I didn't realize it, but i think i've been stealing cable. what do i do?

Question

When i first moved into my new apartment last year, the former girl moved out after a couple of days, and i got two new roomates. One of the roomates was into video games and it was christmas, so i bought the house a big tv. i never watch television so it was mostly for them to play guitar hero or whatever on. A couple days later i came home and they were watching some basic cable channels. i didn't question it cause i figured BASIC cable was free to the publc, and that it used an internal antenna or something to pick it up. I'm an idiot. seriously. That's how much i know about television. thn about a week ago they moved out. i found myself watching a bit of history channel now and then for the past week, never questioning whether it could be stolen or not. then few days ago, no more tv. i looked up info at comcast online and learned that i was a criminal this whole time. now i'm freaking out. i didn't know i was stealing. what do i do? do i turn myself in? please help im really scared

Answer 1

This will probably go to federal court, at which point I would throw myself on the mercy of the court! lol.

Answer 2

You are fine, Trust me all they will do is unhook it when they come around to do an audit. Nothing will ever be said to you.

Answer 3

Don't be scared. Simply call up the cable company and tell them you moved in and found that your cable is still on.  Tell them you don't want to pay for it and please come disconnect it.  They will with no questions asked.  They will thank you for it.  

Missed disconnects are a fact of life in the cable business.

Most systems will have the customer service representative try and convince you to keep the cable by offering you a special rate.

Answer 4

If you were doing this without knowing the cable was not part of the service at your apartment and they unhooked the cable service from you then it's unlikely you will have problems (they will likely write it off as a cable connection they overlooked or forgot to disconnect).  Now, if you want to have cable going forward you need to contact the cable provider and get a legitimate connection that you are paying for.

Answer 5

No don't turn yourself in. Your fine if you didn't realize it was stealing but next time make sure your paying for your tv next time.

Answer 6

The best thing to do is talk to Comcast about this. If it does get really serious, you should try and contact those girls who you proviously lived with before. That might sort things out. =)