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How to get paid $51 to get a new TiVo

This is interesting: TiVo has just upped their rebates to $150 cash back if you buy a TiVo between today and November 27, 2005. The rebate rules don't say you have to buy your TiVo direct from TiVo.com, so you can buy it elsewhere. Amazon is selling a 40 hour TiVo for $99 on their site. Dell is also selling them at $99.

So the math is simple, buy a new TiVo for $99, mail in your $150 rebate and come out $51 dollars ahead in the end. If you've ever wanted to try out TiVo, now's the time to do it as this is the best deal I've seen to date. If you want a way to thank me, just toss "matt@haughey.com" in as the referring TiVo customer when activating your new TiVo.

Also worth mentioning is that if you want a high-end TiVo, a 300 hour monster box and 80 hour-with-DVD-recorder are both only $199 after the rebates. These boxes used to sell for about $500. [thanks for the tip, Davis!]

update: some people commenting are saying the amazon deals may not be eligible -- but by my reading of the rules, the answer to this FAQ is that amazon and dell are listed on TiVo's approved sellers page and the model number of the TiVo box starts with 540, which is allowed on the first point. The only thing that may make a purchase inelligible is this question, which is vague as there's no easy way to tell why amazon and dell are selling the boxes at $99, if that assumes another deal is in place (though it doesn't involve a rebate, both places selling them at $99 on checkout).

So I can't guarantee the amazon and dell deals will result in a greater rebate than the price, but according to their rules it certainly appears to be that way.

update #2: Well it looks like the party is over, as Dell has pulled the $99 unit and Amazon has upped the price to $199. So looks like a new TiVo will cost you $49 from here on out.

by Matt Haughey September 4, 2005 in TiVo

Comments

This is still a great deal, however, don't forget the service fee ($300 lifetime or $12 monthly).

My recommendation is to take the $50 and put it toward the liftime service. You'll come out way ahead of those going with cable DVRs (which are no comparison to a TiVo).

The money I saved from my cable bill after dropping their DVR paid for my TiVo in just a few months. Now I've got extra cash for every month after!

Go TiVo!

Posted by: JB at Sep 4, 2005 1:25:51 PM

Do any of the (non-DirectTV) Tivos sport dual tuners yet? That's the one thing that's kept me from switching from my cable DVR-- for a while price was the other factor, but really they're about even at this point.

Posted by: Molly at Sep 4, 2005 1:44:15 PM

There is a $150 for cancelling TiVo service early. TiVo will have your credit card number.

Posted by: Tom at Sep 4, 2005 4:08:02 PM

Sweet! a while back I had bought a 40 hour until which was $50 after rebate, but it was defective and I sent it back, and have kinda regretted in since then... now I can get another one and make $50? I am stoked!

Posted by: Tricia at Sep 4, 2005 4:30:12 PM

$150 penalty for cancelling before one year of service ends.

Posted by: Vern at Sep 4, 2005 7:12:08 PM

You might want to call TiVo and make sure this will work before you rush ahead and buy. The "Terms and Conditions" pretty clearly state that this offer isn't valid with any other offer, including "instant rebates" at the retailer. If Amazon and Dell prices are due to such an offer (and they almost certainly are), then you are just setting yourself up for frustration.

Posted by: Chucky at Sep 4, 2005 8:19:38 PM

Here's a number from the Terms and Conditions page:

For rebate Customer Support call 888-641-4128.

The page itself: http://www.tivo.com/2.6.1.10.asp

Good luck.

Posted by: Chucky at Sep 4, 2005 8:46:24 PM

Sounds great! One thing about that lifetime contract, what lifetime are we talking about? As it turns out, it's not your lifetime, but the lifetime of the Tivo apparatus.

Posted by: Rob Hood at Sep 4, 2005 10:43:18 PM

Sounds great if you have cable...

Posted by: david peters at Sep 5, 2005 3:20:17 AM

Rob, you do not need cable for the stand alone Tivos to work. The SA works just fine with DTV or Dish also. In fact there are advantages over the standard DTV Tivos in that you can take advantage of all of the HME applications such as serving your pictures, photos and internet content from your PC.

The only disadvantage is that you have to use the supplied RF transmitter with your Tivo which will send signals to your Sat receiver to switch channels.

>Posted by: Rob Hood at Sep 4, 2005 10:43:18 PM

>Sounds great if you have cable...

Posted by: ximoosea at Sep 5, 2005 6:00:05 AM

WRT the rebate larger than purchase price:
I purchased a TiVo at Sam's Club earlier this year, when they had the Humax 80hr box on sale for $49.81. This model (a 590, IIRC) was listed on the $100 rebate in effect at the time, and I did apply for and receive the rebate.

Karl

Posted by: Karl Schmidt at Sep 5, 2005 6:17:15 AM

i bought a tivo from best buy and they had a rebate. then i sent my rebate to directv and they creditd my account. this was back in nov. though. but it work then

Myk3

Posted by: Myk3 at Sep 5, 2005 1:37:56 PM

The order through Amazon for $99 appears to actually be going to Crutchfield.com - Amazon's own price is $199. Crutchfield isn't listed as a dealer on the site.

Is this a factor?

Posted by: Christopher at Sep 5, 2005 3:06:07 PM

# Activate TiVo® or TiVo Plus™ service before 01/15/06 and remain active for a minimum of 30 days (TiVo Basic service and TiVo Plus™ 45-day free trial are not eligible)

Posted by: sdsd at Sep 5, 2005 3:22:20 PM

I'm not sure if the Crutchfield deal will still result in a rebate, I'd say call the number before ordering to double check.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Sep 5, 2005 4:11:28 PM

Amazon now links to a $150 rebate form on their TiVo pages, at least on the Humax DRT800 I looked at. So it is explicitly clear that Amazon sales are eligible for the rebate.

This is great, I have spent the last few months considering buying a Humax TiVo with a DVDR to replace my old Sony Series 1 TiVo, I guess I'll take the plunge and do it. But I kind of wanted to buy an already-upgraded unit from someone like Weaknees.com, something with a much bigger hard drive. Oh well, I guess I'll do an aftermarket drive upgrade.

Posted by: Charles at Sep 5, 2005 4:27:29 PM

i just saw your update about the price going up to $199 and checked my link to amazon's 40 hour tivo, it still says $99

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00029ZE2S/violetteshomepag/103-2094454-4055848?%5Fencoding=UTF8&camp=1789&link%5Fcode=xm2

Posted by: er1cs at Sep 5, 2005 4:48:13 PM

yeah er1cs, that's through crutchfield, so I'm not 100% sure if the price is still eligible for the rebate.

Posted by: Matt Haughey at Sep 5, 2005 6:27:40 PM

Looks like the $99 unit is from Crutchfield. Are they listed as an accepted vendor on the Tivo rules for the rebate?

Posted by: Gabriel Steinbach at Sep 5, 2005 6:30:18 PM

Are Humax DVD-recorders with TiVo eligible?

Posted by: Greg C at Sep 6, 2005 12:00:10 AM

Looks like I missed the boat on this one.

Posted by: Joe at Sep 6, 2005 12:03:06 AM

Both Amazon and Dell have changed their price to $199 as of this morning, so now it's a "$50 after rebate" deal, not a "get paid $50" deal.

Posted by: Jimmy at Sep 6, 2005 6:09:16 AM

Tom and Vern: Just to clarify, there is a penalty for canceling the DirecTiVo service early if you have signed a one year agreement with them.

There is no service agreement with a stand alone TiVo unit. You either pay the monthly fee for as long as you like or pay a one-time fee for the life of the box.

Posted by: Jason Coleman at Sep 6, 2005 8:07:35 AM

If you hurry, you can get a Tivo 40 hr DVR for $89 at Chumbo (I have shopped with them before). The direct URL is:

http://www.chumbo.com/info.aspx?id=268733&ptr=prcgrab

I spoke with two Tivo rebate agents and after going through the rebate offer it seems that this purchase would qualify. So I ordered one. I already have a Tivo and we want to add one in our bedroom. The additional monthly service of $6.95 would qualify according to the Rebate agents.

Posted by: Jeff at Sep 6, 2005 8:25:49 AM

Seems to me that this applies to Humax TiVos too, so you can still get an 80 hour Humax Series 2 for some bit of money back:

http://www.buy.com/retail/product.asp?sku=90137410&loc=111&sp=1

Posted by: G Cymbala at Sep 6, 2005 9:27:52 AM

I can't find any place that offers a TiVo for less than $100. Did they finally catch on?

Posted by: Russell at Sep 6, 2005 9:43:15 AM

The Chumba site is now listing the 40 hour Tivo for $189.99.

Posted by: Jeff at Sep 6, 2005 10:26:06 AM

You can find the 80 hour Humax Series 2 at Dell for $128, so that's $22 dollars for buying a Tivo. Still not bad.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/ProductDetail.aspx?sku=A0496682&c=us&l=en&cs=19&category_id=5922&first=true&page=productlisting.aspx

Posted by: Jon at Sep 6, 2005 11:23:57 AM

Hello all.

Save a Dell $20 off code earlier, but cannot find it now. Does anyone have a current coupon code for Dell? I'm sure I'm not the only one here who could use an extra $20 off!

Tony

Posted by: Tony K at Sep 6, 2005 11:31:41 AM

I caught this blog the first day and decided to order a $99 unit. Amazon said $99 but was reselling for Crutchfield who had already upped the price to $199. I went ahead and bought through Amazon just to see what would happen. I received this email today:

- - - - - - - - - - -

On 2005-09-05, you purchased a sale-priced TiVo box from us via Amazon.com. As it happens, prior to your purchase, the manufacturer changed the sale offer from a $100 discount to a $150 mail-in rebate on TiVo Series2 DVRs -- which will save you an additional $50 on your TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder [Electronics] -- and it took us a day to catch up.

In order to be eligible for the rebate, the item must have been purchased at a pre-sale price of ${NewPrice}. Due to our delay in updating Amazon's price, you were billed $99.00. If you'd like to receive the additional savings, please let us know and we'll send you the necessary paperwork. We'll then cancel your original order and re-process it at the new price. Here's what it would look like:

Your original order: TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder [Electronics] at $99.00

New order: TiVo TCD540040 Series2 40-Hour Digital Video Recorder [Electronics] at $199.00 MINUS $150 mail-in rebate = $49.00 <--- A $50 savings

Of course, you may decide to keep the order as is, in which case a rebate form will not be sent. Either way, please let us know what you'd like to do so that we may ship your order without further delay.

You can reach us by e-mail at service@crutchfield.com, or by phone at 1-800-955-9091. Any of our Customer Service Representatives will be happy to help you. For fastest service, please be sure to include your Amazon order number (123-456-78910) in your correspondence, or have it handy when you call. In the meantime, we thank you for your business and hope to serve you again in the future.

Regards,
Crutchfield Support Team
http://www.crutchfield.com
service@crutchfield.com
1-800-955-9091

Posted by: Richard at Sep 7, 2005 9:34:12 PM

I was in the same boat as the person above, got the same email, I just wanted to update people, I just received another email from Crutchfield (Amazon) that said that they talked to TiVo and said that the original purchase price doesnt matter, the rebate will still stand and I will eventually get paid ~$50 to get my new TiVo, im pretty happy.

Posted by: Ryan at Sep 8, 2005 7:27:06 PM

This deal sounds a lot like wireless phones--free, but the monthly charges get you. After a few years, these wireless companies started to see this wasn't the best business model. Todd Lokken.

Posted by: Todd Lokken at Sep 24, 2005 8:03:05 PM

Hi there. I purchased a tivo when they had a 100.00 rebate back in Feb 2005. I guess I waited too long to send it in, because I received a denial on my rebate request. Does anyone have any clues as to how to still receive my rebate? IF possible??

Thanks, Pam

Posted by: Pam Clement at Sep 28, 2005 9:48:11 AM

To the person that wanted the $20 coupon code for Dell, here it is....

LIMITED TO FIRST 7,000 COUPON USERS
$20 off $150+ at the Dell Electronics & Accessories store.
Your order must be $150 or more, but below $1000 before tax, fees and shipping & handling. Use coupon code KLP5W4KQSWRHST in your online shopping cart. Excludes Dell branded configurable products such as: Select Dell DJs, Dell Projectors, Dell Plasma TVs, Dell Axims and Dell printers. Offer Begins: Sept. 22, 2005 8:00am CST, Offer Ends: Sept. 29, 2005 5:59am CST or after 7,000 uses
Offer may be combined with select other offers. Only one coupon may be applied per cart at checkout. Offers subject to change. Please verify eligibility in the cart before completing your purchase. (Excluded items receive the following notice: "The following coupons have been entered but require additional information or do not meet eligibility requirements.") Eligible items reflect the discount.

Posted by: Pam Clement at Sep 28, 2005 9:51:59 AM

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