We are in the midst of canceling all of our utilities in preparation for our move to Texas and although it wasn’t necessary I figured I would shut down our Tivo service. There were a few reasons:

1. I haven’t upgraded to the HD Tivo box, hence our Tivo is on our upstairs bedroom serving as a backup while my Comcast DVR is recording HD downstairs;
2. As I mentioned, I’m currently paying for two DVR services, although Comcast will obviously end when we leave the house at the end of the month;
3. I really had no plans to buy the HD Tivo box, my plan was to just go with the local cable provider once we get settled and use their DVR/HD;

Tivo forces you to call customer service to end your contract with them, at first it is a bit annoying, but when they get you on the phone you understand why. I just spent a delightful few minutes with a dude who completely spoke my language. He listened to my reasons for canceling, he empathized with the pains of moving, he even realized that I would most likely not go with cable down in Texas because I’d want to watch the Sox, Pats and Celts…bravo! But you know what he then did? He gave me six months service for free so that I can take my Tivo and figure out how I’m going to use it after the move.

• Know your audience;
• Recognize your audience’s pain points;
• Empathize with your audience;
• Alleviate your audience’s pain;

–Kyle Flaherty