So, when I first boutht the TiVo HD unit, there wasn't the option to do any lifetime service at all, so I opted for $299 3-year service. That's about to expire, so I called TiVo to find out options. They offered me $99 for lifetime service for that box, since lifetime wasn't offered at the time I took the three-year prepay. Big YMMV, of course, and I was super-nice to the rep. Give it a shot, all it costs is a bit of time and a phone call.
Well since lifetime service is $399, they basically figured you paid $299 already and charged the difference. Good deal for those that did in fact do the 3 year plan
Worked for me. In November I upgraded with the HD upgrade deal for $150, no yesterday I called in saying I received and email listing that I was eligeble for the $99 offer and got signed up no questions asked.
Been in the phone with TiVo for a while and the CSR told me they rolled out this $99 lifetime upgrade deal "a couple of days ago" via email. I have a TiVo HD but was on a month to month deal so no dice for me. Only for those who paid $299 for the three year deal.
How soon were your plans going to expire, those that did get this offer applied?
The rep I'm talking to says it has to be very close to your renewal, and that you had to get the offer by email.
PatrickBoyle99
New Member
posted: Feb. 7, 2010 @ 3:19p
Yeah, I tried to get a discount and mentioned that I would have payed the lifetime when i got the box, all I could get was a back lit remote for not canceling
You'd think with TiVo losing 350,000 subscribers in the past 12 months would have motivated them to try to keep customers. When I bought my TiVo HD Christmas 2008, lifetime service was available, and I got $100 off for multi-TiVo discount, bringing it down to $299. That was the whole reason I bought the TivoHD in the first place.
Sad to hear TiVo is doing everything it can do destroy itself.
Best way to get lifetime is to buy a used TiVo from a thrift shop & hope it has free lifetime on it
outlawnyc
Ancient Member
posted: Feb. 7, 2010 @ 5:08p
sklar is sort of right.
Great product but at this point TiVo is a horrible business. However, their patents are extremely valuable. The truth is that for the foreseeable future their money is going to be made in the court rooms and in negotiations with their lawyers and the telco cable company's lawyers.
I know this is fatwallet, but TiVo is not stupid for not offering everyone $99 lifetime deals... that would be stupid if they did. Sure they'd sign up a ton of customers, but they woudln't be making money.
Ultimately besides their lawsuits -- they will be looking toward their deals with Cox Comcast, etc. to make money as well as their "Nielsen-like" product.
outlawnyc said: I know this is fatwallet, but TiVo is not stupid for not offering everyone $99 lifetime deals... that would be stupid if they did. Sure they'd sign up a ton of customers, but they woudln't be making money. But current customers are their most loyal fans, and people with lifetime TiVos are incredibly reluctant to give them up in order to switch to something else. TiVo must do more to make the HD upgrade path a more affordable proposition. It's a hard sell to convince someone new to TiVo to spend $2000 on four units with lifetime subs instead of getting the Comcast DVRs.
Toddler said: outlawnyc said: I know this is fatwallet, but TiVo is not stupid for not offering everyone $99 lifetime deals... that would be stupid if they did. Sure they'd sign up a ton of customers, but they woudln't be making money. But current customers are their most loyal fans, and people with lifetime TiVos are incredibly reluctant to give them up in order to switch to something else. TiVo must do more to make the HD upgrade path a more affordable proposition. It's a hard sell to convince someone new to TiVo to spend $2000 on four units with lifetime subs instead of getting the Comcast DVRs.Comcast charges $14.99 per month per DVR, not a good deal at all. And very little storage space.
skavoovie5 said: You'd think with TiVo losing 350,000 subscribers in the past 12 months would have motivated them to try to keep customers. When I bought my TiVo HD Christmas 2008, lifetime service was available, and I got $100 off for multi-TiVo discount, bringing it down to $299. That was the whole reason I bought the TivoHD in the first place.
Sad to hear TiVo is doing everything it can do destroy itself. Yes, it's a classic case for the Corp. of USA...for trying to rip off their customers. Right now, this great country US of A has (other than the automobile industries) only a few manufacturing corporations. Sadly, most of the jobs in the USA are on the service industry, which is also slowly shifting to India & Phillippines.
When the corp. of USA will ever learn to treat their customers w/ respect...?
Richardito, won't any dual-tuner TiVo allow you to be playing back a recorded show while recording two others?
And choctawfootball, I don't think that if you leave the room (quit watching either show), or even shut off your TV, the recording of two shows will fail. I think you're trying to say that you are disappointed that you can't be watching a third real-time show on your Comcast HD DVR.
delgadobb
Happy Member
posted: Feb. 8, 2010 @ 1:14a
Richardito said: choctawfootball said: comcast hd dvr is crap.
i think i have their newest version hd dvr model number cisco rng200 and it has very little storage.
if you are recording two shows at once you have to watch one of the shows you are recording...(which makes no sense) That actually makes sense because the unit can only handle two streams (channels) at once. It is the same with an HD TiVo. Absolutely, undeniably wrong about the HD TiVo.
You can watch a pre-recorded show while recording two things at once. So, in essence, the TivoHD is performing three functions at once. I do this all the time when both tuners are tied up - it's a great time to watch something already on the TiVo.
I have a Series 3 purchased almost 3 years ago (April) with 3 year committment. I'm gonna give this a try. I have been strongly considering deactivating this one at my anniversary, but if I can get lifetime for $99 I will not. I have bought 7 TiVos thru the years, so we tend to be loyal. Thanks OP. Wil give it a shot.
True but i would still believe that TiVo's situation is similar of not even a better chance of the same thing happening. Of course it is pure specualtion as to what would happen. I'm not too worried. There is a large community of folks that are hacking the TiVo units too. It would not surprise me if someone came up with a way to make them work if/when the day came that TiVo was indeed gone.
skavoovie5 said: You'd think with TiVo losing 350,000 subscribers in the past 12 months would have motivated them to try to keep customers. When I bought my TiVo HD Christmas 2008, lifetime service was available, and I got $100 off for multi-TiVo discount, bringing it down to $299. That was the whole reason I bought the TivoHD in the first place.
Sad to hear TiVo is doing everything it can do destroy itself.
I am one among the 350,000. Switched to Windows 7 media center with the HTPC I built for <$200 with Quad tuner , 1TB storage and ofcourse 1080P.
CheapCheap1 said: skavoovie5 said: You'd think with TiVo losing 350,000 subscribers in the past 12 months would have motivated them to try to keep customers. When I bought my TiVo HD Christmas 2008, lifetime service was available, and I got $100 off for multi-TiVo discount, bringing it down to $299. That was the whole reason I bought the TivoHD in the first place.
Sad to hear TiVo is doing everything it can do destroy itself. Yes, it's a classic case for the Corp. of USA...for trying to rip off their customers. Right now, this great country US of A has (other than the automobile industries) only a few manufacturing corporations. Sadly, most of the jobs in the USA are on the service industry, which is also slowly shifting to India & Phillippines.
When the corp. of USA will ever learn to treat their customers w/ respect...?
The purpose of a corporation is to earn money for its owners. Its pricing is designed to maximize revenue.
The reason TiVo is losing so many customers is that there is much more competition in the marketplace. With competition, it is virtually impossible to "rip off" all but the most dense customers. If a company does not perform a service which the customer values greater than the customer values the cost of the service, the customer will not pay for the service. If a competing company offers a comparable service for less money, customers will migrate to that service. Other than not providing correct information about one's service, how can a company be "trying to rip off their customers"?
And I think that more companies would manufacture here if it wasn't so expensive. The same thing with the service industry. People price themselves out of the market. Do you begrudge the poor family in Asia the job that they are more than willing to do? Would you rather pay somebody in the U.S. $100 to do a job and have that worker spend the money getting obese at McDonalds, or pay somebody in Asia $20 that would keep his family from starvation?
I attempted to do this. I have two TiVo HDs, one is on Lifetime, and the other on Three-Year Pre-pay.
I am not eligable, since I was originally on 3 Year contract, and switched to Pre-Pay after 4 months. You would think that they would actually want more money, instead of denying my upgrade. Looks like I will not be keeping that TiVo when the pre-pay runs up.
They're not going anywhere. What they have that no one else does (including ReplayTV) is virtually ALL the patents for the technology that makes a DVR work (including PC DVRs). That fact will keep the royalties rolling in for decades to come. A few companies have already settled or lost in court (DirectTV settled/Dish lost, Cox/comcast settled), and EVERYONE else will settle or lose, too. That's what happens when you're a first mover in a segment, and OWN the segment's core tech.
TiVo's not going away anytime soon. Anyone who says they are is seriously delusional.
northwest said: skavoovie5 said: You'd think with TiVo losing 350,000 subscribers in the past 12 months would have motivated them to try to keep customers. When I bought my TiVo HD Christmas 2008, lifetime service was available, and I got $100 off for multi-TiVo discount, bringing it down to $299. That was the whole reason I bought the TivoHD in the first place.
Sad to hear TiVo is doing everything it can do destroy itself.
I am one among the 350,000. Switched to Windows 7 media center with the HTPC I built for <$200 with Quad tuner , 1TB storage and ofcourse 1080P.
Sadly, i built one too, and it is a waste. No real way to get all the HD cable channels till the new Digital Cable Cablecard tuners come out in the spring.
If your TV needs are not sophisticated, Windows Media Center offers a free alternative for maximizing TV/Recording/Music through your computer:
I call it "Free-vo". I plug Comcast into my TV tuner card, then a video line out to my big monitor, and a digital audio line into my stereo. My HP Media center computer came with a nice remote. Functions I like best are free searchable TV schedule, Recording shows to my hard drive, rewind, fast fwd, and a lot more. It is a great way to organize your CD's on your computer and use the WMC remote & software to make playlists, etc.
It cannot compete with TiVo, but it is free if have you have WMC & a TV tuner card.
chinaman34cents
New Member
posted: Feb. 8, 2010 @ 1:15p
So I just called TiVo support, and they said that yes the $99 upgrade is available but its only for customers that signed up for the 3 year prepay program when they took the lifetime program away. So not everyone qualifies. I have a S3 that is on a monthly plan and they wouldn't do it for me. Anyone else get the $99 upgrade with just monthly service?
northwest said: I am one among the 350,000. Switched to Windows 7 media center with the HTPC I built for <$200 with Quad tuner , 1TB storage and ofcourse 1080P.
I have been using Win7 MC for a month and love it.
TecJunkie said: Sadly, i built one too, and it is a waste. No real way to get all the HD cable channels till the new Digital Cable Cablecard tuners come out in the spring. ATI has had one internal and one external tuner for a several years. Originally it was locked to OEM dealers( Dell, HP, etc). A hack was discovered that made the tuner think it was in an OEM system. Last September, CableLabs and Microsoft dropped the requirement. Now it is easy to build a HTPC with cablecard support.
Skipping 20 Messages...
cooper243
Member
posted: Mar. 20, 2010 @ 12:49p
No go for me! They wouldn't even offer me $299 for lifetime.
Disclaimer: By providing links to other sites, FatWallet.com does not guarantee, approve or endorse the information or products available at these sites, nor does a link indicate any association with or endorsement by the linked site to FatWallet.com.
Members of our community may attach files to a post in accordance with the User Agreement. FatWallet is not responsible for the content, accuracy, completeness or validity of any information contained in any attached file. Files have *not* been scanned for viruses. Be especially wary of Excel files which may contain malicious content.
