TiVo Community Forums Archives - Lifetime service vs. monthly

TiVoCommunity.com
(c)opyright 1995-2005 All rights reserved
indexcheckTC
This area is a static history of posts in the TiVo Community Forum Archive.
This archive history was made for the simple indexing of search sites like Google.

Pages:1

Lifetime service vs. monthly
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)

Posted by: rlc1

Are there any statistics on how many Tivo users get the lifetime service vs. the monthly service? I just bought my Tivo last week and I'm using the monthly service for now, but I had been planning to switch to the lifetime service, maybe in 2-3 months, after I decide if the unit works ok, and whether I really like it or not (I just moved over from owning a ReplayTV). In other words, I didn't want to commit $299 right away.

Now I'm thinking, maybe I'll just stick with the monthly service. My reasoning is that it will take me almost two years to recoup my investment on lifetime service ($299 / $12.95 = about 23 months), and in that time, who knows if I will stick with the same Tivo unit I have now? By that time, Tivo could come out with a better unit that I really want, or a competitor might come out with something I like better.

Any thoughts?

Posted by: phone1

Your forgetting that you can sell your lifetime box and probably recover at least $200 of the lifetime sub. That means your break even is $100/$12.95 or 8 months.

Posted by: efilippi

I stuck with monthly because I was worried the box wouldn't last very long. I figured it's a machine that hasn't been sold for too many years and has continuously moving parts.

I felt justified after I was forced to return my Sony SA unit for service after about three months. Then I got it back, had a second hard drive installed to boost the recording capacity, and now it has been running like a charm for about three years.

I should have gone lifetime, but I don't regret my decision. It seemed right at the time, even if history proved me wrong.

Posted by: dgh

quote:
Originally posted by rlc1
My reasoning is that it will take me almost two years to recoup my investment on lifetime service ($299 / $12.95 = about 23 months), and in that time, who knows if I will stick with the same Tivo unit I have now? By that time, Tivo could come out with a better unit that I really want, or a competitor might come out with something I like better.

Such questions were posted here when I bought mine too, but I would have paid approximately twice as much (so far!) if I had gone monthly. So with monthly, you get to pay more for service and it seems to make people feel freer to pay more money yet again to get the latest box. It's definitely the "deluxe plan".

I say "feel" because as phone1 points out, you just sell your lifetime when you sell your old box. Some people have reported getting more for their "used lifetime" than they originally paid for it thanks to price increases. Over the last few years, there were many worse things that you could have been "invested" in than TiVo lifetime subscriptions. [insert standard past results investment disclaimer :D]

Posted by: cptodd

I always consider that I recoup all that I have paid for the lifetime when I sell it. It is the hardware that gets the discount in my mind. So when I sold my Series 1 I considered the full $249 for the lifetime and then I charged $200 for the TiVo itself. I figure that a lifetime is a lifetime. It does not wear out ever. Only the box goes bad (though if the box breaks and it can't be repaired I wonder if you can transfer the lifetime?)

Posted by: purple6816

Well I bought my Direct TiVo's for $99 each. Then bought one lifetime and they gave it to me on both. So it was a hell of a deal.

I did miss the upgrade to series to and move the lifetime deal. (damn). But, maybe they will do it again for the series 3.

I hate monthly charges. So lifetime is good for me.

Posted by: RMBittner

quote:
Originally posted by cptodd
Only the box goes bad (though if the box breaks and it can't be repaired I wonder if you can transfer the lifetime?)

No, you can't. The lifetime subscription is for the life of the *unit*, not the owner.

Bob

Posted by: Bigdude

quote:
Originally posted by efilippi
I stuck with monthly because I was worried the box wouldn't last very long. I figured it's a machine that hasn't been sold for too many years and has continuously moving parts.

What moving parts? Except for the hard drive and the fan, both of which are very easy to replace, there are no other moving parts.

Posted by: phone1

quote:
Originally posted by cptodd
Only the box goes bad (though if the box breaks and it can't be repaired I wonder if you can transfer the lifetime?)

quote:
Originally posted by RMBittner
No, you can't. The lifetime subscription is for the life of the *unit*, not the owner.

Bob

Yes you can. It happens all the time. If you return a TiVo to the manufacturer's authorized service center for repair for any reason, during or after warranty, they will transfer your subscription to a new unit (of the same type).

We've also had people post here who had there TiVos replaced under a retailer's extended warranty and had their subscription transferred. In some cases Series 1 owners even received a new Series 2 due to the unavailability of the older model.

From TiVo's website:

quote:
The product lifetime subscription accompanies the product in case of ownership transfer. The subscription remains in effect if your DVR needs to be repaired or replaced due to a malfunction...

Posted by: rlc1

quote:
Originally posted by RMBittner
No, you can't. The lifetime subscription is for the life of the *unit*, not the owner.

Bob

I got the extended warranty from Circuit City for $54.99. It gives me 3 years parts and labor, and also allows me to have the lifetime service switched to a new unit (if necessary) just by bringing a broken unit into the store.

Posted by: RMBittner

quote:
Originally posted by phone1
Yes you can. It happens all the time.

Cool! Thanks for the correction.

Bob

Posted by: cptodd

quote:
Originally posted by RMBittner
No, you can't. The lifetime subscription is for the life of the *unit*, not the owner.

Bob

I realize that the lifetime is for the life of the unit and not the owner but I was wondering if your box breaks in an irreparable way could one transfer the lifetime. Not the HD but if say the chip in the unit goes bad or something that is not so easily fixed could it be transfered.

Posted by: timckelley

I became a TiVo owner for the first time about a half year ago. I visited these forums some months prior, as well as TiVo's website, and I could tell, even though I had never seen a TiVo with my own eyes, that I would like it so much that lifetime would be a better deal for me than monthly.

Here I am 6 months later, and I still rely on and enjoy my new TiVo technology now, as much as I did when I first bought it.. The unit still works perfectly, and there's no sign in sight that my lifetime decision was wrong. I intend to get many years of use out of TiVo.