Here’s a story a neighbor shared with me about how he ended up with premium cable for the price of basic cable:
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Several years ago, he and some friends and family members wanted to watch the Michigan-Michigan State football game (the biggest game of the season in our state). Problem was, they wanted to watch it at my friend’s house and he only had basic cable — he didn’t have the channel that had the game.
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His friend (or maybe brother, I forget) told him to order the premium cable (which would allow them to watch the game) and that he (the friend/brother) would pay for it for one month. Then my friend could cancel it after that.
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My friend ordered the service, the cable company came out and “turned it on”, and the group watched the game on the big day (I’m not sure who won, but I’m guessing Michigan.)
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My friend called the cable company soon thereafter to cancel the service. The company said they would take care of it.
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At the start of the next month, my friend noticed that he was still getting premium cable (70 channels or so). He called the cable company, told them that he was still getting the channels, and that he wanted it cancelled. He was afraid they would keep charging him for the premium service even though he had asked for it to be disconnected. They told him they would take care of it and he wouldn’t be charged.
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On his next bill, he was only charged for basic cable. Yet he was still getting premium cable. The same happened the next month. And the next month. And the next month.
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That was five years ago. He’s still getting premium cable and paying for basic.
He suggested to me that this was a potential “money saving tip” (order basic cable, add premium to it later, cancel the basic, still get premium and pay only for basic), but didn’t know if it was repeatable or simply a fluke in his case. His hypothesis is that it was more expensive for the cable company to have someone come out and turn off the cable than it was for them to simply let it remain as it was.
Anyone else had anything like this happen?
