TiVo Community Forum Archive 1 (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/index.php)
- TiVo Coffee House - TiVo Discussion (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/forumdisplay.php?forumid=3)
-- Not Pleased with Gift TiVo (http://archive.tivocommunity.com/tivo-vb/showthread.php?threadid=181949)

If you are setting it up anyways, why not just activate it for them? Set it up at your place with their TV lineup, and maybe even put in a few season passes for shows you know they like. If you have the same lineup, let it record a couple shows even so they have something to try out when they get it.

It is silly that you would need a credit card to activate a gift subscription, but if they won't be charged, I don't see much of a problem. If they don't have a credit card, I would assume calling TiVo support would probably activate you over the phone.