Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I currently have a V+ box and a V box. I believe I pay an extra £5 a month for the second box.

I called CS twice this week to try to find out how much my bill would change if I changed to
1 x TIVO and 1 x V box; or
1 x TIVO and 1 x V+ box; or
2 x TIVO

Just so that I can make an informed decision. The bit that was consistent was £49.99 for the TIVO, plus £3/month. But I didn't seem to be able to get to a straight answer on the overall cost change for the three options.

Both operators said that I could retain the V+ box (either for free or for £25, depending which person I was speaking with). When I asked whether that meant the £5 a month I currently pay would be knowcked off my bill I couldn't get a straight answer.

Can anyone help or advise? I'm beginning to wonder whether to approach it in two steps. First cancel the second box on today's service, making sure my bill comes down by the £5/month. Then after that's done, ring up and upgrade to a TIVO, taking the option to keep the V+ box for the second room

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I have spoken to CS on this matter also, the web site has said that Tivo is free to install, free box, but £3.00 per month.

But they have also brought out another Tivo box at £49.99 and instal cost (according to there website).

I think customers have got to be careful as VM will charge you the extra money without you knowing it, just like my mother in law and it took Neil Berkett to asort it out.

VM CS is shocking, and new a total revamp.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Your mother-in-law charges you extra money without you knowing it? :angel:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

If you slow down when posting a rant you might not confuse people so much ;)

---------- Post added at 14:29 ---------- Previous post was at 14:28 ----------

My mother in law showed my wife how to do that :LOL:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

:clap:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

As you already have two boxes the prices would be as follows.
£49.95 install
1 x £0 activation for a 500GB TiVo
or
1 x £49.95 activation for a 1TB TiVo
and then £3 a month

£49.95 install
1 x £0 for a 500GB TiVo
or
1 x £49.95 activation for a 1TB TiVo
and then £3 a month

£49.95 installation
1 x £0 activation and 1 x £49.95 activation for 2 x 500GB TiVo
or
1 x £49.95 activation and 1 x £99.95 activation for 2 x 1TB boxes
and then £6 a month

You may qualify for the free additional outlet offer which is a reduction on your current bill of £6.50 - so the net change after the addition of the TiVo fee would be a reduction of £3.50 a month, or 50p reduction with two TiVos

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

£6 a month for 2 Tivos's ?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Oops thanks, have corrected ;)

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

That sounds like the perfect deal for me.

I've just phoned CS again, they said they didn't know about a free additional outlet offer.

All I'm being offered is +£3 on my monthly bill if I go for one Tivo, +£6 if I go for two.

Maybe its just not my day!

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

What TV package are you on?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

TV XL, BB L, Phone L

Been a VM customer 12 years ex NTL if that's relevant

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Well you are on the right TV package, so don't know why it's not an option

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Cause CS don't know what they are doing when it comes to it on the additional box.
Ask to speak to a manager or go to retentions who will sort out the free additional box for you.
I have 2 Tivo's and a V+ and only pay £3 on top of my bundle for them (on XL TV)

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Have to point out that the TiVo costs how now changed - it would now be £6 for that setup

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Just phoned retentions - all sorted. Thanks everyone. Hugely appreciated.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

It's shocking you have to phone retentions not to get ripped off... :td:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I spoke with VM's main office this week, and they spoke my sense than CS, they need training in how to speak with customers etc.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Were you meant to say spoke more sense :D

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

:LOL:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Did you speak to sales or CS?

I have found that sales have far more knowledge, and there is far less chance of speaking to an overseas call centre where they have to stick to a script.

---------- Post added at 01:56 ---------- Previous post was at 01:52 ----------

You don't. They keep saving me money, whilst giving me more :)

Mind you, I did say that I was trying to decide to either move completely to Sky, or completely to VM. And I managed to get the Tivo install down to £20.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

my sister in law called vm to tell them she was moving house and wanted her services moving to the new house they offerd her her a free tivo box free activation and free intsulation in her new home as long as she signs a new 12 month contract and cause she recomended someone and they also signed up and got a tivo she got £50 credit ! ( i wanted to cry with jealousy ) lol.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

So you did have to phone retentions to get the best deal then...?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

No, I phoned sales, and sorted it all out with them.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I thought it was now £3 per account, not per box for Tivo and there was no extra charge if the V+ was retained :confused:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

He was replying to someone who had two TIVO boxes , the TIVO charge is now £3.00 per box.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

cheers for this BenMcr, just changed my V+ for a TiVo and got my bill lowered by £3.50. Never seen this advertised anywhere.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Thought I would tag my query onto this thread as the original post as been answered and it sort of relates;

I've been thinking of upgrading to TiVo from V+HD - currently I pay £5 a month for this, so in theory upgrading to TiVo should see this reduced to £3 saving me £2 per month.

However i'm not sure about this small stipulation in the T&C's - " Customers on non-standard pricing (such as loyalty discounts) must move to standard pricing to be eligible for offer. Virgin Media reserves the right to withdraw or amend discount if you change any part of your offer package."

Currently my bill (the one from May which shows a breakdown of the services not the recent months which only seem to summarise it as bundled charges) reflects a £17 discount for Phone, Bband & TV - Will I lose this if I upgrade to TiVo?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Sounds like a bundle discount on your account, so it should be ok as it's standard pricing. The T&C's are about Customer Relation discounts on top of these.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I'm confused :confused:

Why does it cost £50 more to activate a box where the only difference is the size of the hard drive?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

It costs VM more money to have that box produced. The customer benefits from the bigger HD and free replacement for life.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Will I lose my loyalty discount that I got from retentions over the sky carriage dispute if I upgrade to TiVo, please help!!!

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

So why call it an 'activation' cost? Just make people pay £50 for the box.

Typical smoke & mirrors to make people believe they're getting something for 'free', then slap on an additional charge...

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

You see smoke and mirrors in most industries these days, especially with large companies.

You just neeed to expect them, and look out for them.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Why not phone 'Retentions' and ask them?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Possibly, but you'd need to speak to Customer Care. I think that discount has run it's course though, we've had the Sky basics back a long time now :D ;)

I wouldn't let it stop you upgrading to a possibly better deal with TiVo, you may get a better package in the end anyway. :)

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

hi thinking of getting rid of sky.
i have basic virgin tv upstairs already.
I want to keep this but also have tivo downsairs. Can this be done with a standard 3 way splitter.
1 for tivo.
1 for std cable tV
1 for broadband connection.
Will this work.
No extra cost.
Will the signal strenth be ok for this?
let me know a clueless techo
:dunce:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

TiVo uses the same connections as "standard" cable. have you got a Virgin Connection already in the room you want TiVo?

p.s. :welcome: to the forum :wavey:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Yes i have broadband in this room. This has a 2 way splitter on it at present 1 for BB & a cable going upstairs for TV.
I am thinking of having tivo in the same room as the bb connection but keep my std cable tv upstairs. Is this possible & cost free?
PS thanks for the promt reply

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Because virgin then wouldn't be able to get it back if you leave

---------- Post added at 12:33 ---------- Previous post was at 12:32 ----------

Why would it be cost free?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

would it be extra cost for multi room?
i know i would have the extra tivo cost but this would be compensated with removing sky.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Yes, you can have both in the same room. What do you mean "cost free" a free TiVo and install?

The cost is free for the TiVo, installation is £49 (you can't install yourself)

http://shop.virginmedia.com/existing...x-upgrade.html

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

sorry confusion. cost for having tv in more than 2 rooms.
I understand about the installation costs

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Multi-room would apply, but as you say it will be off-set with disconnecting Sky. Check the full cost by starting the order on My Virgin Media and see what it shows you. Just don't complete the order if you don't want to continue! :D

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I am moving back to Virgin Media for TV having only had phone and broadband for many years. I asked the sales agent to put me on the VIP package. Whilst the VIP package on the site says 50Mb broadband she said that I would only get 30Mb and would have to pay extra to the advertised price if I wanted the 50Mb.

She also asked me if I wanted the 500Gb Tivo othe 1Tb. She said that it would cost an extra £99.90 (2 x £49.95) if I wanted the 1Tb. Is this correct?

They are coming to do the installation on Wednesday and I wanted to get everything clear before then. What extra would it be if I wanted a 500Gb instead of the V HD box as it makes more sense to do it all at the same time rather than have them coming out later to update the second box? Is there enough time to change the V HD box to a 500Gb Tivo box if the price is right before Wednesday?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

AIUI it was originally like this, then changed from per box to per account.

Am I correct and if so when/why did it change back again :confused:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

This is the first time it's been changed

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

It changed from per account to per box on the 1st November IIRC

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Seems there is a lot of confusion about this matter, which considering the conflicting replies I got even upto and including the generally excellent CEO's office staff isn't surprising.

• In my case we had an old NTL-branded Samsung STB.
• For the upgrade it was free 500GB TiVo (no install/activation/unit charge), extra £6.50 per month for M+ package and £3 for TiVo service.
• If the household wants another STB it's an additional £6.50 per box regardless of whether it's a V HD, V+ HD or 500GB TiVo, which means choosing the TiVo makes the most sense since you're getting more for your money.
• The £3 TiVo service charge applies to the whole household, regardless of whether you have one box or several... think of it as like the Sky Sports channels, where one subscription fee covers all STBs in the household.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

500GB TiVo is usually free activation. Whether you get free install or not as an existing customer depends on what offers are available at the time.

Not anymore it doesn't. It has now changed to per box for any ordered after 1st November

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Lame. So basically it's £9.50 per extra TiVo now.

...see what I mean about the pricing structure being baffling? ;)

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I'm confused, as somebody on VIP 50 (XL TV and Sky sports/movie HD) and looking to change V+ and VHD out for a 1TB and a 500gb TiVo and go up to 100 mb broadband at the same time i'm not sure what would be the best deal i could get and with the sounds of it i'm not sure anybody at Virgin really knows either.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

That different CS reps will give you different prices, is a a huge stain on VM's reputation. I never change my services without going on line and getting the correct price from someone like Ben. I shouldn't have to do that, but being quoted wrong prices in the past makes it necessary.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Agree CS is really poor. I only realised my extra box would be free, if I had TivO installed, from this forum. I can't see any mention of it on VM's site. It just leaves a lot of long standing customers paying full/advertised price feeling ripped off when they find out about it.

It's a shame as the retentions team give really good service, and VM have a good service to offer. If only they would invest in CS a bit more, which might mean us paying slightly more, but so be it. Think they've got the price/service balance wrong at the moment.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

VIP 100 with two TiVo boxes would be £114.46

Install would be £49.95

with 2 x £49.95 activation - one for 1TB box and one for the 500GB box

and £30 activation for 100Mbit

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Was this change made to coincide with the free offer for the baby Tivo?

Does this mean that those with installations made prior to 1 November now have to pay an additional charge?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

anything ordered before 1st of Nov will be on old pricing.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

It only applies to TiVo boxes ordered after the 1st of November. Any existing TiVo boxes are covered by a single £3 TiVo fee

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Got my Tivo for free apart from the £3 subscription a month. I played my face and got free install and free activation. I was out of contract.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

In the absence of any reply, I can only assume that this change was made to coincide with the free offer for the baby Tivo.

Yes, you save on install costs, but pay £3 forever more. Doesn't look to be such a good a deal when looked at like this.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

I dunno mate, I wouldn't call it "baby"... sure there are bigger HDDs out there now, but hardware-wise AFAIK the only difference between the two TiVo units (both made by Cisco) is harddrive size. Chances are you could crack open the VM TiVo and fit a bigger harddrive, although of course that's in violation of terms and conditions of VM contract.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

It may be on the bill but mine went down by £10 or so when I "upgraded " & had the V+ moved. Your right it makes no sense.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

"Baby Tivo", was the nickname given to the 500gig tivo by an esteemed member of these forums, when it's launch was still just a strong rumour and we only knew about the 1TB Tivo. So 'baby brother' type description, and it's stuck as a description.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Ben,

Can you please tell me what VM do when they "Activate" a piece of kit,as in why does it have to carry a charge?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

To be honest, I'm not going to.

End of the day it's up to you whether you wish to pay them or not depending on whether you think it's value for money or not. What the costs are called doesn't really matter

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Nice little anecdote. So what would you call a 500GB TiVo upgraded to a 2TB? ;) :p:

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Big Daddy?

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Steady on. I got a real slating for suggesting that VM's CS was anything less than perfect....lol

---------- Post added at 19:54 ---------- Previous post was at 19:50 ----------

Probably no more than typing a few details into a computer. But then it's just something extra to charge you for when they have enticed you into the web with free box, and free install...Just like Ryan Air do with their extras.


When I ordered mine it was free box, and free activation, but they wanted to charge about £50 for the install. But I managed to talk this down to £20.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

:D

Shame doing that would be in breach of the Ts&Cs really, it'd be worth it just to be able to refer to the box as Big Daddy TiVo.

Well, the CS from CEO's office has been amazing, in our case. Went from wanting to jack in every service we buy and heading for BT or Sky to being highly satisfied customers loving the services again.

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

:clap::clap::clap:

Isn't it a shame you have to escalate it though

Re: Trying to upgrade to Tivo at fair cost
 

Good?