So a friend of mine has been having this somewhat-epic involvement with her downstairs’ neighbors. They have been cutting into her cable line to steal cable and internet in such a way that it disrupts her own service, doing so persistently despite multiple visits from the cable company, and no one seems able to speak with them because they don’t seem to speak English. They have yet to be able to identify the language they do speak. She says they seem Thai-ish, but she’s not sure about that.
My question is this: if you have neighbors who don’t speak English, but you’re not sure what language they are speaking, where do you go to find out? Has anyone ever been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?
It would probably help to find out the neighbors’ names. Last names, and sometimes first as well, can be highly indicative of particular ethnic groups.
Haven’t been in that situation, but if she’s sure they’re hacking her cable, she can hand them a written/typed note telling them that it’s affecting her service, and asking them nicely to disconnect.
If the problem continues, the next note can warn them that she will contact the cable company, and they may be charged with theft of service, which is a crime.
A written note is helpful here because she can choose her words carefully, and because the recipients can find someone they know who speak both English and whatever their language is.
A series of iconic pictograms (even drawk with stick figures) could convey the message effectively.
Page 1: image of a cable line split into an upstairs and downstairs feed in a house, with a circle and slash through the downstairs line
Page 2: Two panels: on left, a number 10 showing a cable line going to the upstairs and a smiley face; on right, the same T-split to upstairs/downstairs with a number 5 upstairs now, and an angry face
Page 3: A picture of the logos of the local cable company and police department
Leave with a red plastic bag full of Clementine oranges as a goodwill gesture.
This is assuming the “call the landlord and bitch about it” route has already been tried to no good effect.
It also occurred to me to ask whether or not the “cable service” was provided by the landlord in the first place. If your friend is not paying for the cable service herself then she has no real right to complain about losing bandwidth to her downstairs neighbors. I once lived in a basement apartment with “free cable” that was split from the line of the main house, and it was explicitly promised as included in the rent. My landlords lived upstairs in that case, but it could be that the landlord is paying for one cable run to the building, you get a share of it and that’s that.
Aha, “disrupts” as as “drops out” as opposed to “cuts bandwidth”. So the two-panel diagram I proposed earlier should really indicate a ZERO to get that message across.
Still, is it service she pays for herself? If it is, a call to the cable company should get someone over to fix the line. If not, her only recourse is to complain to the landlord, assuming the cable service is explicitly part of her tenancy agreement. If it’s just some free perk she’s been enjoying up until now, maybe it’s time to pay for her own cable feed.
Or, get a recorder ready, then throw a dead fish at them when they walk out of the door some time. Record the cursing that ensues, post it on YouTube and give us the link. Someone here will be able to tell you what they’re saying
