Once upon a time Ken Gunther shaped the electrons to say... > I am considering buying a third TiVo for the house to place in my > kitchen. What are your experiences with buying used TiVos on eBay? Have > they been in good condition or were they wrecks?
I've only purchased a used TiVo once - a Series1 off eBay back in 2002. It went fine. But I've sold at least four old TiVos, via eBay and offline. I know all the ones I sold were in good condition. (I resold the Series1, sold two Series2 units, and one Toshiba RS-TX20 Series2 DVD-R unit.) > How easy is it to get a subscription for a TiVo bought on eBay? Can I > buy the subscription or must the original owner transfer the > subscription to me (not a lifetime subscription)? If it is not lifetime then it is probably monthly. In that case there is nothing to transfer. They cancel their sub, you activate it like any other box. If they have any kind of pre-paid service - lifetime, yearly, etc - then you'll want to transfer it to maintain the service. This may happen automatically when you activate the unit on your account, if not the seller may need to contact TiVo to authorize the transfer. > Will I get service at a reduced rate because I already have a > subscription or do I need to pay full price for the subscription since I > didn't buy the the unit from TiVo? If MSD applies then it applies no matter where you get the box - TiVo, a retailer, eBay, etc. It is determined strictly by the number of units on the account. > I can buy a refurbished unit from TiVo for about $80 or a used one on > eBay for about $50, which one would you go with? Everything else being equal - the refurb, hands down. TiVo's refurbs come with the full warranty you get on new units. And they clean the box, test it, etc. Sure, sometimes a dud makes it through refurb, but then the warranty kicks in and they just send another one. -MZ -- megazone-at-megazone.org http://www.MegaZone.org/ Gweep, Geek, Human, me. http://www.GizmoLovers.com/ http://www.Eyrie-Productions.com/ -><- Hail Eris "A little nonsense now and then, is relished by the wisest men" 508-852-2171
