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you had to bring your own box without prior service on it of any kind and skip the rebate. I wonder if that is what is happening here?

gbnyc - did the TiVo HD you wnat to transfer service on already have some service activated or bundled with it?

You may not believe this but you can get the rebate on any rebate eligible TiVo when its activated no matter the method used to activated it, you people have it all incorrect as I and friends have been able to get a rebate on retail TiVos (not gotten from TiVo itself with bundled service) that were activated by a TiVo approved Lifetime xfers with never a problem. This includes a S1 pre Jan, 27 2000 lifetime activation or any lifetime gift sub. (you must meet all the purchase dates and activation date requirements and the TiVo can never have called in before the purchase date on your submitted receipt) The last time I know this was done was with the series 2 DT activated with a lifetime gift sub (before the Series 3 came out) The HD TiVo have no rebates as of now so the point is moot on the Series 3 or TiVo-HD units.

 

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Try this post... about 2/3 of the way down in the FAQ

http://www.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?t=290723

Plenty of people transferred Grandfathered (purchased on or before January 21, 2000) to the Series 3

Q. Can I transfer my Product Lifetime service contract to new hardware?

A. For Product Lifetime, the answer is no, just like today. This isn't really part of our announcement and the rules haven't changed, but since this is a frequently asked question I'm including it here. Product Lifetime is always tied to the specific box that you activated, as defined in the terms of the Product Lifetime Description: http://www.tivo.com/0.4.asp

There are only four exceptions:

30-day money back guarantee: During the first 30 days after you activate your Product Lifetime service, you can transfer freely from one unit to another.
Grandfather transfer: The one-time "Grandfather transfer" (for people who purchased Product Lifetime on or before January 21, 2000 [as in, more than six years ago], and who have not already used their one-time transfer) is still allowed and will also be honored for future hardware releases from TiVo, such as the Series3. If you have any trouble when you call, please mention KDB code 09-07-04 to the agent.
Authorized warranty replacement:In the event that a unit with Product Lifetime malfunctions, you can opt to have it repaired under warranty by the manufacturer. If the manufacturer (whether it's TiVo, Humax, Sony, etc.) cannot repair the unit and opts to replace it, we will transfer the Product Lifetime service to the new unit. In most cases this happens automatically. If not, you can usually make the change yourself in Manage My Account or by calling customer support.
Extended warranty through a retailer: As a courtesy, TiVo will usually allow a Product Lifetime service transfer in the case that you purchased an extended warranty from a retailer, and the retailer was not able to repair the unit and instead replaced it with an equivalent unit under the terms of their extended warranty program. Note that customer support might ask to see evidence of the extended warranty agreement.

That TiVo page no longer comes up (for me anyways) have you tried that link or is an old link ?