Getting employee Tivo Roamio on account

My friend was a Tivo Corp employee and was given a Tivo Roamio with lifetime service. After a few years, she has now passed it on to me but I'm unable to put it onto my account. Called Tivo customer service and was told because it was a 'gift' that it would be unable to be transferred to account. This does not make sense as my friend never signed up or put it into her account.

Has anyone dealt with this before or have any possible workarounds? I'm not sure if my friend would be able to...

Getting employee Tivo Roamio on account

Getting employee Tivo Roamio on account