Ever since I got my TiVo back in 2006 I’ve been a huge fan of it. True, it’s frustrating to have to attach the little infrared lights to my cable box, and although the DVR functionality works amazingly, many of the other features leave a lot to be desired.
Last year before I was preparing to move to California I decided to cancel my cable and TiVo subscription. I did not plan to have cable when I got to San Mateo. My subscription was very difficult to cancel. First, I had to call them because there is no way to cancel TiVo online. Then the person I got on the phone acted like if I canceled TiVo they were going to get beaten. This wasn’t the normal “Here are a list of reasons you should stay a subscriber” routine, it was more of a “please, please, please don’t quit or they will cut my fingers off” routine. Odd, right? Regardless, they canceled my subscription and that was that.
A couple months ago, now back in Madison, I decided to get cable again and of course I reactivated my TiVo subscription. Apparently that was a big mistake.
Last week, I got AT&T U-verse installed. Part of that package is I get a DVR which for no extra cost per month does 95% of what I used my TiVo for. In addition to that, it can record four shows at once, does not require any IR cables and if I subscribed to them, it would record HD content. Pretty sweet deal, eh? The closest way to match that setup with TiVo would be to get the new TiVo HD which only records two shows at once, and if I want to avoid IR cables I’d have to get two CableCards so it could decode the signal. One of those boxes cost $299.99 plus $12.95/month for the data feed that tells it what shows are on and when.
When I had cable, I had considered buying one of these. My existing TiVo does not record HD and does not support CableCard. $299.99 would not have been that bad of a deal. However with U-verse that doesn’t seem like that good of a deal anymore.
So since I have U-verse, there is no sense in continuing to pay for cable and TiVo. I call Charter and tell them I want to cancel, they have their methods to try to keep me, but generally it’s offering me a discount, or switching me to a different plan. When I say “no thanks, I just want to cancel” they do it and that’s it.
TiVo was another story. First when I tried to cancel I got the pleading person on the other end again.
TiVo: Wha.. wha.. why would you ever want to cancel your TiVo?
Me: I don’t have cable anymore (technically true)
TiVo: You can use it with an antenna to record over the air broadcasts
Me: Yeah, I don’t watch network TV
And it goes on and on. Eventually I get him to agree to cancel it with one caveat. I’m going to get charged in one lump sum the remainder of my one year contract, something like $140. Are you kidding me?
I can understand having a minimum contract if I got a discount when buying my TiVo “Save $100 on a new TiVo with a one year subscription” or something like that. This is an old TiVo that they have gotten more then a years worth of subscription out of. Just because I reactivated it two months ago and now want to cancel they are going to screw me.
I’m sorry but this isn’t the way to keep customers. Yes, I was canceling my service, but I still had a positive image of TiVo. If I ever got cable again I would probably buy the HD TiVo and they would get more money out of me. Instead, they played hardball in order to not lose the $140 for my one year of subscription and in exchange just made an enemy. I understand that TiVo is going out of business, they are having a real hard time competing with the DVRs from the cable and satellite providers. This however is not how you compete. You don’t keep customers by making it harder for them to quit, you make it so they don’t want to quit.
When TiVo came out it was an incredibly innovative product. Now it’s just another DVR, albeit a DVR with a really great, easy to use interface. My U-verse DVR took me about 10 minutes to figure out completely. It’s actually a pretty easy to use interface, especially with all the on demand stuff built in.
Maybe TiVo is doomed. It certainly is if they keep trying to do what they are currently doing. They are trying to innovate by tacking on all these half baked extra features that frequently don’t work and certainly don’t feel like a part of the whole interface. I had been really excited when I found out Rhapsody was coming to the TiVo. I’m a huge fan of Rhapsody despite its flaws. However the TiVo client rarely works. It might play one or two songs before crashing. I tried using TiVo to go which should allow me to move my recordings over to my computer to play when I’m not at home. Why then was it all crippled with some odd DRM? I should have just been able to copy an MP2 or MP4 off of the box and do what I wanted with it.
I’m not sure what they can do to become innovative again. Needless to say I don’t plan on continuing to care. They have completely lost me as a customer and as an advocate.
UPDATE: I just got a call from TiVo and since I was only 10 days outside of my 30 day cancellation window they are allowing me to cancel without the fee. Thanks TiVo!