even better future offers.


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

schwinn said:


> Or, looking at it the other way:
> $ 0.00 Keep the existing LT on your older box
> $ 83.40 12 months of service on your new TivoHD
> $ 83.40 Net Payment
> ...


Thanks for your $0.02, taking into consideration my above post, and your post has helped me make my decision. I'm keeping my LTS1, and will add an S3 and/or HD via msd. I need 3 working TiVo's in my household, but currently only need 1 with hd capabilities. I already have an LTS2 (doesn't qualify for this offer).


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## doppler1 (Apr 1, 2004)

I too was able to transfer lifetime to a TiVo not purchased from TiVo.com... They asked me about the e-mail I received as well...not sure what that was all about.

For others that did the transfer, did the Lifetime show on the TiVo HD immediately? Mine shows with the 1 year right now, and the box I was transferring from still shows with Lifetime...Not sure if that is normal or not, but TiVo opened a case number for it, so I'm not worried about it.


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## missdona (Apr 19, 2004)

Me too. They didn't even ask where I got it.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

Narf54321 said:


> Its a common refrain from the Rogers supporters and a few spreadsheet jockeys on this site. Apparently we Lifetimers don't have any monetary value to add for TiVo, or worse: that we're a "drain" on the company resources.


Lifetime subs don't provide any service revenue if they are are greater than 4 years old, but they still add monetary value (ad revenue, etc.). However, at this point in time, the cost to provide service to those boxes exceed that revenue.

If the lifetime sub is less than 4 years old, it's still a net positive for Tivo, but certainly no where near a new monthly subscription.


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Not that I can make sense of the logic, but.......It is my understanding that only the $299 HD Tivo is the one you can transfer your lifetime sub to. If you get the S3 HD Tivo, you won't have the lifetime transfer option. Is this correct? 

Perhaps someone knows why they only do the transfer on the cheaper of the 2 Tivo's? Of course I want the S3, but I will probably get the regular HD Tivo for Mom. She isn't into the extras like THX....

Also, you HAVE to buy the Tivo from them to do the lifetime transfer...I love everything about Tivo, except being forced to pay top dollar when a good deal comes along :down: 

Has anyone tried to get the lifetime transfer deal for the S3?


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## Sirwill (Dec 26, 2002)

trlyka said:


> Also, you HAVE to buy the Tivo from them to do the lifetime transfer...I love everything about Tivo, except being forced to pay top dollar when a good deal comes along :down:
> 
> QUOTE]
> 
> Not true, I bought mine at Costco Yesterday, and transfered my lifetime to it last night with NO ISSUE at all.


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## tj722 (Feb 15, 2003)

doppler1 said:


> I too was able to transfer lifetime to a TiVo not purchased from TiVo.com... They asked me about the e-mail I received as well...not sure what that was all about.
> 
> For others that did the transfer, did the Lifetime show on the TiVo HD immediately? Mine shows with the 1 year right now, and the box I was transferring from still shows with Lifetime...Not sure if that is normal or not, but TiVo opened a case number for it, so I'm not worried about it.


Yeah, mine shows up the same way. Should I call them back?


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

How strict is Tivo about the lifetime requirements? We got our Series 2 in mid Decemeber of 2003. Seems like of lame if we couldn't get the lifetime transfer deal for a new HD Tivo. Not even 3 months outside the date.


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## jfh3 (Apr 15, 2004)

doppler1 said:


> For others that did the transfer, did the Lifetime show on the TiVo HD immediately? Mine shows with the 1 year right now, and the box I was transferring from still shows with Lifetime...Not sure if that is normal or not, but TiVo opened a case number for it, so I'm not worried about it.


What you see is normal and how it worked last year with the original VIP Series 3 transfer offer. The service status won't be "swapped" for about 60 days (or so). There is a thread from last September than explains all the details as to why they do it this way.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Resist said:


> Not even 3 months outside the date.


If you think 3 months should be allowed, then how about 4 months? 5? 6?


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

I said not even three months. But yes I think Tivo should allow it if they want continued revenue on the books from a lifetime subscription. In a few month they will be losing my revenue and I will be the one making out on the deal from here on. Because for me at least, I will not purchase a Tivo HD box if I can't get another lifetime subscription for it. It really is a deal breaker for me.


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Sirwill said:


> trlyka said:
> 
> 
> > Also, you HAVE to buy the Tivo from them to do the lifetime transfer...I love everything about Tivo, except being forced to pay top dollar when a good deal comes along :down:
> ...


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

Resist said:


> HSeems like of lame if we couldn't get the lifetime transfer deal for a new HD Tivo. Not even 3 months outside the date.


Hell, my dad activated his about two weeks outside the window...


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Amnesia said:


> Hell, my dad activated his about two weeks outside the window...


When did he purchase the Tivo? Was it before Oct. 2003? Maybe he was able to transfer based on the Tivo purchase date vs. subscription activation date?

Or perhaps he is long time Tivo user. I wonder if they look at your history and determine if they will bend the rules for certain subscribers. I can see that happening. Where I work, we can always bend the rules. It's just a matter if we want to or not depending on the customers account history.......


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## Amnesia (Jan 30, 2005)

trlyka said:


> When did he purchase the Tivo? Was it before Oct. 2003? Maybe he was able to transfer based on the Tivo purchase date vs. subscription activation date?.


I bought the S2 for him on 8 October 2003.

He's been thinking about getting a TivoHD for a while, but he has been been waiting for a lifetime transfer offer. Now finally it comes and he misses the cutoff date by just a few weeks...


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## dheerema (Jul 6, 2004)

dwit said:


> Wonder why they won't transfer more recent lifetime activations?


I think they want to get rid of the units that are using modems. They cost more for Tivo to support.


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## Sirwill (Dec 26, 2002)

tj722 said:


> Yeah, mine shows up the same way. Should I call them back?


I was told that it would show up that way for 60 days and then they would flip.


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## wdwms (Jan 10, 2003)

dheerema said:


> I think they want to get rid of the units that are using modems. They cost more for Tivo to support.


How can you justify that? All Tivos, all versions have modems!


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

dheerema said:


> I think they want to get rid of the units that are using modems. They cost more for Tivo to support.


Nothing to do with modems. It's simply for lifetime units more than 4 years old which are no longer earning revenue.


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## hkancyr (Jan 20, 2002)

I just ordered my HD from TiVo. I will be transferring my S1 lifetime. No mention of having to get it someplace else. That sounds fishy to me. I would have loved to get it elsewhere and save a few bux, but too late now. 
I have been waiting for this deal to appear and wondering if my trusty S1 would kick the bucket before it happened. 
I guess I'll look around this forum and find a good use for the S1 for a year from now, when the sub dies.


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## dheerema (Jul 6, 2004)

wdwms said:


> How can you justify that? All Tivos, all versions have modems!


True, but almost all S1 users actually use them. anyone using MRV, is using internet connection.


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## moolman (Dec 22, 2005)

Did you ask if you still qualify for the $200 rebate on the S3 if you transfer lifetime to it. It was mentioned in another post that a new subscription is required for the rebate, so a transfer disqualifies you for the rebate. It also says in the fine print that a new subscription is required for 30 days. Maybe they consider a transfer of lifetime a new subscription. Anybody know.



trlyka said:


> Sirwill said:
> 
> 
> > Ok, I called Tivo and asked for some clarification. I was told that not only can I buy from another source, I have to. Something about their boxes already coming with a subscription built in. Where as if you buy from a Costco/Amazon type place, there is nothing linked to it and that's when you can transfer the lifetime subscription. I am not sure how this makes sense for Tivo, but I didn't question it.
> ...


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## AbMagFab (Feb 5, 2001)

moolman said:


> Did you ask if you still qualify for the $200 rebate on the S3 if you transfer lifetime to it. It was mentioned in another post that a new subscription is required for the rebate, so a transfer disqualifies you for the rebate. It also says in the fine print that a new subscription is required for 30 days. Maybe they consider a transfer of lifetime a new subscription. Anybody know.Transferring any other subscription invalidates the $200 rebate (or any rebate). Not sure how the lifetime transfer works though, since you are technically adding a new box, and a new subscription.
> 
> My guess is the rebate won't work.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

> I was told that not only can I buy from another source, I have to. Something about their boxes already coming with a subscription built in.


This makes sense because if you look at Tivo's site and try to buy a HD box it will only let you do it if you also pick a subscription with it. Thanks for the info, I was wondering why it wouldn't let me pick just a box.


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## JYoung (Jan 16, 2002)

Because you have to go to this page:
http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdservicetransfer.html


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## philliptiongson (May 28, 2002)

After reading posts about being able to transfer lifetime to a non-Tivo website Tivo, I ran out to CC and got a TivoHD. I fired it up, and called customer service. They transferred service no problem. I am on the line with Time Warner Cable to set up Cable Card delivery right now.

I also used the AAA CC 10% discount! When the cashier first rang it up, the Tivo did NOT get discounted 10%, but I was persistent, and eventually the manager gave me the discount...


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

philliptiongson said:


> After reading posts about being able to transfer lifetime to a non-Tivo website Tivo, I ran out to CC and got a TivoHD. I fired it up, and called customer service. They transferred service no problem. I am on the line with Time Warner Cable to set up Cable Card delivery right now.
> 
> I also used the AAA CC 10% discount! When the cashier first rang it up, the Tivo did NOT get discounted 10%, but I was persistent, and eventually the manager gave me the discount...


How much did you pay or the Tivo at CC? Amazon has it for $369.00 after rebate.


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

moolman said:


> Did you ask if you still qualify for the $200 rebate on the S3 if you transfer lifetime to it. It was mentioned in another post that a new subscription is required for the rebate, so a transfer disqualifies you for the rebate. It also says in the fine print that a new subscription is required for 30 days. Maybe they consider a transfer of lifetime a new subscription. Anybody know.
> 
> Who issues the rebates, Amazon or Tivo? I would assume that Amazon is the one honoring the rebate. I wouldn't think they would care about what you will do with the box as far as subscription services
> 
> I mean what you pay for the Tivo is between you and Amazon.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

No, Amazon has nothing to do with the rebate.


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## brothers (Dec 31, 2006)

Just adding a "Me, too", with a small glitch: I bught two THDs last sunday at Best Buy ("right now" was a lot more important than "cheap", at the time - failing S1 TiVo). Activated them on the multi-unit discount (6.95/mo each) based on my lifetime S1. Got the email mid-week; assumed I didn't qualify.

Finally had time to read through the various threads on the subject (this one included), figured I had nothing to lose, and called the number. Very nice woman said, at first, that I didn't qualify because I hadn't bought directly from Tivo. I said "But, but, but... lots of reports of yada yada yada..."; she said "OK, let me try to put it through". She came back and said it was rejected. I asked if that might be because I had already activated; she allowed as that might be the case. Suggested that (since I was within the 30 days) I could cancel the service and try again. I asked if she could do that for me, and she said probably - let me escalate this; gave me a case number.

Few minutes on hold, gentleman comes on; "How may I help you". I give him the case number, he pulls it up, says "No problem - just let me fill in this template". Hold again; comes back with "Which THD do you want the lifetime transferred to?"; a little later with "What credit card do you want to charge it to?". A little later with "Done", and information about when the changes will show up (61 days).

And then, "Oh by the way, you'll show a $6.95 credit for the cancelled activation".

It doesn't get much better than this, service-wise.

- Dennis


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## philliptiongson (May 28, 2002)

I bought a THD for 270 + tax at CC (300 - 10% discount). I think amazon is cheaper, but this way I was able to return it easily if Tivo didn't let me transfer...

YMMV...


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

This is all interesting because I just got off the phone with Tivo and they said the HD Box has to be purchased from them to get the lifetime transfer deal. I informed them that many people are buying their boxes from places like CC, BB or Costco and still getting the deal. The Tivo rep I spoke to was like, "really?". They also would not make an exception in the requirements. So my Series 2 Tivo purchased in mid December of 2003, does not qualify. I guess Tivo will not be getting my money this time around then.


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## brothers (Dec 31, 2006)

Resist said:


> This is all interesting because I just got off the phone with Tivo and they said the HD Box has to be purchased from them to get the lifetime transfer deal. I informed them that many people are buying their boxes from places like CC, BB or Costco and still getting the deal. The Tivo rep I spoke to was like, "really?". They also would not make an exception in the requirements. So my Series 2 Tivo purchased in mid December of 2003, does not qualify. I guess Tivo will not be getting my money this time around then.


I suspect that they're much more flexible on where you bought the THD than they are on when you bought the lifetime.

- Dennis


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

brothers said:


> I suspect that they're much more flexible on where you bought the THD than they are on when you bought the lifetime.
> 
> - Dennis


And it may depend on who you talk to. After initially being rejected for not buying directly from Tivo, I called again a few days later and successfully transferred lifetime from my Series 1 to the Tivo HD.


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

So I am supposed to call numerous times until I get a Tivo rep that will give me what I want?


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## wdwms (Jan 10, 2003)

Resist said:


> So I am supposed to call numerous times until I get a Tivo rep that will give me what I want?


Here is what I said after I picked up a TivoHD at CC on saturday... First I did not open the TivoHD box until I had the xfer complete. I called the tivo activation line and waited about 20 minutes. When the CSR came on the phone I said, "Hi, my TivoHD just arrived and I'd like to initiate the lifetime transfer from my old S1".

The CSR had no issue and within 3-4 minutes all was done!

-t


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

Well that is great but again.....they also said my old Series 2 Tivo didn't qualify for the lifetime transfer deal, as it is 2 months short of the time period.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

Resist said:


> So I am supposed to call numerous times until I get a Tivo rep that will give me what I want?


The first time I called, I followed the menu tree to go to the billing dept. After I got a message saying I would be on hold for 20 minutes, I hung up and redialed and this time followed the menu tree to say I wanted to cancel my service. A representitive answered right away and was very helpful in transferring my LT sub.

I imagine that the CSR's who work the retention dept are trained to be much more accomodating than the regular CSR's are, even if you aren't actually trying to cancel anything.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

By the way... I called TiVo on saturday and took care of the transfer. My "Manage My Accounts" page on the TiVo website immediately was changed (to that not-quite-right configuration that everyone gets for the first 60 days), but both my boxes have phoned home several times since then and they both still show the same account statuses each as they did before.

When can I expect the transfer to reflect in the System Information on the TiVo units themselves?


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## slay65 (Feb 7, 2007)

I want to get in on this deal but I am not sure the best way. My dad has a tivo series 1 that I gave him 6 years ago. When I gave it to him he activated lifetime on the unit. He no longer uses the unit (he has 3 directivo's) and I want to transfer the lifetime from that unit to a tivohd I plan to buy.

I checked online and the tivo service number is eligible for the transfer. The tivo is still in his name so should I transfer the unit first to my name tonight. Then buy the new unit and then transfer the lifetime. Or should I just buy the new tivo and then call them to transfer the lifetime. The 3rd option is to just have him transfer the lifetime to the new unit. Then sometime later I would transfer the new Tivo to my name.

Any suggestions?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

slay65 said:


> I want to get in on this deal but I am not sure the best way. My dad has a tivo series 1 that I gave him 6 years ago. When I gave it to him he activated lifetime on the unit. He no longer uses the unit (he has 3 directivo's) and I want to transfer the lifetime from that unit to a tivohd I plan to buy.
> 
> I checked online and the tivo service number is eligible for the transfer. The tivo is still in his name so should I transfer the unit first to my name tonight. Then buy the new unit and then transfer the lifetime. Or should I just buy the new tivo and then call them to transfer the lifetime. The 3rd option is to just have him transfer the lifetime to the new unit. Then sometime later I would transfer the new Tivo to my name.
> 
> Any suggestions?


Transfer the Series 1 lifetime unit to your name first; it takes little more than a phone call.


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

trlyka said:


> How much did you pay or the Tivo at CC? Amazon has it for $369.00 after rebate.


You must mean the S3?

The TivoHD is $249 at Amazon.


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## armooo (Feb 2, 2003)

I just went out to CC and picked up a THD. I called in to take advantage of the lifetime transfer ( from my S2 from dec 2002). I was not asked about a credit card or a $199 fee. And now in my account management only the new TiVo is listed, and it shows up with the Lifetime Sub. Is this normal?


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

You're saying you successfully switched a lifetime without paying the $199?!?!?


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## armooo (Feb 2, 2003)

It seems that way to me. I gave her both of my TSNs, she put be on hold for about 3 min and came back and said I was all set. I went and checked the site because it seemed strange to me, and I saw the lifetime on my THD. And I thought it would take 61 days to showup.


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## MannyE (Dec 7, 2001)

OK so if everything I have read is correct:

My start date on "manage my account" is Dec 12, 1999.

I should qualify for that grandfathered-in transfer for my lifetime sub to ANY Tivo at ANY time right? 

If this is so... I don't have to go crazy calling for this deal because I can wait until the next HD unit comes out (which by then might also include some sort of provision for DirecTV or Dish) and then get my lifetime transferred RIGHT?

Could this be maybe ONE time being an early adopter actually paid off?


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## ourdoc (Jul 25, 2002)

armooo said:


> It seems that way to me. I gave her both of my TSNs, she put be on hold for about 3 min and came back and said I was all set. I went and checked the site because it seemed strange to me, and I saw the lifetime on my THD. And I thought it would take 61 days to showup.


And when they catch it, you will receive email letting you know unless you contact them to take care of the payment, your lifetime will go away. The same thing happened when I did my last transfer. I'd wait for them to contact you though


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## imreolajos (Jan 27, 2005)

Damn Amazon! They are too damn cheap! 

I was about to order my TiVo HD from them when I noticed that the Series3 box is only $370 after a mail-in rebate.

I'm planning to keep my current DT S2 box, too - it's practically brand new, I had to get my old non-DT S2 box replaced due to a HD failure just recently, so I got this refurbed unit from TiVo. Works great! Okay, so let's calculate:

Scenario #1 - Buy TiVo HD, keep current dual-tuner Series 2, transfer S2 lifetime over to HD. Total immediate cost: $250 (TiVo HD from Amazon) + $200 (lifetime switchover) = $450. Get 1 year of service on old S2 for free, afterwards it's $85/year with a 3 year commitment. Total cost over 4 years: $450 + 3 x $85 = $705.

Scenario #2 - Buy TiVo HD, keep current dual-tuner Series 2. Keep lifetime service on S2 (free). Total immediate cost: $250 (TiVo HD from Amazon). Get service on new box, with 3 year commitment it's $85/year. Total cost over 4 years: $250 + 4 x $85 = $590.

Scenario #3 - Buy TiVo Series3 HD, keep current dual-tuner Series 2. Keep lifetime service on S2 (free). Total immediate cost: $370 (TiVo Series3 from Amazon w/ $200 rebate). Get service on new box, with 3 year commitment it's $85/year. Total cost over 4 years: $370 + 4 x $85 = $710.

Hmm, I don't know about you guys, but for $5 more over 4 years, scenario #3 sure looks like a great deal to me over scenario #1! And scenario #2 looks even better for me, so I don't know why I should bother with this lifetime switch bait...

Is there a catch on the Series3 rebate? Like, can it be a second TiVo service activation, or does it have to be a brand new service (which would disqualify me and would make my scenario #3 look a lot worse)?


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

Where do you get that the service costs $85 a year for a 3 year plan? Try $99.66 a year.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

MannyE said:


> I should qualify for that grandfathered-in transfer for my lifetime sub to ANY Tivo at ANY time right? ... Could this be maybe ONE time being an early adopter actually paid off?


You do seem to possess a golden goose.


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## blacknoi (Jan 23, 2006)

FYI: Amazon jacked the tivoHD price up by 30 dollars from yesterday to today (10/15 to 10/16).

Its 280.64 today.


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## netflex (Jul 19, 2007)

trlyka said:


> Sirwill said:
> 
> 
> > Ok, I called Tivo and asked for some clarification. I was told that not only can I buy from another source, I have to. *Something about their boxes already coming with a subscription built in*. Where as if you buy from a Costco/Amazon type place, there is nothing linked to it and that's when you can transfer the lifetime subscription. I am not sure how this makes sense for Tivo, but I didn't question it.
> ...


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Resist said:


> Where do you get that the service costs $85 a year for a 3 year plan? Try $99.66 a year.


I'm not too up on all the latest MSD rules, but having an active lifetime unit has always qualified you for the MSD on any additional units in the past... $6.95 * 12 = $83.40 a year.

Drew


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

busyba said:


> By the way... I called TiVo on saturday and took care of the transfer. My "Manage My Accounts" page on the TiVo website immediately was changed (to that not-quite-right configuration that everyone gets for the first 60 days), but both my boxes have phoned home several times since then and they both still show the same account statuses each as they did before.
> 
> When can I expect the transfer to reflect in the System Information on the TiVo units themselves?


So... no one knows?


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## mrmike (May 2, 2001)

busyba said:


> So... no one knows?


Mine switched over after about 35 days last time.


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

timckelley said:


> You're saying you successfully switched a lifetime without paying the $199?!?!?





armooo said:


> It seems that way to me. I gave her both of my TSNs, she put be on hold for about 3 min and came back and said I was all set. I went and checked the site because it seemed strange to me, and I saw the lifetime on my THD. And I thought it would take 61 days to showup.


Most likely they plan to charge it to the credit card they have on file for you. That was what they were going to do for me. It was good that I asked - I retired the credit card I used for Lifetime in 2002 long ago.


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## captainstabbins (Dec 16, 2002)

I just purchased a Tivo HD at Circuit City. Tivo CS transferred my service no questions asked. They even told me if I was unhappy with the HD Tivo they woukd refund the $199 and transfer the lifetime back to my series 2 box.. Now I need to decide do I want the 5 year CC warranty for $74.00...


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

When I did my S3 transfer last year - a similar thing happened. They did ask for my credit card info, noticed it was the same card that was on file, and just put the charge into the system to my card on file. The problem was, the expiration date on my card on file was sometime in 2003. oops.

The service activated, all was well, then about a week later my S3 went into an inactive state, and listed something like "Billing Problem" on the system screen. It wouldn't get guide data, and started nagging me daily.

One phone call cleared it all up, and the S3 was immediately happy again.

So if something similar happens to you, it's likely they used the card on file, retried a few times, then cut you off.

-Ken


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

I decided to go with my THIRD TiVo HD box with this offer, as I've got two S2 TiVos that meet the qualifications. (A third S2 was purchased in mid-2004 and doesn't qualify.)

Now I just need to sell the two remaining S2 units with their lifetime subs for $250-300 apiece and recoup the cost of this one.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

blacknoi said:


> FYI: Amazon jacked the tivoHD price up by 30 dollars from yesterday to today (10/15 to 10/16).
> 
> Its 280.64 today.


10/16: Showing $253.88 when I look at it on amazon.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

orev said:


> 10/16: Showing $253.88 when I look at it on amazon.


Amazon's prices may change many times in a day.


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## philrace (Jan 9, 2005)

A careful reading of item #7 in the terms and conditions at
under the TIVO website URL buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html
states "This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount."

(That's their spelling of eligible, not mine .. )

Anyway, what does that mean? SFAIK all life time subscriptions
count as the first subscription, so others get the multi-service discount.
Who would transfer their LT if it meant the price for their month-to-months
would more or less double??

-Phil


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## moolman (Dec 22, 2005)

imreolajos said:


> Damn Amazon! They are too damn cheap!
> 
> Scenario #3 - Buy TiVo Series3 HD, keep current dual-tuner Series 2. Keep lifetime service on S2 (free). Total immediate cost: $370 (TiVo Series3 from Amazon w/ $200 rebate). Get service on new box, with 3 year commitment it's $85/year. Total cost over 4 years: $370 + 4 x $85 = $710.
> 
> ...


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## Wiggum (Jun 11, 2004)

I just got off the phone with Tivo.

I have not used my Tivo in two years. I had my lifetime service from 2001. I have a SAT-T60 Series 1. According to Tivo rep. I am not eligible for any subscription transfer to a series 3 because my Tivo is registered with DirectV. I asked her if this Sat-t60 was still listed as Lifetime in the computer and was told yes.

Does this make sense or is she just unaware?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

From http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html:

4. Product Lifetime Subscriptions eligible to be transferred to a Qualifying DVR pursuant to this Offer must be (1) activated prior to October 1, 2003 and (2) not have been previously transferred pursuant to any prior transfer offer from TiVo.. Only registered account owners of a Product Lifetime Subscription may transfer such Product Lifetime Subscription to the Qualifying DVR specified above in conjunction with this offer. *DirectTV DVRs with TiVo service not eligible for offer.*

Drew


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## Wiggum (Jun 11, 2004)

Gotcha. That sucks.

I didn't realize there was Tivo branded boxes back then.


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## missdona (Apr 19, 2004)

I'm experiencing some billing craziness.

I have the thing where the HD says 1 yr prepaid, and the S1 still has lifetime. They open up a case number to fix it, and I go on my merry way.

I look at my credit card billing, and I have 3 holds for $199 and one for $179. It looks like they charged the 1 yr prepaid. Is this something that's going to resolve itself, or do I have to ::sigh:: call again?


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

missdona said:


> I have the thing where the HD says 1 yr prepaid, and the S1 still has lifetime. They open up a case number to fix it, and I go on my merry way.


That's the way it's supposed work:


> 9. Both DVRs will be activated once this process is complete, but the contract information may take up to 60 days or more to be reflected on the DVR or "Manage My Account".


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## missdona (Apr 19, 2004)

Mmmkay.... what about the multiple hold amounts on the card?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Holds typically go away by themselves if they're not converted into sales... I wouldn't worry about it unless they show up as sales.

Drew


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## mattack (Apr 9, 2001)

orev said:


> 10/16: Showing $253.88 when I look at it on amazon.


and it was $249 yesterday.. (ignoring the post right after yours.. I know they change their prices a lot)


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

mattack said:


> You must mean the S3?
> 
> The TivoHD is $249 at Amazon.


Yes, The Series 3. Amazon seems to be the cheapest that I can find. It just dropped to $358.59 after rebate.....I think I have to do it.....I was holding out, but the last time I did that, the deal was gone when I decided to buy.


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## MannyE (Dec 7, 2001)

timckelley said:


> You do seem to possess a golden goose.


AWESOME! Does that mean I can now also trade my Laserdisc player for a BLU-RAY?


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

MannyE said:


> OK so if everything I have read is correct:
> 
> My start date on "manage my account" is Dec 12, 1999.
> 
> ...


For this particular lifetime transfer offer, you have to buy the unit and transfer the lifetime sub by Nov 8th. So unless a new box comes out before then, you need to get the regular HD or the S3 HD Tivo. I am sure they will continue to have offers like this. But the last lifetime transfer offer I remember before this one was from late 2006.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

trlyka said:


> For this particular lifetime transfer offer, you have to buy the unit and transfer the lifetime sub by Nov 8th. So unless a new box comes out before then, you need to get the regular HD or the S3 HD Tivo. I am sure they will continue to have offers like this. But the last lifetime transfer offer I remember before this one was from late 2006.


Wouldn't he be unwise to do this offer? I thought grandfathered early adopters got to do a free lifetime transfer, but this offer asks for $199 cold cash to do the transfer. He can transfer anytime he wants to, regardless of what offer, if any, are being pushed by marketing, and what's more, he can do it for free. (If I correctly understand the grandfather clause, which maybe I don't.)


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## Zaphod (Feb 18, 2003)

Sorry for the long message, but I'm really trying to wrap my head around this.

I've got a Philips Series 1 that qualifies for the transfer. I'm pretty well convinced to do get the TivoHD, but I've got a few questions.

First, on a technical front...

I'd hate to get the TivoHD home and then have issues getting the cablecards working and potentially end up having to return it due to those issues. (If everything works okay I fully intend to keep it.) So, at what point should I actually call to transfer my lifetime? Before installing and configuring the cablecards, or after? Ideally I'm thinking I'd like to do it after so I can make sure everything is set up and working okay before I transfer. I'm afraid that if I transfer the lifetime first before settting up the HD, and if I have problems and end up needing to return the HD, will they transfer my lifetime back to my S1 and refund my $199?

Regarding hard drive upgrades, I know this technically voids your warranty, but is there something on the unit that makes it obvious whether a unit was opened or not, like one of those "seal" stickers that you have to break or something? My thought is, as I've read in some other posts, I'd get it working first and then upgrade the hard drive myself and keep the old drive as a backup. But if I had trouble with the unit down the road that would otherwise be covered under warranty could I theoretically put the original drive back in and take/send it in for warranty service? Or would it be obvious that it had been opened? Also, what is the standard warranty on these anyway? 90 days? 1 year? 3 years?

Now, on the subject of cost...

Am I correct that I have these 2 options? On a side note, I will say that I have no interest in keeping my S1 once I get the HD, though down the road I may get an additional S2 or another HD, but not right away.

1. Keep my S1 with the life sub for free (even though I don't care about the S1 anymore), buy the HD and pay $6.95/month for it under the MSD? Sometime down the road they may offer another lifetime transfer offer that I could use on another HD (or they might not).

2. Buy the HD, transfer the sub for the $199 and just stop using my S1 (even though it's got a year free, I don't see me using it). BUT, with having transferred the S1 life sub to the HD, would I still be able to buy an S2 or another HD down the road and pay only the $6.95/mo on that under MSD?

I'm really debating whether to bother to transfer the life sub or to just keep the S1 active for free and pay the $6.95/mo on the HD under MSD. Again, this is considering that I currently have no interest in keeping my S1 once I get the HD, but may down the road (another year minimum) want to add an S2 or another HD.

Somebody tell me if you see any holes in my math.

On a basic level, $199 to transfer the life sub vs. the $6.95/mo MSD fee gives about a 28 month payback. So if I have it 2.5 years I'm better off to do the lifetime transfer. Is that correct?

BUT, going further and taking into account what I'm currently paying in fees for my cable company DVR, I can actually save money in the long run by buying the TivoHD and giving up my cable company DVR.

Right now I pay a total of $15.90 for my cable company DVR (between the hardware rental and DVR "service" fee). The cable cards from them are $1.99 each. So I drop from $15.90/mo to $3.98, for a difference of $11.92.

If I keep the S1 lifetime and do the $6.95/mo on the TivoHD, between that and my cablecard rental that's $10.93/mo, or $4.97 savings over what I'm paying for the cable company DVR. $299 for the purchase of the TivoHD, divided by the $4.97/mo savings is a paypack of 60 mo, or 5 years.

If I transfer the lifetime sub, that's a total of $498 between the purchase and transfer fee for the TivoHD. My only monthly fee at that point would be the $3.98/mo cablecard rental, the savings mentioned above of $11.92/mo. So $498 divided by the $11.92/mo savings is a payback of 41 months, or about 3.5 years. After that I've got DVR service essentially totally free vs. what I'm paying now to use the cable company's DVR. Correct? (Oh, I have the cable company DVR because it is at least dual-tuner and HD capable, and until the TivoHD came out I couldn't justify the cost of a Series 3.)

So it looks like transferring is the way to go assuming I will have for that 3.5 years. Do I interpret this all correctly? Again, any holes in my math?

Thanks much!


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## akitadog (Jan 28, 2002)

MannyE said:


> OK so if everything I have read is correct:
> 
> My start date on "manage my account" is Dec 12, 1999.
> 
> ...


I also have an older S1, circa 2001. How do I find out whether this is a grandfathered unit?

If so, this would be a no-cost transfer for the lifetime subscription?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

akitadog said:


> I also have an older S1, circa 2001. How do I find out whether this is a grandfathered unit?


If you purchased lifetime for it on or before January 21, 2000 it's grandfathered for one no-cost transfer.


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## Zaphod (Feb 18, 2003)

Sorry again folks for anything confusing here. This is a follow up to my last post about costs (a couple posts up). That previous analyis was all based on the fact that I didn't care to keep my S1 once I got the TivoHD. BUT, I reanalyzed supposing I did want to keep my S1 (I have a friend who wants to keep his so I thought I'd the analysis for his situation while I was working on mine). In that case I think I'm better off NOT to transfer. Again, am I off on my math here?

Quick review, I currently pay $15.90/mo for my cable company DVR. By giving up the cable company DVR and going to TivoHD I drop that to $3.98/mo for cablecard rental for 2 cards.

If I was keeping my S1 and I don't transfer, aren't I still at the 60 month payback on the TivoHD vs. the cable company DVR as mentioned in my previous post? ($3.98/mo cablecard rental + $6.95/mo for TivoHD under MSD = $10.93 or savings of $4.97/mo, $299 divided by $4.97/mo is about 60 months) The only difference from my previous post is whether I actually use the S1 or not. Then after the 60 month payback I'm still saving $4.97/mo for having 2 DVR's over having the cable company DVR along with my S1.

Bu if I do transfer the lifetime, my S1 gets a free year. At $6.95/mo under MSD that's $83.40 worth of subs. BUT, after the first year I'd still be paying $6.95/mo for it. So that's essentially still the same $10.93/mo ($3.98 cable card rental for the HD, plus $6.95/mo to keep the S1 around), or again $4.97/mo savings over what I'm paying now for my cable company DVR. So we take $498 (purchase price plus transfer fee), subtract the 1 year free sub worth of $83.40 = $414.60. $414.60 divided by the $4.97/mo savings is payback of 83 months!!!

Based on that (unless my math is off) the only reason here I might transfer is if I dump the S1 and replace it with a new S2 or another HD so I still have lifetime on a unit and qualify for the MSD on the 2nd device. But if I had a S2 that qualified that I wanted to keep around I think I'd be a fool to transfer the service.

Seems in general, if you want to ADD the TivoHD and keep your existing Tivo long term, you're better off to NOT transfer the sub. If you are going to REPLACE your existing Tivo with the TivoHD and give away or sell the old Tivo, then you should transfer the sub (assuming you believe you'll have your HD for at least 2.5 years).

Am I missing something?


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

Zaphod said:


> Seems in general, if you want to ADD the TivoHD and keep your existing Tivo long term, you're better off to NOT transfer the sub. If you are going to REPLACE your existing Tivo with the TivoHD and give away or sell the old Tivo, then you should transfer the sub (assuming you believe you'll have your HD for at least 2.5 years). Am I missing something?


Nope! I came to the same conclusion you did. PLUS, I predict that there will be other LT xfer opportunities in the future.



Zaphod said:


> I'm afraid that if I transfer the lifetime first before settting up the HD, and if I have problems and end up needing to return the HD, will they transfer my lifetime back to my S1 and refund my $199?


captainstabbins reported that he was told that he could xfer LT back to the S2 if things didn't work out. TiVo is known for trying to accomadate their customers, so I certainly believe that they would do a backward transfer.



Zaphod said:


> But if I had trouble with the unit down the road that would otherwise be covered under warranty could I theoretically put the original drive back in and take/send it in for warranty service? Or would it be obvious that it had been opened? Also, what is the standard warranty on these anyway? 90 days? 1 year? 3 years?


TiVo's come with a 1 yr warranty. AFAIK, there is no "seal" to detect tampering. Most ppl sending in for warranty repair send it back with the orignal drive. You can buy an extended warranty from a retailer (CC or BB) or purchase with a credit card that extends the original warranty or purchase from Costco.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Zaphod said:


> I'm afraid that if I transfer the lifetime first before settting up the HD, and if I have problems and end up needing to return the HD, will they transfer my lifetime back to my S1 and refund my $199?


There is nothing to transfer "back" because the actual transfer does not occur until the 30-day money back guarantee is over.


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

Well I've decided to do msd instead of the LTxfer. Now my decision lies between the S3 or TiVoHD. Usually more expensive denotes a better product, but I'm not so sure with the S3. I do like the OLED, but beyond that I don't really care for the THX, remote (have a harmony) or hd space (will upgrade regardless). I'm more concerned with the nuts and bolts of the machine. The only real difference I've read about is that the TiVoHD seems to have a larger onboard memory than the S3 - is this a really big deal? Basically I want to buy the more "future" ready machine regardless of cost (and looks). Based strictly on the nuts and bolts of the machine, which is better - the S3 or TiVoHD? Thks


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

There are many other S3 vs. HD threads.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Zaphod said:


> Am I missing something?


There's the lifetime of the unit itself to consider; and while that usually can be extended almost indefinitely by using the "authorized service center" repair system, there's a growing likelihood at some point you won't want to be continuing to spend money to fix an older, less capable receiver, and at some point, too, it may no longer be possible to repair.

Someone with an old series 1 or even a single tuner series 2 might do well to get lifetime off their units onto something with a longer useful life or at least something with a full set of TiVo features.


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## JustAllie (Jan 5, 2002)

Zaphod said:


> Sorry again folks for anything confusing here. This is a follow up to my last post about costs (a couple posts up). That previous analyis was all based on the fact that I didn't care to keep my S1 once I got the TivoHD. BUT, I reanalyzed supposing I did want to keep my S1 (I have a friend who wants to keep his so I thought I'd the analysis for his situation while I was working on mine). In that case I think I'm better off NOT to transfer. Again, am I off on my math here?
> 
> Quick review, I currently pay $15.90/mo for my cable company DVR. By giving up the cable company DVR and going to TivoHD I drop that to $3.98/mo for cablecard rental for 2 cards.
> 
> ...


You are missing the potential effect of the lifetime subscription on the future resale value of your TiVoHD a few years down the road.

You are missing the fact that if you transfer the lifetime away from a Series 1 TiVo, you can still use the Series 1 as a dumb digital VCR, so that even once the year of free service is used up, somebody might get some value out of it even without a subscription. (This is not true of Series2 and later TiVos.) So once you transfer the lifetime away from the Series 1, it can be operated (in some fashion) for free in the future.

You are missing the fact that a Series 1 TiVo it is quite "old" technology at this point, and will become less and less desirable as more people buy HDTVs, and also the fact that a Series 1 TiVo that qualifies for this offer is old (and potentially near the end of its usable life). A new TiVoHD is just at the beginning of its potential lifespan.

You're missing the fact that comparing a cable company DVR to a TiVo is like comparing apples to... turnips. 

Basically, it's not just about your monthly cost and amortizing it over X number of months. You have to take into account the old tech/new tech issues, TiVo vs. clunky generic DVR, and resale value.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

dswallow said:


> Someone with an old series 1 or even a single tuner series 2 might do well to get lifetime off their units onto something with a longer useful life or at least something with a full set of TiVo features.


Exactly... As the push to HD continues, SD units are going to become less and less useful to the majority of people. As long as you plan on using the unit lifetime is being transferred from for at least another year, I feel it's well worth a one-time payment of $115.60 ($199 - $6.95 * 12) to move your lifetime investment to a more current unit.

Drew


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## missdona (Apr 19, 2004)

azitnay said:


> Holds typically go away by themselves if they're not converted into sales... I wouldn't worry about it unless they show up as sales.
> 
> Drew


The $179 converted to a sale, the 3 $199s are still pending


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

Well, it took me an hour on the phone, and insisting on being transfered to a Supervisor, but I finally got my lifetime membership transfered to my new Tivo HD last night!!!

FYI, the explaination for purchasing through the Tivo websight that was given to me was that this was the only way to verify if your old box was qualified for the transfer. I explained that by calling, they could look at my records and see that I qualified. Then they gave me the transfer.

It was a lot of aggrevation, but worth it. My cablecards are being intalled on Saturday. I should be able to Tivo the football game on Sunday in HD goodness!


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Sounds like your experience rivaled mine, Sheryl... I was on hold for over 20 minutes, and then the woman was pretty incompetent (I had to read both TSN's and my credit card information all at least twice). She didn't question the purchase location, though, so that was a plus (not that I expected her to).

Overall, it was a lot more frustrating than I remember the S3 transfer being last year... Ahh well, at least I'm free of lifetimed S2's.

Drew


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## No Static At Al (May 22, 2002)

I am tempted to Xfer my LT sub from my S1 (101 hours, June 2000, still working PERFECTLY BTW)

But am I understanding correctly: If I ADD an S3 (Hardware cost roughtly $60 more than THD) I can sub it for $6.95 a month if I keep the LT on the old trusty S1?

My old LT sub purchased over 7 years ago makes me eligible for MSD????


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Yep, per the MSD FAQ:

http://www.tivo.com/mytivo/multiservicediscountfaqs.html

Drew


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

dswallow said:


> There's the lifetime of the unit itself to consider; and while that usually can be extended almost indefinitely by using the "authorized service center" repair system, there's a growing likelihood at some point you won't want to be continuing to spend money to fix an older, less capable receiver, and at some point, too, it may no longer be possible to repair.
> 
> Someone with an old series 1 or even a single tuner series 2 might do well to get lifetime off their units onto something with a longer useful life or at least something with a full set of TiVo features.


Why? If my S2 on lifetime ever truly spits the bit, I can apparently just leave it in my closet collecting dust and qualifying me for the MSD on the HD. You're out 1 working TiVo, of course, but if you wanted to replace it it's still just another MSD charge.

Of course, MSD rates are not set in stone, nor is it set in stone that MSD will always exist... I think THAT is the calculation that is key here. How confident are you folks that are choosing MSD over lifetime in the MSD rate staying relatively low? How would an increase of $1 effect your math? $2? 3$?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I believe there's a stipulation that says the lifetime unit has to call home at least once in a while to maintain MSD eligibility (to prevent just the situation you describe)... I'm not sure how well it's enforced, though.

Regardless, if your S2 does die (or perhaps more likely, becomes obsolete), you're paying $6.95 per month for your THD instead of getting it free.

Drew


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

DVDerek said:


> Why? If my S2 on lifetime ever truly spits the bit, I can apparently just leave it in my closet collecting dust and qualifying me for the MSD on the HD. You're out 1 working TiVo, of course, but if you wanted to replace it it's still just another MSD charge.


The lifetime unit becomes inactive if it has not connected to TiVo in the last 6 months and then is no longer an MSD-qualifying receiver.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

azitnay said:


> Regardless, if your S2 does die (or perhaps more likely, becomes obsolete), you're paying $6.95 per month for your THD instead of getting it free.


You have a funny definition of "Free." You're paying $199 for it (a little less if you have a true need for 2 active TiVo's). Further, while we know the series 2 units are pretty robust (they have a proven track record) the HD Hardware is still new and largely un-tested. Then there's the whole switched digital video issue...

I don't think lifetime is a slam dunk. At the current price of the offer it's very much a crapshoot (especially if CSR's continue to enforce the "You must pay the $50 direct from TiVo tax).

I've said before, I'm not eligable for the offer so TiVo won't be getting my $500 yet. If I were eligable I'd have to look into this SDV issue quite a bit. I think I may end up biting the bullet and doing the transfer (I like to avoid monthly bills), but I can't fault anyone who doesn't.


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## DVDerek (Sep 30, 2002)

dswallow said:


> The lifetime unit becomes inactive if it has not connected to TiVo in the last 6 months and then is no longer an MSD-qualifying receiver.


Interesting. This is the first I heard of it. I'd wonder if this is being enforced.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

DVDerek said:


> You have a funny definition of "Free." You're paying $199 for it (a little less if you have a true need for 2 active TiVo's). Further, while we know the series 2 units are pretty robust (they have a proven track record) the HD Hardware is still new and largely un-tested. Then there's the whole switched digital video issue...


My point was that down the line, if (although I really look at it more as "when") the S2 ever becomes obsolete, then by not transferring you're effectively paying $6.95 per month going forward instead of nothing, all for the same service (a single TiVo). Even if you have no use at all for a second TiVo for a year, then $199 / $6.95 ~= 29, so it makes sense after two years and five months. I don't know about anyone else, but I've thus far never owned a TiVo for less than this amount of time.



DVDerek said:


> I don't think lifetime is a slam dunk. At the current price of the offer it's very much a crapshoot (especially if CSR's continue to enforce the "You must pay the $50 direct from TiVo tax).


It's absolutely not a slam dunk for everyone... If you plan on using (not just keeping) the lifetimed unit for the forseeable future, then it probably doesn't make much sense. However, I can't honestly see myself getting any use out of an SD TiVo for more than a couple more years at this point. People's habits are different, of course, and I'm sure there are plenty of people that could get use out of one beyond that.



DVDerek said:


> I've said before, I'm not eligable for the offer so TiVo won't be getting my $500 yet. If I were eligable I'd have to look into this SDV issue quite a bit. I think I may end up biting the bullet and doing the transfer (I like to avoid monthly bills), but I can't fault anyone who doesn't.


SDV could obviously play into the picture... Admittedly, I haven't been bitten by the SDV bug yet, so it's hard for me to be objective about it. However, I continue to believe that TiVo will implement a solution in the not-too-distant future that will work with existing S3/THD hardware.

Drew


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

DVDerek said:


> > Originally Posted by dswallow
> > The lifetime unit becomes inactive if it has not connected to TiVo in the last 6 months and then is no longer an MSD-qualifying receiver.
> 
> 
> Interesting. This is the first I heard of it. I'd wonder if this is being enforced.


If they did not do this then everyone who has ever owned a lifetime box (regardless of if it is now seeping pollutants into a landfill somewhere) would be able to use the MSD forever.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Anyone who throws a unit with lifetime into a landfill should be shot .

Drew


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## Koan (Jan 8, 2002)

azitnay said:


> My point was that down the line, if (although I really look at it more as "when") the S2 ever becomes obsolete, then by not transferring you're effectively paying $6.95 per month going forward instead of nothing, all for the same service (a single TiVo). Even if you have no use at all for a second TiVo for a year, then $199 / $6.95 ~= 29, so it makes sense after two years and five months. I don't know about anyone else, but I've thus far never owned a TiVo for less than this amount of time.


Another advantage in upgrading to the Tivo HD or Series 3 for those with a cable box is the savings in changing from a cable box to cable cards. In my Comcast area, it's a savings of about $5 per month (or maybe $7 with an M-Card).


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## maryjos (Oct 17, 2007)

I'm kind of in a sticky situation with this transfer deal. I had an old S1 box that I wasn't using and the deal on the lifetime transfer for the S3 was way too expensive for me. I had a Tivo with DVD on one TV and the Comcast DVR with HD on another so I wasn't sure if getting an HD Tivo was worth it. Since the old S1 wasn't being used anymore and I didn't feel like bothering with upgrading the HD to get a decent price on Ebay I ended up giving it to a guy I was dating. Thing is, we broke up (doesn't it always go this way?!) but I never got the box back from him. But I'm also 99% sure he never hooked it up. Turns out, I never gave him all the cables, remote, IR blaster, etc. and he also didn't have a phone line in his room to use it on. So I'd like to transfer the lifetime on it and get the new HD Tivo now that it's not going to cost me $1000+ to do so, but I'd rather not have to get in touch with him to do that. Do I have to have the box actually hooked up to transfer? Or have the serial number off of it?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

There's no reason it needs to be hooked up. You will need the TSN, but you should be able to get that from TiVo's website (http://www.tivo.com/mma/).

Once you have it, you can plug it into the form on http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdservicetransfer.html to double-check that it's eligible, and if so, buy a TiVo HD and initiate the transfer.

On the off-chance he is using it, it sounds like the ultimate revenge to me . Of course, it won't truly have an effect until a year after you transfer.

Drew


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## maryjos (Oct 17, 2007)

All I need is the TSN? Yes, that's on my account page, and it definitely is eligible, this is one of the original S1 boxes, never upgraded, transferred or anything else. And yes, I have no problem with it not longer working in a year. ;-)


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

One more note... If you got lifetime on it on or before January 20, 2000 (I think that's the correct date), then you can instead use the grandfathered lifetime transfer, which means you wouldn't have to pay the $199 fee.

You also don't have to feel pressured to transfer by November 8th, but that's a different story.

Drew


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## maryjos (Oct 17, 2007)

No, sadly I just missed the grandfathering lifetime date.


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## maryjos (Oct 17, 2007)

Now I also have to decide whether to get my other Tivo fixed. It got fried in the last electrical storm so I'm debating whether it's worth fighting with Monster cable to cover the cost since it was on their surge protector. Or whether I should just wait until that one becomes available to transfer as well!


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## missdona (Apr 19, 2004)

Another question: 

I bought a S1 from a friend for my parents winter house, we never bothered transferring accounts because it was the only tivo they had, not networked etc. etc. Anyway, they want to do the upgrade, and the friend that I purchased it from got it from somebody else, who she doesn't even know how to find him or remember the name.

Are they going to run into trouble? Is there a method to get the problem solved?


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## cxc273 (Sep 10, 2007)

Unfortunately I'm out of luck as my S2 lifetime subscription was activated in December 2003, otherwise I'd do it in a heartbeat.


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## or_tvhd (Oct 14, 2007)

missdona said:


> I'm experiencing some billing craziness.
> 
> I have the thing where the HD says 1 yr prepaid, and the S1 still has lifetime. They open up a case number to fix it, and I go on my merry way.
> 
> I look at my credit card billing, and I have 3 holds for $199 and one for $179. It looks like they charged the 1 yr prepaid. Is this something that's going to resolve itself, or do I have to ::sigh:: call again?


 So is _everyone_ that did the lifetime transfer seeing only a $179 charge for 1 year of service
on the unit that should have lifetime? I "understand" the theory behind the 60 day wait,
but there is no proof that one actually requested the $199 lifetime transfer. I called and
was told this was a mistake and that it would show up correctly within a day - but it is
the exact same. Why not have a different status that indicates the unit is pending a
service transfer. I just don't like having zero documentation.

Thanks,


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## tj722 (Feb 15, 2003)

or_tvhd said:


> So is _everyone_ that did the lifetime transfer seeing only a $179 charge for 1 year of service
> on the unit that should have lifetime? I "understand" the theory behind the 60 day wait,
> but there is no proof that one actually requested the $199 lifetime transfer. I called and
> was told this was a mistake and that it would show up correctly within a day - but it is
> ...


Mine was a $199 charge as expected. On TiVo.com -> View Billing History, there are three transactions: 1 for the 1-year prepaid on the old S2 (0.00), 1 line item called "HD Promo - Transfer Free" (199.00), and then a line item indicating that the 199 had been charged to my card.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

missdona said:


> Another question:
> 
> I bought a S1 from a friend for my parents winter house, we never bothered transferring accounts because it was the only tivo they had, not networked etc. etc. Anyway, they want to do the upgrade, and the friend that I purchased it from got it from somebody else, who she doesn't even know how to find him or remember the name.
> 
> Are they going to run into trouble? Is there a method to get the problem solved?


I'd imagine your parents will need to get it transferred to their account before initiating the lifetime service transfer... I've never personally had to do it before, but they should probably call TiVo customer service and see what they say.

Drew


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

tj722 said:


> Mine was a $199 charge as expected. On TiVo.com -> View Billing History, there are three transactions: 1 for the 1-year prepaid on the old S2 (0.00), 1 line item called "HD Promo - Transfer Free" (199.00), and then a line item indicating that the 199 had been charged to my card.


That's consistent with what I'm seeing in MMA... Nothing's showing up on my credit card yet, but I'm sure it'll show up within a day or two.

Drew


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## macrho (Nov 19, 2005)

I purchased my Tivo HD last Thursday from tivo.com and it still says processing -- has anyone received a shipping notice yet? I attempted to call tivo and the first time was disconnected (after 15 minutes) and the second time, I couldn't hear the support person (after waiting a half hour).... is this long of a wait expected?


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## cwwiasd (Oct 17, 2007)

armooo said:


> It seems that way to me. I gave her both of my TSNs, she put be on hold for about 3 min and came back and said I was all set. I went and checked the site because it seemed strange to me, and I saw the lifetime on my THD. And I thought it would take 61 days to showup.


Same thing happened to me. I said to the agent that I thought it cost $199. He put me on hold and came back a few minutes later and said it was "no charge". My old Tivo Series 1 is no where to be found on my account on MYTIVO. Just the new unit THD listed with lifetime service. Very stange.


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## Ralph Wiggum (Jul 30, 2007)

dswallow said:


> The lifetime unit becomes inactive if it has not connected to TiVo in the last 6 months and then is no longer an MSD-qualifying receiver.


Can anyone confirm this? I haven't used my S1 in over 3 years but I assumed it would be eligible for the lifetime transfer.

*edited* - IS this only about multi-service eligibility or the transfer too?


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

"Your TiVo DVR to which the Product Lifetime Subscription is attached must have called into the TiVo service or the TiVo Plus service within the last 180 days to remain eligible for the MULTI-SERVICE DISCOUNT."

https://www3.tivo.com/abouttivo/policies/tivomultiservicediscountagreement.html


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

They seem to be having trouble with this program. My old TiVo still says " TiVo Lifetime Service", and the new TiVo HD says "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)"

 

I'll call back tomorrow and try to straighten them out.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

This is actually expected... The two should reverse within something like 60 days (and if it goes the way the S3 lifetime transfer went, the units will swap names as well).

They're supposed to explain this to you when you initiate the transfer, but TiVo's customer support often leaves a bit to be desired.

Drew


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## Zaphod (Feb 18, 2003)

JustAllie said:


> You're missing the fact that comparing a cable company DVR to a TiVo is like comparing apples to... turnips.


Oh, I absolutely agree. I wasn't justifying whether to keep a cable DVR vs. a TivoHD at all. In fact, I think it's easier to justify the TivoHD if you're replacing the a cable DVR with it because of the reduced montly cost from going from the hardware rental and service fee you pay the cable company down to only cable card rental.

All I was getting at was purely, assuming you are getting a TivoHD, whether to transfer your current lifetime to it or not.


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Well this was a let down........In a previous post I noted that I called Tivo and asked about the 2006 offer to do a lifetime transfer to an S3 Tivo. The rep (Kathy) said it wasn't a problem and all I need to do is mention the offer and they will honor it.

Before I went to order 2 S3 Tivos, I called again today to verify what I was told. The rep I spoke to said the offer is expired and no longer available. I asked the rep to double check with someone like a supervisor. She had me on hold a couple of minutes and said they can't do it. And that it was a special offer with a link to follow that was part of the email. She asked if I had the email from 2006, but I didn't save it. Does anyone have that email? I would be cusrious to see if the link is still active.

She also said the if you buy the Tivo at a place with a rebate (Amazon) that the rebate is only good if you are activating a NEW subscription service. A lifetime transfer does not qualify as new service.

Maybe I will call again to see what a different rep says.


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## Lensman (Dec 22, 2001)

I have a qualifying S1 with a lifetime subscription and an S3 with a $6.95 a month MSD subscription. I'd like to take advantage of the upgrade offer and get a THD. Will my S3 continue to be eligible for the MSD based on the THD with a transferred lifetime subscription? That is, is a THD with a transferred lifetime subscription a "qualifying unit" for the MSD?

Has anyone had actual experience with this situation?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Lensman said:


> I have a qualifying S1 with a lifetime subscription and an S3 with a $6.95 a month MSD subscription. I'd like to take advantage of the upgrade offer and get a THD. Will my S3 continue to be eligible for the MSD based on the THD with a transferred lifetime subscription? That is, is a THD with a transferred lifetime subscription a "qualifying unit" for the MSD?


Yes, it will become the qualifying unit for the multi-service discount on other eligible receivers that are on your account.


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

c3 said:


> There are many other S3 vs. HD threads.


Uh, thanks Sherlock . I decided to ask the question in this thread as it pertains to msd vs xfer. For instance if the S3 is superior or same (memory chip doesn't matter) then it's definitely smarter to go with msd, as the rebate can be redeemed. If TiVoHd chip is superior then it gives new consideration to the xfer option.

"_Usually more expensive denotes a better product, but I'm not so sure with the S3. I do like the OLED, but beyond that I don't really care for the THX, remote (have a harmony) or hd space (will upgrade regardless). I'm more concerned with the nuts and bolts of the machine. The only real difference I've read about is that the TiVoHD seems to have a larger onboard memory than the S3 - is this a really big deal? Basically I want to buy the more "future" ready machine regardless of cost (and looks). Based strictly on the nuts and bolts of the machine, which is better - the S3 or TiVoHD? Thks _ "


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## TheBar1 (Dec 26, 2001)

Stylin,

It's my understanding that the the TiVo HD is MCard-ready, while the Series3 is not (at least not yet). This means that you can save a few bucks a month with the TiVoHD if your Cable Provider has MCards in stock (since you wont need two of the standard cable cards to operate, like with the Series3). This might make a difference on your Pros/Cons for purchasing.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

trlyka said:


> Well this was a let down........In a previous post I noted that I called Tivo and asked about the 2006 offer to do a lifetime transfer to an S3 Tivo. The rep (Kathy) said it wasn't a problem and all I need to do is mention the offer and they will honor it.
> 
> Before I went to order 2 S3 Tivos, I called again today to verify what I was told. The rep I spoke to said the offer is expired and no longer available. I asked the rep to double check with someone like a supervisor. She had me on hold a couple of minutes and said they can't do it. And that it was a special offer with a link to follow that was part of the email. She asked if I had the email from 2006, but I didn't save it. Does anyone have that email? I would be cusrious to see if the link is still active.


I don't think I ever got an email about the S3 transfer option... But I do remember that the URL was originally:

http://www.tivo.com/vip

and it looks like it's long gone. I was a bit surprised when I saw your post about the rep claiming the S3 transfer was still valid, since it was supposed to expire so many months ago. You might be out of luck on this one.



trlyka said:


> She also said the if you buy the Tivo at a place with a rebate (Amazon) that the rebate is only good if you are activating a NEW subscription service. A lifetime transfer does not qualify as new service.
> 
> Maybe I will call again to see what a different rep says.


Yeah, it makes sense that you wouldn't get the rebate on the S3 if you transferred lifetime (although I doubt that's even a possibility now).

Drew


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

azitnay said:


> I don't think I ever got an email about the S3 transfer option... But I do remember that the URL was originally:
> 
> http://www.tivo.com/vip
> 
> ...


Thanks for the link. Yeah, it's unfortunate to hear the lifetime wasn't able to be transferred from the 2nd rep I spoke to. We should qualify for the multi unit discount, so $6.95 a month is not a terrible price. But I will still call again to give it one more shot 

What I want to know is.....Let's say we buy the S3 now, and pay the monthly service fee, and the offer becomes available for the lifetime transfer on the S3 again. Can we still do a lifetime transfer from one of our other Tivo's to the S3?...... Or is the lifetime transfer only valid on a brand new S3 w/o an existing monthly subscription.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I believe these transfers are only supposed to be valid for new activations.

Drew


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## Torgo100 (Mar 26, 2002)

I was actually talking about finally upgrading to the new HD unit about 2 weeks ago, but how I wished I could transfer my Lifetime Service from my old S1.

So, of course, I was quite excited when I saw they were offering the transfer so soon after I got interested in doing so.

My new HD unit shipped out, and should be here on Monday. I already called TWC, and they offer cablecard in my area and will let me install myself. This si so great, because I can't stand the SA HD-DVR's that TWC use. I'm so spoiled by the Tivo interface


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## CxG (Oct 18, 2007)

So I have been debating if I should get this TivoHD or not. I don't want to spend $500.00!

I have $200.00 in gift cards for Circuit City. I called Tivo and asked about purchasing TivoHD through CC and then transfer. _"Nope can't do that. You have to purchase TivoHD thru tivo website to get the transfer deal. Oh and let me update your account that you asked about this"_ Great!! I have been flagged. I'm an idiot. 

I started looking into a Verizon/DirectTV deal, which offers the HR20 HD DVR. The numbers looked good but I just don't want to spend the weekend properly rewiring my house, dealing with new equipment, dealing with a new TV guide, etc. Redoing my Tivos with the DirectTV STBs, etc.

I decided to call Comcast, my current cable company, and see if they could "do something" for me. CSR, no help. CSR transferred me to retention. The retention lady was very nice. _"Well, were low on HD DVRs, but let me see what I can do for you"_. Well, she dropped my monthly fee down to $88.00. Threw in all the movie channels. Threw in the sports package. And once an HD DVR becomes available then she will let me know. I get the HD DVR for free for a year. I get my other Digital STB for free for a year. All for a one year commitment.

Thanks Tivo!!! Because of your Tivo HD email offer. For one year, I saved $120.00. And for one year I got all the movies channels for free, free sports package, free HD DVR(soon) and free digital STB. And I get to keep both of my Tivos with LT. And eventually the Comcast HD DVR will use Tivo software.

I love Tivo!!!


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## Stylin (Dec 31, 2004)

trlyka said:


> Well this was a let down........In a previous post I noted that I called Tivo and asked about the 2006 offer to do a lifetime transfer to an S3 Tivo. The rep (Kathy) said it wasn't a problem and all I need to do is mention the offer and they will honor it.
> 
> Before I went to order 2 S3 Tivos, I called again today to verify what I was told. The rep I spoke to said the offer is expired and no longer available. I asked the rep to double check with someone like a supervisor. She had me on hold a couple of minutes and said they can't do it. And that it was a special offer with a link to follow that was part of the email. She asked if I had the email from 2006, but I didn't save it. Does anyone have that email? I would be cusrious to see if the link is still active.
> 
> ...


Hey! Gotta luv gmail - I found the email (pm me your email addy and I can forward it). I rec'd it 9/12/2006.
BTW, for future I would recc that anytime a csr offers you something "favorable", make sure that a case id is created, so that you can refer back to the notation when you call to take up the offer.

_Per TiVo Shannon:
I promised a "defining" moment last newsletter and that moment has arrived: The TiVo® Series3 HD Digital Media Recorder is here! Welcome to High Definition Heaven...

You can read more of the exciting details on this incredible box below, but first, as a TiVo subscriber who currently owns a TiVo box with Product Lifetime service, we want to thank you for your loyalty with a very special offer--an exception to a rule when you buy the NEW TiVo Series3 HD box. For a limited time, transfer your Product Lifetime service from a Series1 or Series2 box to the new Series3 HD for only $199. As an added bonus, we'll keep TiVo service activated on your old box for another 12 months for no additional charge.

I'm fairly certain you realize Product Lifetime service is no longer a payment option for new TiVo service activations, so let's be very clear: This truly is VIP pricing for VIP customers--a one-time Upgrade Offer for our most loyal subscribers. And only our most loyal subscribers. This is huge. I'd do it if I were you.

Read on, watch the Showcase video ready-and-waiting on TiVo Central, and get ready to rock your home theater with the highest qualty, high-definition entertainment experience possible. Only with TiVo.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go shopping: It's finally time to get myself an HD television!

Series3ly yours, 
Shanan

P.S. It's a limited first run, so hurrysnag one of your own before the holiday madness! There's been great (pent-up, is probably the word) demand for the TiVo Series3 HD, so we want subscribers to have first dibs! And spread the word with friends by sending them this youtube.com link (Since it's a red-carpet announcement, I'm wearing exactly what I wore to the Emmy® awards...). _


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## Dr_Zoidberg (Jan 4, 2004)

Well this sucks!

I checked where I ordered my S2:

Order Date: January 17, 2004


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## Ishma (Sep 8, 2006)

CxG said:


> So I have been debating if I should get this TivoHD or not. I don't want to spend $500.00!
> 
> I have $200.00 in gift cards for Circuit City. I called Tivo and asked about purchasing TivoHD through CC and then transfer. _"Nope can't do that. You have to purchase TivoHD thru tivo website to get the transfer deal. Oh and let me update your account that you asked about this"_ Great!! I have been flagged. I'm an idiot.
> 
> I


It has been confirmed you can transfer a TiVo HD unit purchased at retail. So problem solved.


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## slay65 (Feb 7, 2007)

I agree I bought one from Amazon and had no issues with a transfer. If you are concerned, just buy the new TivoHD from CC. DO NOT OPEN IT. Call Tivo to get your service transfered. If you do have an issue just return it to CC for a refund.


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## craigslist (Sep 14, 2006)

Dr_Zoidberg said:


> Well this sucks!
> 
> I checked where I ordered my S2:
> 
> Order Date: January 17, 2004


well i have a sony series 1, Even trade activation 2001   Any takers


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## jcm55 (Oct 19, 2007)

akitadog said:


> I also have an older S1, circa 2001. How do I find out whether this is a grandfathered unit?
> 
> If so, this would be a no-cost transfer for the lifetime subscription?


I'm in the same boat. I have a S1 Philips with lifetime service that I bought used on eBay sometime in 2000. For whatever reason, the seller didn't mention in the auction description that the unit already had lifetime service, and it was priced accordingly. I was quite surprised when it showed up -- turned out to be a great deal.

Anyway, how can I find out when the lifetime service was originally activated by the previous owner?


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

Go to the link in the first post and there's a place to type in the service/serial# and it will tell you if the unit is eligible. You probably need it linked to your account to do the transfer, though.


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## jcm55 (Oct 19, 2007)

Mars Rocket said:


> Go to the link in the first post and there's a place to type in the service/serial# and it will tell you if the unit is eligible.


It's definitely eligible for the $199 lifetime service transfer. How can I found out if it was originally activated before January 21, 2000 though? (And thus grandfathered for a free lifetime service transfer).


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## akitadog (Jan 28, 2002)

Ishma said:


> It has been confirmed you can transfer a TiVo HD unit purchased at retail. So problem solved.


I read on one of the posts that there was some special letter included in the TiVo HD bought from the Tivo website... Is this not needed to make this deal work?

I understand there's been several success stories posted here about activating a THD not purchased from Tivo.

Has anyone actually gotten rejected when the CSR asks about how the THD was purchased? Will the CSR pull up the purchase records to confirm the source of the THD?

Obviously the "don't ask, don't tell" rule applies here...


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I had no problems transferring lifetime to a THD I bought from a third-party Amazon seller... Pretty much the same situation as last year's S3 transfer, the rep never asked where the unit was purchased.

If you run into trouble with one rep, I'd recommend hanging up and calling right back... I don't think I've heard of a situation where anyone was continually refused.

Drew


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

jcm55 said:


> It's definitely eligible for the $199 lifetime service transfer. How can I found out if it was originally activated before January 21, 2000 though? (And thus grandfathered for a free lifetime service transfer).


Log into your account and go to the Name your DVRs page. It shows the account activation date. Also, you may want to check your billing history if the activation is within the 1/2000 date since it is actually the date of lifetime purchase that really matters.


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

Phooey. I transferred an existing multi-unit discount account to one of my new TiVo HDs. Had I known that I could've transferred one of my two eligible lifetime subs...

On the other hand, I *am* paying only $7 a month on this TiVo. It would take 2.5 years for the $199 lifetime transfer fee to start paying off. Who knows what we'll be using 2.5 years from now?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

Graymalkin said:


> Phooey. I transferred an existing multi-unit discount account to one of my new TiVo HDs. Had I known that I could've transferred one of my two eligible lifetime subs...
> 
> On the other hand, I *am* paying only $7 a month on this TiVo. It would take 2.5 years for the $199 lifetime transfer fee to start paying off. Who knows what we'll be using 2.5 years from now?


Problem solved: Buy another TiVoHD.


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## akitadog (Jan 28, 2002)

azitnay said:


> I had no problems transferring lifetime to a THD I bought from a third-party Amazon seller... Pretty much the same situation as last year's S3 transfer, the rep never asked where the unit was purchased.
> 
> If you run into trouble with one rep, I'd recommend hanging up and calling right back... I don't think I've heard of a situation where anyone was continually refused.
> 
> Drew


Good advice. Worked for me :up:


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## Resist (Dec 21, 2003)

Graymalkin said:


> Who knows what we'll be using 2.5 years from now?


DVR technology doesn't seem to be advancing that fast, so I would guess in a few years we will still be using the same boxes.


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## trlyka (May 21, 2003)

Stylin said:


> Hey! Gotta luv gmail - I found the email (pm me your email addy and I can forward it). I rec'd it 9/12/2006.
> BTW, for future I would recc that anytime a csr offers you something "favorable", make sure that a case id is created, so that you can refer back to the notation when you call to take up the offer.
> 
> _Per TiVo Shannon:
> ...


Thanks Stylin. You have a PM.


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## spaceboytom (Jan 8, 2006)

Ralph Wiggum said:


> Can anyone confirm this? I haven't used my S1 in over 3 years but I assumed it would be eligible for the lifetime transfer.
> 
> *edited* - IS this only about multi-service eligibility or the transfer too?


Only MSD.


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## urungus (Aug 17, 2002)

I didn't know about this offer when I bought & activated my new TiVo HD last week (3 year month to month).

TiVo has a 30 day guarantee, right? So I should be able to cancel my three year contract and transfer the lifetime service over from my old TiVo?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Yeah, that shouldn't be a problem... Just give 'em a call.

Drew


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## urungus (Aug 17, 2002)

Thanks.

One other thing, my old TiVo is a Phillips model, is the fact that it's not an official Tivo-branded unit going to be a problem?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

As long as it's not a DirecTV combo unit, it should be fine... Plug its TSN in here to make sure:

http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdservicetransfer.html

Drew


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

urungus said:


> Thanks.
> 
> One other thing, my old TiVo is a Phillips model, is the fact that it's not an official Tivo-branded unit going to be a problem?


They're letting me transfer my Phillips (HDR212) lifetime over.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

I transferred my Philips HDR312 lifetime sub with no problems. As another data point, I wasn't asked where I bought it from...


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## fatlard (Jun 30, 2003)

I purchased my TivoHD from Amazon.com.
Actived using MSD for $6.99
Sold my Philips HDR312 lifetime but the buyer backed out....

so Tivo allow me to cancel my MSD for $6.99 on the Tivo HD and transfer from my HDR312 lifetime to the TIVO HD. 

No problems whatso ever.


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## LadyBeBop (Jan 22, 2005)

tmesser said:


> Keep in mind that this offer only applies if you activated Lifetime service on your existing box prior to October 1, 2003.


Happy TiVo customer since April 2003, despite the ridiculous pricing scheme
- 9/07: THD @ $6.95/month
- 9/06: S2DT 80-hour @ $12.95/month
- 4/03: S2 240 80-hour (paid $99 for HMO) @ $6.95/month

Just got off the phone with Tivo to add THD as a third unit, I excepted to pay the $6.95
because my first unit is $12.95 (2003), second Tivo $6.95 (2004). Tried to add the third one on line but it was asking me to sign up for a 2 year contract at $8.95 a month with a early termination fee of $200.00.
Called them up to explain that I bought the TIVO with NO DISCOUNTS. If I got some kind of discount on the box its understandable on the $200 fee, but why pay an early charge if I own the box with no contracts, I was told thats the new fees if you own with or without a discount on the box. I chose to cancel one and reactivate the THD for the $6.95. I did try to explain that they would make more money out of me if they let me activate the third one at $6.95 with NO early penalty, They said NO WAY. The best they could do would be a 1 Year contract for $10.95 ,$200 early penalty, or 2 year contract for $8.95 ,$200 early penalty.
I have been talking away and never asked the question I wanted to ask.
You have the following:
Happy TiVo customer since April 2003, despite the ridiculous pricing scheme
- 9/07: THD @ $6.95/month
- 9/06: S2DT 80-hour @ $12.95/month
- 4/03: S2 240 80-hour (paid $99 for HMO) @ $6.95/month 
How are you pay [email protected] and [email protected]?
This is what I wanted and they said NO WAY
What gives?


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

LadyBeBop said:


> How are you pay [email protected] and [email protected]?
> This is what I wanted and they said NO WAY
> What gives?


Simple. Sign up for 3-year MSD at $6.95/month.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

Narf54321 said:


> There's a percentage of customers who don't want to be trapped in a recurring cost plan, especially for a luxury item such as TiVo. That's why when the last-chance LT transfer for the S3 came about many of us jumped on it.


Wait, are they offering this on the series 3 as well? I thought this offer is for the TiVo HD...


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

or_tvhd said:


> So is _everyone_ that did the lifetime transfer seeing only a $179 charge for 1 year of service
> on the unit that should have lifetime? I "understand" the theory behind the 60 day wait,
> but there is no proof that one actually requested the $199 lifetime transfer. I called and
> was told this was a mistake and that it would show up correctly within a day - but it is
> ...


I called on October 18th to have the lifetime on my S2 ST transferred to my Tivo HD. Yesterday, I checked my credit card activity and noticed a charge for $179 from Tivo. So I checked my account info on the Tivo web site under Manage My Account. On the "Overview" page, it says that my S2 ST still has lifetime and my Tivo HD is on a 1-year prepay program. Ok, fine, since numerous people here indicate that this is normal and that the two should "switch" in about 30-60 days. However, on the "View Billing History" page for the Tivo HD, it says the following:

Billed Oct 19, 2007 Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay $179.00 $0.00 $179.00 
Settled Oct 19, 2007 Charged to: <CC#> $179.00 $0.00 ($179.00)

So I too am somewhat worried, since I can find no evidence anywhere that the lifetime transfer took place. All evidence seems to indicate that they simply signed up my Tivo HD on the 1-year prepay program. So for peace of mind, I guess I'll call them up tomorrow to double-check.


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## videojanitor (Dec 21, 2001)

jcm55 said:


> I'm in the same boat. I have a S1 Philips with lifetime service that I bought used on eBay sometime in 2000. For whatever reason, the seller didn't mention in the auction description that the unit already had lifetime service, and it was priced accordingly. I was quite surprised when it showed up -- turned out to be a great deal.
> 
> Anyway, how can I find out when the lifetime service was originally activated by the previous owner?


I'm in sort of the reverse situation. I sold my S1 TiVo with lifetime subsciption (activated in Feb 2000) to a friend a couple of years ago when I got the DirecTV HD TiVo. Now she is getting on-screen messages talking about the transfer deal for an HD TiVo, and she wants to do it. However, the TiVo is still listed on MY account, as I never transferred it over to her (at the time, there seemed to be no point).

So now the question is, in order for her to take advantage of this offer, can she just plug in the TSN on the website and go from there, or will I need to call and get that off my account, and give them her name/address? Just wondering if anything else has gone down this road.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Adam1115 said:


> Wait, are they offering this on the series 3 as well? I thought this offer is for the TiVo HD...


This particular offer is only for the TiVo HD.

Drew


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

videojanitor said:


> I'm in sort of the reverse situation. I sold my S1 TiVo with lifetime subsciption (activated in Feb 2000) to a friend a couple of years ago when I got the DirecTV HD TiVo. Now she is getting on-screen messages talking about the transfer deal for an HD TiVo, and she wants to do it. However, the TiVo is still listed on MY account, as I never transferred it over to her (at the time, there seemed to be no point).
> 
> So now the question is, in order for her to take advantage of this offer, can she just plug in the TSN on the website and go from there, or will I need to call and get that off my account, and give them her name/address? Just wondering if anything else has gone down this road.


I doubt they'll let her transfer lifetime from a unit not on her account (at least, I hope they don't!). You and she should probably work with TiVo customer support to move the unit to her account before she does the transfer.

Drew


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

Checking my TiVo units under my TiVo.com account, I see that the new unit that is supposed to get the lifetime service says "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" rather than "TiVo Monthly Service." 

I'm assuming the "PLT" in "(HD Fusion PLT)" means "pre-Lifetime Transfer."


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I'd guess that "PLT" stands for "Product Lifetime Transfer", but it's all the same.

I remember seeing "HD Fusion PLT" at one point as well... But now I'm seeing a $0 line item for "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" and a $199 line item for "HD Promo - Transfer Fee".

I'd definitely recommend people seeing a $179 charge with no mention of PLT or Transfer call support, as something could certainly be wrong.

Drew


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## Karnwine (Oct 16, 2005)

Just wanted to share a success story....

I called in to try and change the lifetime account from a qualifing S2 to my HDTivo bought from the Community Store on 9-2-07. I went with the suggestion from someone earlier in this thread to call in and use the "cancel my account" option(after all, I am cancelling my account on the HDTivo). The great thing about this is they picked up without any wait time. At first, the rep wasn't going to allow me to do this since I didn't buy from Tivo.com and the HDTivo was bought before the current promotion window but after mentioning that reading in this forum CSR's were allowing transfers whether you bought from Best Buy, Costco, etc. she relented and let me do the transfer. The Supervisor and her actually looked up this thread and it was the turning point in allowing me to transfer. 

Thanks to all in this thread for helping Tivo csr's see the light.


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## videojanitor (Dec 21, 2001)

azitnay said:


> I doubt they'll let her transfer lifetime from a unit not on her account (at least, I hope they don't!). You and she should probably work with TiVo customer support to move the unit to her account before she does the transfer.


Thanks for the advice. This is kind of what I figured, though the interesting part will be trying to transfer the unit to her account, because she doesn't HAVE an account. I guess I'll have to hash this out with them on the phone.

Edit: OK, made the call and it was a no-brainer -- I simply had to provide the new owner's name, address, etc. and the lifetime sub was transferred. Now the ball is in their court as far as securing the TiVo HD deal ...


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

azitnay said:


> I'd guess that "PLT" stands for "Product Lifetime Transfer", but it's all the same.
> 
> I remember seeing "HD Fusion PLT" at one point as well... But now I'm seeing a $0 line item for "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" and a $199 line item for "HD Promo - Transfer Fee".
> 
> ...


I called support today to inquire about this. The rep assured me that despite what it may say on the Overview page or on the View Billing History page, things will eventually straighten itself out within 30-60 days. But I pressed the matter further, stating that it concerned me that there was no evidence whatsoever that I had performed the lifetime transfer, and that all indications were that I had simply signed up for the 1-year prepay program for my TivoHD. In the worst case, if after 60 days had elapsed and the status still had not changed, I was concerned that if I called back in, Tivo might claim that they had no record of me ever having performed the lifetime transfer. The rep again assured me that that wouldn't happen, but I continued to firmly (but politely) hold my ground that I wanted some sort of confirmation. So he finally agreed to open a case for me, in which he would note that I called in expressing my concerns and that they would honour the lifetime transfer should my account not be updated within the next 30-60 days.

I'm sure I'm being paranoid, but I just feel better having a case number that I can now cite should my TivoHD not be upgraded to lifetime status in 60 days.


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## LadyBeBop (Jan 22, 2005)

c3 said:


> Simple. Sign up for 3-year MSD at $6.95/month.


So if Somebody GIVES me a TiVo for FREE, and I wanted to activate it and add it to my active account I MUST lock my self into a 3 year contract? My 2 that I have now on line is NOT on ANY Contracts, If Tivo is going to REQUIRE customers to lock a 3 year contract, they better think twice.
Comcast is going to roll out there TIVO DVR in NOVEMBER NO CONTRACT REQUIRE......
I have 2 choices with my third TiVo:
1- sign up with TiVo pay $8.95 instead of the $6.95 and lock my self in for 3 years and pay an early termination fee of $200.00 if I decide to cancel.
2- Sign up with Comcast NO EARLY termination FEE NO CONTRACT and pay $8.00
per month,
Witch one would you take?


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## whitmans77 (Mar 6, 2003)

Had no problem transfering my lifetime to a Circuit City bought HD unit. CSR didnt even ask about where I got it from. He pulled my account asked for the HD service number and it was done.

On another note--it still appears most sales people are cluelss as to what TIVO even is. I called Circuitcity.com to order my HD because the coupon would not work online. The CC rep said that I could not use the coupon because this Tivo was a "special offer" I asked him what that meant and he said I couldnt use the coupon because I wasnt buying the box i was LEASING it. Yes he said that you LEASE a tivo. I just asked to speak to his supervisor and he put me on hold. Less than 2 minutes later, the coupon was applied and it was ordered. OH THE UNINFORMED!


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

LadyBeBop said:


> So if Somebody GIVES me a TiVo for FREE, and I wanted to activate it and add it to my active account I MUST lock my self into a 3 year contract? My 2 that I have now on line is NOT on ANY Contracts, If Tivo is going to REQUIRE customers to lock a 3 year contract, they better think twice.
> Comcast is going to roll out there TIVO DVR in NOVEMBER NO CONTRACT REQUIRE......


You don't have to lock into a contract... You simply get a sizable discount for doing so.



LadyBeBop said:


> I have 2 choices with my third TiVo:
> 1- sign up with TiVo pay $8.95 instead of the $6.95 and lock my self in for 3 years and pay an early termination fee of $200.00 if I decide to cancel.
> 2- Sign up with Comcast NO EARLY termination FEE NO CONTRACT and pay $8.00
> per month,
> Witch one would you take?


This question would really have to wait until the Comcast TiVo hits the market... But if it's missing key features like MRV and TTG (which I'm sure it will be), then the choice is clear, at least for me. Regardless, TiVo gets some of your money, so they'll be happy.

Drew


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## Tanquen (Jun 1, 2002)

Can you transfer more that one lifetime and or get two TiVo HDs? I have two S1 and one S2 all with lifetime subscriptions. I thought if I transferred the two S1 TiVos Id have 4 tuners and more drive space and I could sell all three of the old TiVos.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Absolutely... Go for it.

Drew


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## Larry in TN (Jun 21, 2002)

What happens if you want to sell the TiVo from which you transferred the lifetime subscription?

The terms say that the 12 months of service is not transferable so you'd have to sell it without any subscription. How do you get the 12 months free canceled so that you don't get hit by the monthly bill a year later if the new owner doesn't setup the subscription himself?


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## JustAllie (Jan 5, 2002)

Larry in TN said:


> What happens if you want to sell the TiVo from which you transferred the lifetime subscription?
> 
> The terms say that the 12 months of service is not transferable so you'd have to sell it without any subscription. How do you get the 12 months free canceled so that you don't get hit by the monthly bill a year later if the new owner doesn't setup the subscription himself?


I think you have to call TiVo and arrange to have it removed from your account, because the only option on the website is to change that TiVo to another credit card for billing purposes. There is no option to remove all credit cards from a TiVo.


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## rb_la (Dec 16, 2002)

MapleLeaf said:


> I called on October 18th to have the lifetime on my S2 ST transferred to my Tivo HD. Yesterday, I checked my credit card activity and noticed a charge for $179 from Tivo. So I checked my account info on the Tivo web site under Manage My Account. On the "Overview" page, it says that my S2 ST still has lifetime and my Tivo HD is on a 1-year prepay program. Ok, fine, since numerous people here indicate that this is normal and that the two should "switch" in about 30-60 days. However, on the "View Billing History" page for the Tivo HD, it says the following:
> 
> Billed Oct 19, 2007 Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay $179.00 $0.00 $179.00
> Settled Oct 19, 2007 Charged to: <CC#> $179.00 $0.00 ($179.00)
> ...


I would advise you to call. I had a similar problem. I ordered 2 HD Units and tried to transfer lifetime from my old S1 and S2. The Tivo CSR signed up 1 of my new HD boxes for $179 1 year prepay and 1 for $199 transfer. Now 1 new HD box shows up in manage my account as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" & the other box shows up as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)." After several calls they finally admit the CSR made a mistake and are going to fix it, but it may take 7 days for it to show up because this CSR didn't have authority to do the fix and someone higher up had to do the fix. I have wasted lots of time on hold already. I hope I don't have to call back again.


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## Bob723 (Oct 24, 2007)

> Posted by kingmob: I just transferred Lifetime from a Series 1 (11/2000 subscription) to a TiVo HD purchased at Best Buy. The CSR asked for information about the email that I received about the offer but that was it. Nothing about where I bought the THD.


I'm happy for kingmob. I CALLED TiVo to verify I could participate in the transfer. The person I spoke with RECOMMENDED I go to Best Buy and get the HD as it would be faster. I bought a unit at Best Buy the same day (it just happened to be on Oct 12 - the same day that kingmob posted). I called TiVo to activate. They asked where I got the unit and then refused to activate stating I had to buy it online from TiVo. I argued with a supervisor and was pretty upset but got nowhere. He told me if I ordered from TiVo, it would take 3-4 days to arrive. This was Friday - I ordered that same day & scheduled the cable company for the next Saturday the 20th - which was 5 business days later. The unit didn't arrive. I had to cancel the cable company. Unit arrived on the 22nd. The cable company came a couple days later. After 2 different visits from the cable company - about 2 hours each - the cards finally work. So... I like the new unit but the whole experience was rather unpleasant. Based on all the comments I've read, it seems like TiVo needs to work on their customer service.


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

rb_la said:


> I would advise you to call. I had a similar problem. I ordered 2 HD Units and tried to transfer lifetime from my old S1 and S2. The Tivo CSR signed up 1 of my new HD boxes for $179 1 year prepay and 1 for $199 transfer. Now 1 new HD box shows up in manage my account as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" & the other box shows up as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)." After several calls they finally admit the CSR made a mistake and are going to fix it, but it may take 7 days for it to show up because this CSR didn't have authority to do the fix and someone higher up had to do the fix. I have wasted lots of time on hold already. I hope I don't have to call back again.


So, to be clear -- both "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" and "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" are incorrect and need to be corrected? The former obviously is an error, but what about the latter?


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

rb_la said:


> I would advise you to call. I had a similar problem. I ordered 2 HD Units and tried to transfer lifetime from my old S1 and S2. The Tivo CSR signed up 1 of my new HD boxes for $179 1 year prepay and 1 for $199 transfer. Now 1 new HD box shows up in manage my account as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" & the other box shows up as "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)." After several calls they finally admit the CSR made a mistake and are going to fix it, but it may take 7 days for it to show up because this CSR didn't have authority to do the fix and someone higher up had to do the fix. I have wasted lots of time on hold already. I hope I don't have to call back again.


I think you missed my follow-up post to this (see post #310). I did call in the next day and the CSR basically said that it was normal and things would magically fix itself within 30-60 days. Unconvinced, I managed to get the CSR to at least open a case on the matter, so that if/when 60 days elapses and my TivoHD still shows up as a 1-year prepay, I will have proof that it should actually have been a lifetime transfer.


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## ldc3000 (Jun 24, 2004)

MapleLeaf said:


> I think you missed my follow-up post to this (see post #310). I did call in the next day and the CSR basically said that it was normal and things would magically fix itself within 30-60 days. Unconvinced, I managed to get the CSR to at least open a case on the matter, so that if/when 60 days elapses and my TivoHD still shows up as a 1-year prepay, I will have proof that it should actually have been a lifetime transfer.


 Its normal. THe same thing happen to me back when the S3 first came out. After about 60 days the 1 year prepay switched to the other unit and the lifetime switched to the S3.


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## ourdoc (Jul 25, 2002)

They said the same to me when I called last week, within 60 days it would switch. The question is, why is it setup this way when it causes confusion? I mean it's not like we don't have technology today that allows you to put it in correctly, there is no valid reason for having it in wrong and take 60 days to correct. Even if its for marketing stats, there is software to track things like this (or even receipts). We can do all the things TiVo can do, but can't get the info right when initially input......... Hello, is anyone home???? 

Maybe they just don't trust the CSR's to transfer the lifetime and only TiVoPony can do it in the sekret TiVo Lifetime room on the second Tuesday of each month between 8 and 10 am then the door shuts........


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

ourdoc said:


> They said the same to me when I called last week, within 60 days it would switch. The question is, why is it setup this way when it causes confusion?


If you change your mind about the transfer within 30 days, you can cancel the transaction and get your money back. It's not a good idea to transfer the lifetime service and undo it later.


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## macrho (Nov 19, 2005)

Same thing happened here. I called about this, got to billing and they checked my account and said the $179 charge was for 1 year service and my lifetime was still on my S2 box. The CSR thought was surprised that I thought I had lifetime transferred, he though canceled the $179 charge and then applied $199 for my lifetime transfer and said it would take up to 60 days to show up on tivo.com

I wonder how many people tried to transfer lifetime to their TiVo HD and wound up with one year pre-pay?



MapleLeaf said:


> I called on October 18th to have the lifetime on my S2 ST transferred to my Tivo HD. Yesterday, I checked my credit card activity and noticed a charge for $179 from Tivo. So I checked my account info on the Tivo web site under Manage My Account. On the "Overview" page, it says that my S2 ST still has lifetime and my Tivo HD is on a 1-year prepay program. Ok, fine, since numerous people here indicate that this is normal and that the two should "switch" in about 30-60 days. However, on the "View Billing History" page for the Tivo HD, it says the following:
> 
> Billed Oct 19, 2007 Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay $179.00 $0.00 $179.00
> Settled Oct 19, 2007 Charged to: <CC#> $179.00 $0.00 ($179.00)
> ...


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## TomRaz (Mar 1, 2002)

Here is my saga. I purchased a Tivo HD from Amazon in early October and activated it with a 3 year plan with a monthly charge of $6.95 MSD on my credit card. 

I had issues with that Tivo HD unit and was advised by Tivo to replace the hardware. So I decided to return my defective unit to Amazon and order a Tivo HD unit directly from Tivo and do the lifetime transfer to this Tivo HD unit. 

I received my Tivo HD unit from Tivo and I called Tivo and cancelled my original 3 year monthly plan of $6.95 per month and I performed a lifetime transfer for the $199 fee to the new Tivo HD unit I purchaed directly from Tivo. 

I then noticed on my online account that my old Tivo HD service number (the one from Amazon) showed as having the PLT. 

I called Tivo yesterday and fixed that problem. It appears the customer service rep actually reactived my defective unit from Amazon instead of performing the lifetime transfer to the new Tivo HD unit from Tivo. 

Then I was reading this thread and I first checked my billing history and everything looked fine on the Tivo system. 

I then checked my online credit card statement and Tivo charged me $299 when I activated the first Tivo instead of the monthly fee of $6.95 and then they did charge me the $199 for the PLT. 

I will have to call customer service and fix the $299 charge. I did not prepay the 3 year committment on the first Tivo HD from Amazon and my billing history on the Tivo site even indicates that. 

So I would suggest everyone watch your billing history and credit card statements very carefully since it appears many mistakes are being made


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## Frazld (Feb 1, 2003)

Bought a TivoHD off of Amazon and transferred a Series2 Lifetime. It was surprisingly easy and after leaving Tivo and dealing with the POS Motorola for a little over a year I'm stoked to be back in the fold.

The most painful part of the process was the cablecard install. TW Dallas is making an concerted effort to install M cards in the TivoHD. It was the first thing the tech asked me when I answered the door.
We worked with one girl who tried several time to validate the card to no avail. If you live in the Dallas area and your tech is green, have them ask for Stacy or Kimberly back at dispatch. Once we had Kimberly on the line we had it up and running within 10 minutes.


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## d_anders (Oct 12, 2000)

Frazld said:


> Bought a TivoHD off of Amazon and transferred a Series2 Lifetime. It was surprisingly easy and after leaving Tivo and dealing with the POS Motorola for a little over a year I'm stoked to be back in the fold.
> 
> The most painful part of the process was the cablecard install. TW Dallas is making an concerted effort to install M cards in the TivoHD. It was the first thing the tech asked me when I answered the door.
> We worked with one girl who tried several time to validate the card to no avail. If you live in the Dallas area and your tech is green, have them ask for Stacy or Kimberly back at dispatch. Once we had Kimberly on the line we had it up and running within 10 minutes.


Frazld, great info on cable card installs in Dallas for TW customers. Others may find it helpful too, so I recommend you post the same info the main Time Warner Cable Card thread...rename the post as "TiVo Cable Card Install Time Warner Dallas"


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## Frazld (Feb 1, 2003)

Done.

You're right I kinda got off point there.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

How slow are TiVo's CSRs? 

I've been on hold 50 minutes so far to transfer my agreement and have not made contact with a human yet.


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## Mars Rocket (Mar 24, 2000)

Maybe it's a time of day thing. When I called to transfer I was only on hold for 2 minutes.


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## ourdoc (Jul 25, 2002)

c3 said:


> If you change your mind about the transfer within 30 days, you can cancel the transaction and get your money back. It's not a good idea to transfer the lifetime service and undo it later.


If this is the reason, then they don't need my payment for 30 days either. Sorry but those things are data input, not hard to change or correct. The only reason I can think of was as I said, it's locked down and they don't trust the CSR's to actually give or transfer lifetime. It's left for another person/department to verify and switch all of them. It's about the only thing that would make sense.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

janry said:


> How slow are TiVo's CSRs?
> 
> I've been on hold 50 minutes so far to transfer my agreement and have not made contact with a human yet.


Try the "I want to cancel my service" option in the phone menu as mentioned in an earlier post.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

ourdoc said:


> If this is the reason, then they don't need my payment for 30 days either. Sorry but those things are data input, not hard to change or correct. The only reason I can think of was as I said, it's locked down and they don't trust the CSR's to actually give or transfer lifetime. It's left for another person/department to verify and switch all of them. It's about the only thing that would make sense.


I'm sure a major reason for it is fraud protection. Ebay fraud on lifetime TiVos is tough to combat - when I last heard E-bay wouldn't take any action against a seller promising lifetime and then not delivering it. Ebay only worries about physical objects being shipped; they do nothing about services.

The current policy prevents an Ebay seller from claiming lifetime on an HDTiVo (and having a buyer being able to confirm that with TiVo), selling the HDTiVo, and then getting their money back from TiVo on the 30 day guarantee, leaving the buyer out in the cold.


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

CrispyCritter said:


> I'm sure a major reason for it is fraud protection. Ebay fraud on lifetime TiVos is tough to combat - when I last heard E-bay wouldn't take any action against a seller promising lifetime and then not delivering it. Ebay only worries about physical objects being shipped; they do nothing about services.
> 
> The current policy prevents an Ebay seller from claiming lifetime on an HDTiVo (and having a buyer being able to confirm that with TiVo), selling the HDTiVo, and then getting their money back from TiVo on the 30 day guarantee, leaving the buyer out in the cold.


You would think it shouldn't be terribly difficult to at least come up with a system that identifies things clearly on the web site rather than all the confusion the current system causes when people review their account after initiating the transfer.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

sbourgeo said:


> Try the "I want to cancel my service" option in the phone menu as mentioned in an earlier post.


It wound up being about an hour waiting for a CSR but once I got a human she was very nice and knew what was going on. She even warned me about the account continuing to show the old TiVo as being lifetime for up to 60 days. While waiting for her computer to update, we talked and I found out she was from my old neck of the woods. We discussed eating squirrel and boiled peanuts.. LOL

Thought I was home again for a few minutes.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

dswallow said:


> You would think it shouldn't be terribly difficult to at least come up with a system that identifies things clearly on the web site rather than all the confusion the current system causes when people review their account after initiating the transfer.


That complaint I agree with. I think they're getting better; they just have to be more consistent. The S1 I transferred lifetime from for my S3 is now showing on tivo.com as


> The TiVo Service, Month to Month (SERIES 3 HD PRODUCT LIFETIME TRANSFER)


That's a much better message than they used to have!


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## Lensman (Dec 22, 2001)

I've spent a week or so trying to decide whether I should take a chance and get my HD at either an online vendor or at Costco and see if I could call in for my lifetime transfer.

After much thinking, I've decide to not game the system and just order from the Tivo website. (violins start playing softly in the background) Tivo has brought me such an improvement to my TV quality-of-life and hasn't been evil like Microsoft. I really do hope they make in as an independent in the marketplace against the evil cablecos.

Will Tivo get an extra $50 from me? Yes. Do they deserve it? Yes, much more so than Cablevision which just hit me with an extra $20 a month because I'm not renting their box any more.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

Just about to call and activate the HD I got from amazon. For anyone who's already gone through the process, what if they ask you where you got it and you just said from Tivo? Do they ask for any sort of tracking number or is that all they need? Maybe it shows in your account that you ordered it from them?


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

orev said:


> Just about to call and activate the HD I got from amazon. For anyone who's already gone through the process, what if they ask you where you got it and you just said from Tivo? Do they ask for any sort of tracking number or is that all they need? Maybe it shows in your account that you ordered it from them?


You could always just say it was a gift and you don't know what store it was bought from.


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

macrho said:


> Same thing happened here. I called about this, got to billing and they checked my account and said the $179 charge was for 1 year service and my lifetime was still on my S2 box. The CSR thought was surprised that I thought I had lifetime transferred, he though canceled the $179 charge and then applied $199 for my lifetime transfer and said it would take up to 60 days to show up on tivo.com
> 
> I wonder how many people tried to transfer lifetime to their TiVo HD and wound up with one year pre-pay?


Same thing happenned to me as well. It took no less than 3 tries (last one was using the cancellation option so I wouldn't spend 20+ minutes on hold). They kept charging me $179. On the second to last attempt, they added a new TSN to my account and my TiVo HD was unusable and said service closed on the next update.

Not to beat a dead horse, but unless is it says "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" and you have been charged $199 you need to call.

Fusion is what they call the TiVoHD 'in house' according the CSR and of course, PLT stands for product lifetime transfer.


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## rb_la (Dec 16, 2002)

Graymalkin said:


> So, to be clear -- both "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" and "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" are incorrect and need to be corrected? The former obviously is an error, but what about the latter?


The "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" needs to be corrected. It took me 3 calls to get someone to admit that this is wrong. It is what it sounds like. 1 year of prepaid service at $179.

"Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" is what it should say on a $199 product lifetime transfer special.


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## rb_la (Dec 16, 2002)

MapleLeaf said:


> I think you missed my follow-up post to this (see post #310). I did call in the next day and the CSR basically said that it was normal and things would magically fix itself within 30-60 days. Unconvinced, I managed to get the CSR to at least open a case on the matter, so that if/when 60 days elapses and my TivoHD still shows up as a 1-year prepay, I will have proof that it should actually have been a lifetime transfer.


No I read it. One rep and a supervisor told me the same thing too. When the charges finally came through on my cc a couple days later, with one for $179 on one box and one for $199 one the other, I knew they had made a mistake. I called back another rep finally admitted that the $179 charge was them singing me up for only a one year prepay not a lifetime transfer. They still haven't fixed it either. Good luck.


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## macrho (Nov 19, 2005)

arggh, all mine says is "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay" now and as I checked my billing history they charged me $179 AGAIN

Oh well, looks like I'm calling them back for a third time and I spent 50 minutes on the phone on Friday trying to get this fixed....



samaritan66 said:


> Same thing happenned to me as well. It took no less than 3 tries (last one was using the cancellation option so I wouldn't spend 20+ minutes on hold). They kept charging me $179. On the second to last attempt, they added a new TSN to my account and my TiVo HD was unusable and said service closed on the next update.
> 
> Not to beat a dead horse, but unless is it says "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" and you have been charged $199 you need to call.
> 
> Fusion is what they call the TiVoHD 'in house' according the CSR and of course, PLT stands for product lifetime transfer.


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## Graymalkin (Mar 20, 2001)

rb_la said:


> "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" is what it should say on a $199 product lifetime transfer special.


Then it looks like they did my lifetime transfer correctly -- my CC was charged $199 for that particular unit.


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## phdeez (Aug 21, 2003)

I've got a S1 [SVR-2000] with lifetime. I just want to triple check the offer. The T&C clearly state:



Tivo T&C said:


> 7. TiVo Service 30 day Money Back Guarantee does not apply to this offer. There are NO returns, refunds, or exchanges in connection with this offer except as otherwise permitted pursuant to the DVR's manufacturer warranty. *This offer is not elgible for multi-service discount.*


BUT, according to other posters here, after the TivoHD has the lifetime on it, you DO still qualify for the MSD for other units. I ask b/c I want to replace the S1 with another TivoHD/Series 3 for MRV in HD after the 1yr of free service [if MSD is still available then- which I assume it will be...]

Thx in advance!


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## Zaphod (Feb 18, 2003)

Are people still having luck transferring their lifetime service to a TivoHD that they bought somewhere other than directly from Tivo? I was hoping to get a Best Buy Reward Zone certificate to buy one there which could easily be returned, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen before this transfer offer is over so I'm debating very hard about buying one from Amazon.com.

I know people had luck with this earlier but I'm wondering if people still are or if Tivo may be cracking down now.

Thanks!


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

I activated mine today and they didn't ask where I got it from. Maybe I got lucky, but it went very smooth.


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## KristjanH (Sep 4, 2002)

I got one from Costco today, did the transfer no problem.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

WTH are you doing TiVo?

I did my transfer Saturday. Within a couple of hours I got an email from my credit card fraud division asking me to call them. I did and they asked about a $199 charge from TiVo. Is it OK? I said yes. I decided to check my online credit card statement and there are five (5) $199 charges pending from TiVo. WTF?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Others have reported seeing this... As long as only one of them gets converted to a sale, I wouldn't worry about it.

Drew


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

Zaphod said:


> Are people still having luck transferring their lifetime service to a TivoHD that they bought somewhere other than directly from Tivo? I was hoping to get a Best Buy Reward Zone certificate to buy one there which could easily be returned, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen before this transfer offer is over so I'm debating very hard about buying one from Amazon.com.


I called to ask this very question and after much waiting on hold was told I could transfer the lifetime no matter where I purchased the new box. I had them make a "case" I could refer to later if after purchase someone said no. It will save me a little bit to get the HD Tivo elsewhere so I will likely go that route. Comcast cable card pricing and availability is as clear as mud - which is another problem.

Dennis


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

I was told you *had* to buy them by someplace other than TiVo, because TiVo sells them already bundled. I bought mine from Amazon.com, and they transferred my S1 lifetime to it.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

Item 2 of the transfer terms and conditions says:

_*Offer permits the transfer of an eligible (as defined below) Product Lifetime Subscription for $199 plus applicable taxes only to a new TiVo® HD DVR purchased from www.tivo.com/hdservicetransfer between October 11, 2007 to November 8, 2007 (a "Qualifying DVR"). * _

The full T&C is here.

The way it reads is you have to buy it from them, but I was told otherwise - as long as I was told the right answer  .

Dennis


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

This is one of those things that you don't ask about. If you specifically ask them if it's OK, then they have to abide by the terms of the deal and tell you that answer. If you don't ask first, and they give you a hard time, you can pull the "I know of dozens of others who have done it without an issue", and you have a good chance of getting it done. As they say, it's usually easier to apologize than to get permission. That's the gamble you take for getting it at a discounted price.

That said, the customer service reps are not all the same, and some might work differently than others. That's just the way people are.

PS. Many "coupon" sites have forums full of posts like "I just called them and asked, and they said it was a mistake!" followed by many more posts saying, "now it doesn't work anymore!" Basically, when you call to ask about stuff like this, it forces them to deal with an issue that was in a gray area before, and the answer they come up with will never be the one you prefer.


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## jalex (Dec 8, 2004)

Can anybody summarize what the manufacturer's warranty is on the units? Item 7 of the terms & conditions (link above) says the unit is yours, no if ands or buts, once you take advantage of this offer. It does allow for the warranty to still hold though, and presumably that means that if the unit fails and is covered by the warranty, you can still move your lifetime subscription to a new box. I can't find the details on the warranty though. Is it the typical one year on parts kinda thing?

I'll also point out that the terms say you can never transfer your subscription again if you take advantage of this. But maybe they'll relent when we all want to move our subscriptions to Series 5 SuperHD TiVos.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

TiVo's typical warranty is 90 days labor, one year parts.

Drew


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

jalex said:


> Can anybody summarize what the manufacturer's warranty is on the units? Item 7 of the terms & conditions (link above) says the unit is yours, no if ands or buts, once you take advantage of this offer. It does allow for the warranty to still hold though, and presumably that means that if the unit fails and is covered by the warranty, you can still move your lifetime subscription to a new box. I can't find the details on the warranty though. Is it the typical one year on parts kinda thing?
> 
> I'll also point out that the terms say you can never transfer your subscription again if you take advantage of this. But maybe they'll relent when we all want to move our subscriptions to Series 5 SuperHD TiVos.


http://www.tivo.com/buytivo/tivodvrlimitedwarranty.html


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

janry said:


> WTH are you doing TiVo?
> 
> I did my transfer Saturday. Within a couple of hours I got an email from my credit card fraud division asking me to call them. I did and they asked about a $199 charge from TiVo. Is it OK? I said yes. I decided to check my online credit card statement and there are five (5) $199 charges pending from TiVo. WTF?


I got you beat with 20 Authorizations on their first try. Not a competition I really want to win, though.


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## Go50s (May 9, 2007)

choccy said:


> Just saw this.. I have lifetime on 2 S2s right now.
> 
> Now, if I can just find out if I can still record SD from DTV (with a box) along side HD from OTA, I might just jump on this.


I just setup my HD, have not got my cablecards yet but it allows me to record OTA and STD using both tuners. On my new HD unit it shows status of 3 and my old Philips is still status 5, I called and they said it would take two months for the HD to show the Status 5. Sounds funny to me


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## tlc (May 30, 2002)

I read here that people are getting their lifetimes swapped to TiVos that were not purchased direct. What about to TiVos that were purchased and activated before this offer started? 

I have an HD that I purchased from Amazon and activated about 3 weeks before the lifetime offer was announced. It's on a 3-year MSD at $6.95 with a lifetimed S1. Can I move the lifetime to the newer box?

Assuming I can, am I then commited to 3-year MSD on the S1? Resuming after the 1-year free?

I didn't think much about a 3-year commitment when it was on a new HD, but this makes me wonder: What happens if the 3-yr MSD box breaks or I sell it? Am I still committed to $6.95 a month? If I replace it can I move the rest of the 3-yr commitment to a newer box?

THANKS,
tlc


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

tlc said:


> I read here that people are getting their lifetimes swapped to TiVos that were not purchased direct. What about to TiVos that were purchased and activated before this offer started?
> 
> I have an HD that I purchased from Amazon and activated about 3 weeks before the lifetime offer was announced. It's on a 3-year MSD at $6.95 with a lifetimed S1. Can I move the lifetime to the newer box?


No. You would have a chance if it were within 30 days, but by now I would doubt they will do anything for you.



tlc said:


> I didn't think much about a 3-year commitment when it was on a new HD, but this makes me wonder: What happens if the 3-yr MSD box breaks or I sell it? Am I still committed to $6.95 a month? If I replace it can I move the rest of the 3-yr commitment to a newer box?


Yes, you are still committed to 6.95 per month, but you can move it to another box without any problem.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

If you read back in the thread, you will see some other people have done this. All you can do is call them up and plead your case, and maybe they will do it. Others seem to have had success with it though.


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## Karnwine (Oct 16, 2005)

TLC
Check out my post earlier in this thread(#308) I bought a HDTivo from the TCF store back in Aug. and had a lifetime S2 and after a bit of pleading and mentioning what was being discussed in this forum, they allowed me to transfer the lifetime over to the HD. Just make sure that you are charged $199 and not $179 for this transfer.
Good Luck


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## frombhto323 (Jan 24, 2002)

Forgive me if this has already been addressed in this thread, but I just spoke with a Tivo CSR, who told me that I couldn't transfer a lifetime sub from any Directv-based Tivo boxes. She tried all 3 that I have and the system would not allow her to do it. 

Has anyone else had different results with Directivos?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Yes, DirecTV units are excluded in the terms and conditions (number 4):

http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html

You can check specific TSN's for eligibility at:

http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdservicetransfer.html

Drew


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## frombhto323 (Jan 24, 2002)

azitnay said:


> Yes, DirecTV units are excluded in the terms and conditions (number 4):
> 
> http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html
> 
> ...


thank you.


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## ursaman (Feb 14, 2004)

...but I'm curious to know if anyone with lifetime service activated after Oct. 1, 2003 has been able to successfully argue or trick Tivo into transferring it to TivoHD anyway. 

I've spent all morning reading this thread and the most I recall seeing is in the category of "darn, that sucks. It's unfair. I don't qualify."

I tried calling Tivo to get any sort of logical reason for this date and the best the customer service agent could come up with basically translates to "just because".

I gleaned from this thread that the most plausible reason is that Lifetime activated after that date is still on their books as revenue - although that still doesn't make sense to me why they wouldn't want to extend that revenue even further by letting us transfer. 

Anyway, if anyone was able to get around that activation date requirement, let us know.

Thanks!


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

Okay, I had a series one with lifetime activated just last year, 3-15-2006 (just before they abolished lifetime, so it's one of the latest lifetime activations they've got), and I transferred it to a TiVo HD, and what's more, they waived the $199 fee!  

But they made it clear this was a one time special exception they were granting me because my motherboard went bad, and so the normal strategy of repairing it wasn't very viable.


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## rb_la (Dec 16, 2002)

samaritan66 said:


> I got you beat with 20 Authorizations on their first try. Not a competition I really want to win, though.


You win! I only had 7.


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

Ah, it's only $4000 dollars.....


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

I'm up to $1,174 in pending charges (5*$199 + $179). I've got a long way to go to catch you samaritan but since the $179 only came in during the last 24 hours, there's still a chance.

What happens when they hit my credit card limit ($11,000)? Do they cut-off my service?


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## wtb (Dec 15, 2000)

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but if I go to Best Buy and buy a unit, can I read them the numbers or does it have to be plugged in and running before I call to get the life time transfer? Thanks.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

No reason it has to be running before you transfer lifetime... But most people would tell you to get it up and running first, just to make sure it's not DOA. If you have to swap it, you'll have a new TSN, and will have to call TiVo back to straighten things out.

Drew


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

janry said:


> I'm up to $1,174 in pending charges (5*$199 + $179). I've got a long way to go to catch you samaritan but since the $179 only came in during the last 24 hours, there's still a chance.
> 
> What happens when they hit my credit card limit ($11,000)? Do they cut-off my service?


I don't think you have to worry too much. These are authorizations, not the actual charges. They aren't taking the money yet.

That's not to say you shouldn't keep an eye on your charge cards.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

samaritan66 said:


> I don't think you have to worry too much. These are authorizations, not the actual charges. They aren't taking the money yet.


They ARE using up your available credit, however. Every time they get an approval it should decrease your available credit by that amount. When the real charge comes through or after x days the auth will be converted into a real charge or dropped and the available credit restored. If someone were dumb enough to use a debit card online they could tie up your checking account balance and cause you to bounce checks.

This can happen to you if you are on a trip (and don't have much balance in your account) and using a credit or debit card to buy gas. When you swipe your card before pumping they may get a $50 auth which ties up $50 in your bank on available credit, but you only buy $15 worth of gas. Once the $15 hits the bank/CC they take the $50 off and replace it with the $15. But if you keep stopping on your trip and using the same card you could run out of funds.

I would really worry if Tivo does not charge you the right amount for the transfer price. They put in the wrong amount could mean they just toasted your transfer and sold you a 1 year pre-pay or something.

Dennis


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## CharlesH (Aug 29, 2002)

dwynne said:


> This can happen to you if you are on a trip (and don't have much balance in your account) and using a credit or debit card to buy gas. When you swipe your card before pumping they may get a $50 auth which ties up $50 in your bank on available credit, but you only buy $15 worth of gas.


$15 of gasoline doesn't go very far these days. In fact, I saw a report on the local news recently of people with big cars/SUVs complaining that they cannot fill up since they hit the $50 limit. That is only around 17 gallons at current prices.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

CharlesH said:


> $15 of gasoline doesn't go very far these days. In fact, I saw a report on the local news recently of people with big cars/SUVs complaining that they cannot fill up since they hit the $50 limit. That is only around 17 gallons at current prices.


Around here, the limit is $75. I've hit that limit about twice when the per gallon price was high. My truck takes about 25 gallons, but once when I hit $75, was when I was trying to also fill my 2 gallon gas can I used for my lawn mower. It's been a long time since prices were $3 / gallon, so it's hard for me to hit the $75 limit.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

CharlesH said:


> $15 of gasoline doesn't go very far these days. In fact, I saw a report on the local news recently of people with big cars/SUVs complaining that they cannot fill up since they hit the $50 limit. That is only around 17 gallons at current prices.


You should travel with me on one of my motorcycles  . I have to stop about every 100-120 miles on the cruiser. I use Amex or gas company credit cards when I fill up, so none of those credit lock problems for me.

Dennis


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

When you call, do you just give them the e-mail address of the other account to give them the referral points?


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

They didn't allow this back during the Series3 lifetime transfer, so I didn't even ask this time... For the Series3 transfer, I had success using the following form:

https://www3.tivo.com/tivo-rewards/faq/showrc.do

(if you're not already logged into tivo.com, you may have to login and then go back to that URL, as it incorrectly redirects you to the main rewards page after you login).

The person you want to get your referral simply needs to fill your information into that form and submit it.

Drew


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

Thanks Drew. I was able to log-in to my rewards account and enter their Name and TSN to get my rewards points.


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## TheGreenHornet (Nov 1, 2007)

I took a look at my Tivo account. I activated my series 2 on 10/31/03. My Tivo has served me very well for the past four years!  

I want to upgrade my Tivo to go with my new plasma HDTV. Plus the duel tuner is a bonus feature that is not on the original series two. I am already on OTA with perfect reception with a lock on the signals of at least 90%.

I checked my service number this morning and I am still not available for the current promotion transfer. I could try and call to see if they can make the transfer for the HD. I really want the Series 3 for the extra HD drive space over the new HD Tivo. 

What do you think my chances are on getting the transfer on the Series 3? I could play the no rebate card if they make an exception (which to me would be a fair compromise). A previous post mentioned that a customer tried and failed on getting the transfer on the series 3. I believe he stated that it is difficult to give Tivo more revenue by purchasing a more expensive box.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

If the only reason you want a Series3 over a TiVo HD is the extra hard drive space, just get the TiVo HD and put the extra money into the new DVR expander to add space.

However, since you didn't get lifetime until after the 10/1/2003 cutoff, I'm not sure why you're worrying about this at all... You're simply not eligible for this transfer.

Drew


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

azitnay said:


> If the only reason you want a Series3 over a TiVo HD is the extra hard drive space, just get the TiVo HD and put the extra money into the new DVR expander to add space.
> 
> However, since you didn't get lifetime until after the 10/1/2003 cutoff, I'm not sure why you're worrying about this at all... You're simply not eligible for this transfer.
> 
> Drew


Nor would they allow you to do it with an S3. The offer is for the HD.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

I still have a pre-10-1-03 lifetimed TiVo eliglible for the transfer, but as I've already got one lifetimed TiVoHD, I don't think I'm interested (for now) in getting another one. Maybe the offer will resurface again down the road at a time when I become more interested in it.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

timckelley said:


> I still have a pre-10-1-03 lifetimed TiVo eliglible for the transfer, but as I've already got one lifetimed TiVoHD, I don't think I'm interested (for now) in getting another one. Maybe the offer will resurface again down the road at a time when I become more interested in it.


Yeah, save that for the S4 lifetime transfer


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## jimpmc (Oct 31, 2001)

I am interested in a TiVo HD and have a qualifying Series 2, but I am just not sure about whether the HD is going to work well with the cablecards, etc. In reading the terms, it appears that the transfer can be done until 12/8/07, as long as the box purchase is made by 11/8/07. It also sounds like the no-refund thing is talking about the service itself, not the box.

So, can I purchase the HD box, set it up w/o service activation and check out how it works before committing to the transfer? Can the HD box be returned if purchased directly from TiVo?

-J


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Definitely... TiVos typically get about a week of free service before they require activation, so simply don't run Guided Setup until you're close to your CableCARD installation appointment (or you can even wait until after your CableCARD installation, since you have to rerun GS after they're installed anyway). Then, you'll have at least a few days to make sure everything works correctly before initiating the lifetime transfer. If you're not satisfied, you can return it.

Drew


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

azitnay said:


> Then, you'll have at least a few days to make sure everything works correctly before initiating the lifetime transfer. If you're not satisfied, you can return it.


Not if they follow the terms and conditions:

_
*TiVo Service 30 day Money Back Guarantee does not apply to this offer. There are NO returns, refunds, or exchanges in connection with this offer except as otherwise permitted pursuant to the DVR's manufacturer warranty. * _

So if you buy it direct to do the transfer then you own it, so they say.

Of course they also say you have to buy it direct from Tivo but folks are reporting no problem getting a lifetime transfer from a box purchased elsewhere. A couple of folks claim to have gotten the transfer to a S3 box as well.

To be honest, Tivo is doing this for the money and so I think they have the rules, but are willing to bend/break them if the net result is getting some money from you.

Returning your Tivo because the cable cards did not work does not net them any money, so that may not fly. If I were worried out this issue then I would get one from a local store or online from some place with a liberal return policy. Then don't fire up the Tivo until just before you are ready for the cable card or cards (the new HD Tivo can use a single M card which Comcast is using now). Comcast's "official policy" is a tech is required to come out and install the card(s) for you, but in real life (just like Tivo) they will let you stop by and pick up what you need and install it yourself - no extra install fee no waiting for an appointment. At lease that is the case here. If you have any cablecard issues just return the box to where you got it. If it works, then call and get them to transfer the lifetime to your new box. I can't think they will tell you no. If they did, then don't activate - just return it and re-buy direct from Tivo (but I don't think this will happen).

Dennis


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Absolutely... There's no reason to buy direct from TiVo. Buy it elsewhere and save yourself $50 or more. I have yet to hear from anyone who's had their transfer flat-out refused due to not purchasing direct. Even those that were initially refused were able to call back and get it done.

Drew


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## Diddle (Mar 1, 2006)

Wow - I can't believe I just read all 14 pages of this. I thought I'd add my $0.02 since there may be someone else in the same boat.

I've currently got a S2 box on lifetime (established just before the termination of the lifetime program). I'm not eligible for the current promotion but this scenario assumes there's another promotion in the summer, when I upgrade to the S3HD (or their next unit). I'm doing so because I'm going HD / digital in a new home theatre upgrade. I'll be selling the S2 (which I will have had for approx. 2 years at the time of sale) because I don't need two units and I won't have use for analog.

The cost of my S2 was $230 + $199 lifetime for a total of $430. The average current eBay closing for a S2 80hr lifetime is $300 (the average current eBay closing without lifetime is $75 - which automatically makes my $199 investment worth $226).

This gives me a few choices... (the $/mo price is the Total Cost of Ownership after that period).

*A) Buy a new Tivo ($399) with 1yr service ($179) and sell my S2 with lifetime (-$300).*

Initial layout: $278
1st year: $0 ($23.17/mo)
2nd year: $179 ($19.04/mo)
3rd year: $179 ($17.67/mo)
3 year total: $636

(Note: Yes, I know a 3 year prepaid would be cheaper but when I was writing this, the site was in "maintenance" and I couldn't access the exact prices).

*B) Buy a new Tivo ($399), pay for a transfer ($199) and sell my S2 without lifetime (-$75).*

Initial layout: $523
1st year: $0 ($43.58/mo)
2nd year: $0 ($21.79/mo)
3rd year: $0 ($14.52/mo)
3 year total: $523

*C) Get a Motorola HD-PVR from my cable co. (Shaw) for $21/mo for 36mo ($756) and sell the S2 with lifetime (-$300).*

Initial Layout: $0 ($300 in pocket!)
1st year: $252 (-$4.00/mo)
2nd year: $252 ($8.50/mo)
3rd year: $252 ($12.67/mo)
3 year total: $756

*D) Get a Motorola HD-PVR from my cable co. (Shaw) for $698 and sell the S2 with lifetime (-$300).*

Initial Layout: $398
1st year: $0 ($33.17/mo)
2nd year: $0 ($16.58/mo)
3rd year: $0 ($11.05/mo)
3 year total: $398

Who knows where things will be in 3 years, but as an example of my system, the Tivo is currently the newest component - almost everything else (apart from my DVD player) is at least 15 years old.

*Bottom line* - if you want to stick with Tivo, transfer if you plan on keeping the next thing for more than 2 years. If you're going to sell within 2, just buy a service plan, which may be supercheap if you have your other unit around and get the MSD.

For me, I may abandon Tivo for a Shaw PVR and pocket the difference. As much as I love Tivo, it may not be worthwhile.

(Just for those who were curious, the TCO of my S2 when I plan to upgrade will be $17.88/mo.)


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## macrho (Nov 19, 2005)

Is anyone else having absolutely NO luck getting their lifetime transferred? 
I have called TiVo 3 times and each time they go through and put the codes in for transferring my service and each time my credit card is charged $179 and says one year pre-pay. 

Last time, I was at their level 2 support and the guy said he did everything correct, and that he'll note it in my file, call back in 60 days if it doesn't work and our techs can hard code it in -- seems suspect to me


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

macrho said:


> Is anyone else having absolutely NO luck getting their lifetime transferred?
> I have called TiVo 3 times and each time they go through and put the codes in for transferring my service and each time my credit card is charged $179 and says one year pre-pay.
> 
> Last time, I was at their level 2 support and the guy said he did everything correct, and that he'll note it in my file, call back in 60 days if it doesn't work and our techs can hard code it in -- seems suspect to me


Demand a supervisor - this is what I did. He got the job done in about 2 minutes....


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

Diddle said:


> I've currently got a S2 box on lifetime (established just before the termination of the lifetime program).
> 
> The cost of my S2 was $230 + $199 lifetime for a total of $430.


If you activated just before termination of lifetime, then that should be $230 + $299 lifetime for a total of $529.


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## Diddle (Mar 1, 2006)

Tim, you're probably right - I didn't have my actual number in front of me. If it were $100 more it just means I got less return on my original investment and my monthly TCO is higher. I'm sure if I factored my original purchase into the the costs and did it over 5 years, the numbers would certainly change, but that still doesn't matter considering the fact I'll be going HD and the S2 isn't.


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

I own two TiVos, both lifetimed at $299 each, and some people (including my sister) don't understand why I'd spend close to $600 (not including the cost of the machines themselves) on TV viewing tools.

I guess she has a point, but my first TiVo was in the spring of 2003, so this expense is spread out over a lot of years so my annual expense is not that high.

My other point is that in my pre-TiVo days, I was a regular customer of Blockbuster, and since then I've pretty much 100% eliminated that expense. There's just so many shows in my guide data worthy of watching, I no longer feel any need to rent shows. So my net cost was not really $600.

Plus, getting to use the TiVo UI vs somebody else's UI has got to be worth something by itself.


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

macrho said:


> Is anyone else having absolutely NO luck getting their lifetime transferred?
> I have called TiVo 3 times and each time they go through and put the codes in for transferring my service and each time my credit card is charged $179 and says one year pre-pay.
> 
> Last time, I was at their level 2 support and the guy said he did everything correct, and that he'll note it in my file, call back in 60 days if it doesn't work and our techs can hard code it in -- seems suspect to me


I'm in the same boat. Despite the CSR insisting that the TivoHD would switch over to lifetime within 60 days, I managed to convince him to open a case for me and note my concerns in it along with a promise to honour the lifetime transfer should it not get processed correctly within 60 days. So I have a case number which I can reference should I need to call back in December.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, maybe it really will switch over within 60 days even though I only got charged $179 and it only says "1-year pre-pay" on both the Overview and View Billing History pages, with no mention anywhere of the lifetime transfer. It just seems weird that they could botch this up for so many people.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

This is what my billing history shows for the transfer:

HD Promo - Transfer Fee $199.00 $15.92 $214.92

That's with tax and the total. So I would guess it might not be done correctly, but they definitely have the records for it, so if it does not convert automatically, they should be able to go back and change it.


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

orev, it looks as if your transfer was processed correctly, since in your billing history, there is mention of the lifetime transfer. However, for me (and it appears many others), what I'm seeing on the View Billing History page (as of 11/02/07 at 2:30pm PDT) is as follows:

Billed Oct 19, 2007 Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay $179.00 $0.00 $179.00 
Settled Oct 19, 2007 Charged to: <CC #> $179.00 $0.00 ($179.00)

I've followed up with a CSR who swears this was processed correctly, but it does appear doubtful to me. The CSR opened a case for me and noted in it my concerns and the fact that they will honour the lifetime transfer should it not kick in within 60 days.


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## samaritan66 (Dec 19, 2006)

macrho said:


> Is anyone else having absolutely NO luck getting their lifetime transferred?
> I have called TiVo 3 times and each time they go through and put the codes in for transferring my service and each time my credit card is charged $179 and says one year pre-pay.
> 
> Last time, I was at their level 2 support and the guy said he did everything correct, and that he'll note it in my file, call back in 60 days if it doesn't work and our techs can hard code it in -- seems suspect to me


I had the same issue, and I think I stated it earlier in this thread...

After initially botching the transfer (my box was listed as a 1 year prepay like yours for $179.00), I had to call back 3 more times.

To make a long story short, I eventually got charged the correct amount of $199.00 on the 'view my billing' button.

When I go to manage my account, my payment plan is now listed as:

*Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)*

That's really where you should be.

Maybe a strategy you could take would be to ask them why you are being given a 10% discount on the lifetime transfer? It's a different way of asking, are you sure this is an actual lifetime transfer. Also mention your service plan should be what I've bolded above.


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## rb_la (Dec 16, 2002)

macrho said:


> Is anyone else having absolutely NO luck getting their lifetime transferred?
> I have called TiVo 3 times and each time they go through and put the codes in for transferring my service and each time my credit card is charged $179 and says one year pre-pay.
> 
> Last time, I was at their level 2 support and the guy said he did everything correct, and that he'll note it in my file, call back in 60 days if it doesn't work and our techs can hard code it in -- seems suspect to me


I'm having the same problem. Last week they said they would fix it in 1 week. Still isn't fixed so I called yesterday.

Again tell me not to worry. They have a case in que for the "fix team" but can not tell me when this will get fixed and that the 1 week quoted by the last csr was incorrect. They can't tell me when it will be fixed, but say "you have service on your box so you shouldn't be upset." Ridiculous! I said I'm tired of waiting and getting incorrect info from various reps, please fix it now. I've already waisted several hours on the phone with them. Puts me on hold to talk to a supervisor and then comes back and tried to cancel my $179 1 year prepay and sign me up for the transfer at $199. BTW I won't get a refund of my $179 for 14 days and they are going to charge me $199 now.

I look at my account online before hanging up and I now have no billing history on this box and it still shows up as 1 year pre-pay. Amex shows 2 $199 authorizations. She again says don't worry we'll fix it. I then speak to a supervisor, explain everything again and he says this is an internal IT error. For some unknown reason they are getting an error when they try to transfer service to this box. He can't do anything, but is forwarding my case to the IT team to have them figured out how to fix my transfer. They will supposedly call me within 2-5 business days. I say I am going to return both HD's and want my lifetimes left on my old boxes if they can't fix this soon. He agree's that I can return both HDs and keep my old lifetimes subs on my old boxes

I just checked again and now it shows another $179 charge today. Tivo Customer Service Stinks!


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## Ben_Jamin75 (Dec 18, 2003)

Just did my transfer. Only had one minor glitch.... The rep said I bought my lifetime service on 10/2/03 so he had to check if he could do it, since it was one day late.

I pointed out that the website http://www3.tivo.com/tivo-promo/show.do?pg=/buytivo/hdservicetransfer.html said i was eligible before i bought the HD box, and manage my account showed my service was activated on 8/30/03. He put me on hold for a minute, and said that the notes said he could do it.

I think he was confused on service activated vs. lifetime bought dates. My box WAS activated before 10/1/03 and it DOES have lifetime.

Anyway, once he had read the notes and/or got the "OK" he did everything right. I was signed into tivo.com while on the phone and was able to see the new box with the status of "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" before we even hung-up.

I told him about the board and others having problems, being charged $179 for a year of prepay, he said that he hadn't heard about that before. Who knows, maybe he'll talk about it in the breakroom and straighten out some of his co-workers.... (or not).


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

Ben_Jamin75 said:


> I think he was confused on service activated vs. lifetime bought dates. My box WAS activated before 10/1/03 and it DOES have lifetime.


The date that you purchased lifetime is the date that should really matter. The 4-year accounting clock started on that date. If the website says your unit is eligible, then the website is actually wrong.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

so far i'm at 15 minutes total in my call to transfer from my S2 to my TivoHD, the phone was picked up quickly, the rep was knowledgeable, friendly, and helpful.

and my HD on tivo.com/mma lists "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)" whic from all accounts is supposed to flip over to the S2 within about 60 days (my S3 last year did it within a day of 60)


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## Diddle (Mar 1, 2006)

timckelley said:


> Plus, getting to use the TiVo UI vs somebody else's UI has got to be worth something by itself.


Tim, that's my wife's stand - she likes Tivo because of the "suggestions" whereas the cable co. box will only do things similar to "season's pass".

She's leaving the choice up to me but ultimately it will depend on whether or not there's a promotion allowing me to transfer my lifetime sub. next summer.


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

Last night, I was able to transfer my second HD TiVo lifetime subscription. The donor S2 TiVo was activated less that 4 years ago, but I was able to get this transfer with no problems. The new TiVo does show-up correctly as _Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)_.

I called the service center late in the evening. If it didn't work for you before, try, try again.


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## jrjeffrey (Oct 30, 2005)

I was excited to get the offer of transferring my lifetime subscription to a new Tivo S3 HD. That was until I read through all of the posts about cable card issues, SDV incompatibility, billing issues, etc.

I'm wondering if it is just easier to keep my lifetime subscription on my S2 & use the Time Warner HD-DVR (for my HDTV) until the cable cards/SDV issues are resolved (probably exactly what Time Warner Cable wants to hear!). Any thoughts? Experiences?


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

jrjeffrey said:


> I was excited to get the offer of transferring my lifetime subscription to a new Tivo S3 HD. That was until I read through all of the posts about cable card issues, SDV incompatibility, billing issues, etc.
> 
> I'm wondering if it is just easier to keep my lifetime subscription on my S2 & use the Time Warner HD-DVR (for my HDTV) until the cable cards/SDV issues are resolved (probably exactly what Time Warner Cable wants to hear!). Any thoughts? Experiences?


Yes.. a whole forum on them in fact! this forum.
Plenty of us are happy to move over, and the cableCARD issues should not be stopping you, since they are in a minority.

I couldn't wait for the day the S3 was released and my Comcast DVR went away, it was like a horrible black cloud over my living room had simply disappeared.


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## nyny523 (Oct 31, 2003)

The cablecard thing was a total PITA.

And totally worth the effort. :up:


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

I transferred my TiVo lifetime subscription last Thursday and paid with my American Express card. I found a $25 instant rebate from TiVo on my card. It turns out, if you sign-up for the TailorMade program, this discount is automatically applied. Details are in this thread:

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?p=5669784#post5669784


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

I did my lifetime transfer on Saturday. No issues with my Amazon purchased HD Tivo - that never even came up. No problems with the Comcast M-card cablecard either. In fact, the hold wait time with Comcast was a fraction of the hold time with Tivo - quicker to fix me up once I got hold of someone as well.

With my account the cablecard is free, but all I get are the locals in HD. But nothing extra on my cable bill and no monthly Tivo fee = good news for me.

Dennis


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## Whiplash (Aug 1, 2002)

Well, my new HD Tivo's came yesterday. I got 'em both hooked up and my lifetime transfers moved over from my 2 of my Series 2's. I'm having some trouble getting the MRV going but hopefully with some trial and error that will be up too. I'm digging the dual tuners that's a nice feature. Now I've got 5 Tivo's life is good!


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

dwynne said:


> No problems with the Comcast M-card cablecard either.
> 
> With my account the cablecard is free, but all I get are the locals in HD. But nothing extra on my cable bill and no monthly Tivo fee = good news for me.


Dennis: Comcast told me it would be $14.99/month to add a cable card. What cable package do you have? I really just want my local stations.

Glad to hear Comcast supports M cards; I didn't know that was an option yet.

Just transferred lifetime to my second TiVo HD last night; I'm ready to pull the plug on DirecTV now.


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## fred2 (Jan 20, 2006)

There's now a thread in Community Coffeehouse - Lifetime will be available for $399 but with some kind of limitations.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

Carlton Bale said:


> Dennis: Comcast told me it would be $14.99/month to add a cable card. What cable package do you have? I really just want my local stations.
> 
> Glad to hear Comcast supports M cards; I didn't know that was an option yet.


I am on "lifeline" basic cable AKA limited basic. It is < $12 a month where I live and includes (analog) the locals, CSPANs, and local access channels only.

The amount charged varies with the person at Comcast you talk to, but in the FAQ here: at this link they say the first one is free and the 2nd is less than $1.91.

_*How much will I be charged to use a CableCARD?

There is no charge for the first CableCARD that you use as it is already included in the primary outlet fee. If you have a multi-card device on the same outlet (i.e. TiVo Series 3 or two Digital Cable Tuners connected to the same personal computer), you will be charged an additional regulated fee of up to $1.91 for the second CableCARD. * _

Here the price for a 2nd card is $1.50 per month. Since the new HD Tivo (not the S3) supports the M-card then a single m-card is all you need so it should be free.

If you wanted "HD Programming" or the "digital package" added then they charge $6.99 and up for that. I told them no, I wanted no HD and nothing extra. I have not seen my bill yet since I just picked up the card last week, but it is supposed to be free. In addition to the local analog channels I was already getting I am getting the locals in HD and for some reason Mojo in HD (that is worth almost nothing anyway).

I have talked online to folks here that are paying a lot more than I am (supposed to be) paying for a cablecard - I think Comcast and the billing department are confused about this and are not aware that the FCC (or someone) recently forced them to give out a single card for free to any customer that asks for one. Before that they were $5 each per month here then they raised the prices as folks started getting new cablecard ready sets and S3 Tivos.

Dennis


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## cmaeditor (Jun 5, 2003)

This is very odd. I decided to login and check to see if the transfer had switched since it's been about 3 weeks since I did the transfer. Suddenly my TiVoHD has had it's service changed from:

Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)

to:

Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay

I looked at the billing history and everything looks right, but why the change in the overview? I'm waiting on hold right now to talk to a TiVo rep about this.


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## kdmorse (Jan 29, 2001)

Mine just did the same thing. It no longer says Fusion HD PLT on it. I'm not overly worried, and won't be until I'm past 60 days.

-Ken


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

cmaeditor said:


> This is very odd. I decided to login and check to see if the transfer had switched since it's been about 3 weeks since I did the transfer. Suddenly my TiVoHD has had it's service changed from:
> 
> Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)
> 
> ...


I'd love to hear what they tell you. They've billed my CC $179 for 1 year prepay. I've made 2 phone calls to speak to CS about it. Promises have been made. I have a case #. They seem to be clueless.

Good luck.


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## cmaeditor (Jun 5, 2003)

Just got off the phone with them, and they show everything correct on their end. In 5 weeks(which would be about 60 days), if nothing has changed, they will be hearing from me.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

cmaeditor said:


> Just got off the phone with them, and they show everything correct on their end. In 5 weeks(which would be about 60 days), if nothing has changed, they will be hearing from me.


I think the reason no one has responded to your post is that this topic has been covered ad nauseam. If you did a search, you would see for yourself how many times it has been asked. They need to allow 60 days for the transfer to show up in the event you decide to take advantage of their 30 day return policy.

http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html



> Both DVRs will be activated once this process is complete, but the contract information may take up to 60 days or more to be reflected on the DVR or "Manage My Account".


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

pl1 said:


> I think the reason no one has responded to your post is that this topic has been covered ad nauseam. If you did a search, you would see for youreslf how many times it has been asked. They need to allow 60 days for the transfer to show up in the event you decide to take advantage of their 30 day return policy.
> 
> http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html


Which actually is one of the more stupid reasons that people here seem to believe qualifies as a valid answer to the question.

TiVo knows.

If you cancel your service within 30 days, believe it or not, TiVo has to know about that. Otherwise, nothing's canceled. So since TiVo will know about canceled accounts, there's really no good reason why these transfers couldn't just be updated immediately, once payment is confirmed. If you ultimately return the unit within the 30 day period, they can just undo the transfer.

This nonsense over 60 days before things show up, and the interim period where it shows up as various bizarre descriptions that do nothing but confuse and worry people shouldn't happen.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

I just checked mine at it says the same thing - the lifetime (old) box says "lifetime service" and the new HD Tivo says "Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay". They did correctly charge my CC the $199 charge. Under billing history it shows:

Billed Nov 5, 2007 Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay $0.00 $0.00 $0.00 
Billed Nov 5, 2007 HD Promo - Transfer Fee $199.00 $0.00 $199.00 

Then the payment to my CC.

I assume what they are doing is showing the free 1 year and the transfer, then they will switch those on our accounts in a few days or weeks - at that time it will show the pre-pay on the old Tivo and the lifetime on the new HD.

I hope, anyway 

Dennis


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

dwynne said:


> I assume what they are doing is showing the free 1 year and the transfer, then they will switch those on our accounts in a few days or weeks - at that time it will show the pre-pay on the old Tivo and the lifetime on the new HD.I hope, anyway Dennis


I've done three lifetime transfers. They all showed up fine in 60 days on the nose. Be sure to check the SERIAL NO. and not the name at the 60 day mark. The names stay the same.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

Carlton Bale said:


> Dennis: Comcast told me it would be $14.99/month to add a cable card.


I should have also added - I went by the Comcast office and picked up my card and installed it myself. Contrary to the help/FAQ on the Comcast web page they did not make me have this installed by a Comcast employee/contractor.

Dennis


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

It probably takes 60 days because there's nothing in the system that allows it to work. Instead, the DBA probably has to run a job in the database to make the transfer, and they are going to wait to do that until they are sure everyone's switched over. It's probably not an undoable transaction, and the guy doesn't want to do it more than once. They have to wait until the offer is over (December 8?), then another 30 days for returns to shake out.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

That's one theory (BTW, the offer actually ends November 8th, i.e. today)... But I'm not sure it's correct, because the S3 lifetime transfer was available far longer than 60 days (over four months, IIRC), and the 60-day rule still applied.

Drew


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## cmaeditor (Jun 5, 2003)

pl1 said:


> I think the reason no one has responded to your post is that this topic has been covered ad nauseam. If you did a search, you would see for yourself how many times it has been asked. They need to allow 60 days for the transfer to show up in the event you decide to take advantage of their 30 day return policy.
> 
> http://www3.tivo.com/buytivo/hdservicetransferterms.html


Actually read my original post before you make it out that I don't have a clue. When I did the transfer I was correctly billed the $199 fee. In the Overview it showed that correctly, with my S1 still showing the Lifetime and the TiVoHD showing the 'Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)' I logged in today just out of curiousity to see if the account status had changed, as people had said that on the S3 transfer the status sometimes switched before the 60 days. 
When I checked today, the TivoHD account service type had changed to 'Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay' which is what some people who have done the transfer and only got charged the $179. 
Thinking that a computer SNAFU might have somehow changed my acct from a transfer to prepay, I decided to call as well as post here to inform others incase they might be affected. With TiVo assuring me that everything is OK, I thought i would share it with others who had seen the same thing.
Apparently wanting to make sure there wasn't a computer glitch that would affect the service transfer and informing people about it, is me being a moron who doesn't read things well.


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## orev (Feb 16, 2003)

azitnay said:


> That's one theory (BTW, the offer actually ends November 8th, i.e. today)... But I'm not sure it's correct, because the S3 lifetime transfer was available far longer than 60 days (over four months, IIRC), and the 60-day rule still applied.
> 
> Drew


You have until today to purchase the DVR, but you can transfer it up until December 8th.

"Transfer of an eligible (as defined below) Product Lifetime Subscription to a a Qualifying DVR is required by 12/8/2007"


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Gotcha... That's similar to the S3 transfer, when you had until 12/31/2007 to buy, and until 01/31/2007 to transfer.

Drew


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

azitnay said:


> That's one theory (BTW, the offer actually ends November 8th, i.e. today)... But I'm not sure it's correct, because the S3 lifetime transfer was available far longer than 60 days (over four months, IIRC), and the 60-day rule still applied.


The rules say you have to have PURCHASED by today but you have until 12/8 to get the transfer done.

_*between 10/11/2007 and 11/8/2007 and transfer of eligible Product Lifetime Subscription must be done no later than 12/8/2007. * _

Since it is on/before 11/8 I would bet no one was asked to provide proof of date purchased. It is possible that after today they will not bother to ask about this either.

Dennis


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

cmaeditor said:


> Apparently wanting to make sure there wasn't a computer glitch that would affect the service transfer and informing people about it, is me being a moron who doesn't read things well.


Did you even read what you wrote? *"Just got off the phone with them, and they show everything correct on their end. In 5 weeks(which would be about 60 days), if nothing has changed, they will be hearing from me." * That's what I responded to. And I assure you, the process is the same as it has been for the last year. Nothing new. Do a search, same ol' same ol'.


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## cmaeditor (Jun 5, 2003)

pl1 said:


> Did you even read what you wrote? *"Just got off the phone with them, and they show everything correct on their end. In 5 weeks(which would be about 60 days), if nothing has changed, they will be hearing from me." * That's what I responded to. And I assure you, the process is the same as it has been for the last year. Nothing new. Do a search, same ol' same ol'.


Yes. I know what I wrote.

My concern was that since my service type had changed from one(Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay (HD Fusion PLT)) to another(Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay) in the 3 weeks since I did the transfer, there might be a glitch.

And I stand by my statement that if the status on the transfer hasn't changed at the 60 day period they will be getting a call, even though they say everything is fine. Just being cautious. I am not trying to call TiVo liars, but glitches can show up that have the possibility of causing headaches down the line.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

cmaeditor said:


> Just being cautious. I am not trying to call TiVo liars, but glitches can show up that have the possibility of causing headaches down the line.


I totally understand. I was the same way back in January. And so were many other people. And it's true, what *dswallow* said, it does not make a lot of sense why they can't just do it instantly and save all of this panic. So, I empathize. Next thing to remember is that you must call to cancel your old unit before the year is up or they will start billing you monthly. That is most likely an attempt by TiVo to get new subscriptions, so if you don't intend on having two TiVo's when it's all said and done, make a note of it.

EDIT: P.S. Just for the record, I checked tivo.com daily, religiously, for each transfer to happen, so if that's not anal, I don't know what is.


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## fitzie (Jun 19, 2002)

Since today is the last day for the lifetime transfer from an existing TiVo to an HD TiVo, I was seriously considering buying a TiVo HD today to replace my self-hacked S1. So I called TiVo to talk about it. By taking TiVo up on this offer, you lose the ability to be eligible for any Multi-Service discount EVER in the future. So, at the end of the year, when you old TiVo is no longer covered, if you wish to purchase service, you'll have to do it at either a) 16.95/mo, $179 for 1 year, $279 for 2 years, or $299 for 3 years. The multi-service discount would be $9.95/month or $99 per year at current rates, if it were still eligible.

Starting today, however, TiVo has discounted the 1 year to $129, and the 2 year to $249. These prices are good til the Super Bowl. 

So my feeling is that the special deal isn't that special, as if you plan on having more than 1 TiVo, for more than two years later, they get out out the back end.

The other option seems to be just buy a TiVo HD or S3 whereever, at whatever price you can find, and then upgrade the new box to a Lifetime subscription for $399.

It costs more up front, but assuming the hardware lives a long full life like the previous hardware, it's cheaper long term.


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## 1283 (Sep 8, 2000)

fitzie said:


> By taking TiVo up on this offer, you lose the ability to be eligible for any Multi-Service discount EVER in the future.


No, there is no such thing.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

It's also worth pointing out that $299 for three years is almost equivalent to $99 per year, so assuming you always go for the plan with the most value, the new MSD isn't really anything special any more anyway (a savings of $0.67 a year).

Drew


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

Both of my newly-transferred TiVo HDs show up as "Product Lifetime" as of today.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

What day did you do the transfers?

Drew


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

My LT transfer showed up as "Product Lifetime" the same day as I requested it.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

fitzie said:


> So my feeling is that the special deal isn't that special, as if you plan on having more than 1 TiVo, for more than two years later, they get out out the back end.


I disagree. I have a series 1 box I paid $149 or $199 for a lifetime sub on back in 2000. For $199 I transferred it to a new HD Tivo and hopefully get as much use out of it as I did before. The cost of one prepay year is normally close to the transfer cost - plus I get an additional pre-pay year for the old box.

True, the rules say that this transferred lifetime can't be the basis for the multi-box discount in the future. But I would guess if if you call in a year to cancel on your old box "just too much money at full price" they may offer you the $6.99 per month rate anyway just to keep you with them. Also if you got a third Tivo you would again be entitled to discount pricing on one of the two non-lifetime boxes.

Dennis


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## dswallow (Dec 3, 2000)

dwynne said:


> True, the rules say that this transferred lifetime can't be the basis for the multi-box discount in the future.


No they don't. People are misinterpreting the meaning of the mention in the terms that a multi-service discount doesn't apply to this offer.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

dswallow said:


> If you cancel your service within 30 days, believe it or not, TiVo has to know about that. Otherwise, nothing's canceled. So since TiVo will know about canceled accounts, there's really no good reason why these transfers couldn't just be updated immediately, once payment is confirmed. If you ultimately return the unit within the 30 day period, they can just undo the transfer.
> 
> This nonsense over 60 days before things show up, and the interim period where it shows up as various bizarre descriptions that do nothing but confuse and worry people shouldn't happen.


As I've said before, I view it as fraud protection. It avoids the scenario that an Ebay seller "proves" a TiVoHD has lifetime, sells it for a premium since it has lifetime, and then cancels the lifetime with the seller getting their money back from TiVo since it's within 30 days. The buyer has no recourse once the lifetime is cancelled; Ebay will not take action against the seller since Ebay only cares that the merchandise was shipped and doesn't care about services.


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## Fuzz (Apr 9, 2002)

dwynne said:


> The rules say you have to have PURCHASED by today but you have until 12/8 to get the transfer done.
> 
> _*between 10/11/2007 and 11/8/2007 and transfer of eligible Product Lifetime Subscription must be done no later than 12/8/2007. * _
> 
> ...


Has anyone tried to xfer their lifetime after Nov 8th on a box purchased from Amazon (not tivo.com) on or before Nov 8th? Are they asking for proof of purchase? Are they denying non-tivo.com boxes?


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

My friend did one yesterday. He had purchased from Amazon and had just had time to get it set up, tested out, and get a cablecard and install it. The call center at Tivo closes at 10pm central so he could not get through Thursday night, so he called around noon on Friday. He said they did ask when he purchased it, but not where and asked for no further proof. I would expect that the further we get from the 8th the more likely they will be to ask for some kind of proof.

Also, now that they offer lifetime again for $399 someone that really wanted to keep their old box in service would probably be better off to buy the new HD Tivo at a discount and put a new lifetime on it. If you did the $199 transfer then at the end of the year you have to either go month to month, pre-pay, or lifetime (if offered) on the old box. Even with the multi-service discount you are looking at $200 for 2 more years, which would be the break even point for doing the $199 transfer and doing the $399 lifetime purchase. If, like me, you are not planning on keeping the old box under service the $199 deal is a much better way to go (if you can still get it).

Dennis


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## TechDreamer (Jan 27, 2002)

I was wondering how Tivo would handle Lifetime transfers after the first deadline hit. I think asking for a proof of purchase date would be too complicated.


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## Lensman (Dec 22, 2001)

TechDreamer said:


> I was wondering how Tivo would handle Lifetime transfers after the first deadline hit. I think asking for a proof of purchase date would be too complicated.


Well, for those few who've ordered it via the officially approved link from tivo.com, I think it's obvious and easy. 

For those who've purchased the unit via a retail channel and didn't or couldn't call in by the original deadline, then I suspect you're at the mercy of the accommodation of customer service.

I'm sure we'll get lots of complaints here from people who've attempted to stretch the rules in order to save $30-$50 and who will are going to be indignant over the fact that they're going to have to spend some time sweet talking customer service into letting them stretch and already bent rule when the first call doesn't work. 

BTW, don't mind me, I'm just feeling particularly kindly toward Tivo because they're letting me in the smallest way possible stick it to my cable companies who I'm convinced are the right behind tobacco companies and RIAA member companies in evilness. Mine just slapped me in the face with "you're not eligible for the $25 discount for having tv, internet and phone service because you're not renting a cable box from us".


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## stretch35 (Nov 9, 2007)

2 different tivo agents told me both ways..had to buy from tivo .,the other said it didn't matter where I got it..I bought at costco called in service# made the switch of lifetime from older series 1 box to new tivohd box..$200..still don't show on account status for machines but it is suppose to take time...if it causes them grieve they can give money back and I'll put lifetime on it..


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## jonglee (Dec 16, 2002)

dwynne said:


> I did my lifetime transfer on Saturday. No issues with my Amazon purchased HD Tivo - that never even came up. No problems with the Comcast M-card cablecard either. In fact, the hold wait time with Comcast was a fraction of the hold time with Tivo - quicker to fix me up once I got hold of someone as well.
> 
> With my account the cablecard is free, but all I get are the locals in HD. But nothing extra on my cable bill and no monthly Tivo fee = good news for me.
> 
> Dennis


Same experience for me. Comcast took less than 5 minutes while Tivo took a long time to get off hold. Just trying to figure out how to add more space now rather than forking over $200 to WD...


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## Pafrican (Aug 21, 2002)

Just got my TivoHD today from Amazon. Called Tivo to transfer over the service. The entire call lasted about three minutes. 

Messing around with it now and cablecard installation is set for Thursday.

Hooray.


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## jonglee (Dec 16, 2002)

Just wondering if I can sell the Series 2 for any money on ebay - I have a Sony SVR3000. 

Even if I decide to sell, should I wait until I see the lifetime transfer show up on my TivoHD first?

Thanks in advance,


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## TeevoDeevotee (Oct 28, 2007)

jonglee said:


> Just wondering if I can sell the Series 2 for any money on ebay - I have a Sony SVR3000.
> 
> Even if I decide to sell, should I wait until I see the lifetime transfer show up on my TivoHD first?
> 
> Thanks in advance,


Also, what limitations should be communicated to the buyer? Obviously, they should not be calling TIVO for questions and giving them service numbers. But what happens when the dial in number for this unit is suddenly three states away from the HD unit?

I think we own the units and should be able to transfer them to whomever we want. That being said, how do we avoid an Ebay transaction that becomes a train wreck?


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

*I* would wait until the online system shows the lifetime is on your new Tivo and the older Tivo shows the one year pre-paid.

Then it should be safe to sell the old one any way you want to - and the new buyer gets the balance of the 1yr pre-paid service. Keep in mind that Tivo will automatically bill YOUR credit card for renewal at the end of the one year term unless you tell them not to.

Dennis


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## JustAllie (Jan 5, 2002)

Personally I would only sell the unit to someone i knew, who understood that the unit had to remain under my account until the year of prepaid service was done and that after this year was up, I would cancel the service unless they wanted to move it to their account (and their credit card) and set up a new service contract for it. 

I say this as someone who has no qualms about selling a TiVo on eBay -- I've sold several that way. But the one year of service after a lifetime transfer is officially supposed to stay on your account, so it's a special case, and I think that makes the old TiVo quite difficult to sell -- particularly if it's a Series2, which won't work at all without TiVo service. (A Series 1 will at least work as a "dumb digital VCR" even without a contract.)


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

Are people still having success getting the transfer on a box bought from a retailer (like Amazon or Circuit City) other than directly from Tivo?


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

I would assume so, as long as you can prove you purchased the HD Tivo by November 8 - and finished the transfer by December 8 (this Saturday). Since they only give you a handful of free days after activating a new Tivo, most have already done the transfer - otherwise the box would have quit working long before now, if purchased on or before 11/8.

Dennis


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

dwynne said:


> I would assume so, as long as you can prove you purchased the HD Tivo by November 8 - and finished the transfer by December 8 (this Saturday). Since they only give you a handful of free days after activating a new Tivo, most have already done the transfer - otherwise the box would have quit working long before now, if purchased on or before 11/8.
> 
> Dennis


Since the offer has been extended to Feb. 3, 2008 for purchases direct from tivo, I'm curious as to whether this is also true for regular retail purchases.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

Has everyone's billing situation been straightened up from this deal?

Mine is still a mess (billed $179 and showing 1 yr. prepaid on the new HD).


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

I've never seen any of the $179 wackiness, but my lifetime hasn't switched over yet... I've still got almost two weeks left in the 60-day window, though, so I'm not too worried about it yet.

Drew


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

poppagene said:


> Since the offer has been extended to Feb. 3, 2008 for purchases direct from tivo, I'm curious as to whether this is also true for regular retail purchases.


There are two different lifetime deals going. Are you sure that this offer (transfer of lifetime service for $199) has been extended? Do you have a link for it?


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## TexasAg (Apr 2, 2006)

CrispyCritter said:


> There are two different lifetime deals going. Are you sure that this offer (transfer of lifetime service for $199) has been extended? Do you have a link for it?


Link on post #1 in this thread takes you to Tivo's website and shows the new extended date.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

TexasAg said:


> Link on post #1 in this thread takes you to Tivo's website and shows the new extended date.


Thanks, I hadn't seen that yet! Hmmm... I think I've got one more Series 1 lifetime out at a relative's that I could trade in.


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## MapleLeaf (Oct 12, 2007)

janry said:


> Has everyone's billing situation been straightened up from this deal?
> 
> Mine is still a mess (billed $179 and showing 1 yr. prepaid on the new HD).


Ditto for me. Still 2 weeks left in the 60-day window, so I'm not going to call in just yet. I do have a case number outstanding, so I don't anticipate any problems rectifying things if/when my account still has not been updated correctly once I'm beyond the 60-day window (and I'm even less concerned since the offer now seems to have been extended until February).


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

azitnay said:


> but my lifetime hasn't switched over yet... I've still got almost two weeks left in the 60-day window, though


My lifetime switched over the same day as I did the transaction.


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## CrispyCritter (Feb 28, 2001)

I'm at about 6 weeks on the current transfer deal, and things have not switched yet. Last time, it was something like the 63 day mark before they switched for me.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

poppagene said:


> Since the offer has been extended to Feb. 3, 2008 for purchases direct from tivo, I'm curious as to whether this is also true for regular retail purchases.


Oops, they did change the offer. I got any e-mail about the original offer but never got a new one to tell be it had been extended.

To save $50 I order from Amazon. If I were doing it again today, I would still order from Amazon. They never asked or seemed to care where I got my HD Tivo from - but I was within the "purchase" window. Worst case they shoot you down, send the Tivo back to Amazon for a refund (less the shipping costs back) and buy from from Tivo direct for $50 more. You have to watch the Amazon prices as they go up and down daily or hourly, but you should be able to buy for $250 delivered.

Also, see the thread here in the forums about Amex and the Tailormade $25 refund. If you have an Amex you could order direct but use that link and your net would be $275.

Dennis


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## poppagene (Dec 29, 2001)

Thanks all. I bought a unit from Circuit City using the shop discover -- 5% cash back discover card link and used a 10% AAA one time discount to get the Tivo HD for $225 plus tax and the 5% cash back on the discover card will cover the 5% sales tax. The transfer went through with no problems.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

CC had a 5 hour sale yesterday and the HD Tivos were $239.99 plus tax. For me, Amazon would still be cheaper - but if you would have combined that with a discount code or live where tax is not so high.

Dennis


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## Carlton Bale (Dec 17, 2001)

Carlton Bale said:


> *11-09-2007, 08:52 AM* Both of my newly-transferred TiVo HDs show up as "Product Lifetime" as of today.


Looks like I spoke too soon. Both of my TiVo HDs are back to 1-year pre-paid again and my old S1 TiVos are back to lifetime. I just called TiVo and the customer support rep said that was normal and that the transfer should be final "in about 60 days or maybe a little bit longer." I wish this would just finish-up so I don't have to worry about it anymore.


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## InkBlot (Sep 12, 2006)

Just picked up my new TiVoHD at Circuit City today, and switched my lifetime service a few minutes ago. The lovely rep on the line seemed to have no problems with it.

In my account summary, I see my S2 listed as lifetime and my new HD as "1 year prepay", but when I look at billing history I see a charge of $199 "HD Promo - Transfer Fee". So, all looks well for now. I'll keep an eye on it.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

Looks like my transfer finally went through... I don't know exactly what day it happened, but I checked this past Saturday (the 60th day), and it hadn't happened yet. So, it took somewhere between 60 and 64 days.

As expected, the billing history completely swapped between the two units, but TiVo seems to have found a way to not swap the DVR names as well (unlike the S3 transfer, as some may recall).

Drew


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

I just checked mine and it still says "_Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay_". I hit 60 days tomorrow, so it should flip pretty soon.


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## pl1 (Jan 18, 2007)

azitnay said:


> As expected, the billing history completely swapped between the two units, but TiVo seems to have found a way to not swap the DVR names as well (unlike the S3 transfer, as some may recall).Drew


This has ALWAYS been the problem. This is why SO MANY people "think" that their lifetime did not switch. The way a lot of people finally realize the names did not switch is when they try to do an Unbox download, or something like that. based on the TiVo's name.

Best to check the "MODEL NUMBER" of the TiVo against the LIFETIME status.


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## cmaeditor (Jun 5, 2003)

I hit the 60 day mark today, and no switch. I called TiVo as got a rather rude CSR who said that it might take up to 90 days now. I told he that's not what I have been told or was in the Terms and Conditions of the deal when I did the transfer. She said that they were swamped with people doing the transfer and that's why the 90 days is in effect. I told her that TiVo should send out an email to every customer who did the transfer to let them know. She said they don't have to. I asked for her supervisor who told me he was going to talk to corporate about manually doing mine , as in his system I am at 89 days. I told him that was wrong, but he said it would get done today. I'm really tired of having the S1 running without it recording anything. The TiVoHD shows me that I have no need to keep my S1 or S2. up and running.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

cmaeditor said:


> I'm really tired of having the S1 running without it recording anything. The TiVoHD shows me that I have no need to keep my S1 or S2. up and running.


I don't understand this statement at all. My old S1 lifetime box has NOT been unplugged for months, if not years. I have D* HD Tivos, D* Tivos, and now the HD Tivo. I never plugged my S1 box back in at all to do the transfer, just read the Tivo number off the back and confirmed in on my online account. So I have no idea why you would think you need to leave the old box on at all - unplug it and set it aside if you are no longer using it.

Unless you are planning on selling your old S1 box, what the heck does it matter what it shows online (now) ? As long as sometime between now and the 1yr mark they have it fixed then you have no problems.

If you are planning on selling your S1 box, then I can see why you would be pressing to get it swapped on your account - but otherwise who cares (for now) ?

Dennis


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## DeathRider (Dec 30, 2006)

synch22 said:


> Hell even Steve Jobs had a heart..


Are you referring to when he dropped the price of the iPhone not even weeks after the the launch?

I paid around $880 w/lifetime transfer for my S3.

Yeah, it may seem to suck, but I still think it was worth it. Hindsight is always 20/20.

I also don't feel sorry I paid $1300 for my Nikon D70 kit when now i can get a D40 kit for a 1/3 of the price...6MP either way...

I feel bad for the early adopters who paid full price for the S3 with no lifetime transfer....

Edit:

I still use my S2 for recording cartoons...

This offer may be worth it if you have a S1/S2 single tuner. At least then you will have a dualtuner - either to record 2 shows at once, or record one while watching another live.


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## azitnay (Jan 20, 2003)

DeathRider said:


> I feel bad for the early adopters who paid full price for the S3 with no lifetime transfer....


Do you mean the THD? I'm pretty sure the S3 lifetime transfer option was available right from the start.

Drew


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## DeathRider (Dec 30, 2006)

busyba said:


> (to that not-quite-right configuration that everyone gets for the first 60 days)


When I transferred my lifetime from my S2 to my S3, _both_ DVRs had the _same_ name


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## DeathRider (Dec 30, 2006)

azitnay said:


> Do you mean the THD? I'm pretty sure the S3 lifetime transfer option was available right from the start.
> 
> Drew


I was pretty sure it wasn't...

My bad...

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=314798

Sorry, must have been when they extended it to Feb...

I remember purchasig the S3 directly from tivo for $1000, then minutes later coming here, finding out TCS had it $680

So, i called tivo, they said just to refuse shipment...

Went and purchased through TCS, then calling tivo to give them $200


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## DeathRider (Dec 30, 2006)

Zaphod said:


> Quick review, I currently pay $15.90/mo for my cable company DVR. By giving up the cable company DVR and going to TivoHD I drop that to $3.98/mo for cablecard rental for 2 cards.


^^^Old, but don't forget:
If it is an M-Card, the TiVoHD only requires 1 CC, not 2, which would be $1.99 less...



CharlesH said:


> $15 of gasoline doesn't go very far these days. In fact, I saw a report on the local news recently of people with big cars/SUVs complaining that they cannot fill up since they hit the $50 limit. That is only around 17 gallons at current prices.


The tank on my motorcycle holds 6 gallons, so yeah, holds $18 max, usually a $15 fill. And that 2000 mile trek through Canada last summer...

Previously, did 1000 miles/24hrs 2x on my mc...


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

sbourgeo said:


> I just checked mine and it still says "_Service Only, 1 Year, Prepay_". I hit 60 days tomorrow, so it should flip pretty soon.


My transfer is now complete as of today, day 62 since I activated my TiVo HD.


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## sherby98 (Jan 1, 2008)

my experience with transferring the lifetime subscription for $199

I bought a used series 1 that qualified for the transfer offer off ebay.
I opened an account using this new tsn. no one every questioned me about who it belonged to. So I have them a tsn and they immediately transferred it to me.

Second, I bought a used s3 that had a 1tb hd off craigslist. 

I tried to called and have the s3 transferred over for $199. The CSR came back and told me that this unit was not eligible. In fact, I could not transfer it into my name.

Upon further investigation, the person I bought it from still had five months of his initial twelve month commitment remaining. I called him and told him that he owed $65 bucks and then they could transfer the box to me. 

He immediately did this and told me I was clear to put the box in my name.

I called Tivo, went thru the same process again and was asked for my credit card!!!

This is when you know that the transfer will go thru. And it did. 

The moral of this story is, if you want to transfer your lifetime sub over to a new TIVO for $199 it doesn't matter if it is an HD Tivo, a Series3, new or used, just make sure it is not currently under any type of service.

I hope this answers the question regarding what tivo's can be transferred and which ones can't. My bill shows the $199 plus tax charge for the transfer. I was able to get a lifetime Series3 THX with internal 1tb hd for a total of $800. I thought that was a pretty good deal!


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

Heads up to everyone who took advantage of this deal last year:

The one year of prepaid service on the TiVo you transferred your lifetime from should be expiring in the next month or so. Don't forget to call TiVo and cancel your sub if you don't want to start being charged for service on your old box.

My trusty old S1 has been sitting unplugged on the floor in an upstairs bedroom for a few months now, so I called in and canceled mine this morning. The TiVo CSR tried to talk me out of it, but the TiVo HD has made my old Philips HDR312 pretty useless at this point. Bon voyage, old friend.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

sbourgeo said:


> Heads up to everyone who took advantage of this deal last year:
> 
> The one year of prepaid service on the TiVo you transferred your lifetime from should be expiring in the next month or so. Don't forget to call TiVo and cancel your sub if you don't want to start being charged for service on your old box.
> 
> My trusty old S1 has been sitting unplugged on the floor in an upstairs bedroom for a few months now, so I called in and canceled mine this morning. The TiVo CSR tried to talk me out of it, but the TiVo HD has made my old Philips HDR312 pretty useless at this point. Bon voyage, old friend.


If you have it set it up online you can even go and tell it that you don't want a subscription after this one ends. So you can do it now... It is an option on future service plans. It says "Remove this plan and do not add another plan."
By the way thanks for the heads up.


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## Dr_Zoidberg (Jan 4, 2004)

I am a bit annoyed. My S2 with Lifetime gave up the ghost after 5 years of service recently. I called customer service, in the hopes that I could get them to either transfer the service to my TiVoHD, or let me buy a new TiVoHD and transfer the service to it.

No dice on either approach. Instead, they let me buy a refurb two-tuner S2, and they transferred the service to it. The unit arrived in 1 business day, and they had already transferred

Thanks to the new fall season, I did need a third recorder last night, so I'm not too upset about it, but I am disappointed they wouldn't let me replace it with a TiViHD instead.


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

socrplyr said:


> If you have it set it up online you can even go and tell it that you don't want a subscription after this one ends. So you can do it now... It is an option on future service plans. It says "Remove this plan and do not add another plan."


I don't see what you are referring to. When I go to my account, there is an icon to "Schedule a future plan". When I click on it, the only 3 choices are "Monthly", "Annual", and "Product lifetime service". On what screen do you see "Remove this plan....."?


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

janry said:


> I don't see what you are referring to. When I go to my account, there is an icon to "Schedule a future plan". When I click on it, the only 3 choices are "Monthly", "Annual", and "Product lifetime service". On what screen do you see "Remove this plan....."?


I didn't see that either and thought TiVo made you jump through as many hoops as possible to cancel service, so I just called. Being able to do it online would be sweet though...


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

Dr_Zoidberg said:


> I am a bit annoyed. My S2 with Lifetime gave up the ghost after 5 years of service recently. I called customer service, in the hopes that I could get them to either transfer the service to my TiVoHD, or let me buy a new TiVoHD and transfer the service to it.
> 
> No dice on either approach. Instead, they let me buy a refurb two-tuner S2, and they transferred the service to it. The unit arrived in 1 business day, and they had already transferred


I guess I should feel lucky they let me transfer a lifetime from my old broken S1 to a TiVoHD. To this day, I'm still thankful for that, as they didn't have to do it.


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## jlb (Dec 13, 2001)

sbourgeo said:


> .....My trusty old S1 has been sitting unplugged on the floor in an upstairs bedroom for a few months now.....


Perhaps it would function as a manual record unit for you too!


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

sbourgeo said:


> I didn't see that either and thought TiVo made you jump through as many hoops as possible to cancel service, so I just called. Being able to do it online would be sweet though...


I'm actually looking forward to the phone call. I hope they will offer me a new box to replace the Series 1.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

jlb said:


> Perhaps it would function as a manual record unit for you too!


It shipped with software version 1.x, so it can definitely record w/o a sub. I don't really have a use for it with three dual tuner TiVo's in the house though.


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## dmedeiros (Jan 24, 2003)

My original S2 that I transfered lifetime off of in this deal died about 2 weeks ago. Wanted another TivoHD anyways so I called to cancel service on the dead S2 and they offered me a discounted HD and transfered the remaining 6 weeks of service onto it. I gotta say, every time I have dealt with Tivo CS I have been very happy.


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## socrplyr (Jul 19, 2006)

sbourgeo said:


> I didn't see that either and thought TiVo made you jump through as many hoops as possible to cancel service, so I just called. Being able to do it online would be sweet though...





janry said:


> I don't see what you are referring to. When I go to my account, there is an icon to "Schedule a future plan". When I click on it, the only 3 choices are "Monthly", "Annual", and "Product lifetime service". On what screen do you see "Remove this plan....."?


I don't know why you guys can't see this but here is a screenshot:
http://www.gibgab.net/tivoremoveplan.png


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## janry (Jan 2, 2003)

socrplyr said:


> I don't know why you guys can't see this but here is a screenshot:
> http://www.gibgab.net/tivoremoveplan.png


Mine looks exactly like that except for the "Remove this plan..." option.


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## sbourgeo (Nov 10, 2000)

socrplyr said:


> I don't know why you guys can't see this but here is a screenshot:
> http://www.gibgab.net/tivoremoveplan.png


Weird, I went to that screen before I called to cancel and didn't have that last option...


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

janry said:


> Mine looks exactly like that except for the "Remove this plan..." option.


I don't have that option either. Mine does have some weirdness about the current plan:

*Your current plan is: Annual service
1 yr commitment Plan rate $50.00
Effective date 11/5/2007
Commitment end date 11/4/2008*

None of my Tivos have an option to cancel any future service.

Dennis


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## Greg Lovern (Mar 9, 2003)

I'm still being charged monthly for the "Product Lifetime Transfer Offer" I did over a year ago, in October 2007.

First, when they told me back then that the old unit would get a year of free service, they did not say a word about monthly charges kicking in automatically without warning after that. 

So when I saw the first monthly charge, I called in. They said they would cancel the service on the old unit and stop the monthly charges. 

But now I'm still getting monthly charges. I called in again today and they said what they actually did on my last call was -- are you ready for this? -- they CANCELLED THE LIFETIME SERVICE.

I could hardly believe my ears, but that is exactly what I was told today.

I have three confirmation numbers from today's call alone. The first person said she had to escalate the call. Then, the person to whom I was escalated said she had to escalate it further, because she did not have the authority to raise my lifetime service from the dead.

So if all goes according to her plan (ha!), the person to whom she escalated the case will raise my lifetime service from the dead within 5 business days and apply it to my TivoHD. And, within two weeks, the last two months of monthly charges will be reversed.

Then I can call in again to have next month's monthly charge reversed, because the change won't happen in time to prevent the charge.

Am I the only one this is happening to, or is this happening to others too?


Greg


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## timckelley (Oct 15, 2002)

What a SNAFU.


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## dwynne (Mar 11, 2002)

Greg Lovern said:


> I'm still being charged monthly for the "Product Lifetime Transfer Offer" I did over a year ago, in October 2007.
> 
> First, when they told me back then that the old unit would get a year of free service, they did not say a word about monthly charges kicking in automatically without warning after that.


You must never access your account via the web, it always showed the old box was going to renew after the prepaid year was up. Some had a link or option online to cancel the auto renew, some did not. If you did not then you had to call in (before the end of the free year on the old box) and tell them not to renew that. Had you done so, you would have never been billed.

Clearly some CSR just picked the wrong account to kill and they have no procedures in place to fix it -so someone high up will have to manually reinstate it. I had an issue with one of mine and had to keep calling and calling. Get the ticket number and just keep on it - call often and don't wait for them to call you back. Eventually you will get someone who will actually get this fixed for you. It took a lot of time and calling, but that did get my issue resolved.

Dennis


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

I won't go into the whole 'not noticing the monthly charge' issue as that has been beaten to death on numerous threads, but... I can't believe they screwed up like that and canceled the lifetime! Even with them making restitution, it is the lost time it takes to get stuff sorted out that can't be gotten back.


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## Greg Lovern (Mar 9, 2003)

dwynne said:


> You must never access your account via the web


True. I had no idea that was a requirement to avoid surprise automatic charges.

Are there any other requirements to avoid surprise automatic charges?

Greg


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## ah30k (Jan 9, 2006)

Greg Lovern said:


> Are there any other requirements to avoid surprise automatic charges?


Yes, don't sign an agreement agreeing to them.


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## Greg Lovern (Mar 9, 2003)

ah30k said:


> Yes, don't sign an agreement agreeing to them.


I didn't think I had, but I pulled out the folder with all the papers, and found it buried in the middle of the fine print.

How could I agree to something without reading all the fine print? Nobody ever does that. And who ever heard of a customer getting upset about charges mentioned only in the fine print? Everybody expects businesses to charge them for things mentioned only in the fine print.

Greg


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