There are the “disadvaged minorities” of people who belived that the are entitled to everything for free.They the ones that get easy money from the government at taxpayer expenses.They are the ones who put together a $20.00 salad at the salad bar at Schnucks than leave it there to rot because they don’t want to use their food stamps to pay for it.They are the one who put $10.00 worth of booze into a soda cup,than walk out of QT without paying for it.These are the same moraly corrupt people that could care less about getting caught for ripping off cable TV from Charter.

Hmm, I know when my ex-boyfriend was stealing services from charter and he got his warning through a pop-up on the internet services he was stealing.
He worked with a guy who used to work at Charter who told him about it… he ordered basic cable service for the lowest monthly fee, then he paid this guy $75 to come out and rig up something in the line that then gave him access to expanded cable and cable internet service.
Since I’m the only he knows that is a computer tech, he called me up when he couldn’t get online one day. I asked him what it was doing, and if there was an error message and he said ‘well, I get this screen that says, Charter has detected, etc’ and I’m like ‘duh… you were stealing, and you got found out, WHY would you expect me to help you try to get around that?’ So, he went legal after that, but, cut back on the cable itself.

So, yeah, a webpage warning in his case, I don’t know if he did or didn’t receive a door hanger; but, it seems to me that they’d have electronic means of notifying people rather than sending out warm bodies to hang door tags?

But, people like that, they just end up making life harder for those of us who do follow basic ethical standards (he also purchased stolen tools from a coworker… revolting… but, his lack of a conscience is the reason he’s the ‘ex’).

Nothing in that doorhanger accused anyone of stealing anything. The doorhanger states that services were found to be active when they shouldn’t be, and to call if that’s an error. If the person who reported this to you got the doorhanger and was not using “free” Charter services, then why did he call? Bogus story you have here, and blatant Charter-bashing.

A coworker of mine has been stealing basic cable (analog) for years. He is very proud about it. Very very cheap guy. His wife goes along with it — great parental example for their two young boys.

He is so cheap that he bought a big screen HDTV (dent sale of course) a few years ago, and watches low resolution video since its “free”. Oh.. yes he and his wife clear about 150k a year. Their West County home has been paid off for years.

Hathaway,
Have you actually attended J-School? This is one of the most horrendously conceived and executed columns I have ever seen.
First of all, the door hanger said “your residence is receiving services that are not in your current subscription plan.” Please let the rest of us know what twisted and elementary thought process led you to consider that an accusation of theft. That is a notification, not an accusation.
For 7 years, I was paying $12 a month for the basic cable package, yet was getting every channel they had, outside of premiums like HBO. One day I came home to find my selection of channels down to the 20 I had ordered. Did I call them to complain? No. I knew I was getting the extra channels by mistake and let the situation go. This knucklehead who got the note also knows what is going on. He’s trying to get back the service that he has never paid for, and managed to dupe you into helping his cause.
Instead of ending your story with speculation like “maybe the Charter worker hanging the fliers just goofed up,” you ought to act as a responsible member of the press and call Charter yourself. Ask questions. Get answers. Check facts. Then, after doing all that “work,” publish a story that serves the public interest as opposed to something that contains no solutions.

Anonymous,

I should have pointed out that the reader has never had cable. A previous owner of his house did, so there was a cable line running to his house. However, a fallen tree limb severed that connection during the big summer storm in July 2006.

And, while I’m always eager to hear well-reasoned media criticism from anonymous online posters, I should point out that the “bogus story” is, in fact, not a story at all. Nor is it presented as one. It is a blog post intended to gather information for a possible, future story. I wrongly assumed that was plainly clear from the last three sentences of the post.

Steve M.,

Your indignation about wasted produce certainly seems to be heartfelt, but your comment makes no sense. I wrote about false accusations of cable theft, not actual theft. More importantly, your only point seems to be that some minorities lacking an “advage” are the root of cable theft. Consider this a first and last warning: Don’t try to hijack this blog to make paranoid and tangential comments about minorities.

Comment deleted by Hathaway. You were warned, not invited to discuss the matter further.

For one thing, charter does not have the software to detect illegal usage. I had an account with them. I moved and I thought I disconnected their service online. I checked my checking account statement & I found out they was still charging me $90/ month. Well after 13 months, they refused to give me refund and they wanted me to pay them for the modem, I no longer had or wanted. Charter told me, that they had no way to know, that I cancelled my account 13 months ago.
This was my second encounter with Charter and believe me. I will never again use Charter Cable. They lie, they cheat and they steal. Everytime it rains, customers lose service, phones and answering machines are useless, High speed internet goes on the blink. Nothing works during a rainstorm.
This is just more proof, they should sell out and find a better company to run them. After all, they are in bankruptcy. By the looks of this, do you really wonder why???

Charter smells like stinky poo. They are bad. Steve M is a ridiculous person with mental problems. i love direct tv. charter bad…really really bad. booooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

I actually did get a note like that on my door from Charter several years ago, and at the time I was receiving channels I didn’t pay for (not because I hacked into the cable system, I just think the cable guy thought I was hot and gave me extra channels). However, they never actually turned off my extra channels or followed up with a phone call or anything.