Lifetime Transfer to S3: Error?

[ScubaCat]

I called the VIP line last night to transfer lifetime service from my series 1 TiVo to my new series 3 TiVo. This morning I logged into my account to verify the transaction. The website shows my series 1 still with lifetime service and my series 3 with "Service only, 1 year pre-pay". That is opposite of what it should be. :confused:

The first thing the representative asked me when I called was if I wanted to transfer lifetime to a series 3 and I said yes. I don't think she misunderstood what we were doing. So do I need to call TiVO to straighten this out or is this just a process and the correct information will show up in a day or two? I don't want to screw this up!

[HORUS]

The rep. informed me that it would take up to 60 days for the account information to reflect the lifetime subscription transfer. Mine shows the same thing.

[garym1j]

The telephone rep warned me that what you are seeing was normal and the correct account details would be shown in 60 days. I guess you should call them again to verify.

[ScubaCat]

60 days!?! What kind of database are they running! That's crazy.

Thanks for letting me know your experiences. I'll give them a call later when they open just so I can say I pointed out the "error" in case there is a problem in 60 days getting it right.

Weird.

[JPinAZ]

If you look at the billing history you'll see the lifetime transfer fee. It might take a few days for it to process, though.

[jbjust]

Mine showed up within an hour, how is it possible that our experiences can be so different? They're the same boxes. I was able to see the lifetime transferred to my new box in about 15 minutes when I checked online.

[ScubaCat]

Any chance we can get something official from a TiVo rep here? Which result should we expect to see?

[hiker]

From the VIP page www.tivo.com/vip Both boxes will be activated once this process is complete, but the contract information may take over 60 days to be reflected on the DVR or "Manage My Account".The only reason that I know that the info would appear immediately as happened for jbjust is the transfer of lifetime from a DirecTiVo.

[pl1]

60 days!?! What kind of database are they running! That's crazy. Thanks for letting me know your experiences. I'll give them a call later when they open just so I can say I pointed out the "error" in case there is a problem in 60 days getting it right. Weird.It's not weird. It's a marketing strategy of sorts. First of all, within the first 30 days, you can return your S3 and incur no penalties. This means you do not lose your S2 lifetime and you get your $199 back. Secondly, you are not allowed to cancel your free 1 yr contract for the S2 until after 60 days without incurring a prepay penalty. So, the marketing here is to try to make you forget to ever cancel the S2. And, even though the official rule is that you must wait 60 days to cancel your S2, the CSR's are telling people you can not cancel the S2 until the year is up.

Now, the DirecTV TiVo is being transferred from another company and there is no free year for the old device. I was told this by a CSR. They lose the ability to get a refund, that would reactivate their old TiVo. (I think.)

[ScubaCat]

Thanks for that insight. I makes some sense. But I still don't see a reason why they can't make their website messages a little more reassuring that the transfer is "pending" or something similar. I really hope nothing goes wrong with the lifetime transfer.

[dswallow]

I called the VIP line last night to transfer lifetime service from my series 1 TiVo to my new series 3 TiVo. This morning I logged into my account to verify the transaction. The website shows my series 1 still with lifetime service and my series 3 with "Service only, 1 year pre-pay". That is opposite of what it should be. :confused:

The first thing the representative asked me when I called was if I wanted to transfer lifetime to a series 3 and I said yes. I don't think she misunderstood what we were doing. So do I need to call TiVO to straighten this out or is this just a process and the correct information will show up in a day or two? I don't want to screw this up!
One thing most people report is that the names of the units get swapped when the lifetime transfer happens, so be looking online at the TiVo Service Numbers for each unit to determine whether or not the transfer happened.

[pl1]

Thanks for that insight. I makes some sense. But I still don't see a reason why they can't make their website messages a little more reassuring that the transfer is "pending" or something similar. I really hope nothing goes wrong with the lifetime transfer.But if you read the fine print of the offer you received in your email, it spells it out specifically as 60 days. Now, that said, I too panicked big time and called them when my transfer looked wrong. So, it could have saved their CSR's a lot of grief if they handled the wording on the new unit better, like in process or something.

Here's the link from the email I received with the offer. (http://www.tivo.com/2.0.3hdDvr.plt_offer.asp)

Here's the deal: Buy your TiVo® Series3™ HD* for $799.99. Once your new box arrives, locate the TiVo Service Number** for your new and existing box. Then call our VIP line at (866) 424-8486 and we'll transfer service for $199. Best of all, you'll get to keep service on your existing box for 12 months absolutely free. But you better get started, because this offer expires January 31, 2007 and then it's gone for a lifetime.

This product is not compatible with satellite.
**You can find the 15 digit TiVo Service Number on the back of the DVR or on the System Information screen. (From TiVo Central, select "New Messages & Setup," then "System Information.")

Terms and conditions for the TiVo® Series3™ PLT Transfer TiVo Offer (the "Offer"):


TiVo® Series3™ HD DVR purchase required by 1/31/2007 and activation of the DVR is required by 03/02/2007.
Offer good for all subscribers with an existing paid Product Lifetime Service subscription.
Product Lifetime Service may be transferred from an existing box to a TiVo Series3 HD DVR only. This offer is not being extended to transfer Product Lifetime Service to any other product.
All terms and conditions for a 1-year prepaid subscription apply to your old DVR. At the end of 1-year, you will be automatically rolled to then-applicable monthly rate. The 1-year contract is not transferable to another party.
Cancellation of only the 1-year contract on the old DVR while still transferring the Product Lifetime Service to the new Series3 HD DVR will be permitted, but only after 60 days of service for both boxes have elapsed. Cancellations on the 1-year contract will not result in refund of the $199 transfer fee. All other warranty replacement costs still apply to the old DVR.
If you return the box within 30 days of placing the order on the website, you will receive a full refund on any paid transfer fee and hardware cost. The shipping charge for the return is at your expense. Returns outside of 30 days will not be accepted. If the transfer is cancelled within the first 30 days, the Product Lifetime Service will remain on your old DVR.
Both boxes will be activated once this process is complete, but the contract information may take over 60 days to be reflected on the DVR or "Manage My Account".
The TiVo Service Agreement applies to the Series3 HD DVR, along with other terms and conditions listed at www.tivo.com/policies. In case of any discrepancies between those terms and those listed in this offer, the terms defined in this offer supersede those posted.
©2007 TiVo Inc. All rights reserved. The TiVo logo, TiVo, Series2, and Series3 are registered trademarks or trademarks of TiVo Inc. worldwide. For TiVo Customer Support call 877-367-8486. Pricing, terms and conditions subject to change without notice.

[jtown]

It's a bunch of bullsh*t designed to get people to forget about their old S1 or S2's new subscription.

You can't transfer that year of service to anyone else so you can't sell the old box as-is. You can't cancel the service immediately and sell the box because you'll get hit with a penalty. So you throw the box in a closet, planning to shut off the service in a couple of months once the "penalty phase" is over. But time goes by and projects come and go. The old Tivo is forgotten. Until next year when that box rolls over into monthly billing at $20/month (who wants to bet they jack up the monthly rate just before these boxes start hitting the one year mark?). Maybe you don't notice it for a few months. Tivo gets to collect some extra $$$. On top of the $200 you paid to transfer the subscription. On top of the $200-300 you paid for lifetime in the first place.

Pretty darn slimy if you ask me. There's no legitimate reason to delay updating the account status or to make people wait 60 days to shut off the old tivo's service.

[robm15]

So is that what happens after the 12 months on the old Tivo? The payments go to $19.95 a month? I was curious about that. I was hoping to get it at $6.95 a month like my other Tivo's are being billed at.

[pl1]

So is that what happens after the 12 months on the old Tivo? The payments go to $19.95 a month? I was curious about that. I was hoping to get it at $6.95 a month like my other Tivo's are being billed at.No, it would be $6.95 for an additional box and $12.95 if you don't keep it on your own account. Plus you could prepay. The $19.95/mo deal includes a new free box. (Unless I'm mistaken.)

[GoHokies!]

It's a bunch of bullsh*t designed to get people to forget about their old S1 or S2's new subscription.

You can't transfer that year of service to anyone else so you can't sell the old box as-is. You can't cancel the service immediately and sell the box because you'll get hit with a penalty. So you throw the box in a closet, planning to shut off the service in a couple of months once the "penalty phase" is over. But time goes by and projects come and go. The old Tivo is forgotten. Until next year when that box rolls over into monthly billing at $20/month (who wants to bet they jack up the monthly rate just before these boxes start hitting the one year mark?). Maybe you don't notice it for a few months. Tivo gets to collect some extra $$$. On top of the $200 you paid to transfer the subscription. On top of the $200-300 you paid for lifetime in the first place.

Pretty darn slimy if you ask me. There's no legitimate reason to delay updating the account status or to make people wait 60 days to shut off the old tivo's service.

You're probably one of the only people in the world that would throw the box in the closet and forget about it, then.

Most people would just hook it to another TV (or another input on the same TV) and just enjoy their free year of Tivo. Pretty hard to forget about something if you use it every day.

Much more likely is the answer about waiting until well past the 30 day return window to finalize the transaction...

[ashu]

FWIW, my Lifetime finally transferred over sometime over the last couple of weeks. So between 70-85 days.

Names also were swapped, and (would have) needed re-reswapping (two-step dance) as documented in a plethora of other threads. I merely gave them both newer names online, and let the nightly calls handle the renaming.

[flar]

They mentioned this to me when I did the transfer so I was expecting it, but thought maybe the 60 days was a conservative estimate to cover their slow processing. Now I know why they are really doing it.

This was a major concern for me because (not having read the full terms in detail) I was planning to sell my S2 with 1 year of service to someone else to recoup some of the upgrade cost - now I've discovered that I can't transfer the service due to the terms of the lifetime transfer.

Has anyone sold their old S2 after a lifetime transfer and has some advice on getting the most value out of the transaction? Perhaps I could sell it without transferring the account to them and then do a transfer right before a year is up, but I doubt that anyone would buy on those terms (give me money, take the box, but you won't officially own it for a year) - and also this is prone to the "forgetting to cancel in a year" issue...

[ashu]

Your parenthetized solution is the only one.

[Alfred vonCampe]

From the VIP page www.tivo.com/vip The only reason that I know that the info would appear immediately as happened for jbjust is the transfer of lifetime from a DirecTiVo.


You can (well could, until yesterday) transfer a lifetime from a DirecTV TiVo to an S3? I wish I had known that! Yesterday I decided to bite the bullet and transfer my Lifetime subscription from my old S2 to my new S3. I am in the process of getting away from DirecTV (I want HD and TiVo together, thank you very much), and could have ended up with Lifetime subscriptions on both my S2 and my S3. Now I have a DirecTV box with a lifetime that will probably just end up in a closet somewhere...

Alfred

[Corran Horn]

The guy told me about this during the process, so they must have had people freaking out.

[pl1]

You can (well could, until yesterday) transfer a lifetime from a DirecTV TiVo to an S3? There might still be a chance. Don't be at all surprised if they extend the deal again. It was to end 12/31

[danottey]

It is more likely that you would throw the old tivo onto another television set to "take advantage of the free year since I can't cancel right away anyway." Then you or someone in your family decides they LOVE the extra tivo in the house and can't live without it. Now you have to bite the bullet and continue paying the monthly fee.

I think the number of people who will forget to cancel their subscription is slim. Besides, how many of those people will not "catch on" after their first "forgotten month" being charged $6.95? Not much of a gain for TiVo there.

[pl1]

It is more likely that you would throw the old tivo onto another television set to "take advantage of the free year since I can't cancel right away anyway." Then you or someone in your family decides they LOVE the extra tivo in the house and can't live without it. Now you have to bite the bullet and continue paying the monthly fee..I believe that IS the motivation behind it, exactly. Even if you give it to a friend as I plan on doing. I already gave one to an Uncle. I believe they want you to get someone else hooked.

[jtown]

So is that what happens after the 12 months on the old Tivo? The payments go to $19.95 a month? I was curious about that. I was hoping to get it at $6.95 a month like my other Tivo's are being billed at.

"At the end of 1-year, you will be automatically rolled to then-applicable monthly rate."

As for you, GoHokies, do you ever have anything useful to say or do you just follow people around making lame attempts to belittle them? I loaned my old box to a friend. However, I would have preferred to sell the box outright. It would have been much simpler. I have no use for a second tivo and, since the subscription is not transferable, it's of no value to me. If it wasn't for this "60 day" crap, I would have closed out the old unit and sold it by now. Instead, I have to remember to deal with this in December.

In the mean time, Tivo gets no money from a subscription on that box. If I could have deactivated and sold the old box, it would probably already be up and running with a new subscription. Tivo's loss. Now it'll be another 11 months before they can hope to get more money out of it.

[ashu]

jtown, you're missing the point.

Folks eligible for the transfer are considered VIPs and TiVos calculations apparently factor in a continued subscription of the S2 unit. They've already said Lifetime is a loss-making proposition, and have discontinued new unit Lifetime service sales - they're doing this as a 'calculated favor'. What you want to do counters their calculations and is prevented. They aren't obliged to leave someone transferring lifeimte from one unit to another in a position to then resell the unit right away, or, possibly, completely unsibscribe it. An 11 month wait for further sub monies for that unit (their current assumption, I bet they've calculated that $84 value into the $199 transfer fee) is safer from their POV than letting you get a Lifetime transfer for $116, and HOPING you subscribe the S2 again anyway.

[pl1]

An 11 month wait for further sub monies for that unit (their current assumption, I bet they've calculated that $84 value into the $199 transfer fee) is safer from their POV than letting you get a Lifetime transfer for $116, and HOPING you subscribe the S2 again anyway.If that were really true, than why let non-customer DirecTV units pay the same rate and have no other obligation? They can just move on and sell their own box.

[dswallow]

If that were really true, than why let non-customer DirecTV units pay the same rate and have no other obligation? They can just move on and sell their own box.
DirecTV people still had to pay the $199 and got nothing else for it except the lifetime "transfer."

[ashu]

A higher 'cost of customer acquisition' for DirecTV customers may have been the justfiable reason behind this.

Folks with OTA/Cable already know their S2 is inferior to the S3.

Folks with DirecTV need an incentive to change to Cable/OTA and get an S3. Notwithstanding how awful DTV's HD-Lite currently is ;)
So the bean counters may have determined it was acceptable to let the $1-per-month-earning DirecTiVo box vanish into the ether, or perhaps be activated by someone else. Its inability to grab MP4 channels is making it increasingly obsolete anyway, as opposed to an S2, which people can continue to use!

edit (and the 199 as DSwallow reminded us)

[pl1]

DirecTV people still had to pay the $199 and got nothing else for it except the lifetime "transfer."I realize this. I was referring to the logic of the fee being $116 and giving a free yr of service worth $84. If that is the case, and both ways cost $199, the S1&S2 customers are hindered by having to keep track of their box for 1yr. Why not just let us pay $199 and be over with it?

[pl1]

A higher 'cost of customer acquisition' for DirecTV customers may have been the justfiable reason behind this.)I guess I'm missing where it is a higher cost. If anything, non-customers are getting a break (in my eyes) and there is no difference in cost to TiVo.

[dswallow]

I guess I'm missing where it is a higher cost. If anything, non-customers are getting a break (in my eyes) and there is no difference in cost to TiVo.
I believe what he was saying was the cost of acquisition to TiVo is high enough that it's beneficial to TiVo to avoid that cost in gaining the former DirecTV customer. The revenue they earn from them as a DirecTV customer doesn't amount to much more than $1/month. They're essentially collecting 199 months of income from the customer with the lifetime "transfer" deal. And now that customer might also purchase additional receivers which will earn TiVo no less than $6.95/month each. If it costs TiVo $400 to acquire a new customer (just throwing out a number), then it's like TiVo was paid $599 for that lifetime service since they don't need to spend any of that $400 allowance to acquire that customer.

[pl1]

I believe what he was saying was the cost of acquisition to TiVo is high enough that it's beneficial to TiVo to avoid that cost in gaining the former DirecTV customer. The revenue they earn from them as a DirecTV customer doesn't amount to much more than $1/month. They're essentially collecting 199 months of income from the customer with the lifetime "transfer" deal. And now that customer might also purchase additional receivers which will earn TiVo no less than $6.95/month each. If it costs TiVo $400 to acquire a new customer (just throwing out a number), then it's like TiVo was paid $699 for that lifetime service since they don't need to spend any of that $400 allowance to acquire that customer.I see. Didn't DTV kick in also? But, in any case, I have no real issue with it all. I'm not the type to sell my units. I'm giving mine away anyway. Just curious.

[GoHokies!]

"At the end of 1-year, you will be automatically rolled to then-applicable monthly rate."

As for you, GoHokies, do you ever have anything useful to say or do you just follow people around making lame attempts to belittle them? I loaned my old box to a friend. However, I would have preferred to sell the box outright. It would have been much simpler. I have no use for a second tivo and, since the subscription is not transferable, it's of no value to me. If it wasn't for this "60 day" crap, I would have closed out the old unit and sold it by now. Instead, I have to remember to deal with this in December.

In the mean time, Tivo gets no money from a subscription on that box. If I could have deactivated and sold the old box, it would probably already be up and running with a new subscription. Tivo's loss. Now it'll be another 11 months before they can hope to get more money out of it.


Waaahhhhh, the mean guy is making fun of me.... :rolleyes:

Unless your S2 has a huge hard drive, nobody will give you any money for it anyways...