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TiVo Pays Phone Bill for Upset Customer

cbs5.com — Some knucklehead left the TiVo at his cabin plugged in and must have had his dialer set to 1-900-TiVO because he was charged a 1 month phone bill of $800. TiVo is paying his bill because he had cancelled his service at the time, but what I want to know is what area code costs $800 in the first place?

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65 Comments

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  • dmitry, on 10/12/2007, -26/+56"Ahh--you were just kidding.

    Marking story as inaccurate."

    douche
  • sonofalink, on 10/12/2007, -3/+28nene7070:

    "and must have had his dialer set to 1-900-TiVO because he was charged a 1 month phone bill of $800."

    How can you read that and not know that he is kidding? Seriously. Social skills, man, social skills. While you're at it, why not nitpick that 1-900-Tivo isn't even a valid phone number and then find some grammar or spelling mistakes.
  • thehans, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9 I don't see how Tivo is in anyway responsible for this guy's phone bill. It was nice of them to pay the bill. Shame on CBS5 for calling and pressuring Tivo, this story is not news worthy, but this guy's idiocy is. I stopped watching the local news because of lame consumer stories such as this one.
  • DavisFreeberg, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10Yeah but in this case he was just calling TiVo's servers. I was only kidding about the 1-900 part, TiVo is usually programmed to dial a local area code only. He probably never changed it when he brought it to his cabin. Still even if TiVo was calling daily for an hour, how could a national area code really cost that much and why would he wait two months before dealing with an $800 phone bill?
  • karlschmidt, on 10/12/2007, -4/+10More accurate headline:

    "Moron who doesn't understand how his TiVo works gets a big phone bill and doesn't understand why"

    If you're going to buy something that you hook up to the phone line, could you spend 5 minutes to learn and understand why?

    In this guy's case, apparently not.
  • hensonkid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Local area codes can still incur extra charges in a lot of areas. It's called "local long distance" and I was bitten right in the ass by it when I lived in NC (252 area code). Still, that's a hell of a lot of calls to incur those kind of charges.
  • SmeRndmGy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6If you have more than one house, and you do something stupid that costs you money, someone else should not have to pay for it. People who are both rich and stupid should be allowed to fend for themselves, and if they do something stupid so be it.
  • Anth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5If the cabin is in BFE Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, etc, charges for the phone line are per-minute. If TiVo was connected at like 2400 or 9600 and downloaded updated software updates, programming guide data, etc its quite possible his bill would get high. But even at 10 cents/min, $800 is like 8 hours a day for 30 days. That doesnt seem realistic.
  • Wheemer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5That guy might want to consider unplugging all the electronics he won't be using for months... he would be saving more than just these phone bills
  • quasipalm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Exactly. And remeber that in remote areas your signal quality is lower -- which means more lost packets and less bandwidth. So if you're in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, those tivo update calls could be very long.
  • Pioto, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4So, why didn't this guy just turn off the power in this cabin? If he wasn't gonna be there, why waste power on anything, other than heat to keep pipes from freezing?
  • kyote, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4if he had basic long distance, and no calling plan, he could theoretically pay as much as .30 cents per minute under his LD carriers basic rates plan. most people, when they get long distance put on their phone choose some sort of calling plan that provides thema a cheaper rate. however, if you don't choose a plan, your place calls using the carriers regular tariffed rates which are quite expensive. so, he could rack up an $800 bill pretty easily under those circumstances.

    2666 minutes at .30 cents per minute is 799.8 (roughly).

    2666 = 44.blah hours

    so, it could happen. i guess.
  • ke4roh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I suspect he hadn't shopped for a plan for long-distance calls, resulting in outrageous fees. When I first took on my present landline phone number, someone was slow to set up the long-distance plan and calls were more like $1.60/minute at the "default" rate. I called and complained that I'd attempted to transfer my service from the previous landline number, and they gave me a credit.
  • rhawk301, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3yeah, no kidding. hello, circuit breaker? remote power?
  • SoBayJake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3No, not with a Series 2 DirecTiVo. It simply gives you one warning message per day, that you learn to ignore. Mine always gave the warning message the first time I hit the TiVo button after 7:30 PM.
  • sound, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3So how does the box know to call when it *is* reactivated ?
  • tastycheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In reading this article a little more carefully, it seems like it's more of an example of idiot, lazy local news journalism.

    "If you get satellite TV, you only need the phone line for initial activation. After that, you can unplug your TiVo box and it should work fine. And if you have cable, there are ways to hook your box up to a DSL line, so you don't get stuck with any unexpected phone charges."

    1st, the "satellite" option they mention applies only to the direct TV with Tivo box. not "satellite TV". if you get satellite service any other way, or if you use a standalone Tivo with direct TV, then you still need to connect the tivo to something.

    2nd, ummm "And if you have cable, there are ways to hook your box up to a DSL line" is just stupid. Do they mean cable TV? You don't need that to connect a Tivo to you DSL. Do they mean cable Internet??? because that is different than DSL. friggin retards.

    It's unbelievable the state of local news in this country. they should all be ashamed.
  • raitchison, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Just guessing here as TFA doesn't provide a lot of details.

    As has been suggested before likely where his TiVo was sitting was out in BFE and there were no local numbers so it chose a toll number.

    If he cancelled his TiVo service his TiVo may have actually been calling more often than normal to see if it was reactivated. I'd imagine TiVo didn't think it was likely that someone who had cancelled service would leave their TiVo plugged into the phone line.

    Also, if the TiVo tried to call once per hour or so there would be a lot of "first minute" charges, whoch can be several time more expensive than per minute charges.

    Finally he may have been on a really strange long distance plan, for example if he didn't plan on using the phone much (reasonable) he could have deliberately chosen a plan with low monthly fees and really high first minute and per minute rates, I think I've seen plan that charge like $2.99 just to set up a single phone call.
  • djdole, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3(It's probably not really 'better yet' for this guy,...)
    Many of the locals in upper Michigan (where it's more likely for out-of-staters to have summer cabins) don't have broadband access available, and even so I doubt the guy would want to sign up for Internet access for a summer cottage which would only be used for a few months during the year.
    (Even then, he'd have to know enough about computers to be able to network his Tivo through his Internet connection, which I highly doubt he would since he didn't know enough to unplug the thing in the first place, or turn off the power before leaving for California.)

    So in this guy's case using Tivo's auto dialer would probably be the most cost effective.

    You're right though that he's a dumb-ass for leaving it on and plugged in.
  • 3Den, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5Yes, all 800 numbers in north america ARE free.
    900 numbers in north america ALL have arbitrary connection & per-minute fees (either/both)
  • merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Damn straight.

    "I left a box that automatically calls in my cabin. It made calls. ALERT THE INTERNETS!"
  • muffledduck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I just can't get over the fact that this guy has to TiVo while he is on vacation AT HIS CABIN. Tell him to make sure he turns the A/C before he leaves there too.
  • RyeBrye, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3From the article:
    "And if you have cable, there are ways to hook your box up to a DSL line, so you don't get stuck with any unexpected phone charges."

    I guess you are screwed if you have Cable and a Cable modem ;)
  • raven98030, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3That is on him and if I was TiVo I would not pay it.
  • Prozium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know what this is like? Blaming the manufacturer of your automatic sprinkler system for your high water bills after replacing your lawn with rocks.
  • peerk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"So what can TiVo subscriber's do to protect themselves?..."

    What idiots. They try to make it sound like a tivo is some dangerous thing you need protecting from. This was completely a user error.

    I suspect this person lacks any type of common sense. Who leaves their devices plugged in when they are leaving for months? Hell, I was away for 3 weeks and I unplugged everything. Even my freaking alarm clock.

  • mr804, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This is lame. At least tivo was nice about it.
  • Kirti, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4You know, this entire articles seems kinda like a shameless plug for CBS5. First of all, I think them putting quotes around the word rare was unnecessary. I mean, I'm sure instances like this are relatively rare or else we'd hear about them all the time. Second of all, I like how CBS5 takes credit for TiVO paying for the phone bill. Here is the paragraph that I'm talking about:

    [TiVo declined an on-camera interview, but a spokesman says cases like Neil's are "rare". And after CBS 5 called, TiVo promised to take care of the phone bill.]

    -KRK
  • jdavid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2its nice to know the customer service is as friendly as the beeps
  • tastycheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I think this applies only to the DirectTV with tivo, right? not "satalite TV". I use Dish.
  • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It's because it validates through your satellite, which is what the normal Tivos use the phone line for (or Internet, if you hook it up online).
  • ArcticWolf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Hey, don't knock on the UP, alot of the western UP, even the really rural areas have broadband access thanks to pasty.net.

    Good to see another yooper on digg.
  • rhawk301, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5no digg, this guy was dumb. You cancel your Tivo service, unplug it from the wall. Better yet, read the forum or RTFM and hook it up to an internet connection.
  • dclowd9901, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yeah, it's even worse too, because, even if you have the same area code, if in the area you live, the prefix isn't part of that area's area code, you can get charged for it. That's what happened with me. I lived in a 928 area code, and, while there were tivo 928 numbers, none of them were local.
  • teesa, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Did you read the article? TiVo only agreed to pay after CBS 5 called to get more information. Second, there is no 1-900 tivo number so TiVo did not get paid as a result of these calls.
  • tastycheese, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This guy was a retard.

    "TiVo's customers should be able to trust that if they leave their machine alone, it's not going to suddenly start chattering away in the middle of the night and run up thousands of dollars in charges."

    ummm... that's what Tivo does. That's why you plug the thing into the phone line, so it can make those calls. And everyone who's ever signed up for any ISP or anything knows that you have to make sure that the numbers count as local calls. If he'd canceled his service, why did he leave it plugged in in the first place.

    what a moron. he shouldn't be allowed to watch tv.
  • D4r7h3v1l, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2the 1-900 thing was a joke...
  • DJMajickman, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3duh long distance changes from a cabin Michigan to San Francisco and slow download speeds to get the updates. Why on earth did he leave it in the cabin in the first place. And how long after realizing he didn't have the Tivo at home and didn't realize where he left it did he cancel the service. :P what an id10t
  • BobTurtle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I stand corrected. You're right, just a nag message after 30 days.
  • Kazbaeden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1This sort of happened with me once. I called the ISP and asked for a local number to dial into. They gave it to me and after that I left the internet on constantly. At the end of the month I got a $400 phone bill, and flipped out. Apparantly even though the area code was the same, the phone number was "long distance." The ISP didn't help out with my bill and I switched to cable the next day.
  • merloj159, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1TiVo should update their program so that when they detect a call from a box that no longer have the subscription they stop the box from automatically calling repeaptly. There's always room for improvement.
    We have DirecTiVo and we only hook up the phone line every few months when we are so annoyed by the warning message. I don't even see why it's necessary since it gets the updates from the satellite feed.
  • Bootes, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Back when I had dial up I had a similar problem. For some reason my router got the 1800 or whatever number instead of the regular and was calling all night long. ATT (The ISP) agreed to get rid of half of the charges.
  • Nick_Circosta, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2well here in aus we have foxtel digital, i use mine with my Voip :p hehe so it doesnt really cost much when i need to use the phone line with the box :p
  • RichCoder, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What did he think would happen when he plugged in a phone line to the back of the Tivo? Perhaps at some point he should have thought... "Hey, I have a machine that dials out every night plugged in to a live phone line at my BFE cabin".

    Is this guy going to go to call the TV station if a pipe bursts in the cabin and has to pay a large water bill?

    Tivo should have never paid this guy and stood behind their policy.

    -rich
  • tastycheese, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3OMFG what's wrong with you people. he was joking! and it's explained in the comments right there at the top! THERE IS NO 900 NUMBER!
  • Diela, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Really! What kind of idiot leaves a home unoccupied for months at a time and doesn't unplug appliances before leaving? You're just asking for a house fire otherwise...
  • Nighthawke, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Normally 1-900 numbers are blocked by telcos and only by faxing in a telephone bill and a valid ID card verifying that the person is over 18 that the block is removed.

    This guy HAD to know that his box was dialing the toll #, no doubt about it. This is on his head and his wallet.

    I still run across folks that screw up their AOL dialer badly and rack up a nice phone bill over the month.
  • bluedragon1981, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1All that I know is that Tivo screws up more than they care to admit. It took me 4 months to have them find out that someone else was using my credit card info to get their own account. After that they couldn't even tell me who it was so I could press charges if I wanted. Not to mention the fact that I also had to have my credit card canceled and a new account created. Luckily they reimbursed me for all the charges that they were sending me.
  • hypercube33, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I'm really aghast at how little people actually READ into these stories, let alone read any comments before posting the same thing, just dumber.
  • alphaterminus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Several years ago I was forced to sell my Tivo because I made the decision do loose our land-phones.... then our older Tivo could not connect so it refused to record any more. I called support to no Avail. Did some research, got SnapStream's beyond TV... now no subscription, no big brother, just 4 terabytes and a 64 inch DLP TV. Now I can watch Battlestar, NCIS, and the History channel in peace.
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