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."

Where is the Tivo we all used to love?

[garcia]

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.

Well, with rebates that bring the devices under $50 and their recent radically retarded decisions such as presenting ads to users that bought a Tivo to rid themselves of ads, etc, it's no wonder they are going to these lengths!

I was the first to support Tivo for what their device and service did for my household. I am also the first to complain to Tivo and Slashdot (and various others including my parents who I had originally suggested a Tivo) that their service is no longer worth it.

Good riddance Tivo. While I still use your product (DirecTivo), I'm glad I'm not obligated to fall under any of your contractual and flighty mishaps.

Re:Reasonable

[tomhudson]

or have their contracts terminated by TiVo, will be forced to pay a $150 early termination fee

1. Take the consumers' money
2. Cancel their agreement the next day, before providing any services
3. Another $150 PROFIT!

Sounds fishy to me that they get to break the agreement, and the CONSUMER is penalized. It should be whoever breaks the agreement owes the other party. If its the consumer, they ante up $150. If its TIVO, Tivo should have to have the same obligation. After all, a contract is a contract. Whichever party breaks it should compensate the other party.

Re:And what about single-side-contract change?

[maetenloch]

In Tivo's defense here, they are really caught in bind that the various media licensing companies have set up. In order for Tivo to get a license to officially support DVDs, they also have to agree to support digital Macrovision. But Macrovision has a requirement in their license that any licensee must also support DRM including red flagging. So Tivo had a choice of a) never supporting DVDs b) fighting these inter-locking contractual requirements in court c) swallowing the entire bitter pill of restrictions.

Since Tivo is a barely profitable company under severe pressure from cable company PVRs, they (wisely IMO) chose option C. They were assured by Macrovision that red flagging would only be used on a very small number of programs, mainly PPV and special broadcasts. However, the reality is that the flags are under the control of local stations. The red-flagged King of the Hill episode mentioned in BoingBoing was apparently accidently flagged by a local affiliate, not by Tivo.

MCE

[georgi55]

That's why I use Windows Media Center edition 2005, bought a $50 200GB HD and $50 TV card, put them in old AMD 1700+ computer and I pay no monthly fee.

Re:MythTV questions

[Harker]

As far as aesthetics goes, I believe that MythTV is themeable, so you have a few choices.

Here are some screenshots [mythtv.org] to peruse.

I dithered between the idea of getting another Tivo (one not tied to DirectTV) and building a MythTV box. After their glitch, which allowed people to see the content restrictions that can be put in place, I've decided to build my own.

It'll take a few months though. Until then, I'll stick with the old fashioned way of recording. Setting the channels before I leave the house, and setting the VCR (crap that it is, It still records) to record.

H.

Re:Decisions, decisions...

[Belseth]

I'm considering going the other direction. I see a gradual errosion of TiVo and it's services. The whole thing is rediculous because if you want to use the box you have to have the service. I don't like contracts and would rather pay full price to avoid them. I went with a Virgin phone for that reason. Not the most cost effective but it's flexsible. Everyone wants to lock you into their service. My TiVo is already recording commercials passively, as I found out the other night when it force fed me an infomercial. It's only a matter of time before it starts showing you commercials whether you like it or not. I'm waiting on the day when they start PIP commercials while your recorded program runs. It will happen.

Re:Reasonable

[Belial6]

That's how I got out of my AT&T/Cingular contract. While Cingular is still trying to claim that it is impossible for them to fulfill thier contracts with AT&T bought customers, after filling a complaint with the FCC, I got a call from their "office of the president". When I kept pressing the person on the phone, and kept telling them that they are under contract, and breaking my phone service is a violation of that contract, they eventually cancelled my contract withour penelty.

The conversation went along the lines of...

Me: You have broken my phone. You need to fix the service or cancel the contract without penalty.

Cingular: We are aware of the problem, it is caused by our upgrades to the system. We can sell you a new phone, and move you to the Cingular network. That would solve the problem.

Me: Would that require a restart of the contract period? What would be the cost?

Cingular: Yes, it would restart your contract period. It would be about $10 more a month, and you would get 200 less minutes.

Me: Why would I sign a new contract with a company that has violated their existing contract, AND pay more for less minutes? That would be stupid of me wouldn't it?

Cingular: Well, I guess. There really isn't anything else we can do...

Me: No, you need to fulfill the existing contract.

Cingular: We can't do that.

Me: Then you are in breach of contract. To continue to bill me for a service that you know you are not providing is fraud.

Cingular: Well, if you read your contract, we don't guarantee service in all areas.

Me: I'm not complaining about various dead zones. I am complaining about zones that previously had service, and no longer has them. I am complaining about voice mail being delivered days later, and out of order. I am complaining about sitting still, and having calls disconnect.

Cingular: What would you like us to do about that?

Me: I would like you to fulfill your contract.

Cingular: Well, we don't like to do this, but we could cancel your contract.

Me: Without any penalty to me?

Cingular: Yes.

Me: Ok. That would be acceptable.

Re:Reasonable

[tomhudson]

Companies change thier TOS/EULA/Policies/Privacy stuff, etc ALL the time without prior notification.

Not where I live, they don't. Any such act is illegal (Consumer Protection Act) and you can ignore the change.

Up here, any change must be given by written notice, prior to the change coming into effect, so that the consumer may cancel. In such cases, there can be no penalty assessed for "early cancellation". The contract may not be changed during the time of its fixed duration, either, so if they say 1 year at $x, they can't then, halfway through, bump up the price, and, if you disagree, charge you a fee to cancel. They can't bump up the price, period! Its a contract, and they have to honour it.

At the end of the cotract, if they wish to change the terms, again they have to notify you in advance, in writing. You are free to accept or cancel without penalty.

What, you didn't notice when hotmail updated their EULA to say that anything you email or receive email about belongs to them, including any personal information, or private company information including patents etc?

... just goes to show, only suckers use hotmail. they get what they deserve. Besides, it wasn't legally enforceable, as it violated existing copyright law.

But there's still MS products that say you can't say anything negative about them without asking them first.

Another unenforceable clause. Here, Ill say it - Frontpage is a piece of shit. It was a piece of shit in '97, it was still a festering pile of crap in 2000 (last version I bought - never bothered using it because it WAS a stinking pile of crudescence). So, I've violated the EULA. Big deal. Let them sue me. I'm up for it. But I'll bet they're not.

Re:This ahs to do with a rebate they're giving

[cwj123]

But at the same time I recently activated a old box I had for a friend, and even though TiVo has made more than enough money off this box (it's a refurbished box from tivo.com that I used, passed to a friend, back to me (didn't activate), and now to another friend) they still feel the need to lock them into a year contract. Well I'm sorry to say that after my friends give up this box in a while (1-2 yrs) it won't be activated again and I'll never recommend TiVo to anybody. What ever happend to TiVo being a great company?