Tivo Complaint/Rant
 

Some months ago I decided to pick up a tivo after hearing all the raving, while I won't say it's 'revolutionized how I watch tv' cause I don't really watch that much tv to begin with, it's been a nice lil item. I picked up the 40 hour with the DVD burner on it for $300 at the time, no big deal. Til recently ...

The credit card I had on file for the 12.95 monthly fee expired and I thought no big deal, I'll get it reactivated and situated tomorrow... til I realized exactly how useless this thing is without the paid subscription - not because it's crap without their subscription but because they restrict the entire box from recording anything even if you try to manually record something without a subscription.

Oh, and not to mention the nifty little info box that displays your channel information turns into an annoyance that tells you your box is deactivated EVERYTIME YOU CHANGE THE CHANNEL.

All that had me wondering whether I really wanted to keep this thing but against my better judgement I figured I'd go ahead and reactivate it... Then I saw this little gem....


Now, I've also heard if you buy the lifetime subscription (at the lovely price of an addition $299 ) and your box decides to die on you and they have to replace it - your 'lifetime' subscription is null and void on the new box.

Maybe I'm sounding cheap at this point - but I figure if I pay 300 dollars for a DVR, I'll at the very least be able to record with it manually without me absolutely having to pay a 13 bucks a month for it to be any use other then pause and rewind.

And if I reactivate it (since I was pre september 6th 2005) I guess if it ever goes inactivate again, they're going to rob me of another 150 bucks?

I'm starting to wonder why I didn't just pick up one of those DVRs with the free 14 day guide and manual recording...

/end rant

What Cable/Dish service do you use?

Have Cox Cable.. They have the DVRs you can get but I usually end up spending quite a few months traveling (and usually in a different cable area) so I wanted something I would be able to switch locations with.

Mainly I'm just surprised at how much of a blatant rip-off they look like when you have alternatives.

When tivo was first created, I thought it sounded fantastic, but every time I talk to a salesman or read about it, it sounds like such a fishy, un-consumer friendly business model, I end up not buying it.

When you use the cable company DVR,typically it's just a monthly fee with no up-front payments (and for Timewarner, at least, it's less than the TV monthly fee).

The downside is that you have to have the digital cable, and not just basic or standard.

I ran into that to. But I got a $150 mail in rebate with a minimum 1-year subscription. I figured that's how they got that money back if you cancel early, so I was cool with it. Pretty crappy if you're not eligible for the rebate though.

They get worse the more they cozy up to advertisers and the networks, but they are still head and shoulders above the competition. It's not to difficult to make one of these boxes, a lot of people make their own. Sooner or later a worthwhile competitior will come.

I think you can get around the early termination fee by just sending back the equpiment. I know this is true with Directv. What use is the DVR/Tivo if you don't have the service anyways? I am not sure about the $300 model though, mine was free.

heh, I'll pass.

How does a DVR work without a guide or subscription? Do you just wait until the show starts to record it? That would be teh suk.

Me, too. Sounds like a better fit for your needs.

There are plenty of TiVo customers/subscribers who are quite happy with the product and service. Sounds like that's more than you need, for whatever reason. I don't think, however, that any of these "revelations" about their contract commitment or the like are exactly hidden -- they are pretty forward about what you're buying. Service companies are interested in getting you to pay for their service -- that's kinda what they do.

Best of luck with it.

I'd assume it works like a VCR. Program it and it'll record whatever you program, you just don't have a guide and pick the show to record but go by the hour the show's on...

FM

Yup. This doesn't sound like a problem with TiVO to me so much as you buying something without being informed that it totally didn't fit your needs. TiVO is still the most well-made DVR out there by far.

besides, there are alternatives to the Tivo provided guides.

I like the service, I thought it was useful - especially some of the automatic 'tivo' recording, I just thought it was kind of shabby that the thing is useless without a subscription, but I figured okay, that's fine - whatever. I can chalk that up as not really giving it much thought concerning not being able to even manually record (still surprised though)

Til I seen the early termination fee, and I guess more so that is where I'm uninformed and a little confused. My box itsself was purchased and 'activated' before september 6th, I didn't purchase it via informicial or via a secondary company, I bought mine off the shelf at best-buy.

Anyway, so the confusion comes in at - if I reactivate my subscription now, am I obligated to subscribe for a minimum of 1 year, or am I exempt from that claus since mine was originally activated around July?

I don't have an issue with paying for the subscription, I just don't like purchasing a product then * months afterwards* having to sign a contract that wasn't apart of the deal for it to be useful again.

I pay $10 dollars a month for my DVR from Comcast (which is also my HD box so I'd have to pay for it anyways) and I have never seen anything Tivo offers that justifies the extra upfront cost on top of a more expensive subscription fee. It seems silly to me.

From what you've said it sounds like you let your subscription lapse by defaulting on payment (leaving an expired credit card on file). I bet if you had contacted them before your credit card expired you would have kept the original subscription and not required a new one with a contract. It sucks, but it doesn't sound to me like its really TiVo's fault in any way...

I heart Tivo