New York – FLO TV has begun
offering a
to cover the full
purchase price, excluding taxes and shipping, of FLO TV products that receive
the company’s consumer-direct service.
Consumers don’t have to return
the product to get the rebate.
Consumers who activated a FLO TV
Personal Television, Audiovox portable DVD with FLO TV, or FLO TV car
entertainment system will get a refund for the full retail price at time of
activation and a prorated refund for the amount of service paid for in advance
but not used after the customer’s service is turned off. Service will be turned
off within 72 hours of validation of their online rebate form. Rebates arrive
four to six weeks after a claim is validated.
Rebates will also cover the cost
of accessories, such as extra batteries and charges, purchased directly from
FLO TV but not from retailers, the company said. Third-party extended
warranties also aren’t covered, a customer service rep said.
FLO TV has also specified a
cutoff date of March 27, 2011, for its direct-to-consumer service, having
previously cited a spring cutoff.
In October, FLO TV
it would shut off its direct-to-consumer service because of the slow adoption
pace and the high cost of marketing, customer service, product development and
customer acquisition.
At the time, FLO TV said it had
made no decisions about the future of FLO TV’s white-label service under which
cellular carriers Verizon Wireless and AT&T buy the service on a wholesale
basis for resale with select handsets. In November, the company
it was keeping all options open for the future of its FLO TV network,
including a change in FLO TV’s wholesale business model as well as a complete
shutdown of service and sale of the network’s 700MHz spectrum.