Stolen VOD?

[Can-Al]

I visited my 89 year old grandmother yesterday and she had a tale of woe regarding Shaw to share with me. A couple of weeks ago she received a call from Shaw asking her how she planned on paying her bill which was currently over $700. Since she has automatic withdrawal setup she was surprised that it was that much.

It turns out that somehow her account has been charged with numerous pay per view adult movies at a value of $11.99 or $19.99 each. 39 total in the month of June and a whooping 13 on July 1st alone, how is that even possible? A review of her bill indicates that this has been going on since March 14th.

She was home when many of these were rented and as wonderful as my grandmother is, she barely knows how to use a microwave. She has often needed help watching TV at all if she accidentally hits the wrong device button on her remote or the TV is on the wrong input. There is no way that my 89 year old grandmother was watching multiple adult movies a day.

Since March she has paid Shaw at total of $1207.90 for movies that she did not request! This is partially her fault since she wasn't checking her statements, but Shaw happily took all this out of her account. If it weren't for the fact that the thief started getting greedy and running her bill up past the amount that Shaw was allowed to take out of her account, this would still be going on. Unfortunately the person who had been helping her with her money died last September.

The worst part is that Shaw refused to reverse the charges, giving her only a
$350 "We care gesture". Do they actually believe that she watched all these? This was quite upsetting to her, but she just paid the balance to make it all go away.

How is this possible? Can one spoof a cable box and charge someone else's account? What is the Shaw policy for this? Do they really want to leave on old lady on the hook for this?

I would appreciate any advice on what I can do about this. Thanks.

[Sith]

Hi there, the one suggestion I would make is to put a password in for her vod, so she can't accidentally hit a button.

Without the password, it is just a push or two and your ordered.

[Can-Al]

Thanks Sith. A password has been put in now, but there is no way she accidentally hit the button that many times, especially on adult movies!

Would be great if Shaw would allow one to disable these features on one's account entirely.

[57]

Some providers will disable VOD and/or PPV - check again. There is really no way to "spoof" (steal) VOD or PPV. Does your Grandmother have any younger company that could have ordered?

Often a provider will credit back the first instances of such "mistakes" and disable the option, however, this should have been noticed long ago. You may be able to negotiate a partial credit.

The only time such a mistake can happen is if the incorrect STB is shown on her account. You should be able to check the STB number when you visit her.

[coffeehead]

Ask them about what DCT is on her account could someone taken one of her DCT? Talk with a SUP!.Even for 1 person $1200 in adult PPV is a bit much.

[newsjunkie]

I had this happen to me after I moved. Found out that they never really moved my service, they had both locations active and the person who moved into my old place watched PPV on a cable box he had activated.

Shaw was not willing to reverse the charges. Even though I had filled out a form with my landlord and showed them it was faxed. They did not believe me that I was no longer responsible for that cable box or service. The only thing that saved me and forced them to reverse the charges was I found a copy of an e-mail to Shaw which did acknoledge they knew I was moving and to cancel service at the old address. And even then it took 3 months to get a $912 credit back to me.

[Shaw Champ]

Can-Al I'd be happy to look further into this for you, can you message me some details? thanks

[Jetranger]

Is there any chance there's a teenage grandson that visits her or maybe a neighbourhood kid who is 'helping her around the house'?

[Can-Al]

Jetranger: No, her youngest grandchild is over 30 now and the great grandchildren aren't old enough yet. We examined all of the possibilities and nothing makes sense. They identified that the cable box in question is the one in the main living area and there were so many movies that it doesn't seem possible for someone to watch them all without being noticed. As I mentioned above, there were 13 movies on July 1st!

Shaw Champ: I sent you a message, thank you for your time looking into it.

[ScaryBob]

there were 13 movies on July 1st!

Somebody had a Happy Canada Day! I wonder if someone has used identity theft to get a second terminal or has cloned the box ID. OTOH, it's just as likely that someone at Shaw made a typo and Shaw won't admit to it. In any event, no reputable company would hold a pensioner liable for these charges. But then, I don't consider any of Canada's BDUs reputable when it comes to subscriber billing.

[Can-Al]

A big thanks to Shaw Champ, Nikko at Shaw and Shaw itself for resolving this issue with my Grandmother.

Shaw is convinced that these movies were ordered from the box and they still chose to take care of her. I guess that I need to ask her some more questions.

A couple of suggestions that Shaw might want to consider:

• for customers who don't want VOD and PPV, allow the ability disable them permanently on their account.
• monitor orders for irregular activity and flag it like the credit card companies do. 13 movies in 1 day watched only for 10-15 minutes ought to set off alarms.

Again, thank you.

[Jetranger]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out for her. Another possibility could be someone doing work in her home. Has she had anyone in doing painting or anything like that? In any case, I would strongly suggest you set a PIN so she can't order anything 'by accident'. I did this for a family friend who is in a retirement home just a month or so ago. Her family had just put some duct tape across the VOD button on the remote and all that did was make a mess as the tape got old. I told her what the PIN was and she said it didn't matter because she would never need it. If Shaw didn't suggest that already, do your grandmother a favour and put one on every box she has. They can all be the same and be something simple but do it as a piece of mind, if nothing else.

[Dieselfoot]

Another possibiltlity is that someone had got hold of an old bill and set up an account login and has been watching VOD online, I would think this would be the most likely explanation, $1200 in VOD's is way too much to be done by accidental button pushing.

[hugh]

Since March she has paid Shaw at total of $1207.90 for movies that she did not request! This is partially her fault since she wasn't checking her statements, but Shaw happily took all this out of her account.

IMO, this is the most scandalous part of this. I avoid direct withdrawals for this reason. No company should have the ability to withdraw more than a pre-approved amount from your account. I only allow this type of thing with VISA (and even then its very limited) because I check my VISA statement regularly and I can contest any transaction.

Consumers should have the ability to cap automatic withdrawals (similar to pre-authorizing debit or credit card payments at the gas pump)

[jumpy27]

You can. My business phone bill gets paid by Visa every month, with a set limit. I think it was Visa that set it up for me, but I am not sure.