He has a cable plan where all he gets are the network and basic cable channels. A couple of months ago, while flipping channels, he happened to notice that he now gets one of the premium channels (Showtime, I think). He never asked for this channel, he didn’t fiddle with his cable box or anything like that, and based on his recent bills he’s not being charged for it. Somebody at his cable company must have just flipped a switch somewhere inadvertently.
He thinks he should call the cable company and let them know. I think he’s crazy. Our conversation went something like this:
Me: Why would you let them know? You did nothing wrong. It’s not your fault – it’s their mistake.
Him: You don’t get to profit from the mistakes of others. If you were at a store and the clerk gave you too much money in change, would you keep it or give it back?
I agreed that I would give it back.
Me: But in that case, their mistake would cause them damage – the loss of the extra change. You getting that cable channel doesn’t affect their bottom line at all.
Him: That’s the same argument people who copy music use. You’re getting something for free that others have to pay for. You are depriving them of the opportunity to sell you something that you do not have.
I agreed that illegally copying music is wrong.
Me: But copying music is something you actively do. You put the CD in and create a copy. You press “download” on some illegal site. Getting a free cable channel is passive. You’re not actually doing anything.
Him: You’re turning on the channel. That’s active, isn’t it?
I agreed that it was active.
So it seems I agree on him point by point, and yet, if the situation was reversed, I still would watch the cable channel absolutely guilt-free. I’m having a hard time expressing exactly why I feel that way, though. Can anyone help me out, or is my friend right?
It might not be a “mistake,” more like a free sample (in the hopes that you’ll try it and become addicted). Sometimes the cable company gives us a channel or two for free for a period of time (a month, or so) apparantly in the hopes that we’ll realize just how much we’ve been missing, how barren life is without Showtime, and that we’ll pay to keep the channel on once the free session period ends. In my experience it’s usually been HBO, Showtime, or different movie channels, that they try to hook you with.
If this isn’t the case, and your friend is getting free cable due to an error, I’m not sure where I’d fall on this one on the wrongness continuum. Somewhat in line with you, but I’m just too frazzled at this point to rationalize that position.
We signed up for basic cable, in order to get the internet access. The cable company had a come-on in which the first month provided access to all channels, to let you know what you were missing by going with only the basic.
They forgot to turn it off. We called. Among other things, we wanted to be sure that we wouldn’t be charged for it. We called again a few months later. And then a few months after that.
After than we’d call roughly once a year to be sure we were on record as having notified them. It was either three or four years later that we suddenly were getting nothing but the basic cable. The extra never appeared on our bill.
So your friend might not lose the service immediately when he turns it in. If he feels that’s the thing he should do, he should do it. We turned it in, but partly to be sure that we wouldn’t be charged (of have to go through the hassle of challenging the charges). If we had been sure that we wouldn’t be charged, we would have still turned it in. Maybe not as fast. I mean, they could have just gotten a bit behind in their scheduling.
He should call and make sure he didn’t inadvertently sign up for Showtime. It’s a lot easier to NOT be billed then find out somehow he checked a box and signed up for it.
And interesting story back in 1987, I moved into a flat and got cable. They didn’t bill me, so I went to the office and the clerk said “Oh sometimes it takes a month or so, you’re in the system, you’ll just get billed for two month on the next bill.” Next month goes by, no bill, I go in, the clerk tells me the same thing. Next month same thing. So I go in and say “Look I have cable and I’m not billed, I don’t want to get this huge bill, what’s up.”
She says “Look sir, you’re in the system and you’ll get billed when you get billed.”
I was never billed for it. Was it theft? Yes, in a way.
He should call and make sure he didn’t inadvertently sign up for Showtime. It’s a lot easier to NOT be billed then find out somehow he checked a box and signed up for it.
And interesting story back in 1987, I moved into a flat and got cable. They didn’t bill me, so I went to the office and the clerk said “Oh sometimes it takes a month or so, you’re in the system, you’ll just get billed for two month on the next bill.” Next month goes by, no bill, I go in, the clerk tells me the same thing. Next month same thing. So I go in and say “Look I have cable and I’m not billed, I don’t want to get this huge bill, what’s up.”
She says “Look sir, you’re in the system and you’ll get billed when you get billed.”
I was never billed for it. Was it theft? Yes, in a way.
Your friend should check the bill. I was flipping through our channels and found we were getting HBO, which we hadn’t signed up for… or so we thought. Turns out that we did get HBO in a special package that lowered our rates for 6 months.
Folks, “based on his recent bills he’s not being charged for it.”
So now my issue is what if they find out some day and decide to charge him for it. I worked in billing a million years ago, and have had to slap people with huge bills at once for months’ worth of uncollected fees. I suppose this might be tricky, though. It would be easy enough for him to argue his way out of paying it if he asserts that 1) it was their mistake, and 2) he never benefited from it, that is, never watched Showtime because he didn’t think he had it, you know, considering he never requested it and all.
Many years ago, when the concept of pay-per-view was fairly new, I once called to order a pay-per-view movie. I turne it to the correct channel at the correct time, the channel activated, movie came on, and then the channel stayed activated. For a year. It never switched back off. I got free pay-per-view movies every day until I moved out. I never got a bill except for the one order, and never got a question from the cable company.
It wasn’t that great. Back then, they just showed the same movie over and over again in a loop, and switched to a new movie about once a week.
I also once got a couple of years of Starz without ever asking for it or being charged for it. Then, one day…no more free Starz. No bills either, though.
Anyway, if your friend is that much of a goody-two-shoes, thenn there really isn’t much you can do to convince him.
My way of looking at it is, it’s their responsibility to make sure they’re only providing the services he signed up for. The “cashier gives too much change” analogy is inapt: It requires nothing of me to correct the cashier if I notice it on the spot. If I don’t notice it until I get home and would have to drive back to the store – or deal with typical cable-company customer service – then I’m not going to bother.
Were it me, I’d probably send one email to their customer-service address and tell them what’s up. That would be to cover my own ass if they could somehow prove that I was watching the premium channels and tried to bill me for it. But if your friend insists on babysitting the cable company for free, that’s his deal.
I got my cable installed on the coldest day of the year here in Boston, maybe -15 with a nasty wind. The guy installing it said “You may be getting some channels that you’re not supposed to get, but I’d have to climb up that pole to reset them so consider them a gift.”
I got some free channels for a bit but they’re gone now.
My standard platitude is “If you have to ask, it’s wrong”
That said, as long as I’m not being charged I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s the cableco’s responsiblity and they never offer rebate’s for outages if YOU don’t make a fuss.
I had the same thing happen, getting Showtime and movie access. It’s a limited free access to the channel and will go away. Great while I had it, as I was unemployed at the time.
Don’t worry. It’s paid for. Somewhere, another customer is getting charged for all kinds of channels they never ordered. Some of these customers don’t notice on the bill, or they don’t have time or the patience to fight them all.
Well, on our service (FIOS), it appears to be possible to sign up for such a channel yourself, using the remote. With that in mind, your friend might want to contact the company in case he did accidentally sign up and simply hasn’t gotten the bill yet (how long has it been?).
But if they don’t turn it off after that, he can either enjoy the inadvertent freebie, or simply not watch that channel.
Not wrong. First of all, it is probably a free trial.
Second, if you call to cancel your cable, they will probably give you free premium channels/price cuts to keep you around. I call to cancel every 6 months to keep getting half price. (only attempt this if you are really willing to cancel)
The standard price for cable is ridiculous, and they know that.
I have DISH, and I got a package deal with about a bajillion channels. They’re always adding this, moving that, free preview, yadda yadda. I couldn’t tell you what exactly I have at any given time. They bill me, it’s the amount we agreed it should be, and I got plenty of TV. I am not going to spend my free time comparing the bajillion channels I actually get to the list of the bajillion channels I should be getting in an effort to protect the company from their own technology.
Short version: When I moved into this one house, I didn’t pay for cable. Just plugged in the TV. Got all the basic and local channels. Turns out the previous owner never shut it off. We got all the regular cancellation / billing notices addressed to “Kevin”, but I never responded.
One day, a cable truck came by. The wire was attached to a telephone pole with above-ground wires which brought the magic TV cable to the house. They removed the cable, including the wire to the house connection. They didn’t say boo to me. The cable just went bye-bye. They left. I figure, “Oh well, I wasn’t paying for it anyway. I guess I should find a set of rabbit ears. Maybe I’ll go to Radio Shack.” This is Saturday.
Sunday, I get a knock on my door around 11:00 AM and it’s the cable guys again. Apologizing profusely for the error, they tell me they are re-connecting my cable and are authorized to offer me a refund for services lost. I reply to them I am just renting and they’ll have to talk to the landlord. They connect it and go away. It is now Sunday and football is coming on. I open a beer and hit the couch.
I never paid for cable at that address. I didn’t call them or complain or anything. I just figured maybe they cut off the neighbor’s cable by accident and came by to fix it all after he bitched. (and, judging from their rapid response, probably bitched loudly and included many colorful words)
Sometimes things just go your way. Was this theft? Technically, yes, but I never actively did anything to receive the free cable. (Other than plugging in the cable cord… DAMMIT! I *hate *ethics!)
(okay, maybe not so short. But I promise you don’t want to hear the long version.)
Consider this. It costs the cable company absolutely NOTHING to give your friend a premium channel whether he pays for it or not. Nada. It doesn’t stress their equipment more, it doesn’t wear it out sooner, and it doesn’t increase the data traffic at all (unless it is IP based, and then it is ridiculously minimal). It might actually cost them more to remove it, since there is a human action that will have to be taken, even if it is a check in a box on the screen.
