Rumor has it that the TiVo Rewards referral program will cease as of 2/28. While the person reporting this doesn’t have much of a history on the TiVo Community Forum, the associated TiVo credit card offer does appear to be inactive:
Thank you for your interest in a Juniper Bank account. Unfortunately, this offer has expired. We apologize for this inconvenience.
Coincidence, technical glitch, or are TiVo Rewards really history? I’ll check in with TiVo…
UPDATE: Just got off the phone with a TiVo support agent who says they’re alerting callers that the Rewards program will be ending – the last day to earn referral points will be April 28th and the last day to redeem points will be May 28th. As this contradicts the Feb 28th date posted to the forum, I’ve also pinged a PR contact for clarification. Regardless of timing, it sure seems like this program is on the way out.
UPDATE 2: My PR contact had confirmed what the support agent relayed, but asked me to keep it on the down-low until TiVo had a chance to post their official FAQ – which they now have.
That’s a major bummer. But I already cashed in for a Series2 DT, so I got some use out of it and can’t complain too much. With the remaining points, I’ll probably have to go with the TiVo slippers.
That is too bad…the TiVoCommunity thread seems to suggest that abuse is what is causing them to shut it down. I just talked somebody into purchasing a TiVoHD this weekend, so I am hoping they follow through before the program is terminated.
The Rewards have been pretty weak lately anyway, unless you’re in need of a second TiVo HD or Slingbox… Before they kill the program, I’ll stock up on a bunch of TiVo Glo Remotes to give away. So, feel free to list davezatz@yahoo.com as your referrer.
I recommend the Open Source alternative Myth TV and don’t get dime one ( Don’t get me wrong I think TiVos are pretty cool, I used to have one ).
Should you continue to recommend TiVo without the promise of a reward you have graduated to “fanboy” with all the stigmas and repercussions, good and bad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanboy
I joined the referral program on day 1, forgot i was a member, recco’d tivo to hundreds of people, forgot to tell them to list me as a referrer and thus have 0 points.
If shutting down the program means they can lower prices on their accessory items by at least 10%, i say go ahead.
That’s too bad. I’ve noticed that the prizes haven’t been updated in awhile. I don’t know what TiVo’s thinking but getting rid of the rewards program isn’t a good idea….
It’s all Megazone’s fault! hehe
Seriously, I only needed two more referrals to get the noise canceling headphones that cost three times as much as I’d pay for them.
Ben,
The noise canceling headphones are no longer available… :(
https://www3.tivo.com/tivo-rewards/prizes/show.do
However, they have a digital photo frame, XM receiver, and iPod model all no longer in production to choose from. ;)
I just went ahead and pickup a TiVo HD as well as two t-shirts (which I’ll probably give away).
Doh!
I guess I’ll just get a TiVo HD, only need one more for that. But unlike you guys, I’ll probably ebay it.
Well, hell, I guess I’ll be stocking up on TiVo HDs or something – I have a metric ton of un-redeemed points from the past few years.
Well I was trying to get a TiVo HD. This just hurts TiVo. One less subscription from me. It would have a been a full sub too. (different location).
Puzzling.
Why not change the program to eliminate the fraud?
Definitely a shame, and means I probably won’t manage to get that second TiVo HD for the bedroom before the program ends. But I certainly feel as though I’ve gotten my share… free Humax TiVo DVD Recorder on points, free TiVo HD on points, and free 120-hour S2 on condition that I pay for a lifetime subscription for it, just for having been an early successful TiVo Rewards referrer. I can’t complain. :-)
Todd – So anyone who recommends anything without being rewarded is a fanboy? Or is it just anyone who recommends anything that isn’t free? Either way – that’s just a childish stance. Of course, there are also those who say recommending anything where there is a reward makes you a shill. So you can be a fanboy or a shill. And if you only recommend free or open source things, then you’re a zealot. Aren’t labels fun! *rolls eyes*
davidz – Well, there isn’t any clear statement that it is a fraud issue. It could simply be that they are changing to a new rewards program and/or service provider and can’t, or wont’, deal with ‘porting’ the current rewards points over.
Ben D. – Well, I do have a ton of points, but since I’ve only ever redeemed points once (got lifetime for a box, back when lifetime was still a reward) I haven’t been costing them anything. Of course, now they’re forcing me to redeem them en masse. ;-)
I think what happened is the accounting department took one look at the number of points MegaZone earned (estimated in the millions) but didn’t used, and decided they needed to force him to redeem them or face a plument in the stock price. ;)
Ben – Haha. ;-) I was hoping to break a million points eventually, but I’ve only made it about 2/3 of the way there. :-) Maybe they should offer a lifetime sub for 100,000 points.
Just as I suspected, that is about 21 TiVo HD’s, or over $6000 worth of points.
No wonder they’re getting rid of it. Thanks MegaZone for ruining it for the rest of us. And I just wanted some headphones.
Oh, I think TiVo has more than made money off my promoting of their products. :-)
Actually, I was thinking of picking up a set of the headphones too – but hadn’t made up my mind. Looks like we both lose. :-(
This sucks. Only have 10k points left, which really doesn’t give me much good to choose from. Already have the wireless adapter, no need for a (just price reduced, but not points reduced) shuffle, already have a harmony remote so no need for new remotes, and the rest is crap.
Confirmed. FAQ posted here. They’ve added some new rewards, including two TiVo HD packages with Lifetime Service (120k & 150k).