bigray327
12-17-2007, 03:25 PM
I'd like your opinions on whether I should be pissed at TiVo, Inc.
Rewind a couple of weeks. I ditched DirecTV after seven years of DirecTiVo use. I had five of them over the years, including a very expensive high-def model. Being turned off by how DTV is moving away from TiVos, I decided to switch to cable. I called TiVo to see if they'd consider giving me a break on a lifetime subscription, since a) I paid for one in 2000 and b) I've been a loyal fan, stock holder, and poster child for a loooong time. I'm personally responsible for a small army of their customers. I was pleasantly surprised when the kind woman on the phone told me they would allow me to transfer my lifetime subscription for $199. Sweet, so I went out and bought a $250 TiVoHD, switched to Comcast, and unleashed the typical cablecard nightmare upon myself (won't go into that). I did all of this assuming they'd keep their word about the $199 lifetime subby.
Well, they didn't. After I bought the new machine and called to activate, a second rep said, "oh hell yeah, we'll do that," but he didn't know how, so he told me someone would call me back. When no one did, I called a third time, and a third rep told me "ummm, sorry, there was a mistake, you can't do that." So they referred it to their accounting office, who never called me back. A few days later, my temporary activation expired and I bought a 3 year subscription for roughly a million dollars.
So... should I be mad at TiVo? On one hand, they didn't owe me anything; the lifetime subscription I bought from TiVo in 2000 was transferred to DirecTV in 2001, ending TiVo's responsibility to deliver me anything. On the other hand, two separate reps said they would hook me up, and despite the great notes they put into their computers, they didn't. They could have said no, but they lured me into a situation I would not have otherwise gone into. I almost feel like I was intentionally duped. The money doesn't mean a whole lot to me, so I'm letting it go, but this rubs me the wrong way.
A PM to Pony went unanswered.
Thoughts?
Rewind a couple of weeks. I ditched DirecTV after seven years of DirecTiVo use. I had five of them over the years, including a very expensive high-def model. Being turned off by how DTV is moving away from TiVos, I decided to switch to cable. I called TiVo to see if they'd consider giving me a break on a lifetime subscription, since a) I paid for one in 2000 and b) I've been a loyal fan, stock holder, and poster child for a loooong time. I'm personally responsible for a small army of their customers. I was pleasantly surprised when the kind woman on the phone told me they would allow me to transfer my lifetime subscription for $199. Sweet, so I went out and bought a $250 TiVoHD, switched to Comcast, and unleashed the typical cablecard nightmare upon myself (won't go into that). I did all of this assuming they'd keep their word about the $199 lifetime subby.
Well, they didn't. After I bought the new machine and called to activate, a second rep said, "oh hell yeah, we'll do that," but he didn't know how, so he told me someone would call me back. When no one did, I called a third time, and a third rep told me "ummm, sorry, there was a mistake, you can't do that." So they referred it to their accounting office, who never called me back. A few days later, my temporary activation expired and I bought a 3 year subscription for roughly a million dollars.
So... should I be mad at TiVo? On one hand, they didn't owe me anything; the lifetime subscription I bought from TiVo in 2000 was transferred to DirecTV in 2001, ending TiVo's responsibility to deliver me anything. On the other hand, two separate reps said they would hook me up, and despite the great notes they put into their computers, they didn't. They could have said no, but they lured me into a situation I would not have otherwise gone into. I almost feel like I was intentionally duped. The money doesn't mean a whole lot to me, so I'm letting it go, but this rubs me the wrong way.
A PM to Pony went unanswered.
Thoughts?