Neil Gray placed a TiVo in his family vacation cabin. After he returned home, he started receiving bills from the empty cabin. The first month’s was for over $800 and the next, over $1000.

It turns out his TiVo got lonely and was reaching out and touching someone(s), over and over again.

When Neil contacted TiVo, they pointed out a clause in the service agreement that said they were not responsible for such malfunctions. “It didn’t seem to matter to them. It was extremely frustrating,” said Neil. After a CBS reporter called TiVo, they agreed to cover the charges.

If you have satellite TV, you can unplug the box from the phone line, as its only needed for activation. Cable users can hook it up to DSL so it doesn’t make unexpected calls, as detailed at tivocommunity.com.

Or you could just be nicer to your TiVo, don’t leave it alone. Instead, make it feel part of the family. Perhaps there’s shows it would rather record, rather than just Deal or No Deal and Wonder Showzen?

“TiVo Box Rings Up Fat Phone Bills” [CBS5] (Thanks to Danilo!) [photo cred 1 and 2]

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