Tivo Institutes 1 Year Service Contracts

azoblue writes "TiVo recently changed their customer agreement, allowing them to institute service contracts with early cancellation fees." From the article: "According to the new service agreement, any TiVo activated after September 6 will require a 12-month commitment. Those who cancel before the end of their contract, or have their contracts terminated by TiVo, will be forced to pay a $150 early termination fee ... Although not specified in the new agreement, some customers have reported that adding a new TiVo to their service makes contracts activated before that date also applicable to the new policy."

Comments

Reasonable

[Anonymous Coward]

This seems reasonable, a way to have guaranteed revenue stream and a penalty for people who cancel early.

Re:Reasonable

[saden1]

Umm, what if you become unhappy with their service and want to opt-out? Anytime you lock-in a consumer you're not being reasonable in my opinion. I mean, if I'm unhappy why shouldn't I be able to change service?

Re:Reasonable

[KillShill]

a contract is a contract, except when it's between a little customer and a giant corporation. then it's always in the company's favor regardless of merit.

Re:Reasonable

[monkeydo]

The contract certainly spells out the terms under which TiVo can terminate the agreement. Most likely based on events like you not paying your bill. If they didn't have that right under the contract, they'd have to sue you each month you didn't pay your bill. There is a difference between a termination under the terms of the contract, and a breach.

Re:Reasonable

[tomhudson]

If youhad RTFA, you'd have found they're sneaking this in the back door.

"Apparently you have to read the fine print, because there is no mention of a service contract during the setup phase on tivo.com."

Also, they're making it so that even if you bought and paid for your TIVO a year ago, and paid full price, with no discounts or incentives, buying another one will make you have to agree to the $150 cancellation penalty PER MACHINE.

That's bullshit. You can't unilaterally alter a pre-existing contract. It would be like buying a second cell phone on a second line, and being charged an early cancellation fee on both lines if you changed services, even though your first cell line is already fully-amortized.

MythTV

[Raven42rac]

I was flirting with getting a tivo, but have reconsidered. I already have a DVD recorder, and as much of a pain as it is, I'm going to build a mythtv box. Tivo obviously does not care about their consumers, only about money and fellating hollywood.

Re:MythTV

[SeaFox]

actually its really amazing and has changed the way I watch tv. What makes Tivo better (and more costly)?

Actually nothing. The interface may be better, I don't have a TiVo. What's going on here is U.S. Cable conglomerates being greedy. You're in Canada I take it being on Rogers. In the U.S. cable providers don't make their boxes available to buy at Best Buy, Circuit City, ect. If you did manage to procure a box (like by keeping one from your cable provider or buying one on eBay) the new provider would refuse to authorize it on their systems. In fact, if I remember right, buying digital cable boxes online is illegal (probably since the boxes are never meant to be sold and therefore are considered stolen property on the marketplace). And now they've probably added DMCA stuff to the mix.

If you want to record a digital cable station while watching another you can either rent a second converter box to use solely with your TiVo or other PVR (none of which can deencrypt the digital signal on their own), or rent a PVR with dual tuners from your cable company. U.S. cable companies will not allow you to purchase outright any digital cable box, only rent.

Cable companies sucker people in with the extra channels on digital cable, not mentioning how it will keep them from being able to record and watch the higher channels without paying a second box fee like they have been able to with analog cable and a VCR for decades. Plus, they do stuff like disable the S-video port of cable boxes so TiVo can't make the box tune stations on it's own. When you call and complain, they will be sympathetic, then they'll offer you a DVR rental for a low monthly fee to alleviate your sudden issues using TiVo. :-)

And TiVo drops out of the contendership

[Ka D'Argo]

I was considering getting TiVo.

Digital cable (even basic cable) is getting extremely high priced, and this is with no DVR style record feature. Not keen on a satelite dish either, heard some horror stories from other family members and friends.

TiVo looked great, record what you want when you want so you never miss something. Skip commericals (bout frakking time) and more. Now they've taken some ancient MSN/AOL type deal where you gotta have a service plan contract? Sorry, no thank you.

What if something where to happen where you couldn't afford that TiVo every month? (Granted yes money management saves alot but anyone can fall on tough times), you suddenly gotta cough up $150 flat fee cause you needed to save a few monthly payments and use it for gas or food? Yea, that'll go over real well.

Watch for a slow rise in the bittorrent community in the coming year or so as more TiVo like providers probably switch to similar "plans".

Reverse

[The Angry Artist]

TiVo - Take(ing) back your TV

Scaring Away Customers?

[kushboy]

I guess this makes sense in a way. But with competitors, wouldn't this cause some potential customers to back away? Once someone buys a Tivo, I'd think they'd stick with the Tivo service over changing to another company. So this affects new customers mostly, who might be scared away.

This is why

[bl968]

This is why you shouldn't use Tivo. If you have one replace it with one from a different manufacturer. If you are thinking about buying one get any but tivo several posts here offer alternatives. If Tivo is driven out of business by their customers based on their abusive policies it will be a stern warning to those who follow!

Sell the blades, give away the razor...

[HotNeedleOfInquiry]

Just a change in business plans, RTFA. Tivo is giving deep discounts and rebates for the hardware. $50 for a Tivo means that they *have* to get a service commitment to break even.

Nothing new here, move along...

I don't get it...

[jerkychew]

...Are they trying to get rid of their customers?

I mean, a few years ago, Tivo was a wonderful, one-of-a-kind service. Back then, maybe something like this would fly. But now, with virtually every cable company out there offering their own DVRs, the novelty of having a tivo has pretty much worn off. Sure, nobody's DVR can match the ease of use or features of a Tivo, but I don't think a tivo is worth the $150 price premium they're imposing on their users.

I have two Tivos, a 40 hour and a 140 hour. I have them cuz they 'just work', and I haven't gotten around to building a stable MythTV box yet. I'm also a Tivo Rewards member, with 6 referrals under my belt. With this new pricing strategy, those two Tivos will be the last I ever buy, and I'll never recommend a Tivo to anybody again.

Re:I don't get it...

[Anonymous Coward]

I have two Tivos, a 40 hour and a 140 hour.

I have a media center computer (which I am using to write this message, and everything else) on a big screen TV, and two bittorrent clients installed.

I download all my TV (95% of what I download is TV) because it is easier than my DVR, which is setting next to the TV. Yes, the downloads have no commercials and are often in HD, but that is not why I do it. I download because it is easier, I can hold for as long as I want, and the computer has a much better interface than Tivo or my DVR.

Using Media Player Classic, one click and I'm paused. One click, and I scroll through the program. Use my mouse wheel to change volume. I can resize the window in a snap, and surf while I watch or listen to TV.

I am waiting for the networks to get their heads together, and start offering TV shows for download via their own bittorrent server, one week after they air, with commercials, in a very clean format. That is fine with me, I don't need it the same day it came out (If I haven't seen it, its new to me). This way they don't piss off their local broadcasters, I have to register with them and use their site to get access to the content (and they can show me ads on that website) and they can offer CD sets of their shows on their own site.

THIS is what TV should be in the 21st century. One stop shopping for media content, not because I am forced to, but because they offer a good product, relevent advertising and quality programming. I would even pay a nominal fee for membership to the "Fox Network Bittorrent Server".

Tivo contract

[No2Gates]

What they're doing is the same as the cell phone companies have done for years here in the US. They reduce the price of the phone to below wholesale to get you to sign up, then they get you to stay by signing the 1 year contract. You might be able to get out of signing a contract if you pay full price for the Tivo...

Somewhat true.

[agent dero]

Wow, this is like Digg three days later.

Anyways, the service contracts seem to be for those customers who get the rebate from TiVo, in order to ensure that TiVo doesn't lose money offering up $150 rebates to new customers.

It's TiVo's marketshare to lose anyways.

Dying, dying, dead?

[cloudnin]

I don't have a TiVo, but judging from the articles about TiVo that make it to /., I have to think that in any sane universe this would be the last straw, signaling the end of TiVo. So I guess the logical question is: How long till the FCC makes TiVo mandatory?

Also, what's the status of being able to skip over commercials? Is this still allowed or has it been significantly changed from the way it was originally? Might this new 12-month commitment presage an end to being able to skip commercials? (So that people can't end their service penalty-free when they realize one of the major functions of TiVo is no more).

And under what conditions can TiVo terminate your contract? Failure to pay your bill on time? Hacking the TiVo? Still having the recording of Janet's boob on it? Or what?

Who are these "on the fence" people??

[jkeegan]

Ok, I'm still stunned there are people who haven't decided to get a TiVo yet in this day and age. Slashdot comments like "Well, I was on the fence.. I was about to get one.. But NOW.. nope!" are astounding.. If you don't have one already, I don't get the feeling you were about to sign up anytime soon.. What else did the box need to do for you - produce gold?

As for this most recent news article, it shouldn't affect anyone who's thought about this for more than 10-15 seconds.. Paying the $12/month fee is a suckers game - they let you pay a one-time fee (originally $199, then $249, now I think $299) for the LIFETIME of the unit.. If you have it more than 2 years, the lifetime subscription paid for itself and you're free - if you opted to pay $12 per month, you're losing money.

Who are these slashdot readers who are getting paid so poorly that they can't afford $299 up-front instead of the screw-you-layaway-plan option? They are the only ones who are affected or should be complaining about this change.

Every time TiVo makes some change that lets them stay alive, someone's there to complain that they're not going with them now. No one's buying it - you're not getting the company to change their plan - they're not reading slashdot to see if you're happy about it or not.

Oh yeah - one last thing.. From now on, anyone considering getting a TiVo: TiVo Inc just made it easier to see that the $$/month is a sucker's game.. To "make out" on that deal you'd have to buy a TiVo, decide AFTER a year that you don't like it, but BEFORE two years.. Then maybe you'd save UP TO $150.. Again - who is making these low salaries?!

(and yes, I know DirecTivo people don't have the lifetime option - but then again DirecTV isn't marketing DirecTiVos anymore either)

oh, ffs...

[rjhall]

I just bought a tivo. It was free after the $150 rebate.
the box is obviously worth something, so if I cancel before some reasonable time I'd expect to pay for that box (or return the box).
Surely that isn't difficult to understand?

Not that big a deal!

[mmeister]

I'm not sure why people are freaking out over this. This is tied to the $150 rebate they offer and it looks like it works just like the cellphone plans. You get a phone for $49, but are required to stay with their service for 2 years. Oh wait, Tivo isn't requiring a 2-year commitment.

You're getting the $199 Tivo for $49 and are bitching that it is linked to a 1-year minimum contract. So you bitch about a $199 box and tell Tivo they should make it cheaper. They figure out a way to absorb the cost only to have you bitch about that.

P.S. Yes, I realize all the DRM crap Tivo is pulling -- but as far as I can tell, it is unrelated to the rebate/service agreement setup they've got going.