Charged with theft of cable services

[BIGDAVE40]

Hi, my name is Dave and I recently received a threatening letter from my cable company which alleges that I have been receiving premium cable channels while only being charged for basic cable. They claim that they found that I purchased a decoder from a video company in 1997 and failed to notify them. They insist that unless I agree to pay a $3000.00 "settlement", they will take me to court and I will have to pay a $10,000.00 fine and any legal fees incurred by them. I want to know what my course of action should be. Shall I just sit back and call their bluff or should I take legal action of my own? I reside in New Jersey.

Thanks for any advice you could provide.....
..........Dave

 

[Unhappy-maximus]

I have to ask.....did you watch all those premium movie channels for free???? Which one of your buddies turned you in???

 

[BIGDAVE]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by BIGDAVE40:
Hi, my name is Dave and I recently received a threatening letter from my cable company which alleges that I have been receiving premium cable channels while only being charged for basic cable. They claim that they found that I purchased a decoder from a video company in 1997 and failed to notify them. They insist that unless I agree to pay a $3000.00 "settlement", they will take me to court and I will have to pay a $10,000.00 fine and any legal fees incurred by them. I want to know what my course of action should be. Shall I just sit back and call their bluff or should I take legal action of my own? I reside in New Jersey.

Thanks for any advice you could provide.....
..........Dave<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

[Tracey]

What you should do depends on whether you're guilty or not! If you are guilty, you have committed a crime. The cable company is using that fact to extort $$ from you in exchange for not turning you in. You can file criminal charges against them. If the letter was written by the company's lawyer, the lawyer may face disbarment for unethical behavior. File a complaint with the state bar. If you didn't steal the services, tell them to buzz off.

A second question: how can they prove you stole cable services? Do they have logs showing you decoded HBO & billing statements showing you didn't pay for it? Do they have a list of buyers of decoders? This doesn't mean they CAN'T prove you're guilty; just that you should think about what kind of evidence they could have.

At any rate, their damages are the fees they would have received if you'd been paying for the channels instead of stealing them. Whether this is more or less than $3000 I don't know.

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This is not legal advice and you are not my client. Double check everything with your own attorney and your state's laws.

 

[btf]

I live in New York and I am facing the same problem as Bigdave40 had before. I would like to know how it turned out with the cable company.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

I'll answer your question with a question.

Why do you think Bigdave hasn't responded to this thread since July of 2000 ?

Because he's in prison, that's why !!

IAAL

 

[HomeGuru]

Yes, Big Dave wasn't so big after all.