Call to remove Tivos current market directors !

[dlowings]

! Call to remove Tivos current marketing directors take action now!

Ok I have to say, I have been a tivo fan for years and have recommended tivo to a ton of people. However after what I was faced with yesterday I have to say, tivo has turned down a dark path. I have two S2 tivos and have had them for 5 plus years. I picked up a non working S2 tivo at a junk sale a week or so back and brought it home and fixed it up. Then came the part that truly pushed me over the edge. I logged into my tivo web site to activate it and found that I could not activate it under my ORIGINAL tivo agreement. when I signed up 5 years ago the first tivo sub was like 12 dollars a month and then any additional sub added to THAT account was 6 dollars per tivo. so im thinking hey I'll add one more tivo to my kids room and 24 dollars a month for three tivos isn't that bad. WRONG, the people in marketing have turned on long time subscribers. The want to charge me 10 bucks for adding a USED tivo to my network and LOCK me into a 1 year contract. I'm sick of these contracts, and I think the rest of us are sick of them as well!! I will NEVER activate or recommend Tivo service to another friend again. I understand locking a person into a 1 year commitment on NEW equipment, I understand that new equipment is sold at below COST, I GET THAT PART.... However that is the FIRST TIME buyers responsibility to pay that cost. If this is the best that the marketing department can come up with then FINE. like I said I will never activate another tivo or recommend the service until I see TIVO changes, that includes getting rid of current marketing directors.

Now let me tell you THE real reason companies use the business model of locking people into contracts.... It has little to do with EQUIPMENT !!! It has to do with ACCOUNTING and share holders.... See if a company can show they have X amount of subs for Y amount of time the the share price goes up... What does that do for me the SUB holder , NOTHING. All it does is take away my right to shop around for a better service.... Think about it... all these new business models of bundling and X year commitment contracts take away your right to make the market more competitive. Tivo was a small grass roots company that was doing fine, the sub base was growing. I'm saddened to see that big business has stepped in to ruin a once outstanding product!

[WhiskeyTango]

As much as you may believe this to be the case, the truth is Tivo is not your friend and Tivo is not your family. They have no obligation to do what is in YOUR best interest. They are a business and answer to their shareholders, who are the owners of the company. The whole point of a business is to make money and show a profit which Tivo has not been able to do much as of late. Also, how has the product been ruined? The price went up, the product itself is no different.

People seem to find the current pricing confusing as it is and you want a whole separate set of rules for older/used equipment? Your ORIGINAL Tivo agreement is only for the boxes you originally purchased while that was the current price plan. You don't get grandfathered in to that deal for life, why would you assume that you would?

Does that USED Tivo work any differently than a new one? No? Then why should you get a service price discount? Tivo turned on long-time subscribers? Maybe you're right. The guy I've been buying gas from for the past 10 years has turned on me over and over, sometimes more than one time a week when his prices rise. The cable company has turned on me too by increasing their prices. So has the phone company, Blockbuster, etc. Prices rise, that's part of life where inflation and profits exist. You are LOCKED in to a 1-year deal? Were you planning on taking the Tivo away from your kid in a couple of months? No? Worst case scenario, you have to wait a couple of months before switching to an alternative DVR, which it doesn't seem like you'd do since you have been with Tivo for 5 years and own 3 units. You seem to be satisfied with the product. Yet you are willing to drop Tivo like a bad habit over $4? If you are that strapped for cash, maybe you shouldn't be considering a 3rd Tivo.

[classicsat]

You orriginal pricing agreement was only for that activation, not a perpetual guarantee further boxes could get the then available rates.

The commitments are to guarantee revenue from new units sold at cost or at a loss. They have no way to know, or at least care to not to know or discern old units from new for new activations, which your "found" box counts as. Also, there is probably a fixed cost to start account. If boxes are constantly re-activated, that cost adds up. If they can make a box be subscribed for a certain period, they can absorb the activation costs easier.

Should the have special deals for activating old equipment? Likely perhaps. But they don't right now, and there is no real fiduciary reason for them to.